The prophets frequently castigated the Jewish people for their moral and religious failures, but they also taught us never to imagine that the door to a better future is firmly and fully closed. Comparing the criteria of the false prophets in Deuteronomy 18 to Jeremiah reveals that, according to the Tanakh, the future is open, shaped by the ongoing interaction between divine sovereignty and human freedom. Even in impossibly difficult times there are glimmers of possibility.