13-14. “Over in Samaria I saw prophetsacting like silly fools—shocking!They preached using that no-god Baal for a text,messing with the minds of my people.And the Jerusalem prophets are even worse—horrible!—sex-driven, living a lie,Subsidizing a culture of wickedness,and never giving it a second thought.They’re as bad as those wretches in old Sodom,the degenerates of old Gomorrah.”
15. So here’s the Message to the prophets from God-of-the-Angel-Armies:“I’ll cook them a supper of maggoty meatwith after-dinner drinks of strychnine.The Jerusalem prophets are behind all this.They’re the cause of the godlessness polluting this country.”
16-17. A Message from God-of-the-Angel-Armies:“Don’t listen to the sermons of the prophets.It’s all hot air. Lies, lies, and more lies.They make it all up.Not a word they speak comes from me.They preach their ‘Everything Will Turn Out Fine’ sermonto congregations with no taste for God,Their ‘Nothing Bad Will Ever Happen to You’ sermonto people who are set in their own ways.
18-20. “Have any of these prophets bothered to meet with me, the true God?bothered to take in what I have to say?listened to and then lived out my Word?Look out! God’s hurricane will be let loose—my hurricane blast,Spinning the heads of the wicked like tops!God’s raging anger won’t let upUntil I’ve made a clean sweep,completing the job I began.When the job’s done,you’ll see that it’s been well done.
21-22. “I never sent these prophets,but they ran anyway.I never spoke to them,but they preached away.If they’d have bothered to sit down and meet with me,they’d have preached my Message to my people.They’d have gotten them back on the right track,gotten them out of their evil ruts.