They still say to those who despise me, The LORD has said, You shall have peace; and they say to every one who walks according to the imagination of his own heart, No evil shall come upon you.
Now therefore the sword shall never depart from your house; because you have despised me, and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.
This evil people, who refuse to hear my words, who walk in the imagination of their heart, and walk after other gods, to serve them, and to worship them, shall even be like this waistband, which is good for nothing.
Then they said, Come, and let us devise plans against Jeremiah; for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, and let us strike him with the tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words.
At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the LORD; and all the nations shall be gathered unto it, to the name of the LORD, to Jerusalem: neither shall they walk any more after the imagination of their evil heart.
Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! surely you have greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, You shall have peace; though the sword reaches unto the soul.
Your prophets have seen vain and foolish things for you: and they have not revealed your iniquity, to turn away your captivity; but have seen for you false messages and causes of banishment.
Because, even because they have seduced my people, saying, Peace; and there was no peace; and one built up a wall, and, lo, others daubed it with untempered mortar:
And will you pollute me among my people for handfuls of barley and for pieces of bread, to slay the souls that should not die, and to save the souls alive that should not live, by your lying to my people that hear your lies?
Because with lies you have made the heart of the righteous sad, whom I have not made sad; and strengthened the hands of the wicked, that he should not return from his wicked way, by promising him life:
If a man walking in the spirit and falsehood lies, saying, I will prophesy to you of wine and of strong drink; he shall even be the prophet of this people.
Their heads judge for reward, and their priests teach for wages, and their prophets divine for money: yet will they lean upon the LORD, and say, Is not the LORD among us? no evil can come upon us.
Thus says the LORD concerning the prophets who make my people err, who bite with their teeth, and cry, Peace; and he who does not put something into their mouths, they even prepare war against him.
And it shall come to pass at that time, that I will search Jerusalem with candles, and punish the men who are settled on their lees: who say in their heart, The LORD will not do good, neither will he do evil.
For the idols have spoken vanity, and the diviners have seen a lie, and have told false dreams; they comfort in vain: therefore they went their way like a flock, they were troubled, because there was no shepherd.
A son honors his father, and a servant his master: if then I be a father, where is my honor? and if I be a master, where is my fear? says the LORD of hosts to you, O priests, who despise my name. And you say, How have we despised your name?
But even a whole month, until it comes out at your nostrils, and it be loathsome to you: because you have despised the LORD who is among you, and have wept before him, saying, Why did we come forth out of Egypt?
Lest there should be among you man, or woman, or family, or tribe, whose heart turns away this day from the LORD our God, to go and serve the gods of these nations; lest there should be among you a root that bears gall and wormwood;
And it comes to pass, when he hears the words of this curse, that he blesses himself in his heart, saying, I shall have peace, though I walk in the imagination of my heart, to add drunkenness to thirst:
Therefore the LORD God of Israel says, I said indeed that your house, and the house of your father, should walk before me for ever: but now the LORD says, Be it far from me; for those who honor me I will honor, and those who despise me shall be lightly esteemed.