13:19 And will ye profane me among my people for handfuls of {k} barley and for pieces of bread, to slay the souls that should not die, and {l} to save the souls alive that should not live, by your lying to my people that hear [your] lies?
(k) Will you make my word serve your bellies?
(l) These sorcerers made the people believe that they could preserve life or destroy it and that it would come to everyone according as they prophesied.
13:19 Pollute me - Pretending my name for what I never spake. My people - My own people. Handfuls of barley - For a mean reward. To slay - You denounce evil to the best, whom God wilt keep alive. To save - Declaring safety, to the worst, whom God will destroy.
13:17-23 It is ill with those who had rather hear pleasing lies than unpleasing truths. The false prophetesses tried to make people secure, signified by laying them at ease, and to make them proud, signified by the finery laid on their heads. They shall be confounded in their attempts, and God's people shall be delivered out of their hands. It behoves Christians to keep close to the word of God, and in every thing to seek the teaching of the Holy Spirit. Let us so trust the promises of God as to keep his commandments.
