ירמיהו, פרק כ״ג, פסוק ל׳

God issues a severe warning against spiritual leaders who manipulate the public by faking divine messages. He declares His readiness to punish and completely destroy these false prophets [רד״ק, מצודת דוד, מלבי״ם]. During this period, there were three distinct groups of false prophets, and God directs His anger here at one specific sect [רד״ק, מלבי״ם, אברבנאל]. These individuals would take accurate ideas, logical thoughts, or actual true prophecies they heard from others, and present them to the people as if God had spoken to them directly [מצודת דוד, שטיינזלץ, אברבנאל].

To make their claims seem authentic, these frauds employed spies to follow the true prophets. These spies would study and copy the unique speaking styles and exact phrasing used in genuine prophecies [רש״י, מלבי״ם]. Once they stole these truthful words, the false prophets used them to win the people's trust. After gaining credibility, they would weave in fake promises of peace, ultimately misleading the public and drawing them away from the right path [רד״ק, מלבי״ם].

A clear example of this spiritual theft involves Hananiah son of Azzur. He once overheard Jeremiah in the upper market delivering a genuine prophecy about the fall of Elam. Hananiah quickly rushed down to the lower market, applied his own logical reasoning to what he had just heard, and falsely announced in God's name that the rule of the king of Babylon would be broken [רש״י, רד״ק, אברבנאל]. Through such methods, these men manufactured an illusion of divine revelation, acting entirely without any real mission from God.