1 Kings 22:6

22:6 So the king of Israel assembled about four hundred prophets and asked them, “Should I attack Ramoth Gilead or not?” ¹  They said, “Attack! The sovereign one ²  will hand it over to the king.”

1 Kings 22:22

22:22 He replied, ‘I will go out and be a lying spirit in the mouths of all his prophets.’ The Lord ³  said, ‘Deceive and overpower him. ⁴  Go out and do as you have proposed.’

Proverbs 12:19

12:19 The one who tells the truth ⁵  will endure forever,

but the one who lies ⁶  will last only for a moment. ⁷ 

Isaiah 44:25

44:25 who frustrates the omens of the empty talkers ⁸ 

and humiliates ⁹  the omen readers,

who overturns the counsel of the wise men ¹⁰ 

and makes their advice ¹¹  seem foolish,

Ezekiel 13:6

13:6 They see delusion and their omens are a lie. ¹²  They say, “the Lord declares,” though the Lord has not sent them; ¹³  yet they expect their word to be confirmed. ¹⁴ 

Ezekiel 13:17

13:17 “As for you, son of man, turn toward ¹⁵  the daughters of your people who are prophesying from their imagination. ¹⁶  Prophesy against them

Ezekiel 13:19

13:19 You have profaned me among my people for handfuls of barley and scraps of bread. You have put to death people ¹⁷  who should not die and kept alive those who should not live by your lies to my people, who listen to lies!

Ezekiel 13:2

13:2 “Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel who are now prophesying. Say to the prophets who prophesy from their imagination: ¹⁸  ‘Hear the word of the Lord!

Colossians 2:17

2:17 these are only ¹⁹  the shadow of the things to come, but the reality ²⁰  is Christ! ²¹ 

[22:6]  ¹ tn Heb “Should I go against Ramoth Gilead for war or should I refrain?”

[22:6]  ² tn Though Jehoshaphat requested an oracle from “the Lord” (יְהוָה, Yahweh), they stop short of actually using this name and substitute the title אֲדֹנָי (’adonai, “lord; master”). This ambiguity may explain in part Jehoshaphat’s hesitancy and caution (vv. 7-8). He seems to doubt that the four hundred are genuine prophets of the Lord.

[22:22]  ³ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[22:22]  ⁴ tn The Hebrew text has two imperfects connected by וְגַם (vÿgam). These verbs could be translated as specific futures, “you will deceive and also you will prevail,” in which case the Lord is assuring the spirit of success on his mission. However, in a commissioning context (note the following imperatives) such as this, it is more likely that the imperfects are injunctive, in which case one could translate, “Deceive, and also overpower.”

[12:19]  ⁵ tn Heb “a lip of truth.” The genitive אֱמֶת (’emet, “truth”) functions as an attributive adjective: “truthful lip.” The term שְׂפַת (sÿfat, “lip”) functions as a synecdoche of part (= lip) for the whole (= person): “truthful person.” The contrast is between “the lip of truth” and the “tongue of lying.”

[12:19]  ⁶ tn Heb “a tongue of deceit.” The genitive שָׁקֶר (shaqer, “deceit”) functions as an attributive genitive. The noun לָשׁוֹן (lashon, “tongue”) functions as a synecdoche of part (= tongue) for the whole (= person): “lying person.”

[12:19]  ⁷ tn Heb “while I would twinkle.” This expression is an idiom meaning “only for a moment.” The twinkling of the eye, the slightest movement, signals the brevity of the life of a lie (hyperbole). But truth will be established (תִּכּוֹן, tikon), that is, be made firm and endure.

[44:25]  ⁸ tc The Hebrew text has בַּדִּים (baddim), perhaps meaning “empty talkers” (BDB 95 s.v. III בַּד). In the four other occurrences of this word (Job 11:3; Isa 16:6; Jer 48:30; 50:36) the context does not make the meaning of the term very clear. Its primary point appears to be that the words spoken are meaningless or false. In light of its parallelism with “omen readers,” some have proposed an emendation to בָּרִים (barim, “seers”). The Mesopotamian baru-priests were divination specialists who played an important role in court life. See R. Wilson, Prophecy and Society in Ancient Israel, 93-98. Rather than supporting an emendation, J. N. Oswalt (Isaiah [NICOT], 2:189, n. 79) suggests that Isaiah used בַּדִּים purposively as a derisive wordplay on the Akkadian word baru (in light of the close similarity of the d and r consonants).

[44:25]  ⁹ tn Or “makes fools of” (NIV, NRSV); NAB and NASB both similar.

[44:25]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “who turns back the wise” (so NRSV); NIV “overthrows the learning of the wise”; TEV “The words of the wise I refute.”

[44:25]  ¹¹ tn Heb “their knowledge” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NRSV).

[13:6]  ¹² sn The same description of a false prophet is found in Micah 2:11.

[13:6]  ¹³ sn The Lord has not sent them. A similar concept is found in Jer 14:14; 23:21.

[13:6]  ¹⁴ tn Or “confirmed”; NIV “to be fulfilled”; TEV “to come true.”

[13:17]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “set your face against.”

[13:17]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “from their heart.”

[13:19]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “human lives” or “souls.”

[13:2]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “from their mind.”

[2:17]  ¹⁹ tn The word “only,” though not in the Greek text, is supplied in the English translation to bring out the force of the Greek phrase.

[2:17]  ²⁰ tn Grk “but the body of Christ.” The term body here, when used in contrast to shadow (σκιά, skia) indicates the opposite meaning, i.e., the reality or substance itself.

[2:17]  ²¹ tn The genitive τοῦ Χριστοῦ (tou Cristou) is appositional and translated as such: “the reality is Christ.”