Chronological
13 Then this message came to me: 2-3 “Son of dust, prophesy against the false prophets of Israel who are inventing their own visions and claiming to have messages from me when I have never told them anything at all. Woe upon them!
4 “O Israel, these ‘prophets’ of yours are as useless as foxes for rebuilding your walls! 5 O evil prophets, what have you ever done to strengthen the walls of Israel against her enemies—by strengthening Israel in the Lord? 6 Instead you have lied when you said, ‘My message is from God!’ God did not send you. And yet you expect him to fulfill your prophecies. 7 Can you deny that you have claimed to see ‘visions’ you never saw, and that you have said, ‘This message is from God,’ when I never spoke to you at all?”
8 Therefore the Lord God says: “I will destroy you for these ‘visions’ and lies. 9 My hand shall be against you, and you shall be cut off from among the leaders of Israel; I will blot out your names, and you will never see your own country again. And you shall know I am the Lord. 10 For these evil men deceive my people by saying, ‘God will send peace,’ when that is not my plan at all! My people build a flimsy wall, and these prophets praise them for it—and cover it with whitewash!
11 “Tell these evil builders that their wall will fall. A heavy rainstorm will undermine it; great hailstones and mighty winds will knock it down. 12 And when the wall falls, the people will cry out, ‘Why didn’t you tell us that it wasn’t good enough? Why did you whitewash it and cover up its faults?’ 13 Yes, it will surely fall.” The Lord God says: “I will sweep it away with a storm of indignation, with a great flood of anger, and with hailstones of wrath. 14 I will break down your whitewashed wall; it will fall on you and crush you, and you shall know I am the Lord. 15 Then at last my wrath against the wall will be completed; and concerning those who praised it, I will say: The wall and its builders both are gone. 16 For they were lying prophets, claiming Jerusalem will have peace when there is no peace,” says the Lord God.
17 “Son of dust, speak out against the women prophets too who pretend the Lord has given them his messages. 18 Tell them, ‘The Lord God says: Woe to these women who are damning the souls of my people, of both young and old alike, by tying magic charms on their wrists, furnishing them with magic veils, and selling them indulgences. They refuse to even offer help unless they get a profit from it.[a] 19 For the sake of a few paltry handfuls of barley or a piece of bread will you turn away my people from me? You have led those to death who should not die! And you have promised life to those who should not live by lying to my people—and how they love it!’”
20 And so the Lord says: “I will crush you because you hunt my people’s souls with all your magic charms. I will tear off the charms and set my people free like birds from cages. 21 I will tear off the magic veils and save my people from you; they will no longer be your victims, and you shall know I am the Lord. 22 Your lies have discouraged the righteous when I didn’t want it so. And you have encouraged the wicked by promising life, though they continue in their sins. 23 But you will lie no more; no longer will you talk of seeing ‘visions’ that you never saw nor practice your magic, for I will deliver my people out of your hands by destroying you, and you shall know I am the Lord.”
14 Then some of the elders of Israel visited me to ask me for a message from the Lord, 2 and this is the message that came to me to give to them:
3 “Son of dust, these men worship idols in their hearts—should I let them ask me anything? 4 Tell them, ‘The Lord God says: I, the Lord, will personally deal with anyone in Israel who worships idols and then comes to ask my help. 5 For I will punish the minds and hearts of those who turn from me to idols.’
6-7 “Therefore, warn them that the Lord God says: ‘Repent and destroy your idols, and stop worshiping them in your hearts. I the Lord will personally punish everyone, whether people of Israel or the foreigners living among you, who rejects me for idols and then comes to a prophet to ask for my help and advice. 8 I will turn upon him and make a terrible example of him, destroying him; and you shall know I am the Lord. 9 And if one of the false prophets gives him a message anyway, it is a lie. His prophecy will not come true, and I will stand against that “prophet” and destroy him from among my people Israel. 10 False prophets and hypocrites—evil people who say they want my words—all will be punished for their sins, 11 so that the people of Israel will learn not to desert me and not to be polluted any longer with sin. They will be my people and I their God.’ So says the Lord.”
12 Then this message of the Lord came to me:
13 “Son of dust, if the people of a land sin against me, then I will crush them with my fist, break off their food supply, and send famine to destroy both man and beast. 14 Even if Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, they alone would be saved by their righteousness, and I would destroy the remainder of Israel,” says the Lord God.
15 “If I send an invasion of dangerous wild animals into the land to devastate the land, 16 even if these three men were there, the Lord God swears that it would do no good—it would not save the people from their doom. Those three only would be saved, but the land would be devastated.
17 “Or if I bring war against that land and tell the armies of the enemy to come and destroy everything, 18 even if these three men were in the land, the Lord God declares that they alone would be saved.
19 “And if I pour out my fury by sending an epidemic of disease into the land, and the plague kills man and beast alike, 20 though Noah, Daniel, and Job were living there, the Lord God says that only they would be saved because of their righteousness.”
21 And the Lord says: “Four great punishments await Jerusalem to destroy all life: war, famine, ferocious beasts, plague. 22 If there are survivors and they come here to join you as exiles in Babylon, you will see with your own eyes how wicked they are, and you will know it was right for me to destroy Jerusalem. 23 You will agree, when you meet them, that it is not without cause that all these things are being done to Israel.”
15 Then this message came to me from the Lord:
2 “Son of dust, what good are vines from the forest? Are they as useful as trees? Are they even as valuable as a single branch? 3 No, for vines can’t be used even for making pegs to hang up pots and pans! 4 All they are good for is fuel—and even so, they burn but poorly! 5-6 So they are useless both before and after being put in the fire!
“This is what I mean,” the Lord God says: “The people of Jerusalem are like the vines of the forest—useless before being burned and certainly useless afterwards! 7 And I will set myself against them to see to it that if they escape from one fire, they will fall into another; and then you shall know I am the Lord. 8 And I will make the land desolate because they worship idols,” says the Lord God.
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.