¹⁷ And the word of the Lord came to me: ^18 (A)“Son of man, ^(B)eat your bread with quaking, and drink water with trembling and with anxiety. ¹⁹ And say to the people of the land, Thus says the Lord God concerning the inhabitants of Jerusalem in the land of Israel: ^(C)They shall eat their bread with anxiety, ^(D)and drink water in dismay. In this way ^(E)her land will be stripped of all it contains, ^(F)on account of the violence of all those who dwell in it. ^20 (G)And the inhabited cities shall be laid waste, and the land shall become a desolation; and you shall know that I am the Lord.”

²¹ And the word of the Lord came to me: ²² “Son of man, ^(H)what is this proverb that you^[a] have about the land of Israel, saying, ^(I)‘The days grow long, and every vision comes to nothing’? ²³ Tell them therefore, ‘Thus says the Lord God: I will put an end to this proverb, and they shall no more use it as a proverb in Israel.’ But say to them, ^(J)The days are near, and the fulfillment^[b] of every vision. ^24 (K)For there shall be no more any ^(L)false vision or flattering divination within the house of Israel. ²⁵ For I am the Lord; I will speak ^(M)the word that I will speak, and it will be performed. ^(N)It will no longer be delayed, but in your days, ^(O)O rebellious house, I will speak the word and perform it, declares the Lord God.”

²⁶ And the word of the Lord came to me: ²⁷ “Son of man, behold, they of the house of Israel say, ^(P)‘The vision that he sees is ^(Q)for many days from now, and he prophesies of times far off.’ ²⁸ Therefore say to them, Thus says the Lord God: ^(R)None of my words will be delayed any longer, ^(S)but the word that I speak will be performed, declares the Lord God.”

False Prophets Condemned

13 The word of the Lord came to me: ^2 (T)“Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel, who are prophesying, and say to those ^(U)who prophesy from their own hearts: ‘Hear the word of the Lord!’ ³ Thus says the Lord God, Woe to the foolish prophets who follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing! ⁴ Your prophets have been like jackals among ruins, O Israel. ^5 (V)You have not gone up into the breaches, or built up a wall for the house of Israel, that it might stand in battle in the day of the Lord. ^6 (W)They have seen false visions and lying divinations. They say, ‘Declares the Lord,’ ^(X)when the Lord has not sent them, and yet they expect him to fulfill their word. ⁷ Have you not seen a false vision and uttered a lying divination, ^(Y)whenever you have said, ‘Declares the Lord,’ although I have not spoken?”

⁸ Therefore thus says the Lord God: “Because you have uttered falsehood and seen lying visions, therefore behold, ^(Z)I am against you, declares the Lord God. ⁹ My hand will be against the prophets who see false visions and who give lying divinations. They shall not be in the council of my people, ^(AA)nor be enrolled in the register of the house of Israel, ^(AB)nor shall they enter the land of Israel. ^(AC)And you shall know that I am the Lord God. ¹⁰ Precisely because they have misled my people, ^(AD)saying, ‘Peace,’ when there is no peace, and because, when the people build a wall, ^(AE)these prophets smear it with whitewash,^{[c] 11} say to those who smear it with whitewash that it shall fall! ^(AF)There will be a deluge of rain, and you, O great hailstones, will fall, and a stormy wind break out. ¹² And when the wall falls, will it not be said to you, ‘Where is the coating with which you smeared it?’ ¹³ Therefore thus says the Lord God: ^(AG)I will make a stormy wind break out in my wrath, ^(AH)and there shall be a deluge of rain in my anger, and great hailstones in wrath to make a full end. ¹⁴ And I will break down the wall that you have smeared with whitewash, and bring it down to the ground, so that its foundation will be laid bare. When it falls, you shall perish in the midst of it, ^(AI)and you shall know that I am the Lord. ¹⁵ Thus will I spend my wrath upon the wall and upon those who have smeared it with whitewash, and I will say to you, The wall is no more, nor those who smeared it, ¹⁶ the prophets of Israel who prophesied concerning Jerusalem ^(AJ)and saw visions of peace for her, when there was no peace, declares the Lord God.

¹⁷ “And you, son of man, ^(AK)set your face against ^(AL)the daughters of your people, ^(AM)who prophesy out of their own hearts. Prophesy against them ¹⁸ and say, Thus says the Lord God: Woe to the women ^(AN)who sew magic bands upon all wrists, and ^(AO)make veils for the heads of persons of every stature, in ^(AP)the hunt for souls! Will you hunt down souls belonging to my people and keep your own souls alive? ¹⁹ You have profaned me among my people ^(AQ)for handfuls of barley ^(AR)and for pieces of bread, putting to death souls who should not die and keeping alive souls who should not live, by your lying to my people, who listen to lies.

²⁰ “Therefore thus says the Lord God: Behold, ^(AS)I am against ^(AT)your magic bands with which you hunt the souls like birds, and I will tear them from your arms, and I will let the souls whom you hunt go free, the souls like birds. ²¹ Your veils also I will tear off and ^(AU)deliver my people out of your hand, and they shall be no more in your hand as prey, ^(AV)and you shall know that I am the Lord. ^22 (AW)Because you have disheartened the righteous falsely, although I have not grieved him, and ^(AX)you have encouraged the wicked, that ^(AY)he should not turn from his evil way to save his life, ^23 (AZ)therefore you shall no more see false visions nor practice divination. I will deliver my people out of your hand. And you shall know that I am the Lord.”

Idolatrous Elders Condemned

14 Then certain of the ^(BA)elders of Israel came to me ^(BB)and sat before me. ² And the word of the Lord came to me: ^3 (BC)“Son of man, these men have taken their idols into their hearts, and set ^(BD)the stumbling block of their iniquity before their faces. ^(BE)Should I indeed let myself be consulted by them? ⁴ Therefore speak to them and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Any one of the house of Israel who takes his idols into his heart and sets the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and yet comes to the prophet, ^(BF)I the Lord will answer him as he comes with the multitude of his idols, ^5 (BG)that I may lay hold of the hearts of the house of Israel, ^(BH)who are all estranged from me through their idols.

⁶ “Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: ^(BI)Repent and turn away from your idols, and turn away your faces from all your abominations. ⁷ For any one of the house of Israel, or of the strangers who sojourn in Israel, ^(BJ)who separates himself from me, taking his idols into his heart and putting the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and yet comes to a prophet to consult me through him, ^(BK)I the Lord will answer him myself. ⁸ And ^(BL)I will set my face against that man; I ^(BM)will make him a sign and a byword ^(BN)and cut him off from the midst of my people, ^(BO)and you shall know that I am the Lord. ⁹ And if the prophet is deceived and speaks a word, ^(BP)I, the Lord, have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand against him and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel. ¹⁰ And they shall bear their punishment^[d]—the punishment of the prophet and the punishment of the inquirer shall be alike— ¹¹ that the house of Israel may no more go astray from me, nor ^(BQ)defile themselves anymore with all their transgressions, ^(BR)but that they may be my people and I may be their God, declares the Lord God.”

Jerusalem Will Not Be Spared

¹² And the word of the Lord came to me: ^13 (BS)“Son of man, when a land sins against me ^(BT)by acting faithlessly, and I stretch out my hand against it and ^(BU)break its supply^[e] of bread and send famine upon it, and ^(BV)cut off from it man and beast, ^14 (BW)even if these three men, ^(BX)Noah, ^(BY)Daniel, and ^(BZ)Job, were in it, ^(CA)they would deliver but their own lives by their righteousness, declares the Lord God.

^15 (CB)“If I cause wild beasts to pass through the land, and they ravage it, ^(CC)and it be made desolate, so that no one may pass through because of the beasts, ¹⁶ even if these three men were in it, ^(CD)as I live, declares the Lord God, they would deliver neither sons nor daughters. They alone would be delivered, but ^(CE)the land would be desolate.

¹⁷ “Or ^(CF)if I bring a sword upon that land and say, Let a sword pass through the land, ^(CG)and I cut off from it man and beast, ^18 (CH)though these three men were in it, as I live, declares the Lord God, they would deliver neither sons nor daughters, but they alone would be delivered.

¹⁹ “Or ^(CI)if I send a pestilence into that land and pour out my wrath upon it with blood, to cut off from it man and beast, ²⁰ even if Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, as I live, declares the Lord God, they would deliver neither son nor daughter. They would deliver but their own lives by their righteousness.

²¹ “For thus says the Lord God: How much more ^(CJ)when I send upon Jerusalem my four disastrous acts of judgment, ^(CK)sword, ^(CL)famine, ^(CM)wild beasts, and ^(CN)pestilence, to cut off from it man and beast! ²² But behold, ^(CO)some survivors will be left in it, sons and daughters who will be brought out; behold, when they come out to you, and ^(CP)you see their ways and their deeds, you will be consoled for the disaster that I have brought upon Jerusalem, for all that I have brought upon it. ²³ They will console you, when you see their ways and their deeds, and you shall know that I have not done without cause all that I have done in it, declares the Lord God.”

Jerusalem, a Useless Vine

15 And the word of the Lord came to me: ^2 (CQ)“Son of man, how does ^(CR)the wood of the vine surpass any wood, the vine branch that is among the trees of the forest? ³ Is wood taken from it to make anything? Do people take ^(CS)a peg from it to hang any vessel on it? ^4 (CT)Behold, it is given to the fire for fuel. When the fire has consumed both ends of it, and the middle of it is charred, is it useful for anything? ^5 (CU)Behold, when it was whole, it was used for nothing. How much less, when the fire has consumed it and it is charred, can it ever be used for anything! ⁶ Therefore thus says the Lord God: ^(CV)Like the wood of the vine among the trees of the forest, ^(CW)which I have given to the fire for fuel, so have I given up the inhabitants of Jerusalem. ^7 (CX)And I will set my face against them. Though ^(CY)they escape from the fire, the fire shall yet consume them, ^(CZ)and you will know that I am the Lord, ^(DA)when I set my face against them. ^8 (DB)And I will make the land desolate, because ^(DC)they have acted faithlessly, declares the Lord God.”

The Lord's Faithless Bride

16 Again the word of the Lord came to me: ^2 (DD)“Son of man, ^(DE)make known to Jerusalem her abominations, ³ and say, Thus says the Lord God to Jerusalem: Your origin and your birth are of the land of the Canaanites; your father was an ^(DF)Amorite and your mother a ^(DG)Hittite. ⁴ And as for your birth, ^(DH)on the day you were born your cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water to cleanse you, nor rubbed with salt, nor wrapped in swaddling cloths. ⁵ No eye pitied you, to do any of these things to you out of compassion for you, ^(DI)but you were cast out on the open field, for you were abhorred, ^(DJ)on the day that you were born.

⁶ “And when I passed by you and saw you wallowing ^(DK)in your blood, I said to you ^(DL)in your blood, ‘Live!’ I said to you ^(DM)in your blood, ‘Live!’ ^7 (DN)I made you flourish like a plant of the field. And you grew up and became tall ^(DO)and arrived at full adornment. Your breasts were formed, and your hair had grown; yet ^(DP)you were naked and bare.

⁸ “When I passed by you again and saw you, behold, you were at the age for love, and ^(DQ)I spread the corner of my garment over you and covered your nakedness; I made my vow to you ^(DR)and entered into a covenant with you, declares the Lord God, ^(DS)and you became mine. ⁹ Then I bathed you with water and washed off your blood from you and ^(DT)anointed you with oil. ^10 (DU)I clothed you also with embroidered cloth and shod you with fine leather. I wrapped you in fine linen and covered you with silk.^{[f] 11 (DV)}And I adorned you with ornaments and ^(DW)put bracelets on your wrists and a chain on your neck. ¹² And I put a ring on your nose and earrings in your ears and a beautiful crown on your head. ¹³ Thus you were adorned with gold and silver, and your clothing was of fine linen and silk and embroidered cloth. ^(DX)You ate fine flour and honey and oil. ^(DY)You grew exceedingly beautiful and advanced to royalty. ¹⁴ And ^(DZ)your renown went forth among the nations because of your beauty, for it was perfect through the splendor that I had bestowed on you, declares the Lord God.

^15 (EA)“But you trusted in your beauty ^(EB)and played the whore^[g] because of your renown ^(EC)and lavished your whorings^[h] on any passerby; your beauty^[i] became his. ¹⁶ You took some of your garments and made for yourself colorful shrines, and on them played the whore. The like has never been, nor ever shall be.^{[j] 17} You also took ^(ED)your beautiful jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given you, and ^(EE)made for yourself images of men, and with them played the whore. ¹⁸ And you took your embroidered garments to cover them, ^(EF)and set my oil and my incense before them. ^19 (EG)Also my bread that I gave you—^(EH)I fed you with fine flour and oil and honey—you set before them for ^(EI)a pleasing aroma; and so it was, declares the Lord God. ^20 (EJ)And you took your sons and your daughters, whom you had borne to me, and ^(EK)these you sacrificed to them to be devoured. Were your whorings so small a matter ²¹ that you slaughtered my children and delivered them up as an offering by fire to them? ²² And in all your abominations and your whorings you did not remember ^(EL)the days of your youth, ^(EM)when you were naked and bare, wallowing in your blood.

²³ “And after all your wickedness (woe, woe to you! declares the Lord God), ²⁴ you built yourself ^(EN)a vaulted chamber and made yourself a lofty place in every square. ²⁵ At the head of every street ^(EO)you built your lofty place and made ^(EP)your beauty an abomination, ^(EQ)offering yourself^[k] to any passerby and multiplying your whoring. ^26 (ER)You also played the whore ^(ES)with the Egyptians, your lustful neighbors, ^(ET)multiplying your whoring, ^(EU)to provoke me to anger. ²⁷ Behold, therefore, I stretched out my hand against you ^(EV)and diminished your allotted portion ^(EW)and delivered you to the greed of your enemies, ^(EX)the daughters of the Philistines, who were ashamed of your lewd behavior. ^28 (EY)You played the whore also ^(EZ)with the Assyrians, because you were not satisfied; yes, you played the whore with them, and still you were not satisfied. ²⁹ You multiplied your whoring also with the trading land ^(FA)of Chaldea, and even with this you were not satisfied.

³⁰ “How sick is your heart,^[l] declares the Lord God, because you did all these things, the deeds of a brazen prostitute, ³¹ building your vaulted chamber at the head of every street, and making your lofty place in every square. Yet you were not like a prostitute, ^(FB)because you scorned payment. ³² Adulterous wife, who receives strangers instead of her husband! ³³ Men give gifts to all prostitutes, ^(FC)but you gave your gifts to all your lovers, bribing them to come to you from every side with your whorings. ³⁴ So you were different from other women in your whorings. No one solicited you to play the whore, and ^(FD)you gave payment, while no payment was given to you; therefore you were different.