Ezekiel 14

¹ When some elders of Israel had come to my house and sat down with me,

² the word of Yahweh was addressed to me as follows,

³ ‘Son of man, these people have enshrined their own idols in their hearts, they cling to the cause of their sins; am I going to let myself be consulted by them?

⁴ Well then, speak to them; tell them this, “The Lord Yahweh says this: Every member of the House of Israel who enshrines his own idols in his heart, or who, clinging to the cause of his sins, comes looking for the prophet, will get his answer from me, Yahweh, on account of his hundreds of idols”;

⁵ and in this way I hope to touch the heart of the House of Israel who have deserted me in favour of a pack of idols.

⁶ ‘Say therefore to the House of Israel, “The Lord Yahweh says this: Come back, renounce your idols and give up all your filthy practices;

⁷ for if any member of the House of Israel – or even any foreigner living in Israel – deserts me to enshrine his own idols in his heart, and, clinging to the cause of his sins, then comes looking for the prophet to consult me, he will get his answer from me, Yahweh.

⁸ I will turn against this man; I will make him an example and a byword; I will cut him off from my people; and you will learn that I am Yahweh.

⁹ If the prophet is led astray and speaks, it is I, Yahweh, who have led that prophet astray; I will stretch out my hand against him and will wipe him out from my people Israel.

¹⁰ They will bear the weight of their faults, and the fault of the prophet will be as grave as the fault of the man who consults him.

¹¹ So the House of Israel will not desert me any more; it will not defile itself with any more of these sins. They shall be my people, and I will be their God – it is the Lord Yahweh who speaks.”‘

¹² The word of Yahweh was addressed to me as follows,

¹³ ‘Son of man, if a country were to sin against me by faithlessness, and if I were to stretch out my hand against it and destroy its stock of bread and send famine to it to kill its men and beasts,

¹⁴ and if in that country there were these three men, Noah, Danel and Job,[*a] these men would have their lives spared because of their integrity – it is the Lord Yahweh who speaks.

¹⁵ Were I to unleash wild animals on that country to rob it of its children and reduce it to such a desert that no one would dare to cross it because of the animals,

¹⁶ and if these three men were in that country, then, as I live – it is the Lord Yahweh who speaks – they would not be able to save either son or daughter; they alone would be saved, and the country would become a desert.

¹⁷ If I were to bring the sword into that country and say: Let the sword pass through the country; I will strike down men and beasts with it,

¹⁸ and if these three men were in that country, then, as I live – it is the Lord Yahweh who speaks – they would not be able to save either son or daughter; they alone would be saved.

¹⁹ If I were to send the plague into that country and satisfy my anger with them by bloodshed, cutting off men and beasts,

²⁰ if Noah and Danel and Job were in the country, as I live – it is the Lord Yahweh who speaks – they would not be able to save either son or daughter, though they would save their own lives because of their integrity.

²¹ ‘The Lord Yahweh says this: Now, if I do send my four dreadful scourges against Jerusalem – sword, famine, wild animals and plague – to cut off its men and beasts,

²² and if any survivors are left there to contrive the escape of son and daughter, they will come for you to see their conduct and actions and so be comforted in spite of the scourges I shall have brought on Jerusalem, in spite of everything I shall have brought on her.

²³ They will comfort you, when you see their conduct and actions, and so you will learn that I have not done all I have done against her for nothing – it is the Lord Yahweh who speaks.’