Then he said to me, "Make the minds of these people dull, their ears deaf, and their eyes blind, so that they cannot see or hear or understand. If they did, they might turn to me and be healed."

I will send the people far away and make the whole land desolate.

The LORD says, "Just as a thief is disgraced when caught, so all you people of Israel will be disgraced---your kings and officials, your priests and prophets.

You will all be disgraced---you that say that a tree is your father and that a rock is your mother. This will happen because you turned away from me instead of turning to me. But when you are in trouble, you ask me to come and save you.

Your prophets had nothing to tell you but lies; Their preaching deceived you by never exposing your sin. They made you think you did not need to repent.

This is what the Sovereign LORD says: "These foolish prophets are doomed! They provide their own inspiration and invent their own visions.

"Don't worry about them! They are blind leaders of the blind; and when one blind man leads another, both fall into a ditch."

Blind fools! Which is more important, the gold or the Temple which makes the gold holy?

Fools! Did not God, who made the outside, also make the inside?