God suffers the wicked to be deceived in punishment of their wickedness.
The evils that shall come upon them for their sins: for which they shall
not be delivered by the prayers of Noe, Daniel, and Job. But a remnant
shall be preserved.
14:1. And some of the ancients of Israel came to me, and sat before me.
14:2. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
14:3. Son of man, these men have placed their uncleannesses in their
hearts, and have set up before their face the stumblingblock of their
iniquity: and shall I answer when they inquire of me?
Uncleanness... That is, their filthy idols, upon which they have set
their hearts: and which are a stumblingblock to their souls.
14:4. Therefore speak to them, and say to them: Thus saith the Lord God:
Man, man of the house of Israel that shall place his uncleannesses in
his heart, and set up the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his
face, and shall come to the prophet inquiring of me by him: I the Lord
will answer him according to the multitude of his uncleannesses:
Man, man... That is, every man, an Hebrew expression.
14:5. That the house of Israel may be caught in their own heart, with
which they have departed from me through all their idols.
14:6. Therefore say to the house of Israel: Thus saith the Lord God: Be
converted, and depart from your idols, and turn away your faces from all
your abominations.
14:7. For every man of the house of Israel, and every stranger among the
proselytes in Israel, if he separate himself from me, and place his
idols in his heart, and set the stumblingblock of his iniquity before
his face, and come to the prophet to inquire of me by him: I the Lord
will answer him by myself.
14:8. And I will set my face against that man, and will make him an
example, and a proverb, and will cut him off from the midst of my
people: and you shall know that I am the Lord.
14:9. And when the prophet shall err, and speak a word: I the Lord have
deceived that prophet: and I will stretch forth my hand upon him, and
will cut him off from the midst of my people Israel.
The prophet shall err, etc... He speaks of false prophets, answering out
of their own heads and according to their own corrupt inclinations.
Ibid. I have deceived that prophet... God Almighty deceives false
prophets, partly by withdrawing his light from them; and abandoning them
to their own corrupt inclinations, which push them on to prophesy such
things as are agreeable to those who consult them: and partly by
disappointing them, and causing all thing to happen contrary to what
they have said.
14:10. And they shall bear their iniquity: according to the iniquity of
him that inquireth, so shall the iniquity of the prophet be.
14:11. That the house of Israel may go no more astray from me, nor be
polluted with all their transgressions: but may be my people, and I may
be their God, saith the Lord of hosts.
14:12. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
14:13. Son of man, when a land shall sin against me, so as to transgress
grievously, I will stretch forth my hand upon it, and will break the
staff of the bread thereof: and I will send famine upon it, and will
destroy man and beast out of it.
14:14. And if these three men, Noe, Daniel, and Job, shall be in it:
they shall deliver their own souls by their justice, saith the Lord of
hosts.
14:15. And if I shall bring mischievous beasts also upon the land to
waste it, and it be desolate, so that there is none that can pass
because of the beasts:
14:16. If these three men shall be in it, as I live, saith the Lord,
they shall deliver neither sons nor daughters: but they only shall be
delivered, and the land shall be made desolate.
14:17. Or if I bring the sword upon that land, and say to the sword:
Pass through the land: and I destroy man and beast out of it:
14:18. And these three men be in the midst thereof: as I live, saith the
Lord God, they shall deliver neither sons nor daughters, but they
themselves alone shall be delivered.
14:19. Or if I also send the pestilence upon that land, and pour out my
indignation upon it in blood, to cut off from it man and beast:
14:20. And Noe, and Daniel, and Job be in the midst thereof: as I live,
saith the Lord God, they shall deliver neither son nor daughter: but
they shall only deliver their own souls by their justice.
14:21. For thus saith the Lord: Although I shall send in upon Jerusalem
my four grievous judgments, the sword, and the famine, and the
mischievous beasts, and the pestilence, to destroy out of it man and
beast,
14:22. Yet there shall be left in it some that shall be saved, who shall
bring away their sons and daughters: behold they shall come among you,
and you shall see their way, and their doings: and you shall be
comforted concerning the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem, in all
things that I have brought upon it.
14:23. And they shall comfort you, when you shall see their ways, and
their doings: and you shall know that I have not done without cause all
that I have done in it, saith the Lord God.