Ezekiel 22

1 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

Moreover the word of the LORD came to me, saying,

2 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.

Now, you son of man, will you judge, will you judge the bloody city? yes, you shall show her all her abominations.

3 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!

Then say you, Thus says the Lord GOD, The city sheds blood in the middle of it, that her time may come, and makes idols against herself to defile herself.

4 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.

You are become guilty in your blood that you have shed; and have defiled yourself in your idols which you have made; and you have caused your days to draw near, and are come even to your years: therefore have I made you a reproach to the heathen, and a mocking to all countries.

5 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.

Those that be near, and those that be far from you, shall mock you, which are infamous and much vexed.

6 See, the rulers of Israel, every one in his family, have been causing death in you.

Behold, the princes of Israel, every one were in you to their power to shed blood.

7 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.

In you have they set light by father and mother: in the middle of you have they dealt by oppression with the stranger: in you have they vexed the fatherless and the widow.

8 You have made little of my holy things, and have made my Sabbaths unclean.

You have despised my holy things, and have profaned my sabbaths.

9 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.

In you are men that carry tales to shed blood: and in you they eat on the mountains: in the middle of you they commit lewdness.

10 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.

In you have they discovered their fathers’ nakedness: in you have they humbled her that was set apart for pollution.

11 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.

And one has committed abomination with his neighbor’s wife; and another has lewdly defiled his daughter in law; and another in you has humbled his sister, his father’s daughter.

12 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.

In you have they taken gifts to shed blood; you have taken usury and increase, and you have greedily gained of your neighbors by extortion, and have forgotten me, says the Lord GOD.

13 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.

Behold, therefore I have smitten my hand at your dishonest gain which you have made, and at your blood which has been in the middle of you.

14 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.

Can your heart endure, or can your hands be strong, in the days that I shall deal with you? I the LORD have spoken it, and will do it.

15 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.

And I will scatter you among the heathen, and disperse you in the countries, and will consume your filthiness out of you.

16 And you will be made low before the eyes of the nations; and it will be clear to you that I am the Lord.

And you shall take your inheritance in yourself in the sight of the heathen, and you shall know that I am the LORD.

17 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

And the word of the LORD came to me, saying,

18 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.

Son of man, the house of Israel is to me become dross: all they are brass, and tin, and iron, and lead, in the middle of the furnace; they are even the dross of silver.

19 For this cause the Lord has said: Because you have all become waste metal, see, I will get you together inside Jerusalem.

Therefore thus says the Lord GOD; Because you are all become dross, behold, therefore I will gather you into the middle of Jerusalem.

20 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.

As they gather silver, and brass, and iron, and lead, and tin, into the middle of the furnace, to blow the fire on it, to melt it; so will I gather you in my anger and in my fury, and I will leave you there, and melt you.

21 Yes, I will take you, breathing on you the fire of my wrath, and you will become soft in it.

Yes, I will gather you, and blow on you in the fire of my wrath, and you shall be melted in the middle therof.

22 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.

As silver is melted in the middle of the furnace, so shall you be melted in the middle thereof; and you shall know that I the LORD have poured out my fury 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, You are a land on which no rain or thunderstorm has come in the day of wrath.

Son of man, say to her, You are the land that is not cleansed, nor rained on in the day of indignation.

25 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.

There is a conspiracy of her prophets in the middle thereof, like a roaring lion ravening the prey; they have devoured souls; they have taken the treasure and precious things; they have made her many widows in the middle thereof.

26 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.

Her priests have violated my law, and have profaned my holy things: they have put no difference between the holy and profane, neither have they showed difference between the unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes from my sabbaths, and I am profaned among them.

27 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.

Her princes in the middle thereof are like wolves ravening the prey, to shed blood, and to destroy souls, to get dishonest gain.

28 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.

And her prophets have daubed them with untempered mortar, seeing vanity, and divining lies to them, saying, Thus says the Lord GOD, when the LORD has not spoken.

29 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.

The people of the land have used oppression, and exercised robbery, and have vexed the poor and needy: yes, they have oppressed the stranger wrongfully.

30 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.

And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none.

31 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.

Therefore have I poured out my indignation on them; I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath: their own way have I recompensed on their heads, says the Lord GOD.