Judgment on Nations and the Limits of Intercession
Ezekiel 14:12-23
12The word of the LORD came to me, saying:13Son of man, when a land sins against me by committing unfaithfulness, I will stretch out my hand against it, break its staff of bread, send famine into it, and cut off from it both man and animal.14Even if these three men—Noah, Daniel, and Job—were in its midst, they would rescue only their own lives by their righteousness, declares the Lord GOD.15If I send a harmful living thing through the land and it becomes bereaved and desolate so that no one passes through because of the living thing,16even if these three men were in its midst, as I live, declares the Lord GOD, if sons or daughters, they could not rescue them; they alone would be rescued, but the land would become desolate.17Or if I bring a sword against that land and say, 'Let a sword pass through the land,' and thereby cut off from it both man and animal,18even if these three men were in its midst, as I live, declares the Lord GOD, they would not rescue sons or daughters; they alone would be rescued.19Or if I send pestilence to that land and pour out my rage upon it with blood, cutting off from it both man and animal,20even if Noah, Daniel, and Job were in its midst, as I live, declares the Lord GOD, if son or daughter, they could rescue neither; they would rescue only their own lives by their righteousness.21For thus says the Lord GOD: When I send my four bad judgments—sword, famine, harmful living thing, and pestilence—against Jerusalem to cut off from it both man and animal,22yet a survivor will remain in it—the ones brought out, sons and daughters. Behold, they are coming out to you; when you see their way and their wantonness, you will be consoled concerning the distress that I brought upon Jerusalem—all that I brought upon it.23They will console you when you see their way and their wantonness and know that I did not do without cause all that I have done in it, declares the Lord GOD.