Reference

Jeremiah 23:16

Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Hearken not unto the words of the prophets that prophesy unto you: they make you vain: they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the Lord.
14

I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem an horrible thing: they commit adultery, and walk in lies: they strengthen also the hands of evildoers, that none doth return from his wickedness: they are all of them unto me as Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah.

15

Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts concerning the prophets; Behold, I will feed them with wormwood, and make them drink the water of gall: for from the prophets of Jerusalem is profaneness gone forth into all the land.

16

Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Hearken not unto the words of the prophets that prophesy unto you: they make you vain: they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the Lord.

17

They say still unto them that despise me, The Lord hath said, Ye shall have peace; and they say unto every one that walketh after the imagination of his own heart, No evil shall come upon you.

18

For who hath stood in the counsel of the Lord, and hath perceived and heard his word? who hath marked his word, and heard it?

Counter-Arguments

The strongest case that this verse does not belong in this theme.

Literal Fulfillment

The verse is a warning against false prophets and their deceptive messages, not a description of a prophecy that will be literally fulfilled. It speaks to the origin of their words (their own heart) rather than the nature of the events they predict.

Prophetic Methods of Communication

This verse focuses on the *source* of prophetic messages (human heart vs. divine mouth) and the *validity* of those messages, rather than the *methods* God uses to communicate revelation to prophets.