13 Bible Verses about Prophets Who Were Not Sent

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.

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.

They have seen falsehood and lying divination, saying, ‘The Lord says,’ but the Lord has not sent them. Yet they hope and make men to hope for the confirmation of their word.

Did you not see (make up) a false vision and speak a lying divination when you said, ‘The Lord declares,’ but it is not I who have spoken?”’”

Then the prophet Jeremiah said to Hananiah the prophet, “Listen now, Hananiah, the Lord has not sent you, and you have made this people trust in a lie.

“I did not send [these counterfeit] prophets,
Yet they ran;
I did not speak to them,
Yet they prophesied.

When I went into the house of Shemaiah the son of Delaiah, the son of Mehetabel, who was confined at home, he said, “Let us meet [and take refuge] together in the house of God, within the temple, and let us shut the doors of the temple, because they are coming to kill you, and they are coming to kill you at night.” But I said, “Should a man like me flee [in fear and hide]? Should someone like me enter the temple [for sanctuary] to save his life? I will not go.” Then I realized that God had not sent him, but he spoke this prophecy against me because Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him. read more.
He was hired for this reason, that I would be frightened and do as he said and sin, so that they would have [grounds to make] a malicious report in order to censure and disgrace me.

“Send [this message] to all the exiles, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord concerning Shemaiah of Nehelam, “Because Shemaiah has prophesied to you, although I did not send him, and he has made you trust in a lie,”

Thus says the Lord of hosts,
“Do not listen to the words of the [false] prophets who prophesy to you.
They are teaching you worthless things and are leading you into futility;
They speak a vision of their own mind and imagination
And not [truth] from the mouth of the Lord.

“Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel who prophesy, and say to those who prophesy from their own inspiration, ‘Hear the word of the Lord! Thus says the Lord God, “Woe (judgment is coming) to the foolish prophets who are following their own spirit [claiming to have seen things] but have [in fact] seen nothing. O Israel, your prophets have been like foxes among the ruins. read more.
You have not gone up into the gaps or breaches, nor built the wall around the house of Israel that it might stand in the battle on the day of the Lord.

Her prophets have smeared whitewash for them, seeing false visions and divining lies for them, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord God’—when the Lord has not spoken.

but he will [deny his identity and] say, ‘I am no prophet. I work the ground, because a man sold me as a slave in my youth.’