Ezekiel 22
1 Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
And the word of the Lord came to me, saying,
2 “As for you, son of man, will you judge her? Will you pass judgment on the city of bloodshed? Then confront her with all her abominations
And you, son of man, will you be a judge, will you be a judge of the town of blood? then make clear to her all her disgusting ways.
3 and tell her that this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘O city who brings her own doom by shedding blood within her walls and making idols to defile herself,
And you are to say, This is what the Lord has said: A town causing blood to be drained out in her streets so that her time may come, and making images in her to make her unclean!
4 you are guilty of the blood you have shed, and you are defiled by the idols you have made. You have brought your days to a close and have come to the end of your years. Therefore I have made you a reproach to the nations and a mockery to all the lands.
You are responsible for the blood drained out by you, and you are unclean through the images which you have made; and you have made your day come near, and the time of your judging has come; for this cause I have made you a name of shame to the nations and a cause of laughing to all countries.
5 Those near and far will mock you, O infamous city, full of turmoil.
Those who are near and those who are far from you will make sport of you; your name is unclean, you are full of sounds of fear.
6 See how every prince of Israel within you has used his power to shed blood.
See, the rulers of Israel, every one in his family, have been causing death in you.
7 Father and mother are treated with contempt. Within your walls the foreign resident is exploited, the fatherless and the widow are oppressed.
In you they have had no respect for father and mother; in you they have been cruel to the man from a strange land; in you they have done wrong to the child without a father and to the widow.
8 You have despised My holy things and profaned My Sabbaths.
You have made little of my holy things, and have made my Sabbaths unclean.
9 Among you are slanderous men bent on bloodshed; within you are those who eat on the mountain shrines and commit acts of indecency.
In you there are men who say evil of others, causing death; in you they have taken the flesh with the blood for food; in your streets they have put evil designs into effect.
10 In you they have uncovered the nakedness of their fathers; in you they violate women during their menstrual impurity.
In you they have let the shame of their fathers be seen; in you they have done wrong to a woman at the time when she was unclean.
11 One man commits an abomination with his neighbor’s wife; another wickedly defiles his daughter-in-law; and yet another violates his sister, his own father’s daughter.
And in you one man has done what was disgusting with his neighbour's wife; and another has made his daughter-in-law unclean; and another has done wrong to his sister, his father's daughter.
12 In you they take bribes to shed blood. You engage in usury, take excess interest, and extort your neighbors. But Me you have forgotten, declares the Lord GOD.
In you they have taken rewards as the price of blood; you have taken interest and great profits, and you have taken away your neighbours' goods by force, and have not kept me in mind, says the Lord.
13 Now look, I strike My hands together against your unjust gain and against the blood you have shed in your midst.
See, then, I have made my hands come together in wrath against your taking of goods by force and against the blood which has been flowing in you.
14 Will your courage endure or your hands be strong in the day I deal with you? I, the LORD, have spoken, and I will act.
Will your heart be high or your hands strong in the days when I take you in hand? I the Lord have said it and will do it.
15 I will disperse you among the nations and scatter you throughout the lands; I will purge your uncleanness.
And I will send you in flight among the nations and wandering among the countries; and I will completely take away out of you everything which is unclean.
16 And when you have defiled yourself in the eyes of the nations, then you will know that I am the LORD.’”
And you will be made low before the eyes of the nations; and it will be clear to you that I am the Lord.
17 Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
And the word of the Lord came to me, saying,
18 “Son of man, the house of Israel has become dross to Me. All of them are copper, tin, iron, and lead inside the furnace; they are but the dross of silver.
Son of man, the children of Israel have become like the poorest sort of waste metal to me: they are all silver and brass and tin and iron and lead mixed with waste.
19 Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Because all of you have become dross, behold, I will gather you into Jerusalem.
For this cause the Lord has said: Because you have all become waste metal, see, I will get you together inside Jerusalem.
20 Just as one gathers silver, copper, iron, lead, and tin into the furnace to melt with a fiery blast, so I will gather you in My anger and wrath, leave you there, and melt you.
As they put silver and brass and iron and lead and tin together inside the oven, heating up the fire on it to make it soft; so will I get you together in my wrath and in my passion, and, heating the fire with my breath, will make you soft.
21 Yes, I will gather you together and blow on you with the fire of My wrath, and you will be melted within the city.
Yes, I will take you, breathing on you the fire of my wrath, and you will become soft in it.
22 As silver is melted in a furnace, so you will be melted within the city. Then you will know that I, the LORD, have poured out My wrath upon you.’”
As silver becomes soft in the oven, so you will become soft in it; and you will be certain that I the Lord have let loose my passion on you.
23 And the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
And the word of the Lord came to me, saying,
24 “Son of man, say to her, ‘In the day of indignation, you are a land that has not been cleansed, upon which no rain has fallen.’
Son of man, say to her, You are a land on which no rain or thunderstorm has come in the day of wrath.
25 The conspiracy of the princes in her midst is like a roaring lion tearing its prey. They devour the people, seize the treasures and precious things, and multiply the widows within her.
Her rulers in her are like a loud-voiced lion violently taking his food; they have made a meal of souls; they have taken wealth and valued property; they have made great the number of widows in her.
26 Her priests do violence to My law and profane My holy things. They make no distinction between the holy and the common, and they fail to distinguish between the clean and the unclean. They disregard My Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them.
Her priests have been acting violently against my law; they have made my holy things unclean: they have made no division between what is holy and what is common, and they have not made it clear that the unclean is different from the clean, and their eyes have been shut to my Sabbaths, and I am not honoured among them.
27 Her officials within her are like wolves tearing their prey, shedding blood, and destroying lives for dishonest gain.
Her rulers in her are like wolves violently taking their food; putting men to death and causing the destruction of souls, so that they may get their profit.
28 Her prophets whitewash these deeds by false visions and lying divinations, saying, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says,’ when the LORD has not spoken.
And her prophets have been using whitewash, seeing foolish visions and making false use of secret arts, saying, This is what the Lord has said, when the Lord has said nothing.
29 The people of the land have practiced extortion and committed robbery. They have oppressed the poor and needy and have exploited the foreign resident without justice.
The people of the land have been acting cruelly, taking men's goods by force; they have been hard on the poor and those in need, and have done wrong to the man from a strange land.
30 I searched for a man among them to repair the wall and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, so that I should not destroy it. But I found no one.
And I was looking for a man among them who would make up the wall and take his station in the broken place before me for the land, so that I might not send destruction on it: but there was no one.
31 So I have poured out My indignation upon them and consumed them with the fire of My fury. I have brought their ways down upon their own heads, declares the Lord GOD.”
And I let loose my passion on them, and have put an end to them in the fire of my wrath: I have made the punishment of their ways come on their heads, says the Lord.
