< Ezekiel 22 >
1 Yahweh gave me another message. He said,
And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
2 “You human, are you ready to condemn the people of Jerusalem? It is [RHQ] a city full of murderers [MTY]. Remind them of all the detestable things that they have done.
“And you, son of man, should you not judge, should you not judge the city of blood?
3 [Then] say, ‘This is what Yahweh the Lord says: By your murdering people and by (defiling yourselves/making yourselves unacceptable to God) by making idols, you people of this city [APO] have brought to yourselves the time when you [will be destroyed].
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.
4 You have become guilty by doing both of those things [DOU]. You have brought to an end your time [to remain alive] [DOU]. Therefore I will cause you to become a group whom the [people of other] nations will scorn; they will all laugh at you [DOU].
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.
5 People in countries that are near you and people who live far from you will make fun of you, because your city is full of lawless people and full of confusion.
Those that are near and those that are far from you will triumph over you. You are filthy, infamous, great in destruction.
6 Think about how each of your Israeli kings have used their power to cause people to be murdered [MTY].
Behold, the leaders of Israel have each used his arm to shed blood within you.
7 Your people do not respect/honor their parents; they have oppressed foreigners; they mistreat orphans and widows.
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.
8 You despise my sacred places and (dishonor/do not respect) the Sabbath days.
You have spurned my sanctuaries, and you have defiled my Sabbaths.
9 Among you are men who tell lies in order to cause others to be executed [MTY]. There are those who [food offered to idols] at the hilltop [shrines], and they perform disgusting sexual acts.
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.
10 There are men who have sex with their father’s wives [EUP], and men who have sex with women during their monthly menstrual periods.
They have uncovered the nakedness of their father within you. They have debased the uncleanness of the menstruous woman within you.
11 There are men who have sex with someone else’s wife. Some men have sex with their daughters-in-law or with their sisters or half-sisters.
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.
12 There are among you men who accept bribes in order to cause someone to be executed [MTY]. You charge high interest when you lend people money. You become rich by forcing people to give you money. [the worst thing is that] you have forgotten me, Yahweh the Lord.
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.
13 So I will shake my fists at you to show that I am angry with you because of your stealing money from people and murdering [MTY] people who live among you.
Behold, I have clapped my hands over your avarice, which you have worked, and over the blood that has been shed in your midst.
14 When I [punishing] you, you will no longer [RHQ] be courageous/brave [DOU]. I, Yahweh, have said [what I will do to you], and I will do it.
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.
15 I will cause you to be scattered among many nations [DOU], and I will cause you to stop your sinful behavior.
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.
16 When [the people of other] nations see that you have been humiliated, you will know that I, Yahweh, [have the power to do what I say that I will do].’”
And I will possess you in the sight of the Gentiles. And you shall know that I am the Lord.”
17 Yahweh [also] said to me,
And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
18 “You human, your Israeli people [MTY] have [useless] to me. They are [like] [MET] dross/slag to me. They are like [SIM] [worthless] copper, tin, iron, and lead that remains after silver is melted in [very hot] furnace.
“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.
19 Therefore, this is what [I], Yahweh the Lord, say: Because you have all become [like] dross/slag, I will gather you in Jerusalem.
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,
20 People [ore containing] silver, copper, iron, lead, and tin in a [very hot] furnace and melt them in a blazing [to burn up the impurities]. Similarly [SIM], I will gather you [inside Jerusalem], and because I am very angry with you, [what I will do will be as though] I am melting you.
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.
21 [It will be as though] I will blow on you with a hot breath that shows that I am very angry, [it will be as though] you will be melted,
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.
22 as though you will be melted like [SIM] silver is melted in a furnace, and then you will know that I, Yahweh, have poured out my punishment [MTY] on you.”
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.”
23 Yahweh gave me another message. He said,
And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
24 “You human, say to the Israeli people, ‘[Yahweh] is angry with you, there has been no rain or showers in your country.’
“Son of man, say to her: You are a land unclean and not rained upon, in the day of fury.
25 Your leaders are like [SIM] lions that tear apart the animals that they have killed. Your leaders destroy their people. They steal treasures and [other] valuable things from people, and they cause many women to become [by murdering their husbands].
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.
26 Their priests disobey my laws and disrespect my sacred things by saying that there is no difference between things that are sacred and those that are not sacred, and by ignoring my laws about honoring the Sabbath days. As a result, they no [longer] honor me.
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.
27 Their officials are like [SIM] wolves that tear apart the animals that they have killed: They murder people [DOU] in order to get their money.
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.
28 Their prophets, by falsely saying they have received [from God], and by giving false messages, try to (cover up [MET]/say that it is all right to commit) those sins. They say, ‘This is what Yahweh the Lord says,’ when I have said nothing to them.
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.
29 The Israeli people force others to give them money, and they rob people. They oppress poor [DOU] people, and they mistreat foreigners among them by not treating them [in the courts].
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.
30 I looked among them to find a man who would cause the people of the city to repent [MET] so that I would not need to get rid of them. But I did not find anyone.
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.
31 So because I am very angry with them, I will severely punish them [MTY] for [all] the wicked things that they have done. [That will surely happen because I], Yahweh the Lord, have said it.”
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.”