2 Peter 2:1
King James Version
2 But there were false prophets also among the people,
even as there shall be false teachers among you,
who privily shall bring in damnable heresies,
even denying the Lord that bought them,
and bring upon themselves swift destruction.
What punishment await those who mislead God's people?
Amazingly, in just one chapter, it's all revealed by GOD, through prophet Jeremiah.
Jeremiah 23:1-2
King James Version
23 Woe be unto the pastors that destroy
and scatter the sheep of my pasture!
saith the Lord.
2 Therefore thus saith the Lord God of Israel
against the pastors that feed my people;
Ye have scattered my flock,
and driven them away,
and have not visited them:
behold,
I will visit upon you the evil of your doings,
saith the Lord.
Jeremiah 23:9-12
King James Version
9 Mine heart within me is broken
because of the prophets;
all my bones shake;
I am like a drunken man,
and like a man whom wine hath overcome,
because of the Lord,
and because of the words of his holiness.
10 For the land is full of adulterers;
for because of swearing the land mourneth;
the pleasant places of the wilderness are dried up,
and their course is evil,
and their force is not right.
11 For both prophet and priest are profane;
yea,
in my house have I found their wickedness,
saith the Lord.
12 Wherefore their way shall be unto them
as slippery ways in the darkness:
they shall be driven on,
and fall therein:
for I will bring evil upon them,
even the year of their visitation,
saith the Lord.
Jeremiah 23:13-14
King James Version
13 And I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria;
they prophesied in Baal,
and caused my people Israel to err.
14 I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem
an horrible thing:
they commit adultery,
and walk in lies:
they strengthen also the hands of evildoers,
that none doth return from his wickedness;
they are all of them unto me as Sodom,
and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah.
Jeremiah 23:15-18
King James Version
15 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.
16 Thus saith the Lord of hosts,
Hearken not unto the words of the prophets
that prophesy unto you:
they make you vain:
they speak a vision of their own heart,
and not out of the mouth of the Lord.
17 They say still unto them that despise me,
The Lord hath said,
Ye shall have peace;
and they say unto every one that walketh
after the imagination of his own heart,
No evil shall come upon you.
18 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?
Jeremiah 23:19-20
King James Version
19 Behold,
a whirlwind of the Lord is gone forth in fury,
even a grievous whirlwind:
it shall fall grievously upon the head of the wicked.
20 The anger of the Lord shall not return,
until he have executed,
and till he have performed the thoughts of his heart:
in the latter days ye shall consider it perfectly.
Jeremiah 23:21-22
King James Version
21 I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran:
I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied.
22 But if they had stood in my counsel,
and had caused my people to hear my words,
then they should have turned them
from their evil way,
and from the evil of their doings.
Jeremiah 23:23-24
King James Version
23 Am I a God at hand, saith the Lord,
and not a God afar off?
24 Can any hide himself in secret places
that I shall not see him?
saith the Lord.
Do not I fill heaven and earth?
saith the Lord.
Jeremiah 23:25-27
King James Version
25 I have heard what the prophets said,
that prophesy lies in my name,
saying,
I have dreamed, I have dreamed.
26 How long shall this be
in the heart of the prophets that prophesy lies?
yea,
they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart;
27 Which think to cause my people to forget my name
by their dreams which they tell every man
to his neighbour,
as their fathers have forgotten my name for Baal.
Jeremiah 23:28-29
King James Version
28 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.
29 Is not my word like as a fire?
saith the Lord;
and like a hammer
that breaketh the rock in pieces?
Jeremiah 23:30
King James Version
30 Therefore, behold,
I am against the prophets,
saith the Lord,
that steal my words
every one from his neighbour.
Jeremiah 23:31
King James Version
31 Behold,
I am against the prophets,
saith the Lord,
that use their tongues,
and say, He saith.
Jeremiah 23:32
King James Version
32 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.
Jeremiah 23:33-35
King James Version
33 And when this people,
or the prophet,
or a priest,
shall ask thee, saying,
What is the burden of the Lord?
thou shalt then say unto them,
What burden?
I will even forsake you,
saith the Lord.
34 And as for the prophet,
and the priest,
and the people,
that shall say,
The burden of the Lord,
I will even punish that man and his house.
35 Thus shall ye say every one to his neighbour,
and every one to his brother,
What hath the Lord answered?
and,
What hath the Lord spoken?
Jeremiah 23:36
King James Version
36 And the burden of the Lord
shall ye mention no more:
for every man's word shall be his burden;
for ye have perverted the words of the living God,
of the Lord of hosts our God.
Jeremiah 23:37-38
King James Version
37 Thus shalt thou say to the prophet,
What hath the Lord answered thee?
and,
What hath the Lord spoken?
38 But since ye say,
The burden of the Lord;
therefore thus saith the Lord;
Because ye say this word,
The burden of the Lord,
and I have sent unto you,
saying,
Ye shall not say,
The burden of the Lord;
Jeremiah 23:39-40
King James Version
39 Therefore, behold,
I, even I,
will utterly forget you,
and I will forsake you,
and the city that I gave you and your fathers,
and cast you out of my presence:
40 And I will bring an everlasting reproach upon you,
and a perpetual shame,
which shall not be forgotten.
Related material:
False prophets and pastors deceiving people
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