Zephaniah 3:4

Judgment Of Jerusalem And The Nations

³ The princes within her are roaring lions;
her judges are wolves of the night,
which leave nothing for the morning.
⁴ Her prophets are reckless—
treacherous men.
Her priests profane the sanctuary;
they do violence to instruction.
⁵ The righteous Lord is in her;
He does no wrong.
He applies His justice morning by morning;
He does not fail at dawn,
yet the one who does wrong knows no shame.

Defile the Temple

Holy Place

Ezekiel 22:26

Her priests do violence to My instruction and profane My holy things. They make no distinction between the holy and the common, and they do not explain the difference between the clean and the unclean. They disregard My Sabbaths, and I am profaned among them.

Hosea 9:7

The days of punishment have come;
the days of retribution have come.
Let Israel recognize it!
The prophet is a fool,
and the inspired man is insane,
because of the magnitude
of your guilt and hostility.

Malachi 2:8

“You, on the other hand, have turned from the way. You have caused many to stumble by your instruction. You have violated the covenant of Levi,” says the Lord of Hosts.

1 Samuel 2:12-17

Eli’s sons were wicked men; they had no regard for the Lord

1 Samuel 2:22

Now Eli was very old. He heard about everything his sons were doing to all Israel and how they were sleeping with the women who served at the entrance to the tent of meeting.

Isaiah 9:15

The head is the elder, the honored one;
the tail is the prophet, the lying teacher.

Isaiah 56:10-12

Israel’s watchmen are blind, all of them,
they know nothing;
all of them are mute dogs,
they cannot bark;
they dream, lie down,
and love to sleep.

Jeremiah 5:31

The prophets prophesy falsely,
and the priests rule by their own authority.
My people love it like this.
But what will you do at the end of it?

Jeremiah 6:13-14

For from the least to the greatest of them,
everyone is making profit dishonestly.
From prophet to priest,
everyone deals falsely.

Jeremiah 8:10

Therefore, I will give their wives to other men,
their fields to new occupants,
for from the least to the greatest,
everyone is making profit dishonestly.
From prophet to priest,
everyone deals falsely.

Jeremiah 14:13-15

And I replied, “Oh no, Lord God! The prophets are telling them, ‘You won’t see sword or suffer famine. I will certainly give you true peace in this place.’”

Jeremiah 23:9-17

Concerning the prophets:

My heart is broken within me,
and all my bones tremble.
I have become like a drunkard,
like a man overcome by wine,
because of the Lord,
because of His holy words.

Jeremiah 23:25-27

“I have heard what the prophets who prophesy a lie in My name have said, ‘I had a dream! I had a dream!’

Jeremiah 23:32

I am against those who prophesy false dreams”—the Lord’s declaration—“telling them and leading My people astray with their falsehoods and their boasting. It was not I who sent or commanded them, and they are of no benefit at all to these people”—this is the Lord’s declaration.

Jeremiah 27:14-15

Do not listen to the words of the prophets who are telling you, ‘You must not serve the king of Babylon,’ for they are prophesying a lie to you.

Lamentations 2:14

נ NunYour prophets saw visions for you
that were empty and deceptive;
they did not reveal your guilt
and so restore your fortunes.
They saw oracles for you
that were empty and misleading.

Ezekiel 13:3-16

This is what the Lord God says: Woe to the foolish prophets who follow their own spirit and have seen nothing.

Ezekiel 44:7-8

When you brought in foreigners, uncircumcised in both heart and flesh, to occupy My sanctuary, you defiled My temple while you offered My food—the fat and the blood. You broke My covenant by all your detestable practices.

Hosea 4:6-8

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.
Because you have rejected knowledge,
I will reject you from serving as My priest.
Since you have forgotten the law of your God,
I will also forget your sons.

Micah 2:11

If a man of wind comes
and invents lies:
“I will preach to you about wine and beer,”
he would be just the preacher for this people!

Micah 3:5-6

This is what the Lord says
concerning the prophets
who lead my people astray,
who proclaim peace
when they have food to sink their teeth into
but declare war against the one
who puts nothing in their mouths.

Matthew 7:15

“Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravaging wolves.

2 Corinthians 11:13

For such people are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ.

2 Peter 2:1-3

But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, and will bring swift destruction on themselves.

1 John 4:1

Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to determine if they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

Revelation 19:20

But the beast was taken prisoner, and along with him the false prophet, who had performed the signs in his presence. He deceived those who accepted the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image with these signs. Both of them were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur.