Then came certain of the elders of Israel unto me, and sat before me.
And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying,
Son of man, these men have {Hebrew: caused to come up.}taken their idols into their heart, and put the stumblingblock of their iniquity before their face: should I be inquired of at all by them?
Therefore speak unto them, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Every man of the house of Israel that taketh his idols into his heart, and putteth the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to the prophet; I Jehovah will answer him {Or, according thereto Another reading is, he is come in the multitude &c.}therein 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 say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Return ye, and turn yourselves from your idols; and turn away your faces from all your abominations.
For every one of the house of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn in Israel, that separateth himself from me, and taketh his idols into his heart, and putteth the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to the prophet to inquire {Or, of him concerning me}for himself of me; I Jehovah will answer him by myself:
and I will set my face against that man, and will make him an astonishment, for a sign and a proverb, and I will cut him off from the midst of my people; and ye shall know that I am Jehovah.
And if the prophet be {Or, enticed}deceived and speak a word, I, Jehovah, have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand upon him, and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel.
And they shall bear {Or, the punishment of their iniquity}their iniquity: the iniquity of the prophet shall be even as the iniquity of him that seeketh unto him;
that the house of Israel may go no more 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, saith the Lord Jehovah.
And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying,
Son of man, when a land sinneth against me by committing a trespass, and I stretch out my hand upon it, and break the staff of the bread thereof, and send famine upon it, and cut off from it man and beast;
though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness, saith the Lord Jehovah.
If I cause evil beasts to pass through the land, and they {Hebrew: bereave.}ravage it, and it be made desolate, so that no man may pass through because of the beasts;
though these three men were in it, as I live, saith the Lord Jehovah, they should deliver neither sons nor daughters; they only should be delivered, but the land should be desolate.
Or if I bring a sword upon that land, and say, {Or, Let the sword go}Sword, go through the land; so that I cut off from it man and beast;
though these three men were in it, as I live, saith the Lord Jehovah, they should deliver neither sons nor daughters, but they only should be delivered themselves.
Or if I send a pestilence into that land, and pour out my wrath upon it in blood, to cut off from it man and beast;
though Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, as I live, saith the Lord Jehovah, they should deliver neither son nor daughter; they should but deliver their own souls by their righteousness.
For thus saith the Lord Jehovah: How much more when I send my four sore judgments upon Jerusalem, the sword, and the famine, and the evil beasts, and the pestilence, to cut off from it man and beast!
Yet, behold, therein shall be left {Hebrew: they that escape.}a remnant that shall be carried forth, both sons and daughters: behold, they shall come forth unto you, and ye shall see their way and their doings; and ye shall be comforted concerning the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem, even concerning all that I have brought upon it.
And they shall comfort you, when ye see their way and their doings; and ye shall know that I have not done {Or, in vain}without cause all that I have done in it, saith the Lord Jehovah.
Querverweise zu Hesekiel 14,22 Hes 14,22
Yet will I leave a remnant, in that ye shall have some that escape the sword among the nations, when ye shall be scattered through the countries.
And those of you that escape shall remember me among the nations whither they shall be carried captive, how that {Or, I have broken for myself their &c.}I have been broken with their lewd heart, which hath departed from me, and with their eyes, which play the harlot after their idols: and they shall loathe themselves in their own sight for the evils which they have committed in all their abominations.
A voice is heard upon the bare heights, the weeping and the supplications of the children of Israel; because they have perverted their way, they have forgotten Jehovah their God.
Return, ye backsliding children, I will heal your backslidings.Behold, we are come unto thee; for thou art Jehovah our God.
Truly in vain is the help that is looked for from the hills, the {Or, noisy throng}tumult on the mountains: truly in Jehovah our God is the salvation of Israel.
But the {Hebrew: shame. See chapter 11:13; Hosea 9:10}shameful thing hath devoured the labor of our fathers from our youth, their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters.
Let us lie down in our shame, and let our confusion cover us; for we have sinned against Jehovah our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even unto this day; and we have not obeyed the voice of Jehovah our God.
for Jehovah thy God is a merciful God; he will not fail thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers which he sware unto them.
And they shall know that I am Jehovah: I have not said in vain that I would do this evil unto them.
And them that had escaped from the sword carried he away to Babylon; and they were servants to him and his sons until the reign of the kingdom of Persia:
that thou mayest remember, and be confounded, and never open thy mouth any more, because of thy shame, when I have forgiven thee all that thou hast done, saith the Lord Jehovah.
{Or, But yet in it shall be a tenth, and it shall return, and shall be eaten up}And if there be yet a tenth in it, it also shall in turn be {Or, burnt}eaten up: as a terebinth, and as an oak, {Or, whose substance is in them}whose {Or, substance}stock remaineth, when they {Or, cast their leaves}are felled; so the holy seed is the {Or, substance}stock thereof.
And there shall ye remember your ways, and all your doings, wherein ye have polluted yourselves; and ye shall loathe yourselves in your own sight for all your evils that ye have committed.
And it shall come to pass in that day, that the remnant of Israel, and they that are escaped of the house of Jacob, shall no more again lean upon him that smote them, but shall lean upon Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel, in truth.
{Hebrew: shear jashub. See chapter 7:3.}A remnant shall return, even the remnant of Jacob, unto the mighty God.
For though thy people, Israel, be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant {Hebrew: in it.}of them shall return: a destruction is determined, overflowing with righteousness.
Then shall ye remember your evil ways, and your doings that were not good; and ye shall loathe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and for your abominations.
And it shall come to pass in that day, that the glory of Jacob shall be made thin, and the fatness of his flesh shall wax lean.
And it shall be as when the harvestman gathereth the standing grain, and his arm reapeth the ears; yea, it shall be as when one gleaneth ears in the valley of Rephaim.
Yet there shall be left therein gleanings, as the {Hebrew: benting.}shaking of an olive-tree, two or three berries in the top of the uppermost bough, four or five in the outmost branches of a fruitful tree, saith Jehovah, the God of Israel.
And there is hope for thy latter end, saith Jehovah; and thy children shall come again to their own border.
I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus, Thou hast chastised me, and I was chastised, as a calf unaccustomed to the yoke: turn thou me, and I shall be turned; for thou art Jehovah my God.
Surely after that I was turned, I repented; and after that I was instructed, I smote upon my thigh: I was ashamed, yea, even confounded, because I did bear the reproach of my youth.
Is Ephraim my dear son? is he a darling child? for as often as I speak against him, I do earnestly remember him still: therefore my heart {Hebrew: soundeth.}yearneth for him; I will surely have mercy upon him, saith Jehovah.
Set thee up waymarks, make thee guide-posts; set thy heart toward the highway, even the way by which thou wentest: turn again, O virgin of Israel, turn again to these thy cities.
For thus shall it be in the midst of the earth among the peoples, as the {Hebrew: beating.}shaking of an olive-tree, as the gleanings when the vintage is done.
Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God.
Speak ye {Hebrew: to the heart of.}comfortably to Jerusalem; and cry unto her, that her {Or, time of service}warfare is accomplished, that her {Or, punishment is accepted See Leviticus 26:43.}iniquity is pardoned, that she hath received of Jehovah's hand double for all her sins.
Thus saith Jehovah, As the new wine is found in the cluster, and one saith, Destroy it not, for a blessing is in it: so will I do for my servants' sake, that I may not destroy them all.
And I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob, and out of Judah an inheritor of my mountains; and my chosen shall inherit it, and my servants shall dwell there.
For thus saith Jehovah, The whole land shall be a desolation; yet will I not make a full end.
And it shall come to pass, when ye shall say, Wherefore hath Jehovah our God done all these things unto us? then shalt thou say unto them, Like as ye have forsaken me, and served foreign gods in your land, so shall ye serve strangers in a land that is not yours.
For I am with thee, saith Jehovah, to save thee: for I will make a full end of all the nations whither I have scattered thee, but I will not make a full end of thee; but I will correct thee in {Hebrew: judgement.}measure, and will in no wise {Or, hold thee guiltless}leave thee unpunished.
And the king of Babylon smote them, and put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah was carried away captive out of his land.
This is the people whom Nebuchadrezzar carried away captive: in the seventh year three thousand Jews and three and twenty;
in the eighteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar he carried away captive from Jerusalem eight hundred thirty and two persons;
in the three and twentieth year of Nebuchadrezzar Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive of the Jews seven hundred forty and five persons: all the persons were four thousand and six hundred.
And the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many peoples as dew from Jehovah, as showers upon the grass, that tarry not for man, nor wait for the sons of men.
And except the Lord had shortened the days, no flesh would have been saved; but for the elect's sake, whom he chose, he shortened the days.
For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth,And scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
{Or, Endure unto chastening}It is for chastening that ye endure; God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father chasteneth not?
But if ye are without chastening, whereof all have been made partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.
Furthermore, we had the fathers of our flesh to chasten us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of {Or, our spirits}spirits, and live?
For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed good to them; but he for our profit, that we may be partakers of his holiness.
All chastening seemeth for the present to be not joyous but grievous; yet afterward it yieldeth peaceable fruit unto them that have been exercised thereby, even the fruit of righteousness.