Four Dire Judgments
The word of the LORD comes again with a series of conditional scenarios: if a land sins grievously and God sends famine, wild beasts, sword, or plague, even Noah, Daniel, and Job could deliver only themselves by their righteousness. Their presence would not save sons or daughters, nor remove the desolation appointed for the land. The repeated pattern drives home that personal righteousness is real, but it cannot overturn corporate judgment on a persistently unfaithful people.
A12nd the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 13“Son of man, if a land sins against Me by acting unfaithfully, and I stretch out My hand against it to cut off its supply of food, to send famine upon it, and to cut off from it both man and beast, 14then even if these three men— Noah, Daniel, and Job— were in it, their righteousness could deliver only themselves, declares the Lord GOD. 15Or if I send wild beasts through the land to leave it childless and desolate, with no man passing through it for fear of the beasts, 16then as surely as I live, declares the Lord GOD, even if these three men were in it, they could not deliver their own sons or daughters. They alone would be delivered, but the land would be desolate. 17Or if I bring a sword against that land and say, ‘Let a sword pass through it,’ so that I cut off from it both man and beast, 18then as surely as I live, declares the Lord GOD, even if these three men were in it, they could not deliver their own sons or daughters. They alone would be delivered. 19Or if I send a plague into that land and pour out My wrath upon it through bloodshed, cutting off from it both man and beast, 20then as surely as I live, declares the Lord GOD, even if Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, they could not deliver their own sons or daughters. Their righteousness could deliver only themselves.
The LORD then applies the principle directly to Jerusalem, asking how much worse it will be when all four dire judgments strike the city together. Yet some survivors, sons and daughters, will be brought out, and their conduct and actions will explain the disaster to the exiles. Seeing them, the exiles will understand that nothing God has done to Jerusalem has been without cause.
21For this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘How much worse will it be when I send against Jerusalem My four dire judgments— sword, famine, wild beasts, and plague— in order to cut off from it both man and beast? 22Yet, behold, some survivors will be left in it — sons and daughters who will be brought out. They will come out to you, and when you see their conduct and actions, you will be comforted regarding the disaster I have brought upon Jerusalem — all that I have brought upon it. 23They will bring you consolation when you see their conduct and actions, and you will know that it was not without cause that I have done all these things within it,’ declares the Lord GOD.”