The Babylonian Exile

in order to grab hold of the house of Isra'el in their hearts; since, through their idols, they have all fallen away from me.'

"Therefore say to the house of Isra'el that Adonai ELOHIM says, 'Repent! Turn yourselves away from your idols, turn your faces away from all your disgusting practices!

For everyone, whether from the house of Isra'el or a foreigner living in Isra'el, who separates himself from me and takes his idols into his heart, thus setting in front of himself the stumblingblock that leads to sin, and then comes to the prophet, asking him to consult me for him, I myself, ADONAI, will answer him.

I will set my face against that person, make him a warning sign and an example, and cut him off from my people. Then you will know that I am ADONAI.

"'Now, whenever a prophet is enticed into speaking a word, it will be I, ADONAI, who will have enticed that prophet. I will stretch out my hand over him and destroy him from among my people Isra'el.

The prophets will bear the guilt for their sins - the sin of the prophet will be the same as the sin of the inquirer -

so that the house of Isra'el will no longer wander away from me or defile themselves with all their crimes; rather, they will be my people and I will be their God,' says Adonai ELOHIM."

The word of ADONAI came to me:

"Human being, when a land sins against me by dealing treacherously with me, so that I stretch out my hand over it and break off its food supply, sending it famine and eliminating both its humans and its animals;

even if these three men were in it - Noach, Dani'el and Iyov - they would by their righteousness save only themselves," says Adonai ELOHIM.

"If I unleash wild beasts on the land, and they kill its children and desolate it, so that no one can pass through because of the animals;

even if these three men were in it, as I live," says Adonai ELOHIM, "they would save neither sons nor daughters; only they themselves would be saved, and the land would remain barren.

"Or if I bring the sword down on that land, saying, 'Let the sword pass through the land,' so that I eliminate both its humans and its animals;

even if these three men were in it, as I live," says Adonai ELOHIM, "they would save neither sons nor daughters; only they themselves would be saved.

"Or if I bring a plague into that land and pour out my fury on it in bloodshed, so that I eliminate both its humans and its animals;

even if Noach, Dani'el and Iyov were in it, as I live," says Adonai ELOHIM, "they would save neither a son nor a daughter; they would save only themselves by their righteousness."

For here is what Adonai ELOHIM says: "Even if I inflict my four dreadful judgments on Yerushalayim - sword, famine, wild animals and plagues - to eliminate both its humans and its animals;

there will still be left a remnant in it to be brought out, including both sons and daughters. When they come out to you, and you see their way of life and how they act, then you will be consoled over the calamity I have brought upon Yerushalayim, over everything I have done to it.

Yes, they will console you when you see their way of life and how they act; and you will understand that it was not without good reason that I did what I did in [Yerushalayim]," says Adonai ELOHIM.

The word of ADONAI came to me:

"Human being, why should wood from a grapevine be better than some other kind of wood, than some branch that one might find among the trees of the forest?

Its wood can't be used to make anything, not even a pin on which to hang a pot.

So now it is thrown in the fire as fuel, the fire consumes both ends of it, and the middle of it is singed is it useful now for making something?

When it was whole, it was good for nothing; so how much less, when the fire has consumed it, and it is singed, will it be useful for making something!

"So Adonai ELOHIM says this: 'Like wood from the vine among the trees of the forest, which I consign to the fire as fuel, so I give those living in Yerushalayim.