| [an error occurred while processing this directive] | New International Version |
| 1[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 1Some of the elders of Israel came to me and sat down in front of me. |
| 2[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 2Then the word of the LORD came to me: |
| 3[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 3"Son of man, these men have set up idols in their hearts and put wicked stumbling blocks before their faces. Should I let them inquire of me at all? |
| 4[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 4Therefore speak to them and tell them, 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: When any of the Israelites set up idols in their hearts and put a wicked stumbling block before their faces and then go to a prophet, I the LORD will answer them myself in keeping with their great idolatry. |
| 5[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 5I will do this to recapture the hearts of the people of Israel, who have all deserted me for their idols.' |
| 6[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 6"Therefore say to the people of Israel, 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Repent! Turn from your idols and renounce all your detestable practices! |
| 7[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 7"'When any of the Israelites or any foreigner residing in Israel separate themselves from me and set up idols in their hearts and put a wicked stumbling block before their faces and then go to a prophet to inquire of me, I the LORD will answer them myself. |
| 8[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 8I will set my face against them and make them an example and a byword. I will remove them from my people. Then you will know that I am the LORD. |
| 9[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 9"'And if the prophet is enticed to utter a prophecy, I the LORD have enticed that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand against him and destroy him from among my people Israel. |
| 10[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 10They will bear their guilt--the prophet will be as guilty as the one who consults him. |
| 11[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 11Then the people of Israel will no longer stray from me, nor will they defile themselves anymore with all their sins. They will be my people, and I will be their God, declares the Sovereign LORD.'" |
| 12[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 12The word of the LORD came to me: |
| 13[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 13"Son of man, if a country sins against me by being unfaithful and I stretch out my hand against it to cut off its food supply and send famine upon it and kill its people and their animals, |
| 14[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 14even if these three men--Noah, Daniel and Job--were in it, they could save only themselves by their righteousness, declares the Sovereign LORD. |
| 15[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 15"Or if I send wild beasts through that country and they leave it childless and it becomes desolate so that no one can pass through it because of the beasts, |
| 16[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 16as surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, even if these three men were in it, they could not save their own sons or daughters. They alone would be saved, but the land would be desolate. |
| 17[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 17"Or if I bring a sword against that country and say, 'Let the sword pass throughout the land,' and I kill its people and their animals, |
| 18[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 18as surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, even if these three men were in it, they could not save their own sons or daughters. They alone would be saved. |
| 19[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 19"Or if I send a plague into that land and pour out my wrath on it through bloodshed, killing its people and their animals, |
| 20[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 20as surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, even if Noah, Daniel and Job were in it, they could save neither son nor daughter. They would save only themselves by their righteousness. |
| 21[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 21"For this is what the Sovereign LORD says: How much worse will it be when I send against Jerusalem my four dreadful judgments--sword and famine and wild beasts and plague--to kill its men and their animals! |
| 22[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 22Yet there will be some survivors--sons and daughters who will be brought out of it. They will come to you, and when you see their conduct and their actions, you will be consoled regarding the disaster I have brought on Jerusalem--every disaster I have brought on it. |
| 23[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 23You will be consoled when you see their conduct and their actions, for you will know that I have done nothing in it without cause, declares the Sovereign LORD." |
| [an error occurred while processing this directive] | New International Version (NIV) Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. |
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