"But my people would not listen to me; Israel would not obey me.

So I let them go their stubborn ways and do whatever they wanted.

He loved to curse---may he be cursed! He hated to give blessings---may no one bless him!

Go ahead and be stupid! Go ahead and be blind! Get drunk without any wine! Stagger without drinking a drop!

The meaning of every prophetic vision will be hidden from you; it will be like a sealed scroll. If you take it to someone who knows how to read and ask him to read it to you, he will say he can't because it is sealed.

The Lord said, "These people claim to worship me, but their words are meaningless, and their hearts are somewhere else. Their religion is nothing but human rules and traditions, which they have simply memorized.

And so they were not able to believe, because Isaiah also said,

Isaiah said this because he saw Jesus' glory and spoke about him.

They loved human approval rather than the approval of God.

They know God, but they do not give him the honor that belongs to him, nor do they thank him. Instead, their thoughts have become complete nonsense, and their empty minds are filled with darkness.

instead of worshiping the immortal God, they worship images made to look like mortals or birds or animals or reptiles.

They exchange the truth about God for a lie; they worship and serve what God has created instead of the Creator himself, who is to be praised forever! Amen.

Ahab said to Jehoshaphat, "Didn't I tell you that he never prophesies anything good for me? It's always something bad!"

The LORD asked, 'Who will deceive Ahab so that he will go and be killed at Ramoth?' Some of the angels said one thing, and others said something else,

'How?' the LORD asked. The spirit replied, 'I will go and make all of Ahab's prophets tell lies.' The LORD said, 'Go and deceive him. You will succeed.' "

Micaiah went on: "Now listen to what the LORD says! I saw the LORD sitting on his throne in heaven, with all his angels standing beside him.

until a spirit stepped forward, approached the LORD, and said, 'I will deceive him.' 'How?' the LORD asked.

And Micaiah concluded: "This is what has happened. The LORD has made these prophets of yours lie to you. But he himself has decreed that you will meet with disaster!"

So he told me to go and give the people this message: "No matter how much you listen, you will not understand. No matter how much you look, you will not know what is happening."

Then he said to me, "Make the minds of these people dull, their ears deaf, and their eyes blind, so that they cannot see or hear or understand. If they did, they might turn to me and be healed."

"If any prophets are deceived into giving a false answer, it is because I, the LORD, have deceived them. I will remove them from the people of Israel.

It makes as much sense as eating ashes. His foolish ideas have so misled him that he is beyond help. He won't admit to himself that the idol he holds in his hand is not a god at all.

So I will bring disaster upon them---the very things they are afraid of---because no one answered when I called or listened when I spoke. They chose to disobey me and do evil."

They are deceiving you and will cause you to be taken far away from your country. I will drive you out, and you will be destroyed.

The visions that you see are false, and the predictions you make are lies. You are wicked and evil, and your day is coming, the day of your final punishment. The sword is going to fall on your necks.

Many men, claiming to speak for me, will come and say, 'I am the Messiah!' and they will fool many people.

Then many false prophets will appear and fool many people.

The Spirit says clearly that some people will abandon the faith in later times; they will obey lying spirits and follow the teachings of demons.