Jeremiah Accuses Hananiah of Being a False Prophet
1 Later that same year, in the fifth month of the fourth year that Zedekiah was king, the prophet Hananiah son of Azzur from Gibeon came up to me in the temple. And while the priests and others in the temple were listening, 2 he told me that the Lord had said:
I am the Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel, and I will smash the yoke that Nebuchadnezzar put on the necks of the nations to make them his slaves. 3 And within two years, I will bring back to Jerusalem everything that he took from my temple and carried off to Babylonia. 4 King Jehoiachin and the other people who were taken from Judah to Babylonia will be allowed to come back here as well. All this will happen because I will smash the power of the king of Babylonia!
5 The priests and the others were still standing there, so I said:
6 Hananiah, I hope the Lord will do exactly what you said. I hope he does bring back everything the Babylonians took from the temple, and that our people who were taken to Babylonia will be allowed to return home. 7 But let me remind you and everyone else 8 that long before we were born, prophets were saying powerful kingdoms would be struck by war, disaster, and disease. 9 Now you are saying we will have peace. We will just have to wait and see if that is really what the Lord has said.
10 Hananiah grabbed the wooden yoke from my neck and smashed it. 11 Then he said, “The Lord says this is the way he will smash the power Nebuchadnezzar has over the nations, and it will happen in less than two years.”
I left the temple, 12 and a little while later, the Lord told me 13-14 to go back and say to Hananiah:
I am the Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel. You smashed a wooden yoke, but I will replace it with one made of iron. I will put iron yokes on all the nations, and they will have to do what King Nebuchadnezzar commands. I will even let him rule the wild animals.
15-16 Hananiah, I have never sent you to speak for me. And yet you have talked my people into believing your lies and rebelling against me. So now I will send you—I'll send you right off the face of the earth! You will die before this year is over.
17 Two months later, Hananiah died.
1 And that same yeere in the beginning of the reigne of Zedekiah King of Iudah in the fourth yeere, and in the fifth moneth Hananiah the sonne of Azur the prophet, which was of Gibeon, spake to mee in the House of the Lord in the presence of the Priestes, and of all the people, and said, 2 Thus speaketh the Lord of hostes, the God of Israel, saying, I haue broken the yoke of the King of Babel. 3 Within two yeeres space I will bring into this place all the vessels of the Lords House, that Nebuchad-nezzar King of Babel tooke away from this place, and caried them into Babel. 4 And I will bring againe to this place Ieconiah the sonne of Iehoiakim King of Iudah, with all them that were caried away captiue of Iudah, and went into Babel, saith the Lord: for I will breake the yoke of the King of Babel. 5 Then the Prophet Ieremiah saide vnto the Prophet Hananiah in the presence of ye Priests, and in the presence of all the people that stoode in the House of the Lord. 6 Euen the Prophet Ieremiah sayde, So bee it: the Lord so doe, the Lord confirme thy words which thou hast prophecied to restore the vessels of the Lordes House, and al that is caried captiue, from Babel, into this place. 7 But heare thou now this worde that I will speake in thine eares and in the eares of all the people. 8 The Prophets that haue beene before mee and before thee in time past, prophecied against many countreyes, and against great kingdomes, of warre, and of plagues, and of pestilence. 9 And the Prophet which prophecieth of peace, when the word of the Prophet shall come to passe, then shall the Prophet be knowen that the Lord hath truely sent him. 10 Then Hananiah the Prophet tooke the yoke from the Prophet Ieremiahs necke, and brake it. 11 And Hananiah spake in the presence of all the people, saying, Thus saith the Lord, Euen so will I breake the yoke of Nebuchad-nezzar King of Babel, from the necke of al nations within the space of two yeres: and the Prophet Ieremiah went his way. 12 Then the word of the Lord came vnto Ieremiah the Prophet, (after that Hananiah the Prophet had broken the yoke from the necke of the Prophet Ieremiah) saying, 13 Go, and tell Hananiah, saying, Thus sayth the Lord, Thou hast broken the yokes of wood, but thou shalt make for them yokes of yron. 14 For thus saith the Lord of hostes the God of Israel, I haue put a yoke of yron vpon the necke of all these nations, that they may serue Nebuchad-nezzar King of Babel: for they shall serue him, and I haue giuen him the beasts of the fielde also. 15 Then sayd the Prophet Ieremiah vnto the Prophet Hananiah, Heare nowe Hananiah, the Lord hath not sent thee, but thou makest this people to trust in a lye. 16 Therefore thus saith the Lord, Beholde, I will cast thee from of the earth: this yeere thou shalt die, because thou hast spoken rebelliously against the Lord. 17 So Hananiah the Prophet died the same yeere in the seuenth moneth.