Then<n id="1" /> tell them, &#8216;The <sc>Lordsc> says, &#8220;I will soon fill all the people who live in this land with stupor.<n id="2" /> I will also fill the kings from David&#8217;s dynasty,<n id="3" /> the priests, the prophets, and the citizens of Jerusalem with stupor.<n id="4" />

<p class="bodytext">Then the officials and all the people rendered their verdict to the priests and the prophets. They said,<n id="1" /> &#8220;This man should not be condemned to die.<n id="2" /> For he has spoken to us under the authority of the <sc>Lordsc> our God.&#8221;<n id="3" />

<t /><p class="bodytext">The prophet Jeremiah sent a letter to the exiles Nebuchadnezzar had carried off from Jerusalem<n id="1" /> to Babylon. It was addressed to the elders who were left among the exiles, to the priests, to the prophets, and to all the other people who were exiled in Babylon.<n id="2" />

My hand will be against the prophets who see delusion and announce lying omens. They will not be included in the council<n id="1" /> of my people, nor be written in the registry<n id="2" /> of the house of Israel, nor enter the land of Israel. Then you will know that I am the sovereign <sc>Lordsc>.p>

<p class="poetry">This is what the <sc>Lordsc> says: &#8220;The prophets who mislead my peoplep> <p class="poetry">are as good as dead.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">If someone gives them enough to eat,p> <p class="poetry">they offer an oracle of peace.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">But if someone does not give them food,p> <p class="poetry">they are ready to declare war on him.<n id="3" />p>

&#8220;Do not be like your ancestors, to whom the former prophets called out, saying, &#8216;The <sc>Lordsc> who rules over all says, &#8220;Turn now from your evil wickedness,&#8221;&#8217; but they would by no means obey me,&#8221; says the <sc>Lordsc>.

But have my words and statutes, which I commanded my servants the prophets, not outlived your fathers?<n id="1" /> Then they paid attention<n id="2" /> and confessed, &#8216;The <sc>Lordsc> who rules over all has indeed done what he said he would do to us, because of our sinful ways.&#8217;&#8221;p>

by asking both the priests of the temple<n id="1" /> of the <sc>Lord who rules over allsc> and the prophets, &#8220;Should we weep in the fifth month,<n id="2" /> fasting as we have done over the years?&#8221;

Indeed, they made their heart as hard as diamond,<n id="1" /> so that they could not obey the Torah and the other words the <sc>Lordsc> who rules over all had sent by his Spirit through the former prophets. Therefore, the <sc>Lordsc> who rules over all had poured out great wrath.p>

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;The <sc>Lordsc> who rules over all also says, &#8216;Gather strength, you who are listening to these words today from the mouths of the prophets who were there at the founding of the house of the <sc>Lordsc> who rules over all,<n id="1" /> so that the temple might be built.

And also on that day,&#8221; says the <sc>Lordsc> who rules over all, &#8220;I will remove<n id="1" /> the names of the idols from the land and they will never again be remembered. Moreover, I will remove the prophets and the unclean spirit from the land.