Beginning

False Prophets Condemned

13 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ² Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel who prophesy, and say to those who prophesy out of their own hearts, “Hear the word of the Lord!” ³ Thus says the Lord God: Woe to the foolish prophets who follow their own spirit and have seen nothing! ⁴ O Israel, your prophets are like the foxes in the ruins. ⁵ You have not gone up into the gaps, nor did you build up the hedge for the house of Israel to stand in the battle on the day of the Lord. ⁶ They have seen vanity and lying divination, saying, “The Lord says,” when the Lord has not sent them. And they have made others to hope for the confirmation of their word. ⁷ Have you not seen a vain vision, and have you not spoken a lying divination when you say, “The Lord says,” yet it is not I who have spoken?

⁸ Therefore thus says the Lord God: Because you have spoken vanity and seen lies, therefore I am against you, says the Lord God. ⁹ Thus My hand shall be against the prophets who see vanity and who divine lies. They shall not have a place in the council of My people, nor shall they be written in the register of the house of Israel, nor shall they enter into the land of Israel so that you may know that I am the Lord God.

¹⁰ It is surely because they have seduced My people, saying, “Peace,” when there was no peace. And when anyone builds up a wall, they daub it with whitewash. ¹¹ Say to those who daub it with whitewash that it shall fall. There shall be an overflowing shower, and you, O great hailstones, shall fall. And a stormy wind shall break it. ¹² When the wall has fallen, will you not be asked, “Where is the whitewash with which you have daubed it?”

¹³ Therefore thus says the Lord God: I will make a violent wind break out in My fury. And there shall be an overflowing shower in My anger, and hailstones in My fury to consume it. ¹⁴ So I will break down the wall that you have daubed with whitewash, and bring it down to the ground so that its foundation is laid bare. And when it falls, you shall be consumed in its midst. And you shall know that I am the Lord. ¹⁵ Thus I will accomplish My wrath upon the wall and upon those who have daubed it with whitewash, and I will say to you, The wall is no more, nor those who daubed it, ¹⁶ along with the prophets of Israel who prophesy concerning Jerusalem and who see visions of peace for her when there is no peace, says the Lord God.

¹⁷ Now you, son of man, set your face against the daughters of your people who prophesy out of their own heart and prophesy against them, ¹⁸ and say, Thus says the Lord God: Woe to the women who sew magic bands on all wrists and make veils on the heads of persons of every stature to hunt souls! Will you hunt the souls of My people but save the souls alive of others for yourselves? ¹⁹ And you pollute Me among My people for handfuls of barley and pieces of bread to slay the souls of those who should not die and to save the souls alive of those who should not live by your lying to My people who hear your lies.

²⁰ Therefore thus says the Lord God: I am against your magic bands with which you hunt the souls there as birds, and I will tear them from your arms, and will let the souls go, even the souls that you hunt as birds. ²¹ Your veils also I will tear off and deliver My people out of your hands, and they shall be no more in your hand to be hunted. And you shall know that I am the Lord. ²² Because with lies you have made the heart of the righteous sad, whom I have not made sad, and strengthened the hands of the wicked that he should not turn from his wicked way and save his life, ²³ therefore you women shall no more see vanity or practice divinations, and I will deliver My people out of your hand. Thus you shall know that I am the Lord.

Idolatrous Elders Condemned

14 Then some of the elders of Israel came to me and sat before me. ² The word of the Lord came to me, saying: ³ Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their heart and put the stumbling block of their iniquity before their face. Should I be inquired of by them at all? ⁴ Therefore speak to them and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Every man of the house of Israel who sets up his idols in his heart, and puts the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and comes to the prophet, I the Lord will answer him who comes according to the multitude of his idols, ⁵ in order to seize the heart of the house of Israel who are estranged from Me through all their idols.

⁶ Therefore 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.

⁷ For every one of the house of Israel or of the stranger who sojourns in Israel who separates himself from Me, and sets up his idols in his heart, and puts the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and comes to the prophet to inquire of Me for himself, I the Lord will answer him by Myself. ⁸ And I will set My face against that man and will make him a sign and a proverb, and I will cut him off from the midst of My people. And you shall know that I am the Lord.

⁹ And if the prophet is deceived when he has spoken a word, I the Lord have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out My hand against him and will destroy him from the midst of My people Israel. ¹⁰ They shall bear the punishment of their iniquity. The punishment of the prophet shall be even as the punishment of him who seeks him ¹¹ in order that the house of Israel may no more go astray from Me or be polluted anymore with all their transgressions. Thus they shall be My people, and I shall be their God, says the Lord God.

Jerusalem’s Imminent Judgment

¹² The word of the Lord came to me again, saying: ¹³ Son of man, when the land sins against Me by trespassing grievously, then I will stretch out My hand against it, and break the staff of the bread, and send famine against it, and cut off man and beast from it. ¹⁴ Even though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they could deliver but their own souls by their righteousness, says the Lord God.

¹⁵ If I cause wild beasts to pass through the land, and they destroy it so that it becomes desolate, that no man may pass through because of the beasts, ¹⁶ though these three men were in it, as I live, says the Lord God, they could deliver neither their sons nor their daughters. They alone would be delivered, but the land would be desolate.

¹⁷ Or if I bring a sword on that land, and say, “Let the sword go through the land and cut off man and beast from it,” ¹⁸ though these three men were in it, as I live, says the Lord God, they would deliver neither their sons nor their daughters, but they alone would deliver themselves.

¹⁹ Or if I send a pestilence into that land and pour out My fury on 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 God, they would deliver neither their sons nor their daughters. They would deliver only their own souls by their righteousness.

²¹ For thus says the Lord God: How much more when I send My four sore judgments on Jerusalem, the sword, and the famine, and the wild beasts, and the pestilence, to cut off man and beast from it. ²² Yet a remnant shall be left in it who shall be brought out, both sons and daughters. They shall come out to you, and you shall see their way and their deeds. Then you shall be comforted concerning the disaster that I have brought against Jerusalem, even concerning all that I have brought upon it. ²³ Then they shall comfort you when you see their ways and their deeds. And you shall know that I have not done without cause all that I have done in it, says the Lord God.

Jerusalem as a Useless Vine

15 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ² Son of man, how is the wood of the vine tree better than any wood of a branch which is among the trees of the forest? ³ Can wood be taken from it to do any work, or can men take a peg of it to hang any vessel on it? ⁴ If it has been cast into the fire for fuel and the fire has devoured both ends of it and the middle of it is burned, is it useful for any work? ⁵ When it was whole, it was not made into anything. How much less is it useful for any work when the fire has devoured it and it is burned!

⁶ Therefore thus says the Lord God: As the wood of the vine tree among the trees of the forest, which I have given to the fire for fuel, so I will give the inhabitants of Jerusalem. ⁷ I will set My face against them. Though they go out from one fire, yet the fire shall devour them. Then you shall know that I am the Lord when I set My face against them. ⁸ I will make the land desolate, because they have committed a trespass, says the Lord God.