Ezek 14
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And there came to me men of the people of Israel, of the elders, and sat before me.
2
And the word of the Lord came to me, saying,
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Son of man, these men have conceived their devices in their hearts, and have set before
their faces the punishment of their iniquities: shall I indeed answer them?
4
Therefore speak to them, and you shall say to them, Thus says the Lord; Any man of
the house of Israel, who shall conceive his devices in his heart, and shall set the
punishment of his iniquity before his face, and shall come to the prophet; I the Lord
will answer him according to the things in which his mind is entangled,
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that he should turn aside the house of Israel, according to their hearts that are
estranged from me Or, through their devices in their thoughts.
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Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God, Be converted, and turn
from your evil practices, and from all your sins, and turn your faces back again.
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For any man of the house of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn in Israel, who
shall Gr. have been alienated separate himself from me, and conceive his imaginations in his heart, and set before
his face the punishment of his iniquity, and come to the prophet to enquire of him
concerning me; I the Lord will answer him, according to the things wherein he is entangled.
8
And I will set my face against that man, and will make him desolate and ruined, and
will cut him off from the midst of my people; and you shall know that I am the Lord.
9
And if a prophet should cause to err and should speak, I the Lord have caused that
prophet to err, and will stretch out my hand upon him, and will utterly destroy him
from the midst of my people Israel.
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And they shall bear their iniquity according to the trespass of him whom asks; and
it shall be in like manner to the prophet according to the trespass:
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that the house of Israel may no more go astray from me, and that they may no more
defile themselves with any of their transgressions: so shall they be my people, and
I will be their God, says the Lord.
12
And the word of the Lord came to me, saying,
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Son of man, if a land shall sin against me by committing a trespass, then will I stretch
out my hand upon it, and will break its staff of bread, and will send forth famine
upon it, and cut off from it man and beast.
14
And though these three men should be in the midst of it, Noe, and Daniel, and Job,
they alone should be delivered by their righteousness, says the Lord.
15
If again I bring evil beasts upon the land, and take vengeance upon it, and it be
ruined, and there be no one to pass through for fear of the wild beasts:
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and if these three men should be in the midst of it, as I live, says the Lord, neither
sons nor daughters shall be saved, but these only shall be saved, and the land shall
be destroyed.
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Or again if I bring a sword upon that land, and say, Let the sword go through the
land; and I cut off from them man and beast:
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though these three men were in the midst of it, as I live, says the Lord, they shall
not deliver sons or daughters, but they only shall be saved themselves.
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Or if again I send pestilence upon that land, and pour out my anger upon it in blood,
to destroy from off it man and beast:
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and should Noe, and Daniel, and Job, be in the midst of it, as I live, says the Lord,
there shall be left them neither sons nor daughters; only they by their righteousness
shall deliver their souls.
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Thus says the Lord, And if I even send upon Jerusalem my four sore Lit. vengeances judgements, sword, and famine, and evil
beasts, and pestilence, to destroy from out
of it man and beast;
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yet, behold, there shall be men left in it, the escaped thereof, who shall lead forth
of it sons and daughters: behold, they shall go forth to you, land you shall see their
ways and their thoughts: and you shall Gr. repent over mourn over the evils which I have brought upon Jerusalem, even all
the evils which
I have brought upon it.
23
And they shall comfort you, because you shall see their ways and their thoughts: and
you shall know that I have not done in vain all that I have done in it, says the Lord.