Israel's Shedding of Blood

22 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ² “And you, ^(A)son of man, ^(B)will you judge, will you judge ^(C)the bloody city? ^(D)Then declare to her all her abominations. ³ You shall say, Thus says the Lord God: A city that sheds blood in her midst, so that ^(E)her time may come, and that makes idols to defile herself! ⁴ You have become guilty ^(F)by the blood that you have shed, and defiled by the idols that you have made, and you have brought ^(G)your days near, the appointed time of^[a] your years has come. ^(H)Therefore I have made you a reproach to the nations, and a mockery to all the countries. ⁵ Those who are near and those who are far from you will mock you; ^(I)your name is defiled; ^(J)you are full of tumult.

⁶ “Behold, ^(K)the princes of Israel in you, every one according to his power, have been bent on shedding blood. ⁷ Father and mother ^(L)are treated with contempt in you; the sojourner ^(M)suffers extortion in your midst; the fatherless and the widow ^(N)are wronged in you. ^8 (O)You have despised my holy things and ^(P)profaned my Sabbaths. ^9 (Q)There are men in you who slander to shed blood, and people in you ^(R)who eat on the mountains; ^(S)they commit lewdness in your midst. ¹⁰ In you ^(T)men uncover their fathers' nakedness; in you they violate women who are unclean in their menstrual impurity. ^11 (U)One commits abomination with his neighbor's wife; ^(V)another lewdly defiles his daughter-in-law; ^(W)another in you violates his sister, his father's daughter. ¹² In you ^(X)they take bribes to shed blood; ^(Y)you take interest and profit^[b] and make gain of your neighbors by extortion; but ^(Z)me you have forgotten, declares the Lord God.

¹³ “Behold, ^(AA)I strike my hand at ^(AB)the dishonest gain that you have made, and at ^(AC)the blood that has been in your midst. ^14 (AD)Can your courage endure, or can your hands be strong, in the days that I shall deal with you? ^(AE)I the Lord have spoken, and I will do it. ^15 (AF)I will scatter you among the nations and disperse you through the countries, and ^(AG)I will consume your uncleanness out of you. ¹⁶ And ^(AH)you shall be profaned by your own doing ^(AI)in the sight of the nations, ^(AJ)and you shall know that I am the Lord.”

¹⁷ And the word of the Lord came to me: ^18 (AK)“Son of man, the house of Israel has become ^(AL)dross to me; all of them are ^(AM)bronze and tin and iron and lead in the furnace; they are ^(AN)dross of silver. ¹⁹ Therefore thus says the Lord God: Because you have all become dross, therefore, behold, I will gather you into the midst of Jerusalem. ²⁰ As one gathers silver and bronze and iron and lead and tin into a furnace, ^(AO)to blow the fire on it in order to melt it, so I will gather you ^(AP)in my anger and in my wrath, and I will put you in and melt you. ²¹ 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 As silver is melted in a furnace, so you shall be melted in the midst of it, and you shall know that I am the Lord; ^(AQ)I have poured out my wrath upon you.”

²³ And the word of the Lord came to me: ²⁴ “Son of man, say to her, You are a land that is ^(AR)not cleansed ^(AS)or rained upon in the day of indignation. ^25 (AT)The conspiracy of her prophets in her midst is ^(AU)like a roaring lion ^(AV)tearing the prey; they have devoured human lives; they have taken treasure and precious things; they have made many widows in her midst. ^26 (AW)Her priests ^(AX)have done violence to my law and ^(AY)have profaned my holy things. ^(AZ)They have made no distinction between the holy and the common, neither have they taught the difference between the unclean and the clean, and ^(BA)they have disregarded my Sabbaths, ^(BB)so that I am profaned among them. ^27 (BC)Her princes in her midst are like wolves ^(BD)tearing the prey, ^(BE)shedding blood, destroying lives to get dishonest gain. ²⁸ And ^(BF)her prophets have smeared whitewash for them, ^(BG)seeing false visions and divining lies for them, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord God,’ when the Lord has not spoken. ²⁹ The people of the land ^(BH)have practiced extortion and committed robbery. They have oppressed the poor and needy, and ^(BI)have extorted from the sojourner without justice. ^30 (BJ)And I sought for a man among them ^(BK)who should build up the wall ^(BL)and stand in the breach before me for the land, that I should not destroy it, but I found none. ³¹ Therefore ^(BM)I have poured out my indignation upon them. I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath. I have returned ^(BN)their way upon their heads, declares the Lord God.”

Oholah and Oholibah

23 The word of the Lord came to me: ^2 (BO)“Son of man, there were ^(BP)two women, the daughters of one mother. ^3 (BQ)They played the whore in Egypt; ^(BR)they played the whore ^(BS)in their youth; there their breasts were pressed and their virgin bosoms^[c] handled. ⁴ Oholah was the name of the elder and Oholibah the name of her sister. ^(BT)They became mine, and they ^(BU)bore sons and daughters. As for their names, Oholah is ^(BV)Samaria, and Oholibah is Jerusalem.

⁵ “Oholah played the whore ^(BW)while she was mine, and ^(BX)she lusted after her lovers ^(BY)the Assyrians, warriors ⁶ clothed in purple, ^(BZ)governors and commanders, ^(CA)all of them desirable young men, ^(CB)horsemen riding on horses. ⁷ She bestowed her whoring upon them, the choicest men of Assyria all of them, and she defiled herself with all the idols of everyone after whom she lusted. ⁸ She did not give up her whoring ^(CC)that she had begun in Egypt; for in her youth men had lain with her and handled her virgin bosom and poured out their whoring lust upon her. ⁹ Therefore ^(CD)I delivered her into the hands of her lovers, into the hands of the Assyrians, after whom she lusted. ^10 (CE)These uncovered her nakedness; ^(CF)they seized her sons and her daughters; and as for her, they killed her with the sword; and she became ^(CG)a byword among women, ^(CH)when judgment had been executed on her.

^11 (CI)“Her sister Oholibah saw this, and she became ^(CJ)more corrupt than her sister^[d] in her lust and in her whoring, which was worse than that of her sister. ¹² She lusted after the Assyrians, governors and commanders, warriors clothed in full armor, horsemen riding on horses, ^(CK)all of them desirable young men. ¹³ And I saw that she was defiled; they both took the same way. ¹⁴ But she carried her whoring further. She saw men ^(CL)portrayed on the wall, the ^(CM)images of ^(CN)the Chaldeans portrayed in vermilion, ¹⁵ wearing belts on their waists, with flowing turbans on their heads, all of them having the appearance of officers, a likeness of Babylonians whose native land was Chaldea. ¹⁶ When she saw them, she lusted after them and ^(CO)sent messengers to them ^(CP)in Chaldea. ¹⁷ And the Babylonians came to her ^(CQ)into the bed of love, and they defiled her with their whoring lust. And after she was defiled by them, ^(CR)she turned from them in disgust. ¹⁸ When she carried on her whoring so openly and flaunted her nakedness, I turned in disgust from her, as I had turned in disgust from her sister. ¹⁹ Yet she increased her whoring, ^(CS)remembering the days of her youth, when she played the whore in the land of Egypt ²⁰ and lusted after her lovers there, whose members were like those of donkeys, and whose issue was like that of horses. ²¹ Thus you longed for the lewdness of your youth, when the Egyptians handled your bosom and pressed^[e] your young breasts.”

²² Therefore, O Oholibah, thus says the Lord God: “Behold, I will stir up against you your lovers ^(CT)from whom you turned in disgust, ^(CU)and I will bring them against you from every side: ²³ the Babylonians and all the Chaldeans, ^(CV)Pekod and Shoa and Koa, and all the Assyrians with them, ^(CW)desirable young men, ^(CX)governors and commanders all of them, officers and men of renown, all of them riding on horses. ²⁴ And they shall come against you from the north^[f] with chariots and wagons and a host of peoples. ^(CY)They shall set themselves against you on every side with buckler, shield, and helmet; and ^(CZ)I will commit the judgment to them, and ^(DA)they shall judge you according to their judgments. ²⁵ And I will direct my jealousy against you, ^(DB)that they may deal with you in fury. They shall cut off your nose and your ears, and your survivors shall fall by the sword. ^(DC)They shall seize your sons and your daughters, and your survivors shall be devoured by fire. ^26 (DD)They shall also strip you of your clothes and take away your beautiful jewels. ^27 (DE)Thus I will put an end to your lewdness and ^(DF)your whoring begun in the land of Egypt, so that you shall not lift up your eyes to them or remember Egypt anymore.

²⁸ “For thus says the Lord God: ^(DG)Behold, I will deliver you into the hands of those whom you hate, ^(DH)into the hands of those from whom you turned in disgust, ²⁹ and ^(DI)they shall deal with you in hatred and take away all the fruit of your labor ^(DJ)and leave you naked and bare, and ^(DK)the nakedness of your whoring shall be uncovered. Your lewdness and your whoring ³⁰ have brought this upon you, because ^(DL)you played the whore with the nations and defiled yourself with their idols. ³¹ You have gone the way of your sister; ^(DM)therefore I will give ^(DN)her cup into your hand. ³² Thus says the Lord God:

for I have spoken, declares the Lord God. ³⁵ Therefore thus says the Lord God: Because ^(DS)you have forgotten me and ^(DT)cast me behind your back, you yourself ^(DU)must bear the consequences of your lewdness and whoring.”

³⁶ The Lord said to me: ^(DV)“Son of man, ^(DW)will you judge Oholah and Oholibah? Declare to them their abominations. ³⁷ For ^(DX)they have committed adultery, ^(DY)and blood is on their hands. With their idols they have committed adultery, and they have even ^(DZ)offered up^[g] to them for food the children whom they had borne to me. ³⁸ Moreover, this they have done to me: ^(EA)they have defiled my sanctuary on the same day and ^(EB)profaned my Sabbaths. ³⁹ For when ^(EC)they had slaughtered their children in sacrifice to their idols, on the same day ^(ED)they came into my sanctuary to profane it. And behold, ^(EE)this is what they did in my house. ⁴⁰ They even sent for men to come from afar, ^(EF)to whom a messenger was sent; and behold, they came. For them you bathed yourself, ^(EG)painted your eyes, ^(EH)and adorned yourself with ornaments. ⁴¹ You sat on ^(EI)a stately couch, with a table spread before it ^(EJ)on which you had placed my incense and ^(EK)my oil. ⁴² The ^(EL)sound of a carefree multitude was with her; and with men of the common sort, drunkards^[h] were brought from the wilderness; and they put ^(EM)bracelets on the hands of the women, and ^(EN)beautiful crowns on their heads.

⁴³ “Then I said of her who was worn out by adultery, ‘Now they will continue to use her for a whore, even her!’^{[i] 44} For they have gone in to her, as men go in to a prostitute. Thus they went in to Oholah and to Oholibah, lewd women! ⁴⁵ But righteous men ^(EO)shall pass judgment on them with the sentence of adulteresses, and with the sentence of women who shed blood, because they are adulteresses, and blood is on their hands.”

⁴⁶ For thus says the Lord God: ^(EP)“Bring up a vast host against them, and make them ^(EQ)an object of terror and ^(ER)a plunder. ^47 (ES)And the host shall stone them and cut them down with their swords. ^(ET)They shall kill their sons and their daughters, and ^(EU)burn up their houses. ^48 (EV)Thus will I put an end to lewdness in the land, that all women may take warning and not commit lewdness as you have done. ⁴⁹ And they shall return your lewdness upon you, and ^(EW)you shall bear the penalty for your sinful idolatry, and ^(EX)you shall know that I am the Lord God.”

The Siege of Jerusalem

24 ^(EY)In the ninth year, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me: ^2 (EZ)“Son of man, write down the name of this day, this very day. The king of Babylon has laid siege to Jerusalem this very day. ³ And ^(FA)utter a parable to ^(FB)the rebellious house and say to them, Thus says the Lord God:

⁶ “Therefore thus says the Lord God: ^(FE)Woe to the bloody city, to ^(FF)the pot whose corrosion is in it, and whose corrosion has not gone out of it! Take out of it piece after piece, without making any choice.^{[k] 7} For the blood she has shed is in her midst; she put it on ^(FG)the bare rock; ^(FH)she did not pour it out on the ground to cover it with dust. ⁸ To rouse my wrath, to take vengeance, I have set on the bare rock the blood she has shed, that it may not be covered. ⁹ Therefore thus says the Lord God: Woe to the bloody city! ^(FI)I also will make the pile great. ¹⁰ Heap on the logs, kindle the fire, boil the meat well, mix in the spices,^[l] and let the bones be burned up. ¹¹ Then set it empty upon the coals, that it may become hot, and its copper may burn, ^(FJ)that its uncleanness may be melted in it, its corrosion consumed. ^12 (FK)She has wearied herself with toil;^[m] its abundant corrosion does not go out of it. Into the fire with its corrosion! ¹³ On account of your unclean lewdness, because I would have cleansed you and you were not cleansed from your uncleanness, ^(FL)you shall not be cleansed anymore till ^(FM)I have satisfied my fury upon you. ^14 (FN)I am the Lord. I have spoken; it shall come to pass; I will do it. I will not go back; ^(FO)I will not spare; ^(FP)I will not relent; ^(FQ)according to your ways and your deeds you will be judged, declares the Lord God.”

Ezekiel's Wife Dies

¹⁵ The word of the Lord came to me: ^16 (FR)“Son of man, behold, I am about to take the delight of your eyes away from you at a stroke; yet you shall not mourn or weep, nor shall your tears run down. ¹⁷ Sigh, but not aloud; make no mourning for the dead. ^(FS)Bind on your turban, and ^(FT)put your shoes on your feet; do not cover your lips, ^(FU)nor eat the bread of men.” ¹⁸ So I spoke to the people in the morning, and ^(FV)at evening my wife died. And on the next morning I did ^(FW)as I was commanded.

¹⁹ And ^(FX)the people said to me, “Will you not tell us what these things mean for us, that you are acting thus?” ²⁰ Then I said to them, “The word of the Lord came to me: ²¹ ‘Say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: ^(FY)Behold, I will profane my sanctuary, the pride of your power, the delight of your eyes, and the yearning of your soul, and ^(FZ)your sons and your daughters whom you left behind shall fall by the sword. ²² And ^(GA)you shall do as I have done; ^(GB)you shall not cover your lips, ^(GC)nor eat the bread of men. ^23 (GD)Your turbans shall be on your heads and your shoes on your feet; you shall not mourn or weep, but ^(GE)you shall rot away in your iniquities and groan to one another. ²⁴ Thus shall Ezekiel be to you ^(GF)a sign; ^(GG)according to all that he has done you shall do. When this comes, then ^(GH)you will know that I am the Lord God.’

²⁵ “As for you, ^(GI)son of man, surely on the day when I take from them ^(GJ)their stronghold, their joy and glory, the delight of their eyes and their soul's desire, and also their sons and daughters, ^26 (GK)on that day a fugitive will come to you to report to you the news. ²⁷ On that day your mouth ^(GL)will be opened to the fugitive, and you shall speak and be no longer mute. ^(GM)So you will be a sign to them, and ^(GN)they will know that I am the Lord.”

9 And the fifth angel blew his trumpet, and ^(A)I saw a star fallen from heaven to earth, and he was given ^(B)the key to the shaft of ^(C)the bottomless pit.^{[a] 2} He opened the shaft of the bottomless pit, and from the shaft ^(D)rose smoke like the smoke of a great furnace, and ^(E)the sun and the air were darkened with the smoke from the shaft. ³ Then from the smoke came ^(F)locusts on the earth, and they were given power like the power of scorpions of the earth. ⁴ They were told ^(G)not to harm ^(H)the grass of the earth or any green plant or any tree, but only those people who do not have ^(I)the seal of God on their foreheads. ⁵ They were allowed to torment them ^(J)for five months, but not to kill them, and their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it stings someone. ⁶ And in those days ^(K)people will seek death and will not find it. They will long to die, but death will flee from them.

^7 (L)In appearance the locusts were like horses prepared for battle: ^(M)on their heads were what looked like crowns of gold; their faces were ^(N)like human faces, ⁸ their hair like women's hair, and ^(O)their teeth like lions' teeth; ⁹ they had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the noise of their wings was ^(P)like the noise of many chariots with ^(Q)horses rushing into battle. ¹⁰ They have tails and stings like scorpions, and their power to hurt people ^(R)for five months is in their tails. ¹¹ They have ^(S)as king over them the angel of the bottomless pit. His name in Hebrew is ^(T)Abaddon, and in Greek he is called Apollyon.^[b]

^12 (U)The first woe has passed; behold, two woes are still to come.

¹³ Then the sixth angel blew his trumpet, and I heard a voice from ^(V)the four horns of the golden altar before God, ¹⁴ saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release ^(W)the four angels who are bound at ^(X)the great river Euphrates.” ¹⁵ So the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour, the day, the month, and the year, were released ^(Y)to kill a third of mankind. ¹⁶ The number of ^(Z)mounted troops was ^(AA)twice ten thousand times ten thousand; ^(AB)I heard their number. ¹⁷ And this is how I saw the horses in my vision and those who rode them: they wore breastplates the color of fire and of sapphire^[c] and of sulfur, and the heads of the horses were ^(AC)like lions' heads, and fire and smoke and sulfur came out of their mouths. ¹⁸ By these three plagues a third of mankind was killed, by the fire and smoke and sulfur coming out of their mouths. ¹⁹ For the power of the horses is in their mouths and in their tails, for their tails are like serpents with heads, and by means of them they wound.

²⁰ The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, ^(AD)did not repent of ^(AE)the works of their hands nor give up worshiping ^(AF)demons ^(AG)and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk, ²¹ nor did they repent of their murders or their ^(AH)sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts.