Prophets are supposed to listen to God then faithfully relay the message. To do otherwise, for example, to make it all up, is taking the Lord’s name in vain: using God’s name to justify something that wasn’t Him.
But the prophets in Zedekiah’s time did. God’s response:
Jeremiah 23:21-24 I have not sent these prophets,
yet they run around claiming to speak for me.
I have given them no message,
yet they go on prophesying.
If they had stood before me and listened to me,
they would have spoken my words,
and they would have turned my people
from their evil ways and deeds.
Am I a God who is only close at hand? …
No, I am far away at the same time.
Can anyone hide from me in a secret place?
Am I not everywhere in all the heavens and earth …
In God’s view, no one should have listened to them:
Jeremiah 23:16-17 Do not listen to these prophets when they prophesy to you,
filling you with futile hopes.
They are making up everything they say.
They do not speak for the Lord!
They keep saying to those who despise my word,
‘Don’t worry! The Lord says you will have peace!’
And to those who stubbornly follow their own desires,
they say, ‘No harm will come your way!’
But people by then wanted to hear only nice things from their spiritual leaders.
That Bible blog 