Study Desk

And in prophets of Samaria I have seen folly, They have prophesied by Baal, And cause my people -- Israel -- to err.

And in prophets of Jerusalem I have seen a horrible thing, Committing adultery, and walking falsely, Yea, they strengthened the hands of evil doers, So that they have not turned back Each from his wickedness, They have been to me -- all of them -- as Sodom, And its inhabitants as Gomorrah.

Saying diligently to those despising The word of Jehovah: Peace is for you, And [to] every one walking in the stubbornness of his heart they have said: Evil doth not come in unto you.

I have not sent the prophets, and they have run, I have not spoken unto them, and they have prophesied.

But -- if they stood in My counsel, Then they cause My people to hear My words, And they turn them back from their evil way, And from the evil of their doings.

Lo, I [am] against the prophets, An affirmation of Jehovah, Who are making smooth their tongue, And they affirm -- an affirmation.

Lo, I [am] against the prophets of false dreams, An affirmation of Jehovah, And they recount them, and cause my people to err, By their falsehoods, and by their instability, And I -- I have not sent them, Nor have I commanded them, And they are not at all profitable to this people, An affirmation of Jehovah.

And have given to them a heart to know Me, For I [am] Jehovah, And they have been to Me for a people, And I am to them for God, For they turned back unto Me with all their heart.

And they have drunk, and shaken themselves and shewn themselves foolish, because of the sword that I am sending among them.

And it hath come to pass, When they refuse to receive the cup out of thy hand to drink, That thou hast said unto them: Thus said Jehovah of Hosts, Ye do certainly drink.

And the pierced of Jehovah have been in that day, From the end of the earth even unto the end of the earth, They are not lamented, nor gathered, nor buried, For dung on the face of the ground they are.

If so be they hearken, and turn back each from his evil way, then I have repented concerning the evil that I am thinking of doing to them, because of the evil of their doings.

And the heads of Judah hear these things, and they go up from the house of the king [to] the house of Jehovah, and sit in the opening of the new gate of Jehovah.

And they bring out Urijah from Egypt, and bring him in unto the king Jehoiakim, and he smiteth him with a sword, and casteth his corpse unto the graves of the sons of the people.'

For falsehood they are prophesying to you, so as to remove you far from off your ground, and I have driven you out, and ye have perished.

`And ye do not hearken unto the words of the prophets who are speaking unto you, saying, Ye do not serve the king of Babylon, -- for falsehood they are prophesying to you.

For I have not sent them -- an affirmation of Jehovah -- and they are prophesying in My name falsely, so as to drive you out, and ye have perished, ye, and the prophets who are prophesying to you.'

And unto the priests, and unto all this people, I have spoken, saying, `Thus said Jehovah, Ye do not hearken unto the words of your prophets, who are prophesying to you, saying, Lo, the vessels of the house of Jehovah are brought back from Babylon now in haste, for falsehood they are prophesying to you.

`And, if they be prophets, and if a word of Jehovah be with them, let them intercede, I pray you, with Jehovah of Hosts, so that the vessels that are left in the house of Jehovah, and [in] the house of the king of Judah, and in Jerusalem, have not gone into Babylon.

To Babylon they are brought, and there they are till the day of My inspecting them -- an affirmation of Jehovah; then I have brought them up, and have brought them back unto this place.'