Ezekiel 7
Good News Translation
The End Is Near for Israel
7 The Lord spoke to me. 2 “Mortal man,” he said, “this is what I, the Sovereign Lord, am saying to the land of Israel: This is the end for the whole land!
3 “Israel, the end has come. You will feel my anger, because I am judging you for what you have done. I will pay you back for all your disgusting conduct. 4 I will not spare you or show you any mercy. I am going to punish you for the disgusting things you have done, so that you will know that I am the Lord.”
5 This is what the Sovereign Lord is saying: “One disaster after another is coming on you. 6 It's all over. This is the end. You are finished. 7 The end is coming for you people who live in the land. The time is near when there will be no more celebrations at the mountain shrines, only confusion.[a]
8 “Very soon now you will feel all the force of my anger. I am judging you for what you have done, and I will pay you back for all your disgusting conduct. 9 I will not spare you or show you any mercy. I am going to punish you for the disgusting things you have done, so that you will know that I am the Lord and that I am the one who punishes you.”
10 The day of disaster is coming. Violence is flourishing. Pride is at its height.[b] 11 Violence produces more wickedness. Nothing of theirs will remain, nothing of their wealth, their splendor, or their glory.
12 The time is coming. The day is near when buying and selling will have no more meaning, because God's punishment will fall on everyone alike. 13 No merchants will live long enough to get back what they have lost, because God's anger is on everyone. Those who are evil cannot survive.[c] 14 The trumpet blows, and everyone gets ready. But no one goes off to war, for God's anger will fall on everyone alike.
Punishment for Israel's Sins
15 There is fighting in the streets, and sickness and hunger in the houses. Anyone who is out in the country will die in the fighting, and anyone in the city will be a victim of sickness and hunger. 16 Some will escape to the mountains like doves frightened from the valleys. All of them will moan over their sins.[d] 17 Everyone's hands will be weak, and their knees will shake. 18 They will put on sackcloth and they will tremble all over. Their heads will be shaved, and they will all be disgraced. 19 They will throw their gold and silver away in the streets like garbage, because neither silver nor gold can save them when the Lord pours out his fury. They cannot use it to satisfy their desires or fill their stomachs. Gold and silver led them into sin. 20 Once they were proud of their beautiful jewels, but they used them to make disgusting idols. That is why the Lord has made their wealth repulsive to them.
21 “I will let foreigners rob them,” says the Lord, “and lawbreakers will take all their wealth and defile it. 22 I will not interfere when my treasured Temple is profaned, when robbers break into it and defile it.
23 “Everything is in confusion[e]—the land is full of murders and the cities are full of violence. 24 I will bring the most evil nations here and let them have your homes. Your strongest men will lose their confidence when I let the nations profane the places where you worship. 25 Despair is coming. You will look for peace and never find it. 26 One disaster will follow another, and a steady stream of bad news will pour in. You will beg the prophets to reveal what they foresee. The priests will have nothing to teach the people, and the elders will have no advice to give. 27 The king will mourn, the prince will give up hope, and the people will shake with fear. I will punish you for all you have done, and will judge you in the same way as you have judged others. This will show you that I am the Lord.”
Footnotes
- Ezekiel 7:7 Probable text celebrations … confusion; Hebrew unclear.
- Ezekiel 7:10 Probable text Pride is at its height; Hebrew unclear.
- Ezekiel 7:13 Verse 13 in Hebrew is unclear.
- Ezekiel 7:16 Verse 16 in Hebrew is unclear.
- Ezekiel 7:23 One ancient translation Everything is in confusion; Hebrew unclear.
Ezekiel 7
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Impending Disaster
7 The word of the Lord came to me: 2 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)
3 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.
4 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)
5 Thus says the Lord God:
Disaster after disaster! See, it comes.(C)
6 An end has come; the end has come.
It has awakened against you; see, it comes!
7 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)
8 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)
9 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)
Ezekiel 7
The Message
Fate Has Caught Up with You
7 1-4 God’s Word came to me, saying, “You, son of man—God, the Master, has this Message for the land of Israel:
“‘Endtime.
The end of business as usual for everyone.
It’s all over. The end is upon you.
I’ve launched my anger against you.
I’ve issued my verdict on the way you live.
I’ll make you pay for your disgusting obscenities.
I won’t look the other way,
I won’t feel sorry for you.
I’ll make you pay for the way you’ve lived:
Your disgusting obscenities will boomerang on you,
and you’ll realize that I am God.’
5-9 “I, God, the Master, say:
‘Disaster after disaster! Look, it comes!
Endtime—
the end comes.
The end is ripe. Watch out, it’s coming!
This is your fate, you who live in this land.
Time’s up.
It’s zero hour.
No dragging of feet now,
no bargaining for more time.
Soon now I’ll pour my wrath on you,
pay out my anger against you,
Render my verdict on the way you’ve lived,
make you pay for your disgusting obscenities.
I won’t look the other way,
I won’t feel sorry for you.
I’ll make you pay for the way you’ve lived.
Your disgusting obscenities will boomerang on you.
Then you’ll realize
that it is I, God, who have hit you.
10-13 “‘Judgment Day!
Fate has caught up with you.
The scepter outsized and pretentious,
pride bursting all bounds,
Violence strutting,
brandishing the evil scepter.
But there’s nothing to them,
and nothing will be left of them.
Time’s up.
Countdown: five, four, three, two . . .
Buyer, don’t boast; seller, don’t worry:
Judgment wrath has turned the world topsy-turvy.
The bottom has dropped out of buying and selling.
It will never be the same again.
But don’t fantasize an upturn in the market.
The country is bankrupt because of its sins,
and it’s not going to get any better.
14-16 “‘The trumpet signals the call to battle:
“Present arms!”
But no one marches into battle.
My wrath has them paralyzed!
On the open roads you’re killed,
or else you go home and die of hunger and disease.
Either get murdered out in the country
or die of sickness or hunger in town.
Survivors run for the hills.
They moan like doves in the valleys,
Each one moaning
for his own sins.
17-18 “‘Every hand hangs limp,
every knee turns to rubber.
They dress in rough burlap—
sorry scarecrows,
Shifty and shamefaced,
with their heads shaved bald.
19-27 “‘They throw their money into the gutters.
Their hard-earned cash stinks like garbage.
They find that it won’t buy a thing
they either want or need on Judgment Day.
They tripped on money
and fell into sin.
Proud and pretentious with their jewels,
they deck out their vile and vulgar no-gods in finery.
I’ll make those god-obscenities a stench in their nostrils.
I’ll give away their religious junk—
strangers will pick it up for free,
the godless spit on it and make jokes.
I’ll turn my face so I won’t have to look
as my treasured place and people are violated,
As violent strangers walk in
and desecrate place and people—
A bloody massacre,
as crime and violence fill the city.
I’ll bring in the dregs of humanity
to move into their houses.
I’ll put a stop to the boasting and strutting
of the high-and-mighty,
And see to it that there’ll be nothing holy
left in their holy places.
Catastrophe descends. They look for peace,
but there’s no peace to be found—
Disaster on the heels of disaster,
one rumor after another.
They clamor for the prophet to tell them what’s up,
but nobody knows anything.
Priests don’t have a clue;
the elders don’t know what to say.
The king holds his head in despair;
the prince is devastated.
The common people are paralyzed.
Gripped by fear, they can’t move.
I’ll deal with them where they are,
judge them on their terms.
They’ll know that I am God.’”
Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition) © 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved. For more information about GNT, visit www.bibles.com and www.gnt.bible.
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson