Ezekiel 11

1 And a spirit bore me up, and brought me unto the east gate of the house of the Lord, which looketh eastward: and behold, there were at the entrance of the gate five and twenty men; and I saw in the midst of them Yaazanyah the son of 'Azzur, and Pelatyahu the son of Benayahu, princes of the people.

2 Then said he unto me, Son of man, these are the men that devise wickedness, and give evil counsel in this city;

3 Who say, [The evil] is not near; so let us build houses: this [city] is the pot, and we are the flesh.

4 Therefore prophesy against them, prophesy, O son of man.

5 And the Spirit of the Lord fell upon me, and said unto me, Speak, Thus hath said the Lord, Thus have ye said, O house of Israel; and whatever cometh into your mind, do I know full well.

6 Ye have multiplied those slain by you in this city, and ye have filled its streets with the slain.

7 Therefore thus hath said the Lord Eternal, Those slain by you whom ye have struck down in the midst of it, —they are the flesh, and this place is the pot; but you are to be removed out of the midst of it.

8 The sword have ye feared: and the sword will I bring over you, saith the Lord Eternal.

9 And I will remove you out of the midst of it, and I will give you up into the hand of strangers, and will execute punishments among you.

10 By the sword shall ye fall; on the boundary of Israel will I judge you: and ye shall know that I am the Lord.

11 This place shall not be unto you as a pot, so that you should be as flesh in the midst of it; but on the boundary of Israel will I judge you.

12 And ye shall know that I am the Lord: because in my statutes have ye not walked, and my ordinances have ye not executed; but ye have done after the ordinances of the nations that are round about you.

13 And it came to pass, as I was prophesying, that Pelatyahu the son of Benayah died. Then fell I down upon my face, and cried with a loud voice, and said, Ah Lord Eternal! wilt thou make a full end of the remnant of Israel?

14 Then came the word of the Lord unto me, saying,

15 Son of man, thy brethren, even thy brethren, the men of thy kindred, and the whole house of Israel altogether, are they unto whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, Remain you far from the Lord: unto us is this land given for a possession.

16 Therefore say, Thus hath said the Lord Eternal, Although I have removed them far away among the nations, and although I have scattered them among the countries: yet will I be to them as a minor sanctuary in the countries whither they are come.

17 Therefore say, Thus hath said the Lord Eternal, I will both gather you from the people, and assemble you out of the countries whether ye have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.

18 And they shall come thither, and they shall remove all its detestable things, and all its abominations out of it.

19 And I will give them one single heart, and a new spirit will I put within you; and I will remove the heart of stone out of their body, and I will give unto them a heart of flesh:

20 In order that they may walk in my statutes, and keep my ordinances, and do them; and they shall be unto me for a people, and I will indeed be unto them for a God.

21 But as for those whose heart walketh after the heart of their detestable things and their abominations, their way do I bring upon their own head, saith the Lord Eternal.

22 Then did the cherubim lift up their wings, and the wheels at the same time with them; and the glory of the God of Israel was over them above.

23 And the glory of the Lord ascended from the midst of the city, and halted upon the mount which is on the east side of the city.

24 But a spirit bore me up, and brought me into Chaldea, to those in exile, in the appearance through the spirit of God: and then ascended away from me the appearance which I had seen.

25 Then did I speak unto those in exile all the things that the Lord had shown me.