1 Some men from the elders of Israel came and sat down in front of me.
2 Then the word of the LORD came to me:
3 "Son of man, these men have lifted their idols up into their hearts and placed the stumbling block of their iniquity in front of their faces. Should I really let them consult me?
4 So speak to them and tell them, 'Thus says the Lord GOD: When anyone of the house of Israel lifts his idols up into his heart and places the stumbling block of his iniquity in front of his face, and then comes to the prophet, I the LORD will give him an answer myself, in keeping with the mass of his idols,
5 so as to grip the house of Israel by their heart, for they have all turned away from me through their idols.'
6 "So tell the house of Israel, 'Thus says the Lord GOD: Repent and turn back from your idols; turn your faces back from all your abominations.
7 For when anyone of the house of Israel or of the foreigners who live in Israel turns away from following me, lifting his idols up into his heart and placing the stumbling block of his iniquity in front of his face, and then comes to the prophet to consult me through him, I the LORD will give him an answer myself.
8 I will turn my face against that man and make him a sign and a proverb; I will cut him off from among my people, and you shall know that I am the LORD.
9 If the prophet is enticed and speaks a word, it is I, the LORD, who have enticed that prophet; I will stretch out my hand against him and wipe him out from among my people Israel.
10 They will bear their iniquity; the iniquity of the one who consults will be just like the iniquity of the prophet,
11 so that the house of Israel will stray from me no more and no longer defile themselves with all their transgressions. They will be my people and I will be their God, declares the Lord GOD.'"
12 The word of the LORD came to me:
13 "Son of man, if a land sins against me by being unfaithful, and I stretch out my hand against it, break its staff of bread, send famine on it, and cut off both man and beast from it,
14 and these three men were in it, Noah, Daniel and Job, they would save only their own lives by their righteousness, declares the Lord GOD.
15 If I send savage beasts through the land to leave it childless, so that it becomes a desolation with no one passing through because of the beasts,
16 and these three men were in it, as I live, declares the Lord GOD, they would not save sons or daughters; they alone would be saved, while the land became a desolation.
17 Or if I bring a sword on that land and say, 'Sword, pass through the land,' and I cut off both man and beast from it,
18 and these three men were in it, as I live, declares the Lord GOD, they would not save sons or daughters; they alone would be saved.
19 Or if I send pestilence into that land and pour out my wrath on it with bloodshed, to cut off both man and beast from it,
20 and Noah, Daniel and Job were in it, as I live, declares the Lord GOD, they would not save son or daughter; by their righteousness they would save only their own lives.
21 "For thus says the Lord GOD: How much more when I send my four terrible judgments against Jerusalem, sword and famine, savage beasts and pestilence, to cut off both man and beast from it!
22 And yet some survivors will be left in it, sons and daughters who are brought out. They are going to come out to you, and when you see their ways and their deeds, you will be consoled over the evil I brought on Jerusalem, over everything I brought on it.
23 They will console you when you see their ways and their deeds, and you will know that it was not without reason that I did all I did in it, declares the Lord GOD."