Then I said, “Ah Lord God! behold, I have never defiled myself; from my youth up till now I have never eaten what died of itself or was torn by beasts, nor has foul flesh come into my mouth.”

And of these again you shall take some, and cast them into the fire, and burn them in the fire; from there a fire will come forth into all the house of Israel.

“And you, O son of man, thus says the Lord God to the land of Israel: An end! The end has come upon the four corners of the land.

“Thus says the Lord God: Disaster after disaster! Behold, it comes.

An end has come, the end has come; it has awakened against you. Behold, it comes.

Your doom has come to you, O inhabitant of the land; the time has come, the day is near, a day of tumult, and not of joyful shouting upon the mountains.

“Behold, the day! Behold, it comes! Your doom has come, injustice has blossomed, pride has budded.

The time has come, the day draws near. Let not the buyer rejoice, nor the seller mourn, for wrath is upon all their multitude.

When anguish comes, they will seek peace, but there shall be none.

Disaster comes upon disaster, rumor follows rumor; they seek a vision from the prophet, but the law perishes from the priest, and counsel from the elders.

And the Spirit of the Lord fell upon me, and he said to me, “Say, Thus says the Lord: So you think, O house of Israel; for I know the things that come into your mind.

And when they come there, they will remove from it all its detestable things and all its abominations.

“Son of man, what is this proverb that you have about the land of Israel, saying, ‘The days grow long, and every vision comes to nought’?

Therefore speak to them, and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Any man of the house of Israel who takes his idols into his heart and sets the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and yet comes to the prophet, I the Lord will answer him myself because of the multitude of his idols,

For any one of the house of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn in Israel, who separates himself from me, taking his idols into his heart and putting the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and yet comes to a prophet to inquire for himself of me, I the Lord will answer him myself;

Yet, if there should be left in it any survivors to lead out sons and daughters, when they come forth to you, and you see their ways and their doings, you will be consoled for the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem, for all that I have brought upon it.

Men give gifts to all harlots; but you gave your gifts to all your lovers, bribing them to come to you from every side for your harlotries.

“Son of man, speak to the elders of Israel, and say to them, Thus says the Lord God, Is it to inquire of me that you come? As I live, says the Lord God, I will not be inquired of by you.

And when they say to you, ‘Why do you sigh?’ you shall say, ‘Because of the tidings. When it comes, every heart will melt and all hands will be feeble, every spirit will faint and all knees will be weak as water. Behold, it comes and it will be fulfilled,’” says the Lord God.

“Prophesy therefore, son of man; clap your hands and let the sword come down twice, yea thrice, the sword for those to be slain; it is the sword for the great slaughter, which encompasses them,

“Son of man, mark two ways for the sword of the king of Babylon to come; both of them shall come forth from the same land. And make a signpost, make it at the head of the way to a city;

mark a way for the sword to come to Rabbah of the Ammonites and to Judah and to Jerusalem the fortified.

Into his right hand comes the lot for Jerusalem, to open the mouth with a cry, to lift up the voice with shouting, to set battering rams against the gates, to cast up mounds, to build siege towers.

“Therefore thus says the Lord God: Because you have made your guilt to be remembered, in that your transgressions are uncovered, so that in all your doings your sins appear—because you have come to remembrance, you shall be taken in them.

And you, O unhallowed wicked one, prince of Israel, whose day has come, the time of your final punishment,