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And there came to me men of the people of Israel, of the elders, and sat before me.
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And the word of the Lord came to me, saying,
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Son of man, these men have conceived their devices in their hearts, and have set before their faces the punishment of their iniquities: shall I indeed answer them?
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Therefore speak to them, and you shall say to them, Thus says the Lord: Any man of the house of Israel, who shall conceive his devices in his heart, and shall set the punishment of his iniquity before his face, and shall come to the prophet; I the Lord will answer him [according to the things] in which his mind is entangled,
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that he should turn aside the house of Israel, according to their hearts that are estranged from Me in their thoughts.
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Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: Be converted, and turn from your [evil] practices, and from all your sins, and turn your faces back again.
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For any man of the house of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn in Israel, who shall separate himself from Me, and conceive his imaginations in his heart, and set before his face the punishment of his iniquity, and come to the prophet to inquire of him concerning Me; I the Lord will answer him, [according to the things] in which he is entangled.
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And I will set My face against that man, and will make him desolate and ruined, and will cut him off from the midst of My people; and you shall know that I am the Lord.
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And if a prophet should cause to err and should speak, I the Lord have caused that prophet to err, and I will stretch out My hand upon him, and will utterly destroy him from the midst of My people Israel.
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And they shall bear their iniquity according to the trespass of him that asks; and it shall be in like manner to the prophet according to the trespass,
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that the house of Israel may not go astray from Me, and that they may no more defile themselves with any of their transgressions; so shall they be My people, and I will be their God, says the Lord.
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And the word of the Lord came to me, saying,
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Son of man, if a land shall sin against Me by committing a trespass, then will I stretch out My hand upon it, and will break its staff of bread, and will send forth famine upon it, and cut off man and beast from it.
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And though these three men should be in the midst of it, Noah, Daniel, and Job, they [alone] would be delivered by their righteousness, says the Lord.
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If again I bring evil beasts upon the land, and take vengeance upon it, and it is ruined, and there be no one to pass through for fear of the wild beasts;
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and [if] these three men should be in the midst of it, [as] I live, says the Lord, neither sons nor daughters shall be saved, but these only shall be saved, and the land shall be destroyed.
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Or again if I bring a sword upon that land, and say, Let the sword go through the land; and I cut off from them man and beast;
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though these three men were in the midst of it, as I live, says the Lord, they shall not deliver sons or daughters, but they only shall be saved themselves.
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Or [if] again I send pestilence upon that land, and pour out My wrath upon it in blood, to destroy from off it man and beast;
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and should Noah, Daniel, and Job be in the midst of it, [as] I live, says the Lord, there shall be left [them] neither sons nor daughters; [only] they by their righteousness shall deliver their souls.
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Thus says the Lord: And if I even send upon Jerusalem My four severe judgments- the sword, famine, evil beasts, and pestilence, to destroy from out of it [both] man and beast;
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yet behold, [there shall be] men left in it, those that escaped, who [shall] lead forth of it sons and daughters- behold, they [shall] go forth to you, and you shall see their ways and their thoughts, and you shall mourn over the evils which I have brought upon Jerusalem, [even] all the evils which I have brought upon it.
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And they shall comfort you, because you shall see their ways and their thoughts; and you shall know that I have not done in vain all that I have done in it, says the Lord.
