1Then some of the elders of Israel came to me and sat before me.
2The word of Yahweh came to me, saying,
3“Son of Man, these men have allowed idols into their hearts and have set the obstacle of their wickedness right before their eyes. Should I let them even ask me for advice?
4So, speak to them and tell them, ‘This is what the Lord Yahweh says: “Any Israelite who allows idols into his heart and sets the obstacle of his wickedness before his eyes, and then comes to a prophet, I, Yahweh, will answer him with a judgment that matches the number of his idols;
5so that I may take hold of the Israelites by their own hearts, because they have all become separated from me through their idols.”’
6“Therefore, tell the people of Israel, ‘This is what the Lord Yahweh says: “Turn back! Turn away from your idols! Turn your faces away from all your detestable practices.”
7“’“For any person from Israel, or any foreigner living in Israel, who turns away from me, takes idols into their heart, and sets the obstacle of their wickedness before their eyes, and then comes to a prophet to ask me for guidance—I, Yahweh, will answer him myself.
8I will set my face against that person, make him a warning, a sign, and a proverb, and I will cut him off from among my people. Then you will know that I am Yahweh.
9“’“If a prophet is tricked into speaking a message, it is I, Yahweh, who have tricked that prophet. I will reach out my hand against him and destroy him from among my people Israel.”
10They will suffer the consequences of their sin. The prophet's sin will be just as bad as the sin of the person who consults him.
11This way, the people of Israel will no longer stray from me or make themselves unclean with all their rebellious acts. Instead, they will be my people, and I will be their God,” says the Lord Yahweh.
12The word of Yahweh came to me, saying,
13“Son of man, if a country sins against me by being unfaithful, and I punish it by cutting off its food supply, by sending a famine upon it, and by wiping out both people and animals from it,
14even if these three men—Noah, Daniel, and Job—were in that country, their righteousness would only save themselves,” says the Lord Yahweh.
15“If I send dangerous animals through the land, and they devastate it, making it so deserted that no one can travel through it because of the animals,
16even if those three men were in it, as surely as I live,” says the Lord Yahweh, “they would not save their own sons or daughters. Only they themselves would be saved, but the land would become desolate.
17“Or if I bring a sword against that land, and say, ‘Let the sword go through the land,’ so that I cut off both people and animals from it,
18even if those three men were in it, as surely as I live,” says the Lord Yahweh, “they would not save their own sons or daughters. Only they themselves would be saved.”
19“Or if I send a plague into that land and pour out my intense anger on it through bloodshed, to cut off from it both people and animals,
20even if Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, as surely as I live,” says the Lord Yahweh, “they would not save a son or a daughter. Their righteousness would only save themselves.”
21For this is what the Lord Yahweh says: “This is even more certain when I send my four severe judgments on Jerusalem: the sword, the famine, the dangerous animals, and the plague, to wipe out both people and animals from it!
22However, there will be a small group of survivors, both sons and daughters, who will be brought out. Look, they will come out to you, and you will see their behavior and their actions. Then you will feel comforted concerning the evil that I brought upon Jerusalem—concerning all that I brought upon it.
23They will comfort you when you see their behavior and their actions, and you will know that I did not do all that I did in it without a good reason,” says the Lord Yahweh.