Lamentations 1 - Ezekiel 12

New King James Version

Jerusalem in Affliction

1 How lonely sits the city
That was full of people!
^(A)How like a widow is she,
Who was great among the nations!
The ^(B)princess among the provinces
Has become a ^[a]slave!

²She ^(C)weeps bitterly in the ^(D)night,
Her tears are on her cheeks;
Among all her lovers
She has none to comfort her.
All her friends have dealt treacherously with her;
They have become her enemies.

³^(E)Judah has gone into captivity,
Under affliction and hard servitude;
^(F)She dwells among the ^[b]nations,
She finds no ^(G)rest;
All her persecutors overtake her in dire straits.

⁴The roads to Zion mourn
Because no one comes to the ^[c]set feasts.
All her gates are ^(H)desolate;
Her priests sigh,
Her virgins are afflicted,
And she is in bitterness.

⁵Her adversaries ^(I)have become ^[d]the master,
Her enemies prosper;
For the Lord has afflicted her
^(J)Because of the multitude of her transgressions.
Her ^(K)children have gone into captivity before the enemy.

⁶And from the daughter of Zion
All her splendor has departed.
Her princes have become like deer
That find no pasture,
That ^[e]flee without strength
Before the pursuer.

⁷In the days of her affliction and roaming,
Jerusalem ^(L)remembers all her pleasant things
That she had in the days of old.
When her people fell into the hand of the enemy,
With no one to help her,
The adversaries saw her
And mocked at her ^[f]downfall.

⁸^(M)Jerusalem has sinned gravely,
Therefore she has become ^[g]vile.
All who honored her despise her
Because ^(N)they have seen her nakedness;
Yes, she sighs and turns away.

⁹Her uncleanness is in her skirts;
She ^(O)did not consider her destiny;
Therefore her collapse was awesome;
She had no comforter.
“O Lord, behold my affliction,
For the enemy is exalted!”

¹⁰The adversary has spread his hand
Over all her ^[h]pleasant things;
For she has seen ^(P)the nations enter her ^[i]sanctuary,
Those whom You commanded
^(Q)Not to enter Your assembly.

¹¹All her people sigh,
^(R)They ^[j]seek bread;
They have given their ^[k]valuables for food to restore life.
“See, O Lord, and consider,
For I am scorned.”

¹²“Is it nothing to you, all you who ^[l]pass by?
Behold and see
^(S)If there is any sorrow like my sorrow,
Which has been brought on me,
Which the Lord has inflicted
In the day of His fierce anger.

¹³“From above He has sent fire into my bones,
And it overpowered them;
He has ^(T)spread a net for my feet
And turned me back;
He has made me desolate
And faint all the day.

¹⁴“The^(U) yoke of my transgressions was ^[m]bound;
They were woven together by His hands,
And thrust upon my neck.
He made my strength fail;
The Lord delivered me into the hands of those whom I am not able to withstand.

¹⁵“The Lord has trampled underfoot all my mighty men in my midst;
He has called an assembly against me
To crush my young men;
^(V)The Lord trampled as in a winepress
The virgin daughter of Judah.

¹⁶“For these things I weep;
My eye, ^(W)my eye overflows with water;
Because the comforter, who should restore my life,
Is far from me.
My children are desolate
Because the enemy prevailed.”

¹⁷^(X)Zion ^[n]spreads out her hands,
But no one comforts her;
The Lord has commanded concerning Jacob
That those ^(Y)around him become his adversaries;
Jerusalem has become an unclean thing among them.

¹⁸“The Lord is ^(Z)righteous,
For I ^(AA)rebelled against His ^[o]commandment.
Hear now, all peoples,
And behold my sorrow;
My virgins and my young men
Have gone into captivity.

¹⁹“I called for my lovers,
But they deceived me;
My priests and my elders
Breathed their last in the city,
While they sought food
To restore their life.

²⁰“See, O Lord, that I am in distress;
My ^(AB)soul^[p] is troubled;
My heart is overturned within me,
For I have been very rebellious.
^(AC)Outside the sword bereaves,
At home it is like death.

²¹“They have heard that I sigh,
But no one comforts me.
All my enemies have heard of my trouble;
They are ^(AD)glad that You have done it.
Bring on ^(AE)the day You have ^[q]announced,
That they may become like me.

²²“Let^(AF) all their wickedness come before You,
And do to them as You have done to me
For all my transgressions;
For my sighs are many,
And my heart is faint.”

God’s Anger with Jerusalem

2 How the Lord has covered the daughter of Zion
With a ^(AG)cloud in His anger!
^(AH)He cast down from heaven to the earth
^(AI)The beauty of Israel,
And did not remember ^(AJ)His footstool
In the day of His anger.

²The Lord has swallowed up and has ^(AK)not pitied
All the dwelling places of Jacob.
He has thrown down in His wrath
The strongholds of the daughter of Judah;
He has brought them down to the ground;
^(AL)He has profaned the kingdom and its princes.

³He has cut off in fierce anger
Every ^[r]horn of Israel;
^(AM)He has drawn back His right hand
From before the enemy.
^(AN)He has blazed against Jacob like a flaming fire
Devouring all around.

⁴^(AO)Standing like an enemy, He has bent His bow;
With His right hand, like an adversary,
He has slain ^(AP)all who were pleasing to His eye;
On the tent of the daughter of Zion,
He has poured out His fury like fire.

⁵^(AQ)The Lord was like an enemy.
He has swallowed up Israel,
He has swallowed up all her palaces;
^(AR)He has destroyed her strongholds,
And has increased mourning and lamentation
In the daughter of Judah.

⁶He has done violence ^(AS)to His ^[s]tabernacle,
^(AT)As if it were a garden;
He has destroyed His place of assembly;
The Lord has caused
The appointed feasts and Sabbaths to be forgotten in Zion.
In His burning indignation He has ^(AU)spurned the king and the priest.

⁷The Lord has spurned His altar,
He has ^(AV)abandoned His sanctuary;
He has ^[t]given up the walls of her palaces
Into the hand of the enemy.
^(AW)They have made a noise in the house of the Lord
As on the day of a set feast.

⁸The Lord has ^[u]purposed to destroy
The ^(AX)wall of the daughter of Zion.
^(AY)He has stretched out a line;
He has not withdrawn His hand from destroying;
Therefore He has caused the rampart and wall to lament;
They languished together.

⁹Her gates have sunk into the ground;
He has destroyed and ^(AZ)broken her bars.
^(BA)Her king and her princes are among the ^[v]nations;
^(BB)The Law is no more,
And her ^(BC)prophets find no ^[w]vision from the Lord.

¹⁰The elders of the daughter of Zion
^(BD)Sit on the ground and keep silence;
^[x]They ^(BE)throw dust on their heads
And ^(BF)gird themselves with sackcloth.
The virgins of Jerusalem
Bow their heads to the ground.

¹¹^(BG)My eyes fail with tears,
My ^[y]heart is troubled;
^(BH)My ^[z]bile is poured on the ground
Because of the destruction of the daughter of my people,
Because ^(BI)the children and the infants
Faint in the streets of the city.

¹²They say to their mothers,
“Where is grain and wine?”
As they swoon like the wounded
In the streets of the city,
As their life is poured out
In their mothers’ bosom.

¹³How shall I ^(BJ)console^[aa] you?
To what shall I liken you,
O daughter of Jerusalem?
What shall I compare with you, that I may comfort you,
O virgin daughter of Zion?
For your ruin is spread wide as the sea;
Who can heal you?

¹⁴Your ^(BK)prophets have seen for you
False and deceptive visions;
They have not ^(BL)uncovered your iniquity,
To bring back your captives,
But have envisioned for you false ^(BM)prophecies and delusions.

¹⁵All who ^[ab]pass by ^(BN)clap their hands at you;
They hiss ^(BO)and shake their heads
At the daughter of Jerusalem:
“Is this the city that is called
^(BP)‘The perfection of beauty,
The joy of the whole earth’?”

¹⁶^(BQ)All your enemies have opened their mouth against you;
They hiss and gnash their teeth.
They say, ^(BR)“We have swallowed her up!
Surely this is the ^(BS)day we have waited for;
We have found it, ^(BT)we have seen it!”

¹⁷The Lord has done what He ^(BU)purposed;
He has fulfilled His word
Which He commanded in days of old.
He has thrown down and has not pitied,
And He has caused an enemy to ^(BV)rejoice over you;
He has exalted the ^[ac]horn of your adversaries.

¹⁸Their heart cried out to the Lord,
“O wall of the daughter of Zion,
^(BW)Let tears run down like a river day and night;
Give yourself no relief;
Give ^[ad]your eyes no rest.

¹⁹“Arise, ^(BX)cry out in the night,
At the beginning of the watches;
^(BY)Pour out your heart like water before the face of the Lord.
Lift your hands toward Him
For the life of your young children,
Who faint from hunger ^(BZ)at the head of every street.”

²⁰“See, O Lord, and consider!
To whom have You done this?
^(CA)Should the women eat their offspring,
The children ^[ae]they have cuddled?
Should the priest and prophet be slain
In the sanctuary of the Lord?

²¹“Young^(CB) and old lie
On the ground in the streets;
My virgins and my young men
Have fallen by the ^(CC)sword;
You have slain them in the day of Your anger,
You have slaughtered and not pitied.

²²“You have invited as to a feast day
^(CD)The terrors that surround me.
In the day of the Lord’s anger
There was no refugee or survivor.
^(CE)Those whom I have borne and brought up
My enemies have ^(CF)destroyed.”

The Prophet’s Anguish and Hope

3 I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of His wrath.
²He has led me and made me walk
In darkness and not in light.
³Surely He has turned His hand against me
Time and time again throughout the day.

⁴He has aged ^(CG)my flesh and my skin,
And ^(CH)broken my bones.
⁵He has besieged me
And surrounded me with bitterness and ^[af]woe.
⁶^(CI)He has set me in dark places
Like the dead of long ago.

⁷^(CJ)He has hedged me in so that I cannot get out;
He has made my chain heavy.
⁸Even ^(CK)when I cry and shout,
He shuts out my prayer.
⁹He has blocked my ways with hewn stone;
He has made my paths crooked.

¹⁰^(CL)He has been to me a bear lying in wait,
Like a lion in ^[ag]ambush.
¹¹He has turned aside my ways and ^(CM)torn me in pieces;
He has made me desolate.
¹²He has bent His bow
And ^(CN)set me up as a target for the arrow.

¹³He has caused ^(CO)the ^[ah]arrows of His quiver
To pierce my ^[ai]loins.
¹⁴I have become the ^(CP)ridicule of all my people—
^(CQ)Their taunting song all the day.
¹⁵^(CR)He has filled me with bitterness,
He has made me drink wormwood.

¹⁶He has also broken my teeth ^(CS)with gravel,
And ^[aj]covered me with ashes.
¹⁷You have moved my soul far from peace;
I have forgotten ^[ak]prosperity.
¹⁸^(CT)And I said, “My strength and my hope
Have perished from the Lord.”

¹⁹Remember my affliction and roaming,
^(CU)The wormwood and the ^[al]gall.
²⁰My soul still remembers
And ^[am]sinks within me.
²¹This I recall to my mind,
Therefore I have ^(CV)hope.

²²^(CW)Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed,
Because His compassions ^(CX)fail not.
²³They are new ^(CY)every morning;
Great is Your faithfulness.
²⁴“The Lord is my ^(CZ)portion,” says my soul,
“Therefore I ^(DA)hope in Him!”

²⁵The Lord is good to those who ^(DB)wait for Him,
To the soul who seeks Him.
²⁶It is good that one should ^(DC)hope ^(DD)and wait quietly
For the salvation of the Lord.
²⁷^(DE)It is good for a man to bear
The yoke in his youth.

²⁸^(DF)Let him sit alone and keep silent,
Because God has laid it on him;
²⁹^(DG)Let him put his mouth in the dust—
There may yet be hope.
³⁰^(DH)Let him give his cheek to the one who strikes him,
And be full of reproach.

³¹^(DI)For the Lord will not cast off forever.
³²Though He causes grief,
Yet He will show compassion
According to the multitude of His mercies.
³³For ^(DJ)He does not afflict ^[an]willingly,
Nor grieve the children of men.

³⁴To crush under one’s feet
All the prisoners of the earth,
³⁵To turn aside the justice due a man
Before the face of the Most High,
³⁶Or subvert a man in his cause—
^(DK)The Lord does not approve.

³⁷Who is he ^(DL)who speaks and it comes to pass,
When the Lord has not commanded it?
³⁸Is it not from the mouth of the Most High
That ^(DM)woe and well-being proceed?
³⁹^(DN)Why should a living man ^[ao]complain,
^(DO)A man for the punishment of his sins?

⁴⁰Let us search out and examine our ways,
And turn back to the Lord;
⁴¹^(DP)Let us lift our hearts and hands
To God in heaven.
⁴²^(DQ)We have transgressed and rebelled;
You have not pardoned.

⁴³You have covered Yourself with anger
And pursued us;
You have slain and not pitied.
⁴⁴You have covered Yourself with a cloud,
That prayer should not pass through.
⁴⁵You have made us an ^(DR)offscouring and refuse
In the midst of the peoples.

⁴⁶^(DS)All our enemies
Have opened their mouths against us.
⁴⁷^(DT)Fear and a snare have come upon us,
^(DU)Desolation and destruction.
⁴⁸^(DV)My eyes overflow with rivers of water
For the destruction of the daughter of my people.

⁴⁹^(DW)My eyes flow and do not cease,
Without interruption,
⁵⁰Till the Lord from heaven
^(DX)Looks down and sees.
⁵¹My eyes bring suffering to my soul
Because of all the daughters of my city.

⁵²My enemies ^(DY)without cause
Hunted me down like a bird.
⁵³They ^[ap]silenced my life ^(DZ)in the pit
And ^(EA)threw ^[aq]stones at me.
⁵⁴^(EB)The waters flowed over my head;
^(EC)I said, “I am cut off!”

⁵⁵^(ED)I called on Your name, O Lord,
From the lowest ^(EE)pit.
⁵⁶^(EF)You have heard my voice:
“Do not hide Your ear
From my sighing, from my cry for help.”
⁵⁷You ^(EG)drew near on the day I called on You,
And said, ^(EH)“Do not fear!”

⁵⁸O Lord, You have ^(EI)pleaded the case for my soul;
^(EJ)You have redeemed my life.
⁵⁹O Lord, You have seen ^[ar]how I am wronged;
^(EK)Judge my case.
⁶⁰You have seen all their vengeance,
All their ^(EL)schemes against me.

⁶¹You have heard their reproach, O Lord,
All their schemes against me,
⁶²The lips of my enemies
And their whispering against me all the day.
⁶³Look at their ^(EM)sitting down and their rising up;
I am their taunting song.

⁶⁴^(EN)Repay them, O Lord,
According to the work of their hands.
⁶⁵Give them ^[as]a veiled heart;
Your curse be upon them!
⁶⁶In Your anger,
Pursue and destroy them
^(EO)From under the heavens of the ^(EP)Lord.

The Degradation of Zion

4 How the gold has become dim!
How changed the fine gold!
The stones of the sanctuary are ^[at]scattered
At the head of every street.

²The precious sons of Zion,
^[au]Valuable as fine gold,
How they are ^[av]regarded ^(EQ)as clay pots,
The work of the hands of the potter!

³Even the jackals present their breasts
To nurse their young;
But the daughter of my people is cruel,
^(ER)Like ostriches in the wilderness.

⁴The tongue of the infant clings
To the roof of its mouth for thirst;
^(ES)The young children ask for bread,
But no one breaks it for them.

⁵Those who ate delicacies
Are desolate in the streets;
Those who were brought up in scarlet
^(ET)Embrace ash heaps.

⁶The punishment of the iniquity of the daughter of my people
Is greater than the punishment of the ^(EU)sin of Sodom,
Which was ^(EV)overthrown in a moment,
With no hand to help her!

⁷Her ^[aw]Nazirites were ^[ax]brighter than snow
And whiter than milk;
They were more ruddy in body than rubies,
Like sapphire in their ^[ay]appearance.

⁸Now their appearance is blacker than soot;
They go unrecognized in the streets;
^(EW)Their skin clings to their bones,
It has become as dry as wood.

⁹Those slain by the sword are better off
Than those who die of hunger;
For these ^(EX)pine away,
Stricken for lack of the fruits of the ^(EY)field.

¹⁰The hands of the ^(EZ)compassionate women
Have ^[az]cooked their ^(FA)own children;
They became ^(FB)food for them
In the destruction of the daughter of my people.

¹¹The Lord has fulfilled His fury,
^(FC)He has poured out His fierce anger.
^(FD)He kindled a fire in Zion,
And it has devoured its foundations.

¹²The kings of the earth,
And all inhabitants of the world,
Would not have believed
That the adversary and the enemy
Could ^(FE)enter the gates of Jerusalem—

¹³^(FF)Because of the sins of her prophets
And the iniquities of her priests,
^(FG)Who shed in her midst
The blood of the just.

¹⁴They wandered blind in the streets;
^(FH)They have defiled themselves with blood,
^(FI)So that no one would touch their garments.

¹⁵They cried out to them,
“Go away, ^(FJ)unclean!
Go away, go away,
Do not touch us!”
When they fled and wandered,
Those among the nations said,
“They shall no longer dwell here.”

¹⁶The ^[ba]face of the Lord scattered them;
He no longer regards them.
^(FK)The people do not respect the priests
Nor show favor to the elders.

¹⁷Still ^(FL)our eyes failed us,
Watching vainly for our help;
In our watching we watched
For a nation that could not save us.

¹⁸^(FM)They ^[bb]tracked our steps
So that we could not walk in our streets.
^(FN)Our end was near;
Our days were over,
For our end had come.

¹⁹Our pursuers were ^(FO)swifter
Than the eagles of the heavens.
They pursued us on the mountains
And lay in wait for us in the wilderness.

²⁰The ^(FP)breath of our nostrils, the anointed of the Lord,
^(FQ)Was caught in their pits,
Of whom we said, “Under his shadow
We shall live among the nations.”

²¹Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of ^(FR)Edom,
You who dwell in the land of Uz!
^(FS)The cup shall also pass over to you
And you shall become drunk and make yourself naked.

²²^(FT)The punishment of your iniquity ^[bc]is accomplished,
O daughter of Zion;
He will no longer send you into captivity.
^(FU)He will punish your iniquity,
O daughter of Edom;
He will uncover your sins!

Prayer for Restoration

5 Remember, ^(FV)O Lord, what has come upon us;
Look, and behold ^(FW)our reproach!
²^(FX)Our inheritance has been turned over to aliens,
And our houses to foreigners.
³We have become orphans and waifs,
Our mothers are like ^(FY)widows.

⁴We pay for the water we drink,
And our wood comes at a price.
⁵^(FZ)They pursue at our ^[bd]heels;
We labor and have no rest.
⁶^(GA)We have given our hand ^(GB)to the Egyptians
And the ^(GC)Assyrians, to be satisfied with bread.

⁷^(GD)Our fathers sinned and are no more,
But we bear their iniquities.
⁸Servants rule over us;
There is none to deliver us from their hand.
⁹We get our bread at the risk of our lives,
Because of the sword in the wilderness.

¹⁰Our skin is hot as an oven,
Because of the fever of famine.
¹¹They ^(GE)ravished the women in Zion,
The maidens in the cities of Judah.
¹²Princes were hung up by their hands,
And elders were not respected.
¹³Young men ^(GF)ground at the millstones;
Boys staggered under loads of wood.
¹⁴The elders have ceased gathering at the gate,
And the young men from their ^(GG)music.

¹⁵The joy of our heart has ceased;
Our dance has turned into ^(GH)mourning.
¹⁶^(GI)The crown has fallen from our head.
Woe to us, for we have sinned!
¹⁷Because of this our heart is faint;
^(GJ)Because of these things our eyes grow dim;
¹⁸Because of Mount Zion which is ^(GK)desolate,
With foxes walking about on it.

¹⁹You, O Lord, ^(GL)remain forever;
^(GM)Your throne from generation to generation.
²⁰^(GN)Why do You forget us forever,
And forsake us for so long a time?
²¹^(GO)Turn us back to You, O Lord, and we will be ^[be]restored;
Renew our days as of old,
²²Unless You have utterly rejected us,
And are very angry with us!

Ezekiel’s Vision of God

1 Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, on the fifth day of the month, as I was among the captives by ^(GP)the River Chebar, that ^(GQ)the heavens were opened and I saw ^(GR)visions^[bf] of God. ²On the fifth day of the month, which was in the fifth year of King Jehoiachin’s captivity, ³the word of the Lord came expressly to Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the ^[bg]Chaldeans by the River Chebar; and ^(GS)the hand of the Lord was upon him there.

⁴Then I looked, and behold, ^(GT)a whirlwind was coming ^(GU)out of the north, a great cloud with raging fire engulfing itself; and brightness was all around it and radiating out of its midst like the color of amber, out of the midst of the fire. ⁵^(GV)Also from within it came the likeness of four living creatures. And ^(GW)this was their appearance: they had ^(GX)the likeness of a man. ⁶Each one had four faces, and each one had four wings. ⁷Their ^[bh]legs were straight, and the soles of their feet were like the soles of calves’ feet. They sparkled ^(GY)like the color of burnished bronze. ⁸^(GZ)The hands of a man were under their wings on their four sides; and each of the four had faces and wings. ⁹Their wings touched one another. The creatures did not turn when they went, but each one went straight ^(HA)forward.

¹⁰As for ^(HB)the likeness of their faces, each ^(HC)had the face of a man; each of the four had ^(HD)the face of a lion on the right side, ^(HE)each of the four had the face of an ox on the left side, ^(HF)and each of the four had the face of an eagle. ¹¹Thus were their faces. Their wings stretched upward; two wings of each one touched one another, and ^(HG)two covered their bodies. ¹²And ^(HH)each one went straight forward; they went wherever the spirit wanted to go, and they did not turn when they went.

¹³As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire, ^(HI)like the appearance of torches going back and forth among the living creatures. The fire was bright, and out of the fire went lightning. ¹⁴And the living creatures ran back and forth, ^(HJ)in appearance like a flash of lightning.

¹⁵Now as I looked at the living creatures, behold, ^(HK)a wheel was on the earth beside each living creature with its four faces. ¹⁶^(HL)The appearance of the wheels and their workings was ^(HM)like the color of beryl, and all four had the same likeness. The appearance of their workings was, as it were, a wheel in the middle of a wheel. ¹⁷When they moved, they went toward any one of four directions; they did not turn aside when they went. ¹⁸As for their rims, they were so high they were awesome; and their rims were ^(HN)full of eyes, all around the four of them. ¹⁹^(HO)When the living creatures went, the wheels went beside them; and when the living creatures were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up. ²⁰Wherever the spirit wanted to go, they went, because there the spirit went; and the wheels were lifted together with them, ^(HP)for the spirit of the ^[bi]living creatures was in the wheels. ²¹When those went, these went; when those stood, these stood; and when those were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up together with them, for the spirit of the ^[bj]living creatures was in the wheels.

²²^(HQ)The likeness of the ^[bk]firmament above the heads of the ^[bl]living creatures was like the color of an awesome ^(HR)crystal, stretched out ^(HS)over their heads. ²³And under the firmament their wings spread out straight, one toward another. Each one had two which covered one side, and each one had two which covered the other side of the body. ²⁴^(HT)When they went, I heard the noise of their wings, ^(HU)like the noise of many waters, like ^(HV)the voice of the Almighty, a tumult like the noise of an army; and when they stood still, they let down their wings. ²⁵A voice came from above the firmament that was over their heads; whenever they stood, they let down their wings.

²⁶^(HW)And above the firmament over their heads was the likeness of a throne, ^(HX)in appearance like a sapphire stone; on the likeness of the throne was a likeness with the appearance of a man high above ^(HY)it. ²⁷Also from the appearance of His waist and upward ^(HZ)I saw, as it were, the color of amber with the appearance of fire all around within it; and from the appearance of His waist and downward I saw, as it were, the appearance of fire with brightness all around. ²⁸^(IA)Like the appearance of a rainbow in a cloud on a rainy day, so was the appearance of the brightness all around it. ^(IB)This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord.

Ezekiel Sent to Rebellious Israel

So when I saw it, ^(IC)I fell on my face, and I heard a voice of One speaking.

Ezekiel Called to Be a Prophet

2 And He said to me, “Son of man, ^(ID)stand on your feet, and I will speak to you.” ²Then ^(IE)the Spirit entered me when He spoke to me, and set me on my feet; and I heard Him who spoke to me. ³And He said to me: “Son of man, I am sending you to the children of Israel, to a rebellious nation that has ^(IF)rebelled against Me; ^(IG)they and their fathers have transgressed against Me to this very day. ⁴^(IH)For they are ^[bm]impudent and stubborn children. I am sending you to them, and you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God.’ ⁵^(II)As for them, whether they hear or whether they refuse—for they are a ^(IJ)rebellious house—yet they ^(IK)will know that a prophet has been among them.

⁶“And you, son of man, ^(IL)do not be afraid of them nor be afraid of their words, though ^(IM)briers and thorns are with you and you dwell among scorpions; ^(IN)do not be afraid of their words or dismayed by their looks, ^(IO)though they are a rebellious house. ⁷^(IP)You shall speak My words to them, whether they hear or whether they refuse, for they are rebellious. ⁸But you, son of man, hear what I say to you. Do not be rebellious like that rebellious house; open your mouth and ^(IQ)eat what I give you.”

⁹Now when I looked, there was ^(IR)a hand stretched out to me; and behold, ^(IS)a scroll of a book was in it. ¹⁰Then He spread it before me; and there was writing on the inside and on the outside, and written on it were lamentations and mourning and woe.

The Responsibility of the Prophet

3 Moreover He said to me, “Son of man, eat what you find; ^(IT)eat this scroll, and go, speak to the house of Israel.” ²So I opened my mouth, and He caused me to eat that scroll.

³And He said to me, “Son of man, feed your belly, and fill your stomach with this scroll that I give you.” So I ^(IU)ate, and it was in my mouth ^(IV)like honey in sweetness.

⁴Then He said to me: “Son of man, go to the house of Israel and speak with My words to them. ⁵For you are not sent to a people of unfamiliar speech and of hard language, but to the house of Israel, ⁶not to many people of unfamiliar speech and of hard language, whose words you cannot understand. Surely, ^(IW)had I sent you to them, they would have listened to you. ⁷But the house of Israel will not listen to you, ^(IX)because they will not listen to Me; ^(IY)for all the house of Israel are ^[bn]impudent and hard-hearted. ⁸Behold, I have made your face strong against their faces, and your forehead strong against their foreheads. ⁹^(IZ)Like adamant stone, harder than flint, I have made your forehead; ^(JA)do not be afraid of them, nor be dismayed at their looks, though they are a rebellious house.”

¹⁰Moreover He said to me: “Son of man, receive into your heart all My words that I speak to you, and hear with your ears. ¹¹And go, get to the captives, to the children of your people, and speak to them and tell them, ^(JB)‘Thus says the Lord God,’ whether they hear, or whether they refuse.”

¹²Then ^(JC)the Spirit lifted me up, and I heard behind me a great thunderous voice: “Blessed is the ^(JD)glory of the Lord from His place!” ¹³I also heard the ^(JE)noise of the wings of the living creatures that touched one another, and the noise of the wheels beside them, and a great thunderous noise. ¹⁴So the Spirit lifted me up and took me away, and I went in bitterness, in the ^[bo]heat of my spirit; but ^(JF)the hand of the Lord was strong upon me. ¹⁵Then I came to the captives at Tel Abib, who dwelt by the River Chebar; and ^(JG)I sat where they sat, and remained there astonished among them seven days.

Ezekiel Is a Watchman

¹⁶Now it ^(JH)came to pass at the end of seven days that the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ¹⁷^(JI)“Son of man, I have made you ^(JJ)a watchman for the house of Israel; therefore hear a word from My mouth, and give them ^(JK)warning from Me: ¹⁸When I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life, that same wicked man ^(JL)shall die in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at your hand. ¹⁹Yet, if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; ^(JM)but you have delivered your soul.

²⁰“Again, when a ^(JN)righteous man turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die; because you did not give him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he has done shall not be remembered; but his blood I will require at your hand. ²¹Nevertheless if you warn the righteous man that the righteous should not sin, and he does not sin, he shall surely live because he took warning; also you will have delivered your soul.”

²²^(JO)Then the hand of the Lord was upon me there, and He said to me, “Arise, go out ^(JP)into the plain, and there I shall talk with you.”

²³So I arose and went out into the plain, and behold, ^(JQ)the glory of the Lord stood there, like the glory which I ^(JR)saw by the River Chebar; ^(JS)and I fell on my face. ²⁴Then ^(JT)the Spirit entered me and set me on my feet, and spoke with me and said to me: “Go, shut yourself inside your house. ²⁵And you, O son of man, surely ^(JU)they will put ropes on you and bind you with them, so that you cannot go out among them. ²⁶^(JV)I will make your tongue cling to the roof of your mouth, so that you shall be mute and ^(JW)not be ^[bp]one to rebuke them, ^(JX)for they are a rebellious house. ²⁷^(JY)But when I speak with you, I will open your mouth, and you shall say to them, ^(JZ)‘Thus says the Lord God.’ He who hears, let him hear; and he who refuses, let him refuse; for they are a rebellious house.

The Siege of Jerusalem Portrayed

4 “You also, son of man, take a clay tablet and lay it before you, and portray on it a city, Jerusalem. ²^(KA)Lay siege against it, build a ^(KB)siege wall against it, and heap up a mound against it; set camps against it also, and place battering rams against it all around. ³Moreover take for yourself an iron plate, and set it as an iron wall between you and the city. Set your face against it, and it shall be ^(KC)besieged, and you shall lay siege against it. ^(KD)This will be a sign to the house of Israel.

⁴“Lie also on your left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it. According to the number of the days that you lie on it, you shall bear their iniquity. ⁵For I have laid on you the years of their iniquity, according to the number of the days, three hundred and ninety days; ^(KE)so you shall bear the iniquity of the house of Israel. ⁶And when you have completed them, lie again on your right side; then you shall bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days. I have laid on you a day for each year.

⁷“Therefore you shall set your face toward the siege of Jerusalem; your arm shall be uncovered, and you shall prophesy against it. ⁸^(KF)And surely I will ^[bq]restrain you so that you cannot turn from one side to another till you have ended the days of your siege.

⁹“Also take for yourself wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and spelt; put them into one vessel, and make bread of them for yourself. During the number of days that you lie on your side, three hundred and ninety days, you shall eat it. ¹⁰And your food which you eat shall be by weight, twenty shekels a day; from time to time you shall eat it. ¹¹You shall also drink water by measure, one-sixth of a hin; from time to time you shall drink. ¹²And you shall eat it as barley cakes; and bake it using fuel of human waste in their sight.”

¹³Then the Lord said, “So ^(KG)shall the children of Israel eat their defiled bread among the Gentiles, where I will drive them.”

¹⁴So I said, ^(KH)“Ah, Lord God! Indeed I have never defiled myself from my youth till now; I have never eaten ^(KI)what died of itself or was torn by beasts, nor has ^(KJ)abominable^[br] flesh ever come into my mouth.”

¹⁵Then He said to me, “See, I am giving you cow dung instead of human waste, and you shall prepare your bread over it.”

¹⁶Moreover He said to me, “Son of man, surely I will cut off the ^(KK)supply of bread in Jerusalem; they shall ^(KL)eat bread by weight and with anxiety, and shall ^(KM)drink water by measure and with dread, ¹⁷that they may lack bread and water, and be dismayed with one another, and ^(KN)waste away because of their iniquity.

A Sword Against Jerusalem

5 “And you, son of man, take a sharp sword, take it as a barber’s razor, ^(KO)and pass it over your head and your beard; then take scales to weigh and divide the hair. ²^(KP)You shall burn with fire one-third in the midst of ^(KQ)the city, when ^(KR)the days of the siege are finished; then you shall take one-third and strike around it with the sword, and one-third you shall scatter in the wind: I will draw out a sword after ^(KS)them. ³^(KT)You shall also take a small number of them and bind them in the edge of your garment. ⁴Then take some of them again and ^(KU)throw them into the midst of the fire, and burn them in the fire. From there a fire will go out into all the house of Israel.

⁵“Thus says the Lord God: ‘This is Jerusalem; I have set her in the midst of the nations and the countries all around her. ⁶She has rebelled against My judgments by doing wickedness more than the nations, and against My statutes more than the countries that are all around her; for they have refused My judgments, and they have not walked in My statutes.’ ⁷Therefore thus says the Lord God: ‘Because you have ^[bs]multiplied disobedience more than the nations that are all around you, have not walked in My statutes ^(KV)nor kept My judgments, ^[bt]nor even done according to the judgments of the nations that are all around you’— ⁸therefore thus says the Lord God: ‘Indeed I, even I, am against you and will execute judgments in your midst in the sight of the nations. ⁹^(KW)And I will do among you what I have never done, and the like of which I will never do again, because of all your abominations. ¹⁰Therefore fathers ^(KX)shall eat their sons in your midst, and sons shall eat their fathers; and I will execute judgments among you, and all of you who remain I will ^(KY)scatter to all the winds.

¹¹‘Therefore, as I live,’ says the Lord God, ‘surely, because you have ^(KZ)defiled My sanctuary with all your ^(LA)detestable things and with all your abominations, therefore I will also diminish you; ^(LB)My eye will not spare, nor will I have any pity. ¹²^(LC)One-third of you shall die of the pestilence, and be consumed with famine in your midst; and one-third shall fall by the sword all around you; and ^(LD)I will scatter another third to all the winds, and I will draw out a sword after ^(LE)them.

¹³‘Thus shall My anger ^(LF)be spent, and I will ^(LG)cause My fury to rest upon them, ^(LH)and I will be avenged; ^(LI)and they shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken it in My zeal, when I have spent My fury upon them. ¹⁴Moreover ^(LJ)I will make you a waste and a reproach among the nations that are all around you, in the sight of all who pass by.

¹⁵‘So ^[bu]it shall be a ^(LK)reproach, a taunt, a ^(LL)lesson, and an astonishment to the nations that are all around you, when I execute judgments among you in anger and in fury and in ^(LM)furious rebukes. I, the Lord, have spoken. ¹⁶When I ^(LN)send against them the terrible arrows of famine which shall be for destruction, which I will send to destroy you, I will increase the famine upon you and cut off your ^(LO)supply of bread. ¹⁷So I will send against you famine and ^(LP)wild beasts, and they will bereave you. ^(LQ)Pestilence and blood shall pass through you, and I will bring the sword against you. I, the Lord, have spoken.’ ”

Judgment on Idolatrous Israel

6 Now the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ²“Son of man, ^(LR)set your face toward the ^(LS)mountains of Israel, and prophesy against them, ³and say, ‘O mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord God! Thus says the Lord God to the mountains, to the hills, to the ravines, and to the valleys: “Indeed I, even I, will bring a sword against you, and ^(LT)I will destroy your ^[bv]high places. ⁴Then your altars shall be desolate, your incense altars shall be broken, and ^(LU)I will cast down your slain men before your idols. ⁵And I will lay the corpses of the children of Israel before their idols, and I will scatter your bones all around your altars. ⁶In all your dwelling places the cities shall be laid waste, and the ^[bw]high places shall be desolate, so that your altars may be laid waste and made desolate, your idols may be broken and made to cease, your incense altars may be cut down, and your works may be abolished. ⁷The slain shall fall in your midst, and ^(LV)you shall know that I am the Lord.

⁸^(LW)“Yet I will leave a remnant, so that you may have some who escape the sword among the nations, when you are ^(LX)scattered through the countries. ⁹Then those of you who escape will ^(LY)remember Me among the nations where they are carried captive, because ^(LZ)I was crushed by their adulterous heart which has departed from Me, and ^(MA)by their eyes which play the harlot after their idols; ^(MB)they will loathe themselves for the evils which they committed in all their abominations. ¹⁰And they shall know that I am the Lord; I have not said in vain that I would bring this calamity upon them.”

¹¹‘Thus says the Lord God: ^(MC)“Pound^[bx] your fists and stamp your feet, and say, ‘Alas, for all the evil abominations of the house of Israel! ^(MD)For they shall fall by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence. ¹²He who is far off shall die by the pestilence, he who is near shall fall by the sword, and he who remains and is besieged shall die by the famine. ^(ME)Thus will I spend My fury upon them. ¹³Then you shall know that I am the Lord, when their slain are among their idols all around their altars, ^(MF)on every high hill, ^(MG)on all the mountaintops, ^(MH)under every green tree, and under every thick oak, wherever they offered sweet incense to all their idols. ¹⁴So I will ^(MI)stretch out My hand against them and make the land desolate, yes, more desolate than the wilderness toward ^(MJ)Diblah, in all their dwelling places. Then they shall know that I am the Lord.’ ” ’ ”

Judgment on Israel Is Near

7 Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ²“And you, son of man, thus says the Lord God to the land of Israel:

^(MK)‘An end! The end has come upon the four corners of the land.
³Now the end has come upon you,
And I will send My anger against you;
I will judge you ^(ML)according to your ways,
And I will repay you for all your abominations.
⁴^(MM)My eye will not spare you,
Nor will I have pity;
But I will repay your ways,
And your abominations will be in your midst;
^(MN)Then you shall know that I am the Lord!’

⁵“Thus says the Lord God:

‘A disaster, a singular ^(MO)disaster;
Behold, it has come!
⁶An end has come,
The end has come;
It has dawned for you;
Behold, it has come!
⁷^(MP)Doom has come to you, you who dwell in the land;
^(MQ)The time has come,
A day of trouble is near,
And not of rejoicing in the mountains.
⁸Now upon you I will soon ^(MR)pour out My fury,
And spend My anger upon you;
I will judge you according to your ways,
And I will repay you for all your abominations.

⁹‘My eye will not spare,
Nor will I have pity;
I will ^[by]repay you according to your ways,
And your abominations will be in your midst.
Then you shall know that I am the Lord who strikes.

¹⁰‘Behold, the day!
Behold, it has come!
^(MS)Doom has gone out;
The rod has blossomed,
Pride has budded.
¹¹^(MT)Violence has risen up into a rod of wickedness;
None of them shall remain,
None of their multitude,
None of ^[bz]them;
^(MU)Nor shall there be wailing for them.
¹²The time has come,
The day draws near.

‘Let not the buyer ^(MV)rejoice,
Nor the seller ^(MW)mourn,
For wrath is on their whole multitude.
¹³For the seller shall not return to what has been sold,
Though he may still be alive;
For the vision concerns the whole multitude,
And it shall not turn back;
No one will strengthen himself
Who lives in iniquity.

¹⁴‘They have blown the trumpet and made everyone ready,
But no one goes to battle;
For My wrath is on all their multitude.
¹⁵^(MX)The sword is outside,
And the pestilence and famine within.
Whoever is in the field
Will die by the sword;
And whoever is in the city,
Famine and pestilence will devour him.

¹⁶‘Those who ^(MY)survive will escape and be on the mountains
Like doves of the valleys,
All of them mourning,
Each for his iniquity.
¹⁷Every ^(MZ)hand will be feeble,
And every knee will be as weak as water.
¹⁸They will also ^(NA)be girded with sackcloth;
Horror will cover them;
Shame will be on every face,
Baldness on all their heads.

¹⁹‘They will throw their silver into the streets,
And their gold will be like refuse;
Their ^(NB)silver and their gold will not be able to deliver them
In the day of the wrath of the Lord;
They will not satisfy their souls,
Nor fill their stomachs,
Because it became their stumbling block of iniquity.

²⁰‘As for the beauty of his ornaments,
He set it in majesty;
^(NC)But they made from it
The images of their abominations—
Their detestable things;
Therefore I have made it
Like refuse to them.
²¹I will give it as ^(ND)plunder
Into the hands of strangers,
And to the wicked of the earth as spoil;
And they shall defile it.
²²I will turn My face from them,
And they will defile My secret place;
For robbers shall enter it and defile it.

²³‘Make a chain,
For ^(NE)the land is filled with crimes of blood,
And the city is full of violence.
²⁴Therefore I will bring the ^(NF)worst of the Gentiles,
And they will possess their houses;
I will cause the pomp of the strong to cease,
And their holy places shall be ^(NG)defiled.
²⁵^[ca]Destruction comes;
They will seek peace, but there shall be none.
²⁶^(NH)Disaster will come upon disaster,
And rumor will be upon rumor.
^(NI)Then they will seek a vision from a prophet;
But the law will perish from the priest,
And counsel from the elders.

²⁷‘The king will mourn,
The prince will be clothed with desolation,
And the hands of the common people will tremble.
I will do to them according to their way,
And according to what they deserve I will judge them;
Then they shall know that I am the Lord!’ ”

Abominations in the Temple

8 And it came to pass in the sixth year, in the sixth month, on the fifth day of the month, as I sat in my house with ^(NJ)the elders of Judah sitting before me, that ^(NK)the hand of the Lord God fell upon me there. ²^(NL)Then I looked, and there was a likeness, like the appearance of fire—from the appearance of His waist and downward, fire; and from His waist and upward, like the appearance of brightness, ^(NM)like the color of amber. ³He ^(NN)stretched out the form of a hand, and took me by a lock of my hair; and ^(NO)the Spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven, and ^(NP)brought me in visions of God to Jerusalem, to the door of the north gate of the inner court, ^(NQ)where the seat of the image of jealousy was, which ^(NR)provokes^[cb] to jealousy. ⁴And behold, the ^(NS)glory of the God of Israel was there, like the vision that I ^(NT)saw in the plain.

⁵Then He said to me, “Son of man, lift your eyes now toward the north.” So I lifted my eyes toward the north, and there, north of the altar gate, was this image of jealousy in the entrance.

⁶Furthermore He said to me, “Son of man, do you see what they are doing, the great ^(NU)abominations that the house of Israel commits here, to make Me go far away from My sanctuary? Now turn again, you will see greater abominations.” ⁷So He brought me to the door of the court; and when I looked, there was a hole in the wall. ⁸Then He said to me, “Son of man, dig into the wall”; and when I dug into the wall, there was a door.

⁹And He said to me, “Go in, and see the wicked abominations which they are doing there.” ¹⁰So I went in and saw, and there—every ^(NV)sort of ^(NW)creeping thing, abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel, ^[cc]portrayed all around on the walls. ¹¹And there stood before them ^(NX)seventy men of the elders of the house of Israel, and in their midst stood Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan. Each man had a censer in his hand, and a thick cloud of incense went up. ¹²Then He said to me, “Son of man, have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the room of his idols? For they say, ^(NY)‘The Lord does not see us, the Lord has forsaken the land.’ ”

¹³And He said to me, “Turn again, and you will see greater abominations that they are doing.” ¹⁴So He brought me to the door of the north gate of the Lord’s house; and to my dismay, women were sitting there weeping for ^[cd]Tammuz.

¹⁵Then He said to me, “Have you seen this, O son of man? Turn again, you will see greater abominations than these.” ¹⁶So He brought me into the inner court of the Lord’s house; and there, at the door of the temple of the Lord, ^(NZ)between the porch and the altar, ^(OA)were about twenty-five men ^(OB)with their backs toward the temple of the Lord and their faces toward the east, and they were worshiping ^(OC)the sun toward the east.

¹⁷And He said to me, “Have you seen this, O son of man? Is it a trivial thing to the house of Judah to commit the abominations which they commit here? For they have ^(OD)filled the land with violence; then they have returned to provoke Me to anger. Indeed they put the branch to their nose. ¹⁸^(OE)Therefore I also will act in fury. My ^(OF)eye will not spare nor will I have pity; and though they ^(OG)cry in My ears with a loud voice, I will not hear them.”

The Wicked Are Slain

9 Then He called out in my hearing with a loud voice, saying, “Let those who have charge over the city draw near, each with a ^[ce]deadly weapon in his hand.” ²And suddenly six men came from the direction of the upper gate, which faces north, each with his ^[cf]battle-ax in his hand. ^(OH)One man among them was clothed with linen and had a writer’s inkhorn ^[cg]at his side. They went in and stood beside the bronze altar.

³Now ^(OI)the glory of the God of Israel had gone up from the cherub, where it had been, to the threshold of the ^[ch]temple. And He called to the man clothed with linen, who had the writer’s inkhorn at his side; ⁴and the Lord said to him, “Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and put ^(OJ)a mark on the foreheads of the men ^(OK)who sigh and cry over all the abominations that are done within it.”

⁵To the others He said in my ^[ci]hearing, “Go after him through the city and ^(OL)kill;^[cj] ^(OM)do not let your eye spare, nor have any pity. ⁶^(ON)Utterly^[ck] slay old and young men, maidens and little children and women; but ^(OO)do not come near anyone on whom is the mark; and ^(OP)begin at My sanctuary.” ^(OQ)So they began with the elders who were before the ^[cl]temple. ⁷Then He said to them, “Defile the ^[cm]temple, and fill the courts with the slain. Go out!” And they went out and killed in the city.

⁸So it was, that while they were killing them, I was left alone; and I ^(OR)fell on my face and cried out, and said, ^(OS)“Ah, Lord God! Will You destroy all the remnant of Israel in pouring out Your fury on Jerusalem?”

⁹Then He said to me, “The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is exceedingly great, and ^(OT)the land is full of bloodshed, and the city full of perversity; for they say, ^(OU)‘The Lord has forsaken the land, and ^(OV)the Lord does not see!’ ¹⁰And as for Me also, My ^(OW)eye will neither spare, nor will I have pity, but ^(OX)I will recompense their deeds on their own head.”

¹¹Just then, the man clothed with linen, who had the inkhorn at his side, reported back and said, “I have done as You commanded me.”

The Glory Departs from the Temple

10 And I looked, and there in the ^(OY)firmament^[cn] that was above the head of the cherubim, there appeared something like a sapphire stone, having the appearance of the likeness of a throne. ²^(OZ)Then He spoke to the man clothed with linen, and said, “Go in among the wheels, under the cherub, fill your hands with ^(PA)coals of fire from among the cherubim, and ^(PB)scatter them over the city.” And he went in as I watched.

³Now the cherubim were standing on the ^[co]south side of the ^[cp]temple when the man went in, and the ^(PC)cloud filled the inner court. ⁴^(PD)Then the glory of the Lord went up from the cherub, and paused over the threshold of the ^[cq]temple; and ^(PE)the house was filled with the cloud, and the court was full of the brightness of the Lord’s ^(PF)glory. ⁵And the ^(PG)sound of the wings of the cherubim was heard even in the outer court, like ^(PH)the voice of Almighty God when He speaks.

⁶Then it happened, when He commanded the man clothed in linen, saying, “Take fire from among the wheels, from among the cherubim,” that he went in and stood beside the wheels. ⁷And the cherub stretched out his hand from among the cherubim to the fire that was among the cherubim, and took some of it and put it into the hands of the man clothed with linen, who took it and went out. ⁸^(PI)The cherubim appeared to have the form of a man’s hand under their wings.

⁹^(PJ)And when I looked, there were four wheels by the cherubim, one wheel by one cherub and another wheel by each other cherub; the wheels appeared to have the color of a ^(PK)beryl stone. ¹⁰As for their appearance, all four looked alike—as it were, a wheel in the middle of a wheel. ¹¹^(PL)When they went, they went toward any of their four directions; they did not turn aside when they went, but followed in the direction the head was facing. They did not turn aside when they went. ¹²And their whole body, with their back, their hands, their wings, and the wheels that the four had, were ^(PM)full of eyes all around. ¹³As for the wheels, they were called in my ^[cr]hearing, “Wheel.”

¹⁴^(PN)Each one had four faces: the first face was the face of a cherub, the second face the face of a man, the third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle. ¹⁵And the cherubim were lifted up. This was ^(PO)the living creature I saw by the River Chebar. ¹⁶^(PP)When the cherubim went, the wheels went beside them; and when the cherubim lifted their wings to mount up from the earth, the same wheels also did not turn from beside them. ¹⁷^(PQ)When ^[cs]the cherubim stood still, the wheels stood still, and when ^[ct]one was lifted up, ^[cu]the other lifted itself up, for the spirit of the living creature was in them.

¹⁸Then ^(PR)the glory of the Lord ^(PS)departed from the threshold of the ^[cv]temple and stood over the cherubim. ¹⁹And ^(PT)the cherubim lifted their wings and mounted up from the earth in my sight. When they went out, the wheels were beside them; and they stood at the door of the ^(PU)east gate of the Lord’s house, and the glory of the God of Israel was above them.

²⁰^(PV)This is the living creature I saw under the God of Israel ^(PW)by the River Chebar, and I knew they were cherubim. ²¹^(PX)Each one had four faces and each one four wings, and the likeness of the hands of a man was under their wings. ²²And ^(PY)the likeness of their faces was the same as the faces which I had seen by the River Chebar, their appearance and their persons. ^(PZ)They each went straight forward.

Judgment on Wicked Counselors

11 Then ^(QA)the Spirit lifted me up and brought me to ^(QB)the East Gate of the Lord’s house, which faces eastward; and there ^(QC)at the door of the gate were twenty-five men, among whom I saw Jaazaniah the son of Azzur, and Pelatiah the son of Benaiah, princes of the people. ²And He said to me: “Son of man, these are the men who devise iniquity and give wicked ^[cw]counsel in this city, ³who say, ‘The time is not ^(QD)near to build houses; ^(QE)this city is the ^[cx]caldron, and we are the meat.’ ⁴Therefore prophesy against them, prophesy, O son of man!”

⁵Then ^(QF)the Spirit of the Lord fell upon me, and said to me, “Speak! ‘Thus says the Lord: “Thus you have said, O house of Israel; for ^(QG)I know the things that come into your mind. ⁶^(QH)You have multiplied your slain in this city, and you have filled its streets with the slain.” ⁷Therefore thus says the Lord God: ^(QI)“Your slain whom you have laid in its midst, they are the meat, and this city is the caldron; ^(QJ)but I shall bring you out of the midst of it. ⁸You have ^(QK)feared the sword; and I will bring a sword upon you,” says the Lord God. ⁹“And I will bring you out of its midst, and deliver you into the hands of strangers, and ^(QL)execute judgments on you. ¹⁰^(QM)You shall fall by the sword. I will judge you at ^(QN)the border of Israel. ^(QO)Then you shall know that I am the Lord. ¹¹^(QP)This city shall not be your ^[cy]caldron, nor shall you be the meat in its midst. I will judge you at the border of Israel. ¹²And you shall know that I am the Lord; for you have not walked in My statutes nor executed My judgments, but ^(QQ)have done according to the customs of the Gentiles which are all around you.” ’ ”

¹³Now it happened, while I was prophesying, that ^(QR)Pelatiah the son of Benaiah died. Then ^(QS)I fell on my face and cried with a loud voice, and said, “Ah, Lord God! Will You make a complete end of the remnant of Israel?”

God Will Restore Israel

¹⁴Again the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ¹⁵“Son of man, your brethren, your relatives, your countrymen, and all the house of Israel in its entirety, are those about whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, ‘Get far away from the Lord; this land has been given to us as a possession.’ ¹⁶Therefore say, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “Although I have cast them far off among the Gentiles, and although I have scattered them among the countries, ^(QT)yet I shall be a little ^[cz]sanctuary for them in the countries where they have gone.” ’ ¹⁷Therefore say, ‘Thus says the Lord God: ^(QU)“I will gather you from the peoples, assemble you from the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.” ’ ¹⁸And they will go there, and they will take away all its ^(QV)detestable things and all its abominations from there. ¹⁹Then ^(QW)I will give them one heart, and I will put ^(QX)a new spirit within ^[da]them, and take ^(QY)the stony heart out of their flesh, and give them a heart of flesh, ²⁰^(QZ)that they may walk in My statutes and keep My judgments and do them; ^(RA)and they shall be My people, and I will be their God. ²¹But as for those whose hearts follow the desire for their detestable things and their abominations, ^(RB)I will recompense their deeds on their own heads,” says the Lord God.

²²So the cherubim ^(RC)lifted up their wings, with the wheels beside them, and the glory of the God of Israel was high above them. ²³And ^(RD)the glory of the Lord went up from the midst of the city and stood ^(RE)on the mountain, ^(RF)which is on the east side of the city.

²⁴Then ^(RG)the Spirit took me up and brought me in a vision by the Spirit of God into ^[db]Chaldea, to those in captivity. And the vision that I had seen went up from me. ²⁵So I spoke to those in captivity of all the things the Lord had shown me.

Judah’s Captivity Portrayed

12 Now the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ²“Son of man, you dwell in the midst of ^(RH)a rebellious house, which ^(RI)has eyes to see but does not see, and ears to hear but does not hear; ^(RJ)for they are a rebellious house.

³“Therefore, son of man, prepare your belongings for captivity, and go into captivity by day in their sight. You shall go from your place into captivity to another place in their sight. It may be that they will consider, though they are a rebellious house. ⁴By day you shall bring out your belongings in their sight, as though going into captivity; and at evening you shall go in their sight, like those who go into captivity. ⁵Dig through the wall in their sight, and carry your belongings out through it. ⁶In their sight you shall bear them on your shoulders and carry them out at twilight; you shall cover your face, so that you cannot see the ground, ^(RK)for I have made you a sign to the house of Israel.”

⁷So I did as I was commanded. I brought out my belongings by day, as though going into captivity, and at evening I dug through the wall with my hand. I brought them out at twilight, and I bore them on my shoulder in their sight.

⁸And in the morning the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ⁹“Son of man, has not the house of Israel, ^(RL)the rebellious house, said to you, ^(RM)‘What are you doing?’ ¹⁰Say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “This ^(RN)burden^[dc] concerns the prince in Jerusalem and all the house of Israel who are among them.” ’ ¹¹Say, ^(RO)‘I am a sign to you. As I have done, so shall it be done to them; ^(RP)they shall be carried away into captivity.’ ¹²And ^(RQ)the prince who is among them shall bear his belongings on his shoulder at twilight and go out. They shall dig through the wall to carry them out through it. He shall cover his face, so that he cannot see the ground with his eyes. ¹³I will also spread My ^(RR)net over him, and he shall be caught in My snare. ^(RS)I will bring him to Babylon, to the land of the Chaldeans; yet he shall not see it, though he shall die there. ¹⁴^(RT)I will scatter to every wind all who are around him to help him, and all his troops; and ^(RU)I will draw out the sword after them.

¹⁵^(RV)“Then they shall know that I am the Lord, when I scatter them among the nations and disperse them throughout the countries. ¹⁶^(RW)But I will spare a few of their men from the sword, from famine, and from pestilence, that they may declare all their abominations among the Gentiles wherever they go. Then they shall know that I am the Lord.”

Judgment Not Postponed

¹⁷Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ¹⁸“Son of man, ^(RX)eat your bread with ^[dd]quaking, and drink your water with trembling and anxiety. ¹⁹And say to the people of the land, ‘Thus says the Lord God to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the land of Israel: “They shall eat their bread with anxiety, and drink their water with dread, so that her land may ^(RY)be emptied of all who are in it, ^(RZ)because of the violence of all those who dwell in it. ²⁰Then the cities that are inhabited shall be laid waste, and the land shall become desolate; and you shall know that I am the Lord.” ’ ”

²¹And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ²²“Son of man, what is this proverb that you people have about the land of Israel, which says, ^(SA)‘The days are prolonged, and every vision fails’? ²³Tell them therefore, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “I will lay this proverb to rest, and they shall no more use it as a proverb in Israel.” ’ But say to them, ‘ ^(SB)“The days are at hand, and the ^[de]fulfillment of every vision. ²⁴For ^(SC)no more shall there be any ^(SD)false^[df] vision or flattering divination within the house of Israel. ²⁵For I am the Lord. I speak, and ^(SE)the word which I speak will come to pass; it will no more be postponed; for in your days, O rebellious house, I will say the word and ^(SF)perform it,” says the Lord God.’ ”

²⁶Again the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ²⁷^(SG)“Son of man, look, the house of Israel is saying, ‘The vision that he sees is ^(SH)for many days from now, and he prophesies of times far off.’ ²⁸^(SI)Therefore say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “None of My words will be postponed any more, but the word which I speak ^(SJ)will be done,” says the Lord God.’ ”