Ezekiel 22:1-16

The Voice

Eternal One: ² Son of man, will you judge this bloody city? Will you? You must! Confront her about her shocking actions, ³ and speak to her.

Eternal One: You are a city of bloodshed, and your ways will come back to haunt you. You are a city of idols, making them even though they defile you. ⁴ The blood you shed covers you with the heaviness of guilt. The idols you have made degraded your spirit. You have reached the end of your life, so I have made you an object of scorn to all the nations! ⁵ Those near and far will mock you—city of infamy and turmoil!

⁶ Look, the princes of Israel who reside in your walls use their political power to murder. ⁷ Infamous city of turmoil, your people mistreat their elders, disrespect their parents, take advantage of foreigners passing through, and treat orphans and widows with contempt. ⁸ In you My holy things are desecrated and My Sabbaths are profaned. ⁹ Your citizens lie and give false testimonies at capital trials, shedding innocent blood. Your people feast at lofty shrines devoted to false gods and commit lewd sexual acts. ¹⁰ In you men expose their fathers’ nakedness by having intercourse with their wives and engage in sexual relations with women who are impure because of their menstrual cycles. ¹¹ In you one man commits unspeakable things with his neighbor’s wife, while another practices incest with his daughter-in-law or half-sister. ¹² In you murder is for hire, exorbitant interests and profits are taken from the poor, neighbors are oppressed for personal gain; and in you I am forgotten.

¹³ I will strike My hands at your extortion and murderous ways. ¹⁴ Will you be courageous and strong when I come to deal with you? I, the Eternal One, will do what I’ve said I will do. ¹⁵ I will scatter you among the nations and disperse you throughout unfamiliar lands! I will put an end to your impurity. ¹⁶ When you have been defiled in front of the nations, you will know that I am the Eternal.