Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

² Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel who are prophesying. You are to say to the prophets who prophesy from their own heart: Hear the word of the Lord.

³ This is what the Lord God says. Woe to the foolish prophets who follow their own spirit and prophesy things which they have not seen. ⁴ Israel, your prophets are like jackals among the ruins. ⁵ You have not stepped up into the breaks in the wall, nor have you repaired the wall for the house of Israel, so that it could stand up in battle on the Day of the Lord. ⁶ They see empty visions and their omens predict lies—those who say, “The declaration of the Lord,” when the Lord has not sent them, and yet they expect him to fulfill their word. ⁷ Have you not, in fact, seen an empty vision and predicted lies when you say, “The declaration of the Lord,” when, in fact, I have not spoken? ⁸ Therefore, this is what the Lord God says. Because you have spoken empty words and have seen a lying vision, therefore, I am surely against you, declares the Lord God. ⁹ My hand will come upon the prophets who see empty visions and predict a lie. They will not remain in the council of my people. They will not be recorded in the register of the house of Israel, and they will not enter the land of Israel. Then you will know that I am the Lord God.

¹⁰ This will happen precisely because they have misled my people by saying, “Peace,” when there is no peace. When someone builds a flimsy wall, look how the false prophets daub it with a coat of mud plaster.^{[a] 11} Tell those who are daubing with plaster that the wall will fall. There will be driving rain, large hailstones will fall,^[b] and a violent wind will break out, ¹² and suddenly the wall will fall. Won’t they say to you, “Where is the mud plaster you daubed on now?”

¹³ Therefore, this is what the Lord God says. In my wrath I will make a violent wind break out, and there will be driving rain because of my anger. In my wrath I will send large hailstones that bring destruction. ¹⁴ I will demolish the wall that you have daubed with mud plaster. I will level it to the ground, so that its foundation will be exposed. It will fall, and you will perish within the city. Then you will know that I am the Lord. ¹⁵ In this way I will exhaust my wrath against the wall and against those who daubed it with mud plaster, and I will say to you, “Gone is the wall, and gone are those who daubed on it— ¹⁶ those prophets of Israel who are prophesying about Jerusalem and who proclaim a vision of peace about her when there is no peace, declares the Lord God.”