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Ezekiel 14

KJV · Chapter 14/48

1Then came certain of the elders of Israel unto me, and sat before me.

2And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,

3Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their heart, and put the stumblingblock of their iniquity before their face: should I be enquired of at all by them?

4Therefore speak unto them, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Every man of the house of Israel that setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to the prophet; I the Lord will answer him that cometh according to the multitude of his idols;

5That I may take the house of Israel in their own heart, because they are all estranged from me through their idols.

6Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord God; Repent, and turn yourselves from your idols; and turn away your faces from all your abominations.

7For every one of the house of Israel, or of the stranger that sojourneth in Israel, which separateth himself from me, and setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to a prophet to enquire of him concerning me; I the Lord will answer him by myself:

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

9And if the prophet be deceived when he hath spoken a thing, I the Lord have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand upon him, and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel.

10And they shall bear the punishment of their iniquity: the punishment of the prophet shall be even as the punishment of him that seeketh unto him;

11That the house of Israel may go no more astray from me, neither be polluted any more with all their transgressions; but that they may be my people, and I may be their God, saith the Lord God.

12The word of the Lord came again to me, saying,

13Son of man, when the land sinneth against me by trespassing grievously, then will I stretch out mine hand upon it, and will break the staff of the bread thereof, and will send famine upon it, and will cut off man and beast from it:

14Though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness, saith the Lord God.

15If I cause noisome beasts to pass through the land, and they spoil it, so that it be desolate, that no man may pass through because of the beasts:

16Though these three men were in it, as I live, saith the Lord God, they shall deliver neither sons nor daughters; they only shall be delivered, but the land shall be desolate.

17Or if I bring a sword upon that land, and say, Sword, go through the land; so that I cut off man and beast from it:

18Though these three men were in it, as I live, saith the Lord God, they shall deliver neither sons nor daughters, but they only shall be delivered themselves.

19Or if I send a pestilence into that land, and pour out my fury upon it in blood, to cut off from it man and beast:

20Though Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, as I live, saith the Lord God, they shall deliver neither son nor daughter; they shall but deliver their own souls by their righteousness.

21For thus saith the Lord God; How much more when I send my four sore judgments upon Jerusalem, the sword, and the famine, and the noisome beast, and the pestilence, to cut off from it man and beast?

22Yet, behold, therein shall be left a remnant that shall be brought 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.

23And they shall comfort you, when ye see their ways and their doings: and ye shall know that I have not done without cause all that I have done in it, saith the Lord God.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

Elders of Israel come to consult Ezekiel while secretly worshiping idols in their hearts; God declares that not even the righteousness of Noah, Daniel, and Job would save the nation — each person answers only for themselves.

Explanation

The problem here is not merely outward idolatry but hypocrisy: people who seek God while keeping 'idols in their hearts' — anything that takes first place in their loyalty. The mention of Noah, Daniel, and Job (three men known for extraordinary righteousness in times of crisis) reinforces that righteousness is personal and does not automatically transfer to save others. This principle balances the biblical idea of collective responsibility with individual responsibility before God. Today's application is that another person's faith, however strong, does not replace each person's own decision.

Fun facts

  • This Daniel mentioned is likely a legendary figure of righteousness referenced in ancient Ugaritic texts (Danel), not the Daniel of the biblical book, who at this time was still a young exile in Babylon.
  • The 'four sore judgments' listed (sword, famine, wild beasts, plague) form a pattern that reappears almost identically organized in Revelation 6, in the four horsemen of the apocalypse.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Ezekiel 14:1An everyday scene: some elders of Israel come to Ezekiel’s house and sit down before him, probably to ask for a word from God through the prophet.
  2. Ezekiel 14:2Transition formula: even before the elders speak, God already reveals to Ezekiel what lies behind their visit.
  3. Ezekiel 14:3Having “set up their idols in their heart” even before consulting the prophet shows that the problem was not only visible worship of other gods but a divided inner loyalty — someone could look religious and still have their heart somewhere else.
  4. Ezekiel 14:4God previews the answer He will give these elders: even coming to consult the prophet with an appearance of devotion, their hearts are already divided by idols, and the answer will reflect that.
  5. Ezekiel 14:5The purpose of the answer is to expose the people’s own conscience: to show plainly that their turning away from God had already happened inside, before any word was spoken.
  6. Ezekiel 14:6Despite the harsh accusation, the call that follows is to repent — the door to return remains open, even after exposing the hypocrisy.
  7. Ezekiel 14:7The same rule applies both to Israelites and to foreigners living among them — the divided heart is the problem, not a person’s origin.
  8. Ezekiel 14:8God promises to turn that hypocritical person into a public example of judgment — a living warning for others, while also cutting them off from among the people.
  9. Ezekiel 14:9The text is shocking: if a prophet is deceived and speaks something false to someone who already came with a divided heart, God allows that deception as part of the judgment itself.
  10. Ezekiel 14:10The responsibility falls on both sides: the one who consults with an idolatrous heart and the prophet who lets himself be used carry the same guilt.
  11. Ezekiel 14:11The ultimate goal of all this severity is to rebuild a clean relationship between God and the people, free of the divided loyalty that caused the problem in the first place.
  12. Ezekiel 14:12A new transition formula: it introduces a separate oracle, now about individual justice in the face of a national disaster.
  13. Ezekiel 14:13God presents a hypothetical scenario of a land that sins gravely and suffers famine as a result — the basis for the argument that follows about personal responsibility.
  14. Ezekiel 14:14Noah, Daniel, and Job appear together as the three greatest examples of personal righteousness in the popular memory of the time; the text’s point is that even the righteousness of these three would save no one but themselves — before God, here, responsibility is individual.
  15. Ezekiel 14:15A second hypothetical disaster scenario, this time of wild animals overrunning the land to the point that no one can travel through it.
  16. Ezekiel 14:16Even with Noah, Daniel, and Job in the middle of the disaster, they would save only their own lives — not even their children would be automatically protected by their fathers’ righteousness.
  17. Ezekiel 14:17Third scenario: full-scale war cutting off both man and beast by the sword, one more hypothetical example used in the argument.
  18. Ezekiel 14:18This repeats the same conclusion as the previous disaster: the personal righteousness of these three men would save only themselves, not their whole family.
  19. Ezekiel 14:19Fourth and final hypothetical scenario: plague spread through the land, closing out the list of major disasters that appear repeatedly throughout the book.
  20. Ezekiel 14:20Repeating the same formula four times drives home the central point: faced with a judgment like this, each person answers only for themselves, not for their family.
  21. Ezekiel 14:21Sword, famine, wild beasts, and plague appear together as the “four sore judgments” — a way of summing up, in a short list, the main disasters that struck a city at war in the ancient world.
  22. Ezekiel 14:22After the list of hypothetical disasters comes real news: some survivors from Jerusalem will reach the exiles, and seeing their behavior will help confirm that the judgment made sense.
  23. Ezekiel 14:23Contact with these survivors will confirm, in practice, that the destruction of Jerusalem was not arbitrary — through their own conduct, the exiles will understand the reason for it.

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