“Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel who prophesy, and say to those who prophesy out of their own heart, ‘Hear Yahweh’s word:
Parallel Translations
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“Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel who prophesy, and say to those who prophesy out of their own heart, ‘Hear Yahweh’s word:
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Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel that prophesy, and say thou unto them that prophesy out of their own hearts, Hear ye the word of the LORD;
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'Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel that prophesy, and say thou unto them that prophesy out of their own heart: Hear ye the word of the LORD:
Cross-references (33)
Passages linked to Ezekiel 13:2 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Ezekiel 13:17 You, son of man, set your face against the daughters of your people, who prophesy out of their own heart; and prophesy against them,
- Jeremiah 37:19 Now where are your prophets who prophesied to you, saying, ‘The king of Babylon will not come against you, nor against this land?’
- Isaiah 1:10 Hear Yahweh’s word, you rulers of Sodom! Listen to the law of our God, you people of Gomorrah!
- Isaiah 9:15 The elder and the honorable man is the head, and the prophet who teaches lies is the tail.
- Ezekiel 22:25 There is a conspiracy of her prophets within it, like a roaring lion ravening the prey. They have devoured souls. They take treasure and precious things. They have made many widows within it.
- Ezekiel 22:28 Her prophets have plastered for them with whitewash, seeing false visions, and divining lies to them, saying, ‘The Lord Yahweh says,’ when Yahweh has not spoken.
- 1 Kings 22:19 Micaiah said, “Therefore hear Yahweh’s word. I saw Yahweh sitting on his throne, and all the army of heaven standing by him on his right hand and on his left.
- 2 Chronicles 18:18-24 Micaiah said, “Therefore hear Yahweh’s word: I saw Yahweh sitting on his throne, and all the army of heaven standing on his right hand and on his left. Yahweh said, ‘Who will entice Ahab king of Israel, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth Gilead?’ One spoke saying in this way, and another saying in that way. A spirit came out, stood before Yahweh, and said, ‘I will entice him.’ “Yahweh said to him, ‘How?’ “He said, ‘I will go, and will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’ “He said, ‘You will entice him, and will prevail also. Go and do so.’ “Now therefore, behold, Yahweh has put a lying spirit in the mouth of these your prophets; and Yahweh has spoken evil concerning you.” Then Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah came near, and struck Micaiah on the cheek, and said, “Which way did Yahweh’s Spirit go from me to speak to you?” Micaiah said, “Behold, you shall see on that day, when you go into an inner room to hide yourself.”
- Isaiah 28:14 Therefore hear Yahweh’s word, you scoffers, that rule this people in Jerusalem:
- Isaiah 56:9-12 All you animals of the field, come to devour, all you animals in the forest. His watchmen are blind. They are all without knowledge. They are all mute dogs. They can’t bark— dreaming, lying down, loving to slumber. Yes, the dogs are greedy. They can never have enough. They are shepherds who can’t understand. They have all turned to their own way, each one to his gain, from every quarter. “Come,” say they, “I will get wine, and we will fill ourselves with strong drink; and tomorrow will be as today, great beyond measure.”
- Jeremiah 5:31 The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule by their own authority; and my people love to have it so. What will you do in the end of it?
- Jeremiah 6:13-14 “For from their least even to their greatest, everyone is given to covetousness. From the prophet even to the priest, everyone deals falsely. They have healed also the hurt of my people superficially, saying, ‘Peace, peace!’ when there is no peace.
- Jeremiah 8:10 Therefore I will give their wives to others and their fields to those who will possess them. For everyone from the least even to the greatest is given to covetousness; from the prophet even to the priest everyone deals falsely.
- Jeremiah 14:13-15 Then I said, “Ah, Lord Yahweh! Behold, the prophets tell them, ‘You will not see the sword, neither will you have famine; but I will give you assured peace in this place.’ ” Then Yahweh said to me, “The prophets prophesy lies in my name. I didn’t send them. I didn’t command them. I didn’t speak to them. They prophesy to you a lying vision, divination, and a thing of nothing, and the deceit of their own heart. Therefore Yahweh says concerning the prophets who prophesy in my name, but I didn’t send them, yet they say, ‘Sword and famine will not be in this land.’ Those prophets will be consumed by sword and famine.
- Jeremiah 23:2 Therefore Yahweh, the God of Israel, says against the shepherds who feed my people: “You have scattered my flock, driven them away, and have not visited them. Behold, I will visit on you the evil of your doings,” says Yahweh.
- Jeremiah 23:11-22 for both prophet and priest are profane. Yes, in my house I have found their wickedness,” says Yahweh. Therefore their way will be to them as slippery places in the darkness. They will be driven on, and fall therein; for I will bring evil on them, even the year of their visitation,” says Yahweh. “I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria. They prophesied by Baal, and caused my people Israel to err. In the prophets of Jerusalem I have also seen a horrible thing: they commit adultery and walk in lies. They strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that no one returns from his wickedness. They have all become to me as Sodom, and its inhabitants as Gomorrah.” Therefore Yahweh of Armies says concerning the prophets: “Behold, I will feed them with wormwood, and make them drink poisoned water; for from the prophets of Jerusalem ungodliness has gone out into all the land.” Yahweh of Armies says, “Don’t listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you. They teach you vanity. They speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of Yahweh. They say continually to those who despise me, ‘Yahweh has said, “You will have peace;” ’ and to everyone who walks in the stubbornness of his own heart they say, ‘No evil will come on you.’ For who has stood in the council of Yahweh, that he should perceive and hear his word? Who has listened to my word, and heard it? Behold, Yahweh’s storm, his wrath, has gone out. Yes, a whirling storm: It will burst on the head of the wicked. Yahweh’s anger will not return until he has executed, and until he has performed the intents of his heart. In the latter days, you will understand it perfectly. I didn’t send these prophets, yet they ran. I didn’t speak to them, yet they prophesied. But if they had stood in my council, then they would have caused my people to hear my words, and would have turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings.
- Jeremiah 23:25-26 “I have heard what the prophets have said, who prophesy lies in my name, saying, ‘I had a dream! I had a dream!’ How long will this be in the heart of the prophets who prophesy lies, even the prophets of the deceit of their own heart?
- Jeremiah 27:14 Don’t listen to the words of the prophets who speak to you, saying, ‘You shall not serve the king of Babylon;’ for they prophesy a lie to you.
- Jeremiah 27:18 But if they are prophets, and if Yahweh’s word is with them, let them now make intercession to Yahweh of Armies, that the vessels which are left in Yahweh’s house, in the house of the king of Judah, and at Jerusalem, don’t go to Babylon.
- Jeremiah 28:12-17 Then Yahweh’s word came to Jeremiah, after Hananiah the prophet had broken the bar from off the neck of the prophet Jeremiah, saying, “Go, and tell Hananiah, saying, ‘Yahweh says, “You have broken the bars of wood, but you have made in their place bars of iron.” For Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel says, “I have put a yoke of iron on the neck of all these nations, that they may serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; and they will serve him. I have also given him the animals of the field.” ’ ” Then the prophet Jeremiah said to Hananiah the prophet, “Listen, Hananiah! Yahweh has not sent you, but you make this people trust in a lie. Therefore Yahweh says, ‘Behold, I will send you away from off the surface of the earth. This year you will die, because you have spoken rebellion against Yahweh.’ ” So Hananiah the prophet died the same year in the seventh month.
- Jeremiah 29:8-9 For Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel says: “Don’t let your prophets who are among you and your diviners deceive you. Don’t listen to your dreams which you cause to be dreamed. For they prophesy falsely to you in my name. I have not sent them,” says Yahweh.
- Jeremiah 29:20-24 Hear therefore Yahweh’s word, all you captives, whom I have sent away from Jerusalem to Babylon. Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, says concerning Ahab the son of Kolaiah, and concerning Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, who prophesy a lie to you in my name: “Behold, I will deliver them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; and he will kill them before your eyes. A curse will be taken up about them by all the captives of Judah who are in Babylon, saying, ‘Yahweh make you like Zedekiah and like Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire;’ because they have done foolish things in Israel, and have committed adultery with their neighbors’ wives, and have spoken words in my name falsely, which I didn’t command them. I am he who knows, and am witness,” says Yahweh. Concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite you shall speak, saying,
- Jeremiah 29:31-32 “Send to all of the captives, saying, ‘Yahweh says concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite: “Because Shemaiah has prophesied to you, and I didn’t send him, and he has caused you to trust in a lie;” therefore Yahweh says, “Behold, I will punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite and his offspring. He will not have a man to dwell among this people. He won’t see the good that I will do to my people,” says Yahweh, “because he has spoken rebellion against Yahweh.” ’ ”
- Lamentations 4:13 It is because of the sins of her prophets and the iniquities of her priests, That have shed the blood of the just in the middle of her.
- Ezekiel 13:3 The Lord Yahweh says, “Woe to the foolish prophets, who follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing!
- Ezekiel 14:9-10 “ ‘ “If the prophet is deceived and speaks a word, I, Yahweh, have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand on him, and will destroy him from among my people Israel. They will bear their iniquity. The iniquity of the prophet will be even as the iniquity of him who seeks him;
- Ezekiel 34:7 “ ‘Therefore, you shepherds, hear Yahweh’s word:
- Ezekiel 34:9 Therefore, you shepherds, hear Yahweh’s word:
- Amos 7:16-17 Now therefore listen to Yahweh’s word: ‘You say, Don’t prophesy against Israel, and don’t preach against the house of Isaac.’ Therefore Yahweh says: ‘Your wife shall be a prostitute in the city, and your sons and your daughters shall fall by the sword, and your land shall be divided by line; and you yourself shall die in a land that is unclean, and Israel shall surely be led away captive out of his land.’ ”
- Micah 3:6 “Therefore night is over you, with no vision, and it is dark to you, that you may not divine; and the sun will go down on the prophets, and the day will be black over them.
- Micah 3:11 Her leaders judge for bribes, and her priests teach for a price, and her prophets of it tell fortunes for money: yet they lean on Yahweh, and say, “Isn’t Yahweh among us? No disaster will come on us.”
- Zephaniah 3:4 Her prophets are arrogant and treacherous people. Her priests have profaned the sanctuary. They have done violence to the law.
- 2 Peter 2:1-3 But false prophets also arose among the people, as false teachers will also be among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, denying even the Master who bought them, bringing on themselves swift destruction. Many will follow their immoral ways, and as a result, the way of the truth will be maligned. In covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words: whose sentence now from of old doesn’t linger, and their destruction will not slumber.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (12 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain After their own fantasy, and not as having the…
After their own fantasy, and not as having the revelation of the Lord, Jer. 23:16.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Eze 13:2 Son of man, prophesy against the prophets…
Eze 13:2 Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel that prophesy, and say thou unto them that prophesy out of their own hearts, Hear ye the word of the LORD;
Ver. 2. Prophesy against the prophets.] Illis enim crania mala feruntur accepts. See Jer 23:32-33; Jer 23:38.
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That prophesy out of their own hearts.] Whose prophecies came by the will of man, {2Pe 1:21} and not cum privilegio. with by right.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Prophesy; declare aforehand what I will do.
Prophesy; declare aforehand what I will do.
Against the prophets; against prince and people first, next against prophets and prophetesses; against the former in the foregoing chapters, against the latter in this chapter.
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Of Israel, because approved of Israel, encouraged by Israel, and followed; but not prophets of the Lord, he sent them not. Whether these were in Babylon, or in Jerusalem, some inquiry is made; probably these false prophets were in both places.
That prophesy; foretell what is pleasing to the Jews, a sudden return out of captivity, with the vessels of the Lord’s house, and prosperity in their own land.
Out of their own hearts; but all their promising words are of themselves, out of their own deceiving hearts, not from God, and so all will be lies.
Hear ye the word of the Lord; cease to deceive my people, and attend now to what God speaks of you.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Thus saith the Lord God, woe unto the foolish…
Thus saith the Lord God, woe unto the foolish prophets,.... The false prophets, as the Targum; who are foolish, as all are who are not sent of God, and furnished by him with wisdom and knowledge, and who prophesy out of their own hearts; for what else but folly can proceed from thence? this must be a great mortification to these prophets to be called foolish, when they reckoned themselves wise men, being vainly puffed up in their fleshly minds, and were accounted so by others; but what is wisdom with men is foolishness with God:
that follow their own spirit; or "walk after it" (c); and not the Spirit of God, who leads into all truth; they pretended to a spirit of prophecy, but it was their own spirit and the dictates of it they followed, and not the Spirit of the Lord; and therefore it is no wonder that they prophesied false things, and led the people wrong; as all such teachers do, who give way to their own fancies and imaginations, and forsake the word of God, and do not implore the assistance and teachings of the blessed Spirit:
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and have seen nothing; no vision, as the Syriac version renders it; they pretended to have revelations of things future from the Lord, but they had none; what they saw were vain visions and lying divinations, and were as nothing, and worse than nothing; yea, they said what they never saw.
(c) "qui ambulant post spiritm suum": Pagninus, Calvin, Cocceius, Starckius.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain That prophesy - Out of their own deceiving hearts,…
That prophesy - Out of their own deceiving hearts, not from God.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 2. That prophesy out of their own hearts]…
Verse 2. That prophesy out of their own hearts] Who are neither inspired nor sent by ME. They are prophets out of their own hearts. They have their mission from their own assumption, and proceed in it from their own presumption. Such either go of themselves, or are sent by man. Such prophets, ministers, preachers, and clergy have been a curse to the Church and to the world for some thousands of years.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Eze 13:2-4. Son of man, prophesy against the prophets…
Eze 13:2-4. Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel — So they called themselves, as if none but they had been worthy of the name of Israel’s prophets, who were indeed Israel’s deceivers. Say unto them that prophesy out of their own hearts — According to their own fancy, without having received any revelation from God. The true prophets often denounced God’s judgments against the false ones: laying to their charge many misdemeanours in their private life and conversation, and upbraiding them for their unfaithfulness in the office they undertook of declaring God’s will to his people. Wo unto the foolish prophets — Ignorant and wicked, and who, while they wilfully deceived the people, unthinkingly brought destruction upon themselves. Observe, reader, foolish prophets are not of God’s sending: those whom he sends, he either finds or makes fit for his work. Where he gives warrant, he gives wisdom. That follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing — Who utter their own imaginations for true prophecies, and pretend to have visions when they never had any. O Israel, thy prophets, not mine, are like the foxes in the deserts — Hungry and ravening, crafty and guileful: “deceitful workers, (as the apostle styles such persons, 2Co 11:13,) who craftily insinuate false doctrines into weak and unstable minds, and greedily catch at any appearance of advantage to themselves.” — Lowth.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Heart; what pleases them, (Haydock) without being inspired. There…
Heart; what pleases them, (Haydock) without being inspired. There were always such impostors. These deluded the people at Jerusalem, (Calmet) or at Babylon, ver. 9. (Sanctius) --- They might be distinguished by the sincere: yet caused irreparable injury to the ignorant people. (Haydock)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain that prophesy--namely, a speedy return to Jerusalem.
that prophesy--namely, a speedy return to Jerusalem.
out of . . . own hearts--alluding to the words of Jeremiah (Jer 23:16, Jer 23:26); that is, what they prophesied was what they and the people wished; the wish was father to the thought. The people wished to be deceived, and so were deceived. They were inexcusable, for they had among them true prophets (who spoke not their own thoughts, but as they were moved by the Holy Ghost, Pe2 1:21), whom they might have known to be such, but they did not wish to know (Joh 3:19).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 2. Prophets of Israel that prophesy — Dr. Davidson…
2. Prophets of Israel that prophesy — Dr. Davidson sees a kind of sarcasm in this phrase. The false prophets were indeed prophets of Israel, though not prophets of Jehovah. The people eagerly grasped their smooth sayings as true and repudiated Jeremiah and Ezekiel as the false prophets (Jer_18:18; Jer_43:2).
Prophesy out of their own hearts — Their own wish to be popular and please the people (Eze_13:19; Jer_23:16) colors their message. They are the mouthpiece of the people, Ezekiel speaks the word which is opposed to his natural desire. These men speak the smooth things which their own selfish hope suggests and their own human judgment seeks to sustain (Mic_3:8; compare Jer_28:8-9).
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 2. prophets of Israel that prophesy] There seems a…
2. prophets of Israel that prophesy] There seems a kind of sarcasm on “prophets of Israel,”—those whom Israel accepts and delights to regard as prophets (Mic_2:11); and a similar sarcasm in “that prophesy.” They prophesied and that without limit: their mouths were always full of “thus saith the Lord” (Eze_13:6). LXX., however, reads rather differently. Jer_18:18 shews how the people regarded their prophets; they had faith in them and believed that Jehovah spoke by them, while such men as Jeremiah they judged to be false prophets: Come, let us devise devices against Jeremiah, for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Cf. Jer_43:2.
their own hearts] The inspiration of these prophets came from their own hearts or minds—their own thoughts and hopes, and judgment upon the situation in which they were placed. They had nothing higher than human wisdom, while the inspiration of the true prophet came from the spirit of God.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Vers. 2, 3. Son of man, prophesy, etc. The…
Vers. 2, 3. Son of man, prophesy, etc. The sin of the men whom Ezekiel denounced was that they prophesied out of their own hearts, (Jer_14:14 Jer_23:16, Jer_23:26) and followed their own spirit instead of the Spirit of Jehovah. All was human and of the earth. Not a single fact in the future, not a single eternal law governing both the future and the past, was brought to light by it. To one who was conscious that he had a message which he had not devised himself, and which he had not been taught by men; (Gal_1:12) that he had no selfish by-ends in what he said and did; that he was risking peace, reputation, life itself, for the truth revealed to him, nothing could be more repulsive than this claim to have seen a vision of Jehovah, by men who bad in reality seen nothing. For foolish prophets, read, with the stronger Hebrew, the prophets, the fools, the words deriving their force from a kind of paronomasia of alliteration. The nabiim are also the n"balim.
HOMILETICS.
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Prophesying against the prophets.
I THEY WHO TEACH OTHERS NEED THEMSELVES TO BE TAUGHT. No man is a perfect fountain of original knowledge. The teacher must not only be a scholar in his early days, he must be a learner all through his life. Moreover, in regard to his own experience he needs light and help. He is not merely a voice for other souls. He too has a soul which may be in darkness, even while he is striving to illumine his hearers. There is great danger in the professionalism of the pulpit. It comes to be taken for granted too readily that familiarity in handling the words of eternal life presupposes a healthy possession of that life. Preachers hear but few sermons. We want missionaries to the pulpit of our land, that the leaders of the people"s religion may be led by the truth of God.
II THEY WHO TEACH OTHERS MAY BE WHOLLY WRONG THEMSELVES. The professional prophets of Israel were many of them false prophets. They were not simply blind and m error. They made lying pretences to an inspiration which they did not possess, and they flattered people with vain visions which they bad themselves cunningly devised. Their"s was guilt of deepest dye. The teacher may fall into error unintentionally, for he is a fallible man; and then his mistake will not be culpable. But deception and moral failure are fatal sins. Surely every one who stands in the responsible position of a leader of others has a double motive tot searching his own soul to see that he is not a false prophet.
III THEY WHO TEACH OTHERS WILL BE CALLED TO ACCOUNT BY GOD. God has been watching the false prophets, and now Ezekiel is sent with a special message to them. What, then, is the advantage of prostituting the high mission of a servant of God for the sake of popular favour? The flatteries of a deluded multitude will not save the deceiver when he is called to account by his great Master. Nay, those flatteries will turn to curses when the victims of his base deception have their eyes open to the snare which he has laid for them. Of all pursuits, that of preaching simply for popularity is the most dangerous and degrading.
IV THEY WHO TEACH OTHERS ONLY THEIR OWN IDEAS IN THE NAME OF GOD ARE THE MOST FALSE TEACHERS. The prophets of Jerusalem did not only flatter the people with popular teaching, they carried that teaching out of their own hearts, and then ascribed it to God. Now, the prophet was an inspired man, or he was nothing. His sole business was to declare the Divine message saith the Lord." But in speaking only out of his own heart he knew that he had no such message. Yet by professing to be a prophet he claimed to be giving it. Here was his great sin. He was forging the name of God for his own inventions (see ver. 6). Similar is the sin of the preacher in a Christian pulpit who uses that vantage ground to expound his own private ideas to the neglect of, or even in opposition to, the teachings of the Bible, and yet on the authority of the Christian ministry. This is treason against Christ.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.