The Book of the Prophet Ezekiel 14 The Punishment of Idolaters

 The Book of the Prophet Ezekiel 14

The Punishment of Idolaters

1 Then some of the elders of Israel came to me and sat down before me.

2 The word of the Lord came to me:

3 “Son of man, these men have set up idols in their hearts and put the stumbling block of their iniquity before their faces. Should I let them inquire of me at all?

4 Therefore speak to them and say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Any Israelite who sets up idols in his heart and puts the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and then comes to the prophet, I, the Lord, will answer him according to the multitude of his idols.

5 I will take hold of the hearts of the Israelites, because they have all turned away from me to follow their idols.

6 Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: Repent, and turn away from your idols, and turn your faces from all your abominations.

7 For any man of the house of Israel, or of the strangers who sojourn in Israel, who separates himself from me and sets up his idols in his heart, and puts the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and comes to the prophet to inquire of me through him, I, the Lord, will answer him myself.

8 And I will set my face against that man, and will make him an astonishment, a sign, and a proverb, and will cut him off from among my people; and you shall know that I am the Lord.

9 And if the prophet is deceived and speaks something, I, the Lord, have persuaded that prophet; and I will stretch out my hand against him, and will destroy him from among my people Israel.

10 And they shall bear their iniquity; as the wickedness of the one who asks will be the wickedness of the prophet;

11 So that the house of Israel may no longer turn away from me, nor defile themselves any longer with all their transgressions: then they shall be my people, and I will be their God, says the Lord God.