1Then some men from the elders of Israel came to me and sat down before me.
2And the word of Yahweh came to me, saying,
3“Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their heart, and they have placed the stumbling block of their iniquity before their faces. Should I really let myself be consulted by them?
4Therefore speak to them and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Any man of the house of Israel who sets up his idols in his heart and places the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and yet comes to the prophet — I, Yahweh, will myself answer him accordingly, in keeping with the multitude of his idols,
5in order to lay hold of the house of Israel in their heart — all of them who have become estranged from me through their idols.’
6Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Turn back, and turn away from your idols, and turn your faces away from all your abominations.
7For any man of the house of Israel, or of the foreigner who resides in Israel, who separates himself from following me and sets up his idols in his heart and places the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and yet comes to the prophet to inquire of me for himself — I, Yahweh, will myself answer him,
8and I will set my face against that man and make him a sign and a byword, and I will cut him off from the midst of my people; and you will know that I am Yahweh.
9And if the prophet is enticed and speaks a word, I, Yahweh, have enticed that prophet; and I will stretch out my hand against him and destroy him from the midst of my people Israel.
10And they will bear their iniquity — the iniquity of the one inquiring will be like the iniquity of the prophet —
11so that the house of Israel may no longer stray from following me, and no longer defile themselves with all their transgressions; and they will be my people, and I will be their God, declares the Lord Yahweh.”
12And the word of Yahweh came to me, saying,
13“Son of man, if a land sins against me by acting unfaithfully, and I stretch out my hand against it and break its staff of bread and send famine upon it, and cut off from it man and beast,
14even if these three men were in its midst — Noah, Daniel, and Job — they by their righteousness would deliver only their own lives, declares the Lord Yahweh.
15If I were to cause wild beasts to pass through the land and they bereaved it, so that it became a desolation with no one passing through because of the beasts,
16even if these three men were in its midst, as I live, declares the Lord Yahweh, they would deliver neither sons nor daughters; they alone would be delivered, but the land would become a desolation.
17Or if I were to bring a sword upon that land and say, ‘Let a sword pass through the land,’ and I cut off from it man and beast,
18even if these three men were in its midst, as I live, declares the Lord Yahweh, they would not deliver sons or daughters, for they alone would be delivered.
19Or if I were to send a plague against that land and pour out my wrath upon it in blood, to cut off from it man and beast,
20even if Noah, Daniel, and Job were in its midst, as I live, declares the Lord Yahweh, they would deliver neither son nor daughter; they by their righteousness would deliver only their own lives.
21For thus says the Lord Yahweh: How much more so when I send my four dire judgments — sword and famine and wild beast and plague — against Jerusalem, to cut off from it man and beast!
22Yet behold, there will be left in it a remnant, those who are brought out, sons and daughters. Behold, they are coming out to you, and you will see their way and their deeds, and you will be consoled concerning the disaster that I have brought upon Jerusalem — all that I have brought upon it.
23They will console you when you see their way and their deeds, and you will know that not without cause did I do all that I have done in it, declares the Lord Yahweh.”
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