5. “For the time is coming,”says the lord,“when I will raise up a righteous descendantfrom King David’s line.He will be a King who rules with wisdom.He will do what is just and right throughout the land.
6. And this will be his name:‘The lord Is Our Righteousness.’In that day Judah will be saved,and Israel will live in safety.
7. “In that day,” says the lord, “when people are taking an oath, they will no longer say, ‘As surely as the lord lives, who rescued the people of Israel from the land of Egypt.’
8. Instead, they will say, ‘As surely as the lord lives, who brought the people of Israel back to their own land from the land of the north and from all the countries to which he had exiled them.’ Then they will live in their own land.”
9. My heart is broken because of the false prophets,and my bones tremble.I stagger like a drunkard,like someone overcome by wine,because of the holy wordsthe lord has spoken against them.
10. For the land is full of adultery,and it lies under a curse.The land itself is in mourning—its wilderness pastures are dried up.For they all do eviland abuse what power they have.
11. “Even the priests and prophetsare ungodly, wicked men.I have seen their despicable actsright here in my own Temple,”says the lord.
12. “Therefore, the paths they takewill become slippery.They will be chased through the dark,and there they will fall.For I will bring disaster upon themat the time fixed for their punishment.I, the lord, have spoken!
13. “I saw that the prophets of Samaria were terribly evil,for they prophesied in the name of Baaland led my people of Israel into sin.
14. But now I see that the prophets of Jerusalem are even worse!They commit adultery and love dishonesty.They encourage those who are doing evilso that no one turns away from their sins.These prophets are as wickedas the people of Sodom and Gomorrah once were.”
15. Therefore, this is what the lord of Heaven’s Armies says concerning the prophets:“I will feed them with bitternessand give them poison to drink.For it is because of Jerusalem’s prophetsthat wickedness has filled this land.”
16. This is what the lord of Heaven’s Armies says to his people:“Do not listen to these prophets when they prophesy to you,filling you with futile hopes.They are making up everything they say.They do not speak for the lord!
17. They keep saying to those who despise my word,‘Don’t worry! The lord says you will have peace!’And to those who stubbornly follow their own desires,they say, ‘No harm will come your way!’
18. “Have any of these prophets been in the lord’s presenceto hear what he is really saying?Has even one of them cared enough to listen?
19. Look! The lord’s anger bursts out like a storm,a whirlwind that swirls down on the heads of the wicked.
20. The anger of the lord will not diminishuntil it has finished all he has planned.In the days to comeyou will understand all this very clearly.
21. “I have not sent these prophets,yet they run around claiming to speak for me.I have given them no message,yet they go on prophesying.