19 because they have not heeded My words, says the Lord, which aI sent to them by My servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them; neither would you heed, says the Lord.
20 Therefore hear the word of the Lord, all you of the captivity, whom I have sent from Jerusalem to Babylon.
21 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning Ahab the son of Kolaiah, and Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, who prophesy a alie to you in My name: Behold, I will deliver them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he shall slay them before your eyes.
22aAnd because of them a curse shall be taken up by all the captivity of Judah who are in Babylon, saying, “The Lord make you like Zedekiah and Ahab, bwhom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire”;
23 because athey have done disgraceful things in Israel, have committed adultery with their neighbors’ wives, and have spoken lying words in My name, which I have not commanded them. Indeed I bknow, and am a witness, says the Lord.
24 You shall also speak to Shemaiah the Nehelamite, saying,
25 Thus speaks the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, saying: You have sent letters in your name to all the people who are at Jerusalem, ato Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest, and to all the priests, saying,
26 “The Lord has made you priest instead of Jehoiada the priest, so that there should be aofficers in the house of the Lord over every man who is bdemented and considers himself a prophet, that you should cput him in prison and in the stocks.
27 Now therefore, why have you not rebuked Jeremiah of Anathoth who makes himself a prophet to you?
28 For he has sent to us in Babylon, saying, ‘This captivityis long; build houses and dwell inthem, and plant gardens and eat their fruit.’ ”
29 Now Zephaniah the priest read this letter in the hearing of Jeremiah the prophet.
30 Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying:
31 Send to all those in captivity, saying, Thus says the Lord concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite: Because Shemaiah has prophesied to you, aand I have not sent him, and he has caused you to trust in a blie—
32 therefore thus says the Lord: Behold, I will punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite and his family: he shall not have anyone to dwell among this people, nor shall he see the good that I will do for My people, says the Lord, abecause he has taught rebellion against the Lord.
He shall slay them before your eyes - Nebuchadnezzar would be led by political reasons to punish these pretended prophets, as their predictions tended to make his Israelitish subjects uneasy and disaffected, and might excite them to rebellion. He therefore slew them; two of them, it appears, he burnt alive, viz., Ahab and Zedekiah, who are supposed by the rabbins to be the two elders who endeavored to seduce Susanna, see Jeremiah 29:23. Burning alive was a Chaldean punishment, Daniel 3:6, and Amos 2:1. From them other nations borrowed it.
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