29 Bible Verses about Wicked Prophets
Most Relevant Verses
The prophets prophesy falsely,
And the priests rule on their own authority;
And My people love [to have] it so!
But what will you do when the end comes?
Then the Lord said to me, “The [counterfeit] prophets are prophesying lies in My Name. I have neither sent them nor authorized them nor spoken to them. They are prophesying to you made-up visions [pretending to call forth responses from handmade gods], a worthless divination and the deceit of their own mind.
For they prophesy a lie to you which will cause you to be removed far from your land; and I will drive you out and you will perish.
Do not listen to and believe the words of the [false] prophets who are saying to you, ‘You will not serve the king of Babylon,’ for they prophesy a lie to you;
Then I said to the priests and to all these people, saying, “Thus says the Lord: Do not listen to the words of your [false] prophets who are prophesying to you, saying, ‘Behold, the articles of the Lord’s house will now shortly be brought back from Babylon’; for they are prophesying a lie to you.
The elderly and honorable man, he is the head;
And the prophet who teaches lies, he is the tail.
For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, ‘Do not let your [false] prophets who are among you and your diviners deceive you; pay no attention and attach no significance to the dreams which they dream or to yours,
for I have not sent them,” says the Lord, “but they are prophesying falsely in My Name, in order that I may drive you out and that you may perish, you [together] with the [false] prophets who prophesy to you.”
for they prophesy falsely to you in My Name. I have not sent them,’ says the Lord.
because they have acted foolishly in Israel and have committed adultery with their neighbors’ wives and in My Name have spoken false and concocted words, which I did not command them. I am He who knows and I am a witness,” says the Lord.’”
Where then are your prophets who prophesied to you, saying, ‘The king of Babylon will not come against you or against this land?’
Also [it is reported that] you have appointed prophets to make a proclamation concerning you in Jerusalem, saying, ‘There is a king in Judah!’ And now these things will be reported to the [Persian] king. So come now, and let us consult together.”
So you will stumble in the daytime,
And the [false] prophet will also stumble with you in the night;
And I will destroy your mother (Israel).
Her leaders pronounce judgment for a bribe,
Her priests teach for a fee,
And her prophets foretell for money;
Yet they lean on the Lord, saying,
“Is not the Lord among us?
No tragedy or distress will come on us.”
“For both [false] prophet and priest are ungodly (profane, polluted);
Even in My house I have found their wickedness,” says the Lord.
“For from the least of them even to the greatest of them,
Everyone is greedy for [unfair] gain;
And from the prophet even to the priest
Everyone deals deceitfully.
“Therefore I will give their wives to others
And their fields to new owners;
Because from the least even to the greatest
Everyone is greedy for [unjust] gain;
From the prophet even to the priest
Everyone practices deceit and deals in corruption.
Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts in regard to the prophets,
‘Behold, I am going to feed them [the bitterness of] wormwood
And make them drink the poisonous water [of gall],
For from the [counterfeit] prophets of Jerusalem
Profaneness and ungodliness have spread into all the land.’”
Because of the sins of her [counterfeit] prophets
And the wickedness of her [unfaithful] priests,
Who have shed in her midst
The blood of the just and righteous;
But even these reel with wine and stagger from strong drink:
The priest and the prophet reel with strong drink;
They are confused by wine, they stagger from strong drink;
They reel while seeing visions,
They stagger when pronouncing judgment.
Then say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord, “Behold, I am about to fill with drunkenness all the people of this land, even the kings who sit on David’s throne, the priests, the prophets and all the people of Jerusalem.
They [both] will bear the punishment of their wickedness; the sin of the [counterfeit] prophet will be the same as the sin of the [hypocritical] inquirer,
‘If I go out into the field,
Then I gaze on those slaughtered with the sword!
And if I enter the city,
Then I gaze on [those tormented with] the diseases of famine!
For both prophet and priest [who should have guided the people]
Go about [bewildered and exiled] in a land (Babylon) that they do not know or understand.’”
“Also I have seen a horrible thing in the prophets of Jerusalem:
They commit adultery and walk in lies;
They encourage and strengthen the hands of evildoers,
So that no one has turned back from his wickedness.
All of them have become like Sodom to Me,
And her inhabitants like Gomorrah.
Her prophets are reckless and treacherous men;
Her priests have profaned the sanctuary;
They have done violence to the law [by pretending their word is God’s word].
The priests and the [false] prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of the Lord.
Now when Jeremiah finished proclaiming everything that the Lord had commanded him to speak to all the people, the priests and the [false] prophets and all the people seized him, saying, “You must die!
But if they are [true] prophets, and if the word of the Lord is [really spoken] by them, let them now entreat the Lord of hosts that the articles which are [still] left in the house of the Lord, in the house of the king of Judah and in Jerusalem may not go to Babylon.
