 1 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 hearts, and put the stumbling block of their iniquity before their face. Should I at all be inquired of by them? 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 in it by the host of his idols; 5 so that I may capture the house of Israel in their own heart, because they are estranged from me by their idols, all of them. 6 Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: Repent and turn 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 lives 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 a prophet to ask of him concerning me; I the Lord will answer him myself. 8 I will turn+ against that man and make him desolate for a sign and for proverbs. And I will cut him off from the midst of my people. Then you will know that I am the Lord. 9 The prophet, if he is deceived, and he speaks a word, I the Lord have deceived that prophet. And I will stretch out my hand on him and will destroy him in the midst of my people Israel. 10 They shall bear their iniquity. As the iniquity of the inquirer, so the iniquity of the prophet shall be. 11 So that the house of Israel may never again go astray from me, nor be defiled again with all their transgressions, but they are to me my people, and I will be to them for God, says the Lord God. 12 The Word of the Lord came again to me saying, 13 Son of man, when a land sins against me by traitorous betraying, then I will stretch out my hand on it, and will break the staff of its bread, and will send famine on it, and will cut off man and beast from it. 14 And though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they should deliver only their own souls by their righteousness, says the Lord God. 15 If I cause destroying beasts to come through the land, and they spoil it so that it is deserted, so that no one may pass through because of the beasts, 16 though these three men were in its midst, as I live, says the Lord God, they shall deliver neither sons nor daughters. They only shall be delivered, but the land shall be deserted. 17 Or if I bring a sword on that land, and say, Sword, go through the land. So that I cut off man and beast from it; 18 though these three men were in it, as I live, says the Lord God, they shall deliver neither sons nor daughters, but they only shall be delivered themselves. 19 Or if I send a plague into that land, and pour out my fury on it in blood, to cut off man and beast from it; 20 though Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, as I live, says the Lord God, they shall deliver neither son nor daughter. They shall only deliver their own souls by their righteousness. 21 For thus says the Lord God: How much more when I send my four evil judgments on Jerusalem, the sword, and the famine, and the destroying beast, and the plague, to cut off man and beast from it. 22 Yet, behold, there shall be left a remnant in it that shall be brought out, sons and daughters. Behold, they shall come out to you, and you shall see their way and their doings. And you shall be comforted concerning the evil that I brought on Jerusalem, for all that I have brought on it. 23 They will comfort you when you see their way and their doings. Then you will know that I have not done without cause all that I have done in it, says the Lord God.
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