Ezekiel 11:1-13

New Catholic Bible

Chapter 11

Punishment of the Rulers. ¹ The Spirit lifted me up and brought me to the gate of the temple of the Lord that faces eastward. There at the entrance to the gate twenty-five men were standing. Among them I saw Jaazaniah, the son of Azzur, and Pelatiah, the son of Benaiah, princes of the people.

² The Lord said to me, “Son of man, these are the men who are plotting evil deeds and offering wicked counsel in this city. ³ They say, ‘The time has not yet come to build houses. This city is the cooking pot and we are the meat.’ ⁴ Therefore, prophesy against them, son of man, prophesy!”

⁵ Then the Spirit of the Lord fell upon me, and he instructed me to say: Thus says the Lord. This is what you are saying to yourselves, house of Israel, and I am well aware of what you are plotting. ⁶ You have killed many in this city and filled its streets with the slain.

⁷ Therefore, thus says the Lord God: Those in the city whom you have slain are the meat, and the city is the pot, but I shall remove you from it.^{[a] 8} You are in dread of the sword, and I fully intend to bring the sword upon you, says the Lord God.

⁹ I will drive you from the city and hand you over to foreigners, and inflict punishments upon you. ¹⁰ You will fall by the sword, and I will pass judgment upon you at the border of Israel. You will know that I am the Lord.

¹¹ This city shall not be a cooking pot for you, nor shall you be the meat inside it. I will judge you at the border of Israel. ¹² Then you will know that I am the Lord whose statutes you have not obeyed and whose judgments you have not followed. Rather you have conformed to the ordinances of the nations around you.

^13 [b]While I was prophesying, Pelatiah, the son of Benaiah, fell dead. I threw myself on the ground and cried out in a loud voice, “Lord God, do you intend to wipe out completely the remnant of Israel?”