Idolatry of the Heart
Ezekiel 14Then some of the elders of Israel came to me and sat before me. The word of YHWH came to me, saying, “Son of humanity, these men have set up idols in their heart and put the stumbling block of their iniquity before their face. Should I let them inquire of me at all? Therefore speak to them and tell them, ‘Lord YHWH says: “Every man of the house of Israel who sets up his idols in his heart and puts the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face then comes to the prophet, I YHWH will answer him there according to the multitude of his idols, that I may take the house of Israel in their own heart, because they are all estranged from me through their idols.”’
“Therefore tell the house of Israel, ‘Lord YHWH says: “Y’all must repent! Y’all must repent from your* idols! Y’all must turn your* faces from all your* abominations.
“‘“For everyone from the house of Israel, andy any of the foreigner who live in Israel, who separates themselves from me and sets up idols in their heart, and puts the stumbling block of their iniquity before their face, and comes to the prophet to inquire of me, I YHWH will answer them by myself. I will set my face against that person and will make them a example and a proverb. I will cut them off from among my people. Then y’all will know that I am YHWH.
“‘“If the prophet is deceived and speaks a word, I, YHWH, have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand on him, and will destroy him from among my people Israel. They will bear their punishment. The punishment of the prophet will be even as the punishment of the one who seeks him, that the house of Israel may no more go astray from me, neither defile themselves any more with all their transgressions; but that they may be my people, and I may be their God,” says Lord YHWH.’”
Jerusalem’s Sure Judgment
The word of YHWH came to me, saying, “Son of humanity, when a land sins against me by committing a trespass, and I stretch out my hand on it, and break the staff of its bread and send famine on it, and cut off from it man and animal— though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they would deliver only their own souls by their righteousness,” says Lord YHWH.
“If I cause evil animals to pass through the land, and they ravage it and it is made desolate, so that no man may pass through because of the animals— though these three men were in it, as I live,” says Lord YHWH, “they would deliver neither sons nor daughters. They only would be delivered, but the land would be desolate.
“Or if I bring a sword on that land, and say, ‘Sword, go through the land, so that I cut off from it man and animal’— though these three men were in it, as I live,” says Lord YHWH, “they would deliver neither sons nor daughters, but they only would be delivered themselves.
“Or if I send a pestilence into that land, and pour out my wrath on it in blood, to cut off from it man and animal— though Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, as I live,” says Lord YHWH, “they would deliver neither son nor daughter; they would deliver only their own souls by their righteousness.”
For Lord YHWH says: “How much more when I send my four severe judgments on Jerusalem—the sword, the famine, the evil animals, and the pestilence—to cut off from it man and animal! Yet there will be some survivors remaining, both sons and daughters, who will come out. Look, they will come out to y’all, and y’all will see their conduct and their deeds. Then y’all will be comforted concerning the disaster that I have brought on Jerusalem, about all that I have brought on it. They will comfort y’all, when y’all see their conduct and their deeds. Then y’all will know that I have not done all that I have done in it without cause,” says Lord YHWH.