| English Standard Version | NET Bible |
| 1Then certain of the elders of Israel came to me and sat before me. | 1Then some men from Israel's elders came to me and sat down in front of me. |
| 2And the word of the LORD came to me: | 2The word of the LORD came to me: |
| 3“Son of man, these men have taken their idols into their hearts, and set the stumbling block of their iniquity before their faces. Should I indeed let myself be consulted by them? | 3"Son of man, these men have erected their idols in their hearts and placed the obstacle leading to their iniquity right before their faces. Should I really allow them to seek me? |
| 4Therefore speak to them and say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: Any one of the house of Israel who takes his idols into his heart and sets the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and yet comes to the prophet, I the LORD will answer him as he comes with the multitude of his idols, | 4Therefore speak to them and say to them, 'This is what the sovereign LORD says: When any one from the house of Israel erects his idols in his heart and sets the obstacle leading to his iniquity before his face, and then consults a prophet, I the LORD am determined to answer him personally according to the enormity of his idolatry. |
| 5that I may lay hold of the hearts of the house of Israel, who are all estranged from me through their idols. | 5I will do this in order to capture the hearts of the house of Israel, who have alienated themselves from me on account of all their idols.' |
| 6“Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord GOD: Repent and turn away from your idols, and turn away your faces from all your abominations. | 6"Therefore say to the house of Israel, 'This is what the sovereign LORD says: Return! Turn from your idols, and turn your faces away from your abominations. |
| 7For any one of the house of Israel, or of the strangers who sojourn in Israel, who separates himself from me, taking his idols into his heart and putting the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and yet comes to a prophet to consult me through him, I the LORD will answer him myself. | 7For when anyone from the house of Israel, or the foreigner who lives in Israel, separates himself from me and erects his idols in his heart and sets the obstacle leading to his iniquity before his face, and then consults a prophet to seek something from me, I the LORD am determined to answer him personally. |
| 8And I will set my face against that man; I will make him a sign and a byword and cut him off from the midst of my people, and you shall know that I am the LORD. | 8I will set my face against that person and will make him an object lesson and a byword and will cut him off from among my people. Then you will know that I am the LORD. |
| 9And if the prophet is deceived and speaks a word, I, the LORD, have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand against him and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel. | 9"'As for the prophet, if he is made a fool by being deceived into speaking a prophetic word--I, the LORD, have made a fool of that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand against him and destroy him from among my people Israel. |
| 10And they shall bear their punishment—the punishment of the prophet and the punishment of the inquirer shall be alike— | 10They will bear their punishment; the punishment of the one who sought an oracle will be the same as the punishment of the prophet who gave it |
| 11that the house of Israel may no more go astray from me, nor defile themselves anymore with all their transgressions, but that they may be my people and I may be their God, declares the Lord GOD.” | 11so that the house of Israel will no longer go astray from me, nor continue to defile themselves by all their sins. They will be my people and I will be their God, declares the sovereign LORD.'" |
| 12And the word of the LORD came to me: | 12The word of the LORD came to me: |
| 13“Son of man, when a land sins against me by acting faithlessly, and I stretch out my hand against it and break its supply of bread and send famine upon it, and cut off from it man and beast, | 13"Son of man, suppose a country sins against me by being unfaithful, and I stretch out my hand against it, cut off its bread supply, cause famine to come on it, and kill both people and animals. |
| 14even if these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they would deliver but their own lives by their righteousness, declares the Lord GOD. | 14Even if these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they would save only their own lives by their righteousness, declares the sovereign LORD. |
| 15“If I cause wild beasts to pass through the land, and they ravage it, and it be made desolate, so that no one may pass through because of the beasts, | 15"Suppose I were to send wild animals through the land and kill its children, leaving it desolate, without travelers due to the wild animals. |
| 16even if these three men were in it, as I live, declares the Lord GOD, they would deliver neither sons nor daughters. They alone would be delivered, but the land would be desolate. | 16Even if these three men were in it, as surely as I live, declares the sovereign LORD, they could not save their own sons or daughters; they would save only their own lives, and the land would become desolate. |
| 17“Or if I bring a sword upon that land and say, Let a sword pass through the land, and I cut off from it man and beast, | 17"Or suppose I were to bring a sword against that land and say, 'Let a sword pass through the land,' and I were to kill both people and animals. |
| 18though these three men were in it, as I live, declares the Lord GOD, they would deliver neither sons nor daughters, but they alone would be delivered. | 18Even if these three men were in it, as surely as I live, declares the sovereign LORD, they could not save their own sons or daughters--they would save only their own lives. |
| 19“Or if I send a pestilence into that land and pour out my wrath upon it with blood, to cut off from it man and beast, | 19"Or suppose I were to send a plague into that land, and pour out my rage on it with bloodshed, killing both people and animals. |
| 20even if Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, as I live, declares the Lord GOD, they would deliver neither son nor daughter. They would deliver but their own lives by their righteousness. | 20Even if Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, as surely as I live, declares the sovereign LORD, they could not save their own son or daughter; they would save only their own lives by their righteousness. |
| 21“For thus says the Lord GOD: How much more when I send upon Jerusalem my four disastrous acts of judgment, sword, famine, wild beasts, and pestilence, to cut off from it man and beast! | 21"For this is what the sovereign LORD says: How much worse will it be when I send my four terrible judgments--sword, famine, wild animals, and plague--to Jerusalem to kill both people and animals! |
| 22But behold, some survivors will be left in it, sons and daughters who will be brought out; behold, when they come out to you, and you see their ways and their deeds, you will be consoled for the disaster that I have brought upon Jerusalem, for all that I have brought upon it. | 22Yet 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 behavior and their deeds, you will be consoled about the catastrophe I have brought on Jerusalem--for everything I brought on it. |
| 23They will console you, when you see their ways and their deeds, and you shall know that I have not done without cause all that I have done in it, declares the Lord GOD.” | 23They will console you when you see their behavior and their deeds, because you will know that it was not without reason that I have done everything which I have done in it, declares the sovereign LORD." |
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