¹Then some men from the elders of Israel came to me and sat in front of me. ²And the word of the Lord came to me and said, ³“Son of Adam, those men have set up their idols in their hearts, and they have put the stumbling block of their iniquity right in front of themselves. Should I be open to consultation at all by them? ⁴So speak to them and say to them, ‘This is what my Lord the Lord says: «When any man of the house of Israel sets up his idols in his heart, and he places the stumbling block of his iniquity right in front of himself, and he comes to the prophet, I, the Lord, will be induced to answer him about it in response to the multitude of his idols, ⁵so that I catch the house of Israel by their own heart with which they have all alienated themselves from me with their idols.» ’ ⁶Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘This is what my Lord the Lord says: «Turn away and restore yourselves from your idols, and turn your attention away from all your abominations. ⁷For every man of the house of Israel and foreigner who resides in Israel has alienated himself from me and has set up his idols in his heart, and he has placed the stumbling block of his iniquity right in front of himself, and when he comes to the prophet to inquire from him of me, I, the Lord, will be induced to answer him by myself. ⁸And I will take issue with that man, and I will make him a sign and a subject of sayings, and I will cut him off from my people, and you will know that I am the Lord. ⁹And if a prophet is deceived when he utters words, I, the Lord, will deceive that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand against him, and I will obliterate him from my people Israel. ¹⁰And they will bear the penalty for their iniquity. As the penalty for the iniquity is for the one who consults, so the penalty for the iniquity will be for the prophet, ¹¹in order that they should no longer lead the house of Israel astray, away from following me, and that they should no longer defile themselves with all their transgressions, but that they should be my people, and I should be their God, says the Lord, the Lord.» ’ ” ¹²Then the word of the Lord came to me and said, ¹³“Son of Adam, if a land sins against me by acting perversely, then I will stretch my hand against it and break its supply of bread, and I will send a famine to it, and I will cut man and beast off from it. ¹⁴And even if these three men were somewhere in it: Noah, Daniel and Job, they by their righteousness would only save their own lives, says the Lord, the Lord. ¹⁵If I were to cause wild animals to pass through the land and bereave it, and it were to become desolate for want of a passer-by, because of the wild animals, ¹⁶those three men somewhere in it – as I live, says the Lord, the Lord – would certainly not save sons or daughters. They alone would be saved, and the land would become a desolation. ¹⁷Or if I were to bring the sword on that land and to say, ‘Let the sword pass through the land’, so that I should cut man and beast off from it, ¹⁸then these three men somewhere in it – as I live, says the Lord, the Lord – would not save sons or daughters, but they would only save themselves. ¹⁹Or if I were to send a pestilence to that land, and I were to pour my fury out over it in bloodshed, so as to cut man and beast off from it, ²⁰and Noah, Daniel and Job were somewhere inside it – as I live, says the Lord, the Lord – they certainly would not save son or daughter. They would only save their own lives by their righteousness. ²¹For this is what the Lord, the Lord, says: ‘Even if I send my four harmful judgments – the sword and famine and wild animals and a pestilence to Jerusalem, so as to cut man and beast off from it, ²²yet it will be the case that a remnant will remain in it, who will be brought out – sons and daughters. There they will be coming out to you, and you will see their way and their deeds, and you will be comforted concerning the harm which I brought over Jerusalem, with everything I brought over it. ²³And they will comfort you when you see their way and their deeds, and you will know that it was not for nothing that I did everything that I did in it, says the Lord, the Lord.’ ”