Thus says the Lord God: “Woe to the foolish prophets, who follow their own spirit and have seen nothing!
Parallel translations
- WEB Thus says the Lord Yahweh, “Woe to the foolish prophets, who follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing!
- KJV Thus saith the Lord GOD; Woe unto the foolish prophets, that follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing!
- BSB This is what the Lord GOD says: Woe to the foolish prophets who follow their own spirit, yet have seen nothing.
- NASB This is what the Lord God says: “Woe to the foolish prophets who are following their own spirit and have seen nothing!
- NLT This is what the Sovereign Lord says: What sorrow awaits the false prophets who are following their own imaginations and have seen nothing at all!’
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Woe to the foolish prophets who follow their own spirit and have seen nothing.
Overview
God pronounces a 'woe' on prophets who claim visions while having received none. Their folly is treating personal impulse as the Spirit's voice. The warning stands against all who speak for God presumptuously, a danger the church must still guard against.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 17
- Lam 2:14Your prophets have seen for you false and foolish visions; They have not uncovered your iniquity, to bring back your captivity, but have seen for you false revelations and causes of banishment.
- Jer 23:28–32The prophet who has a dream, let him tell a dream; and he who has my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the straw to the wheat?” says Yahweh.
- Hos 9:7The days of visitation have come. The days of reckoning have come. Israel will consider the prophet to be a fool, and the man who is inspired to be insane, because of the abundance of your sins, and because your hostility is great.
- Ezek 34:2Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy, and tell them, even to the shepherds, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Woe to the shepherds of Israel who feed themselves! Shouldn’t the shepherds feed the sheep?
- Jer 23:1“Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!” says Yahweh.
- Prov 15:14The heart of one who has understanding seeks knowledge, but the mouths of fools feed on folly.
- Matt 23:13–29“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows’ houses, and as a pretense you make long prayers. Therefore you will receive greater condemnation.
- Ezek 13:18and say, “Thus says the Lord Yahweh: ‘Woe to the women who sew pillows on all elbows, and make kerchiefs for the head of persons of every stature to hunt souls! Will you hunt the souls of my people, and save souls alive for yourselves?
- Prov 15:2The tongue of the wise commends knowledge, but the mouth of fools gush out folly.
- Luke 11:42–47But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and every herb, but you bypass justice and God’s love. You ought to have done these, and not to have left the other undone.
- 1 Cor 9:16For if I preach the Good News, I have nothing to boast about; for necessity is laid on me; but woe is to me, if I don’t preach the Good News.
- Ezek 13:6–7They have seen falsehood and lying divination, who say, ‘Yahweh says;’ but Yahweh has not sent them. They have made men to hope that the word would be confirmed.
- 1 Tim 6:4he is conceited, knowing nothing, but obsessed with arguments, disputes, and word battles, from which come envy, strife, insulting, evil suspicions,
- Zech 11:15Yahweh said to me, “Take for yourself yet again the equipment of a foolish shepherd.
- Luke 11:40You foolish ones, didn’t he who made the outside make the inside also?
- Luke 11:52Woe to you lawyers! For you took away the key of knowledge. You didn’t enter in yourselves, and those who were entering in, you hindered.”
- 2 Tim 3:9But they will proceed no further. For their folly will be evident to all men, as theirs also came to be.
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Christ at the center
The promise of one Shepherd-King David, a new heart and new Spirit, and the river of life flowing from the temple all stream toward Christ, the good Shepherd who gives the Spirit.
How Ezekiel 13:3 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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