1 Then certain of the elders of Israel came to me, and sat before me.
2 And the word of Yahweh came to me, saying,
3 Son of Man, these men have taken their idols into their heart, and put the stumbling block of their iniquity before their face: should I be inquired of at all by them?
4 Therefore speak to them, and say to them, Thus says the Sovereign Yahweh: Every man of the house of Israel that takes his idols into his heart, and puts the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and comes to the prophet; I Yahweh will answer him in it according to 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 to the house of Israel, Thus says the Sovereign Yahweh: Return{+}, and turn yourselves from your{+} idols; and turn away your{+} faces from all your{+} disgusting things.
7 For every man of the house of Israel, or of the strangers who sojourn in Israel, who separates himself from me, and takes his idols into his heart, and puts the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and comes to the prophet to inquire for himself of me; I Yahweh will answer him by myself:
8 and I will set my face against that man, and will make him an astonishment, for a sign and a proverb, and I will cut him off from the midst of my people; and you{+} will know that I am Yahweh.
9 And if the prophet is deceived and speaks a word, I, Yahweh, have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand on him, and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel.
10 And they will bear their iniquity: the iniquity of the prophet will be even as the iniquity of him who seeks [him];
11 that the house of Israel may go no more astray from me, neither defile themselves anymore with all their transgressions; but that they may be my people, and I may be their God, says the Sovereign Yahweh.
12 And the word of Yahweh came to me, saying,
13 Son of Man, when a land sins against me by committing a trespass, and I stretch out my hand on it, and break the staff of its bread, and send famine on it, and cut off from it man and beast;
14 though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness, says the Sovereign Yahweh.
15 If I cause evil beasts to pass through the land, and they ravage it, and it is made desolate, so that no man may pass through because of the beasts;
16 though these three men were in it, as I live, says the Sovereign Yahweh, they should deliver neither sons nor daughters; they only should be delivered, but the land should be desolate.
17 Or if I bring a sword on that land, and say, Sword, go through the land; so that I cut off from it man and beast;
18 though these three men were in it, as I live, says the Sovereign Yahweh, they should deliver neither sons nor daughters, but they only should be delivered themselves.
19 Or if I send a pestilence into that land, and pour out my wrath 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 Sovereign Yahweh, they should deliver neither son nor daughter; they should but deliver their own souls by their righteousness.
21 For thus says the Sovereign Yahweh: How much more when I send my four intense judgments on Jerusalem, the sword, and the famine, and the evil beasts, and the pestilence, to cut off from it man and beast!
22 Yet, look, in it will be left a remnant that will be carried forth, both sons and daughters: look, they will come forth to you{+}, and you{+} will see their way and their doings; and you{+} will be comforted concerning the evil that I have brought on Jerusalem, even concerning all that I have brought on it.
23 And they will comfort you{+}, when you{+} see their way and their doings; and you{+} will know that I have not done without cause all that I have done in it, says the Sovereign Yahweh.