Ezekiel 13:17-23
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
17 As for you, mortal, set your face against the daughters of your people who prophesy out of their own imaginations; prophesy against them(A) 18 and say: Thus says the Lord God: Woe to the women who sew bands on all wrists and make veils for the heads of persons of every height, in the hunt for lives! Will you hunt down lives among my people and maintain your own lives?(B) 19 You have profaned me among my people for handfuls of barley and for pieces of bread, putting to death those who should not die and keeping alive those who should not live, by your lies to my people, who listen to lies.(C)
20 Therefore thus says the Lord God: I am against your bands with which you hunt lives;[a] I will tear them from your arms and let the lives go free, the lives that you hunt down like birds. 21 I will tear off your veils and save my people from your hands; they shall no longer be prey in your hands, and you shall know that I am the Lord. 22 Because you have disheartened the righteous falsely, although I have not disheartened them, and you have encouraged the wicked not to turn from their wicked way and save their lives,(D) 23 therefore you shall no longer see false visions or practice divination; I will save my people from your hand. Then you will know that I am the Lord.(E)
Read full chapterFootnotes
- 13.20 Gk Syr: Heb lives for birds
Ezekiel 13:17-23
Evangelical Heritage Version
17 You, son of man, are to set your face against the daughters of your people, who are prophesying ecstatically from their own hearts. You are to prophesy against them. 18 You are to say that this is what the Lord God says.
Woe to those women who sew magic bands for all their[a] wrists and who make veils of every size for people’s heads in order to trap souls.[b] Will you women trap the souls of my people, but preserve your own souls? 19 You women profane me among my people for handfuls of barley and scraps of bread, killing people[c] who should not die and keeping people alive who should not live. You do this by your lying to my people—those who listen to lies. 20 Therefore, this is what the Lord God says.
Listen. I am against your magic bands, with which you women trap souls like birds. I will tear them from your arms, and I will set free the souls that you trap like birds. 21 I will tear off your veils and rescue my people from your hand. They will no longer be in your hand like prey. Then you will know that I am the Lord.
22 Because you have disheartened the righteous man with delusions, even though I have not intended to grieve him, and you have strengthened the hands of[d] the wicked man, so that he does not repent of his evil way, and so he does not save his life, 23 therefore, you women will no longer proclaim empty words, and you will no longer deceive with false omens. I will rescue my people from your hand. Then you will know that I am the Lord.
Footnotes
- Ezekiel 13:18 The translation follows an alternate Hebrew reading. The main reading is my wrists.
- Ezekiel 13:18 Or lives
- Ezekiel 13:19 Literally souls
- Ezekiel 13:22 Or have encouraged
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.