How can prophecies about the future work?

Prophecies can be about the future. 

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Prophecies can be about the future, the present and the past:
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Prophecies about the future can require from an entity to have: 

- The ability to have present knowledge of things.

- The ability to communicate things in the present. 

- The ability to do things in the future. 

These things can account for how an entity can give prophecies about the future. 

You can find evidence for that below.

The ability to have present knowledge of things:

Prophecies about the future can require from an entity to have the ability to have present knowledge of things.

For example, prophecies about the future in the Bible can be announcements of WHAT HUMANS WILL DO based on the PRESENT KNOWLEDGE OF THEIR CURRENT INTENTIONS.

For example, it is written that "the LORD said" (Deuteronomy 31:16), "I will bring them into the good land, which I swore an oath to their fathers, to give to them a land flowing (with) milk and honey: and they will eat and having been filled, they will become fat; THEN THEY WILL TURN ASIDE AFTER STRANGE GODS, and serve them, and they will provoke Me, and break My covenant [...] FOR I KNOW THEIR WICKEDNESS, AS MANY (THINGS) AS THEY ARE DOING HERE THIS DAY, before I have brought them into the good land, which I swore an oath to their fathers.”" (Deuteronomy 31:20-21).

God can have present knowledge of things.

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God can have present knowledge of things:
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Conditions?

→ Prophecies announcing WHAT HUMANS WILL DO based on the PRESENT KNOWLEDGE OF THEIR CURRENT INTENTIONS may not necessarily end up happening because prophecies can have CONDITIONS. 

For example, it is written that "David knew that SAUL WAS DEVISING EVIL AGAINST HIM" (1 Samuel 23:9 (Masoretic)), "And David said, O YHWH the God of Israel, Your servant hearing has heard that Saul seeks to come to Keilah to destroy the city because of me. Will the masters of Keilah shut me up into his hand? WILL SAUL COME DOWN as Your servant has heard? O YHWH the God of Israel, I pray, declare to your servant. And YHWH SAID, HE WILL COME DOWN. And David said, WILL THE MASTERS OF KEILAH SHUT ME and my men up into Saul's hand? And YHWH SAID, THEY WILL SHUT YOU UP" (1 Samuel 23:10-12 (Masoretic)).

As a result, DAVID CHANGED THE CURRENT CONDITIONS for these things to happen, as he left Keilah (for them not to shut him into Saul's hand), as it is written: "And David and his men, about six hundred men, rose up and LEFT KEILAH, and went wherever they could go. AND IT WAS TOLD TO SAUL THAT DAVID HAD SLIPPED AWAY FROM KEILAH. And HE [SAUL] CEASED TO GO OUT" (1 Samuel 23:13 (Masoretic)).

The ability to communicate things in the present:

Prophecies about the future can require from an entity to have the ability to communicate things in the present.

For example, prophecies about the future in the Bible can be announcements that are communicated to humans in the present. 

An entity can communicate something to humans, who can then prophesy it.

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What is to prophesy?:
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God can communicate things to humans.

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God can communicate to people in many ways:
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Things that God can communicate to humans can be prophesied by humans.

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Different things can be prophesied:
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The ability to do things in the future:

Prophecies about the future can require from an entity to have the ability to do things in the future.

For example, prophecies about the future in the Bible can be announcements of WHAT GOD WILL DO in the future.

For example it is written:

"I the LORD will speak My words; I will speak and PERFORM (THEM)" (Ezekiel 12:25). 

"I am God [...] telling beforehand the last (events) before they become [...], as many (things) as I planned, I WILL DO" (Isaiah 46:9-10).

God can do things for prophecies to come to pass (which can even be related to influencing humans in the process).

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God can do things for prophecies to come to pass:
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Conditions?

→ Prophecies announcing WHAT GOD WILL DO may not necessarily end up happening because prophecies can have CONDITIONS. 

For example it is written that the LORD said: "(If) I will pronounce an end upon a nation, or upon a kingdom, to drive them out, and to be destroying (them), AND THAT NATION SHALL BE TURNED FROM ALL THEIR EVIL (WAYS), THEN I WILL RELENT concerning the evil (things) WHICH I CONSIDERED TO DO TO THEM" (Jeremiah 18:7-8). 

Here if a nation is TURNING from their initial ways (which made the prophecy to be pronounced against them), then the prophecy will not come to pass against them as the LORD WILL RELENT of the thing He initially spoke. 

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Prophecies can have conditions:
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