14 ¶ Then certain of the elders of Israel came unto me and sat before me.

² And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

³ Son of man, these men have caused their uncleanness to come up over their heart and have established the stumblingblock of their iniquity before their face: should I be enquired of at all by them?

⁴ Therefore speak unto them and say unto them, Thus hath the Lord GOD said: Every man of the house of Israel that sets up his idols in his heart and has established the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face and comes to the prophet, I, the LORD, will answer him that comes like this in 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 unto the house of Israel, Thus hath the Lord GOD said: Repent and cause them to repent from your idols and turn away your faces from all your abominations.

⁷ For any man of the house of Israel or of the strangers that sojourn in Israel who has separated himself from walking after me and has set up his idols in his heart and has established the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face and comes to the prophet to enquire of him concerning me, I, the LORD, will answer him by myself:

⁸ and I will set my face against that man and will set him up for a sign and for sayings, and I will cut him off from among my people; and ye shall know that I am the LORD.

⁹ And the prophet when he is deceived and speaks a word, I the LORD have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand upon him and will destroy him from among my people Israel.

¹⁰ And they shall bear the punishment of their iniquity; the iniquity of the prophet shall be even as the iniquity of him that seeks unto him

¹¹ that the house of Israel may no longer go astray from me, neither be polluted any longer in all their rebellions but that they may be my people, and I may be their God, said the Lord GOD.

¹² ¶ The word of the LORD came again to me, saying:

¹³ Son of man, when the land sins against me by rebelling blatantly and I stretch out my hand upon her and break the staff of the bread thereof and send famine upon her and cut off man and beast out of her

¹⁴ though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in the midst of her, they should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness, said the Lord GOD.

¹⁵ If I cause an evil beast to pass through the land and destroy her so that it be desolate that there be no one to pass through because of the beast

¹⁶ though these three men were in the midst of her, as I live, said the Lord GOD, they shall deliver neither their sons nor their daughters; they only shall be delivered, and the land shall be destroyed.

¹⁷ Or if I bring a sword upon the land and say: Sword, go through the land; so that I cut off man and beast out of her;

¹⁸ though these three men were in the midst of her, as I live, said the Lord GOD, they shall deliver neither their sons nor their daughters, but they only shall be delivered themselves.

¹⁹ Or if I send a pestilence into that land and pour out my fury upon her in blood to cut off out of her man and beast

²⁰ though Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in the midst of her, as I live, said the Lord GOD, they shall deliver neither son nor daughter; they shall but deliver their own souls by their righteousness.

²¹ Therefore thus hath the Lord GOD said: How much more if I send my four sore judgments against Jerusalem: the sword, the famine, the evil beast, the pestilence, to cut off out of her man and beast?

²² Yet, behold, there shall be left a remnant in her, of whom shall be taken captive your sons and daughters; they shall be taken away: behold, they shall come forth unto 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 her.

²³ And they shall comfort you when ye see their ways and their doings and ye shall know that I have not done without cause all that I have done in her, said the Lord GOD.