doings, Oye house of Israel, saith the Lord GOD. 45 1 Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, drawn against Israel, 10 It is sharpened to make a sore slaughter, it is furbished that it may glitter; should we then make mirth? it contemneth the rod of my son, as every tree. 11 And he hath given it to be 46 Son of man, set thy face toward the south, and drop thy word toward the south, and pro-furbished, that it may be handled: phesy against the forest of the this sword is sharpened, and it is south field; furbished, to give it into the hand of the slayer. 47 And say to the forest of the south, Hear the word of the LORD; 12 Cry and howl, son of man Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, for it shall be upon my people, it I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall be upon all the princes of Isshall devour every green tree in rael: terrors by reason of the thee, and every dry tree: the sword shall be upon my people. flaming flame shall not be quench-smite therefore upon thy thigh. ed, and all faces from the south to the north shall be burned therein. 48 And all flesh shall see that I the LORD have kindled it: it shall not be quenched. 49 Then said I, Ah Lord GOD! they say of me, Doth he not speak parables? CHAP. XXI. A Prophecy against Jerusalem. Autor of the LORD 3 And say to the land of Israel, Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I am against thee, and will draw forth my sword out of his sheath, and will cut off from thee the righteous and the wicked. 4 Seeing then that I will cut off from thee the righteous and the wicked, therefore shall my sword go forth out of his sheath against all flesh from the south to the north: 5 That all flesh may know that I the LORD have drawn forth my sword out of his sheath: it shall not return any more. 6 Sigh therefore, thou son of man, with the breaking of thy loins; and with bitterness sigh before their eyes. 7 And it shall be, when they say unto thee, Wherefore sighest thou? that thou shalt answer, For the tidings, because it cometh: and every heart shall melt, and all hands shall be feeble, and every spirit shall faint, and all knees shall be weak as water: behold, it cometh, and shall be brought to pass, saith the Lord God. 8 Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 9 Son of man, prophesy, and say, Thus saith the LORD; Say, A ord, a sword is sharpened, and furbished: 13 Because it is a trial, and what if the sword contemn even the rod? it shall be no more, saith the Lord GoD. 14 Thou, therefore, son of man, prophesy, and smite thine hands together, and let the sword be doubled the third time, the sword of the slain: it is the sword of the great men that are slain, which en teret into their privy chambers 15 I have set the point of the sword against all their gates, that their heart may faint, and their ruins be multiplied: ah! it is made bright, it is wrapped up for the slaughter. 16 Go thee one way or other, either on the right hand, or on the left, whithersoever thy face is set. 17 I will also smite my hands together, and I will cause my fury to rest: I the LORD have said it. 18 The word of the LORD came unto me again, saying, 19 Also, thou son of man, appoint thee two ways, that the sword of the king of Babylon may come: both twain shall come forth out of one land: and choose thou a place, choose it at the head of the way to the city. 20 Appoint a way, that the sword may come to Rabbath of the Ammonites, and to Judah in Jerusalem the defenced. 21 For the king of Babylon stood at the parting of the way, at the head of the two ways, to use divination; he made his arrows bright, he consulted with images, he looked in the liver. 22 At his right hand was the divination for Jerusalem, to ap point captains, to open the mouth in the slaughter, to lift up the voice with shouting, to appoint battering rams against the gates, to cast a mount, and to build a fort. 23 And it shall be unto them as a false divination in their sight, to them that have sworn oaths: but and the Ammonites. CHAP. XXII. Jerusalem's transgressions he will call to remembrance the iniquity, that they may be taken. 24 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because ye have made your iniquity to be remembered, in that your transgressions are discovered, so that in all your doings your sins do appear; because, I say, that ye are come to remembrance, ye shall be taken with the hand. 25 1 And thou, profane wicked prince of Israel, whose day is come, when iniquity shall have an end, 26 Thus saith the Lord GoD: Remove the diadem, and take off the crown: this shall not be the same: exalt him that is low, and abase him that is high. 27 I will overturn, overturn, overturn it: and it shall be no more, until he come whose right it is; and I will give it him. hast caused thy days to draw near, and art come even unto thy years: therefore have I made thee a reproach unto the heathen, and a mocking to all countries. 5 Those that be near, and those that be far from thee, shall mock thee, which art infamous and much vexed. 6 Behold, the princes of Israel, every one were in thee to their power to shed blood. 7 In thee have they set light by father and mother: in the midst of thee have they dealt by oppression with the stranger: in thee have they vexed the fatherless and the widow. 8 Thou hast despised my holy things, and hast profaned my sab bathis." 9 In thee are men that carry tales to shed blood: and in thee they eat upon the mountains: in the midst of thee they commit 28 1 And thou, son of man, prophesy and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD concerning the Ammonites, lewdness. and concerning their reproach; 10 In thee have they discovered even say thou, The sword, the their fathers' nakedness: in thee sword is drawn: for the slaughter it have they humbled her that was set is furbished, to consume because apart for pollution. of the glittering: 29 While they see vanity unto thee, while they divine a lie unto thee, to bring thee upon the necks of them that are slain, of the wicked, whose day is come, when their iniquity shall have an end. 30 Shall I cause it to return into his sheath? I will judge thee in the place where thou wast created, in the land of thy nativity. 31 And I will pour out mine indignation upon thee, I will blow against thee in the fire of my wrath, and deliver thee into the hand of brutish men, and skilful to destroy. 32 Thou shalt be for fuel to the fire; thy blood shall be in the midst of the land; thou shalt be no more remembered: for I the LORD have spoken it. CHAP. XXII. ing Now, thou son of man, wilt 3 Then say thou, Thus saith the Lord Gon; The city sheddeth blood in the midst of it, that her time may come, and maketh idols against herself to defile herself. 4 Thou art become guilty in thy blood that thou hast shed; and hast defiled thyself in thine idols which thou hast made; and thou 11 And one hath committed abomination with his neighbour's wife; and another hath lewdly defiled his daughter-in-law; and another in thee hath humbled his sister, his father's daughter. 12 In thee have they taken gifts to shed blood; thou hast taken usury and increase, and thou hast greedily gained of thy neighbours. by extortion, and hast forgotten me, saith the Lord GoD. 13 Behold, therefore I have smitten my hand at thy dishonest gain which thou hast made, and at thy blood which hath been in the midst of thee. 14 Can thy heart endure, or can thy hands be strong, in the days that I shall deal with thee? I the LORD have spoken it, and wil do it. 15 And I will scatter thee among the heathen, and disperse thee in the countries, and will consume thy filthiness out of thee. 16 And thou shalt take thine inheritance in thyself in the sight of the heathen, and thou shalt know that I am the LORD. 17 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 18 Son of man, the house of Israel is to me become dross: all they are brass, and tin, and iron, and lead, in the midst of the furnace; they are even the dross of silver. 19 Therefore thus saith the Lord 737 God's anger against Israel. EZEKIEL, The whoredoms af GOD, Because ye are all become have I recompensed upon their dross, behold, therefore I will ga- heads, saith the Lord GOD. ther you into the midst of Jerusalem. 20 As they 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; 80 will I gather you in mine anger and in my fury, and I will leave you there, and melt you. 21 Yea, I will gather you, and blow upon you in 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 the LORD have poured out my fury upon you. 23 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 24 Son of man, say, unto her, Thou art the land that is not cleansed, nor rained upon in the day of indignation. 25 There is a conspiracy of her prophets in the midst thereof, like a roaring lion ravening the prey; they have devoured souls; they have taken the treasure and precious things; they have made her many widows in the midst thereof. 26 Her priests have violated my law, and have profaned my holy things: they have put no difference between the holy and profane, neither have they shewed difference between the unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes from my sabbaths, and I am profaned among them. CHAP. XXIII Aholah and Aholibah reproved. HE word of the LORD came again unto me, saying, 2 Son of man, there were two women, the daughters of mother: 3 And the committed whoredoma in Egypt; they committed whoredoms in their youth: there were their breasts pressed, and there they bruised the teats of their virginity. 4 And the names of them were Aholah the elder, and Aholiban her sister; and they were mine, and they bare sons and daughters. Thus were their names; Samaria is Aholah, and Jerusalem Aholibah. 5 And Aholah played the harlot when she was mine; and she doted on her lovers, on the Assyrians her neighbours, 6 Which were clothed with blue, captains and rulers, all of them desirable young men, horsemen riding upon horses. 7 Thus she committed her whoredoms with them, with all them that were the chosen men of As syria, and with all on whom she doted; with all their idols she de filed herself. 8 Neither left she her whoredoms brought from Egypt: for in her youth they lay with her, and they bruised the breasts of her vir ginity, and poured their whore dom upon her. 9 Wherefore, I have delivered her into the hand of her lovers, into the hand of the Assyrians, upon whom she doted. 27 Her princes in the midst thereof are like wolves ravening 10 These discovered her nakedthe prey, to shed blood, and to de-ness: they took her sons and her stroy souls, to get dishonest gain. 28 And her prophets have daubed them with untempered mortar, seeing vanity, and divining lies unto them, saying, Thus saith the Lord GOD, when the LORD hath not spoken. 29 The people of the land have used oppression, and exercised robbery, and have vexed the poor and needy: yea, they have oppressed the stranger wrongfully. 30 And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found daughters, and slew her with the sword: and she became famous among women; for they had exe cuted judgment upon her. 11 And when her sister Aholiba saw this, she was more corrupt in her inordinate love than she, and in her whoredoms more than her sister in her whoredoms. 12 She doted upon the Assyrians her neighbours, captains and rulers clothed most gorgeously, horsemen riding upon horses, all of them de sirable young men. 13 Then I saw that she was defiled, that they took both one way 14 And that she increased her whoredoms for when she saw men pourtrayed upon the wall, the images of the Chaldeans pourtrayed with vermilion, 15 Girded with girdles upon Aholah and Aholibah. CHAP. XXIII. Their judgments their loins, exceeding in dyed at- of Egypt: so that thou shalt not. tire upon their heads, all of them lift up thine eyes unto them, nor princes to look to, after the manner remember Egypt any more. of the Babylonians of Chaldea, the land of their nativity: 16 And as soon as she saw them with her eyes, she doted upon them, and sent messengers unto them into Chaldea. 28 For thus saith the Lord God: Behold, I will deliver thee into the hand of them whom thou hatest, into the hand of them from whom thy mind is alienated: 29 And they shall deal with thee 17 And the Babylonians came hatefully, and shall take away all to her into the bed of love, and thy labour, and shall leave thee they defiled her with their whore- naked and bare: and the nakeddom, and she was polluted withness of thy whoredoms shall be disthem, and her mind was alienated covered, both thy lewdness and thy from them. whoredoms. 18 So she discovered her whore- 30 I will do these things unto doms, and discovered her naked- thee, because thou hast gone a ness: then my mind was alienated whoring after the heathen, and from her, like as my mind was because thou art polluted with alienated from her sister. their idols. 19 Yet she multiplied her whoredoms, in calling to remembrance the days of her youth, wherein she had played the harlot in the land of Egypt. 20 For she doted upon their paramours, whose flesh is as the flesh of asses, and whose issue is like the issue of horses. 31 Thou hast walked in the way of thy sister; therefore will I give her cup into thy hand. 32 Thus saith the Lord GOD; Thou shalt drink of thy sister's cup deep and large: thou shalt be laughed to scorn and had in derision; it containeth much. 33 Thou shalt be filled with 21 Thus thou calledst to remem-drunkenness and sorrow, with the brance the lewdness of thy youth, cup of astonishment and desolain bruising thy teats by the Egyp- tion, with the cup of thy sister tians for the paps of thy youth. Samaria. 22 11 Therefore, O Aholibah, thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will raise up thy lovers against thee, from whom thy mind is alienated, and I will bring them against thee on every side; 34 Thou shalt even drink it and suck it out, and thou shalt break the sherds thereof, and pluck off thine own breasts: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord God. 35 Therefore thus saith the Lord 23 The Babylonians, and all the GOD; Because thou hast forgotten Chaldeans, Pekod, and Shoa, and me, and cast me behind thy back, Kon, and all the Assyrians with therefore bear thou also thy lewdthem: all of them desirable youngness and thy whoredoms. men, captains and rulers, great 36 The LORD said, moreover, lords and renowned, all of them unto me: Son of man, wilt thou riding upon horses. judge Aholah and Aholibah? yea, declare unto them their abominations; 24 And they shall come against thee with chariots, waggons, and wheels, and with an assembly of 37 That they have committed people, which shall set against thee adultery, and blood is in their buckler and shield and helmet hands, and with their idols have round about: and I will set judg- they committed adultery, and have ment before them, and they shall also caused their sons, whom they judge thee according to their judg-bare unto me, to pass for them through the fire, to devour them. ents. 25 And I will set my jealousy against thee, and they shall deal furiously with thee: they shall take away thy nose and thine ears; and thy remnant shall fall by the sword: they shall take thy sons and thy daughters; and thy residue shall be devoured by the fire. 26 They shall also strip thee out of thy clothes, and take away thy fair jewels. 38 Moreover, this they have done unto me: they have defiled my sanctuary in the same day, and have profaned my sabbaths. 39 For when they had slain their children to their idols, then they came the same day into my sanctuary to profane it; and lo, thus have they done in the midst of my house. 40 And furthermore, that ye have 27 Thus will I make thy lewd-sent for men to come from far, unto ness to cease from thee, and thy whom a messenger was sent; and whoredom brought from the land lo, they came: for whom thou 739 The destruction of didst wash thyself, paintedst thy and make it boil well, and let eyes, and deckedst thyself with them seethe the bones of it there ornaments, 41 And satest upon a stately bed, and a table prepared before it, whereupon thou hast set mine incense and mine oil. 42 And a voice of a multitude being at ease was with her: and with the men of the common sort were brought Sabeans from the wilderness, which put bracelets upon their hands, and beautiful crowns upon their heads. 43 Then said I unto her that was old in adulteries, Will they now commit whoredoms with her, and she with them? 44 Yet they went in unto her, as they go in unto a woman that playeth the harlot: so went they in unto Aholah and unto Aholibah, the lewd women. 45 And the righteous men, they shall judge them after the manner of adulteresses, and after the manner of women that shed blood; because they are adulteresses, and blood is in their hands. 46 For thus saith the Lord GOD; I will bring up a company upon them, and will give thein to be removed and spoiled. 47 And the company shall stone them with stones, and despatch them with their swords; they shall slay their sons and their daughters, and burn up their houses with fire. 48 Thus will I cause lewdness to cease out of the land, that all women may be taught not to do after your lewdness. 49 And they shall recompense your lewdness upon you, and ye shall bear the sins of your idols: and ye shall know that I am the Lord GOD. CHAP. XXIV. Jerusalem's Destruction foretold. GAIN in the ninth year, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 2 Son of man, write thee the name of the day, even of this same day: the king of Babylon set himself against Jerusalem this same day. 3 And utter a parable unto the rebellious house, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Set on a pot, set it on, and also pour water into it: 4 Gather the pieces thereof into it, even every good piece, the thigh, and the shoulder; fill it with the choice bones. 5 Take the choice of the flock, and burn also the bones under it, 740 in. 6 Wherefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Wo to the bloody city, to the pot whose scum is therein, and whose scum is not gone out of it! bring it out piece by piece; let no lot fall upon it. 7 For her blood is in the midst of her; she set it upon the top of a rock; she poured it not upon the ground, to cover it with dust; 8 That it might cause fury to come up to take vengeance; I have set her blood upon the top of a rock, that it should not be covered. 9 Therefore thus saith the Lord GoD; Wo to the bloody city! I will even make the pile for fire great. 10 Heap on, wood, kindle the fire, consume the flesh, and spice it well, and let the bones be burn ed. 11 Then set it empty upon the coals thereof, that the brass of it may be hot, and may burn, and that the filthiness of it may be molten in it, that the scum of it may be consumed. 12 She hath wearied herself with lies, and her great scum went not forth out of her: her scum shall be in the fire. 13 In thy filthiness is lewdness; because I have purged thee, and thou wast not purged, thou shalt not be purged from thy filthiness any more till I have caused my fury to rest upon thee. 14 I the LORD have spoken it; it shall come to pass, and I will do it: I will not go back, neither will 1 spare, neither will I repent; according to thy ways, and according to thy doings, shall they judge thee, saith the Lord GOD. 15 1 Also the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 16 Son of man, behold, I take away from thee the desire of thine eyes with a stroke: yet neither shalt thou mourn nor weep, neither shall thy tears run down. 17 Forbear to cry, make no mourning for the dead, bind the tire of thy head upon thee, and put on thy shoes upon thy feet, and cover not thy lips, and eat not the bread of men. 18 So I spake unto the people in the morning: and at even my wife died; and I did in the morning as 1 was commanded. 19 And the people said unto me, Wilt thou not tell us what these things are to us, that thou doest se? |