So if a prophet prophesied peace and prosperity, it was only known that the Lord truly sent him when what he prophesied came true.”

Those prophets are just prophesying lies. They are prophesying the delusions of their own minds.

The prophet Hananiah then took the yoke off the prophet Jeremiah’s neck and broke it.

Then the prophet Jeremiah responded to the prophet Hananiah in the presence of the priests and all the people who were standing in the Lord’s temple.

But shortly after the prophet Hananiah had broken the yoke off the prophet Jeremiah’s neck, the Lord spoke to Jeremiah.

In the seventh month of that very same year the prophet Hananiah died.

“You say, ‘The Lord has raised up prophets of good news for us here in Babylon.’

The Lord gave the prophet Jeremiah a message for them. He told him to tell them,

“Before I formed you in your mother’s womb I chose you. Before you were born I set you apart. I appointed you to be a prophet to the nations.”

“It did no good for me to punish your people. They did not respond to such correction. You slaughtered your prophets like a voracious lion.”

The prophets will prove to be full of wind. The Lord has not spoken through them. So, let what they say happen to them.’”

Moreover, the Lord says, “Both the prophets and priests are godless. I have even found them doing evil in my temple!

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.

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.

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!’

So I, the Lord, affirm that I am opposed to those prophets who steal messages from one another that they claim are from me.

I, the Lord, affirm that I am opposed to those prophets who are using their own tongues to declare, ‘The Lord declares….’

Each of you should merely ask the prophet, ‘What answer did the Lord give you? Or what did the Lord say?’

Zephaniah the priest read that letter to the prophet Jeremiah.

The prophet Jeremiah told all this to King Zedekiah of Judah in Jerusalem.