Ezekiel 22
1 Yahweh gave me another message. He said,
And the word of Jehovah 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.
Punish, punish, son of man, the city of blood, and show her all her abominations, and say,
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].
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 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].
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 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 thee, shall mock thee as infamous, full of confusion.
6 Think about how each of your Israeli kings have used their power to cause people to be murdered [MTY].
Behold the princes of Israel are engaged every one according to his strength within thee to shed blood.
7 Your people do not respect/honor their parents; they have oppressed foreigners; they mistreat orphans and widows.
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 You despise my sacred places and (dishonor/do not respect) the Sabbath days.
Thou hast despised my holy things, and profaned 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.
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 There are men who have sex with their father’s wives [EUP], and men who have sex with women during their monthly menstrual periods.
In thee doth the son uncover the father's nakedness; in thee do they lie with a woman in her uncleanness.
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 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 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.
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 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.
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 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.
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 cause you to be scattered among many nations [DOU], and I will cause you to stop your sinful behavior.
I will scatter thee among the nations, and disperse thee in the countries, and will consume thine impurity out of thee;
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 thou shalt through thyself be profaned before the eyes of the nations, and thou shalt know that I am Jehovah.
17 Yahweh [also] said to me,
And the word of Jehovah 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 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, this is what [I], Yahweh the Lord, say: Because you have all become [like] dross/slag, I will gather you in Jerusalem.
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 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.
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 [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,
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 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.”
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 Yahweh gave me another message. He said,
And the word of Jehovah 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, Thou art a land that is not cleansed, nor rained upon in the day of indignation.
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 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 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 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 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 princes in the midst of her are like wolves tearing the prey. They shed blood, they destroy life, that they may get gain.
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.
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 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 are guilty of oppression, and practise robbery, and distress the poor and needy; yea, they oppress the stranger, and have no justice.
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.
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 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.”
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.
