Jerusalem’s Judgment Inescapable

¹² The word of the Lord came to me: ¹³ “Son of man, if a country sins^(A) against me by being unfaithful and I stretch out my hand against it to cut off its food supply^(B) and send famine upon it and kill its people and their animals,^{(C) 14} even if these three men—Noah,^(D) Daniel^[a](E) and Job^(F)—were in it, they could save only themselves by their righteousness,^(G) declares the Sovereign Lord.

¹⁵ “Or if I send wild beasts^(H) through that country and they leave it childless and it becomes desolate so that no one can pass through it because of the beasts,^{(I) 16} as surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, even if these three men were in it, they could not save their own sons or daughters. They alone would be saved, but the land would be desolate.^(J)

¹⁷ “Or if I bring a sword^(K) against that country and say, ‘Let the sword pass throughout the land,’ and I kill its people and their animals,^{(L) 18} as surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, even if these three men were in it, they could not save their own sons or daughters. They alone would be saved.

¹⁹ “Or if I send a plague into that land and pour out my wrath^(M) on it through bloodshed,^(N) killing its people and their animals,^{(O) 20} as surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, even if Noah, Daniel and Job were in it, they could save neither son nor daughter. They would save only themselves by their righteousness.^(P)

²¹ “For this is what the Sovereign Lord says: How much worse will it be when I send against Jerusalem my four dreadful judgments^(Q)—sword^(R) and famine^(S) and wild beasts and plague^(T)—to kill its men and their animals!^(U)