Jeremiah 9:5

They have taught their tongue to speak lies.

Amid the general deceit and falsehood of this sad period of moral and religious decay, there was nothing else that worked so much evil as the words of the false prophets who made the people distrust Jeremiah's predictions and encouraged them with false hopes. As an illustration of this feature of the period, turn to Jeremiah 28:1-17, which describes. contest between the real prophet and Hananiah. false prophet. The latter declared: "Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, saying,. have broken the, yoke of the king of Babylon. Within two full years. will bring again into this place all the vessels of the Lord's house, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took away from this place, and carried to Babylon. And. will bring again to this place Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, with all the captives of Judah, that went into Babylon, saith the Lord." "Then the prophet Jeremiah said, Amen. The Lord do so: the Lord perform thy words which thou hast prophesied, to bring again the vessels of the Lord's house, and all that is, carried away captive, from Babylon into this place.. *. * Hear now, Hananiah, the Lord hath nor sent thee; but thou makest this people to trust in. lie."