Ezekiel 7

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

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

2 And you, son of man, say, This is what the Lord has said to the land of Israel: An end has come, the end has come on the four quarters of the land.

“O son of man, this is what the Lord GOD says to the land of Israel: ‘The end! The end has come upon the four corners of the land.

3 Now the end has come on you, and I will send my wrath on you, judging you for your ways, I will send punishment on you for all your disgusting acts.

The end is now upon you, and I will unleash My anger against you. I will judge you according to your ways and repay you for all your abominations.

4 My eye will not have mercy on you, and I will have no pity: but I will send the punishment of your ways on you, and your disgusting works will be among you: and you will be certain that I am the Lord.

I will not look on you with pity, nor will I spare you, but I will punish you for your ways and for the abominations among you. Then you will know that I am the LORD.’

5 This is what the Lord has said: An evil, even one evil; see, it is coming.

This is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Disaster! An unprecedented disaster — behold, it is coming!

6 An end has come, the end has come; see, it is coming on you.

The end has come! The end has come! It has roused itself against you. Behold, it has come!

7 The crowning time has come on you, O people of the land: the time has come, the day is near; the day will not be slow in coming, it will not keep back.

Doom has come to you, O inhabitants of the land. The time has come; the day is near; there is panic on the mountains instead of shouts of joy.

8 Now, in a little time, I will let loose my passion on you, and give full effect to my wrath against you, judging you for your ways, and sending punishment on you for all your disgusting works.

Very soon I will pour out My wrath upon you and vent My anger against you; I will judge you according to your ways and repay you for all your abominations.

9 My eye will not have mercy, and I will have no pity: I will send on you the punishment of your ways, and your disgusting works will be among you; and you will see that I am the Lord who gives punishment.

I will not look on you with pity, nor will I spare you, but I will punish you for your ways and for the abominations among you. Then you will know that it is I, the LORD, who strikes the blow.

10 See, the day; see, it is coming: the crowning time has gone out; the twisted way is flowering, pride has put out buds.

Behold, the day is here! It has come! Doom has gone out, the rod has budded, arrogance has bloomed.

11 Violent behaviour has been lifted up into a rod of evil; it will not be slow in coming, it will not keep back.

Their violence has grown into a rod to punish their wickedness. None of them will remain: none of their multitude, none of their wealth, and nothing of value.

12 The time has come, the day is near: let not him who gives a price for goods be glad, or him who gets the price have sorrow:

The time has come; the day has arrived. Let the buyer not rejoice and the seller not mourn, for wrath is upon the whole multitude.

13 For the trader will not go back to the things for which he had his price, even while he is still living:

The seller will surely not recover what he sold while both remain alive. For the vision concerning the whole multitude will not be revoked, and because of their iniquity, not one of them will preserve his life.

14 And he who has given a price for goods will not get them, for my wrath is on all of them.

They have blown the trumpet and made everything ready, but no one goes to war, for My wrath is upon the whole multitude.

15 Outside is the sword, and inside disease and need of food: he who is in the open country will be put to the sword; he who is in the town will come to his end through need of food and disease.

The sword is outside; plague and famine are within. Those in the country will die by the sword, and those in the city will be devoured by famine and plague.

16 And those of them who get away safely will go and be in the secret places like the doves of the valleys, all of them will come to death, every one in his sin.

The survivors will escape and live in the mountains, moaning like doves of the valley, each for his own iniquity.

17 All hands will be feeble and all knees without strength, like water.

Every hand will go limp, and every knee will turn to water.

18 And they will put haircloth round them, and deep fear will be covering them; and shame will be on all faces, and the hair gone from all their heads.

They will put on sackcloth, and terror will overwhelm them. Shame will cover all their faces, and all their heads will be shaved.

19 They will put out their silver into the streets, and their gold will be as an unclean thing; their silver and their gold will not be able to keep them safe in the day of the wrath of the Lord; they will not get their desire or have food for their need: because it has been the cause of their falling into sin.

They will throw their silver into the streets, and their gold will seem unclean. Their silver and gold cannot save them in the day of the wrath of the LORD. They cannot satisfy their appetites or fill their stomachs with wealth, for it became the stumbling block that brought their iniquity.

20 As for their beautiful ornament, they had put it on high, and had made the images of their disgusting and hated things in it: for this cause I have made it an unclean thing to them.

His beautiful ornaments they transformed into pride and used them to fashion their vile images and detestable idols. Therefore I will make these into something unclean for them.

21 And I will give it into the hands of men from strange lands who will take it by force, and to the evil-doers of the earth to have for themselves; and they will make it unholy.

And I will hand these things over as plunder to foreigners and loot to the wicked of the earth, who will defile them.

22 And my face will be turned away from them, and they will make my secret place unholy: violent men will go into it and make it unholy.

I will turn My face away from them, and they will defile My treasured place. Violent men will enter it, and they will defile it.

23 Make the chain: for the land is full of crimes of blood, and the town is full of violent acts.

Forge the chain, for the land is full of crimes of bloodshed, and the city is full of violence.

24 For this reason I will send the worst of the nations and they will take their houses for themselves: I will make the pride of their strength come to an end; and their holy places will be made unclean.

So I will bring the most wicked of nations to take possession of their houses. I will end the pride of the mighty, and their holy places will be profaned.

25 Shaking fear is coming; and they will be looking for peace, and there will be no peace.

Anguish is coming! They will seek peace, but find none.

26 Destruction will come on destruction, and one story after another; and the vision of the prophet will be shamed, and knowledge of the law will come to an end among the priests, and wisdom among the old.

Disaster upon disaster will come, and rumor after rumor. Then they will seek a vision from a prophet, but instruction from the priests will perish, as will counsel from the elders.

27 The king will give himself up to sorrow, and the ruler will be clothed with wonder, and the hands of the people of the land will be troubled: I will give them punishment for their ways, judging them as it is right for them to be judged; and they will be certain that I am the Lord.

The king will mourn, the prince will be clothed with despair, and the hands of the people of the land will tremble. I will deal with them according to their conduct, and I will judge them by their own standards. Then they will know that I am the LORD.’”