Jeremiah 23:22

If they had listened to the Lord, they would have tried to turn the people back from their evil ways.

"How could a prophet confuse his own word with God’s word? How could a prophet fail to speak condemnation to the sinful, covenant-breaking situation? Perhaps part of the answer was political and economic. The prophets were often part of the establishment; as such they were concerned with the maintenance of the establishment for their own security and well-being. Another part of the issue may have been purely rationalistic: Yes, some of our folks are sinful, but look at the pagans around us; they don’t even worship God, and they practice the grossest of sins; by comparison, we’re good folk and surely God will take that into account. ’Our’ sins are acceptable, but ’their’ sins are not. Besides, who wants to hear judgment preached all the time; just preach on the love of God." [Note: Drinkard, p. 345.]

The brief message that follows corrected a false view of God that the false prophets were apparently promoting (Jeremiah 23:23-24).