Ezekiel 14

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

2 And the word of Jehovah 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 Jehovah: 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 Jehovah will answer him in it 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 Jehovah: Return ye, 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, 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 Jehovah 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 ye shall know that I am Jehovah.

9 And if the prophet is deceived and speaks a word, I, Jehovah, 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 who seeks him,

11 that the house of Israel may no more go astray from me, nor defile themselves any more with all their transgressions, but that they may be my people, and I may be their God, says the lord Jehovah.

12 And the word of Jehovah 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 the bread thereof, 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 would deliver but their own souls by their righteousness, says the lord Jehovah.

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,

16 though these three men were in it, as I live, says the lord Jehovah, they would deliver neither sons nor daughters, they only would be delivered, but the land would be desolate.

17 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,

18 though these three men were in it, as I live, says the lord Jehovah, they would deliver neither sons nor daughters, but they only would be delivered themselves.

19 Or if I send a pestilence into that land, and pour out my wrath upon it in blood, to cut off from it man and beast,

20 though Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, as I live, says the lord Jehovah, they would deliver neither son nor daughter, they would but deliver their own souls by their righteousness.

21 For thus says the lord Jehovah: How much more when I send my four severe 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, there shall be left a remnant in it that shall be carried forth, both sons and daughters. Behold, they shall come forth to you, and ye shall see their way and their doings. And ye 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 ye see their way and their doings. And ye shall know that I have not done all that I have done in it without cause, says the lord Jehovah.