Ezek 14
1
Then came certain of the elders of Israel to me, and sat before me.
2
And the word of YHWH 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 say to them, Thus says the Lord YHWH: Every man of the
house of Israel that takes his idols into his heart, and puts the stumbling block
of his iniquity before his face, and comes to the prophet; I YHWH 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 say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord YHWH: Return you, and turn
yourselves from your idols; and turn away your faces from all your abominations.
7
For every one of the house of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn in Israel,
that 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 YHWH 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 YHWH.
9
And if the prophet be deceived and speak a word, I, YHWH, have deceived that prophet,
and I will stretch out my hand upon him, and will destroy him from the midst of my
people Israel.
10
And they shall bear their iniquity: the iniquity of the prophet shall be even as the
iniquity of him whom seeks [to him];
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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 YHWH.
12
And the word of YHWH came to me, saying,
13
Son of man, when a land sins against me by committing a trespass, and I stretch out
my hand upon it, and break the staff of its bread, and send famine upon it,
and cut off from it man and beast;
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 YHWH.
15
If I cause evil beasts to pass through the land, and they ravage it, and it be made
desolate, so that no man may pass through because of the beasts;
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though these three men were in it, as I live, says the Lord YHWH, they should deliver
neither sons nor daughters; they only should be delivered, but the land should be
desolate.
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Or if I bring a sword upon that land, and say, Sword, go through the land; so that
I cut off from it man and beast;
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though these three men were in it, as I live, says the Lord YHWH, 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 anger upon it in blood,
to cut off from it man and beast;
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though Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, as I live, says the Lord YHWH, they should
deliver neither son nor daughter; they should but deliver their own souls by their
righteousness.
21
For thus says the Lord YHWH: How much more when I send my four sore judgments upon
Jerusalem, the sword, and the famine, and the evil beasts, and the pestilence, to
cut off from it man and beast!
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 upon
Jerusalem, even concerning all that I have brought upon it.
23
And 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
YHWH.