1And there came to me men from the elders of Israel, and they sat before me.
2And the word of YHWH came to me, saying:
3Son of man (adam), these men have caused their idols to ascend upon their heart, and the stumbling-block of their iniquity they have set before their faces; should I be inquired of at all by them?
4Therefore speak to them, and you shall say to them: Thus says my Lord (Adonai) YHWH: Every man (ish), man (ish) of the house of Israel who causes his idols to ascend to his heart, and sets the stumbling-block of his iniquity before his face, and comes to the prophet — I YHWH have answered him, the one coming, in the multitude of his idols;
5in order to seize the house of Israel by their heart, who are estranged from upon me through their idols, all of them.
6Therefore say to the house of Israel: Thus says my Lord (Adonai) YHWH: Return, and turn yourselves back from upon your idols, and from upon all your abominations turn back your faces.
7For every man (ish), man (ish) of the house of Israel, and of the stranger who sojourns in Israel, who separates himself from after me, and causes his idols to ascend to his heart, and sets the stumbling-block of his iniquity before his face, and comes to the prophet to inquire of him for himself in me — I YHWH answer him by myself;
8and I will set my face against that man (ish), and I will make him for a sign (ot) and for proverbs, and I will cut him off from the midst of my people; and you shall know that I am YHWH.
9And the prophet, when he is enticed and speaks a word — I YHWH have enticed that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand against him, and I will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel.
10And they shall bear their iniquity; like the iniquity of the inquirer, like the iniquity of the prophet it shall be;
11in order that the house of Israel may no more go astray from after me, and may no more defile themselves with all their transgressions; and they shall be to me for a people, and I will be to them for God, declares my Lord (Adonai) YHWH.
12And the word of YHWH came to me, saying:
13Son of man (adam), a land, when it sins against me to trespass a trespass, then I will stretch out my hand against it, and I will break for it the staff of bread, and I will send against it famine, and I will cut off from it man (adam) and beast;
14and though these three men were in its midst — Noah, Daniel, and Job — they, by their righteousness, would deliver their soul (nephesh), declares my Lord (Adonai) YHWH.
15If I cause an evil beast to pass through the land, and it bereaves it, and it becomes a desolation, with none passing through because of the beast;
16though these three men were in its midst, as I live (chai), declares my Lord (Adonai) YHWH, whether sons or whether daughters they would deliver — they alone would be delivered, but the land would be a desolation.
17Or if I bring a sword upon that land, and I say, Let a sword pass through the land, and I cut off from it man (adam) and beast;
18and these three men in its midst, as I live (chai), declares my Lord (Adonai) YHWH, they would not deliver sons and daughters, for they alone would be delivered.
19Or if I send a pestilence into that land, and I pour out my fury upon it in blood, to cut off from it man (adam) and beast;
20and though Noah, Daniel, and Job were in its midst, as I live (chai), declares my Lord (Adonai) YHWH, whether son, whether daughter they would deliver — they by their righteousness would deliver their soul (nephesh).
21For thus says my Lord (Adonai) YHWH: Indeed, when my four evil judgments — sword, and famine, and evil beast, and pestilence — I send to Jerusalem, to cut off from it man (adam) and beast!
22And behold, there is left in it an escaped remnant, those brought out, sons and daughters; behold, they are coming out to you, and you shall see their way and their doings, and you shall be comforted concerning the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem, all that I have brought upon it.
23And they shall comfort you, when you see their way and their doings; and you shall know that not in vain have I done all that I have done in it, declares my Lord (Adonai) YHWH.