Ezekiel 24:3-14

Common English Bible

³Compose a parable for the rebels’ household and say to them, The Lord God proclaims:

Put on the pot, set it on,
    and fill it with water.
⁴Add meat to it,
    every good piece.
    With shoulder and thigh,
    the meatiest bones, fill it up.
⁵Take the flock’s best animal;
    arrange the wood^[a] beneath it.
Bring it to a rolling boil,
    and cook its bones in it.

⁶The Lord God proclaims: Horror! You bloody city, you corroded pot; pot whose corrosion can’t be removed! Empty it piece by piece. She is rejected^[b] ⁷because her blood is still with her. She didn’t pour it out on the ground so that it could be covered with dirt, but she spread it out on a bare rock. ⁸In order to arouse wrath, to guarantee vengeance, I will spread her blood on a bare rock, never to be covered.

⁹So now the Lord God proclaims:

Horror! You bloody city!
    I myself will add fuel to the fire!
¹⁰Pile on the wood, light the fire, and cook the meat.
    Season it well and let the bones be charred.
¹¹Let the pot stand empty on its coals
    until it’s so hot that its copper glows,
    its impurities melt in it,
    and its corrosion is consumed.
¹²It’s a worthless task.
    Even by fire its great corrosion isn’t removed.

¹³How your betrayals defile you! I cleansed you, but you didn’t come clean from your impurities. You won’t be clean again until I have exhausted my anger against you. ¹⁴I, the Lord, have spoken! It’s coming, and I’ll do it. I won’t relent or have any pity or compassion. Your punishments will fit your ways and your deeds! This is what the Lord God says.

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