Jeremiah continually denounces false prophets: 2:8; 4:9; 5:31; 6:11-15; 14:13-16. And properly so because their preaching "parches" and "dries up" a nation, "the course they run is evil and their power is illegitimate."

The spiritually and morally adulterous condition of Judah, the idolatry and the moral depravity, were all encouraged by the preaching of the false prophets.

All the ecclesiastical leaders were "alienated from God" and were perpetrators of apostasy;

Therefore, God will bring disaster upon them swiftly and severely. Their own "slippery" and "dark" preaching and way of life will destroy them.