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The Sins of Israel’s Leaders

23 Again a message came to me from the Lord: 24 “Son of man, give the people of Israel this message: In the day of my indignation, you will be like a polluted land, a land without rain. 25 Your princes[a] plot conspiracies just as lions stalk their prey. They devour innocent people, seizing treasures and extorting wealth. They make many widows in the land. 26 Your priests have violated my instructions and defiled my holy things. They make no distinction between what is holy and what is not. And they do not teach my people the difference between what is ceremonially clean and unclean. They disregard my Sabbath days so that I am dishonored among them. 27 Your leaders are like wolves who tear apart their victims. They actually destroy people’s lives for money! 28 And your prophets cover up for them by announcing false visions and making lying predictions. They say, ‘My message is from the Sovereign Lord,’ when the Lord hasn’t spoken a single word to them. 29 Even common people oppress the poor, rob the needy, and deprive foreigners of justice.

30 “I looked for someone who might rebuild the wall of righteousness that guards the land. I searched for someone to stand in the gap in the wall so I wouldn’t have to destroy the land, but I found no one. 31 So now I will pour out my fury on them, consuming them with the fire of my anger. I will heap on their heads the full penalty for all their sins. I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken!”

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Footnotes

  1. 22:25 As in Greek version; Hebrew reads prophets.

23 And the word of Yahweh came[a] to me, saying,[b] 24 “Son of man,[c] say to her, ‘You are a land not cleansed; it is not rained upon in the day of indignation.’ 25 The conspiracy of its prophets in the midst of her is like a roaring lion that is tearing prey. They devour people, and they take wealth and treasure; they make its widows numerous in the midst of her. 26 Its priests treat my law violently, and they profane my holy objects; they do not distinguish between a holy object and what is unholy, or between the clean and the unclean. They do not teach the difference, and they hide their eyes from my Sabbaths, and so I am profaned in the midst of them. 27 Its officials are like wolves tearing prey in its midst, to pour out blood, to destroy people, to make dishonest gain. 28 And for them its prophets plaster whitewash; they are seeing falseness and are practicing divination for them by lying, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh,’ and Yahweh has not spoken. 29 They severely oppress the people of the land, and they committed robbery,[d] and they mistreated the needy and the poor, and they oppressed the alien without[e] justice. 30 And so I sought for them somebody, one repairing the wall and standing in the breach before me[f] on behalf of the land not to destroy it, but I did not find anyone, 31 and so I poured out my indignation on them. With the fire of my wrath I destroyed them; I returned their way upon their head,” declares[g] the Lord Yahweh.

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Footnotes

  1. Ezekiel 22:23 Literally “was”
  2. Ezekiel 22:23 Literally “to say”
  3. Ezekiel 22:24 Or “mortal,” or “son of humankind”
  4. Ezekiel 22:29 Literally “and they seized a robbed things
  5. Ezekiel 22:29 Literally “with not”
  6. Ezekiel 22:30 Literally “to the face of me”
  7. Ezekiel 22:31 Literally “declaration of”