Ezekiel 22
1 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying,
And the word of the Lord came unto 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.
And thou, son of man, wilt thou take to task, wilt thou take to task the city of blood? and wilt thou make her know 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 thou, Thus hath said the Lord Eternal, O city that sheddeth blood in her midst, that her time [of sorrow] may come, and that hath made idols for herself to become unclean:
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.
Through thy blood which thou hast shed, are thou become guilty; and through thy idols which thou hast made art thou become unclean; and thou hast caused thy days [of destruction] to draw near, and thou art come even unto thy years; therefore do I make thee a disgrace unto the nations, and a mocking to all the 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 who are near, and those who are far from thee, shall mock thee, O thou unclean in name, and great in confusion!
6 See, the rulers of Israel, every one in his family, have been causing death in you.
Behold, the princes of Israel were each [ready] with his arm within thee, in order 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.
Father and mother they esteemed lightly within thee, toward the stranger they acted with extortion in the midst of thee, the fatherless and the widow they oppressed within thee.
8 You have made little of my holy things, and have made my Sabbaths unclean.
My holy things thou didst despise, and my sabbaths thou didst profane.
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.
Tale-bearers [also] were within thee, in order to shed blood; and upon the mountains did they eat within thee; incest did they commit in the midst of thee.
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.
Their father's nakedness they uncovered within thee; her that was unclean in her separation did they violate within thee.
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 with his neighbor's wife did commit abomination; and another did defile his daughter-in-law with incest; and another did violate his sister, the daughter of his father, within thee.
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.
Bribes they took within thee, in order to shed blood; interest and increase didst thou take, and thou didst acquire gain off thy neighbors by extortion: and me thou didst forget, saith the Lord Eternal.
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.
And behold, I have struck my hands together at thy wrongful gain which thou hast acquired, and at thy blood-guilt which hath been in the midst of thee.
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.
Will thy courage endure, or will thy hands remain strong, on the days that I will deal with thee? I the Lord have spoken, 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 thee among the nations, and disperse thee in the countries, and I will entirely remove thy uncleanness out of thee.
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 thou shalt be degraded through thyself before the eyes of nations, and thou shalt know that I am the Lord.
17 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying,
And the word of the Lord came unto 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 are become to me dross: they all are copper, and tin, and iron, and lead, in the midst of the furnace; the dross of silver are they become.
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 hath said the Lord Eternal, Because ye are all become dross, therefore, behold, I will gather you into the midst 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 silver, and copper, and iron, and lead, and tin are gathered 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 lay you down 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.
Yea, I will assemble you in a heap, and blow upon you with the fire of my wrath, and ye shall be melted in the midst of it.
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 midst of the furnace, so shall ye be melted in the midst of it: and ye shall know that I am the Lord who have poured out my fury over you.
23 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying,
And the word of the Lord came unto 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 unto her, Thou art a land that is not cleansed; [and] which is not rained upon on 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.
The banded troop of her prophets in the midst of her is like a roaring lion that teareth in pieces the prey: souls do they devour; wealth and precious things do they take away; the number of her widows do they increase in the midst of her.
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 violate my law, and profane my holy things: between the holy and profane do they make no distinction, and the difference between the unclean and the clean do they not make known, and from [the violation of] my sabbaths do they turn away their eyes, so that 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 her midst are like wolves that tear in pieces the prey, to shed blood, to destroy souls, in order to obtain selfish 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 plastered for them with unadhesive mortar, foreseeing falsehood, and divining unto them lies, saying, Thus hath said the Lord Eternal; when the Lord had 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 are guilty of extortion, and practise robbery, and the poor and the needy they defraud: and they extort from the stranger with injustice.
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 seek now among them for a man, that could erect a fence, and stand in the breach before me in behalf of the land, so that I should not destroy it; but I find 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.
And I therefore pour out over them my indignation; with the fire of my wrath do I make an end of them: their own way do I bring upon their head, saith the Lord Eternal.
