Ezekiel’s Visions of God
1Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I was among the captives aby the river of Chebar, that bthe heavens were opened, and I saw cvisions of God.
2In the fifth day of the month, which was the fifth year of king Jehoiachin’s captivity,
3The word of the LORD came expressly unto Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar; and dthe hand of the LORD was there upon him.
A Whirlwind from the North
4And I looked, and, behold, ea whirlwind came fout of the north, a great cloud, and a fire infolding itself, and a brightness was about it, and out of the midst thereof as the colour of amber, out of the midst of the fire.
Four Living Creatures
5gAlso out of the midst thereof came the likeness of four living creatures. And hthis was their appearance; they had ithe likeness of a man.
6And every one had four faces, and every one had four wings.
7And their feet were straight feet; and the sole of their feet was like the sole of a calf’s foot: and they sparkled jlike the colour of burnished brass.
8kAnd they had the hands of a man under their wings on their four sides; and they four had their faces and their wings.
9Their wings were joined one to another; they turned not when they went; they went every one straight lforward.
The Likeness of Their Faces
10As for mthe likeness of their faces, they four nhad the face of a man, oand the face of a lion, on the right side: pand they four had the face of an ox on the left side; qthey four also had the face of an eagle.
11Thus were their faces: and their wings were stretched upward; two wings of every one were joined one to another, and rtwo covered their bodies.
12And sthey went every one straight forward: whither the spirit was to go, they went; and they turned not when they went.
13As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire, tand like the appearance of lamps: it went up and down among the living creatures; and the fire was bright, and out of the fire went forth lightning.
14And the living creatures ran and returned uas the appearance of a flash of lightning.
A Wheel in the Middle of a Wheel
15Now as I beheld the living creatures, behold vone wheel upon the earth by the living creatures, with his four faces.
16wThe appearance of the wheels and their work was xlike unto the colour of a beryl: and they four had one likeness: and their appearance and their work was as it were a wheel in the middle of a wheel.
17When they went, they went upon their four sides: and they turned not when they went.
18As for their rings, they were so high that they were dreadful; and their rings were yfull of eyes round about them four.
19And zwhen the living creatures went, the wheels went by them: and when the living creatures were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up.
20Whithersoever the spirit was to go, they went, thither was their spirit to go; and the wheels were lifted up over against them: afor the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels.
21When those went, these went; and when those stood, these stood; and when those were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up over against them: for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels.
22bAnd the likeness of the firmament upon the heads of the living creature was as the colour of the terrible ccrystal, stretched forth over their heads dabove.
23And under the firmament were their wings straight, the one toward the other: every one had two, which covered on this side, and every one had two, which covered on that side, their bodies.
24eAnd when they went, I heard the noise of their wings, flike the noise of great waters, as gthe voice of the Almighty, the voice of speech, as the noise of an host: when they stood, they let down their wings.
25And there was a voice from the firmament that was over their heads, when they stood, and had let down their wings.
The Likeness of a Throne
26hAnd above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, ias the appearance of a sapphire stone: and upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness as the appearance of a man above upon jit.
27kAnd I saw as the colour of amber, as the appearance of fire round about within it, from the appearance of his loins even upward, and from the appearance of his loins even downward, I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and it had brightness round about.
28lAs the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about. mThis was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. And when I saw it, nI fell upon my face, and I heard a voice of one that spake.
A Rebellious Nation
1And he said unto me, Son of man, astand upon thy feet, and I will speak unto thee.
2And bthe spirit entered into me when he spake unto me, and set me upon my feet, that I heard him that spake unto me.
3And he said unto me, Son of man, I send thee to the children of Israel, to a rebellious nation that hath crebelled against me: dthey and their fathers have transgressed against me, even unto this very day.
4eFor they are impudent children and stiffhearted. I do send thee unto them; and thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD.
5fAnd they, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear, (for they are a grebellious house,) yet hshall know that there hath been a prophet among them.
6And thou, son of man, ibe not afraid of them, neither be afraid of their words, though jbriers and thorns be with thee, and thou dost dwell among scorpions: kbe not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, lthough they be a rebellious house.
7mAnd thou shalt speak my words unto them, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear: for they are most rebellious.
8But thou, son of man, hear what I say unto thee; Be not thou rebellious like that rebellious house: open thy mouth, and neat that I give thee.
9And when I looked, behold, oan hand was sent unto me; and, lo, pa roll of a book was therein;
10And he spread it before me; and it was written within and without: and there was written therein lamentations, and mourning, and woe.
The Eating of the Roll
1Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, eat that thou findest; aeat this roll, and go speak unto the house of Israel.
2So I opened my mouth, and he caused me to eat that roll.
3And he said unto me, Son of man, cause thy belly to eat, and fill thy bowels with this roll that I give thee. Then did I beat it; and it was in my mouth cas honey for sweetness.
Go and Speak
4And he said unto me, Son of man, go, get thee unto the house of Israel, and speak with my words unto them.
5For thou art not sent to a people of a strange speech and of an hard language, but to the house of Israel;
6Not to many people of a strange speech and of an hard language, whose words thou canst not understand. Surely, dhad I sent thee to them, they would have hearkened unto thee.
7But the house of Israel will not hearken unto thee; efor they will not hearken unto me: ffor all the house of Israel are impudent and hardhearted.
Be Strong
8Behold, I have made thy face strong against their faces, and thy forehead strong against their foreheads.
9gAs an adamant harder than flint have I made thy forehead: hfear them not, neither be dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious house.
10Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, all my words that I shall speak unto thee receive in thine heart, and hear with thine ears.
11And go, get thee to them of the captivity, unto the children of thy people, and speak unto them, and tell them, iThus saith the Lord GOD; whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear.
A Voice of a Great Rushing
12Then jthe spirit took me up, and I heard behind me a voice of a great rushing, saying, Blessed be the kglory of the LORD from his place.
13I heard also the lnoise of the wings of the living creatures that touched one another, and the noise of the wheels over against them, and a noise of a great rushing.
14So the spirit lifted me up, and took me away, and I went in bitterness, in the heat of my spirit; but mthe hand of the LORD was strong upon me.
15Then I came to them of the captivity at Tel-abib, that dwelt by the river of Chebar, and nI sat where they sat, and remained there astonished among them seven days.
A Watchman
16And it ocame to pass at the end of seven days, that the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
17pSon of man, I have made thee qa watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them rwarning from me.
Warn the Wicked
18When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man sshall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand.
19Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; tbut thou hast delivered thy soul.
Warn the Righteous
20Again, When a urighteous man doth turn from his righteousness, and commit iniquity, and I lay a stumblingblock before him, he shall die: because thou hast not given him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he hath done shall not be remembered; but his blood will I require at thine hand.
21Nevertheless if thou warn the righteous man, that the righteous sin not, and he doth not sin, he shall surely live, because he is warned; also thou hast delivered thy soul.
22vAnd the hand of the LORD was there upon me; and he said unto me, Arise, go forth winto the plain, and I will there talk with thee.
23Then I arose, and went forth into the plain: and, behold, xthe glory of the LORD stood there, as the glory which I ysaw by the river of Chebar: zand I fell on my face.
24Then athe spirit entered into me, and set me upon my feet, and spake with me, and said unto me, Go, shut thyself within thine house.
Ezekiel Is Struck Dumb
25But thou, O son of man, behold, bthey shall put bands upon thee, and shall bind thee with them, and thou shalt not go out among them:
26And cI will make thy tongue cleave to the roof of thy mouth, that thou shalt be dumb, and shalt dnot be to them a reprover: efor they are a rebellious house.
27fBut when I speak with thee, I will open thy mouth, and thou shalt say unto them, gThus saith the Lord GOD; He that heareth, let him hear; and he that forbeareth, let him forbear: for they are a rebellious house.
The Sign of the Tile
1Thou also, son of man, take thee a tile, and lay it before thee, and pourtray upon it the city, even Jerusalem:
2And alay siege against it, and build a bfort against it, and cast a mount against it; set the camp also against it, and set battering rams against it round about.
3Moreover take thou unto thee an iron pan, and set it for a wall of iron between thee and the city: and set thy face against it, and it shall be cbesieged, and thou shalt lay siege against it. dThis shall be a sign to the house of Israel.
The Years of Israel’s Iniquity
4Lie thou also upon thy left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it: according to the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon it thou shalt bear their iniquity.
5For I have laid upon thee the years of their iniquity, according to the number of the days, three hundred and ninety days: eso shalt thou bear the iniquity of the house of Israel.
6And when thou hast accomplished them, lie again on thy right side, and thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days: I have appointed thee each day for a year.
7Therefore thou shalt set thy face toward the siege of Jerusalem, and thine arm shall be uncovered, and thou shalt prophesy against it.
8fAnd, behold, I will lay bands upon thee, and thou shalt not turn thee from one side to another, till thou hast ended the days of thy siege.
The Defiled Bread
9Take thou also unto thee wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentiles, and millet, and fitches, and put them in one vessel, and make thee bread thereof, according to the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon thy side, three hundred and ninety days shalt thou eat thereof.
10And thy meat which thou shalt eat shall be by weight, twenty shekels a day: from time to time shalt thou eat it.
11Thou shalt drink also water by measure, the sixth part of an hin: from time to time shalt thou drink.
12And thou shalt eat it as barley cakes, and thou shalt bake it with dung that cometh out of man, in their sight.
13And the LORD said, Even thus gshall the children of Israel eat their defiled bread among the Gentiles, whither I will drive them.
14Then said I, hAh Lord GOD! behold, my soul hath not been polluted: for from my youth up even till now have I not eaten of ithat which dieth of itself, or is torn in pieces; neither came there jabominable flesh into my mouth.
15Then he said unto me, Lo, I have given thee cow’s dung for man’s dung, and thou shalt prepare thy bread therewith.
The Staff of Bread
16Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, behold, I will break the kstaff of bread in Jerusalem: and they shall leat bread by weight, and with care; and they shall mdrink water by measure, and with astonishment:
17That they may want bread and water, and be astonied one with another, and nconsume away for their iniquity.
The Shaving of Hair and Beard
1And thou, son of man, take thee a sharp knife, take thee a barber’s razor, aand cause it to pass upon thine head and upon thy beard: then take thee balances to weigh, and divide the hair.
2bThou shalt burn with fire a third part in the midst of cthe city, when dthe days of the siege are fulfilled: and thou shalt take a third part, and smite about it with a knife: and a third part thou shalt scatter in the wind; and I will draw out a sword after ethem.
3fThou shalt also take thereof a few in number, and bind them in thy skirts.
4Then take of them again, and gcast them into the midst of the fire, and burn them in the fire; for thereof shall a fire come forth into all the house of Israel.
5Thus saith the Lord GOD; This is Jerusalem: I have set it in the midst of the nations and countries that are round about her.
6And she hath changed my judgments into wickedness more than the nations, and my statutes more than the countries that are round about her: for they have refused my judgments and my statutes, they have not walked in them.
7Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because ye multiplied more than the nations that are round about you, and have not walked in my statutes, hneither have kept my judgments, neither have done according to the judgments of the nations that are round about you;
God Will Diminish the People
8Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I, even I, am against thee, and will execute judgments in the midst of thee in the sight of the nations.
9iAnd I will do in thee that which I have not done, and whereunto I will not do any more the like, because of all thine abominations.
10Therefore the fathers jshall eat the sons in the midst of thee, and the sons shall eat their fathers; and I will execute judgments in thee, and the whole remnant of thee will I kscatter into all the winds.
11Wherefore, as I live, saith the Lord GOD; Surely, because thou hast ldefiled my sanctuary with all thy mdetestable things, and with all thine abominations, therefore will I also diminish thee; nneither shall mine eye spare, neither will I have any pity.
The Fate of the City
12oA third part of thee shall die with the pestilence, and with famine shall they be consumed in the midst of thee: and a third part shall fall by the sword round about thee; and pI will scatter a third part into all the winds, and I will draw out a sword after qthem.
13Thus shall mine anger rbe accomplished, and I will scause my fury to rest upon them, tand I will be comforted: uand they shall know that I the LORD have spoken it in my zeal, when I have accomplished my fury in them.
14Moreover vI will make thee waste, and a reproach among the nations that are round about thee, in the sight of all that pass by.
15So it shall be a wreproach and a taunt, an xinstruction and an astonishment unto the nations that are round about thee, when I shall execute judgments in thee in anger and in fury and in yfurious rebukes. I the LORD have spoken it.
16When I shall zsend upon them the evil arrows of famine, which shall be for their destruction, and which I will send to destroy you: and I will increase the famine upon you, and will break your astaff of bread:
17So will I send upon you famine and bevil beasts, and they shall bereave thee; and cpestilence and blood shall pass through thee; and I will bring the sword upon thee. I the LORD have spoken it.
The Desolate Altars
1And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2Son of man, aset thy face toward the bmountains of Israel, and prophesy against them,
3And say, Ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord GOD; Thus saith the Lord GOD to the mountains, and to the hills, to the rivers, and to the valleys; Behold, I, even I, will bring a sword upon you, and cI will destroy your high places.
4And your altars shall be desolate, and your images shall be broken: and dI will cast down your slain men before your idols.
5And I will lay the dead carcases of the children of Israel before their idols; and I will scatter your bones round about your altars.
6In all your dwellingplaces the cities shall be laid waste, and the high places shall be desolate; that your altars may be laid waste and made desolate, and your idols may be broken and cease, and your images may be cut down, and your works may be abolished.
7And the slain shall fall in the midst of you, and eye shall know that I am the LORD.
Some Shall Escape Death
8fYet will I leave a remnant, that ye may have some that shall escape the sword among the nations, when ye shall be gscattered through the countries.
9And they that escape of you shall hremember me among the nations whither they shall be carried captives, because iI am broken with their whorish heart, which hath departed from me, and jwith their eyes, which go a whoring after their idols: and kthey shall lothe themselves for the evils which they have committed in all their abominations.
10And they shall know that I am the LORD, and that I have not said in vain that I would do this evil unto them.
11Thus saith the Lord GOD; Smite lwith thine hand, and stamp with thy foot, and say, Alas for all the evil abominations of the house of Israel! mfor they shall fall by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence.
12He that is far off shall die of the pestilence; and he that is near shall fall by the sword; and he that remaineth and is besieged shall die by the famine: nthus will I accomplish my fury upon them.
13Then shall ye know that I am the LORD, when their slain men shall be among their idols round about their altars, oupon every high hill, pin all the tops of the mountains, and qunder every green tree, and under every thick oak, the place where they did offer sweet savour to all their idols.
14So will I rstretch out my hand upon them, and make the land desolate, yea, more desolate than the wilderness toward sDiblath, in all their habitations: and they shall know that I am the LORD.
The End Is Come
1Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2Also, thou son of man, thus saith the Lord GOD unto the land of Israel; aAn end, the end is come upon the four corners of the land.
3Now is the end come upon thee, and I will send mine anger upon thee, and will judge thee baccording to thy ways, and will recompense upon thee all thine abominations.
4And cmine eye shall not spare thee, neither will I have pity: but I will recompense thy ways upon thee, and thine abominations shall be in the midst of thee: dand ye shall know that I am the LORD.
5Thus saith the Lord GOD; An evil, an only eevil, behold, is come.
6An end is come, the end is come: it watcheth for thee; behold, it is come.
7fThe morning is come unto thee, O thou that dwellest in the land: gthe time is come, the day of trouble is near, and not the sounding again of the mountains.
8Now will I shortly hpour out my fury upon thee, and accomplish mine anger upon thee: and I will judge thee according to thy ways, and will recompense thee for all thine abominations.
9And mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity: I will recompense thee according to thy ways and thine abominations that are in the midst of thee; and ye shall know that I am the LORD that smiteth.
10Behold the day, behold, it is come: ithe morning is gone forth; the rod hath blossomed, pride hath budded.
11jViolence is risen up into a rod of wickedness: none of them shall remain, nor of their multitude, nor of any of theirs: kneither shall there be wailing for them.
12The time is come, the day draweth near: let not the buyer lrejoice, nor the seller mmourn: for wrath is upon all the multitude thereof.
13For the seller shall not return to that which is sold, although they were yet alive: for the vision is touching the whole multitude thereof, which shall not return; neither shall any strengthen himself in the iniquity of his life.
A Call to Battle
14They have blown the trumpet, even to make all ready; but none goeth to the battle: for my wrath is upon all the multitude thereof.
15nThe sword is without, and the pestilence and the famine within: he that is in the field shall die with the sword; and he that is in the city, famine and pestilence shall devour him.
16But they that oescape of them shall escape, and shall be on the mountains like doves of the valleys, all of them mourning, every one for his iniquity.
17All phands shall be feeble, and all knees shall be weak as water.
18They shall also qgird themselves with sackcloth, and horror shall cover them; and shame shall be upon all faces, and baldness upon all their heads.
Idols Will Not Save Israel
19They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed: their rsilver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD: they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels: because it is the stumblingblock of their iniquity.
20As for the beauty of his ornament, he set it in majesty: sbut they made the images of their abominations and of their detestable things therein: therefore have I set it far from them.
21And I will give it into the hands of the strangers for a tprey, and to the wicked of the earth for a spoil; and they shall pollute it.
22My face will I turn also from them, and they shall pollute my secret place: for the robbers shall enter into it, and defile it.
A City Full of Violence
23Make a chain: for uthe land is full of bloody crimes, and the city is full of violence.
24Wherefore I will bring the vworst of the heathen, and they shall possess their houses: I will also make the pomp of the strong to cease; and their holy places shall be wdefiled.
25Destruction cometh; and they shall seek peace, and there shall be none.
26xMischief shall come upon mischief, and rumour shall be upon rumour; ythen shall they seek a vision of the prophet; but the law shall perish from the priest, and counsel from the ancients.
27The king shall mourn, and the prince shall be clothed with desolation, and the hands of the people of the land shall be troubled: I will do unto them after their way, and according to their deserts will I judge them; and they shall know that I am the LORD.
The Vision of the Glory of God
1And it came to pass in the sixth year, in the sixth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I sat in mine house, and athe elders of Judah sat before me, that bthe hand of the Lord GOD fell there upon me.
2cThen I beheld, and lo a likeness as the appearance of fire: from the appearance of his loins even downward, fire; and from his loins even upward, as the appearance of brightness, das the colour of amber.
3And he eput forth the form of an hand, and took me by a lock of mine head; and fthe spirit lifted me up between the earth and the heaven, and gbrought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem, to the door of the inner gate that looketh toward the north; hwhere was the seat of the image of jealousy, which iprovoketh to jealousy.
4And, behold, the jglory of the God of Israel was there, according to the vision that I ksaw in the plain.
5Then said he unto me, Son of man, lift up thine eyes now the way toward the north. So I lifted up mine eyes the way toward the north, and behold northward at the gate of the altar this image of jealousy in the entry.
6He said furthermore unto me, Son of man, seest thou what they do? even the great labominations that the house of Israel committeth here, that I should go far off from my sanctuary? but turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations.
7And he brought me to the door of the court; and when I looked, behold a hole in the wall.
8Then said he unto me, Son of man, dig now in the wall: and when I had digged in the wall, behold a door.
9And he said unto me, Go in, and behold the wicked abominations that they do here.
The Seventy Men of the Ancients
10So I went in and saw; and behold every mform of ncreeping things, and abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel, pourtrayed upon the wall round about.
11And there stood before them oseventy men of the ancients of the house of Israel, and in the midst of them stood Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan, with every man his censer in his hand; and a thick cloud of incense went up.
12Then said he unto me, Son of man, hast thou seen what the ancients of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the chambers of his imagery? for they say, pThe LORD seeth us not; the LORD hath forsaken the earth.
The Women Weeping for Tammuz
13He said also unto me, Turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations that they do.
14Then he brought me to the door of the gate of the LORD’s house which was toward the north; and, behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz.
Five and Twenty Men
15Then said he unto me, Hast thou seen this, O son of man? turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations than these.
16And he brought me into the inner court of the LORD’s house, and, behold, at the door of the temple of the LORD, qbetween the porch and the altar, rwere about five and twenty men, swith their backs toward the temple of the LORD, and their faces toward the east; and they worshipped tthe sun toward the east.
Judah Provokes the Lord to Anger
17Then he said unto me, Hast thou seen this, O son of man? Is it a light thing to the house of Judah that they commit the abominations which they commit here? for they have ufilled the land with violence, and have returned to provoke me to anger: and, lo, they put the branch to their nose.
18vTherefore will I also deal in fury: mine weye shall not spare, neither will I have pity: and though they xcry in mine ears with a loud voice, yet will I not hear them.
God’s Destroying Weapons
1He cried also in mine ears with a loud voice, saying, Cause them that have charge over the city to draw near, even every man with his destroying weapon in his hand.
2And, behold, six men came from the way of the higher gate, which lieth toward the north, and every man a slaughter weapon in his hand; aand one man among them was clothed with linen, with a writer’s inkhorn by his side: and they went in, and stood beside the brasen altar.
3And bthe glory of the God of Israel was gone up from the cherub, whereupon he was, to the threshold of the house. And he called to the man clothed with linen, which had the writer’s inkhorn by his side;
The Mark of the Righteous
4And the LORD said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set ca mark upon the foreheads of the men dthat sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof.
5And to the others he said in mine hearing, Go ye after him through the city, and esmite: flet not your eye spare, neither have ye pity:
6gSlay utterly old and young, both maids, and little children, and women: but hcome not near any man upon whom is the mark; and ibegin at my sanctuary. jThen they began at the ancient men which were before the house.
7And he said unto them, Defile the house, and fill the courts with the slain: go ye forth. And they went forth, and slew in the city.
8And it came to pass, while they were slaying them, and I was left, that I kfell upon my face, and cried, and said, lAh Lord GOD! wilt thou destroy all the residue of Israel in thy pouring out of thy fury upon Jerusalem?
9Then said he unto me, The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is exceeding great, and mthe land is full of blood, and the city full of perverseness: for they say, nThe LORD hath forsaken the earth, and othe LORD seeth not.
10And as for me also, mine peye shall not spare, neither will I have pity, but qI will recompense their way upon their head.
11And, behold, the man clothed with linen, which had the inkhorn by his side, reported the matter, saying, I have done as thou hast commanded me.
Coals of Fire
1Then I looked, and, behold, in the afirmament that was above the head of the cherubims there appeared over them as it were a sapphire stone, as the appearance of the likeness of a throne.
2bAnd he spake unto the man clothed with linen, and said, Go in between the wheels, even under the cherub, and fill thine hand with ccoals of fire from between the cherubims, and dscatter them over the city. And he went in in my sight.
3Now the cherubims stood on the right side of the house, when the man went in; and the ecloud filled the inner court.
4fThen the glory of the LORD went up from the cherub, and stood over the threshold of the house; and gthe house was filled with the cloud, and the court was full of the brightness of the LORD’s hglory.
5And the isound of the cherubims’ wings was heard even to the outer court, as jthe voice of the Almighty God when he speaketh.
6And it came to pass, that when he had commanded the man clothed with linen, saying, Take fire from between the wheels, from between the cherubims; then he went in, and stood beside the wheels.
7And one cherub stretched forth his hand from between the cherubims unto the fire that was between the cherubims, and took thereof, and put it into the hands of him that was clothed with linen: who took it, and went out.
Four Wheels and One Likeness
8kAnd there appeared in the cherubims the form of a man’s hand under their wings.
9lAnd when I looked, behold the four wheels by the cherubims, one wheel by one cherub, and another wheel by another cherub: and the appearance of the wheels was as the colour of a mberyl stone.
10And as for their appearances, they four had one likeness, as if a wheel had been in the midst of a wheel.
11nWhen they went, they went upon their four sides; they turned not as they went, but to the place whither the head looked they followed it; they turned not as they went.
12And their whole body, and their backs, and their hands, and their wings, and the wheels, were ofull of eyes round about, even the wheels that they four had.
13As for the wheels, it was cried unto them in my hearing, O wheel.
14pAnd every one had four faces: the first face was the face of a cherub, and the second face was the face of a man, and the third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle.
15And the cherubims were lifted up. This is qthe living creature that I saw by the river of Chebar.
16rAnd when the cherubims went, the wheels went by them: and when the cherubims lifted up their wings to mount up from the earth, the same wheels also turned not from beside them.
17sWhen they stood, these stood; and when they were lifted up, these lifted up themselves also: for the spirit of the living creature was in them.
The Glory of the Lord
18Then tthe glory of the LORD udeparted from off the threshold of the house, and stood over the cherubims.
19And vthe cherubims lifted up their wings, and mounted up from the earth in my sight: when they went out, the wheels also were beside them, and every one stood at the door of the weast gate of the LORD’s house; and the glory of the God of Israel was over them above.
20xThis is the living creature that I saw under the God of Israel yby the river of Chebar; and I knew that they were the cherubims.
21zEvery one had four faces apiece, and every one four wings; and the likeness of the hands of a man was under their wings.
22And athe likeness of their faces was the same faces which I saw by the river of Chebar, their appearances and themselves: bthey went every one straight forward.
The Wicked Counsel
1Moreover athe spirit lifted me up, and brought me unto bthe east gate of the LORD’s house, which looketh eastward: and behold cat the door of the gate five and twenty men; among whom I saw Jaazaniah the son of Azur, and Pelatiah the son of Benaiah, princes of the people.
2Then said he unto me, Son of man, these are the men that devise mischief, and give wicked counsel in this city:
3Which say, It is not dnear; let us build houses: ethis city is the caldron, and we be the flesh.
4Therefore prophesy against them, prophesy, O son of man.
5And fthe Spirit of the LORD fell upon me, and said unto me, Speak; Thus saith the LORD; Thus have ye said, O house of Israel: for gI know the things that come into your mind, every one of them.
6hYe have multiplied your slain in this city, and ye have filled the streets thereof with the slain.
7Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; iYour slain whom ye have laid in the midst of it, they are the flesh, and this city is the caldron: jbut I will bring you forth out of the midst of it.
8Ye have kfeared the sword; and I will bring a sword upon you, saith the Lord GOD.
9And I will bring you out of the midst thereof, and deliver you into the hands of strangers, and lwill execute judgments among you.
10mYe shall fall by the sword; I will judge you in nthe border of Israel; oand ye shall know that I am the LORD.
11pThis city shall not be your caldron, neither shall ye be the flesh in the midst thereof; but I will judge you in the border of Israel:
12And ye shall know that I am the LORD: for ye have not walked in my statutes, neither executed my judgments, but qhave done after the manners of the heathen that are round about you.
The Death of Pelatiah
13And it came to pass, when I prophesied, that rPelatiah the son of Benaiah died. Then sfell I down upon my face, and cried with a loud voice, and said, Ah Lord GOD! wilt thou make a full end of the remnant of Israel?
14Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
15Son of man, thy brethren, even thy brethren, the men of thy kindred, and all the house of Israel wholly, are they unto whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, Get you far from the LORD: unto us is this land given in possession.
16Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Although I have cast them far off among the heathen, and although I have scattered them among the countries, tyet will I be to them as a little sanctuary in the countries where they shall come.
17Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; uI will even gather you from the people, and assemble you out of the countries where ye have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.
18And they shall come thither, and they shall take away all the vdetestable things thereof and all the abominations thereof from thence.
19And wI will give them one heart, and I will put xa new spirit within you; and I will take ythe stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh:
20zThat they may walk in my statutes, and keep mine ordinances, and do them: aand they shall be my people, and I will be their God.
21But as for them whose heart walketh after the heart of their detestable things and their abominations, bI will recompense their way upon their own heads, saith the Lord GOD.
The Glory of the Lord on the Mountain
22Then did the cherubims clift up their wings, and the wheels beside them; and the glory of the God of Israel was over them above.
23And dthe glory of the LORD went up from the midst of the city, and stood eupon the mountain fwhich is on the east side of the city.
24Afterwards gthe spirit took me up, and brought me in a vision by the Spirit of God into Chaldea, to them of the captivity. So the vision that I had seen went up from me.
25Then I spake unto them of the captivity all the things that the LORD had shewed me.
Removed from Thy Place
1The word of the LORD also came unto me, saying,
2Son of man, thou dwellest in the midst of aa rebellious house, which bhave eyes to see, and see not; they have ears to hear, and hear not: cfor they are a rebellious house.
3Therefore, thou son of man, prepare thee stuff for removing, and remove by day in their sight; and thou shalt remove from thy place to another place in their sight: it may be they will consider, though they be a rebellious house.
4Then shalt thou bring forth thy stuff by day in their sight, as stuff for removing: and thou shalt go forth at even in their sight, as they that go forth into captivity.
5Dig thou through the wall in their sight, and carry out thereby.
6In their sight shalt thou bear it upon thy shoulders, and carry it forth in the twilight: thou shalt cover thy face, that thou see not the ground: dfor I have set thee for a sign unto the house of Israel.
7And I did so as I was commanded: I brought forth my stuff by day, as stuff for captivity, and in the even I digged through the wall with mine hand; I brought it forth in the twilight, and I bare it upon my shoulder in their sight.
The Captivity of Jerusalem
8And in the morning came the word of the LORD unto me, saying,
9Son of man, hath not the house of Israel, ethe rebellious house, said unto thee, fWhat doest thou?
10Say thou unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; This gburden concerneth the prince in Jerusalem, and all the house of Israel that are among them.
11Say, hI am your sign: like as I have done, so shall it be done unto them: ithey shall remove and go into captivity.
12And jthe prince that is among them shall bear upon his shoulder in the twilight, and shall go forth: they shall dig through the wall to carry out thereby: he shall cover his face, that he see not the ground with his eyes.
13My knet also will I spread upon him, and he shall be taken in my snare: and lI will bring him to Babylon to the land of the Chaldeans; yet shall he not see it, though he shall die there.
14And mI will scatter toward every wind all that are about him to help him, and all his bands; and nI will draw out the sword after them.
15oAnd they shall know that I am the LORD, when I shall scatter them among the nations, and disperse them in the countries.
A Remnant Shall Be Saved
16pBut I will leave a few men of them from the sword, from the famine, and from the pestilence; that they may declare all their abominations among the heathen whither they come; and they shall know that I am the LORD.
Eat and Drink with Carefulness
17Moreover the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
18Son of man, qeat thy bread with quaking, and drink thy water with trembling and with carefulness;
19And say unto the people of the land, Thus saith the Lord GOD of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and of the land of Israel; They shall eat their bread with carefulness, and drink their water with astonishment, that her land may rbe desolate from all that is therein, sbecause of the violence of all them that dwell therein.
20And the cities that are inhabited shall be laid waste, and the land shall be desolate; and ye shall know that I am the LORD.
The Judgment Shall Come Soon
21And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
22Son of man, what is that proverb that ye have in the land of Israel, saying, tThe days are prolonged, and every vision faileth?
23Tell them therefore, Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will make this proverb to cease, and they shall no more use it as a proverb in Israel; but say unto them, uThe days are at hand, and the effect of every vision.
24For vthere shall be no more any wvain vision nor flattering divination within the house of Israel.
25For I am the LORD: I will speak, and xthe word that I shall speak shall come to pass; it shall be no more prolonged: for in your days, O rebellious house, will I say the word, and will yperform it, saith the Lord GOD.
26Again the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
27zSon of man, behold, they of the house of Israel say, The vision that he seeth is afor many days to come, and he prophesieth of the times that are far off.
28bTherefore say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; There shall none of my words be prolonged any more, but the word which I have spoken cshall be done, saith the Lord GOD.
Woe on the Foolish Prophets
1And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2Son of man, prophesy aagainst the prophets of Israel that prophesy, and say thou unto bthem that prophesy out of their own chearts, Hear ye the word of the LORD;
3Thus saith the Lord GOD; Woe unto the foolish prophets, that follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing!
4O Israel, thy prophets are dlike the foxes in the deserts.
5Ye ehave not gone up into the gaps, neither made up the hedge for the house of Israel to stand in the battle in the day of the LORD.
6fThey have seen vanity and lying divination, saying, The LORD saith: and the LORD hath gnot sent them: and they have made others to hope that they would confirm the word.
7Have ye not seen a vain vision, and have ye not spoken a lying divination, whereas ye say, The LORD saith it; albeit I have not spoken?
8Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because ye have spoken vanity, and seen lies, therefore, behold, I am against you, saith the Lord GOD.
9And mine hand shall be hupon the prophets that see vanity, and that idivine lies: they shall not be in the assembly of my people, jneither shall they be written in the writing of the house of Israel, kneither shall they enter into the land of Israel; land ye shall know that I am the Lord GOD.
10Because, even because they have seduced my people, saying, mPeace; and there was no peace; and one built up a wall, and, lo, others ndaubed it with untempered morter:
11Say unto them which daub it with untempered morter, that it shall fall: othere shall be an overflowing shower; and ye, O great hailstones, shall fall; and a stormy wind shall rend it.
12Lo, when the wall is fallen, shall it not be said unto you, Where is the daubing wherewith ye have daubed it?
A Stormy Wind of Fury
13Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; I will even rend it with a stormy wind in my fury; and there shall be an overflowing shower in mine anger, and great hailstones in my fury to consume it.
14So will I break down the wall that ye have daubed with untempered morter, and bring it down to the ground, so that the foundation thereof shall be discovered, and it shall fall, and ye shall be consumed in the midst thereof: pand ye shall know that I am the LORD.
15Thus will I accomplish my wrath upon the wall, and upon them that have daubed it with untempered morter, and will say unto you, The wall is no more, neither they that daubed it;
16To wit, the prophets of Israel which prophesy concerning Jerusalem, and which qsee visions of peace for her, and there is no peace, saith the Lord GOD.
Woe to the Women
17Likewise, thou son of man, rset thy face against the daughters of thy people, swhich prophesy out of their own heart; and prophesy thou against them,
18And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Woe to the women that sew pillows to all armholes, and make kerchiefs upon the head of every stature to hunt souls! Will ye thunt the souls of my people, and will ye save the souls alive that come unto you?
19And will ye pollute me among my people ufor handfuls of barley and for pieces of bread, to slay the souls that should not die, and to save the souls alive that should not live, by your lying to my people that hear your lies?
20Wherefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against your pillows, wherewith ye there hunt the souls to make them fly, and I will tear them from your arms, and will let the souls go, even the souls that ye hunt to make them fly.
21Your kerchiefs also will I tear, and deliver my people out of your hand, and they shall be no more in your hand to be hunted; vand ye shall know that I am the LORD.
22Because with wlies ye have made the heart of the righteous sad, whom I have not made sad; and xstrengthened the hands of the wicked, that he should not return from his wicked way, by promising him life:
23Therefore yye shall see no more vanity, nor divine divinations: for I will deliver my people out of your hand: and ye shall know that I am the LORD.
Idols in Their Heart
1Then acame certain of the elders of Israel unto me, and sat before me.
2And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
3Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their heart, and put bthe stumblingblock of their iniquity before their face: cshould I be enquired of at all by them?
4Therefore speak unto them, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Every man of the house of Israel that setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to the prophet; I the LORD will answer him that cometh according to the multitude of his idols;
5That I may take the house of Israel in their own heart, because they are all estranged from me through their idols.
Repent and Turn from Idols
6Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Repent, and turn yourselves from your idols; and dturn away your faces from all your abominations.
7For every one of the house of Israel, or of the stranger that sojourneth in Israel, which separateth himself from me, and setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to a prophet to enquire of him concerning me; I the LORD will answer him by myself:
8And eI will set my face against that man, and will make him a fsign and a proverb, and I will cut him off from the midst of my people; gand ye shall know that I am the LORD.
9And if the prophet be deceived when he hath spoken a thing, I the LORD hhave deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand upon him, and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel.
10And they shall bear the punishment of their iniquity: the punishment of the prophet shall be even as the punishment of him that seeketh unto him;
I Will Be Their God
11That the house of Israel may igo no more astray from me, neither be polluted any more with all their transgressions; jbut that they may be my people, and I may be their God, saith the Lord GOD.
12The word of the LORD came again to me, saying,
13Son of man, when the land sinneth against me by trespassing grievously, then will I stretch out mine hand upon it, and will break the kstaff of the bread thereof, and will send famine upon it, and will cut off man and beast from it:
14lThough these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they should deliver but their own souls mby their righteousness, saith the Lord GOD.
15If I cause nnoisome beasts to pass through the land, and they spoil it, so that it be desolate, that no man may pass through because of the beasts:
16oThough these three men were in it, as I live, saith the Lord GOD, they shall deliver neither sons nor daughters; they only shall be delivered, but the land shall be pdesolate.
17Or if qI bring a sword upon that land, and say, Sword, go through the land; so that I rcut off man and beast from it:
18sThough these three men were in it, as I live, saith the Lord GOD, they shall deliver neither sons nor daughters, but they only shall be delivered themselves.
19Or if I send ta pestilence into that land, and upour out my fury upon it in blood, to cut off from it man and beast:
20vThough Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, as I live, saith the Lord GOD, they shall deliver neither son nor daughter; they shall but deliver their own souls by their righteousness.
21For thus saith the Lord GOD; How much more when wI send my four sore judgments upon Jerusalem, the sword, and the famine, and the noisome beast, and the pestilence, to cut off from it man and beast?
God’s Justness Will Be Known
22xYet, behold, therein shall be left a remnant that shall be ybrought forth, both sons and daughters: behold, they shall come forth unto you, and zye shall see their way and their doings: and ye shall be comforted concerning the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem, even concerning all that I have brought upon it.
23And they shall comfort you, when ye see their ways and their doings: and ye shall know that I have not done awithout cause all that I have done in it, saith the Lord GOD.
A Charred Vine
1And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2Son of man, What is the vine tree more than any tree, or than a branch which is among the trees of the forest?
3Shall wood be taken thereof to do any work? or will men take a pin of it to hang any vessel thereon?
4Behold, ait is cast into the fire for fuel; the fire devoureth both the ends of it, and the midst of it is burned. Is it meet for any work?
5Behold, when it was whole, it was meet for no work: how much less shall it be meet yet for any work, when the fire hath devoured it, and it is burned?
The Fire of God’s Judgment
6Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; As the vine tree among the trees of the forest, which I have given to the fire for fuel, so will I give the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
7And bI will set my face against them; cthey shall go out from one fire, and another fire shall devour them; dand ye shall know that I am the LORD, when I set my face against them.
8And I will make the land desolate, because they have committed a trespass, saith the Lord GOD.
Jerusalem Is Cast Out in a Field
1Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2Son of man, acause Jerusalem to know her abominations,
3And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD unto Jerusalem; Thy birth band thy nativity is of the land of Canaan; cthy father was an Amorite, and thy mother an Hittite.
4And as for thy nativity, din the day thou wast born thy navel was not cut, neither wast thou washed in water to supple thee; thou wast not salted at all, nor swaddled at all.
5None eye pitied thee, to do any of these unto thee, to have compassion upon thee; but thou wast cast out in the open field, to the lothing of thy person, in the day that thou wast born.
God’s Covenant with Her
6And when I passed by thee, and saw thee polluted in thine own blood, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, Live; yea, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, Live.
7eI have caused thee to multiply as the bud of the field, and thou hast increased and waxen great, and thou art come to excellent ornaments: thy breasts are fashioned, and thine hair is grown, whereas thou wast naked and bare.
8Now when I passed by thee, and looked upon thee, behold, thy time was the time of love; fand I spread my skirt over thee, and covered thy nakedness: yea, I gsware unto thee, and entered into a hcovenant with thee, saith the Lord GOD, and ithou becamest mine.
9Then washed I thee with water; yea, I throughly washed away thy blood from thee, and I anointed thee with oil.
10I clothed thee also with broidered work, and shod thee with badgers’ skin, and I girded thee about with fine linen, and I covered thee with silk.
11I decked thee also with ornaments, and I jput bracelets upon thy hands, kand a chain on thy neck.
12And I put a jewel on thy forehead, and earrings in thine ears, and a beautiful crown upon thine head.
13Thus wast thou decked with gold and silver; and thy raiment was of fine linen, and silk, and broidered work; lthou didst eat fine flour, and honey, and oil: and thou wast exceeding mbeautiful, and thou didst prosper into a kingdom.
14And nthy renown went forth among the heathen for thy beauty: for it was perfect through my comeliness, which I had put upon thee, saith the Lord GOD.
She Has Played the Harlot
15oBut thou didst trust in thine own beauty, pand playedst the harlot because of thy renown, and pouredst out thy fornications on every one that passed by; his it was.
16qAnd of thy garments thou didst take, and deckedst thy high places with divers colours, and playedst the harlot thereupon: the like things shall not come, neither shall it be so.
17Thou hast also taken thy fair jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given thee, and madest to thyself images of men, and didst commit whoredom with them,
18And tookest thy broidered garments, and coveredst them: and thou hast set mine oil and mine incense before them.
19rMy meat also which I gave thee, fine flour, and oil, and honey, wherewith I fed thee, thou hast even set it before them for a sweet savour: and thus it was, saith the Lord GOD.
20sMoreover thou hast taken thy sons and thy daughters, whom thou hast borne unto me, and these hast thou sacrificed unto them to be devoured. Is this of thy whoredoms a small matter,
21That thou hast slain my children, and delivered them to cause them to pass through the tfire for them?
22And in all thine abominations and thy whoredoms thou hast not remembered the days of thy uyouth, vwhen thou wast naked and bare, and wast polluted in thy blood.
She Has Multiplied Her Whoredoms
23And it came to pass after all thy wickedness, (woe, woe unto thee! saith the Lord GOD;)
24That wthou hast also built unto thee an eminent place, and xhast made thee an high place in every street.
25Thou hast built thy high place yat every head of the way, and hast made thy beauty to be abhorred, and hast opened thy feet to every one that passed by, and multiplied thy whoredoms.
26Thou hast also committed fornication with zthe Egyptians thy neighbours, great of flesh; and hast increased thy whoredoms, to aprovoke me to anger.
27Behold, therefore I have stretched out my hand over thee, and have diminished thine ordinary food, and delivered thee unto the will of them that hate thee, bthe daughters of the Philistines, which are ashamed of thy lewd way.
28Thou hast played the whore also with the cAssyrians, because thou wast unsatiable; yea, thou hast played the harlot with them, and yet couldest not be satisfied.
29Thou hast moreover multiplied thy fornication in the land of Canaan dunto Chaldea; and yet thou wast not satisfied herewith.
Like an Adulterous Wife
30How weak is thine heart, saith the Lord GOD, seeing thou doest all these things, the work of an imperious whorish woman;
31In that ethou buildest thine eminent place in the head of every way, and makest thine high place in every street; and hast not been as an harlot, in that thou scornest fhire;
32But as a wife that committeth adultery, which taketh strangers instead of her husband!
33They give gifts to all whores: but gthou givest thy gifts to all thy lovers, and hirest them, that they may come unto thee on every side for thy whoredom.
34And the contrary is in thee from other women in thy whoredoms, whereas none followeth thee to commit whoredoms: and in that thou givest a reward, and no reward is given unto thee, therefore thou art contrary.
Her Lovers Gather Against Her
35Wherefore, O harlot, hear the word of the LORD:
36Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thy filthiness was poured out, and thy nakedness discovered through thy whoredoms with thy lovers, and with all the idols of thy abominations, and by hthe blood of thy children, which thou didst give unto them;
37Behold, therefore iI will gather all thy lovers, with whom thou hast taken pleasure, and all them that thou hast loved, with all them that thou hast hated; I will even gather them round about against thee, and will discover thy nakedness unto them, that they may see all thy nakedness.
38And I will judge thee, as jwomen that break wedlock and kshed blood are judged; and I will give thee blood in fury and jealousy.
39And I will also give thee into their hand, and they shall throw down lthine eminent place, and shall break down thy high places: mthey shall strip thee also of thy clothes, and shall take thy fair jewels, and leave thee naked and bare.
40nThey shall also bring up a company against thee, oand they shall stone thee with stones, and thrust thee through with their swords.
41And they shall pburn thine houses with fire, and qexecute judgments upon thee in the sight of many women: and I will cause thee to rcease from playing the harlot, and thou also shalt give no hire any more.
42So swill I make my fury toward thee to rest, and my jealousy shall depart from thee, and I will be quiet, and will be no more angry.
43Because tthou hast not remembered the days of thy youth, but hast fretted me in all these things; behold, therefore uI also will recompense thy way upon thine head, saith the Lord GOD: and thou shalt not commit this lewdness above all thine abominations.
Her Mother’s Daughter
44Behold, every one that useth proverbs shall use this proverb against thee, saying, As is the mother, so is her daughter.
45Thou art thy mother’s daughter, that lotheth her husband and her children; and thou art the vsister of thy sisters, which lothed their husbands and their children: wyour mother was an Hit-tite, and your father an Amorite.
46And thine elder sister is Samaria, she and her daughters that dwell at thy left hand: and xthy younger sister, that dwelleth at thy right hand, is Sodom and her daughters.
47Yet hast thou not walked after their ways, nor done after their abominations: but, as if that were a very little thing, ythou wast corrupted more than they in all thy ways.
Her Sins More Than Sodom’s
48As I live, saith the Lord GOD, zSodom thy sister hath not done, she nor her daughters, as thou hast done, thou and thy daughters.
49Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, afulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.
50And they were haughty, and bcommitted abomination before me: therefore cI took them away as I saw good.
51Neither hath Samaria committed dhalf of thy sins; but thou hast multiplied thine abominations more than they, and ehast justified thy sisters in all thine abominations which thou hast done.
52Thou also, which hast judged thy sisters, bear thine own shame for thy sins that thou hast committed more abominable than they: they are more righteous than thou: yea, be thou confounded also, and bear thy shame, in that thou hast justified thy sisters.
53fWhen I shall bring again their captivity, the captivity of Sodom and her daughters, and the captivity of Samaria and her daughters, then will I bring again gthe captivity of thy captives in the midst of them:
54That thou mayest bear thine own shame, and mayest be confounded in all that thou hast done, in that thou art ha comfort unto them.
Her Lewdness and Abominations
55When thy sisters, Sodom and her daughters, shall return to their former estate, and Samaria and her daughters shall return to their former estate, then thou and thy daughters shall return to your former estate.
56For thy sister Sodom was not mentioned by thy mouth in the day of thy pride,
57Before thy wickedness was discovered, as at the time of thy ireproach of the daughters of Syria, and all that are round about her, jthe daughters of the Philistines, which despise thee round about.
58kThou hast borne thy lewdness and thine abominations, saith the LORD.
God’s Everlasting Covenant
59For thus saith the Lord GOD; I will even deal with thee as thou hast done, which hast ldespised mthe oath in breaking the covenant.
60Nevertheless I will nremember my covenant with thee in the days of thy youth, and I will establish unto thee oan everlasting covenant.
61Then pthou shalt remember thy ways, and be ashamed, when thou shalt receive thy sisters, thine elder and thy younger: and I will give them unto thee for qdaughters, rbut not by thy covenant.
62sAnd I will establish my covenant with thee; and thou shalt know that I am the LORD:
63That thou mayest tremember, and be confounded, uand never open thy mouth any more because of thy shame, when I am pacified toward thee for all that thou hast done, saith the Lord GOD.
The Parable of the Eagles
1And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2Son of man, put forth a riddle, and speak a aparable unto the house of Israel;
3And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; bA great eagle with great wings, longwinged, full of feathers, which had divers colours, came unto Lebanon, and ctook the highest branch of the cedar:
4He cropped off the top of his young twigs, and carried it into a land of traffick; he set it in a city of merchants.
5He took also of the seed of the land, and planted it in da fruitful field; he placed it by great waters, and set it eas a willow tree.
6And it grew, and became a spreading vine fof low stature, whose branches turned toward him, and the roots thereof were under him: so it became a vine, and brought forth branches, and shot forth sprigs.
7There was also another great eagle with great wings and many feathers: and, behold, gthis vine did bend her roots toward him, and shot forth her branches toward him, that he might water it by the furrows of her plantation.
8It was planted in a good soil by great waters, that it might bring forth branches, and that it might bear fruit, that it might be a goodly vine.
9Say thou, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Shall it prosper? hshall he not pull up the roots thereof, and cut off the fruit thereof, that it wither? it shall wither in all the leaves of her spring, even without great power or many people to pluck it up by the roots thereof.
10Yea, behold, being planted, shall it prosper? ishall it not utterly wither, when the east wind toucheth it? it shall wither in the furrows where it grew.
Babylon’s Covenant with Zedekiah
11Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
12Say now to jthe rebellious house, Know ye not what these things mean? tell them, Behold, kthe king of Babylon is come to Jerusalem, and hath taken the king thereof, and the princes thereof, and led them with him to Babylon;
13lAnd hath taken of the king’s seed, and made a covenant with him, mand hath taken an oath of him: he hath also taken the mighty of the land:
14That the kingdom might be nbase, that it might not lift itself up, but that by keeping of his covenant it might stand.
Zedekiah’s Rebellion
15But ohe rebelled against him in sending his ambassadors into Egypt, pthat they might give him horses and much people. qShall he prosper? shall he escape that doeth such things? or shall he break the covenant, and be delivered?
16As I live, saith the Lord GOD, surely rin the place where the king dwelleth that made him king, whose oath he despised, and whose covenant he brake, even with him in the midst of Babylon he shall die.
17sNeither shall Pharaoh with his mighty army and great company make for him in the war, tby casting up mounts, and building forts, to cut off many persons:
18Seeing he despised the oath by breaking the covenant, when, lo, he had ugiven his hand, and hath done all these things, he shall not escape.
God’s Punishment of Zedekiah
19Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; As I live, surely mine oath that he hath despised, and my covenant that he hath broken, even it will I recompense upon his own head.
20And I will vspread my net upon him, and he shall be taken in my snare, and I will bring him to Babylon, and wwill plead with him there for his trespass that he hath trespassed against me.
21And xall his fugitives with all his bands shall fall by the sword, and they that remain shall be yscattered toward all winds: and ye shall know that I the LORD have spoken it.
God’s Tender One
22Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will also take of the highest zbranch of the high cedar, and will set it; I will crop off from the top of his young twigs aa tender one, and will bplant it upon an high mountain and eminent:
23cIn the mountain of the height of Israel will I plant it: and it shall bring forth boughs, and bear fruit, and be a goodly cedar: and dunder it shall dwell all fowl of every wing; in the shadow of the branches thereof shall they dwell.
24And all the trees of the field shall know that I the LORD ehave brought down the high tree, have exalted the low tree, have dried up the green tree, and have made the dry tree to flourish: fI the LORD have spoken and have done it.
The Sinning Soul Shall Die
1The word of the LORD came unto me again, saying,
2What mean ye, that ye use this proverb concerning the land of Israel, saying, The afathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge?
3As I live, saith the Lord GOD, ye shall not have occasion any more to use this proverb in Israel.
4Behold, all souls are bmine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: cthe soul that sinneth, it shall die.
The Just Soul Shall Live
5But if a man be just, and do that which is lawful and right,
6dAnd hath not eaten upon the mountains, neither hath lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, neither hath edefiled his neighbour’s wife, fneither hath come near to a menstruous woman,
7And hath not goppressed any, but hath restored to the debtor his hpledge, hath spoiled none by violence, hath igiven his bread to the hungry, and hath covered the naked with a jgarment;
8He that hath not given forth upon kusury, neither hath taken any increase, that hath withdrawn his hand from iniquity, lhath executed true judgment between man and man,
9Hath walked in my statutes, and hath kept my judgments, to deal truly; he is just, he shall surely mlive, saith the Lord GOD.
10If he beget a son that is a robber, na shedder of blood, and that doeth the like to any one of these things,
11And that doeth not any of those duties, but even hath eaten upon the mountains, and defiled his neighbour’s wife,
12Hath oppressed the poor and needy, hath spoiled by violence, hath not restored the pledge, and hath lifted up his eyes to the idols, hath ocommitted abomination,
13Hath given forth upon usury, and hath taken increase: shall he then live? he shall not live: he hath done all these abominations; he shall surely die; phis blood shall be upon him.
14Now, lo, if he beget a son, that seeth all his father’s sins which he hath done, and considereth, and doeth not such like,
15qThat hath not eaten upon the mountains, neither hath lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, hath not defiled his neighbour’s wife,
16Neither hath oppressed any, hath not withholden the pledge, neither hath spoiled by violence, but hath given his bread to the hungry, and hath covered the naked with a garment,
17That hath taken off his hand from the poor, that hath not received usury nor increase, hath executed my judgments, hath walked in my statutes; he shall not die for the iniquity of his father, he shall surely live.
Every Soul Bears Its Own Iniquity
18As for his father, because he cruelly oppressed, spoiled his brother by violence, and did that which is not good among his people, lo, even rhe shall die in his iniquity.
19Yet say ye, Why? sdoth not the son bear the iniquity of the father? When the son hath done that which is lawful and right, and hath kept all my statutes, and hath done them, he shall surely live.
20tThe soul that sinneth, it shall die. uThe son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: vthe righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, wand the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.
21But xif the wicked will turn from all his sins that he hath committed, and keep all my statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die.
22yAll his transgressions that he hath committed, they shall not be mentioned unto him: in his righteousness that he hath done he shall zlive.
23aHave I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? saith the Lord GOD: and not that he should return from his ways, and live?
He Who Sins Shall Die in His Iniquity
24But bwhen the righteous turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and doeth according to all the abominations that the wicked man doeth, shall he live? cAll his righteousness that he hath done shall not be mentioned: in his trespass that he hath trespassed, and in his sin that he hath sinned, in them shall he die.
25Yet ye say, dThe way of the Lord is not equal. Hear now, O house of Israel; Is not my way equal? are not your ways unequal?
26eWhen a righteous man turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and dieth in them; for his iniquity that he hath done shall he die.
27Again, fwhen the wicked man turneth away from his wickedness that he hath committed, and doeth that which is lawful and right, he shall save his soul alive.
28Because he gconsidereth, and turneth away from all his transgressions that he hath committed, he shall surely live, he shall not die.
29hYet saith the house of Israel, The way of the Lord is not equal. O house of Israel, are not my ways equal? are not your ways unequal?
Repent and Live
30iTherefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, saith the Lord GOD. jRepent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin.
31kCast away from you all your transgressions, whereby ye have transgressed; and make you a lnew heart and a new spirit: for why will ye die, O house of Israel?
32For mI have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord GOD: wherefore turn yourselves, and nlive ye.
A Lament for Israel’s Princes
1Moreover atake thou up a lamentation for the princes of Israel,
2And say, What is thy mother? A lioness: she lay down among lions, she nourished her whelps among young lions.
3And she brought up one of her whelps: bit became a young lion, and it learned to catch the prey; it devoured men.
4The nations also heard of him; he was taken in their pit, and they brought him with chains unto the land of cEgypt.
5Now when she saw that she had waited, and her hope was lost, then she took danother of her whelps, and made him a young lion.
6eAnd he went up and down among the lions, fhe became a young lion, and learned to catch the prey, and devoured men.
7And he knew their desolate palaces, and he laid waste their cities; and the land was desolate, and the fulness thereof, by the noise of his roaring.
8gThen the nations set against him on every side from the provinces, and spread their net over him: hhe was taken in their pit.
9iAnd they put him in ward in chains, and brought him to the king of Babylon: they brought him into holds, that his voice should no more be heard upon jthe mountains of Israel.
Judah Is Likened to a Vine
10Thy mother is klike a vine in thy blood, planted by the waters: she was lfruitful and full of branches by reason of many waters.
11And she had strong rods for the sceptres of them that bare rule, and her mstature was exalted among the thick branches, and she appeared in her height with the multitude of her branches.
12But she was nplucked up in fury, she was cast down to the ground, and the oeast wind dried up her fruit: her strong rods were broken and withered; the fire consumed them.
13And now she is planted in the wilderness, in a dry and thirsty ground.
14pAnd fire is gone out of a rod of her branches, which hath devoured her fruit, so that she hath no strong rod to be a sceptre to rule. qThis is a lamentation, and shall be for a lamentation.
Judgment on the Elders
1And it came to pass in the seventh year, in the fifth month, the tenth day of the month, that acertain of the elders of Israel came to enquire of the LORD, and sat before me.
2Then came the word of the LORD unto me, saying,
3Son of man, speak unto the elders of Israel, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Are ye come to enquire of me? As I live, saith the Lord GOD, bI will not be enquired of by you.
4Wilt thou judge them, son of man, wilt thou judge them? ccause them to know the abominations of their fathers:
5And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; In the day when dI chose Israel, and lifted up mine hand unto the seed of the house of Jacob, and made myself eknown unto them in the land of Egypt, when I lifted up mine hand unto them, saying, fI am the LORD your God;
6In the day that I lifted up mine hand unto them, gto bring them forth of the land of Egypt into a land that I had espied for them, hflowing with milk and honey, which is ithe glory of all lands:
7Then said I unto them, jCast ye away every man kthe abominations of his eyes, and defile not yourselves with lthe idols of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.
Israel’s Rebellion
8But they rebelled against me, and would not hearken unto me: they did not every man cast away the abominations of their eyes, neither did they forsake the idols of Egypt: then I said, I will mpour out my fury upon them, to accomplish my anger against them in the midst of the land of Egypt.
9nBut I wrought for my name’s sake, that it should not be polluted before the heathen, among whom they were, in whose sight I made myself oknown unto them, in bringing them forth out of the land of Egypt.
10Wherefore I pcaused them to go forth out of the land of Egypt, and brought them into the wilderness.
11qAnd I gave them my statutes, and shewed them my judgments, rwhich if a man do, he shall even live in them.
12Moreover also I gave them my ssabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the LORD that sanctify them.
13But the house of Israel trebelled against me in the wilderness: they walked not in my statutes, and they udespised my judgments, vwhich if a man do, he shall even live in them; and my sabbaths they greatly wpolluted: then I said, I would pour out my fury upon them in the xwilderness, to consume them.
14yBut I wrought for my name’s sake, that it should not be polluted before the heathen, in whose sight I brought them out.
Israel’s Punishment in the Wilderness
15Yet also zI lifted up my hand unto them in the wilderness, that I would not bring them into the land which I had given them, aflowing with milk and honey, which is bthe glory of all lands;
16cBecause they despised my judgments, and walked not in my statutes, but polluted my sabbaths: for dtheir heart went after their idols.
17eNevertheless mine eye spared them from destroying them, neither did I make an end of them in the wilderness.
18But I said unto their children in the wilderness, Walk ye not in the statutes of your fathers, neither observe their judgments, nor defile yourselves with their idols:
19I am the LORD your God; fwalk in my statutes, and keep my judgments, and do them;
20gAnd hallow my sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I am the LORD your God.
21Notwithstanding hthe children rebelled against me: they walked not in my statutes, neither kept my judgments to do them, iwhich if a man do, he shall even live in them; they polluted my sabbaths: then I said, I would pour out my fury upon them, to accomplish my anger against them in the wilderness.
22Nevertheless I withdrew mine hand, and wrought for my name’s sake, that it should not be polluted in the sight of the heathen, in whose sight I brought them forth.
God’s Lifted Hand
23I lifted up mine hand unto them also in the wilderness, that jI would scatter them among the heathen, and disperse them through the countries;
24kBecause they had not executed my judgments, but had despised my statutes, and had polluted my sabbaths, and ltheir eyes were after their fathers’ idols.
25Wherefore mI gave them also statutes that were not good, and judgments whereby they should not live;
26And I polluted them in their own gifts, in that they caused to pass nthrough the fire all that openeth the womb, that I might make them desolate, to the end that they omight know that I am the LORD.
27Therefore, son of man, speak unto the house of Israel, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Yet in this your fathers have pblasphemed me, in that they have committed a trespass against me.
28For when I had brought them into the land, for the which I lifted up mine hand to give it to them, then qthey saw every high hill, and all the thick trees, and they offered there their sacrifices, and there they presented the provocation of their offering: there also they made their rsweet savour, and poured out there their drink offerings.
29Then I said unto them, What is the high place whereunto ye go? And the name thereof is called Bamah unto this day.
30Wherefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Are ye polluted after the manner of your sfathers? and commit ye whoredom after their tabominations?
31For when ye offer uyour gifts, when ye make your sons to pass through the fire, ye pollute yourselves with all your idols, even unto this day: and shall I be enquired of by you, O house of Israel? As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I will vnot be enquired of by you.
32And that wwhich cometh into your mind shall not be at all, that ye say, We will be as the heathen, as the families of the countries, to serve wood and stone.
Israel Gathered with a Mighty Hand
33As I live, saith the Lord GOD, surely with a mighty hand, and xwith a stretched out arm, and with fury poured out, will I rule over you:
34And I will bring you out from the people, and will gather you out of the countries wherein ye are scattered, with a mighty hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with fury poured out.
35And I will bring you into the wilderness of the people, and there ywill I plead with you face to face.
36zLike as I pleaded with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so will I plead with you, saith the Lord GOD.
37And I will cause you to apass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the bcovenant:
38And cI will purge out from among you the rebels, and them that transgress against me: I will bring them forth out of the country where they sojourn, and dthey shall not enter into the land of Israel: and ye shall know that I am the LORD.
39As for you, O house of Israel, thus saith the Lord GOD; eGo ye, serve ye every one his idols, and hereafter also, if ye will not hearken unto me: fbut pollute ye my holy name no more with your gifts, and with your idols.
40For gin mine holy mountain, in the mountain of the height of Israel, saith the Lord GOD, there shall hall the house of Israel, all of them in the land, serve me: there iwill I accept them, and there will I require your offerings, and the firstfruits of your oblations, with all your holy things.
41I will accept you with your jsweet savour, when I bring you out from the people, and gather you out of the countries wherein ye have been scattered; and I will be sanctified in you before the heathen.
42kAnd ye shall know that I am the LORD, lwhen I shall bring you into the land of Israel, into the country for the which I lifted up mine hand to give it to your fathers.
43And mthere shall ye remember your ways, and all your doings, wherein ye have been defiled; and nye shall lothe yourselves in your own sight for all your evils that ye have committed.
44oAnd ye shall know that I am the LORD, when I have wrought with you pfor my name’s sake, not according to your wicked ways, nor according to your corrupt doings, O ye house of Israel, saith the Lord GOD.
God’s Unquenchable Fire
45Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
46qSon of man, set thy face toward the south, and drop thy word toward the south, and prophesy against the forest of the south field;
47And say to the forest of the south, Hear the word of the LORD; Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, rI will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour severy green tree in thee, and every dry tree: the flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces tfrom the south to the north shall be burned therein.
48And all flesh shall see that I the LORD have kindled it: it shall not be quenched.
49Then said I, Ah Lord GOD! they say of me, Doth he not speak uparables?
God’s Judgment Sword
1And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2aSon of man, set thy face toward Jerusalem, and bdrop thy word toward the holy places, and prophesy against the land of Israel,
3And say to the land of Israel, Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I am cagainst thee, and will draw forth my sword out of his sheath, and will cut off from thee dthe righteous and the wicked.
4Seeing then that I will cut off from thee the righteous and the wicked, therefore shall my sword go forth out of his sheath against all flesh efrom the south to the north:
5That all flesh may know that I the LORD have drawn forth my sword out of his sheath: it fshall not return any more.
6gSigh therefore, thou son of man, with the breaking of thy loins; and with bitterness sigh before their eyes.
7And it shall be, when they say unto thee, Wherefore sighest thou? that thou shalt answer, For the tidings; because it cometh: and every heart shall melt, and hall hands shall be feeble, and every spirit shall faint, and all knees shall be weak as water: behold, it cometh, and shall be brought to pass, saith the Lord GOD.
8Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
9Son of man, prophesy, and say, Thus saith the LORD; Say, iA sword, a sword is sharpened, and also furbished:
10It is sharpened to make a sore slaughter; it is furbished that it may glitter: should we then make mirth? it contemneth the rod of my son, as every tree.
11And he hath given it to be furbished, that it may be handled: this sword is sharpened, and it is furbished, to give it into the hand of jthe slayer.
12Cry and howl, son of man: for it shall be upon my people, it shall be upon all the princes of Israel: terrors by reason of the sword shall be upon my people: ksmite therefore upon thy thigh.
13Because it is la trial, and what if the sword contemn even the rod? mit shall be no more, saith the Lord GOD.
The Sword of the Slain
14Thou therefore, son of man, prophesy, and nsmite thine hands together, and let the sword be doubled the third time, the sword of the slain: it is the sword of the great men that are slain, which entereth into their oprivy chambers.
15I have set the point of the sword against all their gates, that their heart may faint, and their ruins be multiplied: ah! pit is made bright, it is wrapped up for the slaughter.
16qGo thee one way or other, either on the right hand, or on the left, whithersoever thy face is set.
17I will also rsmite mine hands together, and sI will cause my fury to rest: I the LORD have said it.
The Sword of the King of Babylon
18The word of the LORD came unto me again, saying,
19Also, thou son of man, appoint thee two ways, that the sword of the king of Babylon may come: both twain shall come forth out of one land: and choose thou a place, choose it at the head of the way to the city.
20Appoint a way, that the sword may come to tRabbath of the Ammonites, and to Judah in Jerusalem the defenced.
21For the king of Babylon stood at the parting of the way, at the head of the two ways, to use divination: he made his arrows bright, he consulted with images, he looked in the liver.
22At his right hand was the divination for Jerusalem, to appoint captains, to open the mouth in the slaughter, to ulift up the voice with shouting, vto appoint battering rams against the gates, to cast a mount, and to build a fort.
23And it shall be unto them as a false divination in their sight, to them that whave sworn oaths: but he will call to remembrance the iniquity, that they may be taken.
Remove the Diadem
24Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because ye have made your iniquity to be remembered, in that your transgressions are discovered, so that in all your doings your sins do appear; because, I say, that ye are come to remembrance, ye shall be taken with the hand.
25And thou, xprofane wicked prince of Israel, ywhose day is come, when iniquity shall have an end,
26Thus saith the Lord GOD; Remove the diadem, and take off the crown: this shall not be the same: zexalt him that is low, and abase him that is high.
27I will overturn, overturn, overturn, it: aand it shall be no more, until he come whose right it is; and I will give it bhim.
No Mercy for the Ammonites
28And thou, son of man, prophesy and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD cconcerning the Ammonites, and concerning their reproach; even say thou, The sword, the sword is drawn: for the slaughter it is furbished, to consume because of the glittering:
29Whiles they dsee vanity unto thee, whiles they divine a lie unto thee, to bring thee upon the necks of them that are slain, of the wicked, ewhose day is come, when their iniquity shall have an end.
30fShall I cause it to return into his sheath? gI will judge thee in the place where thou wast created, hin the land of thy nativity.
31And I will ipour out mine indignation upon thee, I will jblow against thee in the fire of my wrath, and deliver thee into the hand of brutish men, and skilful to kdestroy.
32Thou shalt be for fuel to the fire; thy blood shall be in the midst of the land; lthou shalt be no more remembered: for I the LORD have spoken it.
The Judgments on the Bloody City
1Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2Now, thou son of man, awilt thou judge, wilt thou judge bthe bloody city? yea, thou shalt shew her all her abominations.
3Then say thou, Thus saith the Lord GOD, The city sheddeth cblood in the midst of it, that her time may come, and maketh idols against herself to defile herself.
4Thou art become guilty in thy blood that thou hast dshed; and hast defiled thyself in thine idols which thou hast made; and thou hast caused thy days to draw near, and art come even unto thy years: etherefore have I made thee a reproach unto the heathen, and a mocking to all countries.
5Those that be near, and those that be far from thee, shall mock thee, which art infamous and much vexed.
6Behold, fthe princes of Israel, every one were in thee to their power to shed blood.
7In thee have they gset light by father and mother: in the midst of thee have they hdealt by oppression with the stranger: in thee have they vexed the fatherless and the widow.
8Thou hast despised mine holy things, and hast iprofaned my sabbaths.
9In thee are jmen that carry tales to shed blood: kand in thee they eat upon the mountains: in the midst of thee they commit lewdness.
10In thee have they ldiscovered their fathers’ nakedness: in thee have they humbled her that was mset apart for pollution.
11And one hath committed abomination nwith his neighbour’s wife; and another ohath lewdly defiled his daughter in law; and another in thee hath humbled his sister, his father’s pdaughter.
12In thee qhave they taken gifts to shed blood; rthou hast taken usury and increase, and thou hast greedily gained of thy neighbours by extortion, and shast forgotten me, saith the Lord GOD.
13Behold, therefore I have tsmitten mine hand at thy dishonest gain which thou hast made, and at thy blood which hath been in the midst of thee.
14uCan thine heart endure, or can thine hands be strong, in the days that I shall deal with thee? vI the LORD have spoken it, and will do it.
15And wI will scatter thee among the heathen, and disperse thee in the countries, and xwill consume thy filthiness out of thee.
16And thou shalt take thine inheritance in thyself in the sight of the heathen, and ythou shalt know that I am the LORD.
The People Are Like Dross
17And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
18Son of man, zthe house of Israel is to me become dross: all they are brass, and tin, and iron, and lead, in the midst of the afurnace; they are even the dross of silver.
19Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because ye are all become dross, behold, therefore I will gather you into the midst of Jerusalem.
20As they gather silver, and brass, and iron, and lead, and tin, into the midst of the furnace, to blow the fire upon it, to bmelt it; so will I gather you in mine anger and in my fury, and I will leave you there, and melt you.
21Yea, I will gather you, and blow upon you in the fire of my wrath, and ye shall be melted in the midst thereof.
22As silver is melted in the midst of the furnace, so shall ye be melted in the midst thereof; and ye shall know that I the LORD have cpoured out my fury upon you.
23And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
24Son of man, say unto her, Thou art the land that is dnot cleansed, nor rained upon in the day of indignation.
25eThere is a conspiracy of her prophets in the midst thereof, like a roaring lion ravening the prey; they fhave devoured souls; they have taken the treasure and precious things; gthey have made her many widows in the midst thereof.
26hHer priests have violated my law, and have iprofaned mine holy things: they have put no jdifference between the holy and profane, neither have they shewed difference between the unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes from my sabbaths, and I am profaned among them.
27Her kprinces in the midst thereof are like wolves ravening the prey, to shed blood, and to destroy souls, to get dishonest gain.
28And lher prophets have daubed them with untempered morter, mseeing vanity, and divining nlies unto them, saying, Thus saith the Lord GOD, when the LORD hath not spoken.
29The people of the land have used oppression, and exercised robbery, and have vexed the poor and needy: yea, they have ooppressed the stranger wrongfully.
The Fire of God’s Wrath
30pAnd I sought for a man among them, that should qmake up the hedge, and rstand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none.
31Therefore have I spoured out mine indignation upon them; I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath: ttheir own way have I recompensed upon their heads, saith the Lord GOD.
Whoredoms in Egypt
1The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying,
2Son of man, there were atwo women, the daughters of one mother:
3And bthey committed whoredoms in Egypt; they committed whoredoms in ctheir youth: there were their breasts pressed, and there they bruised the teats of their virginity.
4And the names of them were Aholah the elder, and Aholibah dher sister: and ethey were mine, and they bare sons and daughters. Thus were their names; Samaria is Aholah, and Jerusalem Aholibah.
Israel’s Love for Assyria’s Idols
5And Aholah played the harlot when she was mine; and she doted on her lovers, on fthe Assyrians her neighbours,
6Which were clothed with blue, captains and rulers, all of them desirable young men, horsemen riding upon horses.
7Thus she committed her whoredoms with them, with all them that were the chosen men of Assyria, and with all on whom she doted: with all their idols she defiled herself.
8Neither left she her whoredoms brought gfrom Egypt: for in her youth they lay with her, and they bruised the breasts of her virginity, and poured their whoredom upon her.
9Wherefore I have delivered her into the hand of her lovers, into the hand of the hAssyrians, upon whom she doted.
10These discovered her nakedness: they took her sons and her daughters, and slew her with the sword: and she became famous among women; for they had executed judgment upon her.
Judah’s Alliance with Assyria
11And iwhen her sister Aholibah saw this, jshe was more corrupt in her inordinate love than she, and in her whoredoms more than her sister in her whoredoms.
12She doted upon the kAssyrians her neighbours, lcaptains and rulers clothed most gorgeously, horsemen riding upon horses, all of them desirable young men.
13Then I saw that she was defiled, that they took both one way,
Judah’s Alliance with Babylon
14And that she increased her whoredoms: for when she saw men pourtrayed upon the wall, the images of the mChaldeans pourtrayed with vermilion,
15Girded with girdles upon their loins, exceeding in dyed attire upon their heads, all of them princes to look to, after the manner of the Babylonians of Chaldea, the land of their nativity:
16nAnd as soon as she saw them with her eyes, she doted upon them, and sent omessengers unto them into Chaldea.
17And the Babylonians came to her into the bed of love, and they defiled her with their whoredom, and she was polluted with them, and pher mind was alienated from them.
18So she discovered her whoredoms, and discovered her nakedness: then qmy mind was ralienated from her, like as my mind was alienated from her sister.
Judah’s Alliance with Egypt
19Yet she multiplied her whoredoms, in calling to remembrance the days of her youth, swherein she had played the harlot in the land of Egypt.
20For she doted upon their paramours, whose flesh is as the flesh of asses, and whose issue is like the issue of horses.
21Thus thou calledst to remembrance the lewdness of thy youth, in bruising thy teats by the tEgyptians for the paps of thy youth.
22Therefore, O Aholibah, thus saith the Lord GOD; uBehold, I will raise up thy lovers against thee, from whom thy mind is alienated, and I will bring them against thee on every side;
23The Babylonians, and all the Chaldeans, vPekod, and Shoa, and Koa, and wall the Assyrians with them: all of them desirable young men, captains and rulers, great lords and renowned, all of them riding upon horses.
24And they shall come against thee with chariots, wagons, and wheels, and with an assembly of people, which shall set against thee buckler and shield and helmet round about: and I will set judgment before them, and they shall judge thee according to their judgments.
25And I will set my xjealousy against thee, and they shall deal furiously with thee: they shall take away thy nose and thine ears; and thy remnant shall fall by the sword: they shall take thy sons and thy daughters; and thy residue shall be devoured by the fire.
26yThey shall also strip thee out of thy clothes, and take away thy fair jewels.
27Thus zwill I make thy lewdness to cease from thee, and thy awhoredom brought from the land of Egypt: so that thou shalt not lift up thine eyes unto them, nor remember Egypt any more.
Judah’s Punishment
28For thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will deliver thee into the hand of them bwhom thou hatest, into the hand of them cfrom whom thy mind is alienated:
29dAnd they shall deal with thee hatefully, and shall take away all thy labour, and eshall leave thee naked and bare: and the nakedness of thy whoredoms shall be discovered, both thy lewdness and thy whoredoms.
30I will do these things unto thee, because thou hast fgone a whoring after the heathen, and because thou art polluted with their idols.
Judah to Drink of Israel’s Cup
31Thou hast walked in the way of thy sister; therefore will I give her gcup into thine hand.
32Thus saith the Lord GOD; Thou shalt drink of thy sister’s cup deep and large: hthou shalt be laughed to scorn and had in derision; it containeth much.
33Thou shalt be filled with drunkenness and sorrow, with the cup of astonishment and desolation, with the cup of thy sister Samaria.
34Thou shalt ieven drink it and suck it out, and thou shalt break the sherds thereof, and pluck off thine own breasts: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.
35Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thou jhast forgotten me, and kcast me behind thy back, therefore bear thou also thy lewdness and thy whoredoms.
The Sins of Israel and Judah
36The LORD said moreover unto me; Son of man, wilt thou ljudge Aholah and Aholibah? yea, mdeclare unto them their abominations;
37That they have committed adultery, and nblood is in their hands, and with their idols have they committed adultery, and have also caused their sons, owhom they bare unto me, to pass for them through the fire, to devour them.
38Moreover this they have done unto me: they have pdefiled my sanctuary in the same day, and qhave profaned my sabbaths.
39For when they had slain their children to their idols, then they came the same day into my sanctuary to profane it; and, lo, rthus have they done in the midst of mine house.
40And furthermore, that ye have sent for men to come from far, sunto whom a messenger was sent; and, lo, they came: for whom thou didst twash thyself, upaintedst thy eyes, and deckedst thyself with ornaments,
41And satest upon a stately vbed, and a table prepared before it, wwhereupon thou hast set mine incense and mine oil.
42And a voice of a multitude being at ease was with her: and with the men of the common sort were brought Sabeans from the wilderness, which put bracelets upon their hands, and beautiful crowns upon their heads.
43Then said I unto her that was old in adulteries, Will they now commit whoredoms with her, and she with them?
44Yet they went in unto her, as they go in unto a woman that playeth the harlot: so went they in unto Aholah and unto Aholibah, the lewd women.
Lewdness to Cease in the Land
45And the righteous men, they shall xjudge them after the manner of adulteresses, and after the manner of women that shed blood; because they are adulteresses, and yblood is in their hands.
46For thus saith the Lord GOD; zI will bring up a company upon them, and will give them to be removed and spoiled.
47aAnd the company shall stone them with stones, and dispatch them with their swords; bthey shall slay their sons and their daughters, and burn up their houses with fire.
48Thus cwill I cause lewdness to cease out of the land, dthat all women may be taught not to do after your lewdness.
49And they shall recompense your lewdness upon you, and ye shall ebear the sins of your idols: fand ye shall know that I am the Lord GOD.
A Parable to a Rebellious Nation
1Again in the ninth year, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2Son of man, write thee the name of the day, even of this same day: the king of Babylon set himself against Jerusalem athis same day.
The Boiling Pot
3bAnd utter a parable unto the rebellious house, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; cSet on a pot, set it on, and also pour water into it:
4Gather the pieces thereof into it, even every good piece, the thigh, and the shoulder; fill it with the choice bones.
5Take the choice of the flock, and burn also the bones under it, and make it boil well, and let them seethe the bones of it therein.
6Wherefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Woe to dthe bloody city, to the pot whose scum is therein, and whose scum is not gone out of it! bring it out piece by piece; let no elot fall upon it.
7For her blood is in the midst of her; she set it upon the top of a rock; fshe poured it not upon the ground, to cover it with dust;
8That it might cause fury to come up to take vengeance; gI have set her blood upon the top of a rock, that it should not be covered.
9Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; hWoe to the bloody city! I will even make the pile for fire great.
10Heap on wood, kindle the fire, consume the flesh, and spice it well, and let the bones be burned.
11Then set it empty upon the coals thereof, that the brass of it may be hot, and may burn, and that ithe filthiness of it may be molten in it, that the scum of it may be consumed.
12She hath wearied herself with lies, and her great scum went not forth out of her: her scum shall be in the fire.
13In thy jfilthiness is lewdness: because I have purged thee, and thou wast not purged, thou shalt knot be purged from thy filthiness any more, ltill I have caused my fury to rest upon thee.
14mI the LORD have spoken it: nit shall come to pass, and I will do it; I will not go back, oneither will I spare, neither will I repent; according to thy ways, and according to thy doings, shall they judge thee, saith the Lord GOD.
15Also the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
16Son of man, behold, I take away from thee the desire of thine eyes with a stroke: yet pneither shalt thou mourn nor weep, neither shall thy tears run down.
17Forbear to cry, qmake no mourning for the dead, rbind the tire of thine head upon thee, and sput on thy shoes upon thy feet, and tcover not thy lips, and eat not the bread of men.
18So I spake unto the people in the morning: and at even my wife died; and I did in the morning as I was commanded.
The Destruction of the Temple
19And the people said unto me, uWilt thou not tell us what these things are to us, that thou doest so?
20Then I answered them, The word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
21Speak unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, vI will profane my sanctuary, the excellency of your strength, the desire of your eyes, and that which your soul pitieth; wand your sons and your daughters whom ye have left shall fall by the sword.
22And ye shall do as I have done: xye shall not cover your lips, nor eat the bread of men.
23And your tires shall be upon your heads, and your shoes upon your feet: yye shall not mourn nor weep; but zye shall pine away for your iniquities, and mourn one toward another.
24Thus aEzekiel is unto you a sign: according to all that he hath done shall ye do: band when this cometh, cye shall know that I am the Lord GOD.
Ezekiel Shall Speak
25Also, thou son of man, shall it not be in the day when I take from them dtheir strength, the joy of their glory, the desire of their eyes, and that whereupon they set their minds, their sons and their daughters,
26That ehe that escapeth in that day shall come unto thee, to cause thee to hear it with thine ears?
27fIn that day shall thy mouth be opened to him which is escaped, and thou shalt speak, and be no more dumb: and thou shalt be a sign unto them; and they shall know that I am the LORD.
Judgment on Ammon
1The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying,
2Son of man, aset thy face bagainst the Ammonites, and prophesy against them;
3And say unto the Ammonites, Hear the word of the Lord GOD; Thus saith the Lord GOD; cBecause thou saidst, Aha, against my sanctuary, when it was profaned; and against the land of Israel, when it was desolate; and against the house of Judah, when they went into captivity;
4Behold, therefore I will deliver thee to the men of the east for a possession, and they shall set their palaces in thee, and make their dwellings in thee: they shall eat thy fruit, and they shall drink thy milk.
5And I will make dRabbah ea stable for camels, and the Ammonites a couching place for flocks: fand ye shall know that I am the LORD.
6For thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thou ghast clapped thine hands, and stamped with the feet, and hrejoiced in heart with all thy despite against the land of Israel;
7Behold, therefore I will istretch out mine hand upon thee, and will deliver thee for a spoil to the heathen; and I will cut thee off from the people, and I will cause thee to perish out of the countries: I will destroy thee; and thou shalt know that I am the LORD.
Judgment on Moab and Edom
8Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because that jMoab and kSeir do say, Behold, the house of Judah is like unto all the heathen;
9Therefore, behold, I will open the side of Moab from the cities, from his cities which are on his frontiers, the glory of the country, Beth-jeshimoth, Baal-meon, and lKiriathaim,
10mUnto the men of the east with the Ammonites, and will give them in possession, that the Ammonites nmay not be remembered among the nations.
11And I will execute judgments upon Moab; and they shall know that I am the LORD.
12Thus saith the Lord GOD; oBecause that Edom hath dealt against the house of Judah by taking vengeance, and hath greatly offended, and revenged himself upon them;
13Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; I will also stretch out mine hand upon Edom, and will cut off man and beast from it; and I will make it desolate from Teman; and they of Dedan shall fall by the sword.
14And pI will lay my vengeance upon Edom by the hand of my people Israel: and they shall do in Edom according to mine anger and according to my fury; and they shall know my vengeance, saith the Lord GOD.
Judgment on Philistia
15Thus saith the Lord GOD; qBecause rthe Philistines have dealt by revenge, and have taken vengeance with a despiteful heart, to destroy it for the old hatred;
16Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, sI will stretch out mine hand upon the Philistines, and I will cut off the tCherethims, uand destroy the remnant of the sea coast.
17And I will vexecute great vengeance upon them with furious rebukes; wand they shall know that I am the LORD, when I shall lay my vengeance upon them.
Judgment on Tyrus
1And it came to pass in the eleventh year, in the first day of the month, that the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2Son of man, abecause that Tyrus hath said against Jerusalem, bAha, she is broken that was the gates of the people: she is turned unto me: I shall be replenished, now she is laid waste:
3Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Tyrus, and will cause many nations to come up against thee, as the sea causeth his waves to come up.
4And they shall destroy the walls of Tyrus, and break down her towers: I will also scrape her dust from her, and cmake her like the top of a rock.
5It shall be a place for the spreading of nets din the midst of the sea: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD: and it shall become a spoil to the nations.
6And her daughters which are in the field shall be slain by the sword; eand they shall know that I am the LORD.
Babylon Shall Destroy the City
7For thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will bring upon Tyrus fNebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, ga king of kings, from the north, with horses, and with chariots, and with horsemen, and companies, and much people.
8He shall slay with the sword thy daughters in the field: and he shall hmake a fort against thee, and cast a mount against thee, and lift up the buckler against thee.
9And he shall set engines of war against thy walls, and with his axes he shall break down thy towers.
10By reason of the abundance of his horses their dust shall cover thee: thy walls shall shake at the noise of the horsemen, and of the wheels, and of the chariots, when he shall enter into thy gates, as men enter into a city wherein is made a breach.
11With the hoofs of his ihorses shall he tread down all thy streets: he shall slay thy people by the sword, and thy strong garrisons shall go down to the ground.
12And they shall make a spoil of thy riches, and make a prey of thy merchandise: and they shall break down thy walls, and destroy thy pleasant houses: and they shall lay thy stones and thy timber and thy dust in the jmidst of the water.
13kAnd I will cause the noise of lthy songs to cease; and the sound of thy harps shall be no more heard.
14And mI will make thee like the top of a rock: thou shalt be a place to spread nets upon; thou shalt be built no more: for I the LORD have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.
A Lamentation for Tyrus
15Thus saith the Lord GOD to Tyrus; Shall not the isles nshake at the sound of thy fall, when the wounded cry, when the slaughter is made in the midst of thee?
16Then all the oprinces of the sea shall pcome down from their thrones, and lay away their robes, and put off their broidered garments: they shall clothe themselves with trembling; qthey shall sit upon the ground, and rshall tremble at every moment, and sbe astonished at thee.
17And they shall take up a tlamentation for thee, and say to thee, How art thou destroyed, that wast inhabited of seafaring men, the renowned city, which wast ustrong in the sea, she and her inhabitants, which cause their terror to be on all that haunt it!
18Now shall vthe isles tremble in the day of thy fall; yea, the isles that are in the sea shall be troubled at thy departure.
19For thus saith the Lord GOD; When I shall make thee a desolate city, like the cities that are not inhabited; when I shall bring up the deep upon thee, and great waters shall cover thee;
20When I shall bring thee down wwith them that descend into the pit, with the people of old time, and shall set thee in the low parts of the earth, in places desolate of old, with them that go down to the pit, that thou be not inhabited; and I shall set glory xin the land of the living;
21yI will make thee a terror, and thou shalt be no more: zthough thou be sought for, yet shalt thou never be found again, saith the Lord GOD.
Tyrus’s Sin of Pride
1The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying,
2Now, thou son of man, atake up a lamentation for Tyrus;
3And say unto Tyrus, bO thou that art situate at the entry of the sea, which art ca merchant of the people for many isles, Thus saith the Lord GOD; O Tyrus, thou hast said, dI am of perfect beauty.
4Thy borders are in the midst of the seas, thy builders have perfected thy beauty.
5They have made all thy ship boards of fir trees of eSenir: they have taken cedars from Lebanon to make masts for thee.
6Of the foaks of Bashan have they made thine oars; the company of the Ashurites have made thy benches of ivory, brought out of gthe isles of Chittim.
7Fine linen with broidered work from Egypt was that which thou spreadest forth to be thy sail; blue and purple from the isles of Elishah was that which covered thee.
8The inhabitants of Zidon and Arvad were thy mariners: thy wise men, O Tyrus, that were in thee, were thy pilots.
Tyrus’s Armies and Merchants
9The ancients of hGebal and the wise men thereof were in thee thy calkers: all the ships of the sea with their mariners were in thee to occupy thy merchandise.
10They of Persia and of Lud and of Phut were in thine army, thy men of war: they hanged the shield and helmet in thee; they set forth thy comeliness.
11The men of Arvad with thine army were upon thy walls round about, and the Gammadims were in thy towers: they hanged their shields upon thy walls round about; they have made ithy beauty perfect.
12jTarshish was thy merchant by reason of the multitude of all kind of riches; with silver, iron, tin, and lead, they traded in thy fairs.
13kJavan, Tubal, and Meshech, they were thy merchants: they traded lthe persons of men and vessels of brass in thy market.
14They of the house of mTogarmah traded in thy fairs with horses and horsemen and mules.
15The men of nDedan were thy merchants; many isles were the merchandise of thine hand: they brought thee for a present horns of ivory and ebony.
16Syria was thy merchant by reason of the multitude of the wares of thy making: they occupied in thy fairs with emeralds, purple, and broidered work, and fine linen, and coral, and agate.
Judah and Israel Were Merchants
17Judah, and the land of Israel, they were thy merchants: they traded in thy market wheat of oMinnith, and Pannag, and honey, and oil, and pbalm.
18Damascus was thy merchant in the multitude of the wares of thy making, for the multitude of all riches; in the wine of Helbon, and white wool.
19Dan also and Javan going to and fro occupied in thy fairs: bright iron, cassia, and calamus, were in thy market.
20qDedan was thy merchant in precious clothes for chariots.
21Arabia, and all the princes of rKedar, they occupied with thee in lambs, and rams, and goats: in these were they thy merchants.
22The merchants of sSheba and Raamah, they were thy merchants: they occupied in thy fairs with chief of all spices, and with all precious stones, and gold.
23tHaran, and Canneh, and Eden, the merchants of uSheba, Asshur, and Chilmad, were thy merchants.
24These were thy merchants in all sorts of things, in blue clothes, and broidered work, and in chests of rich apparel, bound with cords, and made of cedar, among thy merchandise.
25vThe ships of Tarshish did sing of thee in thy market: and thou wast replenished, and made very glorious win the midst of the seas.
Tyrus’s Day of Destruction
26Thy rowers have brought thee into great waters: xthe east wind hath broken thee in the midst of the seas.
27Thy yriches, and thy fairs, thy merchandise, thy mariners, and thy pilots, thy calkers, and the occupiers of thy merchandise, and all thy men of war, that are in thee, and in all thy company which is in the midst of thee, shall fall into the midst of the seas in the day of thy ruin.
28The zsuburbs shall shake at the sound of the cry of thy pilots.
29And aall that handle the oar, the mariners, and all the pilots of the sea, shall come down from their ships, they shall stand upon the land;
30And shall cause their voice to be heard against thee, and shall cry bitterly, and shall bcast up dust upon their heads, they cshall wallow themselves in the ashes:
31And they shall dmake themselves utterly bald for thee, and gird them with sackcloth, and they shall weep for thee with bitterness of heart and bitter wailing.
32And in their wailing they shall etake up a lamentation for thee, and lament over thee, saying, fWhat city is like Tyrus, like the destroyed in the midst of the sea?
Tyrus’s Wealth Is Destroyed
33gWhen thy wares went forth out of the seas, thou filledst many people; thou didst enrich the kings of the earth with the multitude of thy riches and of thy merchandise.
34In the time when hthou shalt be broken by the seas in the depths of the waters ithy merchandise and all thy company in the midst of thee shall fall.
35jAll the inhabitants of the isles shall be astonished at thee, and their kings shall be sore afraid, they shall be troubled in their countenance.
36The merchants among the people kshall hiss at thee; lthou shalt be a terror, and never shalt be any mmore.