Idolatrous Elders Condemned
(Romans 14:13–23; 1 Corinthians 8:1–13)

1And there came to me some men from the elders of Israel, and they sat before me. 2And the word of YHWH came to me, saying: 3“Son of man, these men have set up their idols upon their hearts, and a stumbling block for their iniquity they have put before their faces. Can I be sought out in any way by them?

4Therefore you must speak to them and say to them, thus says the Lord YHWH: ‘Every man man of the house of Israel who sets up his idols in his heart and puts a stumbling block for his iniquity before his face, and comes to the prophet, I, YHWH, will give answer to him in this, according to the abundance of his idolatry, 5so as to capture the house of Israel by their heart, in that they are estranged from Me by all their idols.’

6Therefore say to the house of Israel, thus says the Lord YHWH: ‘Turn back and turn away from your⁺ idols, and from all your⁺ abominations turn back your⁺ faces! 7For every man of the house of Israel, or from the foreigners who dwell in Israel, who separates himself from Me and sets up his idols in his heart, and puts a stumbling block for his iniquity before his face, and who comes to a prophet to inquire of him concerning Me, I, YHWH, will answer him Myself. 8And I will set My face against that man, and I will set him as a sign and a proverb, and I will cut him off from the midst of My people. And you⁺ will know that I am YHWH.

9And a prophet, if he is led astray and has spoken a word, I, YHWH, have enticed that prophet, and I will stretch out My hand against him, and I will destroy him from among My people Israel. 10And they will bear their guilt. As the guilt of the one inquiring, will be the guilt of the prophet, 11so that the house of Israel they will lead astray no longer from Me, and they will not profane themselves anymore with all their transgressions. And they will be unto Me as a people, and I will be unto them God! An utterance of the Lord YHWH.’”

Four Dire Judgments

12And the word of YHWH came to me, saying: 13“Son of man, when a land sins against Me to be grievously unfaithful, and I stretch out My hand against it and cut off for it the staff† of bread, and I send on it famine and I cut off from it man and beast, 14even if these three men were in it—Noah, Daniel, and Job—only they by their righteousness would deliver their own soul! An utterance of the Lord YHWH.

15Or if I cause a wild beast to pass through the land and make it barren and it becomes a desolation, with no one passing through before the face of the beast, 16even if these three men were in its midst—as I live, a declaration of the Lord YHWH—neither the sons or daughters they could deliver! They alone would be delivered, and the land would become a desolation.

17Or if I should bring the sword against that land and say, ‘Sword, pass through the land!’ And I cut off from it man and beast, 18even if these three men were in the midst of it—as I live, a declaration of the Lord YHWH—they could not deliver the sons and daughters, but they themselves alone would be delivered.

19Or if I should send a pestilence into that land and pour out My fury on it in blood, and cut off from it man and beast, 20even if Noah, Daniel, and Job were in the midst of it—as I live, a declaration of the Lord YHWH—neither the son nor daughter they could deliver! They by their righteousness would deliver only their own soul.

21For thus says the Lord YHWH: ‘How much more when these four of My severe judgments—the sword, and famine, and the wild beast, and the pestilence—I send against Jerusalem, to cut off from it man and beast?

22And behold—there will be left in it a remnant, those being brought out, sons and daughters; behold, they will be coming out to you⁺, and you⁺ will see their ways and their deeds, and you⁺ will be comforted concerning the disaster that I have brought upon Jerusalem—all that I have brought upon it. 23And they will comfort you⁺ when you⁺ see their ways and their deeds, and you⁺ will know that I have not without cause done all that I have done in it!’ An utterance of the Lord YHWH.”