Reproof of False Prophets
The word of the LORD comes to Ezekiel with an order to speak against Israel's prophets who prophesy from their own imagination instead of from revelation. God pronounces woe on these foolish prophets, calling them foxes among ruins because they exploit collapse rather than mend it. They have not stood in the breach for Israel, and yet they keep speaking false visions and lying divinations in the LORD's name, waiting for fulfillment of words He never spoke.
T1hen the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 2“Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel who are now prophesying. Tell those who prophesy out of their own imagination: Hear the word of the LORD! 3This is what the Lord GOD says: Woe to the foolish prophets who follow their own spirit yet have seen nothing. 4Your prophets, O Israel, are like foxes among the ruins. 5You did not go up to the gaps or restore the wall around the house of Israel so that it would stand in the battle on the Day of the LORD. 6They see false visions and speak lying divinations. They claim, ‘Thus declares the LORD,’ when the LORD did not send them; yet they wait for the fulfillment of their message. 7Haven’t you seen a false vision and spoken a lying divination when you proclaim, ‘Thus declares the LORD,’ even though I have not spoken?
Because these prophets have uttered empty words and false visions, the LORD declares that His hand is against them. They will be excluded from His people, removed from Israel's register, and kept from entering the land. Their core offense is misleading the people with cries of peace while helping to coat a weak wall with whitewash, a cosmetic covering that cannot withstand the coming torrents, hail, and storm.
8Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: Because you have uttered vain words and seen false visions, I am against you, declares the Lord GOD. 9My hand will be against the prophets who see false visions and speak lying divinations. They will not belong to the council of My people or be recorded in the register of the house of Israel, nor will they enter the land of Israel. Then you will know that I am the Lord GOD. 10Because they have led My people astray, saying, ‘Peace,’ when there is no peace, and whitewashing any flimsy wall that is built, 11tell those whitewashing the wall that it will fall. Rain will come in torrents, I will send hailstones plunging down, and a windstorm will burst forth. 12Surely when the wall has fallen, you will not be asked, ‘Where is the whitewash with which you covered it?’
The LORD says He Himself will unleash the storm in wrath, tear down the whitewashed wall, and expose its foundation. When the city falls, the prophets who promised peace will perish with the structure they falsely reinforced. The chapter closes this section by naming them as prophets who saw peace for Jerusalem when there was no peace at all.
13Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: In My wrath I will release a windstorm, and in My anger torrents of rain and hail will fall with destructive fury. 14I will tear down the wall you whitewashed and level it to the ground, so that its foundation is exposed. The city will fall, and you will be destroyed within it. Then you will know that I am the LORD. 15And after I have vented My wrath against the wall and against those who whitewashed it, I will say to you: ‘The wall is gone, and so are those who whitewashed it — 16those prophets of Israel who prophesied to Jerusalem and saw a vision of peace for her when there was no peace, declares the Lord GOD.’