Ezekiel 14

1Then certain men of the elders of Israel came to me and sat before me.

2The word of the LORD came to me: 3"Son of man, these men have taken their idols into their hearts and placed the stumbling block of their iniquity before their faces. Should I indeed let myself be consulted by them? 4Therefore speak to them and say to them, Thus says the LORD GOD: Every person of the house of Israel who takes idols into their heart and sets the stumbling block of their iniquity before their face and yet comes to the prophet, I the LORD will answer them according to the multitude of their idols, 5so that I may seize the house of Israel by their heart because they are all estranged from me through their idols.

6Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the LORD GOD: Repent and turn away from your idols, and turn away your faces from all your abominations.

7For anyone of the house of Israel or of the stranger who dwells in Israel, who separates himself from following me, taking his idols into his heart and putting the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and then comes to a prophet to inquire of me through him—I the LORD will answer him myself. 8I will set my face against that one and make him a sign and a proverb, and I will cut him off from the midst of my people, and you will know that I am the LORD.

9And if the prophet is deceived and speaks a word, I the LORD have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand against him and destroy him from the midst of my people Israel. 10They shall bear their punishment—the punishment of the inquirer will be the same as that of the prophet 11that the house of Israel may not stray from following me, nor defile themselves with any of their transgressions. They shall be my people, and I will be their God, declares the LORD GOD."

12The word of the LORD came to me: 13"Son of man, if a country sins against me by acting faithlessly, and I stretch out my hand against it and break its supply of bread and send famine upon it and cut off from it man and beast, 14even if these three men—Noah, Daniel, and Job—were in it, they would deliver only their own lives by their righteousness, declares the LORD GOD.

15If I cause wild beasts to pass through the land and they depopulate it, and it becomes desolate so that no one passes through because of the beasts, 16though these three men were in it, as I live, declares the LORD GOD, they would deliver neither sons nor daughters. They alone would be delivered, but the land would be desolate.

17Or if I bring a sword upon that land and say, 'Let a sword pass through the land!' and I cut off from it man and beast, 18though these three men were in it, as I live, declares the LORD GOD, they would deliver neither sons nor daughters, but they alone would be delivered.

19Or if I send pestilence into that land and pour out my wrath upon it with blood, to cut off from it man and beast, 20even if Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, as I live, declares the LORD GOD, they would deliver neither son nor daughter; they would deliver only their own lives by their righteousness.

21For thus says the LORD GOD: How much more when I send my four dreadful judgments upon Jerusalem—sword, famine, wild beasts, and pestilence—to cut off from it man and beast! 22Yet behold, some survivors will be left in it, sons and daughters, who will be brought out. Behold, they will come out to you, and you will see their ways and their deeds; you will be consoled concerning the disaster that I brought upon Jerusalem, all that I brought upon it.

23They will console you when you see their ways and their deeds, and you will know that I have not done all that I have done in it without cause, declares the LORD GOD."