Ezekiel 22

1 And the word of the Lord came unto 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?

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:

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.

5 Those who are near, and those who are far from thee, shall mock thee, O thou unclean in name, and great in confusion!

6 Behold, the princes of Israel were each [ready] with his arm within thee, in order to shed blood.

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.

8 My holy things thou didst despise, and my sabbaths thou didst profane.

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.

10 Their father's nakedness they uncovered within thee; her that was unclean in her separation did they violate within thee.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

16 And thou shalt be degraded through thyself before the eyes of nations, and thou shalt know that I am the Lord.

17 And the word of the Lord came unto 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

23 And the word of the Lord came unto 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.