Ezekiel 14

EasyEnglish Bible

14 Some of the leaders of Israel came to talk to me. They sat down in front of me. ² Then the Lord gave this message to me: ³ ‘Son of man, these men like to worship idols. They allow those idols to cause them to do wicked things. So I should not allow them to ask me anything. ⁴ You must speak to them. Say, “This is what the Almighty Lord says: One of these men who like to worships idols may want to ask me something. Those men allow their idols to cause them to do wicked things. So if one of them goes to a prophet to find out something, I will give him an answer! I will give him the answer that he deserves because of his many idols! ⁵ Israel's people have turned away from me because of their idols. So I will give them an answer that will bring them back to worship me.” 

⁶ Say to Israel's people, “This is what the Almighty Lord says: Turn back to me and stop worshipping idols. Stop doing the disgusting things that you have been doing.”

⁷ An Israelite or a foreigner who lives in Israel may not want to serve me. He may choose to worship idols and do wicked things. If anyone like that goes to a prophet to find out something from me, I will answer him. Yes, I myself, the Lord, will answer him! ⁸ I will be that person's enemy. I will punish him to make him an example to others. Other people will see that he is not good. I will not allow him to belong to my people. Then you will know that I am the Lord.

⁹ I will also punish the prophet himself if he gives a false message. I, the Lord, have deceived him to show that he is a fool. And I will punish him. I will remove him from among my people, Israel's people. ¹⁰ I will punish both the prophet and the person who asked him for a message. They will both have the same punishment. ¹¹ I will do that to bring back Israel's people to serve me. They will not continue to make themselves unclean because of all their sins. They will be my people and I will be their God. That is what the Almighty Lord says.’

¹² The Lord gave this message to me: ¹³ ‘Son of man, the people of a whole nation may choose not to obey me. Then I would punish them because of their sins. I might stop the people getting any food to eat. Then there would be a famine that kills both people and animals. ¹⁴ If that happens, I would only save the righteous people who lived there. If men like Noah, Daniel and Job lived there, I would save them. But nobody else would escape. That is what the Almighty Lord says.

¹⁵ Or I might send wild animals to kill the people of that nation. Nobody would travel through that place. The wild animals would make it too dangerous to travel there. ¹⁶ I promise you this, as surely as I live: if those three righteous men lived there, they would only save themselves. They could not even save the lives of their own children. The whole land would become an empty place. That is what the Almighty Lord says.

¹⁷ Or I might bring an enemy to attack that nation. I would say, “Soldiers with swords should destroy the whole land.” I would cause them to kill both people and animals. ¹⁸ I promise you this, as surely as I live: if those three righteous men lived there, they would only save themselves. They could not even save the lives of their own children. That is what the Almighty Lord says.

¹⁹ Or I might punish that nation with a terrible disease. Because I am very angry with those people, I would cause people and animals to die in that place. ²⁰ I promise you this, as surely as I live: if Noah, Daniel and Job lived there, they would only save themselves because they are righteous people. They could not save the lives even of their own children. That is what the Almighty Lord says.

²¹ This is what the Almighty Lord says: It will be terrible for Jerusalem's people when I punish them in all these four ways. I will send enemy soldiers with swords. I will send famine. I will send wild animals. And I will send disease. That will cause both people and animals to die. ²² But some people will still be alive. Some sons and daughters will come out from the city. They will come to you here in Babylon. You will see the way that those people have lived. You will see the things that they have done. Then you will not be upset that I have punished Jerusalem in all these ways. ²³ Yes, when you see what they are like, you will no longer be upset. You will know that I have punished the people of Jerusalem as they deserved. That is what the Almighty Lord says.’