Ezekiel 22
1 Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
And the word of Jehovah 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
Punish, punish, son of man, the city of blood, and show her all her abominations, and say,
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,
Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: O city that sheddest blood in the midst of thee, that thy time may come, and makest idols to defile thyself!
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.
Through the blood which thou sheddest thou bringest guilt upon thyself, and through the idols which thou makest thou pollutest thyself, and thou causest thy days to draw near, and comest to thy years. Therefore do I make thee a reproach to the nations, and a derision to all countries.
5 Those near and far will mock you, O infamous city, full of turmoil.
Those that are near, and those that are far from thee, shall mock thee as infamous, full of confusion.
6 See how every prince of Israel within you has used his power to shed blood.
Behold the princes of Israel are engaged every one according to his strength within thee to shed blood.
7 Father and mother are treated with contempt. Within your walls the foreign resident is exploited, the fatherless and the widow are oppressed.
In thee they set light by father and mother; in thee are they guilty of oppression to the stranger; in thee do they oppress the fatherless and the widow.
8 You have despised My holy things and profaned My Sabbaths.
Thou hast despised my holy things, and profaned my sabbaths.
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 thee are men who carry tales, that they may shed blood; in thee do they eat upon the mountains; in the midst of thee do they commit lewdness.
10 In you they have uncovered the nakedness of their fathers; in you they violate women during their menstrual impurity.
In thee doth the son uncover the father's nakedness; in thee do they lie with a woman in her uncleanness.
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 one committeth abomination with his neighbor's wife; and another, with incestuous lewdness, defileth his daughter-in-law; and in thee another lieth with 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 thee do they take a reward to shed blood. Thou takest usury and increase, and thou hast enriched thyself from thy neighbor by extortion, and hast forgotten me, saith the Lord Jehovah.
13 Now look, I strike My hands together against your unjust gain and against the blood you have shed in your midst.
Therefore, behold, I have smitten my hands together at thy dishonest gain which thou hast made, and at the blood which hath been shed in the midst of thee.
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.
Can thy heart endure, or can thy hands be strong, in the day when I shall deal with thee? I, Jehovah, have spoken it, and will do it.
15 I will disperse you among the nations and scatter you throughout the lands; I will purge your uncleanness.
I will scatter thee among the nations, and disperse thee in the countries, and will consume thine impurity out of thee;
16 And when you have defiled yourself in the eyes of the nations, then you will know that I am the LORD.’”
and thou shalt through thyself be profaned before the eyes of the nations, and thou shalt know that I am Jehovah.
17 Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
And the word of Jehovah 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 house of Israel is become dross to me; all of them are brass, and tin, and iron, and lead, in the midst of the furnace; they are the dross of silver.
19 Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Because all of you have become dross, behold, I will gather you into Jerusalem.
Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Because ye are all of you become dross, therefore, behold, I will gather you into the midst of 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 men gather silver, and brass, and iron, and lead, and tin, into the midst of the furnace, to blow the fire upon it, to melt it, so will I gather you in my anger and in my fury, and I will place you there and melt you.
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.
Yea, I will gather you, and blow upon you with the fire of my wrath, and ye shall be melted in the midst thereof.
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 is melted in the midst of the furnace, so shall ye be melted in the midst thereof; and ye shall know that I, Jehovah, have poured out my fury upon you.
23 And the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
And the word of Jehovah 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, Thou art a land that is not cleansed, nor rained upon in the day of indignation.
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.
There is a conspiracy of her prophets in the midst of her; like a roaring lion tearing the prey, they devour the lives of men; they take possession of treasures, and precious things, and make many widows in the midst of 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 violate my law, and profane my holy things. They make no distinction between the holy and profane, and show not the difference between the clean and the unclean; and they hide their eyes from my sabbaths, and I am profaned among them.
27 Her officials within her are like wolves tearing their prey, shedding blood, and destroying lives for dishonest gain.
Her princes in the midst of her are like wolves tearing the prey. They shed blood, they destroy life, that they may get gain.
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.
Her prophets daub for them with untempered mortar, seeing falsehood, and divining to them, saying, “Thus saith the Lord Jehovah,” when Jehovah hath not spoken.
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 are guilty of oppression, and practise robbery, and distress the poor and needy; yea, they oppress the stranger, and have no justice.
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.
I have sought for a man among them that should make a wall, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I might not destroy it; but I found none.
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.”
Therefore will I pour out my indignation upon them; I will consume them with the fire of my wrath; I will bring their way upon their heads, saith the Lord Jehovah.
