Ezekiel 7

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

A message from 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.

“Son of man, this is what the Lord God says to the people living in Israel: The end is here! The end has arrived throughout the country.

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.

Now is the end for you! I'm going to direct my anger against you. I'm judging you for your actions and will pay you back for the offensive things you've done.

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 won't have any pity for you, or show you any mercy. I'm going to punish you for what you've done, for your disgusting sins. Then you'll 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: Watch out! Disaster after disaster is coming!

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

The end is here! The end has come, and it's coming for you! Watch out! This is the end!

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.

You people living in the land, the consequences of your actions have come full circle. The time has come, the day is near— shouts of panic on the mountains and not 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 shortly I'm going to show you how angry I am with you. I will judge you by what you have done, and punish you for all your disgusting sins.

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 won't have any pity for you or show you any mercy. I'm going to punish you for what you've done, for your disgusting sins. Then you will know that it is I, the Lord, who is attacking you.

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

Can't you see? The day is here! It has arrived! The consequences of your actions have come full circle—the walking stick has blossomed, pride has come into full bloom.

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 way of violence has turned into a rod to punish them for their wickedness. None of them will survive—none of that whole crowd, and none of their wealth or honor.

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 is here! Buyers, don't celebrate thinking you'll get a good deal; sellers, don't cry thinking you're going to make a loss—because punishment is coming to everyone.

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

Sellers won't ever get back the purchase price while they're still alive. I'm not going to change the plan I have revealed that applies to everyone. People who go on sinning won't survive.

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

Even though the trumpet call to arms has sounded, even though all the preparations have been made, no one is ready to fight, because I am angry with everyone.

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.

Outside the city are armed attacks; inside are disease and starvation. Those in the countryside will be killed by the sword, and those in the city will be destroyed by starvation and disease.

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.

Those who do survive will escape and go to live in the mountains. They will sigh like the doves of the valley, each person thinking about their own sins.

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

Every hand will go limp, and every knee will go weak.

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 clothes made of sackcloth, and they will be totally terrified. They will all be ashamed and shave their heads in mourning.

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 away their silver in the streets and treat their gold as if it's something unclean. Their silver and gold won't be able to save them when the day of the Lord's anger comes. Their money won't satisfy their hunger or fill their stomachs. In fact this was the problem that caused their sin in the first place.

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.

They were so proud of their beautiful jewelry that they used it to make their disgusting images and decorate their offensive idols. So I'm going to turn these idols into unclean things 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.

I'm going to hand these things over as plunder to foreigners and as loot to the wicked people of the earth, who will make them unclean.

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 look away as they make my precious place unclean. Men of violence will enter and make it unclean.

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

Get the chains ready, because the country is full of blood being spilled by violent crimes, and the city itself 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'm going to bring the most evil of all the nations to take over their houses. I will put an end to the pride of the powerful, and their holy places will be made unclean.

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

Absolutely terrified, the people will look for peace, but won't find it.

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 after disaster will come down on them, and rumor after rumor. They will ask for a vision from a prophet, but there won't be any, and there won't be any instructions from the priests or advice from the elders either.

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 devastated, and no one in the country will know what to do. I will do to them as they have done to others; I will judge them as they have judged others. Then they will know that I am the Lord.”