Since we have heard that some of our number [who went out] without any mandate from us have upset you with their teachings and disturbed your peace of mind,
Thus says the Lord of hosts: Do not listen to the words of your prophets, who fill you with emptiness; They speak visions from their own fancy, not from the mouth of the Lord.
I am confident of you in the Lord that you will not take a different view, and that the one who is troubling you will bear the condemnation, whoever he may be.
They went out from us, but they were not really of our number; if they had been, they would have remained with us. Their desertion shows that none of them was of our number.