Judgment On Evil Rulers

11 And the Spirit lifted me up, and it brought me to the eastern gate, the one facing east, of the temple^[a] of Yahweh. And look, there were twenty-five men in the doorway of the gate, and I saw Jaazaniah the son of Azzur in the midst of them, and Pelatiah the son of Benaiah, the commanders of the people. ² And he said to me, “Son of man,^[b] these are the men who devise mischief,^[c] and who are offering bad counsel in this city, ³ who are saying, “The building of houses is not near; the city is the pot, and we are the flesh. ⁴ Therefore prophesy against them! Prophesy, son of man!”^[d]

⁵ And the Spirit of Yahweh fell on me, and he said to me, “Say, ‘thus says Yahweh: “This is what you think, house of Israel, and I myself know them,^[e] the thoughts of your spirit. ⁶ You made your slain ones numerous in this city, and you have filled its streets with slain ones.”’^{[f] 7} Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Your slain ones whom you put in its midst, they are the flesh, and it is the pot, and I^[g] will bring you out from its midst. ⁸ The sword you have feared, and the sword I will bring against you!” declares^[h] the Lord Yahweh. ⁹ “And I will bring you out from its midst, and I will give you into the hand of strangers, and I will execute judgments against you. ¹⁰ By the sword you will fall at the border of Israel; I will judge you, and you will know that I am Yahweh. ¹¹ It will not be as a pot to you, and so you would be^[i] in the midst of it as flesh, for at the border of Israel I will judge you. ¹² And you will know that I am Yahweh, whose^[j] rules you did not follow, and whose^[k] regulations you did not do, but according to the regulations of the nations that are around you, you acted.”’^[l]

¹³ And it happened that as I was prophesying,^[m] Pelatiahu the son of Benaiahu died! And I fell on my face, and I cried with a loud voice, and I said, “Ah, Lord Yahweh, you are making a complete destruction of the remnant of Israel!”