Ezequiel 13

Against the false prophets

¹The word of the LORD came to me: ²Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel who are prophesying now. Say to those who prophesy out of their own minds: Hear the word of the LORD! ³The Lord GOD says this: Woe to the senseless prophets who go after their own spirit and have seen nothing! ⁴Your prophets, Israel, have been like jackals among ruins. ⁵You have not gone up into the breaches or rebuilt the wall for the house of Israel, so that it might stand firm in battle on the day of the LORD. ⁶Their visions are false and their divination is a lie. They say, “The LORD declares,” though the LORD has not sent them, and yet they expect their word to come true. ⁷Is it not a false vision you have seen, and a lying divination you have spoken, when you say, “The LORD declares,” though I myself have not spoken?

The whitewashed wall

⁸Therefore the Lord GOD says this: Because you have spoken empty words and seen lying visions, I am against you, declares the Lord GOD. ⁹My hand will turn against the prophets whose visions are false and whose divinations are lies. They will have no place in the council of my people, they will not be recorded in the register of the house of Israel, and they will not set foot on Israel’s soil. Then you will know that I am the Lord GOD. ¹⁰This is because they have misled my people by saying, “Peace,” when there is no peace. When someone builds a flimsy wall, they cover it with whitewash. ¹¹Tell those who cover it with whitewash that it will fall. Torrents of rain will come; you hailstones will fall, and a violent wind will burst out. ¹²When the wall falls, will people not ask you, “Where is the whitewash you covered it with?”

¹³Therefore the Lord GOD says this: In my wrath I will let loose a violent wind; in my anger there will be torrents of rain, and hailstones in fury to destroy it. ¹⁴I will tear down the wall you covered with whitewash and level it to the ground, so that its foundation is laid bare. When it falls, you will be destroyed under it. Then you will know that I am the LORD. ¹⁵I will spend my wrath on the wall and on those who covered it with whitewash, and I will say to you, “Gone is the wall, and gone are those who whitewashed it,” ¹⁶those prophets of Israel who prophesied to Jerusalem and saw visions of peace for her, though there was no peace, declares the Lord GOD.

Against women who prophesy falsely

¹⁷Now you, son of man, turn to face the women of your people who prophesy out of their own minds, and prophesy against them, ¹⁸and say: The Lord GOD says this: Woe to the women who sew bands for everyone’s wrists and make head veils for people of every height, to hunt down lives! Will you hunt down the lives of my people and keep yourselves alive?^{a 19}For a few handfuls of barley and scraps of bread you have profaned me among my people. You have put to death people who should not die and kept alive people who should not live, by lying to my people, who listen to lies.

²⁰Therefore the Lord GOD says this: I am against your bands, with which you hunt down lives as if they were birds. I will tear them from your arms and set free the lives you hunt down like birds. ²¹I will tear off your veils and rescue my people from your power, and they will no longer be caught in your grip. Then you will know that I am the LORD. ²²Because with your lies you have discouraged the righteous, whom I had not made to grieve, and you have strengthened the hands of the wicked, so that they do not turn from their evil ways and save their lives, ²³So you will see no more false visions and practice no more divination. I will rescue my people from your power. Then you will know that I am the LORD.