-
He said: “Son of man, I am sending you to the Israelites, to a rebellious nation that has rebelled against me; they and their ancestors have been in revolt against me to this very day.
-
And he said to me, “Son of man, eat what is before you, eat this scroll; then go and speak to the people of Israel.”
-
He then said to me: “Son of man, go now to the people of Israel and speak my words to them.
-
You are not being sent to a people of obscure speech and strange language, but to the people of Israel—
-
But the people of Israel are not willing to listen to you because they are not willing to listen to me, for all the Israelites are hardened and obstinate.
-
“Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the people of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning from me.
-
Then take an iron pan, place it as an iron wall between you and the city and turn your face toward it. It will be under siege, and you shall besiege it. This will be a sign to the people of Israel.
-
“Then lie on your left side and put the sin of the people of Israel upon yourself. You are to bear their sin for the number of days you lie on your side.
-
I have assigned you the same number of days as the years of their sin. So for 390 days you will bear the sin of the people of Israel.
-
The Lord said, “In this way the people of Israel will eat defiled food among the nations where I will drive them.”
-
Again, take a few of these and throw them into the fire and burn them up. A fire will spread from there to all Israel.
-
Doom for the Mountains of Israel
The word of the Lord came to me:
-
“Son of man, set your face against the mountains of Israel; prophesy against them
-
and say: ‘You mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Sovereign Lord. This is what the Sovereign Lord says to the mountains and hills, to the ravines and valleys: I am about to bring a sword against you, and I will destroy your high places.
-
I will lay the dead bodies of the Israelites in front of their idols, and I will scatter your bones around your altars.
-
“‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Strike your hands together and stamp your feet and cry out “Alas!” because of all the wicked and detestable practices of the people of Israel, for they will fall by the sword, famine and plague.
-
“Son of man, this is what the Sovereign Lord says to the land of Israel: “‘The end! The end has come upon the four corners of the land!
-
And there before me was the glory of the God of Israel, as in the vision I had seen in the plain.
-
And he said to me, “Son of man, do you see what they are doing—the utterly detestable things the Israelites are doing here, things that will drive me far from my sanctuary? But you will see things that are even more detestable.”
-
So I went in and looked, and I saw portrayed all over the walls all kinds of crawling things and unclean animals and all the idols of Israel.
-
In front of them stood seventy elders of Israel, and Jaazaniah son of Shaphan was standing among them. Each had a censer in his hand, and a fragrant cloud of incense was rising.
-
He said to me, “Son of man, have you seen what the elders of Israel are doing in the darkness, each at the shrine of his own idol? They say, ‘The Lord does not see us; the Lord has forsaken the land.’”
-
Now the glory of the God of Israel went up from above the cherubim, where it had been, and moved to the threshold of the temple. Then the Lord called to the man clothed in linen who had the writing kit at his side
-
While they were killing and I was left alone, I fell facedown, crying out, “Alas, Sovereign Lord! Are you going to destroy the entire remnant of Israel in this outpouring of your wrath on Jerusalem?”
-
He answered me, “The sin of the people of Israel and Judah is exceedingly great; the land is full of bloodshed and the city is full of injustice. They say, ‘The Lord has forsaken the land; the Lord does not see.’
