I will not allow them to consult me
1 Some of the elders of Israel came and sat in front of me.
2 Then the word of Yahweh came to me,
3 ¡°Son of man, these men are keeping in their heart and remain attached to
what makes them sin. Am I to allow them to con sult me?
4 Speak to them on my behalf: To every Israelite who goes to a prophet while
he keeps filthy idols in his heart and is attached to what makes him sin, I,
Yahweh, will give the answer his many idols deserve.
5 For I want to take hold of Is rael¡¯s heart, the heart of all those who
have strayed from me because of their filthy idols.
6 So then say to the people of Israel: Thus says Yahweh: come back, turn
away from your filthy idols; turn your face away from all your abominations.
7 If a man of the people of Israel or a guest staying in Israel strays away
from following me and goes to a pro phet to consult me while he keeps idols
in his heart and remains attached to what makes him sin, I, Yahweh, will
answer him myself.
8 I will turn my face against this man, I will make of him a pro verbial
example, I will strike him from the midst of my people and you will know
that I am Yahweh.
9 If the prophet lets himself be seduced and gives an answer, it will be I,
Yahweh, who will have let him be seduced. I will stretch out my hand against
him and destroy him from among my people Israel.
10 They will be responsible for their sin. The prophet will be as guilty as
the one who consulted him,
11 that the peo ple of Israel may no longer stray from me. Instead of
defiling themselves with all their transgressions, they will be for me a
people and I will be their God ¨C word of Yahweh.¡±
12 The word of Yahweh came to me in these terms,
13 ¡°Son of man, when a nation sins against me by being unfaithful, I will
stretch out my hand against it, deprive it of bread, and famine will destroy
people and animals.
14 But if there were found in the land these three men, Noah, Daniel and
Job, they would save their lives because of their righ teousness ¨C word of
Yahweh.
15 If I also let wild beasts roam the land to deprive it of children so that
it be comes a desolation without a passerby because of the beasts,
16 if these three men were in the land, as I live, word of Yahweh, they
would not save their sons or daughters but only they themselves would be
spared while the land would be made desolate.
17 The same would happen if I brought the sword against this land and
ordered the sword to go through the land destroying people and ani mals.
18 If these three men were in the land, as I live, word of Yah weh, they
would not save sons and daughters but they themselves would be spared.
19 Or if I sent pestilence to the land and poured out my fury against it in
bloodshed in order to destroy people and animals,
20 if Noah, Daniel and Job were in the land, as I live, word of Yahweh, they
would not save sons or daughters, but their own lives would be spared
because of their righteousness.¡±
21 Now this is what Yahweh says, ¡°Although I have sent my four great
punishments, sword, famine, wild beasts and plague against Jerusalem to
destroy people and animals,
22 there are survivors, sons and daughters who will be brought out. They
will come to you here, and when you see their way of life and their deeds,
you will no longer be shocked at the disaster I brought on Jerusalem and at
everything that happened to her.
23 They will set your mind at rest when you see their conduct and you will
realize that not in vain was all that I did in the city ¨C word of Yahweh.¡±
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Comments Ezekiel, Chapter 14
• 14.1 Am I to allow them to consult me? Here, we have a warning for those
who come to consult the Lord through the prophet in order to solve their
most pressing concerns: Must I marry this woman? How will I be cured of my
illness? Yahweh does not want to answer those who are not willing to obey
him; rather, he will punish them for their wickedness: this will be ¡°God¡¯s
answer.¡±
If the prophet lets himself be seduced (v. 9). If, for gain, the prophet
agrees to answer questions which have nothing to do with his religious
mission, Yahweh will punish the one consulting as well as the prophet.
This implies the responsibility of people who let themselves be deceived by
false prophets. People prefer to go to false prophets, because they know
that they will not force them to see clearly the faults in their lives. In
the end, they will all be lost.