Deuteronomy 13:1Easy To Read Version“A prophet or a person that explains dreams might come to you. He might tell you that he will show you a sign or a miracle. See the chapter |
I am against the false prophets that preach fake dreams.” This message is from the Lord. “They mislead my people with their lies and false teachings. I did not send those prophets to teach the people. I never commanded them to do anything for me. They can’t help the people of Judah at all.” This message is from the Lord.
So don’t listen to your prophets. Don’t listen to the people that use magic to tell what will happen in the future. Don’t listen to people that say they can interpret dreams. Don’t listen to people that talk to the dead or to people that practice magic. All those people tell you, “You will not be slaves to the king of Babylon.”
Shemaiah, this is what you said in your letter to Zephaniah: ‘Zephaniah, the Lord has made you priest in place of Jehoiada. You are to be in charge of the Lord’s temple. You should arrest anyone that acts like a crazy person {\cf2\super [228]} and acts like a prophet. You should put that person’s feet between large blocks of wood and put neck-irons {\cf2\super [229]} on him.
People use their little statues and magic to learn the things that will happen in the future—but that is all useless. Those people see visions and tell about their dreams, but it is nothing but worthless lies. So the people are like sheep wandering here and there crying for help—but there is no shepherd to lead them.
In the past there were false prophets {\cf2\super [6]} among \{God’s\} people. It is the same now. You will have some false teachers in your group. They will teach things that are wrong—teachings that will make people be lost. And those false teachers will teach in a way that will be hard for you to see that they are wrong. They will even refuse to accept the Master (Jesus) who bought their freedom. And so they will quickly destroy themselves.