[1] Then came certain of the elders of Israel to me, and sat before me. [2]
The word of Yahweh came to me, saying, [3] Son of man, these men have taken
their idols into their heart, and put the stumbling block of their iniquity
before their face: should I be inquired of at all by them? [4] Therefore
speak to them, and tell them, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Every man of the
house of Israel who takes his idols into his heart, and puts the stumbling
block of his iniquity before his face, and comes to the prophet; I Yahweh
will answer him therein according to the multitude of his idols; [5] that I
may take the house of Israel in their own heart, because they are all
estranged from me through their idols. [6] Therefore tell the house of
Israel, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Return you, and turn yourselves from
your idols; and turn away your faces from all your abominations. [7] For
everyone of the house of Israel, or of the strangers who sojourn in Israel,
who separates himself from me, and takes his idols into his heart, and puts
the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and comes to the
prophet to inquire for himself of me; I Yahweh will answer him by myself:
[8] and I will set my face against that man, and will make him an
astonishment, for a sign and a proverb, and I will cut him off from the
midst of my people; and you shall know that I am Yahweh. [9] If the prophet
be deceived and speak a word, I, Yahweh, have deceived that prophet, and I
will stretch out my hand on him, and will destroy him from the midst of my
people Israel. [10] They shall bear their iniquity: the iniquity of the
prophet shall be even as the iniquity of him who seeks [to him]; [11] that
the house of Israel may go no more astray from me, neither defile
themselves any more with all their transgressions; but that they may be my
people, and I may be their God, says the Lord Yahweh. [12] The word of
Yahweh came to me, saying, [13] Son of man, when a land sins against me by
committing a trespass, and I stretch out my hand on it, and break the staff
of the bread of it, and send famine on it, and cut off from it man and
animal; [14] though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it,
they should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness, says the
Lord Yahweh. [15] If I cause evil animals to pass through the land, and
they ravage it, and it be made desolate, so that no man may pass through
because of the animals; [16] though these three men were in it, as I live,
says the Lord Yahweh, they should deliver neither sons nor daughters; they
only should be delivered, but the land should be desolate. [17] Or if I
bring a sword on that land, and say, Sword, go through the land; so that I
cut off from it man and animal; [18] though these three men were in it, as
I live, says the Lord Yahweh, they should deliver neither sons nor
daughters, but they only should be delivered themselves. [19] Or if I send
a pestilence into that land, and pour out my wrath on it in blood, to cut
off from it man and animal; [20] though Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it,
as I live, says the Lord Yahweh, they should deliver neither son nor
daughter; they should but deliver their own souls by their righteousness.
[21] For thus says the Lord Yahweh: How much more when I send my four sore
judgments on Jerusalem, the sword, and the famine, and the evil animals,
and the pestilence, to cut off from it man and animal! [22] Yet, behold,
therein shall be left a remnant that shall be carried forth, both sons and
daughters: behold, they shall come forth to you, and you shall see their
way and their doings; and you shall be comforted concerning the evil that I
have brought on Jerusalem, even concerning all that I have brought on it.
[23] They shall comfort you, when you see their way and their doings; and
you shall know that I have not done without cause all that I have done in
it, says the Lord Yahweh.
