Yahweh will punish Jerusalem

12 Yahweh gave me another message. He said, 13 “You human, ifthe people of some country sin against me by abandoning me, and I punish [IDM] them by cutting off their food supply and by sending a famine, with the result that people and animals die, 14 even if Noah, Daniel, and Job were there, they would save only themselves because of their being righteous. That is what I, Yahweh the Lord, declare.

15 Or, if I send wild animals throughout the country, and they attack and killmany of [HYP] the people, with the result that travel in that country becomes very dangerous and no one travels through that country, 16 as surely as I am alive, even if those three men were in that country, they could not save even their own sons or daughtersfrom being killed. Only those three would ◄be saved/remain alive►, and the country would become desolate. That is what I, Yahweh the Lord, declare.

17 Or, if I bring enemy soldiers [MTY] to attack that country, and they kill [MTY] people and animals throughout that country with their swords, 18 as surely as I am alive, even if those three men were in that country, they would not be able to save even their own sons or daughtersfrom being killed. They would save only themselves. That is what I, Yahweh the Lord, declare.

19 Or, if I send a plague into that land and cause the people and the animals to diefrom the plague because I am very angry with those people, 20 as surely as I am alive, even if Noah, Daniel and Job were in that country, they would not be able to save even their sons and daughters. They would save only themselves because of their being righteous. That is what I, Yahweh the Lord, declare.

21 So now this is what I,, Yahweh the Lord, say: I will cause four things to happen to the people of Jerusalem to punish them very severely. Some people and animals will be killed by swords, some will die from famines, others will be attacked and killed by wild animals, and others will die in plagues. 22 But some of your people will remain alive, both adults and children. They will come to you, Ezekiel, in Babylon. And when you see theirdisgusting behavior and actions, you will realize that I had good reasons for causing the people of Jerusalem to experience those many great disasters [DOU] that I have sent to them. 23 When you see those things that they do, you will know that there were very good reasons [LIT] for me to do everything that I caused to happen to them. That is what I, Yahweh the Lord, declare.”