Do not listen to the prophets who are telling you that you do not need to serve<n id="1" /> the king of Babylon. For they are prophesying lies to you.

For I, the <sc>Lordsc>, affirm<n id="1" /> that I did not send them. They are prophesying lies to you. If you<n id="2" /> listen to them, I will drive you and the prophets who are prophesying lies out of the land and you will all die in exile.&#8221;<n id="3" />p>

Work to see that the city where I sent you as exiles enjoys peace and prosperity. Pray to the <sc>Lordsc> for it. For as it prospers you will prosper.&#8217;p>

Where now are the prophets who prophesied to you that<n id="1" /> the king of Babylon would not attack you or this land?

Now he has brought it about. The <sc>Lordsc> has done just as he threatened to do. This disaster has happened because you people sinned against the <sc>Lordsc> and did not obey him.<n id="1" />

<p class="bodytext">I also told the priests and all the people, &#8220;The <sc>Lordsc> says, &#8216;Do not listen to what your prophets are saying. They are prophesying to you that<n id="1" /> the valuable articles taken from the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s temple will be brought back from Babylon very soon.<n id="2" /> But they are prophesying a lie to you.

&#8220;So then, Jeremiah,<n id="1" /> when your people<n id="2" /> ask, &#8216;Why has the <sc>Lordsc> our God done all this to us?&#8217; tell them, &#8216;It is because you rejected me and served foreign gods in your own land. So<n id="3" /> you must serve foreigners<n id="4" /> in a land that does not belong to you.&#8217;p>

Those are the terms that I charged your ancestors<n id="1" /> to keep<n id="2" /> when I brought them out of Egypt, that place which was like an iron-smelting furnace.<n id="3" /> I said at that time,<n id="4" /> &#8220;Obey me and carry out the terms of the agreement<n id="5" /> exactly as I commanded you. If you do,<n id="6" /> you will be my people and I will be your God.<n id="7" />

<p class="bodytext">Then the <sc>Lordsc> said to me, &#8220;Those prophets are prophesying lies while claiming my authority!<n id="1" /> I did not send them. I did not commission them.<n id="2" /> I did not speak to them. They are prophesying to these people false visions, worthless predictions,<n id="3" /> and the delusions of their own mind.

So I will throw you out of this land into a land that neither you nor your ancestors have ever known. There you must worship other gods day and night, for I will show you no mercy.&#8217;&#8221;p>

&#8220;I, the <sc>Lordsc>, say:<n id="1" /> &#8216;O nation of Israel, can I not deal with you as this potter deals with the clay?<n id="2" /> In my hands, you, O nation of Israel, are just like the clay in this potter&#8217;s hand.&#8217;

<p class="poetry">The <sc>Lordsc> who rules over all<n id="1" /> says to the people of Jerusalem:<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;Do not listen to whatp> <p class="poetry">those prophets are saying to you.p> <p class="poetry">They are filling you with false hopes.p> <p class="poetry">They are reporting visions of their own imaginations,p> <p class="poetry">not something the <sc>Lordsc> has given them to say.<n id="3" />p>

He said through them,<n id="1" /> &#8216;Each of you must turn from your wicked ways and stop doing the evil things you are doing.<n id="2" /> If you do, I will allow you to continue to live here in the land that I gave to you and your ancestors as a lasting possession.<n id="3" />

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;For the <sc>Lordsc> God of Israel who rules over all<n id="1" /> says, &#8216;Do not let the prophets or those among you who claim to be able to predict the future by divination<n id="2" /> deceive you. And do not pay any attention to the dreams that you are encouraging them to dream.

For I know what I have planned for you,&#8217; says the <sc>Lordsc>.<n id="1" /> &#8216;I have plans to prosper you, not to harm you. I have plans to give you<n id="2" /> a future filled with hope.<n id="3" />

I will make myself available to you,&#8217;<n id="1" /> says the <sc>Lordsc>.<n id="2" /> &#8216;Then I will reverse your plight<n id="3" /> and will regather you from all the nations and all the places where I have exiled you,&#8217; says the <sc>Lordsc>.<n id="4" /> &#8216;I will bring you back to the place from which I exiled you.&#8217;p>

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;The <sc>Lordsc> God of Israel who rules over all<n id="1" /> also has something to say about Ahab son of Kolaiah and Zedekiah son of Maaseiah, who are prophesying lies to you and claiming my authority to do so.<n id="2" /> &#8216;I will hand them over to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and he will execute them before your very eyes.

&#8220;Send a message to all the exiles in Babylon. Tell them, &#8216;The <sc>Lordsc> has spoken about Shemaiah the Nehelamite. &#8220;Shemaiah has spoken to you as a prophet even though I did not send him. He is making you trust in a lie.<n id="1" />

But then you turned right around<n id="1" /> and showed that you did not honor me.<n id="2" /> Each of you took back your male and female slaves whom you had freed as they desired, and you forced them to be your slaves again.<n id="3" />

Do not build houses. Do not plant crops. Do not plant a vineyard or own one.<n id="1" /> Live in tents all your lives. If you do these things you will<n id="2" /> live a long time in the land that you wander about on.&#8217;<n id="3" />