Then the word of Jehovah came to me, saying,

Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel who prophesy, and say to those who prophesy out of their heart, Hear the word of Jehovah:

Thus says the Lord Jehovah, Woe to the foolish prophets, who follow their own spirit and have seen nothing!

Your prophets, O Israel, have become like foxes among ruins.

You have not gone up to the breaches nor built up the wall for the house of Israel that it might stand in the battle in the day of Jehovah.

They have seen vanity and deceptive divination, they who say, Jehovah declares! when Jehovah has not sent them; but they expect that He will fulfill their word.

Have you not seen a vain vision and spoken deceptive divination when you say, Jehovah declares! and I have not spoken?

Therefore thus says the Lord Jehovah, Because you have spoken vanity and have seen deceptive visions, therefore I am now against you, declares the Lord Jehovah.

And My hand will be upon the prophets who see vanity and perform deceptive divination; they shall not be in the council of My people, nor shall they be written down in the register of the house of Israel, nor shall they enter into the land of Israel; and you will know that I am the Lord Jehovah;

Because, indeed because, they have led My people astray, saying, Peace, when there is no peace; but it is as if someone builds up a wall, and immediately they plaster it over with untempered mortar.

Tell those who plaster over with untempered mortar that it will fall. There will be a flooding rain; and you, O hailstones, will fall; and a tempestuous wind will break it down.

Indeed when the wall has fallen, will it not be said to you, Where is the plaster with which you plastered it?

Therefore thus says the Lord Jehovah, I will cause a tempestuous wind to break forth in My wrath, and there will be a flooding rain in My anger, and hailstones to consume it in wrath.

And I will tear down the wall that you plastered over with untempered mortar and will tear it down to the ground, so that its foundation is uncovered; and it will fall, and you will be consumed in the midst of it; and you will know that I am Jehovah.

And I will spend My wrath on the wall and on those who have plastered it over with untempered mortar; and I will say to you, The wall is not there, and those who plaster it over are not there,

The prophets of Israel, who prophesy concerning Jerusalem and see visions of peace for her, when there is no peace, declares the Lord Jehovah.

And you, son of man, set your face toward the daughters of your people, who prophesy out of their heart, and prophesy against them

And say, Thus says the Lord Jehovah, Woe to the women who sew bands on all the wrists and make caps for the heads of persons of every stature, so as to hunt down souls! Will you hunt down the souls of My people while you preserve alive the souls of others for yourselves?

And you have profaned Me before My people for some handfuls of barley and for some pieces of bread by putting to death some people who should not die and preserving alive other people who should not live, by your lying to My people who listen to your lies.

Therefore thus says the Lord Jehovah, I am now against your bands with which you hunt down souls there as you would birds; and I will tear them off your arms and will release the souls, which souls you hunt down as you would birds.

I will also tear off your caps and will deliver My people from your hand, and they will no longer be in your hand to be hunted down; and you will know that I am Jehovah.

Because you discouraged the heart of the righteous man with lies, though I Myself did not pain him, and strengthened the hands of the wicked man so that he would not turn from his evil way and you would cause him to live,

Therefore you will no longer see vanity and you will no longer practice divination, but I will deliver My people out of your hand, and you will know that I am Jehovah.

Then some of the elders of Israel came to me and sat before me.

And the word of Jehovah came to me, saying,

Son of man, these men have  ¹set up their idols in their hearts and have put the stumbling block of their iniquity before their faces. Should I be inquired of at all by them?

Therefore speak to them and say to them, Thus says the Lord Jehovah, Each and every man of the house of Israel who sets up his idols in his heart and sets the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face and goes to the prophet, I, Jehovah, will be found to be answering according to this, according to the multitude of his idols;

That I may lay hold of the house of Israel in their heart, who have become estranged from Me because of all their idols.

Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord Jehovah, Repent, and turn away from your idols; and turn your faces away from all your abominations;

For each and every man of the house of Israel or of the sojourners who sojourn in Israel, who separates himself from Me and sets up his idols in his heart and sets the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face and goes to the prophet to inquire of him concerning Me, I, Jehovah, will be found to be answering him by Myself;

And I will set My face against that man, and I will make him a sign and a proverb, and I will cut him off from the midst of My people; and you will know that I am Jehovah.

But if the prophet is enticed to speak a word, I, Jehovah, have enticed that prophet, and I will stretch out My hand against him and will destroy him from the midst of My people Israel.

And they will bear their iniquity: As the iniquity of the prophet is, so the iniquity of him who inquires of him shall be,

That the house of Israel may no longer stray from Me and may no longer defile themselves with all their transgressions, but that they may be My people and I may be their God, declares the Lord Jehovah.

Then the word of Jehovah came to me, saying,

Son of man, when a land sins against Me by acting unfaithfully, and I stretch out My hand over it and break its staff of bread and send a famine against it and cut off man and beast from it;

Though these three men, *Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in the midst of it, they would deliver only their own souls by their righteousness, declares the Lord Jehovah.

If I were to cause wild beasts to pass through the land so that they  ¹destroyed its inhabitants and it became so desolate that no one would pass through it because of the beasts,

Though these three men were in the midst of it, as I live, declares the Lord Jehovah, they could not deliver even their sons and daughters; they alone would be delivered, but the land would be desolate.

Or if I were to bring a sword upon that land and were to say, Let a sword pass through the land, and I were to cut off man and beast from it;

Though these three men were in the midst of it, as I live, declares the Lord Jehovah, they could not deliver even their sons and daughters, but they alone would be delivered.

Or if I were to send pestilence into that land and were to pour out My wrath upon it in blood so as to cut off man and beast from it,

Though Noah, Daniel, and Job were in the midst of it, as I live, declares the Lord Jehovah, they could not deliver even a son or daughter; they would deliver only their own souls by their righteousness.

For thus says the Lord Jehovah, How much more then when I send My  ¹four severe judgments upon Jerusalem, sword and famine and wild beasts and pestilence, to cut off man and beast from it!

Yet there will be a remnant left in it that will be brought forth, both sons and daughters. They will come forth to you, and you will see their ways and their doings; and you will be comforted for the ill that I have brought upon Jerusalem, for all that I have brought upon it.

And they will comfort you when you see their ways and their doings; and you will know that it was not without cause that I have done all that I have done to it, declares the Lord Jehovah.

Then the word of Jehovah came to me, saying,

Son of man, what becomes of the wood of the  ¹vine in comparison to every other kind of wood, of the pruned branch in comparison to that which was on the trees of the forest?

Will wood from it be taken to make anything? Or will men take a peg from it to hang any vessel on?

Indeed it is put into the fire as fuel; the fire consumes its two ends, and its middle is scorched. Is it good for anything?

Indeed when it was whole, it was not made into anything. How much less, when fire has consumed it and it has been scorched, can it still be made into anything!

Therefore thus says the Lord Jehovah, Like the wood of the vine among the trees of the forest, which I have given to the fire as fuel, so will I give the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

And I will set My face against them: They have gone forth from the fire, yet the fire will consume them; and you will know that I am Jehovah when I set My face against them.

And I will make the land desolate because they have acted unfaithfully, declares the Lord Jehovah.