Then the old prophet from Bethel said to him, "I, too, am a prophet just like you, and at the LORD's command an angel told me to take you home with me and offer you my hospitality." But the old prophet was lying.

The old and honorable men are the head---and the tail is the prophets whose teachings are lies!

Everyone, great and small, tries to make money dishonestly; even prophets and priests cheat the people.

The LORD says, "The prophets and the priests are godless; I have caught them doing evil in the Temple itself.

"Mortal man," he said, "denounce the prophets of Israel who make up their own prophecies. Tell them to listen to the word of the LORD."

This is what the Sovereign LORD says: "These foolish prophets are doomed! They provide their own inspiration and invent their own visions.

So now your false visions and misleading predictions are over. I am rescuing my people from your power, so that you will know that I am the LORD."

When that time comes, no prophet will be proud of his visions or act like a prophet or wear a prophet's coarse garment in order to deceive people.

"Be on your guard against false prophets; they come to you looking like sheep on the outside, but on the inside they are really like wild wolves.

Then many false prophets will appear and fool many people.

"How terrible when all people speak well of you; their ancestors said the very same things about the false prophets.

False prophets appeared in the past among the people, and in the same way false teachers will appear among you. They will bring in destructive, untrue doctrines, and will deny the Master who redeemed them, and so they will bring upon themselves sudden destruction.

My dear friends, do not believe all who claim to have the Spirit, but test them to find out if the spirit they have comes from God. For many false prophets have gone out everywhere.

I know what those prophets have said who speak lies in my name and claim that I have given them my messages in their dreams.

They think that the dreams they tell will make my people forget me, just as their ancestors forgot me and turned to Baal.

Do not listen to your prophets or to those who claim they can predict the future, either by dreams or by calling up the spirits of the dead or by magic. They all tell you not to submit to the king of Babylonia.

I, the LORD, the God of Israel, warn you not to let yourselves be deceived by the prophets who live among you or by any others who claim they can predict the future. Do not pay any attention to their dreams.

The LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, gave me a message for Shemaiah of Nehelam, who had sent a letter in his own name to all the people of Jerusalem and to the priest Zephaniah son of Maaseiah and to all the other priests. In this letter Shemaiah wrote to Zephaniah:

People consult idols and fortunetellers, but the answers they get are lies and nonsense. Some interpret dreams, but only mislead you; the comfort they give is useless. So the people wander about like lost sheep. They are in trouble because they have no leader.