"As for you, hearken not to your prophets, diviners, dreams, soothsayers and sorcerers, When they speak unto you, saying, Ye shall not serve the king of Babylon. They prophesy a lie unto you, to remove you far from your land; That I should drive you out, and that you should perish. But the nation that shall bring their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him, That nation will I maintain in their own land (it is the utterance of Jehovah), and they shall till it and dwell in it." When he had sent his message to the foreign envoys, Jeremiah addressed an almost identical admonition to his own king. He bids him submit to the Chaldean yoke, under the same penalties for disobedience--sword, pestilence, and famine for himself and his people. He warns him also against delusive promises of the prophets, especially in the matter of the sacred vessels. The popular doctrine of the inviolable sanctity of the Temple had sustained a severe shock when Nebuchadnezzar carried off the sacred vessels to Babylon. It was inconceivable that Jehovah would patiently submit to so gross an indignity. In ancient days the Ark had plagued its Philistine captors till they were only too thankful to be rid of it. Later on a graphic narrative in the Book of Daniel told with what swift vengeance God punished Belshazzar for his profane use of these very vessels. So now patriotic prophets were convinced that the golden candlestick, the bowls and chargers of gold and silver, would soon return in triumph, like the Ark of old; and their return would be the symbol of the final deliverance of Judah from Babylon. Naturally the priests above all others would welcome such a prophecy, and would industriously disseminate it. But Jeremiah "spake to the priests and all this people, saying, Thus saith Jehovah:-- "Hearken not unto the words of your prophets, which prophesy unto you, Behold, the vessels of the house of Jehovah shall be brought back from Babylon now speedily: For they prophesy a lie unto you." How could Jehovah grant triumphant deliverance to a carnally minded people who would not understand His Revelation, and did not discern any essential difference between Him and Moloch and Baal? "Hearken not unto them; serve the king of Babylon and live. Why should this city become a desolation?" Possibly, however, even now, the Divine compassion might have spared Jerusalem the agony and shame of her final siege and captivity. God would not at once restore what was lost, but He might spare what was still left. Jeremiah could not endorse the glowing promises of the prophets, but he would unite with them to intercede for mercy upon the remnant of Israel.