doings: and ye shall know that I have not done without cause all that I have done in it, saith the Lord God (verses 12-23). The Word of the Lord came again to Ezekiel. The previously announced judgment cannot be averted, it is unavoidable; this is the burden of the second message the inquiring elders heard from the prophet's lips. Perhaps this was on their minds when they came to the prophet and sat in his presence. Famine is threatened first; it would come upon man and beast. Then the noisome beasts would pass through the land, to spoil it and make it desolate. These beasts must not be understood in the literal sense; they symbolize the Gentiles, whom Daniel in his vision saw also as beasts (Dan. vii). These nations like the Chaldeans would overrun the land and waste it. The last two judgments were to be the sword (verse 17) and the pestilence (verse 19). These four sore judgments were about to fall upon Jerusalem and the land--famine, noisome beasts, Gentile invasion, the sword and pestilence. Twice in this address Noah, Daniel and Job are mentioned. They were righteous men, yet if they were all three in Jerusalem they would deliver only their own souls by their righteousness, which was the result of their faith in and obedience to Jehovah. They were witnesses and men of prayer. Noah, the witness before the great judgment by water swept over the earth; Daniel even then in Babylon, and Job of the patriarchal age. All their righteousness, and all their witnessing and prayers would not help in preventing these four sore judgments. Then there is a gracious promise for the remnant which is to be preserved in these judgments. THE PARABLE OF THE UNFRUITFUL VINE Chapter xv.