Zephaniah 3:4
Good News Translation
The prophets are irresponsible and treacherous; the priests defile what is sacred, and twist the law of God to their own advantage.

New Revised Standard Version
Its prophets are reckless, faithless persons; its priests have profaned what is sacred, they have done violence to the law.

Contemporary English Version
Jerusalem's prophets are proud and not to be trusted. The priests have disgraced the place of worship and abused God's Law.

New American Bible
Its prophets are reckless, treacherous people; Its priests profane what is holy, and do violence to the law.

Douay-Rheims Bible
Her prophets are senseless, men without faith: her priests have polluted the sanctuary, they have acted unjustly against the law.

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Her prophets are senseless, men without faith: her priests have polluted the sanctuary, they have acted unjustly against the law.

light.

Isaiah 9:15 The aged and honourable, he is the head: and the prophet that teacheth lies, he is the tail.

Isaiah 56:10-12 His watchmen are all blind, they are all ignorant: dumb dogs not able to bark, seeing vain things, sleeping and loving dreams. . . .

Jeremiah 5:31 The prophets prophesied falsehood, and the priests clapped their hands: and my people loved such things: what then shall be done in the end thereof?

Jeremiah 6:13,14 For from the least of them even to the greatest, all are given to covetousness: and from the prophet even to the priest, all are guilty of deceit. . . .

Jeremiah 8:10 Therefore will I give their women to strangers, their fields to others for an inheritance: because from the least even to the greatest all follow covetousness: from the prophet even to the priest all deal deceitfully.

Jeremiah 14:13-15 And I said: Ah, ah, ah, O Lord God, the prophets say to them: You shall not see the sword, and there shall be no famine among you, but he will give you true peace in this place. . . .

Jeremiah 23:9-17,25-27 To the prophets: My heart is broken within me, all my bones tremble: I am become as a drunken man, and as a man full of wine, at the presence of the Lord, and at the presence of his holy words. . . .

Jeremiah 23:32 Behold I am against the prophets that have lying dreams, saith the Lord: and tell them, and cause my people to err by their lying, and by their wonders: when I sent them not, nor commanded them, who have not profited this people at all, saith the Lord.

Jeremiah 27:14,15 Hearken not to the words of the prophets that say to you: You shall not serve the king of Babylon: for they tell you a lie. . . .

Lamentations 2:14 Nun. Thy prophets have seen false and foolish things for thee: and they have not laid open thy iniquity, to excite thee to penance: but they have seen for thee false revelations and banishments.

Ezekiel 13:3-16 Thus saith the Lord God: Woe to the foolish prophets that follow their own spirit, and see nothing. . . .

Hosea 9:7 The days of visitation are come, the days of repaying are come: know ye, O Israel, that the prophet was foolish, the spiritual man was mad, for the multitude of thy iniquity, and the multitude of thy madness.

Micah 2:11 Arise ye, and depart, for there is no rest here for you. For that uncleanness of the land, it shall be corrupted with a grievous corruption.

Micah 3:5,6 Then shall they cry to the Lord, and he will not hear them: and he will hide his face from them at that time, as they have behaved wickedly in their devices. . . .

Matthew 7:15 Beware of false prophets, who come to you in the clothing of sheep, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.

2 Corinthians 11:13 For such false apostles are deceitful workmen, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.

2 Peter 2:1-3 But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there shall be among you lying teachers who shall bring in sects of perdition and deny the Lord who bought them: bringing upon themselves swift destruction. . . .

1 John 4:1 Dearly beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits if they be of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.

Revelation 19:20 And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet who wrought signs before him, wherewith he seduced them who received the character of the beast and who adored his image. These two were cast alive into the pool of fire burning with brimstone.

her priests.

1 Samuel 2:12-17,22 Now the sons of Heli were children of Belial, not knowing the Lord, . . .

Ezekiel 22:26 Her priests have despised my law, and have defiled my sanctuaries: they have put no difference between holy and profane: nor have distinguished between the polluted and the clean: and they have turned away their eyes from my sabbaths, and I was profaned in the midst of them.

Ezekiel 44:7,8 In that you have brought in strangers uncircumcised in heart, and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in my sanctuary, and to defile my house: and you offer my bread, the fat, and the blood: and you have broken my covenant by all your wicked doings. . . .

Hosea 4:6-8 My people have been silent, because they had no knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will reject thee, that thou shalt not do the office of priesthood to me: and thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I also will forget thy children. . . .

Malachi 2:8 But you have departed out of the way, and have caused many to stumble at the law: you have made void the covenant of Levi, saith the Lord of hosts.

Context
The Judgment on Jerusalem
3Her princes are in the midst of her as roaring lions: her judges are evening wolves, they left nothing for the morning. 4Her prophets are senseless, men without faith: her priests have polluted the sanctuary, they have acted unjustly against the law.5The just Lord is in the midst thereof, he will not do iniquity: in the morning, in the morning he will bring his judgment to light, and it shall not be hid: but the wicked man hath not known shame.…
Cross References
Judges 9:4
And they gave him seventy weight of silver out of the temple of Baalberith: wherewith he hired to himself men that were needy, and vagabonds, and they followed him.

Jeremiah 23:11
For the prophet and the priest are defiled: and in my house I have found their wickedness, saith the Lord.

Jeremiah 23:32
Behold I am against the prophets that have lying dreams, saith the Lord: and tell them, and cause my people to err by their lying, and by their wonders: when I sent them not, nor commanded them, who have not profited this people at all, saith the Lord.

Jeremiah 34:19
The princes of Juda, and the princes of Jerusalem, the eunuchs, and the priests, and all the people of the land that passed between the parts of the calf:

Ezekiel 22:26
Her priests have despised my law, and have defiled my sanctuaries: they have put no difference between holy and profane: nor have distinguished between the polluted and the clean: and they have turned away their eyes from my sabbaths, and I was profaned in the midst of them.

Ezekiel 44:23
And they shall teach my people the difference between holy and profane, and shew them how to discern between clean and unclean.

Malachi 1:6
The son honoureth the father, and the servant his master: if then I be a father, where is my honour? and if I be a master, where is my fear: saith the Lord of hosts.

Malachi 2:7
For the lips of the priests shall keep knowledge, and they shall seek the law at his mouth: because he is the angel of the Lord of hosts.

Malachi 2:8
But you have departed out of the way, and have caused many to stumble at the law: you have made void the covenant of Levi, saith the Lord of hosts.

Zephaniah 3:3
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