Ezekiel 22

⁶Therefore this is what the Lord God says: ‘Woe to the city of bloodshed, to the pot now rusted, whose rust will not come off! Empty it piece by piece; cast no lots for its contents.

⁹Yes, this is what the Lord God says: ‘Woe to the city of bloodshed! I, too, will pile the kindling high.

⁴Will you judge them, will you judge them, son of man? Confront them with the abominations of their fathers

¹Woe to the city of blood, full of lies, full of plunder, never without prey.

⁵²Which of the prophets did your fathers fail to persecute? They even killed those who foretold the coming of the Righteous One. And now you are His betrayers and murderers—

¹“Cry aloud, do not hold back! Raise your voice like a ram’s horn. Declare to My people their transgression and to the house of Jacob their sins.

²⁷Her officials within her are like wolves tearing their prey, shedding blood, and destroying lives for dishonest gain.

³Her princes are roaring lions; her judges are evening wolves, leaving nothing for the morning.

⁴you are guilty of the blood you have shed, and you are defiled by the idols you have made. You have brought your days to a close and have come to the end of your years. Therefore I have made you a reproach to the nations and a mockery to all the lands.

⁶See how every prince of Israel within you has used his power to shed blood.

²And he did evil in the sight of the Lord by following the abominations of the nations that the Lord had driven out before the Israelites.

³For he rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had destroyed, and he raised up altars for Baal. He made an Asherah pole, as King Ahab of Israel had done, and he worshiped and served all the host of heaven.

⁵But because of your hard and unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of wrath, when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.

¹⁶Moreover, Manasseh shed so much innocent blood that he filled Jerusalem from end to end, in addition to the sin that he had caused Judah to commit, doing evil in the sight of the Lord.

⁵⁷before your wickedness was uncovered? Even so, you are now scorned by the daughters of Edom and all those around her, and by the daughters of the Philistines—all those around you who despise you.

²“As for you, son of man, will you judge her? Will you pass judgment on the city of bloodshed? Then confront her with all her abominations

¹³You have made us a reproach to our neighbors, a mockery and derision to those around us.

¹⁴You have made us a byword among the nations, a laughingstock among the peoples.

¹⁴I will make you a ruin and a disgrace among the nations around you, in the sight of all who pass by.

¹⁵So you will be a reproach and a taunt, a warning and a horror to the nations around you, when I execute judgments against you in anger, wrath, and raging fury. I, the Lord, have spoken.

³²And I will lay waste the land, so that your enemies who dwell in it will be appalled.

²O city of commotion, O town of revelry? Your slain did not die by the sword, nor were they killed in battle.

²If they ask you, ‘Where shall we go?’ you are to tell them that this is what the Lord says: ‘Those destined for death, to death; those destined for the sword, to the sword; those destined for famine, to famine; and those destined for captivity, to captivity.’

³I will appoint over them four kinds of destroyers, declares the Lord: the sword to kill, the dogs to drag away, and the birds of the air and beasts of the earth to devour and destroy.

²³Your rulers are rebels, friends of thieves. They all love bribes and chasing after rewards. They do not defend the fatherless, and the plea of the widow never comes before them.

²⁷Her officials within her are like wolves tearing their prey, shedding blood, and destroying lives for dishonest gain.

⁵I will go to the powerful and speak to them. Surely they know the way of the Lord, the justice of their God.” But they too, with one accord, had broken the yoke and torn off the chains.

³Now Joshua was dressed in filthy garments as he stood before the angel.

⁹Now hear this, O leaders of the house of Jacob and rulers of the house of Israel, who despise justice and pervert all that is right,

¹⁰who build Zion with bloodshed and Jerusalem with iniquity.

¹Then I said: “Hear now, O leaders of Jacob, you rulers of the house of Israel. Should you not know justice?

²You hate good and love evil. You tear the skin from my people and strip the flesh from their bones.

¹⁶‘Cursed is he who dishonors his father or mother.’ And let all the people say, ‘Amen!’

²¹You must not exploit or oppress a foreign resident, for you yourselves were foreigners in the land of Egypt.

²²You must not mistreat any widow or orphan.

⁹If anyone curses his father or mother, he must be put to death. He has cursed his father or mother; his blood shall be upon him.

⁴For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother’ and ‘Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.’

⁵But you say that if anyone says to his father or mother, ‘Whatever you would have received from me is a gift devoted to God,’

⁶if you no longer oppress the foreigner and the fatherless and the widow, and if you no longer shed innocent blood in this place or follow other gods to your own harm,

⁵“Then I will draw near to you for judgment. And I will be a swift witness against sorcerers and adulterers and perjurers, against oppressors of the widowed and fatherless, and against those who defraud laborers of their wages and deny justice to the foreigner but do not fear Me,” says the Lord of Hosts.

³⁸They have also done this to Me: On that very same day, they defiled My sanctuary and profaned My Sabbaths.

³⁹On the very day they slaughtered their children for their idols, they entered My sanctuary to profane it. Yes, they did this inside My house.

¹³Yet the house of Israel rebelled against Me in the wilderness. They did not follow My statutes and they rejected My ordinances—though the man who does these things will live by them—and they utterly profaned My Sabbaths. Then I resolved to pour out My wrath upon them and put an end to them in the wilderness.

²⁶Her priests do violence to My law and profane My holy things. They make no distinction between the holy and the common, and they fail to distinguish between the clean and the unclean. They disregard My Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them.

²⁴For they did not practice My ordinances, but they rejected My statutes and profaned My Sabbaths, fixing their eyes on the idols of their fathers.

²¹But the children rebelled against Me. They did not walk in My statutes or carefully observe My ordinances—though the man who does these things will live by them—and they profaned My Sabbaths. So I resolved to pour out My wrath upon them and vent My anger against them in the wilderness.

⁴Hear this, you who trample the needy, who do away with the poor of the land,

⁵asking, “When will the New Moon be over, that we may sell grain? When will the Sabbath end, that we may market wheat? Let us reduce the ephah and increase the shekel; let us cheat with dishonest scales.

¹⁴I will not punish your daughters when they prostitute themselves, nor your daughters-in-law when they commit adultery. For the men themselves go off with prostitutes and offer sacrifices with shrine prostitutes. So a people without understanding will come to ruin.

¹⁶You must not go about spreading slander among your people. You must not endanger the life of your neighbor. I am the Lord.

¹⁰They will eat but not be satisfied; they will be promiscuous but not multiply. For they have abandoned the Lord to give themselves

²Cursing and lying, murder and stealing, and adultery are rampant; one act of bloodshed follows another.

²⁰You sit and malign your brother; you slander your own mother’s son.

⁹And the great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.

¹⁰And I heard a loud voice in heaven saying: “Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of His Christ. For the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down—he who accuses them day and night before our God.

¹⁹You must not approach a woman to have sexual relations with her during her menstrual period.

⁶He does not eat at the mountain or look to the idols of the house of Israel. He does not defile his neighbor’s wife or approach a woman during her period.

¹¹If a man lies with his father’s wife, he has uncovered his father’s nakedness. Both must surely be put to death; their blood is upon them.

⁷You must not expose the nakedness of your father by having sexual relations with your mother. She is your mother; you must not have sexual relations with her.

⁸You must not have sexual relations with your father’s wife; it would dishonor your father.

¹These were the sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel. Though he was the firstborn, his birthright was given to the sons of Joseph son of Israel, because Reuben defiled his father’s bed. So he is not reckoned according to birthright.

⁴Uncontrolled as the waters, you will no longer excel, because you went up to your father’s bed, onto my couch, and defiled it.

¹⁷If a man marries his sister, whether the daughter of his father or of his mother, and they have sexual relations, it is a disgrace. They must be cut off in the sight of their people. He has uncovered the nakedness of his sister; he shall bear his iniquity.

¹⁴But Amnon refused to listen to her, and being stronger, he violated her and lay with her.

¹⁵You must not have sexual relations with your daughter-in-law. She is your son’s wife; you are not to have sexual relations with her.

⁹You must not have sexual relations with your sister, either your father’s daughter or your mother’s daughter, whether she was born in the same home or elsewhere.

¹¹though the father has done none of them: Indeed, the son eats at the mountain and defiles his neighbor’s wife.

²⁰You must not lie carnally with your neighbor’s wife and thus defile yourself with her.

³⁵Therefore this is what the Lord God says: ‘Because you have forgotten Me and have cast Me behind your back, you must bear the consequences of your indecency and prostitution.’”

²⁵‘Cursed is he who accepts a bribe to kill an innocent person.’ And let all the people say, ‘Amen!’

²The godly man has perished from the earth; there is no one upright among men. They all lie in wait for blood; they hunt one another with a net.

³Both hands are skilled at evil; the prince and the judge demand a bribe. When the powerful utters his evil desire, they all conspire together.

²¹They forgot God their Savior, who did great things in Egypt,

⁵who lends his money without interest and refuses a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things will never be shaken.

³⁵Now if your countryman becomes destitute and cannot support himself among you, then you are to help him as you would a foreigner or stranger, so that he can continue to live among you.

³⁶Do not take any interest or profit from him, but fear your God, that your countryman may live among you.

¹⁵He who walks righteously and speaks with sincerity, who refuses gain from extortion, whose hand never takes a bribe, who stops his ears against murderous plots and shuts his eyes tightly against evil—

¹⁷I too will strike My hands together, and I will satisfy My wrath.’ I, the Lord, have spoken.”

²⁷Her officials within her are like wolves tearing their prey, shedding blood, and destroying lives for dishonest gain.

¹⁴‘So then, son of man, prophesy and strike your hands together. Let the sword strike two times, even three. It is a sword that slays, a sword of great slaughter closing in on every side!

⁶This is what the Lord says: “For three transgressions of Israel, even four, I will not revoke My judgment, because they sell the righteous for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals.

⁷They trample on the heads of the poor as on the dust of the earth; they push the needy out of their way. A man and his father have relations with the same girl and so profane My holy name.

⁹Will you steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, burn incense to Baal, and follow other gods that you have not known,

¹⁰and then come and stand before Me in this house, which bears My Name, and say, ‘We are delivered, so we can continue with all these abominations’?

⁷And when they ask, ‘Why are you groaning?’ you are to say, ‘Because of the news that is coming. Every heart will melt, and every hand will go limp. Every spirit will faint, and every knee will turn to water.’ Yes, it is coming and it will surely happen, declares the Lord God.”

²⁴Then all the trees of the field will know that I am the Lord. I bring the tall tree down and make the low tree tall. I dry up the green tree and make the withered tree flourish. I, the Lord, have spoken, and I have done it.’”

¹⁴I, the Lord, have spoken; the time is coming, and I will act. I will not refrain or show pity, nor will I relent. I will judge you according to your ways and deeds,’ declares the Lord God.”

⁹Will you still say, ‘I am a god,’ in the presence of those who slay you? You will be only a man, not a god, in the hands of those who wound you.

²⁹Moreover, the Glory of Israel does not lie or change His mind, for He is not a man, that He should change His mind.”

²²Are we trying to provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than He?

⁸Remember, I pray, the word that You commanded Your servant Moses when You said, ‘If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations,

²²As silver is melted in a furnace, so you will be melted within the city. Then you will know that I, the Lord, have poured out My wrath upon you.’”

²⁷Then the Lord will scatter you among the peoples, and only a few of you will survive among the nations to which the Lord will drive you.

¹⁴But I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations that they had not known, and the land was left desolate behind them so that no one could come or go. Thus they turned the pleasant land into a desolation.”

¹⁹I dispersed them among the nations, and they were scattered throughout the lands. I judged them according to their ways and deeds.

³³But I will scatter you among the nations and will draw out a sword after you as your land becomes desolate and your cities are laid waste.

¹⁸May they know that You alone, whose name is the Lord, are Most High over all the earth.

⁷The slain will fall among you, and you will know that I am the Lord.

²⁴So I will bring the most wicked of nations to take possession of their houses. I will end the pride of the mighty, and their holy places will be profaned.

²⁸Then the man of God approached the king of Israel and said, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Because the Arameans have said that the Lord is a god of the hills and not of the valleys, I will deliver all this great army into your hand. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’”

²⁵You will be driven away from mankind, and your dwelling will be with the beasts of the field. You will feed on grass like an ox and be drenched with the dew of heaven, and seven times shall pass you by, until you acknowledge that the Most High rules over the kingdom of mankind and gives it to whom He wishes.

³Tell the Ammonites to hear the word of the Lord God, for this is what the Lord God says: ‘Because you exclaimed, “Aha!” when My sanctuary was profaned, when the land of Israel was laid waste, and when the house of Judah went into exile,

¹¹⁹All the wicked on earth You discard like dross; therefore I love Your testimonies.

²²Your silver has become dross; your fine wine is diluted with water.

¹⁰See, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.

²⁸All are hardened rebels, walking around as slanderers. They are bronze and iron; all of them are corrupt.

²⁹The bellows blow fiercely, blasting away the lead with fire. The refining proceeds in vain, for the wicked are not purged.

³A crucible for silver and a furnace for gold, but the Lord is the tester of hearts.

⁴For I knew that you are stubborn; your neck is iron and your forehead is bronze.

¹²But they do not know the thoughts of the Lord or understand His plan, for He has gathered them like sheaves to the threshing floor.

³⁰Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat into my barn.’”

⁷Therefore this is what the Lord God says: The slain you have laid within this city are the meat, and the city is the pot; but I will remove you from it.

³Now speak a parable to this rebellious house and tell them that this is what the Lord God says: ‘Put the pot on the fire; put it on and pour in the water.

⁴Put in the pieces of meat, every good piece—thigh and shoulder—fill it with choice bones.

⁴⁰As the weeds are collected and burned in the fire, so will it be at the end of the age.

⁴¹The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will weed out of His kingdom every cause of sin and all who practice lawlessness.

³¹I will pour out My anger upon you; I will breathe the fire of My fury against you; I will hand you over to brutal men, skilled in destruction.

³²You will be fuel for the fire. Your blood will stain your own land. You will not be remembered, for I, the Lord, have spoken.’”

²⁰Disaster after disaster is proclaimed, for the whole land is laid waste. My tents are destroyed in an instant, my curtains in a moment.

¹³Because of the indecency of your uncleanness I tried to cleanse you, but you would not be purified from your filthiness. You will not be pure again until My wrath against you has subsided.

¹¹At that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem, “A searing wind from the barren heights in the desert blows toward the daughter of My people, but not to winnow or to sift;

¹²a wind too strong for that comes from Me. Now I also pronounce judgments against them.”

¹⁶Behold, I have created the craftsman who fans the coals into flame and forges a weapon fit for its task; and I have created the destroyer to wreak havoc.

²¹Yes, I will gather you together and blow on you with the fire of My wrath, and you will be melted within the city.

²⁴For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.

⁹You will place them in a fiery furnace at the time of Your appearing. In His wrath the Lord will engulf them, and the fire will consume them.

⁴⁷Say to the forest of the Negev: Hear the word of the Lord! This is what the Lord God says: I am about to ignite in you a fire, and it will devour all your trees, both green and dry. The blazing flame will not be quenched, and by it every face from south to north will be scorched.

⁴⁸Then all people will see that I, the Lord, have kindled it; it will not be quenched.”

⁷No one calls on Your name or strives to take hold of You. For You have hidden Your face from us and delivered us into the hand of our iniquity.

²As smoke is blown away, You will drive them out; as wax melts before the fire, the wicked will perish in the presence of God.

¹⁸Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to deliver them on the Day of the Lord’s wrath. The whole earth will be consumed by the fire of His jealousy.” For indeed, He will make a sudden end of all who dwell on the earth.

⁸But they rebelled against Me and refused to listen. None of them cast away the abominations before their eyes, and they did not forsake the idols of Egypt. So I resolved to pour out My wrath upon them and vent My anger against them in the land of Egypt.

³³As surely as I live, declares the Lord God, with a strong hand, an outstretched arm, and outpoured wrath I will rule over you.

¹⁰The princes of Judah are like those who move boundary stones; I will pour out My fury upon them like water.

³¹So I have poured out My indignation upon them and consumed them with the fire of My fury. I have brought their ways down upon their own heads, declares the Lord God.”

¹⁶And when you have defiled yourself in the eyes of the nations, then you will know that I am the Lord.’”

¹Then I heard a loud voice from the temple saying to the seven angels, “Go, pour out on the earth the seven bowls of God’s wrath.”

²²In the time of his distress, King Ahaz became even more unfaithful to the Lord.

¹⁴Furthermore, all the leaders of the priests and the people multiplied their unfaithful deeds, following all the abominations of the nations, and they defiled the house of the Lord, which He had consecrated in Jerusalem.

¹⁵Again and again the Lord, the God of their fathers, sent word to His people through His messengers because He had compassion on them and on His dwelling place.

⁵Why do you want more beatings? Why do you keep rebelling? Your head has a massive wound, and your whole heart is afflicted.

³⁰“I have struck your sons in vain; they accepted no discipline. Your own sword has devoured your prophets like a voracious lion.”

¹³But the people did not return to Him who struck them; they did not seek the Lord of Hosts.

¹⁶“As for the word you have spoken to us in the name of the Lord, we will not listen to you!

¹⁷Instead, we will do everything we vowed to do: We will burn incense to the Queen of Heaven and offer drink offerings to her, just as we, our fathers, our kings, and our officials did in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. At that time we had plenty of food and good things, and we saw no disaster.

⁹Like raiders who lie in ambush, so does a band of priests; they murder on the way to Shechem; surely they have committed atrocities.

⁹And the Lord told me, “There is a conspiracy among the men of Judah and the residents of Jerusalem.

³⁴Moreover, your skirts are stained with the blood of the innocent poor, though you did not find them breaking in. But in spite of all these things

¹⁹You have profaned Me among My people for handfuls of barley and scraps of bread. By lying to My people who would listen, you have killed those who should not have died and spared those who should not have lived.

¹¹Now Zedekiah son of Chenaanah had made for himself iron horns and declared, “This is what the Lord says: ‘With these you shall gore the Arameans until they are finished off.’”

¹²And all the prophets were prophesying the same, saying, “Go up to Ramoth-gilead and triumph, for the Lord will deliver it into the hand of the king.”

¹³of cinnamon, spice, incense, myrrh, and frankincense; of wine, olive oil, fine flour, and wheat; of cattle, sheep, horses, and carriages; of bodies and souls of slaves.

¹⁰You must distinguish between the holy and the common, between the clean and the unclean,

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

²³They are to teach My people the difference between the holy and the common and show them how to discern between the clean and the unclean.

⁸But you have departed from the way, and your instruction has caused many to stumble. You have violated the covenant of Levi,” says the Lord of Hosts.

¹¹Her leaders judge for a bribe, her priests teach for a price, and her prophets practice divination for money. Yet they lean upon the Lord, saying, “Is not the Lord among us? No disaster can come upon us.”

¹²Therefore, because of you, Zion will be plowed like a field, Jerusalem will become a heap of rubble, and the temple mount a wooded ridge.

¹²Now the sons of Eli were wicked men; they had no regard for the Lord

¹³or for the custom of the priests with the people. When any man offered a sacrifice, the servant of the priest would come with a three-pronged meat fork while the meat was boiling

¹³Now look, I strike My hands together against your unjust gain and against the blood you have shed in your midst.

²³Your rulers are rebels, friends of thieves. They all love bribes and chasing after rewards. They do not defend the fatherless, and the plea of the widow never comes before them.

⁶See how every prince of Israel within you has used his power to shed blood.

⁸Do not gloat over me, my enemy! Though I have fallen, I will arise; though I sit in darkness, the Lord will be my light.

²⁵The conspiracy of the princes in her midst is like a roaring lion tearing its prey. They devour the people, seize the treasures and precious things, and multiply the widows within her.

¹³And He declared to them, “It is written: ‘My house will be called a house of prayer.’ But you are making it ‘a den of robbers.’”

⁶They see false visions and speak lying divinations. They claim, ‘Thus declares the Lord,’ when the Lord did not send them; yet they wait for the fulfillment of their message.

⁷Haven’t you seen a false vision and spoken a lying divination when you proclaim, ‘Thus declares the Lord,’ even though I have not spoken?

¹⁰Because they have led My people astray, saying, ‘Peace,’ when there is no peace, and whitewashing any flimsy wall that is built,

¹¹tell those whitewashing the wall that it will fall. Rain will come in torrents, I will send hailstones plunging down, and a windstorm will burst forth.

²⁵“I have heard the sayings of the prophets who prophesy lies in My name: ‘I had a dream! I had a dream!’

²⁶How long will this continue in the hearts of these prophets who prophesy falsehood, these prophets of the delusion of their own minds?

¹⁰They say to the seers, “Stop seeing visions!” and to the prophets, “Do not prophesy to us the truth! Speak to us pleasant words; prophesy illusions.

²¹I did not send these prophets, yet they have run with their message; I did not speak to them, yet they have prophesied.

²“This is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: ‘I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon.

⁷Father and mother are treated with contempt. Within your walls the foreign resident is exploited, the fatherless and the widow are oppressed.

⁹Do not oppress a foreign resident, since you yourselves know how it feels to be foreigners; for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt.

⁷For the vineyard of the Lord of Hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are the plant of His delight. He looked for justice, but saw bloodshed; for righteousness, but heard a cry of distress.

³¹The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule by their own authority. My people love it so, but what will you do in the end?

²¹You must not exploit or oppress a foreign resident, for you yourselves were foreigners in the land of Egypt.

⁶They kill the widow and the foreigner; they murder the fatherless.

¹⁶He saw that there was no man; He was amazed that there was no one to intercede. So His own arm brought salvation, and His own righteousness sustained Him.

¹“Go up and down the streets of Jerusalem. Look now and take note; search her squares. If you can find a single person, anyone who acts justly, anyone who seeks the truth, then I will forgive the city.

²³So He said He would destroy them—had not Moses His chosen one stood before Him in the breach to divert His wrath from destroying them.

²³Abraham stepped forward and said, “Will You really sweep away the righteous with the wicked?

²⁴What if there are fifty righteous ones in the city? Will You really sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous ones who are there?

⁵You did not go up to the gaps or restore the wall around the house of Israel so that it would stand in the battle on the Day of the Lord.

⁵I looked, but there was no one to help; I was appalled that no one assisted. So My arm brought Me salvation, and My own wrath upheld Me.

⁸Very soon I will pour out My wrath upon you and vent My anger against you; I will judge you according to your ways and repay you for all your abominations.

⁹I will not look on you with pity, nor will I spare you, but I will punish you for your ways and for the abominations among you. Then you will know that it is I, the Lord, who strikes the blow.

¹⁰But as for Me, I will not look on them with pity, nor will I spare them. I will bring their deeds down upon their own heads.”

⁴³Because you did not remember the days of your youth, but enraged Me with all these things, I will surely bring your deeds down upon your own head, declares the Lord God. Have you not committed this lewdness on top of all your other abominations?

⁸But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow wickedness, there will be wrath and anger.

⁹There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil, first for the Jew, then for the Greek;

³The end is now upon you, and I will unleash My anger against you. I will judge you according to your ways and repay you for all your abominations.

²¹But as for those whose hearts pursue detestable things and abominations, I will bring their conduct down upon their own heads, declares the Lord God.”