Ezekiel 22

1 And the word of Jehovah came to me, saying:

2 Punish, punish, son of man, the city of blood, and show her all her abominations, and say,

3 Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: O city that sheddest blood in the midst of thee, that thy time may come, and makest idols to defile thyself!

4 Through the blood which thou sheddest thou bringest guilt upon thyself, and through the idols which thou makest thou pollutest thyself, and thou causest thy days to draw near, and comest to thy years. Therefore do I make thee a reproach to the nations, and a derision to all countries.

5 Those that are near, and those that are far from thee, shall mock thee as infamous, full of confusion.

6 Behold the princes of Israel are engaged every one according to his strength within thee to shed blood.

7 In thee they set light by father and mother; in thee are they guilty of oppression to the stranger; in thee do they oppress the fatherless and the widow.

8 Thou hast despised my holy things, and profaned my sabbaths.

9 In thee are men who carry tales, that they may shed blood; in thee do they eat upon the mountains; in the midst of thee do they commit lewdness.

10 In thee doth the son uncover the father's nakedness; in thee do they lie with a woman in her uncleanness.

11 And one committeth abomination with his neighbor's wife; and another, with incestuous lewdness, defileth his daughter-in-law; and in thee another lieth with his sister, his father's daughter.

12 In thee do they take a reward to shed blood. Thou takest usury and increase, and thou hast enriched thyself from thy neighbor by extortion, and hast forgotten me, saith the Lord Jehovah.

13 Therefore, behold, I have smitten my hands together at thy dishonest gain which thou hast made, and at the blood which hath been shed in the midst of thee.

14 Can thy heart endure, or can thy hands be strong, in the day when I shall deal with thee? I, Jehovah, have spoken it, and will do it.

15 I will scatter thee among the nations, and disperse thee in the countries, and will consume thine impurity out of thee;

16 and thou shalt through thyself be profaned before the eyes of the nations, and thou shalt know that I am Jehovah.

17 And the word of Jehovah came to me, saying:

18 Son of man, the house of Israel is become dross to me; all of them are brass, and tin, and iron, and lead, in the midst of the furnace; they are the dross of silver.

19 Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Because ye are all of you become dross, therefore, behold, I will gather you into the midst of Jerusalem.

20 As men gather silver, and brass, and iron, and lead, and tin, 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 place you there and melt you.

21 Yea, I will gather you, and blow upon you with the fire of my wrath, and ye shall be melted in the midst thereof.

22 As silver is melted in the midst of the furnace, so shall ye be melted in the midst thereof; and ye shall know that I, Jehovah, have poured out my fury upon you.

23 And the word of Jehovah came to me, saying:

24 Son of man, say to her, Thou art a land that is not cleansed, nor rained upon in the day of indignation.

25 There is a conspiracy of her prophets in the midst of her; like a roaring lion tearing the prey, they devour the lives of men; they take possession of treasures, and precious things, and make many widows in the midst of her.

26 Her priests violate my law, and profane my holy things. They make no distinction between the holy and profane, and show not the difference between the clean and the unclean; and they hide their eyes from my sabbaths, and I am profaned among them.

27 Her princes in the midst of her are like wolves tearing the prey. They shed blood, they destroy life, that they may get gain.

28 Her prophets daub for them with untempered mortar, seeing falsehood, and divining to them, saying, “Thus saith the Lord Jehovah,” when Jehovah hath not spoken.

29 The people of the land are guilty of oppression, and practise robbery, and distress the poor and needy; yea, they oppress the stranger, and have no justice.

30 I have sought for a man among them that should make a wall, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I might not destroy it; but I found none.

31 Therefore will I pour out my indignation upon them; I will consume them with the fire of my wrath; I will bring their way upon their heads, saith the Lord Jehovah.