¹ Then came certain of the elders of Israel to me, and sat before me. ² And the word of the LORD came to me, saying, ³ Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their heart, and put the stumblingblock of their iniquity before their face: should I be enquired of at all by them? ⁴ Therefore speak to them, and say to them, So says the Lord GOD; Every man of the house of Israel that sets up his idols in his heart, and puts the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and comes to the prophet; I the LORD will answer him that comes 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, So says the Lord GOD; Repent, and turn yourselves 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 that sojourns in Israel, which separates himself from me, and sets up his idols in his heart, and puts the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and comes to a 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 make him a sign and a proverb, and I will cut him off from the midst of my people; and you will know that I am the LORD. ⁹ And if the prophet be deceived when he has spoken a thing, I the LORD 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 the punishment of their iniquity: the punishment of the prophet will be even as the punishment of him that seeks [unto him] ¹¹ That the house of Israel may go no more astray from me, neither be polluted any more with all their transgressions; but that they may be my people, and I may be their God, says 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 trespassing grievously, then will I stretch out mine hand on it, and will break the staff of the bread of it, and will send famine on it, and will cut off man and beast from it ¹⁴ though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness, says the Lord GOD. ¹⁵ If I cause noisome beasts to pass through the land, and they spoil it, so that it be desolate, that no man may pass through because of the beasts ¹⁶ though these three men were in it, as I live, says the Lord GOD, they will deliver neither sons nor daughters; they only will be delivered, but the land will be desolate. 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 will deliver neither sons nor daughters, but they only will be delivered themselves. ¹⁹ Or if I send a pestilence into that land, and pour out my fury 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 Lord GOD, they will deliver neither son nor daughter; they will but deliver their own souls by their righteousness. ²¹ For so says the Lord GOD; How much more when I send my four sorely judgments on Jerusalem, the sword, and the famine, and the noisome beast, and the pestilence, to cut off from it man and beast? ²² Yet, see, in it will be left a remnant that will be brought forward, both sons and daughters: see, they will come forward 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 ways and their doings: and you will know that I have not done without cause all that I have done in it, says the Lord GOD.