The False Prophet

13 “If a prophet or someone who has dreams arises among you and proclaims a sign or wonder to you, ² and that sign or wonder he has promised you comes about, but he says, ‘Let us follow other gods,’ which you have not known, ‘and let us worship them,’ ³ do not listen to that prophet’s words or to that dreamer. For the Lord your God is testing you to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul.

¹¹ Many false prophets^(A) will rise up and deceive many.

The Response of Simon

⁹ A man named Simon had previously practiced sorcery in that city and astounded the Samaritan people, while claiming to be somebody great.^(A)

⁹ The coming of the lawless one is based on Satan’s working, with all kinds of false miracles, signs, and wonders,^{(A) 10} and with every unrighteous deception among those who are perishing. They perish because they did not accept the love of the truth in order to be saved.^{(B) 11} For this reason God sends them a strong delusion so that they will believe what is false,

¹³ He also performs great signs, even causing fire to come down from heaven to earth in front of people. ¹⁴ He deceives those who live on the earth^(A) because of the signs that he is permitted to perform on behalf of the beast,^(B) telling those who live on the earth to make an image^[a] of the beast who had the sword wound and yet lived.

¹⁴ For they are spirits of demons performing signs,^(A) who travel to the kings of the whole world to assemble them for the battle of the great day of God, the Almighty.^(B)

²⁰ But the beast was taken prisoner, and along with him the false prophet, who had performed the signs in his presence. He deceived those who accepted the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image with these signs.^(A) Both of them were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur.^(B)