“Keep on using your tricks and doing all your magic that you have used since you were young. Maybe they will help you; maybe you will be able to scare someone.
The Egyptians will be afraid, and I will ruin their plans. They will ask advice from their idols and spirits of the dead, from their mediums and fortune-tellers.”
I show that the signs of the lying prophets are false; I make fools of those who do magic. I confuse even the wise; they think they know much, but I make them look foolish.
Some people say, “Ask the mediums and fortune-tellers, who whisper and mutter, what to do.” But I tell you that people should ask their God for help. Why should people who are still alive ask something from the dead?
Where are the idols you made for yourselves? Let them come and save you when you are in trouble! People of Judah, you have as many idols as you have towns!
This is what the Lord God says: Take off the royal turban, and remove the crown. Things will change. Those who are important now will be made unimportant, and those who are unimportant now will be made important.
So the king called for his fortune-tellers, magicians, wizards, and wise men, because he wanted them to tell him what he had dreamed. They came in and stood in front of the king.
The seers will be ashamed; the people who see the future will be embarrassed. Yes, all of them will cover their mouths, because there will be no answer from God.”