The Unfaithful Prophets
9 Concerning the prophets: My heart is broken in my midst. All my bones tremble. I have become like a drunken man, even like a man over whom wine has passed, because of Yahweh, and because of {his holy words}.
10
For the land is full [of] adulterers; for the land mourns because of a curse. [The] pastures of [the] desert are dry, and their evil has been their way of running, and their power [is] not right.
11
"For both prophet as well as priest are godless, even in my temple I have found their wickedness," {declares} Yahweh.
12
"{Therefore} their way will be to them like the slippery places, they will be pushed in the darkness, and they will fall into it, for I will bring disaster on them [in] the year of their punishment," {declares} Yahweh.
13
"Now in the prophets of Samaria I saw a disgusting thing. They prophesied by Baal and they caused my people Israel to err.
14
And in the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen something horrible. They commit adultery, and they walk in lies, and they make strong [the] hands of evildoers, [so] that they have not turned back each from his wickedness. All of them have become to me like Sodom, and its inhabitants like Gomorrah.
15
{Therefore} thus says Yahweh concerning the prophets, "Look, I [am] going to let them eat wormwood and I will give them water of poison to drink, for from the prophets of Jerusalem went out ungodliness to all the land."
16
Thus says Yahweh of hosts, "You must not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you. They [are] deluding you [with] visions of their {mind},
They do not speak from the mouth of Yahweh.
17
[They are] continually saying to those who disregard the word of Yahweh, 'Peace it will be to you,' and [to] {each one} who walks in the stubbornness of his heart they say, 'Calamity will not come upon you.'
18
For who has stood in the council of Yahweh, that he has seen and heard his word? Who has listened attentively [to] his word and heard [it]?
19
Look, the storm of Yahweh has gone forth [in] wrath, even a whirling tempest. It will whirl upon [the] head of [the] wicked
20
The {anger} of Yahweh will not turn back until his doing and until his keeping the plans of his {mind}. {In latter days} you will look closely at it [with] understanding.
21
I have not sent the prophets, yet they ran. I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied
22
But if they had stood in my council, then they would have proclaimed my words [to] my people, and they would have caused them to turn from their evil way, and from the evil of their deeds.
23
[Am] I a God from near," {declares} Yahweh, "and not a God from far?
24
Or can a person hide himself in secret places and I cannot see him?" {declares} Yahweh. "[Do] I not fill up the heaven and the earth?" {declares} Yahweh.
25
"I have heard what the prophets who prophesy lies have said in my name, {saying}, 'I have dreamed! I have dreamed!'
26
{How long} [will] this be in the hearts of the prophets who prophesy lies, even the prophets of the deceitfulness of their hearts,
27
who plan to make my people forget my name by their dreams that they tell each one to his neighbor, just as their ancestors forgot my name through Baal?
28
The prophet who [has] with him a dream, let him tell [the] dream. But [the prophet] who [has] my word with him, let him speak my word faithfully. {What is straw compared to wheat}?" {declares} Yahweh.
29
"[Is] not my word like fire?" {declares} Yahweh, "and like a blacksmith's hammer [that] breaks a rock into pieces?
30
"{Therefore} look, I [am] against the prophets," {declares} Yahweh, "who steal my words each one from his neighbor.
31
Look, I [am] against the prophets," {declares} Yahweh, "who take their tongues and declare as prophets, '[Yahweh] {declares}.'
32
Look, I [am] against those who prophesy dreams of lies," {declares} Yahweh, "and tell them, and they caused my people to err through their lies, and in their recklessness, when I myself have not sent them nor commanded them, so they profit not this people at all," {declares} Yahweh.
33
"Now when this people, or a prophet, or a priest, ask you, {saying}, 'What [is] the burden of Yahweh?' then you shall say to them, '{You are the burden}, and I will forsake you,'" {declares} Yahweh.
34
"And the prophet, and the priest, and the people who say, 'The burden of Yahweh,' I will punish that man and his house.
35
Thus you shall say, each one to his neighbor and each one to his brother: 'What has Yahweh answered?' or, 'What has Yahweh spoken?'
36
But you shall not mention the burden of Yahweh, for the burden is to each one his word, and so you twist the words of [the] living God, Yahweh of hosts, our God
37
Thus you shall say to that prophet, 'What has Yahweh answered you?' or, 'What has Yahweh spoken?'
38
But if you say, 'The burden of Yahweh,' {therefore} thus says Yahweh, 'because of your saying these words, "The burden of Yahweh," then I will send to you, {saying}, "You shall not say, 'The burden of Yahweh.'"
39
{Therefore} look, here I am, and I will surely lift you up and forsake you and the city that I gave to you and to your ancestors from {my presence},
40
and I will bring upon you {an everlasting disgrace} and {an everlasting shame} that will not be forgotten."