Chronological

13 ¶ And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

² Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel that prophesy and say unto those that prophesy out of their own hearts, Hear ye the word of the LORD:

³ thus hath the Lord GOD said: Woe unto the foolish prophets that follow their own spirit and have seen nothing!

⁴ O Israel, thy prophets are like the foxes in the deserts.

⁵ Ye have not gone up into the gaps, neither made up the hedge for the house of Israel to stand in the battle in the day of the LORD.

⁶ They have seen vanity and lying divination, saying, The LORD saith: and the LORD has not sent them, and they have made others to wait for the word to be confirmed.

⁷ Have ye not seen a vain vision and have ye not spoken a lying divination, whereas ye say, The LORD hath said it; albeit I have not spoken?

⁸ Therefore thus hath the Lord GOD said: Because ye have spoken vanity, and seen lies; therefore, behold, I am against you, said the Lord GOD.

⁹ And my hand shall be against the prophets that see vanity and that divine lies: they shall not be in the assembly of my people, neither shall they be written in the book of the house of Israel, neither shall they return to the land of Israel; and ye shall know that I am the Lord GOD.

¹⁰ ¶ Therefore and because they have seduced my people, saying, Peace; and there was no peace; and one built up the wall, and, behold, others plastered it with loose mud:

¹¹ say unto those who plaster it with loose mud, that it shall fall: there shall be an overflowing rain; and I shall send great hailstones that will cause it to fall; and a stormy wind shall rend it.

¹² And behold, when the wall is fallen, shall it not be said unto you, Where is the mud with which ye have plastered it?

¹³ Therefore thus hath the Lord GOD said: I will cause a stormy wind to rend it in my fury; and there shall come an overflowing rain in my anger and great hailstones in my wrath to consume it.

¹⁴ So I will break down the wall that ye have plastered with loose mud and bring it down to the ground, and its foundation shall be discovered, and it shall fall, and ye shall be consumed in the midst thereof: and ye shall know that I am the LORD.

¹⁵ Thus will I accomplish my wrath upon the wall and upon those that have plastered it with loose mud and will say unto you, The wall is no more, neither those that plastered it;

¹⁶ to wit, the prophets of Israel who prophesy concerning Jerusalem and who see visions of peace for her, and there is no peace, said the Lord GOD.

¹⁷ ¶ Likewise, thou son of man, set thy face against the daughters of thy people, who prophesy out of their own heart; prophesy thou against them,

¹⁸ And say, Thus hath the Lord GOD said; Woe to the women that sew pillows to all armholes and make kerchiefs upon the head of every stature to hunt souls! Must ye hunt the souls of my people to maintain thus your own life?

¹⁹ And will ye profane me among my people for handfuls of barley and for pieces of bread, slaying the souls that should not die and giving life to the souls that should not live, by your lying to my people that listen to the lie?

²⁰ Therefore thus hath the Lord GOD said; Behold, I am against your pillows, with which ye hunt there the loose souls, and I will tear them from your arms and will let the souls go, even the loose souls that ye hunt.

²¹ Your kerchiefs also I will tear and deliver my people out of your hand, and they shall no longer be in your hand to be hunted; and ye shall know that I am the LORD.

²² Because with lies ye have made the heart of the righteous sad, whom I have not made sad; and ye strengthen the hands of the wicked that he should not leave his wicked way, encouraging him:

²³ therefore ye shall not see vanity, nor divine divinations any longer: for I will deliver my people out of your hand; and ye shall know that I am the LORD.

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.

15 ¶ And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying:

² Son of man, What is the vine tree more than any tree? What is the branch among the trees of the forest?

³ Shall wood be taken from it to do a work? Will men take a peg from it to hang any vessel thereon?

⁴ Behold, it is cast into the fire for fuel; the fire devours both the ends of it, and the midst of it is burned. Is it meet for any work?

⁵ Behold, when it was whole, it was meet for no work; how much less afterward shall it be meet for any work when the fire has devoured it, and it is burned?

⁶ Therefore thus hath the Lord GOD said: As the vine tree among the trees of the forest which I have given to the fire for fuel, so I have given over the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

⁷ And I will set my face against them; they came out of one fire, and another fire shall devour them; and ye shall know that I am the LORD when I set my face against them.

⁸ And I will make the land desolate because they have completely rebelled, said the Lord GOD.