9 Bible Verses about False Prophets

Then the LORD said to me, The prophets prophesy lies in my name: I have not sent them, neither have I commanded them, neither spoken to them: they prophesy to you a false vision and divination, and a thing of naught, and the deceit of their heart.

Thus saith the Lord GOD; Woe to the foolish prophets, that follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing!

They have seen vanity and lying divination, saying, The LORD saith: and the LORD hath not sent them: and they have made others to hope that they would confirm the word.

Therefore hearken ye not to your prophets, nor to your diviners, nor to your dreamers, nor to your enchanters, nor to your sorcerers, who speak to you, saying, Ye shall not serve the king of Babylon:

If there shall arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and give thee a sign or a wonder. And the sign or the wonder shall come to pass, of which he spoke to thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them; Thou shalt not hearken to the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the LORD your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Let not your prophets and your diviners, that are in the midst of you, deceive you, neither hearken to your dreams which ye cause to be dreamed.

I have heard what the prophets said, that prophesy lies in my name, saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed. How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets that prophesy lies? yes, they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart; Who think to cause my people to forget my name by their dreams which they tell every man to his neighbor, as their fathers have forgotten my name for Baal. read more.
The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream; and he that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat? saith the LORD?

Behold, I am against them that prophesy false dreams, saith the LORD, and do tell them, and cause my people to err by their lies, and by their lightness; yet I sent them not, nor commanded them: therefore they shall not profit this people at all, saith the LORD.

And the messenger that went to call Micaiah, spoke to him, saying, Behold now, the words of the prophets declare good to the king with one mouth: let thy word, I pray thee, be like the word of one of them, and speak that which is good.

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

His watchmen are blind: they are all ignorant, they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber. Yes, they are greedy dogs which can never have enough, and they are shepherds that cannot understand: they all look to their own way, every one for his gain, from his quarter.

Therefore hearken ye not to your prophets, nor to your diviners, nor to your dreamers, nor to your enchanters, nor to your sorcerers, who speak to you, saying, Ye shall not serve the king of Babylon:

Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Hearken not to the words of the prophets that prophesy to you: they make you vain: they speak a vision of their own heart, and not from the mouth of the LORD.

Thou shalt not hearken to the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the LORD your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

For I have not sent them, saith the LORD, yet they prophesy a lie in my name; that I might drive you out, and that ye might perish, ye, and the prophets that prophesy to you. Also I spoke to the priests and to all this people, saying, Thus saith the LORD; Hearken not to the words of your prophets that prophesy to you, saying, Behold, the vessels of the LORD'S house shall now shortly be brought again from Babylon: for they prophesy a lie to you.

At that time, saith the LORD, they shall bring the bones of the kings of Judah, and the bones of his princes, and the bones of the priests, and the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, out of their graves:

Therefore thus saith the LORD concerning the prophets that prophesy in my name, and I sent them not, yet they say, Sword and famine shall not be in this land; By sword and famine shall those prophets be consumed.

Therefore thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite, and his seed: he shall not have a man to dwell among this people; neither shall he behold the good that I will do for my people, saith the LORD; because he hath taught rebellion against the LORD.

Therefore thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will cast thee from off the face of the earth: this year thou shalt die, because thou hast taught rebellion against the LORD.

They say still to them that despise me, The LORD hath said, Ye shall have peace; and they say to every one that walketh after the imagination of his own heart, No evil shall come upon you.

They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.

Because, even because they have seduced my people, saying, Peace; and there was no peace; and one built up a wall, and lo, others daubed it with untempered mortar:

Thus saith the LORD concerning the prophets that make my people err, that bite with their teeth, and cry, Peace; and he that putteth not into their mouths, they even prepare war against him:

Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this ye know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ hath come in the flesh, is from God: And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, is not from God. And this is that spirit of antichrist, of which ye have heard that it should come; and even now already it is in the world.

And if thou shalt say in thy heart, How shall we know the word which the LORD hath not spoken? When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, if the thing doth not follow, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him.

If there shall arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and give thee a sign or a wonder.

Then the LORD said to me, The prophets prophesy lies in my name: I have not sent them, neither have I commanded them, neither spoken to them: they prophesy to you a false vision and divination, and a thing of naught, and the deceit of their heart.

I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran: I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied.

Send to all them of the captivity, saying, Thus saith the LORD concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite; Because Shemaiah hath prophesied to you, and I sent him not, and he caused you to trust in a lie:

And when they had gone through the isle to Paphos, they found a certain sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew, whose name was Barjesus:

Then the LORD said to me, The prophets prophesy lies in my name: I have not sent them, neither have I commanded them, neither spoken to them: they prophesy to you a false vision and divination, and a thing of naught, and the deceit of their heart.

And her prophets have daubed them with untempered mortar, seeing vanity, and divining lies to them, saying, Thus saith the Lord GOD, when the LORD hath not spoken.

They say still to them that despise me, The LORD hath said, Ye shall have peace; and they say to every one that walketh after the imagination of his own heart, No evil shall come upon you. For who hath stood in the counsel of the LORD, and hath perceived and heard his word? who hath marked his word, and heard it?

Behold, I am against the prophets, saith the LORD, that use their tongues, and say, He saith.

I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem a horrible thing: they commit adultery, and walk in lies: they strengthen also the hands of evil-doers, that none doth return from his wickedness: they are all of them to me as Sodom, and the inhabitants of it as Gomorrah.

For both prophet and priest are profane; even in my house have I found their wickedness, saith the LORD.

How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets that prophesy lies? yes, they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart;

Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Hearken not to the words of the prophets that prophesy to you: they make you vain: they speak a vision of their own heart, and not from the mouth of the LORD.

The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream; and he that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat? saith the LORD?

Behold, I am against them that prophesy false dreams, saith the LORD, and do tell them, and cause my people to err by their lies, and by their lightness; yet I sent them not, nor commanded them: therefore they shall not profit this people at all, saith the LORD.

Notwithstanding, I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, who calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit lewdness, and to eat things sacrificed to idols.

My God, think thou upon Tobiah and Sanballat according to these their works, and on the prophetess Noadiah, and the rest of the prophets, that would have put me in fear.

For false Christs will arise, and false prophets, and will show great signs and wonders; so that, if it were possible, they would deceive the very elect.

And many false prophets will rise, and will deceive many.

And I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria; they prophesied in Baal, and caused my people Israel to err.

Thus saith the LORD concerning the prophets that make my people err, that bite with their teeth, and cry, Peace; and he that putteth not into their mouths, they even prepare war against him:

The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so: and what will ye do in the end thereof?

Woe to you, when all men shall speak well of you! for so did their fathers to the false prophets.

I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem a horrible thing: they commit adultery, and walk in lies: they strengthen also the hands of evil-doers, that none doth return from his wickedness: they are all of them to me as Sodom, and the inhabitants of it as Gomorrah. Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts concerning the prophets; Behold, I will feed them with wormwood, and make them drink the water of gall: for from the prophets of Jerusalem is profaneness gone forth into all the land.

Thou shalt not hearken to the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the LORD your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

And there came forth a spirit, and stood before the LORD, and said, I will persuade him. And the LORD said to him, With what? And he said, I will go forth, and I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets? And he said, Thou shalt persuade him, and prevail also: go forth, and do so.

Then the LORD said to me, The prophets prophesy lies in my name: I have not sent them, neither have I commanded them, neither spoken to them: they prophesy to you a false vision and divination, and a thing of naught, and the deceit of their heart.

Who think to cause my people to forget my name by their dreams which they tell every man to his neighbor, as their fathers have forgotten my name for Baal.

Therefore behold, I am against the prophets, saith the LORD, that steal my words every one from his neighbor.

The ancient and honorable, he is the head; and the prophet that teacheth lies, he is the tail. For the leaders of this people cause them to err; and they that are led by them are destroyed.

Her prophets are light and treacherous persons: her priests have polluted the sanctuary, they have done violence to the law.

The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so: and what will ye do in the end thereof?

There is a conspiracy of her prophets in the midst of her, like a roaring lion ravening the prey; they have devoured souls; they have taken the treasure and precious things; they have made her many widows in the midst of her.

And the prophets shall become wind, and the word is not in them: thus shall it be done to them.

Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.

The priests said not, Where is the LORD? and they that handle the law knew me not: the pastors also transgressed against me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal, and walked after things that do not profit.

And if the prophet be deceived when he hath spoken a thing, I the LORD have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand upon him, and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel.

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

Thus saith the Lord GOD; Woe to the foolish prophets, that follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing!

But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will privately bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.

But they also have erred through wine, and through strong drink are out of the way; the priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink, they are overwhelmed with wine, they are out of the way through strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment.

Her heads judge for reward, and her priests teach for hire, and her prophets divine for money; yet will they lean upon the LORD, and say, Is not the LORD among us? no evil can come upon us.

Likewise, thou son of man, set thy face against the daughters of thy people, who prophesy out of their own heart; and prophesy thou against them, And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Woe to the women that sew pillows to all arm-holes, 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 to you? And will ye profane me among my people for handfuls of barley and for pieces of bread, to slay the souls that should not die, and to save the souls alive that should not live, by your lying to my people that hear your lies? read more.
Wherefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against your pillows, with which ye there hunt the souls to make them fly, and I will tear them from your arms, and will let the souls go, even the souls that ye hunt to make them fly. Your kerchiefs also will I tear, and deliver my people out of your hand, and they shall no more be in your hand to be hunted; and ye shall know that I am the LORD. 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, that he should not return from his wicked way, by promising him life: 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.