Shalom M. Paul on Deuteronomy 18:20-22

. . . Deut 18:20-22 raises the question, “How  can we know that the oracle [uttered in God’s name] was not spoken by the LORD?” The answer given is that if the “oracles does not come true, that oracle was not spoken by the LORD; the prophet uttered it presumptuously.” This, however, cannot serve as an infallible criterion, because there are several occasions when an oracle delivered by a true prophet does not materialize even in his own lifetime. Such unfulfilled prophecies include Jeremiah’s prediction of the ignominious fate of king Jehoiakim (Jer. 22:19), which was belied by 2 Kings 24:6, and Ezekiel’s foretelling the destruction of Tyre by Nebuchadrezzar (Ezek. 26:7-21), which later was admitted to have failed but was to be compensated by the Babylonian king’s attack on Egypt (29:17-20). (Shalom M. Paul, “Prophecy and Prophets” in Jacob Blumenthal and Janet L. Liss, Etz Hayim: Study Companion [Jewish Publications Society, 2005], pp. 301-10, here, p. 307)