“ Son of man, these men have thought about nothing but other gods. They have fallen into the evil trap of worshiping them. Should I let these men ask me for any advice?

“人子啊，这些人已将他们的假神接到心里，把陷于罪的绊脚石放在面前，我岂能丝毫被他们求问吗？

“人子啊，这些人在心中设立偶像，把陷自己于罪的绊脚石放在面前，我真的能让他们求问吗？

“人子啊，这些人在心中设立偶像，把陷自己于罪的绊脚石放在面前，我真的能让他们求问吗？

“人子啊，这些人在心里立起偶像，把导致犯罪的绊脚石放在自己面前，我岂能让他们来求问？

“人子啊！这些人已经把他们的偶像接到心里去，把那陷他们在罪孽中的绊脚石放在自己面前，我怎能让他们向我求问呢？

「人子啊，這些人已將他們的假神接到心裏，把陷於罪的絆腳石放在面前，我豈能絲毫被他們求問嗎？

「人子啊，這些人在心中設立偶像，把陷自己於罪的絆腳石放在面前，我真的能讓他們求問嗎？

「人子啊，這些人在心中設立偶像，把陷自己於罪的絆腳石放在面前，我真的能讓他們求問嗎？

「人子啊，這些人在心裡立起偶像，把導致犯罪的絆腳石放在自己面前，我豈能讓他們來求問？

“人子啊！這些人已經把他們的偶像接到心裡去，把那陷他們在罪孽中的絆腳石放在自己面前，我怎能讓他們向我求問呢？

『人子啊，這些人將他們的偶像接上心頭，把陷於他們罪孽中的因由放在自己面前，我哪能讓他們求問甚麼呢？

人子歟、斯人納其偶像於心、置陷罪之窒礙於前、我豈聽其諮諏乎、

人子、斯人之於偶像、中則崇敬之、外則瞻禮之、自陷於惡、豈得諮諏於我乎。

人子、斯人心念其偶像、以陷己於罪之物、置於目前、彼又求問我、我豈應之乎、

“ Son of man, these men have set up idols in their hearts and put wicked stumbling blocks before their faces. Should I let them inquire of me at all?

“ Son of man, these men have taken their idols into their hearts, and set the stumbling block of their iniquity before their faces. Should I indeed let myself be consulted by them?

“ Son of man, these leaders have set up idols in their hearts. They have embraced things that will make them fall into sin. Why should I listen to their requests?

“ Son of man, these men have set up idols in their hearts and have put their sinful stumbling blocks in front of themselves. Should I actually let them inquire of me?

“ Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their hearts and have put in front of their faces the stumbling block of their wrongdoing. Should I let Myself be consulted by them at all?

“ Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their hearts, and put before them that which causes them to stumble into iniquity. Should I let Myself be inquired of at all by them?

Son of man, these men have taken their idols into their heart, and put the stumblingblock of their iniquity before their face: should I be inquired of at all by them?

“ Son of man, these men have set up idols in their hearts and have put sinful stumbling blocks before their faces. Should I be consulted by them at all?

Son 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?

“ Son of man, these men have erected their idols in their hearts and placed the obstacle leading to their iniquity right before their faces. Should I really allow them to seek me?

“ Son of man, these men have taken their idols into their heart, and put the stumbling block of their iniquity before their face. Should I be inquired of at all by them?

“‘ “Suppose any of the Israelites or any outsiders who live in Israel separate themselves from me. And they think about other gods. They fall into the evil trap of worshiping them. Then they go to a prophet to ask me for advice. If they do, I myself will tell the prophet to answer them.

“‘ They will throw their silver into the streets. They will treat their gold like an“ unclean” thing. Their silver and gold won’t be able to save them on the day I pour out my anger. It will not be able to satisfy their hunger. Their stomachs can’t be filled with it. Their silver and gold have tripped them up. It has made them fall into sin.

You might spread out your hands toward me when you pray. But I do not look at you. You might even offer many prayers. But I am not listening to them. Your hands are covered with the blood of the people you have murdered.

“ Son of man, speak to the elders of Israel. Tell them,‘ The Lord and King says,“ Have you come to ask me for advice? I will not let you do that,” announces the Lord and King.“ And that is just as sure as I am alive.” ’

But they turned their backs on my laws. They did not obey my rules. They misused my Sabbath days. Their hearts were committed to worshiping the statues of their gods.

If you don’t pay attention to my instruction, even your prayers are hated.

Speak to them. Tell them,‘ The Lord and King says,“ Suppose any of the Israelites think about other gods. And they fall into the evil trap of worshiping them. Then they go to a prophet to ask for advice. If they do, I myself will tell the prophet to answer them in keeping with their worship of many gods.

You make yourselves‘ unclean’ by offering sacrifices to other gods. You even sacrifice your children in the fire. You continue to do these things to this day. People of Israel, should I let you ask me for advice? I will not let you do that,” announces the Lord and King.“ And that is just as sure as I am alive.

And,“ It is a stone that causes people to trip. It is a rock that makes them fall.”( Isaiah 8:14) They trip and fall because they do not obey the message. That is also what God planned for them.

So I say,‘ I will bring trouble on them. They will not be able to escape it. They will cry out to me. But I will not listen to them.

Elisha said to the king of Israel,“ Why do you want to come to me? Go to your father’s prophets. Go to your mother’s prophets.”“ No,” the king of Israel answered.“ The Lord called us three kings together. He did it to hand us over to Moab.”

Here is what you can be sure of. Those who give themselves over to sexual sins are lost. So are people whose lives are impure. The same is true of those who always want more and more. People who do these things might as well worship statues of gods. No one who does them will receive a share in the kingdom of Christ and of God.

But these Levites served the people of Israel. They served while the Israelites were worshiping the statues of their gods. They made the people fall into sin. So I raised my hand and made a promise. I warned them that I would punish them because of their sin,” announces the Lord and King.

The Lord is far away from those who do wrong. But he hears the prayers of those who do right.

But some people have hearts that are committed to worshiping the statues of their evil gods. I hate those gods. Anything that happens to those people will be their own fault,” announces the Lord and King.

“ When I called, they did not listen,” says the Lord.“ So when they called, I would not listen.

You will be taken away to those nations as prisoners. Those of you who escape will remember me. You will recall how much pain your unfaithful hearts gave me. You turned away from me. Your eyes longed to see the statues of your gods. You will hate yourselves because of all the evil things you have done. I hate those things too.

“ Judah’s sin is carved with an iron tool. It is written with the flint point of the tool. It is carved on the tablets of their hearts. It is written on the horns that stick out from the corners of their altars.Even their children offer sacrifices to other gods on those altars. They use the poles that were made to worship the female god named Asherah. They worship strange gods beside the green trees and on the high hills.

I won’t look at anything that is evil and call it good. I hate the acts of people who aren’t faithful to you. I won’t have anything to do with those things.

‘ But I have a few things against you. Some of your people follow the teaching of Balaam. He taught Balak to lead the people of Israel into sin. So they ate food that had been offered to statues of gods. And they committed sexual sins.

Jesus said,“ Then I won’t tell you by what authority I am doing these things either.”

You made a big mistake when you asked me to pray to the Lord your God. You said,‘ Pray to the Lord our God for us. Tell us everything he says. We’ll do it.’I have told you today what the Lord your God wants you to do. But you still haven’t obeyed him. You haven’t done anything he sent me to tell you to do.

If I had enjoyed having sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.

But look! You are trusting in worthless lies.“‘ “You continue to steal and commit murder. You commit adultery. You tell lies in court. You burn incense to Baal. You worship other gods you didn’t know before.Then you come and stand in front of me. You keep coming to this house where I have put my Name. You say,‘ We are safe.’ You think you are safe when you do so many things I hate.My Name is in this house. But you have made it a den for robbers! I have been watching you!” announces the Lord.

A human heart is more dishonest than anything else. It can’t be healed. Who can understand it?

God hates sacrifices that are brought by evil people. He hates it even more when they bring them for the wrong reason.

I will sprinkle pure water on you. Then you will be‘ clean.’ I will make you completely pure and‘ clean.’ I will take all the statues of your gods away from you.

The Lord hates the sacrifice of sinful people. But the prayers of honest people please him.

He asked the Lord for advice. But the Lord didn’t answer him through dreams or prophets. He didn’t answer him when Saul had the priest cast lots by using the Urim.

“ We won’t listen to the message you have spoken to us in the Lord’ s name!We will certainly do everything we said we would. We’ll burn incense to the female god called the Queen of Heaven. We’ll pour out drink offerings to her. We’ll do just as we and our people of long ago have done. Our kings and our officials also did it. All of us did it in the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem. At that time we had plenty of food. We were well off. We didn’t suffer any harm.But then we stopped burning incense to the Queen of Heaven. We stopped pouring out drink offerings to her. And ever since that time we haven’t had anything. Instead, we’ve been dying of war and hunger.”

“ I will destroy people and animals alike. I will wipe out the birds in the sky and the fish in the waters. I will destroy the statues of gods that cause evil people to sin. That will happen when I destroy all human beings on the face of the earth,” announces the Lord.

People must do what is right. They must be honest and tell the truth. They must not get rich by cheating others. Their hands must not receive money from those who want special favors. They must not let their ears listen to plans to commit murder. They must close their eyes to even thinking about doing what is evil.

“ Or suppose a godly person turns away from their godliness and does what is evil. And suppose I put something in their way that will trip them up. Then they will die. Since you did not warn them, they will die for their sin. The godly things that person did will not be remembered. And I will hold you responsible for their death.