The Father Confronts Idolatrous Hearts
Elders arrive to consult him while carrying idols in their hearts, and our Father says he will answer them according to those idols. Even Noah, Daniel and Job, standing in a guilty land, would save only themselves. No one is rescued by another person's righteousness.
14 1Then some of the elders of Israel came to me and sat down before me. 2And the word of our Father came to me:
3Son of man, these men have taken their idols into their hearts and set the stumbling block of their guilt right before them. Should I let them consult me at all? 4So speak to them and tell them: This is what the Sovereign Father says: When anyone of the house of Israel takes his idols into his heart and sets the stumbling block of his guilt before him, then comes to the prophet, I, your Father, will answer him myself according to his many idols, 5so I may seize the hearts of Israel's house, who have all turned from me through their idols.
6So tell the house of Israel: The Sovereign Father says: "Repent! Turn back from your idols, and turn your faces from all your detestable things. 7When any Israelite or foreigner living in Israel separates from me, takes idols into his heart, sets his guilt's stumbling block before him, then comes to a prophet to consult me, I, your Father, will answer him myself. 8I will set my face against that man and make him a sign and a proverb; I will cut him off from my people. Then you will know I am your Father.
9If the prophet is lured to speak a word, I, your Father, have lured that prophet; I will reach out my hand against him and destroy him from among my people Israel. 10They will bear their guilt—the guilt of the one who asks will equal the prophet's, 11so the house of Israel will no longer stray from me or make themselves unclean with all their rebellion. They will be my children, and I their Father, declares the Sovereign Father."
The Father's Four Dreadful Judgments
12And the word of our Father came to me:
13Son of man, if a land sins against me by being unfaithful, I reach my hand against it to cut off its food supply, send famine on it, and cut off from it both people and animals, 14if these three men—Noah, Daniel, Job—were in it, they would save only themselves by their righteousness, declares the Sovereign Father.
15Or if I send wild beasts through that land and they leave it stripped of its people and desolate, no one passing through because of the beasts, 16as surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Father, even if these three men were in it, they could save neither sons nor daughters. They alone would be saved, but the land left desolate.
17Or if I bring a sword against that land and say, 'Let the sword pass through the land,' cutting off both people and animals from it, 18as I live, declares the Sovereign Father, even if these three men were in it, they could save neither sons nor daughters; only they would be saved.
19Or if I send a plague into that land and pour out my wrath on it in blood, to cut off from it man and beast. 20As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Father, even if Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, they could not save son or daughter; only themselves, by their righteousness.
21This is what the Sovereign Father says: How much worse when I send my four terrible judgments—sword, famine, wild beasts, and plague—against Jerusalem to cut off both people and animals! 22Yet survivors will remain in it, sons and daughters brought out. They will come out to you, and when you see their ways and deeds, you will be comforted about the disaster I brought on Jerusalem—all I brought upon it. 23They will comfort you when you see their conduct and deeds, and you will know I did nothing there without cause, declares the Sovereign Father.
