Announcement of the End

The word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, this is what the Lord God says to the land of Israel:

An end! The end has come
on the four corners of the earth.(A)
The end is now upon you;
I will send my anger against you
and judge you according to your ways.
I will punish you for all your detestable practices.
I will not look on you with pity or spare you,(B)
but I will punish you for your ways(C)
and for your detestable practices within you.
Then you will know that I am the Lord.”(D)

This is what the Lord God says:

Look, one disaster after another is coming!(E)
An end has come; the end has come!
It has awakened against you.
Look, it is coming!
Doom[a] has come on you,(F)
inhabitants of the land.
The time has come; the day is near.
There will be panic on the mountains
and not celebration.(G)

I will pour out my wrath on you very soon;(H)
I will exhaust my anger against you
and judge you according to your ways.
I will punish you for all your detestable practices.
I will not look on you with pity or spare you.
I will punish you for your ways
and for your detestable practices within you.
Then you will know
that it is I, the Lord, who strikes.

10 Here is the day! Here it comes!
Doom is on its way.(I)
The rod has blossomed;(J)
arrogance has bloomed.(K)
11 Violence has grown into a rod of wickedness.(L)
None of them will remain:
none of that crowd,
none of their wealth,
and none of the eminent[b] among them.

12 The time has come; the day has arrived.
Let the buyer not rejoice(M)
and the seller not mourn,
for wrath is on her whole crowd.(N)
13 The seller will certainly not return
to what was sold
as long as he and the buyer remain alive.[c]
For the vision concerning her whole crowd
will not be revoked,
and because of the iniquity of each one,
none will preserve his life.

14 They have blown the trumpet(O)
and prepared everything,
but no one goes to war,
for my wrath is on her whole crowd.
15 The sword is on the outside;(P)
plague and famine are on the inside.
Whoever is in the field will die by the sword,
and famine and plague will devour
whoever is in the city.

16 The survivors among them will escape(Q)
and live on the mountains.
Like doves of the valley,
all of them will moan,
each over his own iniquity.
17 All their hands will become weak,
and all their knees will run with urine.[d](R)
18 They will put on sackcloth,
and horror will overwhelm them.
Shame will cover all their faces,
and all their heads will be bald.(S)

19 They will throw their silver into the streets,
and their gold will seem like something filthy.(T)
Their silver and gold will be unable to save them
in the day of the Lord’s wrath.(U)
They will not satisfy their appetites
or fill their stomachs,
for these were the stumbling blocks(V)
that brought about their iniquity.

20 He appointed his beautiful ornaments for majesty,
but[e] they made their detestable images from them,
their abhorrent things.(W)
Therefore, I have made these
into something filthy to them.
21 I will hand these things over
to foreigners as plunder(X)
and to the wicked of the earth as spoil,
and they will profane them.
22 I will turn my face from them
as they profane my treasured place.
Violent men will enter it and profane it.

23 Forge the chain,(Y)
for the land is filled with crimes of bloodshed,
and the city is filled with violence.(Z)
24 So I will bring the most evil of nations(AA)
to take possession of their houses.
I will put an end to the pride of the strong,
and their sacred places will be profaned.(AB)
25 Anguish is coming!
They will look for peace, but there will be none.
26 Disaster after disaster will come,(AC)
and there will be rumor after rumor.(AD)
Then they will look for a vision from a prophet,(AE)
but instruction will perish from the priests
and counsel from the elders.(AF)
27 The king will mourn;
the prince will be clothed in grief;
and the hands of the people of the land will tremble.
I will deal with them according to their own conduct,
and I will judge them by their own standards.(AG)
Then they will know that I am the Lord.

Footnotes

  1. 7:7 Or A leash; Hb obscure, also in v. 10
  2. 7:11 Some Hb mss, Syr, Vg read and no rest
  3. 7:13 Lit sold, while still in life is their life
  4. 7:17 Lit knees will go water
  5. 7:20 Or They turned their beautiful ornaments into objects of pride, and

Impending Disaster

The word of the Lord came to me: You, O mortal, thus says the Lord God to the land of Israel:

An end! The end has come
    upon the four corners of the land.(A)
Now the end is upon you;
    I will let loose my anger upon you;
I will judge you according to your ways;
    I will punish you for all your abominations.
My eye will not spare you; I will have no pity.
    I will punish you for your ways
    while your abominations are among you.

Then you shall know that I am the Lord.(B)

Thus says the Lord God:

Disaster after disaster! See, it comes.(C)
    An end has come; the end has come.
It has awakened against you; see, it comes!
Your doom[a] has come to you,
    O inhabitant of the land.
The time has come; the day is near—
    of tumult, not of reveling on the mountains.(D)
Soon now I will pour out my wrath upon you;
    I will spend my anger against you.
I will judge you according to your ways
    and punish you for all your abominations.(E)
My eye will not spare; I will have no pity.
    I will punish you according to your ways
    while your abominations are among you.

Then you shall know that it is I the Lord who strike.

10 See, the day! See, it comes!
    Your doom[b] has gone out.
The rod has blossomed; pride has budded.
11     Violence has grown into a rod of wickedness.
None of them shall remain,
    not their abundance, not their wealth;
    no preeminence among them.[c](F)
12 The time has come; the day draws near;
    let not the buyer rejoice nor the seller mourn,
    for wrath is upon all their multitude.

13 For the sellers shall not return to what has been sold as long as they remain alive. For the vision concerns all their multitude; it shall not be revoked. Because of their iniquity, they cannot maintain their lives.[d]

14 They have blown the horn and made everything ready,
    but no one goes to battle,
    for my wrath is upon all their multitude.
15 The sword is outside; pestilence and famine are inside;
    those in the field die by the sword;
    those in the city—famine and pestilence devour them.(G)
16 If any survivors escape,
    they shall be found on the mountains
    like doves of the valleys,
all of them moaning over their iniquity.(H)
17 All hands shall grow feeble,
    all knees turn to water.(I)
18 They shall put on sackcloth;
    horror shall cover them.
Shame shall be on all faces,
    baldness on all their heads.(J)
19 They shall fling their silver into the streets;
    their gold shall be treated as unclean.

Their silver and gold cannot save them on the day of the wrath of the Lord. They shall not satisfy their hunger or fill their stomachs with it. For it was the stumbling block of their iniquity.(K) 20 From their[e] beautiful ornament, in which they took pride, they made their abominable images, their detestable things; therefore I will make of it an unclean thing to them.(L)

21 I will hand it over to strangers as plunder,
    to the wicked of the earth as spoil;
    they shall profane it.(M)
22 I will avert my face from them
    so that they may profane my treasured[f] place;
the violent shall enter it;
    they shall profane it.(N)
23 Make a chain![g]
For the land is full of bloody crimes;
    the city is full of violence.(O)
24 I will bring the worst of the nations
    to take possession of their houses.
I will put an end to the arrogance of the strong,
    and their holy places shall be profaned.(P)
25 When anguish comes, they will seek peace,
    but there shall be none.(Q)
26 Disaster comes upon disaster;
    rumor follows rumor;
they shall keep seeking a vision from the prophet;
    instruction shall perish from the priest
    and counsel from the elders.(R)
27 The king shall mourn,
    the prince shall be wrapped in despair,
    and the hands of the people of the land shall tremble.
According to their way I will deal with them;
    according to their own judgments I will judge them.

And they shall know that I am the Lord.(S)

Footnotes

  1. 7.7 Meaning of Heb uncertain
  2. 7.10 Meaning of Heb uncertain
  3. 7.11 Meaning of Heb uncertain
  4. 7.13 Gk: Meaning of Heb uncertain
  5. 7.20 Syr Symmachus: Heb its
  6. 7.22 Or secret
  7. 7.23 Meaning of Heb uncertain