*THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET
EZEKIEL
Ezekiel 14 ©
Some of the elders of the people come to the prophet, as if it were to ask counsel of God, v. 1. God answers them by the prophet according to the desert of their idolatry and hypocrisy, and threatens ruin to all such inquirers and to the seducing prophets, who prophesied to the inquirers according to their mind, annexing a promise for the penitents, 2, etc. God shows that the intercessions, even of the most holy men that ever were (such as were Noah, Daniel and Job) would not be able to help Jerusalem, nor one nation whom He had firmly decreed to punish, but that they would only deliver their own soul, 12. He foretells that some shall be left, and shall be also carried to the other Jews in Babel, as an example and mirror of God’s justice towards them, 22.
THEN came certain of the 1elders of Israel unto me, anda2sat before me.
And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Son of man, these men have 3set up their idols in their heart, and put 4the stumblingblock of their iniquity before their face: should I be enquired of 5at all by them?
Therefore speak unto them, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; 6Every man of the house 7of Israel that setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and 8cometh to the prophet; I the LORD 9will answer him 10that cometh 11according to the multitude of his idols;
That I may take the house of Israel 12in their own heart, because they are all estranged from me through their idols.
¶Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Repent, and turn yourselves from your idols; and turn away your 13faces from 14all your abominations.
For 15every one of the house of Israel, or of 16the stranger that sojourneth in Israel, which separateth himself from me, and setteth up his idols in his heart, and 17putteth the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to a prophet 18to enquire of him concerning me; I the LORD will answer him 19by myself:
And I 20will set my face against that man, and will make him 21a signb and 22a proverb, and I will 23cut him off from the midst of my people; and ye shall know that I am the LORD.
And if the prophet 24be deceivedc when he hath spoken 25a thing, I the LORD have 26deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out 27my handd upon him, and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel.
And they shall bear 28the punishment of their iniquity: the punishment of the prophet shall be even as the punishment of him that seeketh unto him;
That the house of Israel may go no more astray from me, neither be polluted any more with all their 29transgressions; but that they may be my 30people, and I may be 31their God, saith the Lord GOD.
¶The word of the LORD came again to me, saying,
Son of man, when the land sinneth against me by trespassing 32grievously, then will I stretch out mine hand upon it, and will break 33the staffe of the bread thereof, and will send famine upon it, and will cut off man and beast from it:
Though these three men, 34Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they should deliver 35but their own 36souls by 37their righteousness, saith the Lord GOD.
¶If I cause 38noisomef beasts to pass through the land, and they spoil it, so that it be desolate, 39that no man may pass through because of the beasts:
Though these three men were in it, as I live, saith the Lord GOD, they shall 40deliver neither sons nor daughters; 41they only shall be delivered, but the land shall be desolate.
¶Or if I bring 42a sword upon that land, and say, 43Sword, go through the land; so that I cut off man and beast from it:
Though these three men were in it, as I live, saith the Lord GOD, they shall deliver neither sons nor daughters, but they only shall be delivered themselves.
¶Or if I send a pestilence into that land, and 44pour out my fury upon it 45in blood, to cut off from it man and beast:
Though Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, as I live, saith the Lord GOD, they 46shall deliver neither son nor daughter; they shall but deliver their own souls 47by their righteousness.
For thus saith the Lord GOD; 48How much more when I send my four 49sore judgments upon Jerusalem, the sword, and the famine, and the noisome beast, and the pestilence, to cut off from it man and beast?
¶Yet, behold, 50therein shall be 51left a remnant that shall be brought forth, both sons and daughters: behold, they shall 52come forth unto 53you, and ye shall see their 54way and their doings: and ye shall be 55comforted concerning the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem, even concerning all that I have brought upon it.
And they shall comfort you, when ye see their ways and their doings: and ye shall know that I have not done without cause all that I have done 56in it, saith the Lord GOD.