13But, “Ah, Lord GOD!” I said, “Look, the prophets are telling them, ‘You will not see the sword nor will you have famine, but I will give you lasting peace in this place.’” 14Then the LORD said to me, “The prophets are prophesying falsehood in My name. I have neither sent them nor commanded them nor spoken to them; they are prophesying to you a false vision, divination, futility and the deception of their own minds. 15“Therefore thus says the LORD concerning the prophets who are prophesying in My name, although it was not I who sent them—yet they keep saying, ‘There will be no sword or famine in this land’—by sword and famine those prophets shall meet their end! 16“The people also to whom they are prophesying will be thrown out into the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword; and there will be no one to bury them—neither them, nor their wives, nor their sons, nor their daughters—for I will pour out their own wickedness on them.

17“You will say this word to them,
         ‘Let my eyes flow down with tears night and day,
         And let them not cease;
         For the virgin daughter of my people has been crushed with a mighty blow,
         With a sorely infected wound.

18‘If I go out to the country,
         Behold, those slain with the sword!
         Or if I enter the city,
         Behold, diseases of famine!
         For both prophet and priest
         Have gone roving about in the land that they do not know.’”

19Have You completely rejected Judah?
         Or have You loathed Zion?
         Why have You stricken us so that we are beyond healing?
         We waited for peace, but nothing good came;
         And for a time of healing, but behold, terror!

20We know our wickedness, O LORD,
         The iniquity of our fathers, for we have sinned against You.

21Do not despise us, for Your own name’s sake;
         Do not disgrace the throne of Your glory;
         Remember and do not annul Your covenant with us.

22Are there any among the idols of the nations who give rain?
         Or can the heavens grant showers?
         Is it not You, O LORD our God?
         Therefore we hope in You,
         For You are the one who has done all these things.

NASB ©1995