⁹ And as for you, ^(A)do not listen to your prophets, your diviners, your ^[a]dreamers, your soothsayers, or your sorcerers who talk to you, saying, “You will not serve the king of Babylon.” ¹⁰ For they are prophesying a ^(B)lie to you in order to ^(C)remove you far from your land; and I will drive you away and you will perish.

¹⁴ So ^(A)do not listen to the words of the prophets who talk to you, saying, ‘You will not serve the king of Babylon,’ for they are prophesying a ^(B)lie to you; ¹⁵ for ^(C)I have not sent them,” declares the Lord, “but they are ^(D)prophesying falsely in My name, so that I will ^(E)drive you away and that you will perish, ^(F)you and the prophets who prophesy to you.”

¹⁶ Then I spoke to the priests and to all this people, saying: “This is what the Lord says: ‘Do not listen to the words of your prophets who prophesy to you, saying, “Behold, the ^(G)vessels of the Lord’s house will now shortly be brought back from Babylon”; for they are prophesying a ^(H)lie to you. ¹⁷ Do not listen to them; serve the king of Babylon, and live! Why should this city ^(I)become a place of ruins?

Testing the Spirits

4 ^(A)Beloved, do not believe every ^(B)spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because ^(C)many false prophets have gone out into the world.