Jeremiah 10:8

10:8 The people of those nations are both stupid and foolish.

Instruction from a wooden idol is worthless!

Jeremiah 10:14

10:14 All these idolaters will prove to be stupid and ignorant.

Every goldsmith will be disgraced by the idol he made.

For the image he forges is merely a sham.

There is no breath in any of those idols.

Jeremiah 2:8

2:8 Your priests did not ask, ‘Where is the Lord?’

Those responsible for teaching my law did not really know me.

Your rulers rebelled against me.

Your prophets prophesied in the name of the god Baal.

They all worshiped idols that could not help them.

Jeremiah 5:31

5:31 The prophets prophesy lies.

The priests exercise power by their own authority.

And my people love to have it this way.

But they will not be able to help you when the time of judgment comes!

Jeremiah 8:9

8:9 Your wise men will be put to shame.

They will be dumbfounded and be brought to judgment.

Since they have rejected the word of the Lord,

what wisdom do they really have?

Jeremiah 12:10

12:10 Many foreign rulers will ruin the land where I planted my people.

They will trample all over my chosen land.

They will turn my beautiful land

into a desolate wasteland.

Jeremiah 23:9-32

Oracles Against the False Prophets

23:9 Here is what the Lord says concerning the false prophets:

My heart and my mind are deeply disturbed.

I tremble all over.

I am like a drunk person,

like a person who has had too much wine,

because of the way the Lord

and his holy word are being mistreated.

23:10 For the land is full of people unfaithful to him.

They live wicked lives and they misuse their power.

So the land is dried up because it is under his curse.

The pastures in the wilderness are withered.

23:11 Moreover, the Lord says,

“Both the prophets and priests are godless.

I have even found them doing evil in my temple!

23:12 So the paths they follow will be dark and slippery.

They will stumble and fall headlong.

For I will bring disaster on them.

A day of reckoning is coming for them.”

The Lord affirms it!

23:13 The Lord says, “I saw the prophets of Samaria

doing something that was disgusting.

They prophesied in the name of the god Baal

and led my people Israel astray.

23:14 But I see the prophets of Jerusalem

doing something just as shocking.

They are unfaithful to me

and continually prophesy lies.

So they give encouragement to people who are doing evil,

with the result that they do not stop their evildoing.

I consider all of them as bad as the people of Sodom,

and the citizens of Jerusalem as bad as the people of Gomorrah.

23:15 So then I, the Lord who rules over all,

have something to say concerning the prophets of Jerusalem:

‘I will make these prophets eat the bitter food of suffering

and drink the poison water of judgment.

For the prophets of Jerusalem are the reason

that ungodliness has spread throughout the land.’”

23:16 The Lord who rules over all says to the people of Jerusalem:

“Do not listen to what

those prophets are saying to you.

They are filling you with false hopes.

They are reporting visions of their own imaginations,

not something the Lord has given them to say.

23:17 They continually say to those who reject what the Lord has said,

‘Things will go well for you!’

They say to all those who follow the stubborn inclinations of their own hearts,

‘Nothing bad will happen to you!’

23:18 Yet which of them has ever stood in the Lord’s inner circle

so they could see and hear what he has to say?

Which of them have ever paid attention or listened to what he has said?

23:19 But just watch! The wrath of the Lord

will come like a storm!

Like a raging storm it will rage down

on the heads of those who are wicked.

23:20 The anger of the Lord will not turn back

until he has fully carried out his intended purposes.

In days to come

you people will come to understand this clearly.

23:21 I did not send those prophets.

Yet they were in a hurry to give their message.

I did not tell them anything.

Yet they prophesied anyway.

23:22 But if they had stood in my inner circle,

they would have proclaimed my message to my people.

They would have caused my people to turn from their wicked ways

and stop doing the evil things they are doing.

23:23 Do you people think that I am some local deity

and not the transcendent God?” the Lord asks.

23:24 “Do you really think anyone can hide himself

where I cannot see him?” the Lord asks.

“Do you not know that I am everywhere?”

the Lord asks.

23:25 The Lord says, “I have heard what those prophets who are prophesying lies in my name are saying. They are saying, ‘I have had a dream! I have had a dream!’ 23:26 Those prophets are just prophesying lies. They are prophesying the delusions of their own minds. 23:27 How long will they go on plotting to make my people forget who I am through the dreams they tell one another? That is just as bad as what their ancestors did when they forgot who I am by worshiping the god Baal. 23:28 Let the prophet who has had a dream go ahead and tell his dream. Let the person who has received my message report that message faithfully. What is like straw cannot compare to what is like grain! I, the Lord, affirm it! 23:29 My message is like a fire that purges dross! It is like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces! I, the Lord, so affirm it! 23:30 So I, the Lord, affirm that I am opposed to those prophets who steal messages from one another that they claim are from me. 23:31 I, the Lord, affirm that I am opposed to those prophets who are using their own tongues to declare, ‘The Lord declares….’ 23:32 I, the Lord, affirm that I am opposed to those prophets who dream up lies and report them. They are misleading my people with their reckless lies. I did not send them. I did not commission them. They are not helping these people at all. I, the Lord, affirm it!”

Isaiah 56:10-12

56:10 All their watchmen are blind,

they are unaware.

All of them are like mute dogs,

unable to bark.

They pant, lie down,

and love to snooze.

56:11 The dogs have big appetites;

they are never full.

They are shepherds who have no understanding;

they all go their own way,

each one looking for monetary gain.

56:12 Each one says,

‘Come on, I’ll get some wine!

Let’s guzzle some beer!

Tomorrow will be just like today!

We’ll have everything we want!’

Ezekiel 22:25-30

22:25 Her princes within her are like a roaring lion tearing its prey; they have devoured lives. They take away riches and valuable things; they have made many women widows within it. 22:26 Her priests abuse my law and have desecrated my holy things. They do not distinguish between the holy and the profane, or recognize any distinction between the unclean and the clean. They ignore my Sabbaths and I am profaned in their midst. 22:27 Her officials are like wolves in her midst rending their prey – shedding blood and destroying lives – so they can get dishonest profit. 22:28 Her prophets coat their messages with whitewash. They see false visions and announce lying omens for them, saying, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says,’ when the Lord has not spoken. 22:29 The people of the land have practiced extortion and committed robbery. They have wronged the poor and needy; they have oppressed the foreigner who lives among them and denied them justice.

22:30 “I looked for a man from among them who would repair the wall and stand in the gap before me on behalf of the land, so that I would not destroy it, but I found no one.

Ezekiel 34:2-10

34:2 “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy, and say to them – to the shepherds: ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: Woe to the shepherds of Israel who have been feeding themselves! Should not shepherds feed the flock? 34:3 You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the choice animals, but you do not feed the sheep! 34:4 You have not strengthened the weak, healed the sick, bandaged the injured, brought back the strays, or sought the lost, but with force and harshness you have ruled over them. 34:5 They were scattered because they had no shepherd, and they became food for every wild beast. 34:6 My sheep wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. My sheep were scattered over the entire face of the earth with no one looking or searching for them.

34:7 “‘Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: 34:8 As surely as I live, declares the sovereign Lord, my sheep have become prey and have become food for all the wild beasts. There was no shepherd, and my shepherds did not search for my flock, but fed themselves and did not feed my sheep, 34:9 Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: 34:10 This is what the sovereign Lord says: Look, I am against the shepherds, and I will demand my sheep from their hand. I will no longer let them be shepherds; the shepherds will not feed themselves anymore. I will rescue my sheep from their mouth, so that they will no longer be food for them.

John 10:12-13

10:12 The hired hand, who is not a shepherd and does not own sheep, sees the wolf coming and abandons the sheep and runs away. So the wolf attacks the sheep and scatters them. 10:13 Because he is a hired hand and is not concerned about the sheep, he runs away.

Zechariah 10:3

10:3 I am enraged at the shepherds and will punish the lead-goats.

For the Lord who rules over all has brought blessing to his flock, the house of Judah, and will transform them into his majestic warhorse.