False Prophets
50 passages listed in Nave’s Topical Bible and Torrey’s New Topical Textbook. Verse text: Berean Standard Bible; links open in your translation.
33 sections
- Called Foolish Prophets
- Compared to Foxes in the Desert
- Compared to Wind
- Covetous
- Crafty
- Drunken
- Immoral and Profane
- Influenced by Evil Spirits
- Involved the People in Their own Ruin
- Judgments Denounced Against
- Light and Treacherous
- Made Use of by God to Prove Israel
- Mode of Trying and Detecting
- Not Sent or Commissioned by God
- Often Deceived by God As a Judgment
- Often Practised Divination and Witchcraft
- Often Pretended to Dreams
- Predicted to Arise in the Latter Times
- Predicted to Arise: Before Destruction of Jerusalem
- Pretended to be Sent by God
- Prophesied in the Name of False Gods
- Prophesied: Falsely
- Prophesied: Lies in the Name of the Lord
- Prophesied: out of Their own Heart
- Prophesied: Peace, when There Was No Peace
- The People: Deprived of God's Word By
- The People: Encouraged and Praised
- The People: Led Into Error
- The People: Made to Forget God's Name By
- The People: Oppressed and Defrauded By
- The People: Taught Profaneness and Sin By
- The People: Warned not to Listen To
- Women Sometimes Acted As
Called Foolish Prophets
- Ezekiel 13:2 “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!
Compared to Foxes in the Desert
- Ezekiel 13:4 Your prophets, O Israel, are like foxes among the ruins.
Compared to Wind
- Jeremiah 5:13 The prophets are but wind, for the word is not in them. So let their own predictions befall them.”
Covetous
- Micah 3:11 Her leaders judge for a bribe, her priests teach for a price, and her prophets practice divination for money. Yet they lean upon the LORD, saying, “Is not the LORD among us? No disaster can come upon us.”
Crafty
- Matthew 7:15 Beware of false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.
Drunken
- Isaiah 28:7 These also stagger from wine and stumble from strong drink: Priests and prophets reel from strong drink and are befuddled by wine. They stumble because of strong drink, muddled in their visions and stumbling in their judgments.
Immoral and Profane
- Jeremiah 23:11 “For both prophet and priest are ungodly; even in My house I have found their wickedness,” declares the LORD.
- Jeremiah 23:14 And among the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen a horrible thing: They commit adultery and walk in lies. They strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that no one turns his back on wickedness. They are all like Sodom to Me; the …
Influenced by Evil Spirits
- 1 Kings 22:21–22 Then a spirit came forward, stood before the LORD, and said, ‘I will entice him.’ ‘By what means?’ asked the LORD. …
Involved the People in Their own Ruin
- Isaiah 9:15–16 The head is the elder and honorable man, and the tail is the prophet who teaches lies. …
- Jeremiah 20:6 And you, Pashhur, and all who live in your house, will go into captivity. You will go to Babylon, and there you will die and be buried — you and all your friends to whom you have prophesied these lies.’”
- Ezekiel 14:10 They will bear their punishment— the punishment of the inquirer will be the same as that of the prophet—
Judgments Denounced Against
- Jeremiah 8:1–2 “At that time,” declares the LORD, “the bones of the kings of Judah, the bones of the officials, the bones of the priests, the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the people of Jerusalem will be removed from their graves. …
- Jeremiah 14:15 Therefore this is what the LORD says about the prophets who prophesy in My name: I did not send them, yet they say, ‘No sword or famine will touch this land.’ By sword and famine these very prophets will meet their end!
- Jeremiah 28:16–17 Therefore this is what the LORD says: ‘I am about to remove you from the face of the earth. You will die this year because you have preached rebellion against the LORD.’” …
- Jeremiah 29:32 this is what the LORD says: ‘I will surely punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite and his descendants. He will have no one left among this people, nor will he see the good that I will bring to My people, declares the LORD, for he has …
Light and Treacherous
- Zephaniah 3:4 Her prophets are reckless, faithless men. Her priests profane the sanctuary; they do violence to the law.
Made Use of by God to Prove Israel
- Deuteronomy 13:3 you must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer. For the LORD your God is testing you to find out whether you love Him with all your heart and with all your soul.
Mode of Trying and Detecting
- Deuteronomy 13:1–2 If a prophet or dreamer of dreams arises among you and proclaims a sign or wonder to you, …
- Deuteronomy 18:21–22 You may ask in your heart, “How can we recognize a message that the LORD has not spoken?” …
- 1 John 4:1–3 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God. For many false prophets have gone out into the world. …
Not Sent or Commissioned by God
- Jeremiah 14:14 “The prophets are prophesying lies in My name,” replied the LORD. “I did not send them or appoint them or speak to them. They are prophesying to you a false vision, a worthless divination, the futility and delusion of their own minds.
- Jeremiah 23:21 I did not send these prophets, yet they have run with their message; I did not speak to them, yet they have prophesied.
- Jeremiah 29:31 “Send a message telling all the exiles what the LORD says concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite. Because Shemaiah has prophesied to you— though I did not send him— and has made you trust in a lie,
Often Deceived by God As a Judgment
- Ezekiel 14:9 But if the prophet is enticed to speak a message, then it was I the LORD who enticed him, and I will stretch out My hand against him and destroy him from among My people Israel.
Often Practised Divination and Witchcraft
- Jeremiah 14:14 “The prophets are prophesying lies in My name,” replied the LORD. “I did not send them or appoint them or speak to them. They are prophesying to you a false vision, a worthless divination, the futility and delusion of their own minds.
- Ezekiel 22:28 Her prophets whitewash these deeds by false visions and lying divinations, saying, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says,’ when the LORD has not spoken.
- Acts 13:6 They traveled through the whole island as far as Paphos, where they found a Jewish sorcerer and false prophet named Bar-Jesus,
Often Pretended to Dreams
- Jeremiah 23:28 Let the prophet who has a dream retell it, but let him who has My word speak it truthfully. For what is straw compared to grain?” declares the LORD.
- Jeremiah 23:32 “Indeed,” declares the LORD, “I am against those who prophesy false dreams and retell them to lead My people astray with their reckless lies. It was not I who sent them or commanded them, and they are of no benefit at all to …
Predicted to Arise in the Latter Times
- 2 Peter 2:1 Now there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them — bringing swift destruction on themselves.
Predicted to Arise: Before Destruction of Jerusalem
- Matthew 24:11 and many false prophets will arise and deceive many.
- Matthew 24:24 For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive even the elect, if that were possible.
Pretended to be Sent by God
- Jeremiah 23:17–18 They keep saying to those who despise Me, ‘The LORD says that you will have peace,’ and to everyone who walks in the stubbornness of his own heart, ‘No harm will come to you.’ …
- Jeremiah 23:31 “Yes,” declares the LORD, “I am against the prophets who wag their own tongues and proclaim, ‘The LORD declares it.’”
Prophesied in the Name of False Gods
- Jeremiah 2:8 The priests did not ask, ‘Where is the LORD?’ The experts in the law no longer knew Me, and the leaders rebelled against Me. The prophets prophesied by Baal and followed useless idols.
Prophesied: Falsely
- Jeremiah 5:31 The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule by their own authority. My people love it so, but what will you do in the end?
Prophesied: Lies in the Name of the Lord
- Jeremiah 14:14 “The prophets are prophesying lies in My name,” replied the LORD. “I did not send them or appoint them or speak to them. They are prophesying to you a false vision, a worthless divination, the futility and delusion of their own minds.
Prophesied: out of Their own Heart
- Jeremiah 23:16 This is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you. They are filling you with false hopes. They speak visions from their own minds, not from the mouth of the LORD.
- Jeremiah 23:26 How long will this continue in the hearts of these prophets who prophesy falsehood, these prophets of the delusion of their own minds?
- Ezekiel 13:2 “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!
Prophesied: Peace, when There Was No Peace
- Jeremiah 6:14 They dress the wound of My people with very little care, saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace at all.
- Jeremiah 23:17 They keep saying to those who despise Me, ‘The LORD says that you will have peace,’ and to everyone who walks in the stubbornness of his own heart, ‘No harm will come to you.’
- Ezekiel 13:10 Because they have led My people astray, saying, ‘Peace,’ when there is no peace, and whitewashing any flimsy wall that is built,
- Micah 3:5 This is what the LORD says: “As for the prophets who lead My people astray, who proclaim peace while they chew with their teeth, but declare war against one who puts nothing in their mouths:
The People: Deprived of God's Word By
- Jeremiah 23:30 “Therefore behold,” declares the LORD, “I am against the prophets who steal from one another words they attribute to Me.”
The People: Encouraged and Praised
- Jeremiah 5:31 The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule by their own authority. My people love it so, but what will you do in the end?
- Luke 6:26 Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for their fathers treated the false prophets in the same way.
The People: Led Into Error
- Jeremiah 23:13 “Among the prophets of Samaria I saw an offensive thing: They prophesied by Baal and led My people Israel astray.
- Micah 3:5 This is what the LORD says: “As for the prophets who lead My people astray, who proclaim peace while they chew with their teeth, but declare war against one who puts nothing in their mouths:
The People: Made to Forget God's Name By
- Jeremiah 23:27 They suppose the dreams that they tell one another will make My people forget My name, just as their fathers forgot My name through the worship of Baal.
The People: Oppressed and Defrauded By
- Ezekiel 22:25 The conspiracy of the princes in her midst is like a roaring lion tearing its prey. They devour the people, seize the treasures and precious things, and multiply the widows within her.
The People: Taught Profaneness and Sin By
- Jeremiah 23:14–15 And among the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen a horrible thing: They commit adultery and walk in lies. They strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that no one turns his back on wickedness. They are all like Sodom to Me; the …
The People: Warned not to Listen To
- Deuteronomy 13:3 you must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer. For the LORD your God is testing you to find out whether you love Him with all your heart and with all your soul.
- Jeremiah 23:16 This is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you. They are filling you with false hopes. They speak visions from their own minds, not from the mouth of the LORD.
- Jeremiah 27:9 But as for you, do not listen to your prophets, your diviners, your interpreters of dreams, your mediums, or your sorcerers who declare, ‘You will not serve the king of Babylon.’
- Jeremiah 27:15–16 For I have not sent them, declares the LORD, and yet they are prophesying falsely in My name; therefore I will banish you, and you will perish— you and the prophets who prophesy to you.” …
Women Sometimes Acted As
- Nehemiah 6:14 O my God, remember Tobiah and Sanballat for what they have done, and also Noadiah the prophetess and the other prophets who tried to intimidate me.
- Revelation 2:20 But I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess. By her teaching she misleads My servants to be sexually immoral and to eat food sacrificed to idols.
Topics: Nave’s Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey’s New Topical Textbook (1897), public domain, via the Berean Bible topical index.