John Calvin Commentary Ezekiel 13:6

"They have seen falsehood and lying divination, that say, Jehovah saith; but Jehovah hath not sent them: and they have made men to hope that the word would be confirmed." — Ezekiel 13:6 (ASV)

Here again he generally declares that those false prophets were vain, and this assertion depends on the principle that they had spoken from their own heart or spirit, for nothing false or vain can come from God. Therefore, it follows that they are condemned here for vanity and lying, because they dared to use God's name falsely when they uttered nothing but their own dreams.

He now confirms what we saw in the last verse, when he says, they hoped to establish their word. Thus, they inflated the people with vain hope when they said that God would not be so severe as to demand continual punishment from the holy and elect nation. True prophets also often call sinners back to God's mercy and magnify it, so that those who wrestle with despair may not doubt God’s long-suffering, since He is said to be slow to anger, and inclined to reconciliation; and His mercy endures for a lifetime, while His anger passes away in a moment. (Numbers 14:18; Psalms 103:8; Psalms 30:5).

True prophets indeed act this way; but they join two elements that must not be separated, otherwise God Himself would be, so to speak, fragmented. Therefore, when true prophets exhort sinners to hope and proclaim God’s readiness to pardon, they also speak about repentance. They do not indulge sinners, but rouse them—indeed, wound them sharply with a sense of God’s anger—so as to stir them up in some way, since God’s mercy is set before us for this purpose: that by it we may seek life.

Therefore, we must be dead in ourselves. But false prophets separate the two and divide God, so to speak, in half, since they speak only of His readiness to forgive and declare His clemency to be available to all, while they are profoundly silent about repentance.

Now, therefore, we see why the Prophet here rebukes these traitors who abused God's name, since they made the people hope. Indeed, without hope, the sinner could not be motivated to seek God; but these false prophets promised peace, as he will soon say, when there was no peace. Therefore, let us continue with the explanation.