EZEKIEL'S FIRST VISION OF GOD (1.1—7.27)

God's Throne

1 ^(A)On the fifth day of the fourth month of the thirtieth year,^[a] I, Ezekiel the priest, son of Buzi, was living with the Jewish exiles by the Chebar River in Babylonia. The sky opened, and I saw a vision of God. (^2 (B)It was the fifth year since King Jehoiachin had been taken into exile.) ³ There in Babylonia beside the Chebar River, I heard the Lord speak to me, and I felt his power.

⁴ I looked up and saw a windstorm coming from the north. Lightning was flashing from a huge cloud, and the sky around it was glowing. Where the lightning was flashing, something shone like bronze. ^5 (C)At the center of the storm I saw what looked like four living creatures in human form, ⁶ but each of them had four faces and four wings. ⁷ Their legs were straight, and they had hoofs like those of a bull. They shone like polished bronze. ⁸ In addition to their four faces and four wings, they each had four human hands, one under each wing. ⁹ Two wings of each creature were spread out so that the creatures formed a square, with their wing tips touching. When they moved, they moved as a group without turning their bodies.

^10 (D)Each living creature had four different faces: a human face in front, a lion's face at the right, a bull's face at the left, and an eagle's face at the back. ¹¹ Two wings^[b] of each creature were raised so that they touched the tips of the wings of the creatures next to it, and their other two wings were folded against their bodies. ¹² Each creature faced all four directions, and so the group could go wherever they wished, without having to turn.

^13 (E)Among^[c] the creatures there was something that looked like a blazing torch, constantly moving. The fire would blaze up and shoot out flashes of lightning. ¹⁴ The creatures themselves darted back and forth with the speed of lightning.

^15 (F)As I was looking at the four creatures I saw four wheels touching the ground, one beside each of them.^{[d] 16} All four wheels were alike; each one shone like a precious stone, and each had another wheel intersecting it at right angles, ¹⁷ so that the wheels could move in any of the four directions. ^18 (G)The rims of the wheels were covered with eyes.^{[e] 19} Whenever the creatures moved, the wheels moved with them, and if the creatures rose up from the earth, so did the wheels. ²⁰ The creatures went wherever they wished, and the wheels did exactly what the creatures did, because the creatures controlled them. ²¹ So every time the creatures moved or stopped or rose in the air, the wheels did exactly the same.

^22 (H)Above the heads of the creatures there was something that looked like a dome made of dazzling crystal. ²³ There under the dome stood the creatures, each stretching out two wings toward the ones next to it and covering its body with the other two wings. ^24 (I)I heard the noise their wings made in flight; it sounded like the roar of the sea, like the noise of a huge army, like the voice of Almighty God. When they stopped flying, they folded their wings, ²⁵ but there was still a sound coming from above the dome over their heads.

^26 (J)Above the dome there was something that looked like a throne made of sapphire, and sitting on the throne was a figure that looked like a human being. ^27 (K)The figure seemed to be shining like bronze in the middle of a fire. It shone all over with a bright light ²⁸ that had in it all the colors of the rainbow. This was the dazzling light which shows the presence of the Lord.

God Calls Ezekiel to Be a Prophet

When I saw this, I fell face downward on the ground. Then I heard a voice

2 saying, “Mortal man, stand up. I want to talk to you.” ² While the voice was speaking, God's spirit entered me and raised me to my feet, and I heard the voice continue, ³ “Mortal man, I am sending you to the people of Israel. They have rebelled and turned against me and are still rebels, just as their ancestors were. ⁴ They are stubborn and do not respect me, so I am sending you to tell them what I, the Sovereign Lord, am saying to them. ⁵ Whether those rebels listen to you or not, they will know that a prophet has been among them.

⁶ “But you, mortal man, must not be afraid of them or of anything they say. They will defy and despise you; it will be like living among scorpions. Still, don't be afraid of those rebels or of anything they say. ⁷ You will tell them whatever I tell you to say, whether they listen or not. Remember what rebels they are.

⁸ “Mortal man, listen to what I tell you. Don't be rebellious like them. Open your mouth and eat what I am going to give you.” ^9 (L)I saw a hand reaching out toward me, and it was holding a scroll. ¹⁰ The hand unrolled the scroll, and I saw that there was writing on both sides—cries of grief were written there, and wails and groans.

3 ^(M)God said, “Mortal man, eat this scroll; then go and speak to the people of Israel.”

² So I opened my mouth, and he gave me the scroll to eat. ³ He said, “Mortal man, eat this scroll that I give you; fill your stomach with it.” I ate it, and it tasted as sweet as honey.

⁴ Then God said, “Mortal man, go to the people of Israel and say to them whatever I tell you to say. ⁵ I am not sending you to a nation that speaks a difficult foreign language, but to the Israelites. ⁶ If I sent you to great nations that spoke difficult languages you didn't understand, they would listen to you. ⁷ But none of the people of Israel will be willing to listen; they will not even listen to me. All of them are stubborn and defiant. ⁸ Now I will make you as stubborn and as tough as they are. ⁹ I will make you as firm as a rock, as hard as a diamond; don't be afraid of those rebels.”

¹⁰ God continued, “Mortal man, pay close attention and remember everything I tell you. ¹¹ Then go to the people of your nation who are in exile and tell them what I, the Sovereign Lord, am saying to them, whether they pay attention to you or not.”

¹² Then God's spirit lifted me up, and I heard behind me the loud roar of a voice that said, “Praise the glory of the Lord in heaven above!” ¹³ I heard the wings of the creatures beating together in the air, and the noise of the wheels, as loud as an earthquake. ¹⁴ The power of the Lord came on me with great force, and as his spirit carried me off, I felt bitter and angry. ¹⁵ So I came to Tel Abib beside the Chebar River, where the exiles were living, and for seven days I stayed there, overcome by what I had seen and heard.

The Lord Appoints Ezekiel as a Lookout^(N)

¹⁶ After the seven days had passed, the Lord spoke to me. ¹⁷ “Mortal man,” he said, “I am making you a lookout for the nation of Israel. You will pass on to them the warnings I give you. ¹⁸ If I announce that someone evil is going to die but you do not warn him to change his ways so that he can save his life, he will die, still a sinner, but I will hold you responsible for his death. ¹⁹ If you do warn an evil man and he doesn't stop sinning, he will die, still a sinner, but your life will be spared.

²⁰ “If someone truly good starts doing evil and I put him in a dangerous situation, he will die if you do not warn him. He will die because of his sins—I will not remember the good he did—and I will hold you responsible for his death. ²¹ If you do warn a good man not to sin and he listens to you and doesn't sin, he will stay alive, and your life will also be spared.”

Ezekiel Will Be Unable to Talk

²² I felt the powerful presence of the Lord and heard him say to me, “Get up and go out into the valley. I will talk to you there.”

²³ So I went out into the valley, and there I saw the glory of the Lord, just as I had seen it beside the Chebar River. I fell face downward on the ground, ²⁴ but God's spirit entered me and raised me to my feet. The Lord said to me, “Go home and shut yourself up in the house. ²⁵ You will be tied with ropes, mortal man, and you will not be able to go out in public. ²⁶ I will paralyze your tongue so that you won't be able to warn these rebellious people. ²⁷ Then, when I speak to you again and give you back the power of speech, you will tell them what I, the Sovereign Lord, am saying. Some of them will listen, but some will ignore you, for they are a nation of rebels.”

Ezekiel Acts Out the Siege of Jerusalem

4 God said, “Mortal man, get a brick, put it in front of you, and scratch lines on it to represent the city of Jerusalem. ² Then, to represent a siege, put trenches, earthworks, camps, and battering rams all around it. ³ Take an iron pan and set it up like a wall between you and the city. Face the city. It is under siege, and you are the one besieging it. This will be a sign to the nation of Israel.

^4-5 “Then lie down on your left side, and I^[f] will place on you the guilt of the nation of Israel. For 390 days you will stay there and suffer because of their guilt. I have sentenced you to one day for each year their punishment will last. ⁶ When you finish that, turn over on your right side and suffer for the guilt of Judah for forty days—one day for each year of their punishment.

⁷ “Fix your eyes on the siege of Jerusalem. Shake your fist at the city and prophesy against it. ⁸ I will tie you up so that you cannot turn from one side to the other until the siege is over.

⁹ “Now take some wheat, barley, beans, peas, millet, and spelt. Mix them all together and make bread. That is what you are to eat during the 390 days you are lying on your left side. ¹⁰ You will be allowed eight ounces of bread a day, and it will have to last until the next day. ¹¹ You will also have a limited amount of water to drink, two cups a day. ¹² You are to build a fire out of dried human excrement, bake bread on the fire, and eat it where everyone can see you.”

¹³ The Lord said, “This represents the way the Israelites will have to eat food which the Law forbids,^[g] when I scatter them to foreign countries.”

¹⁴ But I replied, “No, Sovereign Lord! I have never defiled myself. From childhood on I have never eaten meat from any animal that died a natural death or was killed by wild animals. I have never eaten any food considered unclean.”

¹⁵ So God said, “Very well. I will let you use cow dung instead, and you can bake your bread on that.”

¹⁶ And he added, “Mortal man, I am going to cut off the supply of bread for Jerusalem. The people there will be distressed and anxious as they measure out the food they eat and the water they drink. ¹⁷ They will run out of bread and water; they will be in despair, and they will waste away because of their sins.”

Ezekiel Cuts His Hair

5 The Lord said, “Mortal man, take a sharp sword and use it to shave off your beard and all your hair. Then weigh the hair on scales and divide it into three parts. ² Burn up a third of it in the city when the siege is over. Take another third and chop it up with your sword as you move around outside the city. Scatter the remaining third to the winds, and I will pursue it with my sword. ³ Keep back a few hairs and wrap them in the hem of your clothes. ⁴ Then take a few of them out again, throw them in the fire, and let them burn up. From them fire will spread to the whole nation of Israel.”

⁵ The Sovereign Lord said, “Look at Jerusalem. I put her at the center of the world, with other countries all around her. ⁶ But Jerusalem rebelled against my commands and showed that she was more wicked than the other nations, more disobedient than the countries around her. Jerusalem rejected my commands and refused to keep my laws. ⁷ Now listen, Jerusalem, to what I, the Sovereign Lord, am saying. By not obeying my laws or keeping my commands, you have caused more trouble than the nations around you. You have followed the customs of other nations. ⁸ And so I, the Sovereign Lord, am telling you that I am your enemy. I will pass judgment on you where all the nations can see it. ⁹ Because of all the things you do that I hate, I will punish Jerusalem as I have never done before and will never do again. ^10 (O)As a result, parents in Jerusalem will eat their children, and children will eat their parents. I will punish you and scatter in every direction any who are left alive.

¹¹ “Therefore, as I am the living God—this is the word of the Sovereign Lord—because you defiled my Temple with all the evil, disgusting things you did, I will cut you down without mercy. ¹² A third of your people will die from sickness and hunger in the city; a third will be cut down by swords outside the city; and I will scatter the last third to the winds and pursue them with a sword.

¹³ “You will feel all the force of my anger and rage until I am satisfied. When all this happens, you will be convinced that I, the Lord, have spoken to you because I am outraged at your unfaithfulness. ¹⁴ Everyone from the nations around you who passes by will sneer at you and keep their distance.

¹⁵ “When I am angry and furious with you and punish you, all the nations around you will be terrified. They will look at you with disgust and make fun of you. ¹⁶ I will cut off your supply of food and let you starve. You^[h] will feel the pains of hunger like sharp arrows sent to destroy you. ^17 (P)I will send hunger and wild animals to kill your children, and will send sickness, violence, and war to kill you. I, the Lord, have spoken.”

The Lord Condemns Idolatry

6 The Lord spoke to me. ² “Mortal man,” he said, “look toward the mountains of Israel and give them my message. ³ Tell the mountains of Israel to hear the Sovereign Lord's word—to hear what I, the Sovereign Lord, am telling the mountains, the hills, the gorges, and the valleys: I will send a sword to destroy the places where people worship idols. ⁴ The altars will be torn down and the incense altars broken. All the people there will be killed in front of their idols. ⁵ I will scatter the corpses of the people of Israel; I will scatter their bones all around the altars. ⁶ All the cities of Israel will be destroyed, so that all their altars and their idols will be smashed to pieces, their incense altars will be shattered, and everything they made will disappear. ⁷ People will be killed everywhere, and those who survive will acknowledge that I am the Lord.

⁸ “I will let some escape the slaughter and be scattered among the nations, ⁹ where they will live in exile. There they will remember me and know that I have punished them and disgraced them,^[i] because their faithless hearts deserted me and they preferred idols to me. And they will be disgusted with themselves because of the evil and degrading things they have done. ¹⁰ They will know that I am the Lord and that my warnings were not empty threats.”

¹¹ The Sovereign Lord said, “Wring your hands! Stamp your feet! Cry in sorrow because of all the evil, disgusting things the Israelites have done. They are going to die in war or of starvation or disease. ¹² Those far away will get sick and die; those nearby will be killed in war; those who survive will starve to death. They will feel all the force of my anger. ¹³ Corpses will be scattered among the idols and around the altars, scattered on every high hill, on the top of every mountain, under every green tree and every large oak, in every place where they burned sacrifices to their idols. Then everyone will know that I am the Lord. ¹⁴ Yes, I will reach out and destroy their country. I will make it a wasteland from the southern desert to the city of Riblah in the north, not sparing any place where the Israelites live. Then everyone will know that I am the Lord.”

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.^[j]

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.^{[k] 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.^{[l] 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.^{[m] 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^[n]—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.”

EZEKIEL'S SECOND VISION OF GOD (8.1—10.22)

Idolatry in Jerusalem

8 On the fifth day of the sixth month of the sixth year of our exile, the leaders of the exiles from Judah were sitting in my house with me. Suddenly the power of the Sovereign Lord came on me. ^2 (Q)I looked up and saw a vision of a fiery human form. From the waist down his body looked like fire, and from the waist up he was shining like polished bronze. ³ He reached out what seemed to be a hand and grabbed me by the hair. Then in this vision God's spirit lifted me high in the air and took me to Jerusalem. He took me to the inner entrance of the north gate of the Temple, where there was an idol that was an outrage to God.

^4 (R)There I saw the dazzling light that shows the presence of Israel's God, just as I had seen it when I was by the Chebar River. ⁵ God said to me, “Mortal man, look toward the north.” I looked, and there near the altar by the entrance of the gateway I saw the idol that was an outrage to God.

⁶ God said to me, “Mortal man, do you see what is happening? Look at the disgusting things the people of Israel are doing here, driving me farther and farther away from my holy place. You will see even more disgraceful things than this.”

⁷ He took me to the entrance of the outer courtyard and showed me a hole in the wall. ⁸ He said, “Mortal man, break through the wall here.” I broke through it and found a door. ⁹ He told me, “Go in and look at the evil, disgusting things they are doing there.” ¹⁰ So I went in and looked. The walls were covered with drawings of snakes and other unclean animals,^[o] and of the other things which the Israelites were worshiping. ¹¹ Seventy Israelite leaders were there, including Jaazaniah son of Shaphan. Each one was holding an incense burner, and smoke was rising from the incense. ¹² God asked me, “Mortal man, do you see what the Israelite leaders are doing in secret? They are all worshiping in a room full of images. Their excuse is: ‘The Lord doesn't see us! He has abandoned the country.’”

¹³ Then the Lord said to me, “You are going to see them do even more disgusting things than that.” ¹⁴ So he took me to the north gate of the Temple and showed me women weeping over the death of the god Tammuz.^[p]

¹⁵ He asked, “Mortal man, do you see that? You will see even more disgusting things.” ¹⁶ So he took me to the inner courtyard of the Temple. There near the entrance of the sanctuary, between the altar and the porch, were about twenty-five men. They had turned their backs to the sanctuary and were bowing low toward the east, worshiping the rising sun.

¹⁷ The Lord said to me, “Mortal man, do you see that? These people of Judah are not satisfied with merely doing all the disgusting things you have seen here and with spreading violence throughout the country. No, they must come and do them right here in the Temple and make me even more angry. Look how they insult me in the most offensive way possible!^{[q] 18} They will feel all the force of my anger. I will not spare them or show them any mercy. They will shout prayers to me as loud as they can, but I will not listen to them.”

Jerusalem Is Punished

9 Then I heard God shout, “Come here, you men who are going to punish the city. Bring your weapons with you.” ² At once six men came from the outer north gate of the Temple, each one carrying a weapon. With them was a man dressed in linen clothes, carrying something to write with. They all came and stood by the bronze altar.

³ Then the dazzling light of the presence of the God of Israel rose up from the winged creatures^[r] where it had been, and moved to the entrance of the Temple. The Lord called to the man dressed in linen, ^4 (S)“Go through the whole city of Jerusalem and put a mark on the forehead of everyone who is distressed and troubled because of all the disgusting things being done in the city.”

⁵ And I heard God say to the other men, “Follow him through the city and kill. Spare no one; have mercy on no one. ⁶ Kill the old men, young men, young women, mothers, and children. But don't touch anyone who has the mark on his forehead. Start here at my Temple.” So they began with the leaders who were standing there at the Temple.

⁷ God said to them, “Defile the Temple. Fill its courtyards with corpses. Get to work!” So they began to kill the people in the city.^[s]

⁸ While the killing was going on, I was there alone. I threw myself face downward on the ground and shouted, “Sovereign Lord, are you so angry with Jerusalem that you are going to kill everyone left in Israel?”

⁹ God answered, “The people of Israel and Judah are guilty of terrible sins. They have committed murder all over the land and have filled Jerusalem with crime. They say that I, the Lord, have abandoned their country and that I don't see them. ¹⁰ But I will not have pity on them; I will do to them what they have done to others.”

¹¹ Then the man wearing linen clothes returned and reported to the Lord, “I have carried out your orders.”

The Glory of the Lord Leaves the Temple

10 ^(T)I looked at the dome over the heads of the living creatures^[t] and above them was something that seemed to be a throne made of sapphire. ^2 (U)God said to the man wearing linen clothes, “Go between the wheels under the creatures and fill your hands with burning coals. Then scatter the coals over the city.”

I watched him go. ³ The creatures were standing to the south of the Temple when he went in, and a cloud filled the inner courtyard. ⁴ The dazzling light of the Lord's presence rose up from the creatures and moved to the entrance of the Temple. Then the cloud filled the Temple, and the courtyard was blazing with the light. ⁵ The noise made by the creatures' wings was heard even in the outer courtyard. It sounded like the voice of Almighty God.

⁶ When the Lord commanded the man wearing linen clothes to take some fire from between the wheels that were under the creatures, the man went in and stood by one of the wheels. ⁷ One of the creatures reached his hand into the fire that was there among them, picked up some coals, and put them in the hands of the man in linen. The man took the coals and left.

⁸ I saw that each creature had what looked like a human hand under each of its wings. ^9-10 (V)I also saw that there were four wheels, all alike, one beside each creature. The wheels shone like precious stones, and each one had another wheel which intersected it at right angles. ¹¹ When the creatures moved, they could go in any direction without turning. They all moved together in the direction they wanted to go, without having to turn around. ^12 (W)Their bodies, backs, hands, wings, and wheels were covered with eyes. ¹³ I heard a voice calling out, “Whirling wheels.”

^14 (X)Each creature had four faces. The first was the face of a bull, the second a human face, the third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle. ¹⁵ (They were the same creatures that I had seen by the Chebar River.) When the creatures rose in the air ¹⁶ and moved, the wheels went with them. Whenever they spread their wings to fly, the wheels still went with them. ¹⁷ When the creatures stopped, the wheels stopped; and when the creatures flew, the wheels went with them, because the creatures controlled them.

¹⁸ Then the dazzling light of the Lord's presence left the entrance of the Temple and moved to a place above the creatures. ¹⁹ They spread their wings and flew up from the earth while I was watching, and the wheels went with them. They paused at the east gate of the Temple, and the dazzling light was over them. ²⁰ I recognized them as the same creatures which I had seen beneath the God of Israel at the Chebar River.

²¹ Each of them had four faces, four wings, and what looked like a human hand under each wing. ²² Their faces looked exactly like the faces^[u] I had seen by the Chebar River. Each creature moved straight ahead.

Jerusalem Is Condemned

11 God's spirit lifted me up and took me to the east gate of the Temple. There near the gate I saw twenty-five men, including Jaazaniah son of Azzur and Pelatiah son of Benaiah, two leaders of the nation.

² God said to me, “Mortal man, these men make evil plans and give bad advice in this city. ³ They say, ‘We will soon be building houses again.^[v] The city is like a cooking pot, and we are like the meat in it, but at least it protects us from the fire.’ ⁴ Now then, denounce them, mortal man.”

⁵ The spirit of the Lord took control of me, and the Lord told me to give the people this message: “People of Israel, I know what you are saying and what you are planning. ⁶ You have murdered so many people here in the city that the streets are full of corpses.

⁷ “So this is what I, the Sovereign Lord, am saying to you. This city is a cooking pot all right, but what is the meat? The corpses of those you have killed! You will not be here—I will throw you out of the city! ⁸ Are you afraid of swords? I will bring soldiers with swords to attack you. ⁹ I will take you out of the city and hand you over to foreigners. I have sentenced you to death, ¹⁰ and you will be killed in battle in your own country. Then everyone will know that I am the Lord. ¹¹ This city will not protect you the way a pot protects the meat in it. I will punish you wherever you may be in the land of Israel. ¹² You will know that I am the Lord and that while you were keeping the laws of the neighboring nations, you were breaking my laws and disobeying my commands.”

¹³ While I was prophesying, Pelatiah dropped dead. I threw myself face downward on the ground and shouted, “No, Sovereign Lord! Are you going to kill everyone left in Israel?”

God's Promise to the Exiles

¹⁴ The Lord spoke to me. ¹⁵ “Mortal man,” he said, “the people who live in Jerusalem are talking about you and those of your nation who are in exile. They say, ‘The exiles are too far away to worship the Lord. He has given us possession of the land.’

¹⁶ “Now tell your fellow exiles what I am saying. I am the one who sent them to live in far-off nations and scattered them in other countries. Yet, for the time being I will be present with them in the lands where they have gone.

¹⁷ “So tell them what I, the Sovereign Lord, am saying. I will gather them out of the countries where I scattered them, and will give the land of Israel back to them. ¹⁸ When they return, they are to get rid of all the filthy, disgusting idols they find. ^19 (Y)I will give them a new heart and a new mind. I will take away their stubborn heart of stone and will give them an obedient heart. ²⁰ Then they will keep my laws and faithfully obey all my commands. They will be my people, and I will be their God. ²¹ But I will punish the people who love to worship filthy, disgusting idols. I will punish them for what they have done.” The Sovereign Lord has spoken.

God's Glory Leaves Jerusalem

^22 (Z)The living creatures began to fly, and the wheels went with them. The dazzling light of the presence of the God of Israel was over them. ²³ Then the dazzling light left the city and moved to the mountain east of it. ²⁴ In the vision the spirit of God lifted me up and brought me back to the exiles in Babylonia. Then the vision faded, ²⁵ and I told the exiles everything that the Lord had shown me.

The Prophet as a Refugee

12 The Lord spoke to me. ^2 (AA)“Mortal man,” he said, “you are living among rebellious people. They have eyes, but they see nothing; they have ears, but they hear nothing, because they are rebellious.

³ “Now, mortal man, pack a bundle just as a refugee would and start out before nightfall. Let everyone see you leaving and going to another place. Maybe those rebels will notice you.^{[w] 4} While it is still daylight, pack your bundle for exile, so that they can see you, and then let them watch you leave in the evening as if you were going into exile. ⁵ While they are watching, break a hole through the wall of your house and take your pack out through it. ⁶ Let them watch you putting your pack on your shoulder and going out into the dark with your eyes covered, so that you can't see where you are going. What you do will be a warning to the Israelites.”

⁷ I did what the Lord told me to do. That day I packed a bundle as a refugee would, and that evening as it was getting dark I dug a hole in the wall with my hands and went out. While everyone watched, I put the pack on my shoulder and left.

⁸ The next morning the Lord spoke to me. ⁹ “Mortal man,” he said, “now that those Israelite rebels are asking you what you're doing, ¹⁰ tell them what I, the Sovereign Lord, am saying to them. This message is for the prince ruling in Jerusalem and for all the people who live there. ¹¹ Tell them that what you have done is a sign of what will happen to them—they will be refugees and captives. ¹² The prince who is ruling them will shoulder his pack in the dark and escape through a hole that they dig for him in the wall. He will cover his eyes and not see where he is going. ^13 (AB)But I will spread out my net and trap him in it. Then I will take him to the city of Babylon, where he will die without having seen it. ¹⁴ I will scatter in every direction all the members of his court and his advisers and bodyguards, and people will search for them to kill them.

¹⁵ “When I scatter them among the other nations and in foreign countries, they will know that I am the Lord. ¹⁶ I will let a few of them survive the war, the famine, and the diseases, so that there among the nations they will realize how disgusting their actions have been and will acknowledge that I am the Lord.”

The Sign of the Trembling Prophet

¹⁷ The Lord spoke to me. ¹⁸ “Mortal man,” he said, “tremble when you eat, and shake with fear when you drink. ¹⁹ Tell the whole nation that this is the message of the Sovereign Lord to the people of Jerusalem who are still living in their land: They will tremble when they eat and shake with fear when they drink. Their land will be stripped bare, because everyone who lives there is lawless. ²⁰ Cities that are now full of people will be destroyed, and the country will be made a wilderness. Then they will know that I am the Lord.”

A Popular Proverb and an Unpopular Message

²¹ The Lord spoke to me. ²² “Mortal man,” he said, “why do the people of Israel repeat this proverb: ‘Time goes by, and predictions come to nothing’? ²³ Now tell them what I, the Sovereign Lord, have to say about that. I will put an end to that proverb. It won't be repeated in Israel any more. Tell them instead: The time has come, and the predictions are coming true!

²⁴ “Among the people of Israel there will be no more false visions or misleading prophecies. ²⁵ I, the Lord, will speak to them, and what I say will be done. There will be no more delay. In your own lifetime, you rebels, I will do what I have warned you I would do. I have spoken,” says the Sovereign Lord.

²⁶ The Lord said to me, ²⁷ “Mortal man, the Israelites think that your visions and prophecies are about the distant future. ²⁸ So tell them that I, the Sovereign Lord, am saying: There will be no more delay. What I have said will be done. I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken!”

Prophecy against False Male Prophets

13 The Lord spoke to me. ² “Mortal man,” he said, “denounce the prophets of Israel who make up their own prophecies. Tell them to listen to the word of the Lord.”

³ This is what the Sovereign Lord says: “These foolish prophets are doomed! They provide their own inspiration and invent their own visions. ⁴ People of Israel, your prophets are as useless as foxes living among the ruins of a city. ⁵ They don't guard the places where the walls have crumbled, nor do they rebuild the walls, and so Israel cannot be defended when war comes on the day of the Lord. ⁶ Their visions are false, and their predictions are lies. They claim that they are speaking my message, but I have not sent them. Yet they expect their words to come true! ⁷ I tell them: Those visions you see are false, and the predictions you make are lies. You say that they are my words, but I haven't spoken to you!”

⁸ So the Sovereign Lord says to them, “Your words are false, and your visions are lies. I am against you. ⁹ I am about to punish you prophets who have false visions and make misleading predictions. You will not be there when my people gather to make decisions; your names will not be included in the list of the citizens of Israel; you will never return to your land. Then you will know that I am the Sovereign Lord.

^10 (AC)“The prophets mislead my people by saying that all is well. All is certainly not well! My people have put up a wall of loose stones, and then the prophets have come and covered it with whitewash. ¹¹ Tell the prophets that their wall is going to fall down. I will send a pouring rain. Hailstones will fall on it, and a strong wind will blow against it. ¹² The wall will collapse, and everyone will ask you what good the whitewash did.”

¹³ Now this is what the Sovereign Lord says: “In my anger I will send a strong wind, pouring rain, and hailstones to destroy the wall. ¹⁴ I intend to break down the wall they whitewashed, to shatter it, and to leave the foundation stones bare. It will collapse and kill you all. Then everyone will know that I am the Lord.

¹⁵ “The wall and those who covered it with whitewash will feel the force of my anger. Then I will tell you that the wall is gone and so are those who whitewashed it— ¹⁶ those prophets who assured Jerusalem that all was well, when all was not well!” The Sovereign Lord has spoken.

Prophecy against False Female Prophets

¹⁷ The Lord said, “Now, mortal man, look at the women among your people who make up predictions. Denounce them ¹⁸ and tell them what the Sovereign Lord is saying to them:

“You women are doomed! You sew magic wristbands for everyone and make magic scarves for everyone to wear on their heads, so that they can have power over other people's lives. You want to possess the power of life and death over my people and to use it for your own benefit. ¹⁹ You dishonor me in front of my people in order to get a few handfuls of barley and a few pieces of bread. You kill people who don't deserve to die, and you keep people alive who don't deserve to live. So you tell lies to my people, and they believe you.”

²⁰ Now this is what the Sovereign Lord says: “I hate the wristbands that you use in your attempt to control life and death. I will rip them off your arms and set free the people that you were controlling.^{[x] 21} I will rip off your scarves and let my people escape from your power once and for all. Then you will know that I am the Lord.

²² “By your lies you discourage good people, whom I do not wish to hurt. You prevent evil people from giving up evil and saving their lives. ²³ So now your false visions and misleading predictions are over. I am rescuing my people from your power, so that you will know that I am the Lord.”

God Condemns Idolatry

14 Some of the leaders of the Israelites came to consult me about the Lord's will. ² Then the Lord spoke to me. ³ “Mortal man,” he said, “these men have given their hearts to idols and are letting idols lead them into sin. Do they think I will give them an answer?

⁴ “Now speak to them and tell them what I, the Sovereign Lord, am saying to them: Each of you Israelites who have given your heart to idols and let them lead you into sin and who then come to consult a prophet, will get an answer from me—the answer that your many idols deserve! ⁵ All those idols have turned the Israelites away from me, but by my answer I hope to win back their loyalty.

⁶ “Now then, tell the Israelites what I, the Sovereign Lord, am saying: Turn back and leave your disgusting idols.

⁷ “Whenever one of you Israelites or one of you foreigners who live in the Israelite community turn away from me and worship idols, and then go to consult a prophet, I, the Lord, will give you your answer! ⁸ I will oppose you. I will make an example of you. I will remove you from the community of my people, so that all of you will know that I am the Lord.

⁹ “If any prophets are deceived into giving a false answer, it is because I, the Lord, have deceived them. I will remove them from the people of Israel. ¹⁰ Both prophets and anyone who consults them will get the same punishment. ¹¹ I will do this to keep the Israelites from deserting me and defiling themselves by their sins. They are to be my people, and I will be their God.” The Sovereign Lord has spoken.

Noah, Danel, and Job

¹² The Lord spoke to me. ¹³ “Mortal man,” he said, “if a country sins and is unfaithful to me, I will reach out and destroy its supply of food. I will send a famine and kill people and animals alike. ¹⁴ Even if those three men, Noah, Danel,^[y] and Job, were living there, their goodness would save only their own lives.” The Sovereign Lord has spoken.

¹⁵ “Or I might send wild animals to kill the people, making the land so dangerous that no one could travel through it, ¹⁶ and even if those three men lived there—as surely as I, the Sovereign Lord, am the living God—they would not be able to save even their own children. They would save only their own lives, and the land would become a wilderness.

¹⁷ “Or I might bring war on that country and send destructive weapons to wipe out people and animals alike, ¹⁸ and even if those three men lived there—as surely as I, the Sovereign Lord, am the living God—they would not be able to save even their children, but only their own lives.

¹⁹ “If I send an epidemic on that country and in my anger take many lives, killing people and animals, ²⁰ even if Noah, Danel, and Job lived there—as surely as I, the Sovereign Lord, am the living God—they would not be able to save even their own children. Their goodness would save only their own lives.”

^21 (AD)This is what the Sovereign Lord is saying: “I will send my four worst punishments on Jerusalem—war, famine, wild animals, and disease—to destroy people and animals alike. ²² If some survive and save their children, look at them when they come to you. See how evil they are, and be convinced that the punishment I am bringing on Jerusalem is justified; ²³ then you will know that there was good reason for everything I did.” The Sovereign Lord has spoken.

A Parable about a Vine

15 The Lord spoke to me. ² “Mortal man,” he said, “how does a vine compare with a tree? What good is a branch of a grapevine compared with the trees of the forest? ³ Can you use it to make anything? Can you even make a peg out of it to hang things on? ⁴ It is only good for building a fire. And when the ends are burned up and the middle is charred, can you make anything out of it? ⁵ It was useless even before it was burned. Now that the fire has burned it and charred it, it is even more useless.”

⁶ Now this is what the Sovereign Lord is saying: “Just as a vine is taken from the forest and burned, so I will take the people who live in Jerusalem ⁷ and will punish them. They have escaped one fire, but now fire will burn them up. When I punish them, you will know that I am the Lord. ⁸ They have been unfaithful to me, and so I will make the country a wilderness.” The Sovereign Lord has spoken.

Jerusalem the Unfaithful

16 The Lord spoke to me again. ² “Mortal man,” he said, “point out to Jerusalem what disgusting things she has done. ³ Tell Jerusalem what the Sovereign Lord is saying to her:

“You were born in the land of Canaan. Your father was an Amorite, and your mother was a Hittite.^{[z] 4} When you were born, no one cut your umbilical cord or washed you^[aa] or rubbed you with salt or wrapped you in cloths. ⁵ No one took enough pity on you to do any of these things for you. When you were born, no one loved you. You were thrown out in an open field.

⁶ “Then I passed by and saw you squirming in your own blood. You were covered with blood, but I wouldn't let you die. ⁷ I made you grow like a healthy plant. You grew strong and tall and became a young woman.^[ab] Your breasts were well-formed, and your hair had grown, but you were naked.

⁸ “As I passed by again, I saw that the time had come for you to fall in love. I covered your naked body with my coat and promised to love you. Yes, I made a marriage covenant with you, and you became mine.” This is what the Sovereign Lord says.

⁹ “Then I took water and washed the blood off you. I rubbed olive oil on your skin. ¹⁰ I dressed you in embroidered gowns and gave you shoes of the best leather, a linen headband, and a silk cloak. ¹¹ I put jewels on you—bracelets and necklaces. ¹² I gave you a nose ring and earrings and a beautiful crown to wear. ¹³ You had ornaments of gold and silver, and you always wore clothes of embroidered linen and silk. You ate bread made from the best flour, and had honey and olive oil to eat. Your beauty was dazzling, and you became a queen. ¹⁴ You became famous in every nation for your perfect beauty, because I was the one who made you so lovely.” This is what the Sovereign Lord says.

¹⁵ “But you took advantage of your beauty and fame to sleep with everyone who came along.^{[ac] 16} You used some of your clothes to decorate your places of worship, and just like a prostitute,^[ad] you gave yourself to everyone. ¹⁷ You took the silver and gold jewelry that I had given you, used it to make male images, and committed adultery with them. ¹⁸ You took the embroidered clothes I gave you and put them on the images, and you offered to the images the olive oil and incense I had given you. ¹⁹ I gave you food—the best flour, olive oil, and honey—but you offered it as a sacrifice to win the favor of idols.” This is what the Sovereign Lord says.

²⁰ “Then you took the sons and the daughters you had borne me and offered them as sacrifices to idols. Wasn't it bad enough to be unfaithful to me, ²¹ without taking my children and sacrificing them to idols? ²² During your disgusting life as a prostitute you never once remembered your childhood—when you were naked, squirming in your own blood.”

Jerusalem's Life as a Prostitute

²³ The Sovereign Lord said, “You are doomed! Doomed! You did all that evil, and then ²⁴ by the side of every road you built places to worship idols and practice prostitution. ²⁵ You dragged your beauty through the mud. You offered yourself to everyone who came by, and you were more of a prostitute every day. ²⁶ You let your lustful neighbors, the Egyptians, go to bed with you, and you used your prostitution to make me angry.

²⁷ “Now I have raised my hand to punish you and to take away your share of my blessing. I have handed you over to the Philistines, who hate you and are disgusted with your immoral actions.

²⁸ “Because you were not satisfied by the others, you went running after the Assyrians. You were their prostitute, but they didn't satisfy you either. ²⁹ You were also a prostitute for the Babylonians, that nation of merchants, but they didn't satisfy you either.”

³⁰ This^[ae] is what the Sovereign Lord is saying: “You have done all this like a shameless prostitute. ³¹ On every street you built places to worship idols and practice prostitution. But you are not out for money like a common prostitute. ³² You are like a woman who commits adultery with strangers instead of loving her husband. ³³ A prostitute is paid, but you gave presents to all your lovers and bribed them to come from everywhere to sleep with you. ³⁴ You are a special kind of prostitute. No one forced you to become one. You didn't get paid; you paid them! Yes, you are different.”

God's Judgment on Jerusalem

³⁵ Now then, Jerusalem, you whore! Hear what the Lord is saying.

³⁶ This is what the Sovereign Lord says: “You stripped off your clothes, and like a prostitute, you gave yourself to your lovers and to all your disgusting idols, and you killed your children as sacrifices to idols. ³⁷ Because of this I will bring all your former lovers together—the ones you liked and the ones you hated. I will bring them around you in a circle, and then I will strip off your clothes and let them see you naked. ³⁸ I will condemn you for adultery and murder, and in my anger and fury I will punish you with death. ³⁹ I will put you in their power, and they will tear down the places where you engage in prostitution and worship idols. They will take away your clothes and jewels and leave you completely naked.

⁴⁰ “They will stir up a crowd to stone you, and they will cut you to pieces with their swords. ⁴¹ They will burn your houses down and let crowds of women see your punishment. I will make you stop being a prostitute and make you stop giving gifts to your lovers. ⁴² Then my anger will be over, and I will be calm. I will not be angry or jealous any more. ⁴³ You have forgotten how I treated you when you were young, and you have made me angry by all the things you did. That is why I have made you pay for them all. Why did you add sexual immorality to all the other disgusting things you did?” The Sovereign Lord has spoken.

Like Mother, Like Daughter

⁴⁴ The Lord said, “People will use this proverb about you, Jerusalem: ‘Like mother, like daughter.’ ⁴⁵ You really are your mother's daughter. She detested her husband and her children. You are like your sisters, who hated their husbands and their children. You and your sister cities had a Hittite mother and an Amorite^[af] father.

⁴⁶ “Your older sister, with her villages, is Samaria, in the north. Your younger sister, with her villages, is Sodom, in the south. ⁴⁷ Were you satisfied to follow in their footsteps and copy their disgusting actions? No, in only a little while you were acting worse than they were in everything you did.

⁴⁸ “As surely as I am the living God,” the Sovereign Lord says, “your sister Sodom and her villages never did the evil that you and your villages have done. ⁴⁹ She and her daughters were proud because they had plenty to eat and lived in peace and quiet, but they did not take care of the poor and the underprivileged. ⁵⁰ They were proud and stubborn and did the things that I hate, so I destroyed them, as you well know.

⁵¹ “Samaria did not sin half as much as you have. You have acted more disgustingly than she ever did. Your corruption makes your sisters look innocent by comparison. ⁵² And now you will have to endure your disgrace. Your sins are so much worse than those of your sisters that they look innocent beside you. Now blush and bear your shame, because you make your sisters look pure.”

Sodom and Samaria Will Be Restored

⁵³ The Lord said to Jerusalem, “I will make them prosperous again—Sodom and her villages and Samaria and her villages. Yes, I will make you prosperous too. ⁵⁴ You will be ashamed of yourself, and your disgrace will show your sisters how well-off they are. ⁵⁵ They will become prosperous again, and you and your villages will also be restored. ⁵⁶ Didn't you joke about Sodom in those days when you were proud ⁵⁷ and before the evil you did had been exposed? Now you are just like her—a joke to the Edomites, the Philistines, and your other neighbors who hate you. ⁵⁸ You must suffer for the obscene, disgusting things you have done.” The Lord has spoken.

A Covenant That Lasts Forever

⁵⁹ The Sovereign Lord says, “I will treat you the way you deserve, because you ignored your promises and broke the covenant. ⁶⁰ But I will honor the covenant I made with you when you were young, and I will make a covenant with you that will last forever. ⁶¹ You will remember how you have acted, and be ashamed of it when you get your older sister and your younger sister back. I will let them be like daughters to you, even though this was not part of my covenant with you. ⁶² I will renew my covenant with you, and you will know that I am the Lord. ⁶³ I will forgive all the wrongs you have done, but you will remember them and be too ashamed to open your mouth.” The Sovereign Lord has spoken.

The Parable of the Eagles and the Vine

17 The Lord spoke to me. ² “Mortal man,” he said, “tell the Israelites a parable ³ to let them know what I, the Sovereign Lord, am saying to them: There was a giant eagle with beautiful feathers and huge wings, spread wide. He flew to the Lebanon Mountains and broke off the top of a cedar tree, ⁴ which he carried to a land of commerce and placed in a city of merchants. ⁵ Then he took a young plant from the land of Israel and planted it in a fertile field,^[ag] where there was always water to make it grow. ⁶ The plant sprouted and became a low, wide-spreading grapevine. The branches grew upward toward the eagle, and the roots grew deep. The vine was covered with branches and leaves.

⁷ “There was another giant eagle with huge wings and thick plumage. And now the vine sent its roots toward him and turned its leaves toward him, in the hope that he would give it more water than there was in the garden where it was growing.^{[ah] 8} But the vine had already been planted in a fertile, well-watered field so that it could grow leaves and bear grapes and be a magnificent vine.

⁹ “So I, the Sovereign Lord, ask: Will this vine live and grow? Won't the first eagle pull it up by its roots, pull off the grapes, and break off the branches and let them wither? It will not take much strength or a mighty nation to pull it up. ¹⁰ Yes, it is planted, but will it live and grow? Won't it wither when the east wind strikes it? Won't it wither there where it is growing?”

The Parable Is Explained

¹¹ The Lord said to me, ^12 (AE)“Ask these rebels if they know what the parable means. Tell them that the king of Babylonia came to Jerusalem and took the king and his officials back with him to Babylonia. ¹³ He took one of the king's family, made a treaty with him, and made him swear to be loyal. He took important men as hostages ¹⁴ to keep the nation from rising again and to make sure that the treaty would be kept. ¹⁵ But the king of Judah rebelled and sent agents to Egypt to get horses and a large army. Will he succeed? Can he get away with that? He cannot break the treaty and go unpunished!

¹⁶ “As surely as I am the living God,” says the Sovereign Lord, “this king will die in Babylonia because he broke his oath and the treaty he had made with the king of Babylonia, who put him on the throne. ¹⁷ Even the powerful army of the king of Egypt will not be able to help him fight when the Babylonians build earthworks and dig trenches in order to kill many people. ¹⁸ He broke his oath and the treaty he had made. He did all these things, and now he will not escape.”

¹⁹ The Sovereign Lord says, “As surely as I am the living God, I will punish him for breaking the treaty which he swore in my name to keep. ²⁰ I will spread out a hunter's net and catch him in it. I will take him to Babylonia and punish him there, because he was unfaithful to me. ²¹ His best soldiers will be killed in battle, and the survivors will be scattered in every direction. Then you will know that I, the Lord, have spoken.”

God's Promise of Hope

²² This is what the Sovereign Lord says:

I, the Lord, have spoken. I will do what I have said I would do.”

Individual Responsibility

18 The Lord spoke to me ^2 (AF)and said, “What is this proverb people keep repeating in the land of Israel?

³ “As surely as I am the living God,” says the Sovereign Lord, “you will not repeat this proverb in Israel any more. ⁴ The life of every person belongs to me, the life of the parent as well as that of the child. The person who sins is the one who will die.

⁵ “Suppose there is a truly good man, righteous and honest. ⁶ He doesn't worship the idols of the Israelites or eat the sacrifices offered at forbidden shrines. He doesn't seduce another man's wife or have intercourse with a woman during her period. ⁷ He doesn't cheat or rob anyone. He returns what a borrower gives him as security; he feeds the hungry and gives clothing to the naked. ⁸ He doesn't lend money for profit. He refuses to do evil and gives an honest decision in any dispute. ^9 (AG)Such a man obeys my commands and carefully keeps my laws. He is righteous, and he will live,” says the Sovereign Lord.

¹⁰ “Then suppose this man has a son who robs and kills, who does any^[ai] of these things ¹¹ that the father never did. He eats sacrifices offered at forbidden shrines and seduces other men's wives. ¹² He cheats the poor, he robs, he keeps what a borrower gives him as security. He goes to pagan shrines, worships disgusting idols, ¹³ and lends money for profit. Will he live? No, he will not. He has done all these disgusting things, and so he will die. He will be to blame for his own death.

¹⁴ “Now suppose this second man has a son. He sees all the sins his father practiced, but does not follow his example. ¹⁵ He doesn't worship the idols of the Israelites or eat the sacrifices offered at forbidden shrines. He doesn't seduce another man's wife ¹⁶ or oppress anyone or rob anyone. He returns what a borrower gives him as security. He feeds the hungry and gives clothing to the naked. ¹⁷ He refuses to do evil^[aj] and doesn't lend money for profit. He keeps my laws and obeys my commands. He will not die because of his father's sins, but he will certainly live. ¹⁸ His father, on the other hand, cheated and robbed^[ak] and always did evil to everyone. And so he died because of the sins he himself had committed.

¹⁹ “But you ask, ‘Why shouldn't the son suffer because of his father's sins?’ The answer is that the son did what was right and good. He kept my laws and followed them carefully, and so he will certainly live. ^20 (AH)It is the one who sins who will die. A son is not to suffer because of his father's sins, nor a father because of the sins of his son. Good people will be rewarded for doing good, and evil people will suffer for the evil they do.

²¹ “If someone evil stops sinning and keeps my laws, if he does what is right and good, he will not die; he will certainly live. ²² All his sins will be forgiven, and he will live, because he did what is right. ²³ Do you think I enjoy seeing evil people die?” asks the Sovereign Lord. “No, I would rather see them repent and live.

²⁴ “But if a righteous person stops doing good and starts doing all the evil, disgusting things that evil people do, will he go on living? No! None of the good he did will be remembered. He will die because of his unfaithfulness and his sins.

²⁵ “But you say, ‘What the Lord does isn't right.’ Listen to me, you Israelites. Do you think my way of doing things isn't right? It is your way that isn't right. ²⁶ When a righteous person stops doing good and starts doing evil and then dies, he dies because of the evil he has done. ²⁷ When someone evil stops sinning and does what is right and good, he saves his life. ²⁸ He realizes what he is doing and stops sinning, so he will certainly not die, but go on living. ²⁹ And you Israelites say, ‘What the Lord does isn't right.’ You think my way isn't right, do you? It is your way that isn't right.

³⁰ “Now I, the Sovereign Lord, am telling you Israelites that I will judge each of you by what you have done. Turn away from all the evil you are doing, and don't let your sin destroy you. ³¹ Give up all the evil you have been doing, and get yourselves new minds and hearts. Why do you Israelites want to die? ^32 (AI)I do not want anyone to die,” says the Sovereign Lord. “Turn away from your sins and live.”

A Song of Sorrow

19 The Lord told me to sing this song of sorrow for two princes of Israel:

This is a song of sorrow; it has been sung again and again.

The Lord's Will and Human Defiance

20 It was the tenth day of the fifth month of the seventh year of our exile. Some of the leaders of the Israelite community came to consult me about the Lord's will, and they sat down in front of me. ² Then the Lord spoke to me. ³ “Mortal man,” he said, “speak to these leaders and tell them that the Sovereign Lord is saying: You have come to ask my will, have you? As surely as I am the living God, I will not let you ask me anything. I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken.

⁴ “Are you ready to pass sentence on them, mortal man? Then do so. Remind them of the disgusting things their ancestors did. ^5 (AJ)Tell them what I am saying. When I chose Israel, I made them a promise. I revealed myself to them in Egypt and told them: I am the Lord your God. ⁶ It was then that I promised to take them out of Egypt and lead them to a land I had chosen for them, a rich and fertile land, the finest land of all. ⁷ I told them to throw away the disgusting idols they loved and not to make themselves unclean with the false gods of Egypt, because I am the Lord their God. ⁸ But they defied me and refused to listen. They did not throw away their disgusting idols or give up the Egyptian gods. I was ready to let them feel the full force of my anger there in Egypt. ⁹ But I did not, since that would have brought dishonor to my name, for in the presence of the people among whom they were living I had announced to Israel that I was going to lead them out of Egypt.

¹⁰ “And so I led them out of Egypt into the desert. ^11 (AK)I gave them my commands and taught them my laws, which bring life to anyone who obeys them. ^12 (AL)I made the keeping of the Sabbath a sign of the agreement between us, to remind them that I, the Lord, make them holy. ¹³ But even in the desert they defied me. They broke my laws and rejected my commands, which bring life to anyone who obeys them. They completely profaned the Sabbath. I was ready to let them feel the force of my anger there in the desert and to destroy them. ¹⁴ But I did not, since that would have brought dishonor to my name among the nations which had seen me lead Israel out of Egypt. ^15 (AM)So I made a vow in the desert that I would not take them to the land I had given them, a rich and fertile land, the finest land of all. ¹⁶ I made the vow because they had rejected my commands, broken my laws, and profaned the Sabbath—they preferred to worship their idols.

¹⁷ “But then I took pity on them. I decided not to kill them there in the desert. ¹⁸ Instead, I warned the young people among them: Do not keep the laws your ancestors made; do not follow their customs or defile yourselves with their idols. ¹⁹ I am the Lord your God. Obey my laws and my commands. ²⁰ Make the Sabbath a holy day, so that it will be a sign of the covenant we made, and will remind you that I am the Lord your God.

²¹ “But that generation also defied me. They broke my laws and did not keep my commands, which bring life to anyone who obeys them. They profaned the Sabbath. I was ready to let them feel the force of my anger there in the desert and to kill them all. ²² But I did not, since that would have brought dishonor to my name among the nations which had seen me bring Israel out of Egypt. ^23 (AN)So I made another vow in the desert. I vowed that I would scatter them all over the world. ²⁴ I did this because they had rejected my commands, broken my laws, profaned the Sabbath, and worshiped the same idols their ancestors had served.

²⁵ “Then I gave them laws that are not good and commands that do not bring life. ²⁶ I let them defile themselves with their own offerings, and I let them sacrifice their first-born sons. This was to punish them and show them that I am the Lord.

²⁷ “Now then, mortal man, tell the Israelites what I, the Sovereign Lord, am saying to them. This is another way their ancestors insulted me by their unfaithfulness. ²⁸ I brought them to the land I had promised to give them. When they saw the high hills and green trees, they offered sacrifices at all of them. They made me angry by the sacrifices they burned and by the wine they brought as offerings. ²⁹ I asked them: What are these high places where you go? So they have been called ‘High Places’^[an] ever since. ³⁰ Now tell the Israelites what I am saying: Why must you commit the same sins your ancestors did and go running after their idols? ³¹ Even today you offer the same gifts and defile yourselves with the same idols by sacrificing your children to them in the fire. And then you Israelites still come to ask what my will is! As surely as I, the Sovereign Lord, am the living God, I will not let you ask me anything. ³² You have made up your minds that you want to be like the other nations, like the people who live in other countries and worship trees and rocks. But that will never be.

God Punishes and Forgives

³³ “As surely as I, the Sovereign Lord, am the living God, I warn you that in my anger I will rule over you with a strong hand, with all my power. ³⁴ I will show you my power and my anger when I gather you together and bring you back from all the countries where you have been scattered. ³⁵ I will bring you into the ‘Desert of the Nations,’ and there I will condemn you to your face. ³⁶ I will now condemn you just as I condemned your ancestors in the Sinai Desert,” says the Sovereign Lord.

³⁷ “I will take firm control of you and make you obey my covenant. ³⁸ I will take away from among you those who are rebellious and sinful. I will take them out of the lands where they are living now, but I will not let them return to the land of Israel. Then you will know that I am the Lord.”

³⁹ The Sovereign Lord says, “And now, all you Israelites, suit yourselves! Go on and serve your idols! But I warn you that after this you will have to obey me and stop dishonoring my holy name by offering gifts to your idols. ⁴⁰ There in the land, on my holy mountain,^[ao] the high mountain of Israel, all you people of Israel will worship me. I will be pleased with you and will expect you to bring me your sacrifices, your best offerings, and your holy gifts. ⁴¹ After I bring you out of the countries where you have been scattered and gather you together, I will accept the sacrifices that you burn, and the nations will see that I am holy. ⁴² When I bring you back to Israel, the land that I promised I would give to your ancestors, then you will know that I am the Lord. ⁴³ Then you will remember all the disgraceful things you did and how you defiled yourselves. You will be disgusted with yourselves because of all the evil things you did. ⁴⁴ When I act to protect my honor, you Israelites will know that I am the Lord, because I do not deal with you as your wicked, evil actions deserve.” The Sovereign Lord has spoken.

Fire in the South

⁴⁵ The Lord spoke to me. ⁴⁶ “Mortal man,” he said, “look toward the south. Speak against the south and prophesy against the forest of the south. ⁴⁷ Tell the southern forest to hear what the Sovereign Lord is saying: Look! I am starting a fire, and it will burn up every tree in you, whether green or dry. Nothing will be able to put it out. It will spread from south to north, and everyone will feel the heat of the flames. ⁴⁸ They will all see that I, the Lord, set it on fire and that no one can put it out.”

⁴⁹ But I protested, “Sovereign Lord, don't make me do it! Everyone is already complaining that I always speak in riddles.”

The Lord's Sword

21 The Lord spoke to me. ² “Mortal man,” he said, “denounce Jerusalem. Denounce the places where people worship. Warn the land of Israel ³ that I, the Lord, am saying: I am your enemy. I will draw my sword and kill all of you, good and evil alike. ⁴ I will use my sword against everyone from south to north. ⁵ Everyone will know that I, the Lord, have drawn my sword and that I will not put it away.

⁶ “Mortal man, groan as if your heart is breaking with despair. Groan in sorrow where everyone can watch you. ⁷ When they ask you why you are groaning, tell them it is because of the news that is coming. When it comes, their hearts will be filled with fear, their hands will hang limp, their courage will fail, and their knees will tremble. The time has come; it is here.” The Sovereign Lord has spoken.

⁸ The Lord said to me, ⁹ “Mortal man, prophesy. Tell the people what I, the Lord, am saying:

¹⁴ “Now, mortal man, prophesy. Clap your hands, and the sword will strike again and again. It is a sword that kills, a sword that terrifies^[ar] and slaughters. ¹⁵ It makes my people lose courage and stumble. I am threatening their city with a sword^[as] that flashes like lightning and is ready to kill. ¹⁶ Cut to the right and the left, you sharp sword! Cut wherever you turn.^{[at] 17} I also will clap my hands, and my anger will be over. I, the Lord, have spoken.”

The Sword of the King of Babylonia

¹⁸ The Lord spoke to me. ¹⁹ “Mortal man,” he said, “mark out two roads by which the king of Babylonia can come with his sword. Both of them are to start in the same country. Put up a signpost where the roads fork.^{[au] 20} One will show the king the way to the Ammonite city of Rabbah, and the other the way to Judah, to the fortified city, Jerusalem. ²¹ The king of Babylonia stands by the signpost at the fork of the road. To discover which way to go, he shakes the arrows;^[av] he consults his idols; he examines the liver of a sacrificed animal. ²² Now! His right hand holds the arrow marked ‘Jerusalem’! It tells him to go and set up battering rams, to shout the battle cry, to place battering rams against the gates, to throw up earthworks, and to dig trenches. ²³ The people of Jerusalem won't believe this because of the treaties they have made. But this prediction is to remind them of their sins and to warn them that they will be captured. ²⁴ This then is what I, the Sovereign Lord, am saying: Your sins are exposed. Everyone knows how guilty you are. You show your sins in your every action. You stand condemned, and I will hand you over to your enemies.

²⁵ “You wicked, unholy ruler of Israel, your day, the day of your final punishment, is coming. ²⁶ I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken. Take off your crown and your turban. Nothing will be the same again. Raise the poor to power! Bring down those who are ruling! ²⁷ Ruin, ruin! Yes, I will make the city a ruin. But this will not happen until the one comes whom I have chosen to punish the city. To him I will give it.

A Sword and the Ammonites

^28 (AO)“Mortal man, prophesy. Announce what I, the Sovereign Lord, am saying to the Ammonites, who are insulting Israel. Say to them:

²⁹ The visions that you see are false, and the predictions you make are lies. You are wicked and evil, and your day is coming, the day of your final punishment. The sword is going to fall on your necks.

³⁰ “‘Put up the sword! I will judge you in the place where you were created, in the land where you were born. ³¹ You will feel my anger when I turn it loose on you like a blazing fire. And I will hand you over to brutal men, experts at destruction. ³² You will be destroyed by fire. Your blood will be shed in your own country, and no one will remember you any more.’” The Lord has spoken.

The Crimes of Jerusalem

22 The Lord spoke to me. ² “Mortal man,” he said, “are you ready to judge the city that is full of murderers? Make clear to her all the disgusting things she has done. ³ Tell the city what I, the Sovereign Lord, am saying: Because you have murdered so many of your own people and have defiled yourself by worshiping idols, your time is coming. ⁴ You are guilty of those murders and are defiled by the idols you made, and so your day is coming, your time is up! That is why I have let the nations make fun of you and all the countries sneer at you. ⁵ Countries nearby and countries far away sneer at you because of your lawlessness. ⁶ All Israel's leaders trust in their own strength and commit murder. ^7 (AP)None of you in the city honor your parents. You cheat foreigners and take advantage of widows and orphans. ^8 (AQ)You have no respect for the holy places, and you don't keep the Sabbath. ⁹ Some of your people tell lies about others in order to have them put to death. Some of them eat sacrifices offered to idols. Some are always satisfying their lusts. ^10 (AR)Some of them sleep with their father's wife. Some force women to have intercourse with them during their period. ¹¹ Some commit adultery, and others seduce their daughters-in-law or their half sisters. ^12 (AS)Some of your people murder for pay. Some charge interest on the loans they make to other Israelites and get rich by taking advantage of them. They have forgotten me.” The Sovereign Lord has spoken.

¹³ “I will bring my fist down on your robberies and murders. ¹⁴ Do you think you will have any courage left or have strength enough to lift your hand when I am finished with you? I, the Lord, have spoken, and I keep my word. ¹⁵ I will scatter your people to every country and nation and will put an end to your evil actions. ¹⁶ And so the other nations will dishonor you, but you will know that I am the Lord.”

God's Refining Furnace

¹⁷ The Lord said to me, ¹⁸ “Mortal man, the Israelites are of no use to me. They are like waste metal—copper, tin, iron, and lead—left over after silver has been refined in a furnace. ¹⁹ So now I, the Sovereign Lord, am telling them that they are just as useless as that. I will bring them all together in Jerusalem ²⁰ in the same way that the ore of silver, copper, iron, lead, and tin is put in a refining furnace. My anger and rage will melt them the way fire melts ore. ²¹ Yes, I will gather them in Jerusalem, build a fire under them, and melt them with my anger. ²² They will be melted in Jerusalem the way silver is melted in a furnace, and then they will know that they are feeling the anger of the Lord.”

The Sins of Israel's Leaders

²³ The Lord spoke to me again. ²⁴ “Mortal man,” he said, “tell the Israelites that their land is unholy, and so I am punishing it in my anger. ²⁵ The leaders^[aw] are like lions roaring over the animals they have killed. They kill the people, take all the money and property they can get, and by their murders leave many widows. ^26 (AT)The priests break my law and have no respect for what is holy. They make no distinction between what is holy and what is not. They do not teach the difference between clean and unclean things, and they ignore the Sabbath. As a result the people of Israel do not respect me. ²⁷ The government officials are like wolves tearing apart the animals they have killed. They commit murder in order to get rich. ²⁸ The prophets have hidden these sins like workers covering a wall with whitewash. They see false visions and make false predictions. They claim to speak the word of the Sovereign Lord, but I, the Lord, have not spoken to them. ²⁹ The wealthy cheat and rob. They mistreat the poor and take advantage of foreigners. ³⁰ I looked for someone who could build a wall, who could stand in the places where the walls have crumbled and defend the land when my anger is about to destroy it, but I could find no one. ³¹ So I will turn my anger loose on them, and like a fire I will destroy them for what they have done.” The Sovereign Lord has spoken.

The Sinful Sisters

23 The Lord spoke to me. ² “Mortal man,” he said, “there were once two sisters. ³ When they were young, living in Egypt, they lost their virginity and became prostitutes. ⁴ The older one was named Oholah^[ax] (she represents Samaria), and the younger one was named Oholibah^[ay] (she represents Jerusalem). I married both of them, and they bore me children. ⁵ Although she was mine, Oholah continued to be a prostitute and was full of lust for her lovers from Assyria. ⁶ They were soldiers in uniforms of purple, noblemen and high-ranking officers; all of them were handsome young cavalry officers. ⁷ She was the whore for all the Assyrian officers, and her lust led her to defile herself by worshiping Assyrian idols. ⁸ She continued what she had begun as a prostitute in Egypt, where she lost her virginity. From the time she was a young woman, men slept with her and treated her like a prostitute. ⁹ So I handed her over to her Assyrian lovers whom she wanted so much. ¹⁰ They stripped her naked, seized her sons and daughters, and then killed her with a sword. Women everywhere gossiped about her fate.

¹¹ “Even though her sister Oholibah saw this, she was wilder and more of a prostitute than Oholah had ever been. ¹² She too was full of lust for the Assyrian noblemen and officers—soldiers in bright uniforms—and for the cavalry officers, all of those handsome young men. ¹³ I saw that she was completely immoral, that the second sister was as bad as the first.

^14-15 “She sank deeper and deeper in her immorality. She was attracted by the images of high Babylonian officials carved into the wall and painted bright red, with sashes around their waists and fancy turbans on their heads. ¹⁶ As soon as she saw them, she was filled with lust and sent messengers to them in Babylonia. ¹⁷ The Babylonians came to have sex with her. They used her and defiled her so much that finally she became disgusted with them. ¹⁸ She exposed herself publicly and let everyone know she was a whore. I was as disgusted with her as I had been with her sister. ¹⁹ She became more of a prostitute than ever, acting the way she did as a young woman, when she was a prostitute in Egypt. ²⁰ She was filled with lust for oversexed men who had all the lustfulness of donkeys or stallions.” (²¹ Oholibah, you wanted to repeat the immorality you were guilty of as a young woman in Egypt, where men played with your breasts and you lost your virginity.)

God's Judgment on the Younger Sister

²² “Now then, Oholibah, this is what I, the Sovereign Lord, am saying to you. You are tired of those lovers, but I will make them angry with you and bring them to surround you. ²³ I will bring all the Babylonians and Chaldeans, men from Pekod, Shoa, and Koa, and all the Assyrians. I will gather all those handsome young noblemen and officers, all those important officials and high-ranking cavalry officers. ²⁴ They will attack you from the north,^[az] bringing a large army with chariots and supply wagons. Protected by shields and helmets, they will surround you. I will hand you over to them, and they will judge you by their own laws. ²⁵ Because I am angry with you, I will let them deal with you in their anger. They will cut off your nose and your ears and kill your children. Yes, they will take your sons and daughters from you and burn them alive. ²⁶ They will tear off your clothes and take your jewels. ²⁷ I will put a stop to your lust and to the obscenities you have committed ever since you were in Egypt. You won't look at any more idols or think about Egypt any more.”

²⁸ This is what the Sovereign Lord says: “I will hand you over to people you hate and are disgusted with. ²⁹ And because they hate you, they will take away everything you have worked for and leave you stripped naked, exposed like a prostitute. Your lust and your prostitution ³⁰ have brought this on you. You were a prostitute for the nations and defiled yourself with their idols. ³¹ You followed in your sister's footsteps, and so I will give you the same cup of punishment to drink.”

³² The Sovereign Lord says,

I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken.”

³⁵ Now this is what the Sovereign Lord is saying: “Because you forgot me and turned your back on me, you will suffer for your lust and your prostitution.”

God's Judgment on Both Sisters

³⁶ The Lord said to me, “Mortal man, are you ready to judge Oholah and Oholibah? Accuse them of the disgusting things they have done. ³⁷ They have committed adultery and murder—adultery with idols and murder of the children they bore me. They sacrificed my children to their idols. ³⁸ And that is not all they did. They profaned my Temple and broke the Sabbath, which I had established. ³⁹ The very day that they killed my children as sacrifices to idols, they came to my Temple and profaned it!

⁴⁰ “Again and again they sent messengers to invite men to come from a great distance, and the men came. The two sisters would bathe and put on eye shadow and jewelry. ⁴¹ They would sit on a beautiful couch, and in front of them they would have a table covered with good things, including the incense and the olive oil that I had given them. ⁴² The sound of a carefree crowd could be heard, a group of men brought in from the desert. They put bracelets on the women's arms and beautiful crowns on their heads. ⁴³ And I said to myself that they were using as a prostitute a woman worn out by adultery.^{[ba] 44} They went back to these prostitutes again and again. They went back to Oholah and Oholibah, those immoral women. ⁴⁵ Righteous men will condemn them on the charge of adultery and murder, because they practice adultery and their hands are stained with blood.”

⁴⁶ This is what the Sovereign Lord says: “Bring a mob to terrorize them and rob them. ⁴⁷ Let the mob stone them and attack them with swords, kill their children, and burn down their houses. ⁴⁸ Throughout the land I will put a stop to immorality, as a warning to every woman not to commit adultery as they did. ⁴⁹ And you two sisters—I will punish you for your immorality and your sin of worshiping idols. Then you will know that I am the Sovereign Lord.”

The Corroded Cooking Pot

24 On the tenth day of the tenth month of the ninth year of our exile, the Lord spoke to me. ^2 (AU)“Mortal man,” he said, “write down today's date, because this is the day that the king of Babylonia is beginning the siege of Jerusalem. ³ Tell my rebellious people this parable that I, the Sovereign Lord, have for them:

⁶ This is what the Sovereign Lord is saying: “The city of murderers is doomed! It is like a corroded pot that is never cleaned. Piece after piece of meat is taken out, and not one is left. ⁷ There was murder in the city, but the blood was not spilled on the ground where the dust could hide it; it was spilled on a bare rock. ⁸ I have left the blood there, where it cannot be hidden, where it demands angry revenge.”

⁹ This is what the Sovereign Lord is saying: “The city of murderers is doomed! I myself will pile up the firewood. ¹⁰ Bring more wood! Fan the flames! Cook the meat! Boil away the broth!^[bc] Burn up the bones! ¹¹ Now set the empty bronze pot on the coals and let it get red-hot. Then the pot will be ritually pure again after the corrosion is burned off, ¹² although all that corrosion will not disappear in the flames.^{[bd] 13} Jerusalem, your immoral actions have defiled you. Although I tried to purify you, you remained defiled. You will not be pure again until you have felt the full force of my anger. ¹⁴ I, the Lord, have spoken. The time has come for me to act. I will not ignore your sins or show pity or be merciful. You will be punished for what you have done.” The Sovereign Lord has spoken.

The Death of the Prophet's Wife

¹⁵ The Lord spoke to me. ¹⁶ “Mortal man,” he said, “with one blow I am going to take away the person you love most. You are not to complain or cry or shed any tears. ¹⁷ Don't let your sobbing be heard. Do not go bareheaded or barefoot as a sign of mourning. Don't cover your face or eat the food that mourners eat.”

¹⁸ Early in the day I was talking with the people. That evening my wife died, and the next day I did as I had been told. ¹⁹ The people asked me, “Why are you acting like this?”

²⁰ So I said to them, “The Lord spoke to me and told me ²¹ to give you Israelites this message: You are proud of the strength of the Temple. You like to look at it and to visit it, but the Lord is going to profane it. And the younger members of your families who are left in Jerusalem will be killed in war. ²² Then you will do what I have done. You will not cover your faces or eat the food that mourners eat. ²³ You will not go bareheaded or barefoot or mourn or cry. You will waste away because of your sins, and you will groan to one another. ²⁴ Then I will be a sign to you; you will do everything I have done. The Lord says that when this happens, you will know that he is the Sovereign Lord.”

²⁵ The Lord said, “Now, mortal man, I will take away from them the strong Temple that was their pride and joy, which they liked to look at and to visit. And I will take away their sons and daughters. ²⁶ On the day that I do this, some who escape the destruction will come and tell you about it. ²⁷ That same day you will get back the power of speech which you had lost, and you will talk with them. In this way you will be a sign to the people, and they will know that I am the Lord.”

Prophecy against Ammon

25 ^(AV)The Lord spoke to me. ² “Mortal man,” he said, “denounce the country of Ammon. ³ Tell them to listen to what I, the Sovereign Lord, am saying: You were delighted to see my Temple profaned, to see the land of Israel devastated, to see the people of Judah go into exile. ⁴ Because you were glad, I will let the tribes from the eastern desert conquer you. They will set up their camps in your country and settle there. They will eat the fruit and drink the milk that should have been yours. ⁵ I will turn the city of Rabbah into a place to keep camels, and the whole country of Ammon will become a place to keep sheep, so that you will know I am the Lord.

⁶ “This is what the Sovereign Lord is saying: You clapped your hands and jumped for joy. You despised the land of Israel. ⁷ Because you did, I will hand you over to other nations who will rob you and plunder you. I will destroy you so completely that you will not be a nation any more or have a country of your own. Then you will know that I am the Lord.”

Prophecy against Moab

^8 (AW)The Sovereign Lord said, “Because Moab^[be] has said that Judah is like all the other nations, ⁹ I will let the cities that defend the border of Moab be attacked, including even the finest cities—Beth Jeshimoth, Baal Meon, and Kiriathaim. ¹⁰ I will let the tribes of the eastern desert conquer Moab, together with Ammon, so that Moab^[bf] will no longer be a nation. ¹¹ I will punish Moab, and they will know that I am the Lord.”

Prophecy against Edom

^12 (AX)The Sovereign Lord said, “The people of Edom took cruel revenge on Judah, and that revenge has brought lasting guilt on Edom. ¹³ Now I announce that I will punish Edom and kill every person and animal there. I will make it a wasteland, from the city of Teman to the city of Dedan, and the people will be killed in battle. ¹⁴ My people Israel will take revenge on Edom for me, and they will make Edom feel my furious anger. Edom will know what it means to be the object of my revenge.” The Sovereign Lord has spoken.

Prophecy against Philistia

^15 (AY)The Sovereign Lord said, “The Philistines have taken cruel revenge on their agelong enemies and destroyed them in their hate. ¹⁶ And so I am announcing that I will attack the Philistines and wipe them out. I will destroy everyone left living there on the Philistine Plain. ¹⁷ I will punish them severely and take full revenge on them. They will feel my anger. Then they will know that I am the Lord.”

Prophecy against Tyre

26 ^(AZ)On the first day of the … month^[bg] of the eleventh year of our exile, the Lord spoke to me. ² “Mortal man,” he said, “this is what the people in the city of Tyre are cheering about. They shout, ‘Jerusalem is shattered! Her commercial power is gone! She won't be our rival any more!’

³ “Now then, this is what I, the Sovereign Lord, am saying: I am your enemy, city of Tyre. I will bring many nations to attack you, and they will come like the waves of the sea. ⁴ They will destroy your city walls and tear down your towers. Then I will sweep away all the dust and leave only a bare rock. ⁵ Fishermen will dry their nets on it, there where it stands in the sea. I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken. The nations will plunder Tyre, ⁶ and with their swords they will kill those who live in her towns on the mainland. Then Tyre will know that I am the Lord.”

⁷ The Sovereign Lord says, “I am going to bring the greatest king of all—King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia—to attack Tyre. He will come from the north with a huge army, with horses and chariots and with cavalry. ⁸ Those who live in the towns on the mainland will be killed in the fighting. The enemy will dig trenches, build earthworks, and make a solid wall of shields against you. ⁹ They will pound in your walls with battering rams and tear down your towers with iron bars. ¹⁰ The clouds of dust raised by their horses will cover you. The noise of their horses pulling wagons and chariots will shake your walls as they pass through the gates of the ruined city. ¹¹ Their cavalry will storm through your streets, killing your people with their swords. Your mighty pillars will be thrown to the ground. ¹² Your enemies will help themselves to your wealth and merchandise. They will pull down your walls and shatter your luxurious houses. They will take the stones and wood and all the rubble, and dump them into the sea. ^13 (BA)I will put an end to all your songs, and I will silence the music of your harps. ¹⁴ I will leave only a bare rock where fishermen can dry their nets. The city will never be rebuilt. I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken.”

¹⁵ The Sovereign Lord has this to say to the city of Tyre: “When you are being conquered, the people who live along the coast will be terrified at the screams of those who are slaughtered. ^16 (BB)All the kings of the seafaring nations will come down from their thrones. They will take off their robes and their embroidered clothes and sit trembling on the ground. They will be so terrified at your fate that they will not be able to stop trembling. ¹⁷ They will sing this funeral song for you:

¹⁹ The Sovereign Lord says: “I will make you as desolate as ruined cities where no one lives. I will cover you with the water of the ocean depths. ²⁰ I will send you down to the world of the dead to join the people who lived in ancient times. I will make you stay in that underground world among eternal ruins, keeping company with the dead. As a result you will never again be inhabited and take your place^[bi] in the land of the living. ^21 (BC)I will make you a terrifying example, and that will be the end of you. People may look for you, but you will never be found.” The Sovereign Lord has spoken.

A Funeral Song for Tyre

27 The Lord said to me, ² “Mortal man, sing a funeral song for Tyre, ³ that city which stands at the edge of the sea and does business with the people living on every seacoast. Tell her what the Sovereign Lord is saying:

¹⁰ “Soldiers from Persia, Lydia, and Libya served in your army. They hung their shields and their helmets in your barracks. They are the men who won glory for you. ¹¹ Soldiers from Arvad guarded your walls, and troops from Gamad guarded your towers. They hung their shields on your walls. They are the ones who made you beautiful.

¹² “You did business in Spain and took silver, iron, tin, and lead in payment for your abundant goods. ¹³ You did business in Greece, Tubal, and Meshech and traded your goods for slaves and for articles of bronze. ¹⁴ You sold your goods for workhorses, war-horses, and mules from Beth Togarmah. ¹⁵ The people of Rhodes^[bj] traded with you; people of many coastal lands gave you ivory and ebony in exchange for your goods. ¹⁶ The people of Syria bought your merchandise and your many products. They gave emeralds, purple cloth, embroidery, fine linen, coral, and rubies in payment for your wares. ¹⁷ Judah and Israel paid for your goods with wheat,^[bk] honey, olive oil, and spices. ^18-19 The people of Damascus bought your merchandise and your products, paying for them with wine from Helbon and wool from Sahar.^[bl] They traded wrought iron and spices for your goods. ²⁰ The people of Dedan traded saddle blankets for your goods. ²¹ The Arabians and the rulers of the land of Kedar paid for your merchandise with lambs, sheep, and goats. ²² For your goods the merchants of Sheba and Raamah traded jewels, gold, and the finest spices. ²³ The cities of Haran, Canneh, and Eden, the merchants of Sheba, the cities of Asshur and Chilmad—they all traded with you. ²⁴ They sold you luxurious clothing, purple cloth, and embroidery, brightly colored carpets, and well-made cords and ropes. ^25 (BD)Your merchandise was carried in fleets of the largest cargo ships.

³⁵ “Everyone who lives along the coast is shocked at your fate. Even their kings are terrified, and fear is written on their faces. ³⁶ You are gone, gone forever, and merchants all over the world are terrified, afraid that they will share your fate.”

Prophecy against the King of Tyre

28 The Lord spoke to me. ² “Mortal man,” he said, “tell the ruler of Tyre what I, the Sovereign Lord, am saying to him: Puffed up with pride, you claim to be a god. You say that like a god you sit on a throne, surrounded by the seas. You may pretend to be a god, but, no, you are mortal, not divine. ³ You think you are wiser than Danel,^[bm] that no secret can be kept from you. ⁴ Your wisdom and skill made you rich with treasures of gold and silver. ⁵ You made clever business deals and kept on making profits. How proud you are of your wealth!

⁶ “Now then, this is what I, the Sovereign Lord, am saying: Because you think you are as wise as a god, ⁷ I will bring ruthless enemies to attack you. They will destroy all the beautiful things you have acquired by skill and wisdom. ⁸ They will kill you and send you to a watery grave. ⁹ When they come to kill you, will you still claim that you are a god? When you face your murderers, you will be mortal and not at all divine. ¹⁰ You will die like a dog at the hand of godless foreigners. I, the Sovereign Lord, have given the command.”

The Fall of the King of Tyre

¹¹ The Lord spoke to me again. ¹² “Mortal man,” he said, “grieve for the fate that is waiting for the king of Tyre. Tell him what I, the Sovereign Lord, am saying: You were once an example of perfection. How wise and handsome you were! ¹³ You lived in Eden, the garden of God, and wore gems of every kind: rubies and diamonds; topaz, beryl, carnelian, and jasper; sapphires, emeralds, and garnets. You had ornaments of gold. They were made for you^[bn] on the day you were created. ¹⁴ I put a terrifying angel there to guard you.^[bo] You lived on my holy mountain and walked among sparkling gems. ¹⁵ Your conduct was perfect from the day you were created until you began to do evil. ¹⁶ You were busy buying and selling, and this led you to violence and sin. So I forced you to leave my holy mountain, and the angel who guarded you drove you away from the sparkling gems. ¹⁷ You were proud of being handsome, and your fame made you act like a fool. Because of this I hurled you to the ground and left you as a warning to other kings. ¹⁸ You did such evil in buying and selling that your places of worship were corrupted. So I set fire to the city and burned it to the ground. All who look at you now see you reduced to ashes. ¹⁹ You are gone, gone forever, and all the nations that had come to know you are terrified, afraid that they will share your fate.”

Prophecy against Sidon

^20 (BE)The Lord said to me, ²¹ “Mortal man, denounce the city of Sidon. ²² Tell the people there what I, the Sovereign Lord, say about them: I am your enemy, Sidon; people will praise me because of what I do to you. They will know that I am the Lord, when I show how holy I am by punishing those who live in you. ²³ I will send diseases on you and make blood flow in your streets. You will be attacked from every side, and your people will be killed. Then you will know that I am the Lord.”

Israel Will Be Blessed

²⁴ The Lord said, “None of the surrounding nations that treated Israel with scorn will ever again be like thorns and briers to hurt Israel. And they will know that I am the Sovereign Lord.”

²⁵ The Sovereign Lord said, “I will bring back the people of Israel from the nations where I scattered them, and all the nations will know that I am holy. The people of Israel will live in their own land, the land that I gave to my servant Jacob. ²⁶ They will live there in safety. They will build houses and plant vineyards. I will punish all their neighbors who treated them with scorn, and Israel will be secure. Then they will know that I am the Lord their God.”

Prophecy against Egypt

29 ^(BF)On the twelfth day of the tenth month of the tenth year of our exile, the Lord spoke to me. ² “Mortal man,” he said, “denounce the king of Egypt. Tell him how he and all the land of Egypt will be punished. ³ Say that this is what the Sovereign Lord is telling the king of Egypt: I am your enemy, you monster crocodile, lying in the river. You say that the Nile is yours and that you made it.^{[bp] 4} I am going to put a hook through your jaw and make the fish in your river stick fast to you. Then I will pull you up out of the Nile, with all the fish sticking to you. ⁵ I will throw you and all those fish into the desert. Your body will fall on the ground and be left unburied. I will give it to the birds and animals for food. ^6 (BG)Then all the people of Egypt will know that I am the Lord.”

The Lord says, “The Israelites relied on you Egyptians for support, but you were no better than a weak stick. ⁷ When they leaned on you, you broke, pierced their armpits, and made them wrench their backs.^{[bq] 8} Now then, I, the Sovereign Lord, am telling you that I will have troops attack you with swords, and they will kill your people and your animals. ⁹ Egypt will become an empty wasteland. Then you will know that I am the Lord.

“Because you said that the Nile is yours and you made it, ¹⁰ I am your enemy and the enemy of your Nile. I will make all of Egypt an empty wasteland, from the city of Migdol in the north to the city of Aswan in the south, all the way to the Ethiopian^[br] border. ¹¹ No human being or animal will walk through it. For forty years nothing will live there. ¹² I will make Egypt the most desolate country in the world. For forty years the cities of Egypt will lie in ruins, ruins worse than those of any other city. I will make the Egyptians refugees. They will flee to every country and live among other peoples.”

¹³ The Sovereign Lord says, “After forty years I will bring the Egyptians back from the nations where I have scattered them, ¹⁴ and I will let them live in southern Egypt, their original home. There they will be a weak kingdom, ¹⁵ the weakest kingdom of all, and they will never again rule other nations. I will make them so unimportant that they will not be able to bend any other nation to their will. ¹⁶ Israel will never again depend on them for help. Egypt's fate will remind Israel how wrong it was to rely on them. Then Israel will know that I am the Sovereign Lord.”

King Nebuchadnezzar Will Conquer Egypt

¹⁷ On the first day of the first month of the twenty-seventh year of our exile, the Lord spoke to me. ¹⁸ “Mortal man,” he said, “King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia launched an attack on Tyre. He made his soldiers carry such heavy loads that their heads were rubbed bald and their shoulders were worn raw, but neither the king nor his army got anything for all their trouble. ¹⁹ So now this is what I, the Sovereign Lord, am saying: I am giving the land of Egypt to King Nebuchadnezzar. He will loot and plunder it and carry off all the wealth of Egypt as his army's pay. ²⁰ I am giving him Egypt in payment for his services, because his army was working for me. I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken.

²¹ “When that happens, I will make the people of Israel strong and let you, Ezekiel, speak out where everyone can hear you, so that they will know that I am the Lord.”

The Lord Will Punish Egypt

30 The Lord spoke to me again. ² “Mortal man,” he said, “prophesy and announce what I, the Sovereign Lord, am saying. You are to shout these words:

⁵ “That war will also kill the soldiers hired from Ethiopia,^[bt] Libya, Lydia, Arabia, Kub, and even from among my own people.”

⁶ The Lord says, “From Migdol in the north to Aswan in the south, all Egypt's defenders will be killed in battle. Egypt's proud army will be destroyed. I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken. ⁷ The land will be the most desolate in the world, and its cities will be left totally in ruins. ⁸ When I set fire to Egypt and all her defenders are killed, then they will know that I am the Lord.

⁹ “When that day comes and Egypt is destroyed, I will send messengers in ships to arouse the unsuspecting people of Ethiopia,^[bu] and they will be terrified. That day is coming!”

¹⁰ The Sovereign Lord says, “I will use King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia to put an end to Egypt's wealth. ¹¹ He and his ruthless army will come to devastate the land. They will attack Egypt with swords, and the land will be full of corpses. ¹² I will dry up the Nile and put Egypt under the power of evil people. Foreigners will devastate the whole country. I, the Lord, have spoken.”

¹³ The Sovereign Lord says, “I will destroy the idols and the false gods in Memphis. There will be no one to rule Egypt, and I will terrify all the people. ¹⁴ I will make southern Egypt desolate and set fire to the city of Zoan in the north. I will punish the capital city of Thebes. ¹⁵ I will let the city of Pelusium, Egypt's great fortress, feel my fury. I will destroy the wealth of Thebes. ¹⁶ I will set fire to Egypt, and Pelusium will be in agony. The walls of Thebes will be broken down, and the city will be flooded.^{[bv] 17} The young men of the cities of Heliopolis and Bubastis will die in the war, and the other people will be taken prisoner. ¹⁸ Darkness will fall on Tahpanhes when I break the power of Egypt and put an end to the strength they were so proud of. A cloud will cover Egypt, and the people of all her cities will be taken prisoner. ¹⁹ When I punish Egypt in this way, they will know that I am the Lord.”

The Broken Power of the King of Egypt

²⁰ On the seventh day of the first month of the eleventh year of our exile, the Lord spoke to me. ²¹ “Mortal man,” he said, “I have broken the arm of the king of Egypt. No one has bandaged it or put it in a sling so that it could heal and be strong enough to hold a sword again. ²² Now then, this is what I, the Sovereign Lord, say: I am the enemy of the king of Egypt. I am going to break both his arms—the good one and the one already broken—and the sword will fall from his hand. ²³ I am going to scatter the Egyptians throughout the world. ²⁴ Then I will make the arms of the king of Babylonia strong and put my sword in his hands. But I will break the arms of the king of Egypt, and he will groan and die in front of his enemy. ²⁵ Yes, I will weaken him and strengthen the king of Babylonia. When I give him my sword and he points it toward Egypt, everyone will know that I am the Lord. ²⁶ I will scatter the Egyptians throughout the world. Then they will know that I am the Lord.”

Egypt Is Compared to a Cedar Tree

31 On the first day of the third month of the eleventh year of our exile, the Lord spoke to me. ² “Mortal man,” he said, “say to the king of Egypt and all his people:

¹⁰ “Now then, I, the Sovereign Lord, will tell you what is going to happen to that tree that grew until it reached the clouds.^[by] As it grew taller it grew proud; ¹¹ so I have rejected it and will let a foreign ruler have it. He will give that tree what it deserves for its wickedness. ¹² Ruthless foreigners will cut it down and leave it. Its branches and broken limbs will fall on every mountain and valley in the country. All the nations that have been living in its shade will go away. ¹³ The birds will come and perch on the fallen tree, and the wild animals will walk over its branches. ¹⁴ And so from now on, no tree, no matter how well-watered it is, will grow that tall again or push its top through the clouds^[bz] and reach such a height. All of them are doomed to die like mortals, doomed to join those who go down to the world of the dead.”

¹⁵ This is what the Sovereign Lord says: “On the day when the tree goes to the world of the dead, I will make the underground waters cover it as a sign of mourning. I will hold back the rivers and not let the many streams flow out. Because the tree has died, I will bring darkness over the Lebanon Mountains and make all the trees of the forest wither. ¹⁶ When I send it down to the world of the dead, the noise of its downfall will shake the nations. All the trees of Eden and all the choice, well-watered trees of Lebanon who have gone to the world below will be pleased at its downfall. ¹⁷ They will go with it to the world of the dead to join those that have already fallen. And all who live under its shadow will be scattered among the nations.^[ca]

¹⁸ “The tree is the king of Egypt and all his people. Not even the trees in Eden were so tall and impressive. But now, like the trees of Eden, it will go down to the world of the dead and join the ungodly and those killed in battle. I have spoken,” says the Sovereign Lord.

The King of Egypt Is Compared to a Crocodile

32 On the first day of the twelfth month of the twelfth year of our exile, the Lord spoke to me. ² “Mortal man,” he said, “give a solemn warning to the king of Egypt. Give him this message from me: You act like a lion among the nations, but you are more like a crocodile splashing through a river. You muddy the water with your feet and pollute the rivers. ³ When many nations gather, I will catch you in my net and let them drag the net ashore. ⁴ I will throw you out on the ground and bring all the birds and animals of the world to feed on you. ⁵ I will cover mountains and valleys with your rotting corpse. ⁶ I will pour out your blood until it spreads over the mountains and fills the streams. ^7 (BI)When I destroy you, I will cover the sky and blot out the stars. The sun will hide behind the clouds, and the moon will give no light. ⁸ I will put out all the lights of heaven and plunge your world into darkness. I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken.

⁹ “Many nations will be troubled when I spread the news of your destruction through countries you never heard of. ¹⁰ What I do to you will shock many nations. When I swing my sword, kings will shudder with fright. On the day you fall, all of them will tremble in fear for their own lives.”

¹¹ The Sovereign Lord says to the king of Egypt, “You will face the sword of the king of Babylonia. ¹² I will let soldiers from cruel nations draw their swords and kill all your people. All your people and everything else that you are proud of will be destroyed. ¹³ I will slaughter your cattle at every water hole. There will be no people or cattle to muddy the water any more. ¹⁴ I will let your waters settle and become clear and let your rivers run calm. I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken. ¹⁵ When I make Egypt a desolate wasteland and destroy all who live there, they will know that I am the Lord. ¹⁶ This solemn warning will become a funeral song. The women of the nations will sing it to mourn for Egypt and all its people. I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken.”

The World of the Dead

¹⁷ On the fifteenth day of the first month^[cb] of the twelfth year of our exile, the Lord spoke to me. ¹⁸ “Mortal man,” he said, “mourn for all the many people of Egypt. Send them down with the other powerful nations to the world of the dead. ¹⁹ Say to them:

²⁰ “The people of Egypt will fall with those who are killed in battle. A sword is ready to kill them all.^{[cc] 21} The greatest heroes and those who fought on the Egyptian side welcome the Egyptians to the world of the dead. They shout: ‘The ungodly who were killed in battle have come down here, and here they lie!’

²² “Assyria is there, with the graves of her soldiers all around. They were all killed in battle, ²³ and their graves are in the deepest parts of the world of the dead. All her soldiers fell in battle, and their graves surround her tomb. Yet once they terrified the land of the living.

²⁴ “Elam is there, with the graves of her soldiers all around. They were all killed in battle, and they went down, uncircumcised, to the world of the dead. In life they spread terror, but now they lie dead and disgraced. ²⁵ Elam lies down among those killed in battle, and the graves of her soldiers are all around her. They are all uncircumcised, all killed in battle. In life they spread terror, but now they lie dead and disgraced, sharing the fate of those killed in battle.

²⁶ “Meshech and Tubal are there, with the graves of their soldiers all around. They are all uncircumcised, all killed in battle. Yet once they terrified the living. ²⁷ They were not given honorable burial like the heroes of ancient times,^[cd] who went fully armed to the world of the dead, their swords placed under their heads and their shields^[ce] over their bodies. These heroes were once powerful enough to terrify the living.

²⁸ “That is how the Egyptians will lie crushed among the uncircumcised who were killed in battle.

²⁹ “Edom is there with her kings and rulers. They were powerful soldiers, but now they lie in the world of the dead with the uncircumcised who were killed in battle.

³⁰ “All the princes of the north are there, and so are the Sidonians. Their power once spread terror, but now they go down in disgrace with those killed in battle and are laid to rest, uncircumcised. They share the disgrace of those who go down to the world of the dead.

³¹ “The sight of all these who were killed in battle will be a comfort to the king of Egypt and his army,” says the Sovereign Lord.

³² “I caused the king of Egypt to terrorize the living, but he and all his army will be killed and laid to rest with all the uncircumcised who die in battle.” The Sovereign Lord has spoken.

God Appoints Ezekiel as a Lookout^(BJ)

33 The Lord spoke to me. ² “Mortal man,” he said, “tell your people what happens when I bring war to a land. The people of that country choose one of their number to be a lookout. ³ When he sees the enemy approaching, he sounds the alarm to warn everyone. ⁴ If someone hears it but pays no attention and the enemy comes and kills him, then he is to blame for his own death. ⁵ His death is his own fault, because he paid no attention to the warning. If he had paid attention, he could have escaped. ⁶ If, however, the lookout sees the enemy coming and does not sound the alarm, the enemy will come and kill those sinners, but I will hold the lookout responsible for their death.

⁷ “Now, mortal man, I am making you a lookout for the nation of Israel. You must pass on to them the warnings I give you. ⁸ If I announce that an evil person is going to die but you do not warn him to change his ways so that he can save his life, then he will die, still a sinner, and I will hold you responsible for his death. ⁹ If you do warn an evil person and he doesn't stop sinning, he will die, still a sinner, but your life will be spared.”

Individual Responsibility

¹⁰ The Lord spoke to me. “Mortal man,” he said, “repeat to the Israelites what they are saying: ‘We are burdened with our sins and the wrongs we have done. We are wasting away. How can we live?’ ¹¹ Tell them that as surely as I, the Sovereign Lord, am the living God, I do not enjoy seeing sinners die. I would rather see them stop sinning and live. Israel, stop the evil you are doing. Why do you want to die?

¹² “Now, mortal man, tell the Israelites that when someone good sins, the good he has done will not save him. If an evil person stops doing evil, he won't be punished, and if a good man starts sinning, his life will not be spared. ¹³ I may promise life to someone good, but if he starts thinking that his past goodness is enough and begins to sin, I will not remember any of the good he did. He will die because of his sins. ¹⁴ I may warn someone evil that he is going to die, but if he stops sinning and does what is right and good— ¹⁵ for example, if he returns the security he took for a loan or gives back what he stole—if he stops sinning and follows the laws that give life, he will not die, but live. ¹⁶ I will forgive the sins he has committed, and he will live because he has done what is right and good.

¹⁷ “And your people say that what I do isn't right! No, it's their way that isn't right. ¹⁸ When someone righteous stops doing good and starts doing evil, he will die for it. ¹⁹ When someone evil quits sinning and does what is right and good, he has saved his life. ²⁰ But Israel, you say that what I do isn't right. I am going to judge you by what you do.”

The News of Jerusalem's Fall

^21 (BK)On the fifth day of the tenth month of the twelfth year of our exile, someone who had escaped from Jerusalem came and told me that the city had fallen. ²² The evening before he came, I had felt the powerful presence of the Lord. When the man arrived the next morning, the Lord gave me back the power of speech.

The Sins of the People

²³ The Lord spoke to me. ²⁴ “Mortal man,” he said, “the people who are living in the ruined cities of the land of Israel are saying: ‘Abraham was only one man, and he was given the whole land. There are many of us, so now the land is ours.’

²⁵ “Tell them what I, the Sovereign Lord, am saying: You eat meat with the blood still in it. You worship idols. You commit murder. What makes you think that the land belongs to you? ²⁶ You rely on your swords. Your actions are disgusting. Everyone commits adultery. What makes you think that the land is yours?

²⁷ “Tell them that I, the Sovereign Lord, warn them that as surely as I am the living God, the people who live in the ruined cities will be killed. Those living in the country will be eaten by wild animals. Those hiding in the mountains and in caves will die of disease. ²⁸ I will make the country a desolate wasteland, and the power they were so proud of will come to an end. The mountains of Israel will be so wild that no one will be able to travel through them. ²⁹ When I punish the people for their sins and make the country a wasteland, then they will know that I am the Lord.”

The Results of the Prophet's Message

³⁰ The Lord said, “Mortal man, your people are talking about you when they meet by the city walls or in the doorways of their houses. They say to one another, ‘Let's go and hear what word has come from the Lord now.’ ³¹ So my people crowd in to hear what you have to say, but they don't do what you tell them to do. Loving words are on their lips, but they continue their greedy ways. ³² To them you are nothing more than an entertainer singing love songs or playing a harp. They listen to all your words and don't obey a single one of them. ³³ But when all your words come true—and they will come true—then they will know that a prophet has been among them.”

The Shepherds of Israel

34 The Lord spoke to me. ² “Mortal man,” he said, “denounce the rulers of Israel. Prophesy to them, and tell them what I, the Sovereign Lord, say to them: You are doomed, you shepherds of Israel! You take care of yourselves, but never tend the sheep. ³ You drink the milk, wear clothes made from the wool, and kill and eat the finest sheep. But you never tend the sheep. ⁴ You have not taken care of the weak ones, healed the ones that are sick, bandaged the ones that are hurt, brought back the ones that wandered off, or looked for the ones that were lost. Instead, you treated them cruelly. ^5 (BL)Because the sheep had no shepherd, they were scattered, and wild animals killed and ate them. ⁶ So my sheep wandered over the high hills and the mountains. They were scattered over the face of the earth, and no one looked for them or tried to find them.

⁷ “Now, you shepherds, listen to what I, the Lord, am telling you. ⁸ As surely as I am the living God, you had better listen to me. My sheep have been attacked by wild animals that killed and ate them because there was no shepherd. My shepherds did not try to find the sheep. They were taking care of themselves and not the sheep. ⁹ So listen to me, you shepherds. ¹⁰ I, the Sovereign Lord, declare that I am your enemy. I will take my sheep away from you and never again let you be their shepherds; never again will I let you take care only of yourselves. I will rescue my sheep from you and not let you eat them.

The Good Shepherd

¹¹ “I, the Sovereign Lord, tell you that I myself will look for my sheep and take care of them ¹² in the same way as shepherds take care of their sheep that were scattered and are brought together again. I will bring them back from all the places where they were scattered on that dark, disastrous day. ¹³ I will take them out of foreign countries, gather them together, and bring them back to their own land. I will lead them back to the mountains and the streams of Israel and will feed them in pleasant pastures. ¹⁴ I will let them graze in safety in the mountain meadows and the valleys and in all the green pastures of the land of Israel. ¹⁵ I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I will find them a place to rest. I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken.

¹⁶ “I will look for those that are lost, bring back those that wander off, bandage those that are hurt, and heal those that are sick; but those that are fat and strong I will destroy, because I am a shepherd who does what is right.

¹⁷ “Now then, my flock, I, the Sovereign Lord, tell you that I will judge each of you and separate the good from the bad, the sheep from the goats. ¹⁸ Some of you are not satisfied with eating the best grass; you even trample down what you don't eat! You drink the clear water and muddy what you don't drink! ¹⁹ My other sheep have to eat the grass you trample down and drink the water you muddy.

²⁰ “So now, I, the Sovereign Lord, tell you that I will judge between you strong sheep and the weak sheep. ²¹ You pushed the sick ones aside and butted them away from the flock. ²² But I will rescue my sheep and not let them be mistreated any more. I will judge each of my sheep and separate the good from the bad. ^23 (BM)I will give them a king like my servant David to be their one shepherd, and he will take care of them. ^24 (BN)I, the Lord, will be their God, and a king like my servant David will be their ruler. I have spoken. ²⁵ I will make a covenant with them that guarantees their security. I will get rid of all the dangerous animals in the land, so that my sheep can live safely in the fields and sleep in the forests.

²⁶ “I will bless them and let them live around my sacred hill.^[cf] There I will bless them with showers of rain when they need it. ²⁷ The trees will bear fruit, the fields will produce crops, and everyone will live in safety on his own land. When I break my people's chains and set them free from those who made them slaves, then they will know that I am the Lord. ²⁸ The heathen nations will not plunder them any more, and the wild animals will not kill and eat them. They will live in safety, and no one will terrify them. ²⁹ I will give them fertile fields and put an end to hunger in the land. The other nations will not sneer at them any more. ³⁰ Everyone will know that I protect Israel and that they are my people. I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken.

³¹ “You, my sheep, the flock that I feed, are my people, and I am your God,” says the Sovereign Lord.

God's Punishment of Edom

35 ^(BO)The Lord spoke to me. ² “Mortal man,” he said, “denounce the country of Edom. ³ Tell the people what I, the Sovereign Lord, am saying:

⁵ “You were Israel's constant enemy and let her people be slaughtered in the time of her disaster, the time of final punishment for her sins. ⁶ So then—as surely as I, the Sovereign Lord, am the living God—death is your fate, and you cannot escape it. You are guilty of^[cg] murder, and murder will follow you. ⁷ I will make the hill country of Edom a wasteland and kill everyone who travels through it. ⁸ I will cover the mountains with corpses, and the bodies of those who are killed in battle will cover the hills and valleys. ⁹ I will make you desolate forever, and no one will live in your cities again. Then you will know that I am the Lord.

¹⁰ “You said that the two nations, Judah and Israel, together with their lands, belonged to you and that you would possess them, even though I, the Lord, was their God. ¹¹ So then, as surely as I, the Sovereign Lord, am the living God, I will pay you back for your anger, your jealousy, and your hate toward my people. They will know that I am punishing you for what you did to them. ¹² Then you will know that I, the Lord, heard you say with contempt that the mountains of Israel were desolate and that they were yours to devour. ¹³ I have heard the wild, boastful way you have talked against me.”

¹⁴ The Sovereign Lord says, “I will make you so desolate that the whole world will rejoice at your downfall, ¹⁵ just as you rejoiced at the devastation of Israel, my own possession. The mountains of Seir, yes, all the land of Edom, will be desolate. Then everyone will know that I am the Lord.”

God's Blessing on Israel

36 The Lord said, “Mortal man, speak to the mountains of Israel and tell them to listen to the message which I, ² the Sovereign Lord, have for them: Israel's enemies gloated and said, ‘Now those ancient hills are ours!’

³ “Prophesy, then, and announce what I, the Sovereign Lord, am saying. When the neighboring nations captured and plundered the mountains of Israel, everyone made fun of Israel. ⁴ So now listen to what I, the Sovereign Lord, say to you mountains and hills, to you brooks and valleys, to you places that were left in ruins, and to you deserted cities which were plundered and mocked by all the surrounding nations.

⁵ “I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken out in the heat of my anger against the surrounding nations, and especially against Edom. With glee and contempt they captured my land and took possession of its pastures.

⁶ “So prophesy to the land of Israel; tell the mountains, hills, brooks, and valleys what I, the Sovereign Lord, am saying in jealous anger because of the way the nations have insulted and humiliated them. ⁷ I, the Sovereign Lord, solemnly promise that the surrounding nations will be humiliated. ⁸ But on the mountains of Israel the trees will again grow leaves and bear fruit for you, my people Israel. You are going to come home soon. ⁹ I am on your side, and I will make sure that your land is plowed again and crops are planted on it. ¹⁰ I will make your population grow. You will live in the cities and rebuild everything that was left in ruins. ¹¹ I will make people and cattle increase in number. There will be more of you than ever before, and you will have many children. I will let you live there as you used to live, and I will make you more prosperous than ever. Then you will know that I am the Lord. ¹² I will bring you, my people Israel, back to live again in the land. It will be your own land, and it will never again let your children starve.

¹³ “I, the Sovereign Lord, say: It is true that people say that the land eats people and that it robs the nation of its children. ¹⁴ But from now on it will no longer eat people and rob you of your children. I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken. ¹⁵ The land will no longer have to listen to the nations making fun of it or see the peoples sneer at it. The land will no longer rob the nation of its children. I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken.”

Israel's New Life

¹⁶ The Lord spoke to me. ¹⁷ “Mortal man,” he said, “when the Israelites were living in their land, they defiled it by the way they lived and acted. I regarded their behavior as being as ritually unclean as a woman is during her monthly period.^{[ch] 18} I let them feel the force of my anger because of the murders they had committed in the land and because of the idols by which they had defiled it. ¹⁹ I condemned them for the way they lived and acted, and I scattered them through foreign countries. ²⁰ Wherever they went, they brought disgrace on my holy name, because people would say, ‘These are the people of the Lord, but they had to leave his land.’ ²¹ That made me concerned for my holy name, since the Israelites brought disgrace on it everywhere they went.

²² “Now then, give the Israelites the message that I, the Sovereign Lord, have for them: What I am going to do is not for the sake of you Israelites, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have disgraced in every country where you have gone. ²³ When I demonstrate to the nations the holiness of my great name—the name you disgraced among them—then they will know that I am the Lord. I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken. I will use you to show the nations that I am holy. ²⁴ I will take you from every nation and country and bring you back to your own land. ²⁵ I will sprinkle clean water on you and make you clean from all your idols and everything else that has defiled you. ^26 (BP)I will give you a new heart and a new mind. I will take away your stubborn heart of stone and give you an obedient heart. ²⁷ I will put my spirit in you and will see to it that you follow my laws and keep all the commands I have given you. ²⁸ Then you will live in the land I gave your ancestors. You will be my people, and I will be your God. ²⁹ I will save you from everything that defiles you. I will command the grain to be plentiful, so that you will not have any more famines. ³⁰ I will increase the yield of your fruit trees and your fields, so that there will be no more famines to disgrace you among the nations. ³¹ You will remember your evil conduct and the wrongs that you committed, and you will be disgusted with yourselves because of your sins and your iniquities. ³² Israel, I want you to know that I am not doing all this for your sake. I want you to feel the shame and disgrace of what you are doing. I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken.”

³³ The Sovereign Lord says, “When I make you clean from all your sins, I will let you live in your cities again and let you rebuild the ruins. ³⁴ Everyone who used to walk by your fields saw how overgrown and wild they were, but I will let you farm them again. ³⁵ Everyone will talk about how this land, which was once a wilderness, has become like the Garden of Eden, and how the cities which were torn down, looted, and left in ruins, are now inhabited and fortified. ³⁶ Then the neighboring nations that have survived will know that I, the Lord, rebuild ruined cities and replant waste fields. I, the Lord, have promised that I would do this—and I will.”

³⁷ The Sovereign Lord says, “I will once again let the Israelites ask me for help, and I will let them increase in numbers like a flock of sheep. ³⁸ The cities that are now in ruins will then be as full of people as Jerusalem was once full of the sheep which were offered as sacrifices at a festival. Then they will know that I am the Lord.”

The Valley of Dry Bones

37 I felt the powerful presence of the Lord, and his spirit took me and set me down in a valley where the ground was covered with bones. ² He led me all around the valley, and I could see that there were very many bones and that they were very dry. ³ He said to me, “Mortal man, can these bones come back to life?”

I replied, “Sovereign Lord, only you can answer that!”

⁴ He said, “Prophesy to the bones. Tell these dry bones to listen to the word of the Lord. ⁵ Tell them that I, the Sovereign Lord, am saying to them: I am going to put breath into you and bring you back to life. ⁶ I will give you sinews and muscles, and cover you with skin. I will put breath into you and bring you back to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.”

⁷ So I prophesied as I had been told. While I was speaking, I heard a rattling noise, and the bones began to join together. ⁸ While I watched, the bones were covered with sinews and muscles, and then with skin. But there was no breath in the bodies.

⁹ God said to me, “Mortal man, prophesy to the wind.^[ci] Tell the wind that the Sovereign Lord commands it to come from every direction, to breathe into these dead bodies, and to bring them back to life.”

^10 (BQ)So I prophesied as I had been told. Breath entered the bodies, and they came to life and stood up. There were enough of them to form an army.

¹¹ God said to me, “Mortal man, the people of Israel are like these bones. They say that they are dried up, without any hope and with no future. ¹² So prophesy to my people Israel and tell them that I, the Sovereign Lord, am going to open their graves. I am going to take them out and bring them back to the land of Israel. ¹³ When I open the graves where my people are buried and bring them out, they will know that I am the Lord. ¹⁴ I will put my breath in them, bring them back to life, and let them live in their own land. Then they will know that I am the Lord. I have promised that I would do this—and I will. I, the Lord, have spoken.”

Judah and Israel in One Kingdom

¹⁵ The Lord spoke to me again. ¹⁶ “Mortal man,” he said, “take a wooden stick and write on it the words, ‘The kingdom of Judah.’ Then take another stick and write on it the words, ‘The kingdom of Israel.’ ¹⁷ Then hold the two sticks end to end in your hand so that they look like one stick. ¹⁸ When your people ask you to tell them what this means, ¹⁹ tell them that I, the Sovereign Lord, am going to take the stick representing Israel and put it with the one that represents Judah. Out of the two I will make one stick and hold it in my hand.

²⁰ “Hold in your hand the two sticks and let the people see them. ²¹ Then tell them that I, the Sovereign Lord, am going to take all my people out of the nations where they have gone, gather them together, and bring them back to their own land. ²² I will unite them into one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel. They will have one king to rule over them, and they will no longer be divided into two nations or split into two kingdoms. ²³ They will not defile themselves with disgusting idols any more or corrupt themselves with sin. I will free them from all the ways in which they sin and betray me. I will purify them; they will be my people, and I will be their God. ^24 (BR)A king like my servant David will be their king. They will all be united under one ruler and will obey my laws faithfully. ²⁵ They will live on the land I gave to my servant Jacob, the land where their ancestors lived. They will live there forever, and so will their children and all their descendants. A king like my servant David will rule them forever. ²⁶ I will make a covenant with them that guarantees their security forever. I will establish them and increase their population, and will see to it that my Temple stands forever in their land. ^27 (BS)I will live there with them; I will be their God, and they will be my people. ²⁸ When I place my Temple there to be among them forever, then the nations will know that I, the Lord, have chosen Israel to be my own people.”

Gog as the Instrument of God

38 The Lord spoke to me. ^2 (BT)“Mortal man,” he said, “denounce Gog, chief ruler of the nations of Meshech and Tubal in the land of Magog. Denounce him ³ and tell him that I, the Sovereign Lord, am his enemy. ⁴ I will turn him around, put hooks in his jaws, and drag him and all his troops away. His army, with its horses and uniformed riders, is enormous, and every soldier carries a shield and is armed with a sword. ⁵ Troops from Persia, Ethiopia,^[cj] and Libya are with him, and all have shields and helmets. ⁶ All the fighting men of the lands of Gomer and Beth Togarmah in the north are with him, and so are men from many other nations. ⁷ Tell him to get ready and have all his troops ready at his command. ⁸ After many years I will order him to invade a country where the people were brought back together from many nations and have lived without fear of war. He will invade the mountains of Israel, which were desolate and deserted so long, but where all the people now live in safety. ⁹ He and his army and the many nations with him will attack like a storm and cover the land like a cloud.”

¹⁰ This is what the Sovereign Lord says to Gog: “When that time comes, you will start thinking up an evil plan. ¹¹ You will decide to invade a helpless country where the people live in peace and security in unwalled towns that have no defenses. ¹² You will plunder and loot the people who live in cities that were once in ruins. They have been gathered from the nations, and now they have livestock and property and live at the crossroads of the world. ¹³ The people of Sheba and Dedan and the merchants from the towns of Spain will ask you, ‘Have you assembled your army and attacked in order to loot and plunder? Do you intend to get silver and gold, livestock and property, and march off with all those spoils?’”

¹⁴ So the Sovereign Lord sent me to tell Gog what he was saying to him: “Now while my people Israel live in security, you will set out^{[ck] 15} to come from your place in the far north, leading a large, powerful army of soldiers from many nations, all of them on horseback. ¹⁶ You will attack my people Israel like a storm moving across the land. When the time comes, I will send you to invade my land in order to show the nations who I am, to show my holiness by what I do through you. ¹⁷ You are the one I was talking about long ago, when I announced through my servants, the prophets of Israel, that in days to come I would bring someone to attack Israel.” The Sovereign Lord has spoken.

God's Punishment of Gog

¹⁸ The Sovereign Lord says, “On the day when Gog invades Israel, I will become furious. ¹⁹ I declare in the heat of my anger that on that day there will be a severe earthquake in the land of Israel. ²⁰ Every fish and bird, every animal large and small, and every human being on the face of the earth will tremble for fear of me. Mountains will fall, cliffs will crumble, and every wall will collapse. ²¹ I will terrify Gog with all sorts of calamities.^[cl] I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken. His men will turn their swords against one another. ²² I will punish him with disease and bloodshed. Torrents of rain and hail, together with fire and sulfur, will pour down on him and his army and on the many nations that are on his side. ²³ In this way I will show all the nations that I am great and that I am holy. They will know then that I am the Lord.”

The Defeat of Gog

39 The Sovereign Lord said, “Mortal man, denounce Gog, the chief ruler of the nations of Meshech and Tubal, and tell him that I am his enemy. ² I will turn him in a new direction and lead him out of the far north until he comes to the mountains of Israel. ³ Then I will knock his bow out of his left hand and his arrows out of his right hand. ⁴ Gog and his army and his allies will fall dead on the mountains of Israel, and I will let their bodies be food for all the birds and wild animals. ⁵ They will fall dead in the open field. I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken. ⁶ I will start a fire in the land of Magog and along all the seacoasts where people live undisturbed, and everyone will know that I am the Lord. ⁷ I will make sure that my people Israel know my holy name, and I will not let my name be disgraced any more. Then the nations will know that I, the Lord, am the holy God of Israel.”

⁸ The Sovereign Lord said, “The day I spoke about is certain to come. ⁹ The people who live in the cities of Israel will go out and collect the abandoned weapons for firewood. They will build fires with the shields, bows, arrows, spears, and clubs, and have enough to last for seven years. ¹⁰ They will not have to gather firewood in the fields or cut down trees in the forest, because they will have the abandoned weapons to burn. They will loot and plunder those who looted and plundered them.” The Sovereign Lord has spoken.

The Burial of Gog

¹¹ The Lord said, “When all this happens, I will give Gog a burial ground there in Israel, in Travelers' Valley, east of the Dead Sea.^[cm] Gog and all his army will be buried there, and the valley will be called ‘The Valley of Gog's Army.’ ¹² It will take the Israelites seven months to bury all the corpses and make the land clean again. ¹³ Everyone in the land will help bury them, and they will be honored for this on the day of my victory. I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken. ¹⁴ After the seven months are over, men will be chosen to travel through the land in order to find and bury those bodies^[cn] remaining on the ground, so that they can make the land clean. ¹⁵ As they go up and down the country, every time they find a human bone, they will put a marker beside it so that the gravediggers can come and bury it in the Valley of Gog's Army. ¹⁶ (There will be a town nearby named after the army.) And so the land will be made clean again.”

^17 (BU)The Sovereign Lord said to me, “Mortal man, call all the birds and animals to come from all around to eat the sacrifice I am preparing for them. It will be a huge feast on the mountains of Israel, where they can eat meat and drink blood. ¹⁸ They are to eat the bodies of soldiers and drink the blood of the rulers of the earth, all of whom will be killed like rams or lambs or goats or fat bulls. ¹⁹ When I kill these people like sacrifices, the birds and animals are to eat all the fat they can hold and to drink blood until they are drunk. ²⁰ At my table they will eat all they can hold of horses and their riders and of soldiers and fighting men. I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken.”