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17 The Lord’s message came to me: 18 “Son of man, the house of Israel has become slag to me. All of them are like bronze, tin, iron, and lead in the furnace;[a] they are the worthless slag of silver. 19 Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: ‘Because all of you[b] have become slag, look out! I am about to gather you in the middle of Jerusalem. 20 As silver, bronze, iron, lead, and tin are gathered in a furnace so that the fire can blow on them to melt them, so I will gather you in my anger and in my rage. I will deposit you there[c] and melt you. 21 I will gather you and blow on you with the fire of my fury, and you will be melted in it. 22 As silver is melted in a furnace, so you will be melted in it, and you will know that I, the Lord, have poured out my anger on you.’”

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Footnotes

  1. Ezekiel 22:18 tn For similar imagery, see Isa 1:21-26 and Jer 6:27-30.
  2. Ezekiel 22:19 tn The Hebrew second person pronoun is masculine plural here and in vv. 19b-21, indicating that the people are being addressed.
  3. Ezekiel 22:20 tn Heb “I will put.” No object is supplied in the Hebrew, prompting many to emend the text to “I will blow.” See BHS and verse 21.

Jerusalem as God’s Furnace

17 The word of the Lord came to me: 18 “Son of man, the house of Israel has become merely dross to me.(A) All of them are copper, tin, iron, and lead inside the furnace;(B) they are just dross from silver. 19 Therefore, this is what the Lord God says: Because all of you have become dross, I am about to gather you into Jerusalem. 20 Just as one gathers silver, copper, iron, lead, and tin into the furnace to blow fire(C) on them and melt them, so I will gather you in my anger and wrath, put you inside, and melt you. 21 Yes, I will gather you together and blow on you with the fire of my fury, and you will be melted within the city. 22 As silver is melted inside a furnace, so you will be melted inside the city. Then you will know that I, the Lord, have poured out my wrath on you.”(D)

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