Ezequiel 22

¹ Moreover the Word of Jehovah came unto me, saying,

² And you, son of man, will you judge, will you judge the bloody city? Yes, show her all her abominations!

³ Then say, Thus says the Lord Jehovah: The city sheds blood in her midst, that her time may come. And she makes idols within herself to defile herself.

⁴ You are guilty by the blood which you have shed, and have defiled yourself with the idols which you have made. You have caused your days to draw near, and have come to your years. Therefore I have made you a reproach to the nations, and a mockery to all lands.

⁵ Those who are near and those far from you will mock you as defiled of name and full of confusion.

⁶ Behold, the rulers of Israel: each one was in you by his power to shed blood in you.

⁷ In you they have made light of father and mother; in your midst they have oppressed the sojourner; in you they have mistreated the orphan and the widow.

⁸ You have despised My holy things and profaned My Sabbaths.

⁹ In you are men who slander to cause bloodshed; in you they eat on the mountains; in your midst they commit lewdness.

¹⁰ In you men uncover the nakedness of their fathers; in you they humble women during their menstrual impurity.

¹¹ One commits abomination with his neighbor’s wife; another lewdly defiles his daughter-in-law; and another in you humbles his sister, his father’s daughter.

¹² In you they take bribes to shed blood; you take usury and increase; you have made profit from your neighbors by extortion, and have forgotten Me, declares the Lord Jehovah.

¹³ Behold, therefore, I have clapped My hands at the unjust gain which you have made, and at the blood which has been in your midst.

¹⁴ Can your heart endure, or can your hands remain strong, in the days when I shall deal with you? I, Jehovah, have spoken, and will do it.

¹⁵ I will scatter you among the nations, disperse you throughout the earth, and destroy your filthiness out of you.

¹⁶ You shall defile yourself in the eyes of the nations; and you shall know that I am Jehovah.

¹⁷ The Word of Jehovah came unto me, saying,

¹⁸ Son of man, the house of Israel has become dross to Me; they are all bronze, tin, iron, and lead, in the midst of the furnace; they are the dross of silver.

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

²⁰ As men gather silver, bronze, iron, lead, and tin into the midst of the furnace, to blow fire on it to melt it; so I will gather you in My anger and in My fury, and I will leave you there and melt you.

²¹ Yes, I will gather you and blow on you with the fire of My wrath, and you shall be melted in its midst.

²² As silver is melted in the midst of the furnace, so shall you be melted in its midst. And you shall know that I, Jehovah, have poured out My fury upon you.

²³ And the Word of Jehovah came unto me, saying,

²⁴ Son of man, say to her: You are a land that is not cleansed or rained on in the day of indignation.

²⁵ The conspiracy of her prophets in her midst is like a roaring lion tearing the prey; they have devoured souls; they have taken treasure and precious things; they have made many widows in her midst.

²⁶ Her priests have violated My Law and defiled My holy things; they have not divided between the holy and profane, nor have they declared between the unclean and the clean; and they have hidden their eyes from My Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them.

²⁷ Her rulers in her midst are like wolves tearing the prey, to shed blood, to destroy souls, and to get dishonest gain.

²⁸ Her prophets plastered them with whitewash, seeing vain visions, and divining lies to them, saying, Thus says the Lord Jehovah, when Jehovah has not spoken.

²⁹ The people of the land have used oppressions, committed robbery, and mistreated the poor and needy; and they wrongfully oppress the sojourner.

³⁰ So I sought for a man among them who would close up the wall, and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found no one.

³¹ Therefore I have poured out My indignation on them; I have consumed them with the fire of My wrath; and I have recompensed their deeds upon their own heads, declares the Lord Jehovah.