Ezekiel 22
1 And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
A message from the Lord came to me, saying,
2 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?
“So, son of man, are you ready to judge them? Are you ready to judge the people of this city that have caused so much bloodshed? Make them face all the disgusting things they've done,
3 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:
and tell them that this is what the Lord God says: You are a city who has caused your own doom by murdering people within your walls, and by making idols to worship that made you unclean.
4 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.
You are guilty of murder, and you have made yourself unclean by the idols you've made. You have shortened your lives—your time is up! That's why other people taunt you—everyone mocks you.
5 Those who are near, and those who are far from thee, shall mock thee, O thou unclean in name, and great in confusion!
People far and near will laugh at you, you corrupt city full of confusion!
6 Behold, the princes of Israel were each [ready] with his arm within thee, in order to shed blood.
Look at how all of your leaders in Israel use their power to murder.
7 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.
You despise your parents. You exploit the foreigners who live with you, and you mistreat orphans and widows.
8 My holy things thou didst despise, and my sabbaths thou didst profane.
You detest my holy things and violate my Sabbaths.
9 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.
Living among you are people who falsely accuse others in order to put them to death. You also have those who eat religious meals at pagan shrines in the mountains, and commit immoral acts within the city.
10 Their father's nakedness they uncovered within thee; her that was unclean in her separation did they violate within thee.
Some of those living in the city have sex with their father's wives or with women during their period.
11 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.
You're home to evil men. One does disgusting things with someone else's wife. Another seduces his daughter-in-law, while another rapes his sister, the daughter of his own father.
12 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.
Your people take money to murder others. You charge interest and make a profit on loans, and use extortion to get money from your neighbors. You have forgotten all about me, declares the Lord God.
13 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.
So watch out! I clap my hands in condemnation at your dishonest profiteering and at all your murders.
14 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.
Are you going to be so brave, and will you be strong enough to defend yourselves when it comes time for me to deal with you? I, the Lord, have spoken, and I'm going to act.
15 And I will scatter thee among the nations, and disperse thee in the countries, and I will entirely remove thy uncleanness out of thee.
I'm going to scatter you among the nations and the different countries. I will put a stop to your unclean acts.
16 And thou shalt be degraded through thyself before the eyes of nations, and thou shalt know that I am the Lord.
For when everyone else sees how you've made yourselves unclean, then you will acknowledge that I am the Lord.”
17 And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
A message from the Lord came to me, saying,
18 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.
“Son of man, the people of Israel have ended up like the impurities left over from refining metal. They're all like copper, tin, iron, and lead in the furnace—they are just the impurities left from refining silver.
19 Therefore thus hath said the Lord Eternal, Because ye are all become dross, therefore, behold, I will gather you into the midst of Jerusalem.
So this is what the Lord God says: Because all of you have ended up like impurities, watch as I collect you together in Jerusalem.
20 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.
In the same way a refiner collects silver, copper, iron, lead, and tin and puts them in the blast furnace to melt them with fire, I'm going to collect you in my burning anger, and keep you there until I melt you.
21 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.
I'm going to collect you all together and blast you with the fire of my anger, and you'll be melted there in the city.
22 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.
Just as silver is melted in a furnace, so you'll be melted in the city. Then you will realize that I, the Lord, have made you experience my anger.”
23 And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
Another message from the Lord came to me, saying,
24 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.
“Son of man, tell the city of Jerusalem, at the time of punishment, you are a country that has not been made clean, a place where no rain has fallen,
25 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.
Her leaders conspire together and it's like watching a roaring lion ripping up its prey. They destroy the people, grab everything that's valuable, and make many more widows in the city.
26 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.
Her priests pervert my law and make my holy things unclean. They don't distinguish between what is holy and what is ordinary, and they don't separate the clean from the unclean. They forget about my Sabbaths, and they lead people to treat me with no respect.
27 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.
Her city officials are like wolves ripping up their prey, killing people, destroying lives so they can profit through fraud.
28 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.
Her prophets cover up what they do, using false visions as whitewash and prophecies that are lies, saying, ‘This is what the Lord God says,’ when the Lord hasn't said anything.
29 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.
The people of this country are extortioners and robbers. They mistreat the poor and those in need and exploit the foreigners, treating them totally unfairly.
30 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.
I tried to find one of them repair the wall and defend the gap so when I came I wouldn't destroy it—but I couldn't find anyone.
31 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.
So I have let them experience my hostility, burning them up with the fire of my anger. I have made sure they suffer the consequences of what they've done, declares the Lord God.”
