Ezekiel 13:6

13:6 They see delusion and their omens are a lie. ¹  They say, “the Lord declares,” though the Lord has not sent them; ²  yet they expect their word to be confirmed. ³ 

Ezekiel 21:21

21:21 For the king of Babylon stands at the fork ⁴  in the road at the head of the two routes. He looks for omens: ⁵  He shakes arrows, he consults idols, ⁶  he examines ⁷  animal livers. ⁸ 

Ezekiel 21:29

21:29 while seeing false visions for you

and reading lying omens for you ⁹  –

to place that sword ¹⁰  on the necks of the profane wicked, ¹¹ 

whose day has come,

the time of final punishment.

Ezekiel 22:28

22:28 Her prophets coat their messages with whitewash. ¹²  They see false visions and announce lying omens for them, saying, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says,’ when the Lord has not spoken.

---

¹ sn The same description of a false prophet is found in Micah 2:11.

² sn The Lord has not sent them. A similar concept is found in Jer 14:14; 23:21.

³ tn Or “confirmed”; NIV “to be fulfilled”; TEV “to come true.”

⁴ tn Heb “mother.”

⁵ sn Mesopotamian kings believed that the gods revealed the future through omens. They employed various divination techniques, some of which are included in the list that follows. A particularly popular technique was the examination and interpretation of the livers of animals. See R. R. Wilson, Prophecy and Society in Ancient Israel, 90-110.

⁶ tn This word refers to personal idols that were apparently used for divination purposes (Gen 31:19; 1 Sam 19:13, 16).

⁷ tn Heb “sees.”

⁸ tn Heb “the liver.”

⁹ tn Heb “in the seeing concerning you falsehood, in divining concerning you a lie.” This probably refers to the attempts of the Ammonites to ward off judgment through prophetic visions and divination.

¹⁰ tn Heb “you”; the referent (the sword mentioned in v. 28) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹¹ sn The second half of the verse appears to state that the sword of judgment would fall upon the wicked, despite their efforts to prevent it.

¹² tn Heb “her prophets coat for themselves with whitewash.” The expression may be based on Ezek 13:10-15.