Ezekiel 20:18-32

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

¹⁸ I said to their children in the wilderness, “Do not follow the statutes of your parents, nor observe their ordinances, nor defile yourselves with their idols. ¹⁹ I the Lord am your God; follow my statutes, be careful to observe my ordinances,^{(A) 20} and hallow my Sabbaths that they may be a sign between me and you, so that you may know that I the Lord am your God.” ²¹ But the children rebelled against me; they did not follow my statutes and were not careful to observe my ordinances, by whose observance everyone shall live; they profaned my Sabbaths.

Then I thought I would pour out my wrath upon them and spend my anger against them in the wilderness.^{(B) 22} But I withheld my hand and acted for the sake of my name, so that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations, in whose sight I had brought them out.^{(C) 23} Moreover, I swore to them in the wilderness that I would scatter them among the nations and disperse them through the countries,^{(D) 24} because they had not executed my ordinances but had rejected my statutes and profaned my Sabbaths, and their eyes were set on their ancestors’ idols. ²⁵ Moreover, I gave them statutes that were not good and ordinances by which they could not live.^{(E) 26} I defiled them through their very gifts, in their offering up all their firstborn, in order that I might horrify them, so that they might know that I am the Lord.^(F)

²⁷ Therefore, mortal, speak to the house of Israel and say to them: Thus says the Lord God: In this again your ancestors blasphemed me by dealing treacherously with me.^{(G) 28} For when I had brought them into the land that I swore to give them, then wherever they saw any high hill or any leafy tree, there they offered their sacrifices and presented the provocation of their offering; there they sent up their pleasing odors, and there they poured out their drink offerings.^{(H) 29} (I said to them, “What is the high place to which you go? So it is called Bamah^[a] to this day.”) ³⁰ Therefore say to the house of Israel: Thus says the Lord God: Will you defile yourselves after the manner of your ancestors and go astray after their detestable things? ³¹ When you offer your gifts and make your children pass through the fire, you defile yourselves with all your idols to this day. And shall I be consulted by you, O house of Israel? As I live, says the Lord God, I will not be consulted by you.^(I)

³² What is in your mind shall never happen—the thought, “Let us be like the nations, like the tribes of the countries, and worship wood and stone.”