They keep saying to those who despise Me, ‘Adonai has said, you will have shalom.’ To everyone who walks in the stubbornness of his own heart they say: ‘No evil will come on you.’”
This wicked people, who refuse to hear My words, who walk in the stubbornness of their own heart, and go after other gods to serve them and worship them, will be just like this waistband—worth nothing at all.
Then they said: “Come, let us devise plans against Jeremiah. Surely Torah from the kohen will not be lost, nor will counsel from the wise, nor will the word from the prophet. Come, let’s strike at him with the tongue, and pay no attention to any of his words.”
At that time they will call Jerusalem the throne of Adonai and all the nations will gather into it, to Jerusalem, in the Name of Adonai. No longer will they walk according to the stubbornness of their evil heart.
Then I said, “Alas, Adonai Elohim! How completely You have deceived this people and Jerusalem saying, ‘You will have shalom,’ until the sword touches the soul!”
But they did not listen or pay attention. Instead they followed their own counsel, in the stubbornness of their evil heart. They have gone backward and not forward,
Your prophets have seen for you false and worthless visions. They did not expose your iniquity, so as to restore your captivity. Rather, they have seen for you false and worthless oracles.
Precisely because they have led My people astray saying, ‘Shalom’ when there is no shalom, they build a weak wall, behold, they plaster it over with whitewash.
You have profaned Me among My people for handfuls of barley and crumbs of bread, to kill those who should not die and to save those who should not live, by lying to My people, who listen to lies.’”
Because you have discouraged the hearts of the righteous with your lies, when I have not grieved him; and strengthened the hands of the wicked so he may not return from his wicked way and live,
Her leaders give judgment for a bribe. Her priests give direction for a price. Her prophets practice divination for money. Yet they lean on Adonai by saying: “Is not Adonai in our midst? No calamity will come upon us!”
Thus said Adonai about the prophets who are misleading My people, those who bite with their teeth and cry “Shalom”—a word that He did not put in their mouth— yet they consecrate war against him:
At that time I will search Jerusalem with lamps and punish the men whose spirits have hardened, who say in their hearts, ‘Adonai will do neither good nor evil.’
The idols utter deceit and diviners see lies. They relate false dreams and comfort in vain. Therefore the people wander like sheep, afflicted because there is no shepherd.
“A son honors his father, and a servant his master. So if I am Father, where is My honor? If I am Master, where is My reverence?”—says Adonai-Tzva’ot—“you, kohanim who despise My Name!” But you say, “How did we despise Your Name?”
but for an entire month—until it is coming out of your nostrils and it becomes loathsome to you! For you rejected Adonai who is among you, and you wailed to His face saying, ‘Why did we ever leave Egypt?”
“Now when someone hears the words of this oath and in his heart considers himself blessed, thinking, ‘Shalom will be mine, even though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart’—thus sweeping away the moist with the dry—
Adonai will be unwilling to forgive him. For then the anger of Adonai and His jealousy will smoke against that person. So all the oath that is written in this scroll will settle on him, and Adonai will blot out his name from under the heavens.
Therefore Adonai God of Israel declares, I indeed said that your house and your father’s house should walk before Me forever. But now declares Adonai, far be it from Me! For I will honor those who honor Me, but those who despise Me will be disdained.