Ezekiel 22

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, should you not judge, should you not judge the city of blood?

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.

3 And you shall reveal to her all her abominations. And you shall say: Thus says the Lord God: This is the city which sheds blood in her midst, so that her time may come, and which has made idols against herself, so that she may be defiled.

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!

4 You have offended by your blood, which you shed from yourself. And you have been defiled by your idols which you yourself made. And you have caused your days to approach, and you have brought on the time of your years. Because of this, I have made you a disgrace to the Gentiles, and a derision to all the lands.

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.

5 Those that are near and those that are far from you will triumph over you. You are filthy, infamous, great in destruction.

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.

6 Behold, the leaders of Israel have each used his arm to shed blood within you.

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

7 They have abused father and mother within you. The new arrival has been oppressed in your midst. They have grieved the orphan and the widow among you.

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.

8 You have spurned my sanctuaries, and you have defiled my Sabbaths.

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

9 Maligning men were within you, in order to shed blood, and they have eaten upon the mountains within you. They have worked wickedness in your midst.

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.

10 They have uncovered the nakedness of their father within you. They have debased the uncleanness of the menstruous woman within you.

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.

11 And each one has committed abomination with the wife of his neighbor. And the father-in-law has heinously defiled his daughter-in-law. The brother has oppressed his sister, the daughter of his father, within you.

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.

12 They have accepted bribes among you to shed blood. You have received usury and superabundance, and in avarice you have oppressed your neighbors. And you have forgotten me, says the Lord God.

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.

13 Behold, I have clapped my hands over your avarice, which you have worked, and over the blood that has been shed in your midst.

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.

14 How can your heart endure, or your hands prevail, in the days that I will bring upon you? I, the Lord, have spoken, and I will act.

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.

15 And I will disperse you among the nations, and I will scatter you among the lands, and I will cause your uncleanness to fade away from you.

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.

16 And I will possess you in the sight of the Gentiles. And you shall know that I am the Lord.”

And you will be made low before the eyes of the nations; and it will be clear to you 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 house of Israel has become like dross to me. All these are brass, and tin, and iron, and lead in the midst of the furnace; they have become like the dross of silver.

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.

19 Because of this, thus says the Lord God: Since you have all turned into dross, therefore, behold, I will gather you together in the midst of Jerusalem,

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

20 just as they gather silver, and brass, and tin, and iron, and lead in the midst of the furnace, so that I may kindle in it a fire to melt it. So will I gather you together in my fury and in my wrath, and I will be quieted, and I will melt you down.

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.

21 And I will gather you together, and I will burn you in the fire of my fury, and you will be melted in its midst.

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

22 Just as silver is melted in the midst of the furnace, so will you be in its midst. And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I will have poured out my indignation upon you.”

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.

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 unclean and not rained upon, in the day of fury.

Son of man, say to her, You are a land on which no rain or thunderstorm has come in the day of wrath.

25 There is a conspiracy of prophets in her midst. Like a lion, roaring and seizing the prey, they have devoured souls. They have taken riches and a price. They have multiplied widows in her midst.

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.

26 Her priests have despised my law, and they have defiled my sanctuaries. They have held no distinction between holy and profane. And they have not understood the difference between defiled and clean. And they have averted their eyes from my Sabbaths. And I was profaned in their midst.

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.

27 Her leaders in her midst are like wolves seizing the prey: to shed blood, and to perish souls, and to continually pursue profit with avarice.

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.

28 And her prophets have covered them without tempering the mortar, seeing emptiness, and divining lies for them, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord God,’ when the Lord has not spoken.

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.

29 The people of the land have oppressed with slander and have seized with violence. They have afflicted the needy and the poor, and they have oppressed the new arrival by accusations without judgment.

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.

30 And I sought among them for a man who might set up a hedge, and stand in the gap before me on behalf of the land, so that I might not destroy it; and I found no one.

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.

31 And so I poured out my indignation upon them; in the fire of my wrath I consumed them. I have rendered their own way upon their head, says the Lord God.”

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.