Ezekiel 22

¹ Moreover Yahweh’s word came to me, saying,

² “You, son of man, will you judge, will you judge the bloody city? Then cause her to know all her abominations.

³ You shall say, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “A city that sheds blood in the middle of her, that her time may come, and that makes idols against herself to defile her!

⁴ You have become guilty in your blood that you have shed, and are defiled in your 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 mocking to all the countries.

⁵ Those who are near and those who are far from you shall mock you, you infamous one and full of tumult.

⁶ Behold, the princes of Israel, everyone according to his power, have been in you to shed blood.

⁷ In you have they set light by father and mother. In the middle of you have they dealt by oppression with the foreigner. In you have they wronged the fatherless and the widow.

⁸ You have despised my holy things, and have profaned my Sabbaths.

⁹ Slanderous men have been in you to shed blood. In you have they eaten on the mountains. In the middle of you have they committed lewdness.

¹⁰ In you have they uncovered their fathers’ nakedness. In you have they humbled her who was set apart for pollution.

¹¹ One has committed abomination with his neighbor’s wife. Another has lewdly defiled his daughter-in-law. Another in you has humbled his sister, his father’s daughter.

¹² In you have they taken bribes to shed blood. You have taken interest and increase, and you have greedily gained from your neighbors by oppression, and have forgotten me,” says the Lord Yahweh.

¹³ “Behold, therefore I have struck my hand at your dishonest gain which you have made, and at your blood which has been in the middle of you.

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

¹⁵ I will scatter you among the nations, and disperse you through the countries. I will consume your filthiness out of you.

¹⁶ You shall be profaned in yourself, in the sight of the nations. Then you shall know that I am Yahweh.”

¹⁷ Yahweh’s word came to me, saying,

¹⁸ “Son of man, the house of Israel has become dross to me. All of them are bronze, tin, iron, and lead, in the middle of the furnace. They have become the dross of silver.

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

²⁰ As they gather silver, bronze, iron, lead, and tin into the middle of the furnace, to blow the fire on it, to melt it; so will I gather you in my anger and in my wrath, and I will lay 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 the middle of it.

²² As silver is melted in the middle of the furnace, so shall you be melted in the middle of it. Then you shall know that I, Yahweh, have poured out my wrath on you.’”

²³ Yahweh’s word came to me, saying,

²⁴ “Son of man, tell her, ‘You are a land that is not cleansed, nor rained on in the day of indignation.’

²⁵ There is a conspiracy of her prophets within it, like a roaring lion ravening the prey. They have devoured souls. They have taken treasure and precious things. They have made many widows within it.

²⁶ Her priests have done violence to my law, and have profaned my holy things. They have made no distinction between the holy and the common, neither have they taught the difference between the unclean and the clean, and have hidden their eyes from my Sabbaths. I am profaned among them.

²⁷ Her princes within it are like wolves ravening the prey, to shed blood, and to destroy souls, that they may get dishonest gain.

²⁸ Her prophets have plastered for them with whitewash, seeing false visions, and divining lies to them, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh,’ when Yahweh has not spoken.

²⁹ The people of the land have used oppression, and exercised robbery. Yes, they have troubled the poor and needy, and have oppressed the foreigner wrongfully.

³⁰ I sought for a man among them, that should build up the wall, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found none.

³¹ Therefore I have poured out my indignation on them. I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath. Their own way have I brought on their heads,” says the Lord Yahweh.