Ezekiel 21:28-22:16

New King James Version

A Sword Against the Ammonites

²⁸“And you, son of man, prophesy and say, ‘Thus says the Lord God ^(A)concerning the Ammonites and concerning their reproach,’ and say:

‘A sword, a sword is drawn,
Polished for slaughter,
For consuming, for flashing—
²⁹While they ^(B)see false visions for you,
While they divine a lie to you,
To bring you on the necks of the wicked, the slain
^(C)Whose day has come,
Whose iniquity shall end.

³⁰‘Return^(D) it to its sheath.
^(E)I will judge you
In the place where you were created,
^(F)In the land of your ^[a]nativity.
³¹I will ^(G)pour out My indignation on you;
I will ^(H)blow against you with the fire of My wrath,
And deliver you into the hands of brutal men who are skillful to ^(I)destroy.
³²You shall be fuel for the fire;
Your blood shall be in the midst of the land.
^(J)You shall not be remembered,
For I the Lord have spoken.’ ”

Sins of Jerusalem

22 Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ²“Now, son of man, ^(K)will you judge, will you judge ^(L)the bloody city? Yes, show her all her abominations! ³Then say, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “The city sheds ^(M)blood in her own midst, that her time may come; and she makes idols within herself to defile herself. ⁴You have become guilty by the blood which you have ^(N)shed, and have defiled yourself with the idols which you have made. You have caused your days to draw near, and have come to the end of your years; ^(O)therefore I have made you a reproach to the nations, and a mockery to all countries. ⁵Those near and those far from you will mock you as ^[b]infamous and full of tumult.

⁶“Look, ^(P)the princes of Israel: each one has used his ^[c]power to shed blood in you. ⁷In you they have ^(Q)made light of father and mother; in your midst they have ^(R)oppressed the stranger; in you they have mistreated the ^[d]fatherless and the widow. ⁸You have despised My holy things and ^(S)profaned My Sabbaths. ⁹In you are ^(T)men who slander to cause bloodshed; ^(U)in you are those who eat on the mountains; in your midst they commit lewdness. ¹⁰In you men ^(V)uncover their fathers’ nakedness; in you they violate women who are ^(W)set apart during their impurity. ¹¹One commits abomination ^(X)with his neighbor’s wife; ^(Y)another lewdly defiles his daughter-in-law; and another in you violates his sister, his father’s ^(Z)daughter. ¹²In you ^(AA)they take bribes to shed blood; ^(AB)you take usury and increase; you have made profit from your neighbors by extortion, and ^(AC)have forgotten Me,” says the Lord God.

¹³“Behold, therefore, I ^(AD)beat My fists at the dishonest profit which you have made, and at the bloodshed which has been in your midst. ¹⁴^(AE)Can your heart endure, or can your hands remain strong, in the days when I shall deal with you? ^(AF)I, the Lord, have spoken, and will do it. ¹⁵^(AG)I will scatter you among the nations, disperse you throughout the countries, and ^(AH)remove your filthiness completely from you. ¹⁶You shall defile yourself in the sight of the nations; then ^(AI)you shall know that I am the Lord.” ’ ”