Chapter 14
Idolatry of the Elders. 1 Some of the elders came into my presence and sat down before me.[a] 2 Then the word of the Lord came to me: 3 Son of man, these men have reserved a special place in their hearts for their idols and have continued to revere the occasions of sin that led to their downfall. Why should I allow myself to be consulted by them?
4 Therefore, speak to them and declare this: Thus says the Lord God: To all those belonging to the house of Israel who continue to revere their idols in their hearts and fail to remove the stumbling block of their iniquity and then approach a prophet, I, the Lord, will deliver my answer to those who approach me with their multitude of idols. 5 In this way, I will recapture the hearts of the house of Israel, all of those who have been estranged from me through 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. 7 For if any members of the house of Israel or any aliens who reside in Israel separate themselves from me, holding the memory of their idols in their hearts and keeping the cause of their iniquity before their eyes, and then approach a prophet to consult me, I, the Lord, will answer them myself. 8 I will set my face against them, and I will make them an example and a byword. I will cut them off from the midst of my people, and thus you will know that I am the Lord.
9 If a prophet is led astray into making a prophecy, I, the Lord, shall have been the one who deceived that prophet. I will stretch out my hand against him and eradicate him from the presence of my people Israel. 10 The punishments received by the inquirer and the prophet shall be identical, 11 so that the house of Israel will never again stray from me or defile themselves any longer with all their sins. Thus, they shall be my people, and I will be their God, says the Lord God.
12 Individual Responsibility.[b] This word of the Lord came to me: 13 Son of man, if a country sins against me by being unfaithful, and I stretch out my hand against it and cut off its supply of food, inflicting famine on it and removing from its midst all of its inhabitants and its animals, 14 even if the three men, Noah, Daniel,[c] and Job were there, they could save no one but themselves by their own righteousness, says the Lord God.
15 If I were to unleash wild animals throughout the land to ravage it, so that it would become a desolate wasteland through which no one could traverse because of the savage beasts, 16 even if those three men were in it, as I live, says the Lord God, they would save neither sons nor daughters; they alone would survive.
17 Or if I were to bring the sword down on that country, commanding the sword to pass through the land, isolating it from man and beast, 18 even if those three men were in it, says the Lord God, they would be unable to save either their sons or their daughters; they alone would be saved.
19 Or if I were to inflict a pestilence upon that land and pour out my wrath upon it with blood, destroying all people and animals with it, 20 even if Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, as I live, says the Lord God, they would save neither son nor daughter; they would only save themselves by their righteousness.
21 Thus says the Lord God: Even if I were to inflict upon Jerusalem my four dreadful scourges—sword, famine, wild animals, and pestilence—to cut off from it both men and animals, 22 even so some survivors will be left in it, both men and women. When they come to you and you observe their conduct and their actions, you will be consoled despite the disaster I have inflicted upon Jerusalem.[d] 23 They will be a source of consolation when you reflect upon their conduct and their deeds, and you will come to realize that it was not without good reason that I have done to it what I did.
Footnotes
- Ezekiel 14:1 The elders are the heads of the communities of exiles.
- Ezekiel 14:12 This passage states a basic idea in Ezekiel’s teaching and will be repeated at greater length in other passages (Ezek 18; 33:10-20). The prophet Jeremiah has already said that the Lord will no longer yield to the prayers of the great intercessors unless the people are converted. Ezekiel is even more explicit: the salvation or ruin of individuals depends not on their forebears, or on solidarity with the people, or even on their own past; they are each responsible for themselves individually and according to their dispositions at any moment; they will be repaid each according to their conduct.
- Ezekiel 14:14 Daniel: a famous sage of the ancient East; a Phoenician poem speaks of him. He will also be the chief character of the biblical Book of the same name.
- Ezekiel 14:22 The behavior of these survivors will show how depraved Jerusalem was, and the exiles will recognize that the destruction of the city was a just punishment.