Yechezkel, starting at chapter 22
{22:1} Moreover the word of the LORD came to me, saying, {22:2} You,
son of man, will you judge, will you judge the bloody city? then cause
her to know all her abominations. {22:3} You shall say, Thus says the
Lord GOD: A city that sheds blood in the midst of her, that her time
may come, and that makes idols against herself to defile her! {22:4}
You have become guilty in your blood that you have shed, and are
defiled in your idols which you have made; and you have caused your
days to draw near, and are come even to your years: therefore have I
made you a reproach to the nations, and a mocking to all the
countries. {22:5} Those who are near, and those who are far from you,
shall mock you, you infamous one [and] full of tumult. {22:6} Behold,
the princes of Yisra'el, everyone according to his power, have been in
you to shed blood. {22:7} In you have they set light by father and
mother; in the midst of you have they dealt by oppression with the
sojourner; in you have they wronged the fatherless and the widow.
{22:8} You have despised my holy things, and have profaned my
Shabbatot. {22:9} Slanderous men have been in you to shed blood; and
in you they have eaten on the mountains: in the midst of you they have
committed lewdness. {22:10} In you have they uncovered their fathers'
nakedness; in you have they humbled her who was unclean in her
impurity. {22:11} One has committed abomination with his neighbor's
wife; and another has lewdly defiled his daughter-in-law; and another
in you has humbled his sister, his father's daughter. {22:12} In you
have they taken bribes to shed blood; you have taken interest and
increase, and you have greedily gained of your neighbors by
oppression, and have forgotten me, says the Lord GOD. {22:13} Behold,
therefore, I have struck my hand at your dishonest gain which you have
made, and at your blood which has been in the midst of you. {22:14}
Can your heart endure, or can your hands be strong, in the days that I
shall deal with you? I, the LORD, have spoken it, and will do it.
{22:15} I will scatter you among the nations, and disperse you through
the countries; and I will consume your filthiness out of you. {22:16}
You shall be profaned in yourself, in the sight of the nations; and
you shall know that I am the LORD. {22:17} The word of the LORD came
to me, saying, {22:18} Son of man, the house of Yisra'el 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. {22:19} Therefore
thus says the Lord GOD: Because you are all become dross, therefore,
behold, I will gather you into the midst of Yerushalayim. {22:20} As
they gather silver and brass and iron and lead and tin into the midst
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. {22:21} Yes, I will gather you, and blow on you with the fire of
my wrath, and you shall be melted in the midst of it. {22:22} As
silver is melted in the midst of the furnace, so shall you be melted
in the midst of it; and you shall know that I, the LORD, have poured
out my wrath on you. {22:23} The word of the LORD came to me, saying,
{22:24} Son of man, tell her, You are a land that is not cleansed, nor
rained on in the day of indignation. {22:25} There is a conspiracy of
her prophets in the midst of it, like a roaring lion ravening the
prey: they have devoured souls; they take treasure and precious
things; they have made her widows many in the midst of it. {22:26} Her
[1>]Kohanim[<1] 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 caused men to discern between the unclean
and the clean, and have hid their eyes from my Shabbatot, and I am
profaned among them. {22:27} Her princes in the midst of it are like
wolves ravening the prey, to shed blood, [and] to destroy souls, that
they may get dishonest gain. {22:28} Her prophets have daubed for them
with whitewash, seeing false visions, and divining lies to them,
saying, Thus says the Lord GOD, when the LORD has not spoken. {22:29}
The people of the land have used oppression, and exercised robbery;
yes, they have vexed the poor and needy, and have oppressed the
sojourner wrongfully. {22:30} I sought for a man among them, who
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. {22:31} Therefore have
I 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 GOD.
{23:1} The word of the LORD came again to me, saying, {23:2} Son of
man, there were two women, the daughters of one mother: {23:3} and
they played the prostitute in Mitzrayim; they played the prostitute in
their youth; there were their breasts pressed, and there was handled
the bosom of their virginity. {23:4} The names of them were Oholah the
elder, and Oholivah her sister: and they became mine, and they bore
sons and daughters. As for their names, Shomron is Oholah, and
Yerushalayim Oholivah. {23:5} Oholah played the prostitute when she
was mine; and she doted on her lovers, on the Ashshur [her] neighbors,
{23:6} who were clothed with blue, governors and rulers, all of them
desirable young men, horsemen riding on horses. {23:7} She bestowed
her prostitution on them, the choicest men of Ashshur all of them; and
on whoever she doted, with all their idols she defiled herself. {23:8}
Neither has she left her prostitution since [the days of] Mitzrayim;
for in her youth they lay with her, and they handled the bosom of her
virginity; and they poured out their prostitution on her. {23:9}
Therefore I delivered her into the hand of her lovers, into the hand
of the Ashshur, on whom she doted. {23:10} These uncovered her
nakedness; they took her sons and her daughters; and her they killed
with the sword: and she became a byword among women; for they executed
judgments on her. {23:11} Her sister Oholivah saw this, yet was she
more corrupt in her doting than she, and in her prostitution which
were more than the prostitution of her sister. {23:12} She doted on
the Ashshur, governors and rulers, [her] neighbors, clothed most
gorgeously, horsemen riding on horses, all of them desirable young
men. {23:13} I saw that she was defiled; they both took one way.
{23:14} She increased her prostitution; for she saw men portrayed on
the wall, the images of the Kasdim portrayed with vermilion, {23:15}
girded with girdles on their loins, with flowing turbans on their
heads, all of them princes to look on, after the likeness of the
Bavlites in Kasdim, the land of their birth. {23:16} As soon as she
saw them she doted on them, and sent messengers to them into Kasdim.
{23:17} The Bavlites came to her into the bed of love, and they
defiled her with their prostitution, and she was polluted with them,
and her soul was alienated from them. {23:18} So she uncovered her
prostitution, and uncovered her nakedness: then my soul was alienated
from her, like as my soul was alienated from her sister. {23:19} Yet
she multiplied her prostitution, remembering the days of her youth, in
which she had played the prostitute in the land of Mitzrayim. {23:20}
She doted on their paramours, whose flesh is as the flesh of donkeys,
and whose issue is like the issue of horses. {23:21} Thus you called
to memory the lewdness of your youth, in the handling of your bosom by
the Mitzrim for the breasts of your youth. {23:22} Therefore,
Oholivah, thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I will raise up your lovers
against you, from whom your soul is alienated, and I will bring them
against you on every side: {23:23} the Bavlites and all the Kasdim,
Pekod and Shoa and Koa, [and] all the Ashshur with them; desirable
young men, governors and rulers all of them, princes and men of
renown, all of them riding on horses. {23:24} They shall come against
you with weapons, chariots, and wagons, and with a company of peoples;
they shall set themselves against you with buckler and shield and
helmet round about; and I will commit the judgment to them, and they
shall judge you according to their judgments. {23:25} I will set my
jealousy against you, and they shall deal with you in fury; they shall
take away your nose and your ears; and your residue shall fall by the
sword: they shall take your sons and your daughters; and your residue
shall be devoured by the fire. {23:26} They shall also strip you of
your clothes, and take away your beautiful jewels. {23:27} Thus will I
make your lewdness to cease from you, and your prostitution [brought]
from the land of Mitzrayim; so that you shall not lift up your eyes to
them, nor remember Mitzrayim any more. {23:28} For thus says the Lord
GOD: Behold, I will deliver you into the hand of them whom you hate,
into the hand of them from whom your soul is alienated; {23:29} and
they shall deal with you in hatred, and shall take away all your
labor, and shall leave you naked and bare; and the nakedness of your
prostitution shall be uncovered, both your lewdness and your
prostitution. {23:30} These things shall be done to you, because you
have played the prostitute after the nations, and because you are
polluted with their idols. {23:31} You have walked in the way of your
sister; therefore will I give her cup into your hand. {23:32} Thus
says the Lord GOD: You shall drink of your sister's cup, which is deep
and large; you shall be laughed to scorn and had in derision; it
contains much. {23:33} You shall be filled with drunkenness and
sorrow, with the cup of astonishment and desolation, with the cup of
your sister Shomron. {23:34} You shall even drink it and drain it out,
and you shall gnaw the broken pieces of it, and shall tear your
breasts; for I have spoken it, says the Lord GOD. {23:35} Therefore
thus says the Lord GOD: Because you have forgotten me, and cast me
behind your back, therefore bear you also your lewdness and your
prostitution. {23:36} The LORD said moreover to me: Son of man, will
you judge Oholah and Oholivah? then declare to them their
abominations. {23:37} For they have committed adultery, and blood is
in their hands; and with their idols have they committed adultery; and
they have also caused their sons, whom they bore to me, to pass
through [the fire] to them to be devoured. {23:38} Moreover this they
have done to me: they have defiled my sanctuary in the same day, and
have profaned my Shabbatot. {23:39} For when they had slain their
children to their idols, then they came the same day into my sanctuary
to profane it; and, behold, thus have they done in the midst of my
house. {23:40} Furthermore you have sent for men who come from far, to
whom a messenger was sent, and, behold, they came; for whom you did
wash yourself, paint your eyes, and deck yourself with ornaments,
{23:41} and sit on a stately bed, with a table prepared before it,
whereupon you did set my incense and my oil. {23:42} The voice of a
multitude being at ease was with her: and with men of the common sort
were brought [1>]Sava'im[<1] from the wilderness; and they put
bracelets on the hands of them [twain], and beautiful crowns on their
heads. {23:43} Then said I of her who was old in adulteries, Now will
they play the prostitute with her, and she [with them]. {23:44} They
went in to her, as they go in to a prostitute: so went they in to
Oholah and to Oholivah, the lewd women. {23:45} Righteous men, they
shall judge them with the judgment of adulteresses, and with the
judgment of women who shed blood; because they are adulteresses, and
blood is in their hands. {23:46} For thus says the Lord GOD: I will
bring up a company against them, and will give them to be tossed back
and forth and robbed. {23:47} The company shall stone them with
stones, and dispatch them with their swords; they shall kill their
sons and their daughters, and burn up their houses with fire. {23:48}
Thus will I cause lewdness to cease out of the land, that all women
may be taught not to do after your lewdness. {23:49} They shall
recompense your lewdness on you, and you shall bear the sins of your
idols; and you shall know that I am the Lord GOD.
{24:1} Again, in the ninth year, in the tenth month, in the tenth
[day] of the month, the word of the LORD came to me, saying, {24:2}
Son of man, write you the name of the day, [even] of this same day:
the king of Bavel drew close to Yerushalayim this same day. {24:3}
Utter a parable to the rebellious house, and tell them, Thus says the
Lord GOD, Set on the caldron, set it on, and also pour water into it:
{24:4} gather the pieces of it into it, even every good piece, the
thigh, and the shoulder; fill it with the choice bones. {24:5} Take
the choice of the flock, and also a pile [of wood] for the bones under
[the caldron]; make it boil well; yes, let the bones of it be boiled
in the midst of it. {24:6} Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Woe to
the bloody city, to the caldron whose rust is therein, and whose rust
is not gone out of it! take out of it piece after piece; No lot is
fallen on it. {24:7} For her blood is in the midst of her; she set it
on the bare rock; she didn't pour it on the ground, to cover it with
dust. {24:8} That it may cause wrath to come up to take vengeance, I
have set her blood on the bare rock, that it should not be covered.
{24:9} Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Woe to the bloody city! I
also will make the pile great. {24:10} Heap on the wood, make the fire
hot, boil well the flesh, and make thick the broth, and let the bones
be burned. {24:11} Then set it empty on the coals of it, that it may
be hot, and the brass of it may burn, and that the filthiness of it
may be molten in it, that the rust of it may be consumed. {24:12} She
has wearied [herself] with toil; yet her great rust doesn't go forth
out of her; her rust doesn't [go forth] by fire. {24:13} In your
filthiness is lewdness: because I have cleansed you and you weren't
cleansed, you shall not be cleansed from your filthiness any more,
until I have caused my wrath toward you to rest. {24:14} I, the LORD,
have spoken it: it shall happen, and I will do it: I will not go back,
neither will I spare, neither will I repent; according to your ways,
and according to your doings, shall they judge you, says the Lord GOD.
{24:15} Also the word of the LORD came to me, saying, {24:16} Son of
man, behold, I take away from you the desire of your eyes with a
stroke: yet you shall neither mourn nor weep, neither shall your tears
run down. {24:17} Sigh, but not aloud, make no mourning for the dead;
bind your headdress on you, and put your shoes on your feet, and don't
cover your lips, and don't eat men's bread. {24:18} So I spoke to the
people in the morning; and at even my wife died; and I did in the
morning as I was commanded. {24:19} The people said to me, Won't you
tell us what these things are to us, that you do so? {24:20} Then I
said to them, The word of the LORD came to me, saying, {24:21} Speak
to the house of Yisra'el, Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I will
profane my sanctuary, the pride of your power, the desire of your
eyes, and that which your soul pities; and your sons and your
daughters whom you have left behind shall fall by the sword. {24:22}
You shall do as I have done: you shall not cover your lips, nor eat
the bread of men. {24:23} Your tires shall be on your heads, and your
shoes on your feet: you shall not mourn nor weep; but you shall pine
away in your iniquities, and moan one toward another. {24:24} Thus
shall Yechezkel be to you a sign; according to all that he has done
shall you do: when this comes, then shall you know that I am the Lord
GOD. {24:25} You, son of man, shall it not be in the day when I take
from them their strength, the joy of their glory, the desire of their
eyes, and that whereupon they set their heart, their sons and their
daughters, {24:26} that in that day he who escapes shall come to you,
to cause you to hear it with your ears? {24:27} In that day shall your
mouth be opened to him who is escaped, and you shall speak, and be no
more mute: so shall you be a sign to them; and they shall know that I
am the LORD.
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Footnotes:
[1] {22:26} priests
[1] {23:42} drunkards
________________________________________________________________________
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