Ezekiel 13

Ezekiel 13:3

Woe unto the foolish prophets, that follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing!

Woe unto the foolish prophets, that speak of their own heads, even the fancies of their own brains, and have had no vision at all, nor no commission from God!

Ezekiel 13:4

O Israel, thy prophets are like the foxes in the deserts.

O Israel, thy prophets, taking advantage of the dispersion of those which might keep them in order, do nothing but spoil and waste thy poor and miserable remainders; as foxes are wont to spoil those vineyards, that lie aloof off from their owners.

Ezekiel 13:5

Ye have not gone up into the gaps, neither made up the hedge for the house of Israel to stand in the battle in the day of the Lord.

Where the wickedness of the people had made breaches in their walls, it had been your part to have made them up, by wholesome doctrine and admonition, that so the judgments of God might have been kept out; but ye have not done so at all, nor used any wholesome preventions of these evils; that so God’s people might have been able to stand in the face of their enemies, in the day of battle.

Ezekiel 13:9

They shall not be in the assembly of my people, neither shall they be written in the writing of the house of Israel, neither shall they enter into the land of Israel; and ye shall know that I am the Lord God.

They shall not be admitted, as prophets, in the assembly of my people; neither shall they be registered in the roll of the house of Israel; neither shall they ever have the favour to return unto that good land; but shall live and die outcasts from the holy commonwealth of my Church.

Ezekiel 13:10

And one built up a wall, and, lo, others daubed it with untempered mortar.

One laid false grounds of comfort, and the other flourished them over with unsound and plausible pretences.

Ezekiel 13:11

Say unto them which daub it with untempered mortar, that it shall fall: there shall be an overflowing shower; and ye, O great hailstones, shall fall; and a stormy wind shall rent it.

Say unto them, which lay these false and tottering grounds, that they shall fall, how fair soever they seem: their false doctrine of peace shall be beaten down by that inundation, that storm and tempest of the Chaldees, which shall come in upon them.

Ezekiel 13:18

And say, Thus saith the Lord God; Woe to the women that sew pillows to all armholes, and make kerchiefs upon the head of every stature to hunt souls! Will ye hunt the souls of my people, and will ye save the souls alive that come unto you?

Woe to the false prophetesses also, that speak pleasing and plausible words to all hearers, and fit every man’s humour with their flattering divinations, purposely that they may intrap and beguile miserable souls! Will ye persist thus to beguile and ensnare the silly souls of your followers, and will you take upon you to pronounce sentences of life and good speed where you please?

Ezekiel 13:20

Wherefore thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am against your pillows, wherewith ye there hunt the souls to make them fly, and I will tear them from your arms, and will let the souls go, &c.

I am against those your fraudulent insinuations and plausible falsehoods, wherewith ye deceive and betray the souls of men: I will utterly frustrate and shame these your cunning suggestions, and deliver those souls which ye have ensnared therewith. So also verse 21.

Ezekiel 13:22

Because with lies ye have made the heart of the righteous sad, whom I have not made sad; and strengthened the hands of the wicked, &c.

Because with lying prophecies ye have made the heart of my faithful people sad, in terrifying them with those evils, which shall not come; and encouraged wicked men, by securing them against those evils, which shall surely fall upon them, &c.

Ezekiel 13:23

Therefore ye shall see no more vanity, nor divine divinations: for I will deliver my people out of your hand: and ye shall know that I am the Lord.

Therefore I will so shame and confound you, that ye shall not dare to broach any more of your lying divinations; and my people, whom ye have hitherto deluded, now being sufficiently assured of your falsehood, shall be delivered from the danger of your deceits.