And he said to him, “I too am a prophet like you, and a messenger spoke to me by the word of יהוה, saying, ‘Bring him back with you to your house, and let him eat bread and drink water.’ ” But he lied to him.
because you have said, “We have made a covenant with death, and with the grave we have effected a vision. When the overflowing scourge passes through, it does not come to us, for we have made lying our refuge, and under falsehood we have hidden ourselves.”
And I shall make right-ruling the measuring line, and righteousness the plummet. And the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lying, and the waters overflow the hiding place.
And these too have gone astray through wine, and through strong drink wandered about. Priest and prophet have gone astray through strong drink, they are swallowed up by wine, they wander about through strong drink, they go astray in vision, they stumble in right-ruling.
And the people shall exert pressure, man on man, man on his neighbour; the young rise up against the older, and the lightly esteemed against the highly esteemed.”
No one calls for righteousness, and no one pleads for truth. They trust in emptiness and speak worthlessness; they conceive trouble and bring forth wickedness.
“See, I am against those who prophesy false dreams,” declares יהוה, “and relate them, and lead My people astray by their falsehoods and by their reckless boasting. But I Myself did not send them nor have I commanded them. And they do not profit this people at all,” declares יהוה.
My heart within me is broken because of the prophets; all my bones shake. I am like a drunken man, and like a man overcome by wine, because of יהוה, and because of His set-apart words.
The prophets have prophesied falsely, and the priests rule by their own hand, and My people have loved it so. And what are you going to do at the end of it?
Your prophets have seen Falsehood and folly for you, And have not shown you your crookedness, To turn back your captivity. But their visions for you Are false and misleading messages.
“And you have profaned Me among My people for handfuls of barley and for pieces of bread, to put to death beings that should not die, and to keep alive beings who should not live, by your lying to My people who listen to lies!”
“Because with falsehood you have made the heart of the righteous sad, whom I have not made sad. And you have strengthened the hands of the wrong, so that he does not turn from his evil way, to keep him alive.
Thus said יהוה concerning the prophets who lead my people astray, who are biting with their teeth and have called out, “Peace!” They even set apart a battle against him who does not give for their mouths.
“For false messiahs and false prophets shall arise, and they shall show great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the chosen ones.
Beloved ones, do not believe every spirit, but prove the spirits, whether they are of Elohim, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
And the beast was seized, and with him the false prophet who worked signs in his presence, by which he led astray those who received the mark of the beast and those who worshipped his image. The two were thrown alive into the lake of fire burning with sulphur.
And he said to him, “See, there is in this city a man of Elohim, and the man is esteemed. All that he says comes true, without fail. Now, let us go there. It could be that he shows us the way to go.”