Ezekiel 14

14 ¹ Then some of the elders of Israel came to me and sat down before me. ² And the word of our Father came to me:

³ Son of man, these men have taken their idols into their hearts and set the stumbling block of their guilt right in front of them. Should I let myself be consulted by them at all? ⁴ Therefore speak to them and say to them: This is what the Sovereign Father says: When anyone of the house of Israel takes his idols into his heart and sets the stumbling block of his guilt right in front of him, and then comes to the prophet, I, your Father, will answer him myself, in keeping with his great idolatry, ⁵ so that I may take hold of the hearts of the house of Israel, who have all turned away from me through their idols.

⁶ Therefore say to the house of Israel: This is what the Sovereign Father says: Repent! Turn away from your idols and turn away from all your detestable practices. ⁷ For when anyone of the house of Israel, or any foreigner residing in Israel, separates himself from me, takes his idols into his heart, sets the stumbling block of his guilt right in front of him, and then comes to a prophet to inquire of me, I, your Father, will answer him myself. ⁸ I will set my face against that man and make him a sign and a proverb; I will cut him off from among my people. Then you will know that I am your Father.

⁹ And if the prophet is enticed to speak a word, I, your Father, have let that prophet be enticed; I will stretch out my hand against him and destroy him from among my people Israel. ¹⁰ They will bear their guilt — the guilt of the one who inquires will be the same as the guilt of the prophet — ¹¹ so that the house of Israel may no longer stray from me, no longer defile themselves with all their rebellion. Then they will be my children, and I will be their Father, declares the Sovereign Father.

The Father's Four Dreadful Judgments

¹² And the word of our Father came to me:

¹³ Son of man, if a land sins against me by being unfaithful, and I stretch out my hand against it to cut off its food supply, send famine upon it, and cut off from it both people and animals, ¹⁴ even if these three men — Noah, Daniel, and Job — were in it, they could save only their own lives by their righteousness, declares the Sovereign Father.

¹⁵ Or if I send wild beasts through that land and they strip it of its people so that it becomes desolate, and no one can pass through because of the beasts, ¹⁶ as surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Father, even if these three men were in it, they could save neither sons nor daughters. They alone would be saved, but the land would be desolate.

¹⁷ Or if I bring a sword against that land and say, 'Let the sword pass through the land,' and I cut off from it both people and animals, ¹⁸ as surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Father, even if these three men were in it, they could save neither sons nor daughters. They alone would be saved.

¹⁹ Or if I send a plague into that land and pour out my wrath upon it with bloodshed, to cut off from it both people and animals, ²⁰ as surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Father, even if Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, they could save neither son nor daughter. They would save only their own lives by their righteousness.

²¹ For this is what the Sovereign Father says: How much worse will it be when I send my four dreadful judgments against Jerusalem — sword and famine and wild beasts and plague — to cut off from it both people and animals! ²² Yet some survivors will be left in it, sons and daughters who will be brought out. They will come out to you, and when you see their conduct and their deeds, you will be consoled over the disaster I have brought upon Jerusalem — over everything I have brought upon it. ²³ They will console you when you see their conduct and their deeds, and you will know that I have done nothing in it without cause, declares the Sovereign Father.