Ezekiel 22:1-16

Revised Standard Version

The Bloody City

22 Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ² “And you, son of man, will you judge, will you judge the bloody city? Then declare to her all her abominable deeds. ³ You shall say, Thus says the Lord God: A city that sheds blood in the midst of her, that her time may come, and that makes idols to defile herself! ⁴ You have become guilty by the blood which you have shed, and defiled by the idols which you have made; and you have brought your day near, the appointed time^[a] of your years has come. Therefore I have made you a reproach to the nations, and a mocking to all the countries. ⁵ Those who are near and those who are far from you will mock you, you infamous one, full of tumult.

⁶ “Behold, the princes of Israel in you, every one according to his power, have been bent on shedding blood. ⁷ Father and mother are treated with contempt in you; the sojourner suffers extortion in your midst; the fatherless and the widow are wronged in you. ⁸ You have despised my holy things, and profaned my sabbaths. ⁹ There are men in you who slander to shed blood, and men in you who eat upon the mountains; men commit lewdness in your midst. ¹⁰ In you men uncover their fathers’ nakedness; in you they humble women who are unclean in their impurity. ¹¹ One commits abomination with his neighbor’s wife; another lewdly defiles his daughter-in-law; another in you defiles his sister, his father’s daughter. ¹² In you men take bribes to shed blood; you take interest and increase and make gain of your neighbors by extortion; and you have forgotten me, says the Lord God.

¹³ “Behold, therefore, I strike my hands together at the dishonest gain which you have made, and at the blood which has been in the midst of you. ¹⁴ Can your courage endure, or can your hands be strong, in the days that I shall deal with you? I the Lord have spoken, and I will do it. ¹⁵ I will scatter you among the nations and disperse you through the countries, and I will consume your filthiness out of you. ¹⁶ And I^[b] shall be profaned through you in the sight of the nations; and you shall know that I am the Lord.”