Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

The Prayer of Someone in Exile ^(A)

Prophecy against False Male Prophets

13 The Lord spoke to me. ² “Mortal man,” he said, “denounce the prophets of Israel who make up their own prophecies. Tell them to listen to the word of the Lord.”

³ This is what the Sovereign Lord says: “These foolish prophets are doomed! They provide their own inspiration and invent their own visions. ⁴ People of Israel, your prophets are as useless as foxes living among the ruins of a city. ⁵ They don't guard the places where the walls have crumbled, nor do they rebuild the walls, and so Israel cannot be defended when war comes on the day of the Lord. ⁶ Their visions are false, and their predictions are lies. They claim that they are speaking my message, but I have not sent them. Yet they expect their words to come true! ⁷ I tell them: Those visions you see are false, and the predictions you make are lies. You say that they are my words, but I haven't spoken to you!”

⁸ So the Sovereign Lord says to them, “Your words are false, and your visions are lies. I am against you. ⁹ I am about to punish you prophets who have false visions and make misleading predictions. You will not be there when my people gather to make decisions; your names will not be included in the list of the citizens of Israel; you will never return to your land. Then you will know that I am the Sovereign Lord.

^10 (A)“The prophets mislead my people by saying that all is well. All is certainly not well! My people have put up a wall of loose stones, and then the prophets have come and covered it with whitewash. ¹¹ Tell the prophets that their wall is going to fall down. I will send a pouring rain. Hailstones will fall on it, and a strong wind will blow against it. ¹² The wall will collapse, and everyone will ask you what good the whitewash did.”

¹³ Now this is what the Sovereign Lord says: “In my anger I will send a strong wind, pouring rain, and hailstones to destroy the wall. ¹⁴ I intend to break down the wall they whitewashed, to shatter it, and to leave the foundation stones bare. It will collapse and kill you all. Then everyone will know that I am the Lord.

¹⁵ “The wall and those who covered it with whitewash will feel the force of my anger. Then I will tell you that the wall is gone and so are those who whitewashed it— ¹⁶ those prophets who assured Jerusalem that all was well, when all was not well!” The Sovereign Lord has spoken.

False Teachers

2 False prophets appeared in the past among the people, and in the same way false teachers will appear among you. They will bring in destructive, untrue doctrines, and will deny the Master who redeemed them, and so they will bring upon themselves sudden destruction. ² Even so, many will follow their immoral ways; and because of what they do, others will speak evil of the Way of truth. ³ In their greed these false teachers will make a profit out of telling you made-up stories. For a long time now their Judge has been ready, and their Destroyer has been wide awake!