When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him.
When a prophet claims to speak for the LORD, if what he predicts doesn't happen or come true, then you'll know the LORD didn't actually speak through him. That prophet spoke on his own without God's authority, so don't be afraid of him.
This verse teaches that if someone claiming to speak for God makes predictions that don't come true, they are a false prophet and you don't need to fear them.
📚 Historical Context
Moses was giving the Israelites instructions about how to identify true prophets from false ones as they prepared to enter the Promised Land. In ancient times, many cultures had prophets and fortune-tellers, so God's people needed clear guidelines to distinguish His genuine messengers from imposters. This test of fulfilled prophecy became one of the key ways to verify whether someone was truly speaking God's words.
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