12 Then Yahweh gave me another message: 13 “Son of humanity, when a country sins against me by choosing to worship other gods, so that I decide to take action against it, then I’ll break the cycle of food production and send a famine out over it. I’ll punish both people and animals from that land 14 in such a way that even if Noah, Daniel, and Yob (Job) lived in that place, they could only rescue their own lives by being blameless in my sight. That’s the master Yahweh’s declaration.

15 If I send vicious wild animals through the country and make it barren so that it becomes a wasteland where no one can pass through because of those animals, 16 then even if those same three men were in it, as I live, declares the master Yahweh, they wouldn’t be able to rescue even their own children—only their own lives would be saved, but the land itself would become a wasteland.

17 Or if I bring a sword against that country and say, ‘Sword, go through the land and eliminate both the people and domestic animals from it’, 18 then even if those three men were in it, as I live, declares the master Yahweh, they wouldn’t be able to rescue even their own sons or daughters—only their own lives would be saved.

19 Or if I send deadly diseases against that country and pour out my rage against it through bloodshed, in order to eliminate both the people and the domestic animals, 20 as surely as I live, even if Noah, Daniel, and Yob were in that country, they wouldn’t be able to rescue even their sons and daughters. They’d save only themselves by being blameless in my sight. That’s the master Yahweh’s declaration.

21 The master Yahweh says this: ‘I’ll certainly make things worse by sending my four punishments against Yerushalem to eliminate both the people and the domestic animals from it: famine, sword, wild animals, and deadly diseases.[ref] 22 But listen! Despite that, a remnant will be left in the city—survivors who’ll go out with sons and daughters. Yes, they’ll go out to you, and you’ll see their behaviour and actions and understand why they deserved the punishment that I sent to Yerushalem, and about everything else that I’ve sent against the country. 23 The survivors will relieve you people when you see their behaviour and their actions, because you’ll know that all those things that I’ve done against Yerushalem, I didn’t do them without good reason. That’s the master Yahweh’s declaration.”