a prophet or (generally) inspired man · definite article + noun, common masculine plural absolute
follow
הֹלְכִ֛יםho.le.Khim
H1980
to walk (in a great variety of applications · verb, qal active participle, masculine plural absolute
spirit
רוּחָ֖םru.Cham
H7307
wind · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
seen
רָאֽוּra.'U
H7200
to see · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person common plural
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Lamentations 2:14 Thy prophets have seen vain and foolish things for thee: and they have not discovered thine iniquity, to turn away thy captivity; but have s…
Jeremiah 23:28-32 The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream; and he that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wh…
Hosea 9:7 The days of visitation are come, the days of recompence are come; Israel shall know it: the prophet is a fool, the spiritual man is mad, for…
Proverbs 15:14 The heart of him that hath understanding seeketh knowledge: but the mouth of fools feedeth on foolishness.
Jeremiah 23:1 Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! saith the LORD.
Ezekiel 34:2 Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD unto the shepherds; Woe be to the…
Matthew 23:13-29 But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neit…
Proverbs 15:2 The tongue of the wise useth knowledge aright: but the mouth of fools poureth out foolishness.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Ezekiel 13:1-9
The false prophets, who are here prophesied against, were some of them at Jerusalem (Jer 23:14): I have seen in the prophets at Jerusalem a horrible thing; some of them among the captives in Babylon, for to them Jeremiah writes (Jer 29:8), Let not your diviners, that be in the midst of you, deceive you. And as God's prophets, though at a distance from each other in place or time, yet preached the same truths, which was an evidence that they were guided by one and the same good Spirit, so the false prophets prophesied the same lies, being actuated by one and the same spirit of error. There were little hopes of bringing them to repentance, they were so hardened in their sin; yet Ezekiel must p…
foolish--though vaunting as though exclusively possessing "wisdom" (Co1 1:19-21); the fear of God being the only beginning of wisdom (Psa 111:10).
their own spirit--instead of the Spirit of God. A threefold distinction lay between the false and the true prophets: (1) The source of their messages respectively; of the false, "their own hearts"; of the true, an object presented to the spiritual sense (named from the noblest of the senses, a seeing) by the Spirit of God as from without, not produced by their own natural powers of reflection. The word, the body of the thought, presented itself not audibly to the natural sense, but directly to the spirit of the prophet; and so the perception of…
That prophesy out of their own hearts - Who are neither inspired nor sent by Me. They are prophets out of their own hearts. They have their mission from their own assumption, and proceed in it from their own presumption. Such either go of themselves, or are sent by man. Such prophets, ministers, preachers, and clergy have been a curse to the Church and to the world for some thousands of years.
John Gill on Ezekiel 13:3
The Church Fathers
In the same way that a saint prays with the Spirit and prays with understanding and sings with the spirit and sings with understanding, so the false prophet prophesies according to his own heart and follows not the Spirit of God but his own spirit.
(Verse 3.) Woe to the foolish prophets who follow their own spirit and see nothing. LXX: Woe to those who prophesy from their own heart and do not see at all, forsaking what is proposed by us and following their own spirit. Although the name of prophets, according to the rule of the Scriptures, is common to both the good and the bad, they differ in that the good prophets are said to be wise, while the bad ones are foolish and ignorant. The former is associated with ecclesiastical men, and the latter with all heretics, who, forsaking the spirit of God, follow their own spirit and prophesy not by divine inspiration but by their own heart. Hence, they see nothing. But whoever is wise, follows not the thoughts of his own heart, but the Spirit of God, according to what is mentioned in the earlier texts, that even animals and wheels followed the Spirit of God. And the prophet says: You shall walk after the Lord your God. And in another place: Lead me in the right path. And again: Your good Spirit shall lead me into the land. And for the people of God, the pillar of fire and the clouds were a guide in the wilderness. And Jeremiah speaks: I have not labored following you (Jerem. XVII, 16). But whoever of the heretics follows his own spirit, will stumble in darkness, and the blind will lead the blind into a pit? Although they may seem to see more in their mysteries, or rather orgies, than the ecclesiastical doctors, they do not see anything at all: because they have lost the sun of righteousness, and in vain imitate those who were previously called Seers, and to whom it is said: Go, you who see; turn back to the land of Judah; and in Bethel you will not prophesy (Amos VII, 12, 13). Therefore, the vision of Isaiah and Obadiah are placed in the titles. And the Lord commanded the apostles: Lift up your eyes and see (John 4:35). And the prophet earnestly prays: Open my eyes, and I will behold wondrous things out of your law (Psalm 119:18).
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Prophecy · Guilt of pretending to the gift of — Guilt of pretending to the gift of
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Thus saith the Lord God, woe unto the foolish prophets,.... The false prophets, as the Targum; who are foolish, as all are who are not sent of God, and furnished by him with wisdom and knowledge, and who prophesy out of their own hearts; for what else but folly can proceed from thence? this must be a great mortification to these prophets to be called foolish, when they reckoned themselves wise men, being vainly puffed up in their fleshly minds, and were accounted so by others; but what is wisdom with men is foolishness with God:
that follow their own spirit; or "walk after it" (c); and not the Spirit of God, who leads into all truth; they pretended to a spirit of prophecy, but it was their…
Ezekiel 13:1-3
1. And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
1. Et fuit sermo Iehovae ad me, dicendo,
2. Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel that prophesy, and say you unto them that prophesy out of their own hearts, Hear you the word of the LORD;
2. Fili hominis, prophetiza contra prophetas Israel prophetizantes, et dic prophetizantibus ex corde suo, Audite sermonem Iehovah.
3. Thus says the Lord GOD, Woe unto the foolish prophets, that follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing!
3. Sic dicit Dominator Iehovah, Vae super prophetas stultos [1] qui ambulant post spiritum suum: et non viderunt.
He speaks of the exiled prophets, as will be evident from the contex…
Against the False Prophets
Their conduct. - Eze 13:1. And the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, Eze 13:2. Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel who prophesy, and say to the prophets out of their heart, Hear ye the word of Jehovah. Eze 13:3. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Woe upon the foolish prophets, who go after their spirit, and that which they have not seen! Eze 13:4. Like foxes in ruins have thy prophets become, O Israel. Eze 13:5. Ye do not stand before the breaches, nor wall up the wall around the house of Israel to stand firm in the battle on the day of Jehovah. Eze 13:6. They see vanity and lying soothsaying, who say, "Oracle of Jehovah;" and Jehovah hath not sent them…
The fundamental difference between true and false prophets was that false prophets were inventing their own prophecies, while true prophets spoke the word of the Lord. Now these false prophets would receive a word from the Lord about their own destruction. Sorrow awaited these deceived and deceiving messengers.
Rashi on Ezekiel 13:3
mad Heb. הַנְבָלִים, madmen.
their desire Heb. רוּחָם [lit. their spirit,] like רְצוֹנָם, their will.
