No one is wise enough to understand this. To whom has the Lord revealed this so that they can explain it? The land dies; it has been ruined like the desert so that no one can travel through it.
The land is filled with adulterers. The land mourns because of the curse. Pastures in the wilderness have dried up. The people are evil, and they use their strength to do the wrong things.
This is what the Lord of Armies says: Don’t listen to what the prophets are saying to you. They fill you with false hope. They speak about visions that they dreamed up. These visions are not from the Lord.
If they had been in my inner circle, they would have announced my words to my people. They would have turned back from their evil ways and the evil they have done.
The prophet who has a dream should tell his dream. However, the person who has my word should honestly speak my word. What does grain have to do with straw?” asks the Lord.
Wise people will understand these things. A person with insight will recognize them. The Lord’s ways are right. Righteous people live by them. Rebellious people stumble over them.
“I will cut off the nations. Their towers will be destroyed. I will demolish their streets. No one will walk through them. Their cities will be completely destroyed. Not a single person will be left. No one will be living there.
“The prophet Daniel said that the disgusting thing that will cause destruction will stand in the holy place. When you see this (let the reader take note),
Blessed is the one who reads, as well as those who hear the words of this prophecy and pay attention to what is written in it because the time is near.