Your kerchiefs also will I tear, and deliver my people out of your hand, and they shall be no more in your hand to be hunted; and ye shall know that I am the LORD.

Because with your false words you have given pain to the heart of the upright man when I had not made him sad; in order to make strong the hands of the evil-doer so that he may not be turned from his evil way and get life:

Therefore ye shall see no more vanity, nor divine divinations: for I will deliver my people out of your hand: and ye shall know that I am the LORD.

Then came certain of the elders of Israel unto me, and sat before me.

And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

Son of man, these men have taken their false gods into their hearts and put before their faces the sin which is the cause of their fall: am I to give ear when they come to me for directions?

Therefore speak unto them and say unto them, Thus, saith My Lord, Yahweh, Any man whatsoever of the house of Israel Who shall bring up his manufactured gods upon his heart, And set his stumbling, block of iniquity, straight before his face, And then some in unto the prophet. Yahweh, have myself answered him thereby. By the multitude of his manufactured gods:

That I may take the house of Israel in their own heart, because they are all estranged from me through their idols.

Therefore say thou unto the house of Israel Thus saith My Lord. Yahweh, Turn ye - and make good your return - from your manufactured gods; And from all your abominations:, make good the turning away of your faces.

For every one of the house of Israel, or of the stranger that sojourneth in Israel, which separateth himself from me, and setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to a prophet to inquire of him concerning me; I the LORD will answer him by myself:

And I will set my face against that man, and will make him a sign and a proverb, and I will cut him off from the midst of my people; and ye shall know that I am the LORD.

And if the prophet be deceived when he hath spoken a thing, I the LORD have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand upon him, and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel.

That the house of Israel may go no more astray from me, neither be polluted any more with all their transgressions; but that they may be my people, and I may be their God, saith the Lord GOD.

The word of the LORD came again to me, saying,

Son of man, when the land sinneth against me by trespassing grievously, then will I stretch out mine hand upon it, and will break the staff of the bread thereof, and will send famine upon it, and will cut off man and beast from it:

even if these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job were in that land, by their own righteousness (right standing with God) they could only save (deliver) themselves,” says the Lord God.

If I cause noisome beasts to pass through the land, and they spoil it, so that it be desolate, that no man may pass through because of the beasts:

Even if these three men were in it, by my life, says the Lord, they would not keep safe their sons or daughters, but only themselves, and the land would be made waste.

Even if these three men were in it, by my life, says the Lord, they would not keep safe their sons or daughters, but only themselves.

Or if I send a pestilence into that land, and pour out my fury upon it in blood, to cut off from it man and beast:

Even if Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, by my life, says the Lord, they would not keep son or daughter safe; only themselves would they keep safe through their righteousness.

For thus saith the Lord GOD; How much more when I send my four sore judgments upon Jerusalem, the sword, and the famine, and the noisome beast, and the pestilence, to cut off from it man and beast?

Yea they shall console you, when ye see their way and their doings, - So shall ye know that not without cause, have I done, anything that I have done with her, Declareth My Lord Yahweh.

And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

Do men take wood of it, to make any work withal? Or may there a nail be made of it, to hang anything upon?

Seeing then, that it was mete for no work, being whole: much less may there anything be made of it, when the fire hath consumed and burnt it.

Therefore Thus saith My Lord Yahweh, As a vine-tree among the trees of the forest, which I have given up to the fire for fuel, so have I given up the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

And I will set my face against them; they shall go out from one fire, and another fire shall devour them; and ye shall know that I am the LORD, when I set my face against them.

I will therefore give up the land as a desolation, - because they have committed treachery, Declareth My Lord., Yahweh.

Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

Therefore shalt thou say - Thus saith My Lord. Yahweh To Jerusalem, Thine origin and thy birth, were of the land of the Calamity, - Thy father was the Amorite. And mother a Hittite,

And thy nativity, in the day thou wert born thy navel was not cut, and thou wert not washed in water for my looking upon; and salting, thou welt not salted, and swathing, thou wert not swathed.

Now when I passed by thee, and looked upon thee, behold, thy time was the time of love; and I spread my skirt over thee, and covered thy nakedness: yea, I sware unto thee, and entered into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord GOD, and thou becamest mine.

And thy renown went forth among the heathen for thy beauty: for it was perfect through my comeliness, which I had put upon thee, saith the Lord GOD.

Thou hast also taken thy fair jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given thee, and madest to thyself images of men, and didst commit whoredom with them,

And dost take the garments of thy embroidery, And thou dost cover them, And My oil and My perfume thou hast set before them.

My meat also which I gave thee, fine flour, and oil, and honey, wherewith I fed thee, thou hast even set it before them for a sweet savour: and thus it was, saith the Lord GOD.

Moreover thou hast taken thy sons and thy daughters, whom thou hast borne unto me, and these hast thou sacrificed unto them to be devoured. Is this of thy whoredoms a small matter,

That thou hast slain my children, and delivered them to cause them to pass through the fire for them?

And it came to pass after all thy wickedness, Woe! Woe! to thee, Exclaimeth My Lord Yahweh;

Thou hast also committed fornication with the Egyptians thy neighbours, great of flesh; and hast increased thy whoredoms, to provoke me to anger.

Behold, therefore I have stretched out my hand over thee, and have diminished thine ordinary food, and delivered thee unto the will of them that hate thee, the daughters of the Philistines, which are ashamed of thy lewd way.

How weak was thy heart! Exclaimeth My Lord Yahweh, - That thou couldst have done all these things, The doing of a lewd woman without shame:

They give gifts to all whores: but thou givest thy gifts to all thy lovers, and hirest them, that they may come unto thee on every side for thy whoredom.

Thus saith My Lord Yahweh, - Because thy money was poured curl, and thy shame I was uncovered I, in thine unchastity, unto thy lovers, - and unto all thine abominable manufactured gods, even as the blood of thy children, whom thou didst deliver up unto them,

Behold, therefore I will gather all thy lovers, with whom thou hast taken pleasure, and all them that thou hast loved, with all them that thou hast hated; I will even gather them round about against thee, and will discover thy nakedness unto them, that they may see all thy nakedness.

And you will be judged by me as women are judged who have been untrue to their husbands and have taken life; and I will let loose against you passion and bitter feeling.

Then they'll burn your houses and carry out my sentence against you in the sight of many women.

So will I make my fury toward thee to rest, and my jealousy shall depart from thee, and I will be quiet, and will be no more angry.

Because thou hast not remembered the days of thy youth, but hast fretted me in all these things; behold, therefore I also will recompense thy way upon thine head, saith the Lord GOD: and thou shalt not commit this lewdness above all thine abominations.

By my life, says the Lord, Sodom your sister never did, she or her daughters, what you and your daughters have done.

And they were haughty, and committed abomination before me: therefore I took them away as I saw good.

so that you [Judah] will bear your humiliation and disgrace, and be [thoroughly] ashamed for all [the wickedness] that you have done to console and comfort them.

For Thus, saith My Lord, Yahweh, Therefore will I deal with thee just as thou hast dealt,- In that thou didst despise an oath by breaking a covenant.

Nevertheless I will remember my covenant with thee in the days of thy youth, and I will establish unto thee an everlasting covenant.

Then you will remember your ways and be ashamed when you receive your sisters, both your older and your younger; I will give them to you as daughters, but not because of your covenant [with Me].

And I will establish my covenant with thee; and thou shalt know that I am the LORD:

So that thou dost remember, And thou hast been ashamed, And there is not to thee any more an opening of the mouth because of thy shame, In My receiving atonement for thee, For all that thou hast done, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah!'

And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

So then thou shalt say, Thus, saith My Lord. Yahweh, - A great eagle, with large wings of long pinion, full of plumage, which had divers colours, came unto Lebanon, and took the highest branch of the cedar:

Say thou, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Shall it prosper? shall he not pull up the roots thereof, and cut off the fruit thereof, that it may wither; that all its fresh springing leaves may wither? and not by a strong arm or much people can it be raised from the roots thereof.

Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

"Tell my rebellious house, "Don't you know what these things mean? Look! The king of Babylon came to Jerusalem, captured her king and princes, and took them with him to Babylon.

That the kingdom may be humble, That it may not lift itself up, To keep his covenant -- that it may stand.

By my life, says the Lord, truly in the place of the king who made him king, whose oath he put on one side and let his agreement with him be broken, even in Babylon he will come to his death.

Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; As I live, surely mine oath that he hath despised, and my covenant that he hath broken, even it will I recompense upon his own head.

And I will spread my net upon him, and he shall be taken in my snare, and I will bring him to Babylon, and will plead with him there for his trespass that he hath trespassed against me.

Thus, saith My Lord Yahweh, Therefore will I, Myself, take of the highest branch of the lofty cedar and set it, - Of the crown of its young twigs, a tender one, will I pluck off, and I. myself will plant it upon a mountain high and terraced,

I will plant it on the mountain heights of Israel, that it may grow boughs and bear fruit and be a noble and stately cedar. And birds of every kind will live under it; they will nest [securely] in the shade of its branches.

The word of the LORD came unto me again, saying,

By my life, says the Lord, you will no longer have this saying in Israel.

Look, every life belongs to Me. The life of the father is like the life of the son—both belong to Me. The person who sins is the one who will die.

Hath walked in my statutes, and hath kept my judgments, to deal truly; he is just, he shall surely live, saith the Lord GOD.

“Then he may have a violent son who sheds blood and who does any of these things to a brother

"Now suppose that he produced a son who practiced all of his father's sins, but then that son began to fear me and stopped doing all of these things.

That hath taken off his hand from the poor, that hath not received usury nor increase, hath executed my judgments, hath walked in my statutes; he shall not die for the iniquity of his father, he shall surely live.

His father because oppressing, he oppressed, stripping off, he stripped off the brother, and he did not good in the midst of my people, and behold him dying in his iniquity.

Yet say ye, Why? doth not the son bear the iniquity of the father? When the son hath done that which is lawful and right, and hath kept all my statutes, and hath done them, he shall surely live.

But if the wicked will turn from all his sins that he hath committed, and keep all my statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die.

Have I any pleasure at all in the death of the wicked? saith the Lord Jehovah; is it not in his turning from his way, that he may live?

Yet ye say, The way of the Lord is not equal. Hear now, O house of Israel; Is not my way equal? are not your ways unequal?

Yet saith the house of Israel, The way of the Lord is not equal. O house of Israel, are not my ways equal? are not your ways unequal?

For this cause I will be your judge, O children of Israel, judging every man by his ways, says the Lord. Come back and be turned from all your sins; so that they may not be the cause of your falling into evil.

Cast away from you all your transgressions which you have committed [against Me], and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! For why should you die, O house of Israel?

For I cannot take delight in the death of him that dieth, Declareth My Lord Yahweh, Make good your return then and, live!

And it came to pass in the seventh year, in the fifth month, the tenth day of the month, that certain of the elders of Israel came to inquire of the LORD, and sat before me.

Then came the word of the LORD unto me, saying,

Son of man, speak unto the elders of Israel, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Are ye come to inquire of me? As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I will not be inquired of by you.

and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: In the day when I chose Israel, and lifted up my hand unto the seed of the house of Jacob, and made myself known unto them in the land of Egypt, when I lifted up my hand unto them, saying, I am Jehovah your God,

in that day I lifted up my hand unto them, to bring them out of the land of Egypt into a land that I had espied for them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the ornament of all lands;

But they rebelled against me, and would not hearken unto me: they did not every man cast away the abominations of their eyes, neither did they forsake the idols of Egypt: then I said, I will pour out my fury upon them, to accomplish my anger against them in the midst of the land of Egypt.

But I wrought for my name's sake, that it should not be polluted before the heathen, among whom they were, in whose sight I made myself known unto them, in bringing them forth out of the land of Egypt.

And I gave them my statutes, and shewed them my judgments, which if a man do, he shall even live in them.

Moreover also I gave them my sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the LORD that sanctify them.

But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness: they walked not in my statutes, and they despised my judgments, which if a man do, he shall even live in them; and my sabbaths they greatly polluted: then I said, I would pour out my fury upon them in the wilderness, to consume them.

But I wrought for my name's sake, that it should not be polluted before the heathen, in whose sight I brought them out.

Yet also I lifted up my hand unto them in the wilderness, that I would not bring them into the land which I had given them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands;

Because they despised my judgments, and walked not in my statutes, but polluted my sabbaths: for their heart went after their idols.

Yet My eye [looked on them with compassion and] spared them instead of destroying them, and I did not annihilate them in the wilderness.

I am the LORD your God; walk in my statutes, and keep my judgments, and do them;