Ezekiel 14

And men from the elders of Israel came to me and sat down before my face.

And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

Son of man, these men have set their notions upon their hearts, and the punishment of their iniquities they have set before their face. Shall I indeed answer them?

Therefore speak to them and say to them: Thus says the Lord: Any man, any man of the house of Israel who sets his notions upon his heart and places the punishment of his iniquity before his face and comes to the prophet — I the Lord will answer him according to the things in which his mind is entangled,

so that he may turn the house of Israel aside according to their hearts which are estranged from me in their devices.

Therefore say to the house of Israel: Thus says the Lord, the Lord: Turn, and turn away from your practices and from all your impieties, and turn back your faces.

For any man, any man of the house of Israel and of the sojourners who sojourn in Israel, who estranges himself from me and sets his devices upon his heart and places the punishment of his iniquity before his face and comes to the prophet to inquire of him through me — I the Lord will answer him according to that in which he is entangled.

And I will set my face against that man, and I will make him a desolation and a ruin, and I will remove him from the midst of my people; and you shall know that I am the Lord.

And if the prophet is led astray and speaks, I the Lord have led that prophet astray; and I will stretch out my hand against him and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel.

And they shall bear their iniquity: as the wrongdoing of the one who inquires, so likewise shall the wrongdoing be for the prophet.

so that the house of Israel may no longer wander from me, and that they may no longer defile themselves with all their trespasses; and they shall be my people, and I will be their God, says the Lord.

And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

Son of man, if a land sins against me by committing a trespass, then I will stretch out my hand against it and break its staff of bread and send famine upon it and remove from it man and beast;

And if these three men were in its midst, Noe and Daniel and Job, they themselves would be saved by their righteousness, says the Lord.

If I also bring evil beasts upon the land and punish it, and it becomes a ruin, and there is no one passing through because of the beasts,

and these three men were in its midst — as I live, says the Lord — neither sons nor daughters would be saved, but they alone would be saved, and the land would become a desolation.

Or if I bring a sword upon that land and say, 'Let a sword pass through the land,' and I remove from it man and beast,

and these three men were in its midst — as I live, says the Lord — they would not deliver sons or daughters; they alone would be saved.

Or if I send death upon that land and pour out my wrath upon it in blood, to destroy utterly from it man and beast,

and Noe and Daniel and Job were in its midst — as I live, says the Lord — neither sons nor daughters would be left; they themselves by their righteousness would deliver their own souls.

Thus says the Lord: But if I also send my four evil punishments — sword and famine and evil beasts and death — upon Jerusalem, to destroy utterly from it man and beast,

And behold, there shall be left in it those of it who have been saved, who bring out from it sons and daughters; behold, they come out to you, and you shall see their ways and their devices, and you shall change your mind concerning the evils which I brought upon Jerusalem, all the evils which I brought upon it.

And they shall comfort you, because you shall see their ways and their devices; and you shall know that not without cause have I done all that I did in it, says the Lord.