Ezekiel 22:23-31

Evangelical Heritage Version

²⁴ Son of man, say to her, “You are a land not cleansed, a land that receives no rain in the day of rage.”

²⁵ Jerusalem’s princes^[a] within her are like a roaring lion, tearing its prey. They devour people’s lives. They seize treasures and valuables. They make many women widows within her.

²⁶ Her priests do violence to my law by profaning what is holy to me, by not distinguishing between the holy and the common, and by not teaching the difference between the unclean and the clean. They disregard my Sabbaths, with the result that I am profaned among them.

²⁷ Her officials inside her are like wolves, tearing their prey, shedding blood, and destroying lives in order to make dishonest profits.

²⁸ Her prophets daub whitewash for them, seeing empty visions and forecasting false omens for them. They say, “This is what the Lord God says,” when the Lord has not spoken at all.

²⁹ The ordinary citizens practice extortion and commit robbery. They oppress the poor and the needy. They unjustly deprive the alien of his due. ³⁰ I looked for someone among them who would repair the wall and stand in the breach before me on behalf of the land, so that I would not destroy her, but I found no one. ³¹ Therefore, I will pour out my rage upon them. In the fire of my fury, I will make an end of them. I will bring down their conduct on their own heads, declares the Lord God.