Ezekiel 14:3

Easy-to-Read Version

"Son of man, these men came to talk to you. But they still have their filthy idols. They kept the things that made them sin. They still worship those statues, so why do they come to me for advice? Should I answer their questions?

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
“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?

Hebrew Names Version
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?

King James Version
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?

English Standard Version
"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?

New American Standard Bible
"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?

New Century Version
"Human, these people want to worship idols. They put up evil things that cause people to sin. Should I allow them to ask me for help?

Amplified Bible
"Son of man, these men have set up [and honored] their idols in their hearts and have put right before their faces the [vile] stumbling block of their wickedness and guilt; should I [permit Myself to] be consulted by them at all?

World English Bible
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?

Geneva Bible (1587)
Sonne of man, these men haue set vp their idoles in their heart, and put the stumbling blocke of their iniquitie before their face: should I, being required, answere them?

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their hearts and have put right before their faces the stumbling block of their iniquity. Should I be consulted by them at all?

Legacy Standard Bible
"Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their hearts and have put right before their faces the stumbling block of their iniquity. Should I be inquired by them at all?

Berean Standard Bible
"Son of man, these men have set up idols in their hearts and put wicked stumbling blocks before their faces. Should I consult with them in any way?

Contemporary English Version
Ezekiel, son of man, these men have started worshiping idols, though they know it will cause them to sin even more. So I refuse to give them a message!

Complete Jewish Bible
"Human being, these men have taken their idols into their hearts, thus setting in front of themselves the stumblingblock that leads to sin. Should I let them consult me at all?

Darby Translation
Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their heart, and put the stumbling-block of their iniquity before their face: should I be inquired of at all by them?

George Lamsa Translation
Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their heart, and put the stumbling block of their iniquity before their faces; I will seek vengeance from them.

Good News Translation
"Mortal man," he said, "these men have given their hearts to idols and are letting idols lead them into sin. Do they think I will give them an answer?

Lexham English Bible
"Son of man, these men took up their idols into their heart and they placed before themselves a stumbling block of their guilt. Should I really let myself be consulted by them?

Literal Translation
Son of man, these men have caused their idols to go up in their hearts, and have put the stumbling-block of their iniquity before their faces. Should I at all be sought by them?

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Thou sonne of man, these men beare their Idols in their hertes, & go purposly vpon the stomblinge block of their owne wickednesse: how darre they then axe councell at me?

American Standard Version
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?

Bible in Basic English
Son of man, these men have taken their false gods into their hearts and put before their faces the sin which is the cause of their fall: am I to give ear when they come to me for directions?

JPS Old Testament (1917)
'Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their mind, and put the stumblingblock of their iniquity before their face; should I be inquired of at all by them?

King James Version (1611)
Sonne of man, these men haue set vp their idoles in their heart, and put the stumbling blocke of their iniquitie before their face: should I be enquired of at all by them?

Bishop's Bible (1568)
Thou sonne of man, these men haue set vp their idols in their heartes, and put the stumbling blocke of iniquitie before their face: shoulde I then aunswere them at their request?

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Son of man, these men have conceived their devices in their hearts, and have set before their faces the punishment of their iniquities: shall I indeed answer them?

English Revised Version
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?

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
these men han set her vnclennesses in her hertis, and han set stidfastli the sclaundre of her wickidnesse ayens her face. Whether Y `that am axid, schal answere to hem?

Update Bible Version
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?

Webster's Bible Translation
Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their heart, and put the stumbling-block of their iniquity before their face: should I be inquired of at all by them?

New English Translation
"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?

New King James Version
"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?

New Living Translation
"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?

New Life Bible
"Son of man, these men have taken false gods into their hearts. They have put in front of their faces the sin which is the cause of their fall. Should I let Myself be asked questions by them at all?

New Revised Standard
Mortal, these men have taken their idols into their hearts, and placed their iniquity as a stumbling block before them; shall I let myself be consulted by them?

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Son of man These men have brought up their manufactured gods upon their hear, And their stumbling-block of iniquity, have they set straight before their face, - Shall I be at all enquired of by them?

Douay-Rheims Bible
Son of man, these men have placed their uncleannesses in their hearts, and have set up before their face the stumblingblock of their iniquity: and shall I answer when they inquire of me?

Revised Standard Version
"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 let myself be inquired of at all by them?

Young's Literal Translation
`Son of man, these men have caused their idols to go up on their heart, and the stumbling-block of their iniquity they have put over-against their faces; am I inquired of at all by them?

Contextual Overview

¹ Some of the elders of Israel came to me. They sat down to talk with me. ² The word of the Lord came to me. He said, ³ "Son of man, these men came to talk to you. But they still have their filthy idols. They kept the things that made them sin. They still worship those statues, so why do they come to me for advice? Should I answer their questions? ⁴ But I will give them an answer. You must tell them this: ‘This is what the Lord God says: If any Israelites come to a prophet and ask me for advice, I myself will answer their questions. I, the Lord , will answer them even if they still have their filthy idols, even if they kept the things that made them sin, and even if they still worship those statues. I will speak to them in spite of all their filthy idols. ⁵ This is because I want to touch their hearts. I want to show them that I love them, even though they left me for their filthy idols.' ⁶ "So tell the family of Israel, ‘This is what the Lord God says: Come back to me and leave your filthy idols. Turn away from those terrible, false gods. ⁷ If any Israelites or foreigners who live in Israel come to me for advice, I will give them an answer. I, the Lord , will answer them even if they still have their filthy idols, even if they kept the things that made them sin, and even if they worship those statues. This is the answer I will give them: ⁸ I will turn against them and destroy them. They will be an example to others. People will laugh at them. I will remove them from my people. Then you will know that I am the Lord ! ⁹ And if a prophet is foolish enough to give his own answer, I, the Lord , will show him how foolish he is! I will use my power against him. I will destroy him and remove him from among my people, Israel. ¹⁰ So both the one who came for advice and the prophet who gave an answer will get the same punishment.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

these men: Ezekiel 14:4, Ezekiel 14:7, Ezekiel 6:9, Ezekiel 11:21, Ezekiel 20:16, Ezekiel 36:25, Jeremiah 17:1, Jeremiah 17:2, Jeremiah 17:9, Ephesians 5:5

and put: Ezekiel 3:20, Ezekiel 7:19, Ezekiel 44:12, Jeremiah 44:16-18, Zephaniah 1:3, 1 Peter 2:8, Revelation 2:14

should: Ezekiel 20:3, 1 Samuel 28:6, 2 Kings 3:13, Psalms 66:18, Psalms 101:3, Proverbs 15:8, Proverbs 15:29, Proverbs 21:27, Proverbs 28:9, Isaiah 1:15, Isaiah 33:15, Jeremiah 7:8-11, Jeremiah 11:11, Jeremiah 42:20, Jeremiah 42:21, Zechariah 7:13, Luke 20:8

Reciprocal: 1 Samuel 14:37 - he answered 1 Kings 14:6 - why feignest 1 Kings 22:5 - Inquire 1 Kings 22:23 - the Lord 2 Kings 4:31 - neither voice 2 Kings 22:13 - inquire 1 Chronicles 10:14 - inquired 2 Chronicles 18:22 - the lord hath Job 31:7 - mine heart Jeremiah 21:2 - Inquire Jeremiah 27:15 - that I Jeremiah 42:1 - came Ezekiel 2:1 - Son Ezekiel 20:31 - and shall Ezekiel 36:37 - I will yet Hosea 4:8 - set their heart on their iniquity John 4:21 - saith Acts 8:21 - hast Romans 14:13 - put 1 Corinthians 8:9 - a stumblingblock

Cross-References

Genesis 19:24
and the Lord began to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. He caused fire and burning sulfur to fall from the sky.

Numbers 34:12
Then the border will continue along the Jordan River. It will end at the Dead Sea. These are the borders around your country."

Deuteronomy 3:17
The Jordan River near the desert is their western border. Lake Galilee is north of this area and the Dead Sea is to the south. It is at the bottom of the cliffs of Pisgah, which are to the east.

Joshua 3:16
immediately the water stopped flowing and piled up like a wall. The water piled up high a long way up the river—all the way to Adam (a town near Zarethan). And the water flowing down to the sea of Arabah (the Dead Sea) was completely cut off. The people crossed the river near Jericho.

Psalms 107:34
He made the fertile land become salty, because the people living there did such evil things.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their heart,.... Though they look so grave and demure, seem so devout and religious, and hear with so much attention and reverence, and express such a desire of consulting me by thee, they are no other than idolaters; and though they are at such a distance from their native place, and have not their idols with them, yet they have them in their fancy and imagination, and their hearts are after them, and are set upon them; these engross their affections, they are near and dear unto them, notwithstanding all their pretensions: or, they "have caused their idols to ascend upon their heart" p; their hearts are the altars on which they worship them, and the throne on which they have placed them; they are held in the highest esteem by them, and have the greatest honours done them, and have the ascendant over them; even their "dunghill" gods, as the word q signifies; though they are but dung, filthy and abominable, these they lay upon their hearts; and what else is man's righteousness, when made an idol of, trusted to, and depended on? it is no other, as the apostle says, than "loss" and "dung", Philippians 3:8; and so every carnal lust that is gratified and indulged is no other than an idol, or a dunghill god, set up in the heart:

and put the stumbling block of their iniquity before their face; whenever they had an opportunity of so doing; for their hearts were not only inwardly affected to idols, but they outwardly worshipped them; set them before them, and bowed the knee to them, and prayed: and these idols are called "the stumbling block of their iniquity", because by worshipping these they fell into sin, and so into ruin; they were the occasion of their sin, and of their punishment; they stumbled at them, and fell, even though they were before their eyes; nay, they set them themselves before their face, which shows their obstinacy and resolution to continue in idolatry, though it would be their ruin:

should I be inquired of at all by them? suffer them to come near me, and put a question to me, or be consulted by them through thee? no, I will not: or, "am I seriously inquired of by them?" so some r render the words; no, I am not; or, "being asked, shall I answer them?" so the Targum and Vulgate Latin version: or, "answering shall I answer them" s? no, I wilt not, they deserve no answer from me; they shall have none other of me than such an one as follows.

p העלו גלוליהם על לבם "ascendere fecerunt idola sua in, [vel] super cor suum", Pagninus, Montanus, Calvin. q גלוליהם "stercoreos deos suos", Junius Tremellius, Piscator "stercora sua", Cocceius; "stercora ipsorum", Starckius. r האדרש אדרש להם "an [igitur serio] interrogor ab eis?" Piscator. s "An respondeudo respondebo illis?" Starckius. So Sept. Ar.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Ezekiel 14:3. These men have set up their idols in their heart — Not only in their houses; in the streets; but they had them in their hearts. These were stumbling-blocks of iniquity; they fell over them, and broke the neck of their souls. And should God be inquired of by such miscreants as these?