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He said: “Son of man, I am sending you to the Israelites, to a rebellious nation that has rebelled against me; they and their ancestors have been in revolt against me to this very day.
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And he said to me, “Son of man, eat what is before you, eat this scroll; then go and speak to the people of Israel.”
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He then said to me: “Son of man, go now to the people of Israel and speak my words to them.
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You are not being sent to a people of obscure speech and strange language, but to the people of Israel—
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But the people of Israel are not willing to listen to you because they are not willing to listen to me, for all the Israelites are hardened and obstinate.
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I came to the exiles who lived at Tel Aviv near the Kebar River. And there, where they were living, I sat among them for seven days—deeply distressed.
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“Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the people of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning from me.
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Then take an iron pan, place it as an iron wall between you and the city and turn your face toward it. It will be under siege, and you shall besiege it. This will be a sign to the people of Israel.
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“Then lie on your left side and put the sin of the people of Israel upon yourself. You are to bear their sin for the number of days you lie on your side.
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I have assigned you the same number of days as the years of their sin. So for 390 days you will bear the sin of the people of Israel.
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The Lord said, “In this way the people of Israel will eat defiled food among the nations where I will drive them.”
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Then I said, “Not so, Sovereign Lord! I have never defiled myself. From my youth until now I have never eaten anything found dead or torn by wild animals. No impure meat has ever entered my mouth.”
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He then said to me: “Son of man, I am about to cut off the food supply in Jerusalem. The people will eat rationed food in anxiety and drink rationed water in despair,
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Again, take a few of these and throw them into the fire and burn them up. A fire will spread from there to all Israel.
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Yet in her wickedness she has rebelled against my laws and decrees more than the nations and countries around her. She has rejected my laws and has not followed my decrees.
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“Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: You have been more unruly than the nations around you and have not followed my decrees or kept my laws. You have not even conformed to the standards of the nations around you.
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Because of all your detestable idols, I will do to you what I have never done before and will never do again.
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Therefore as surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, because you have defiled my sanctuary with all your vile images and detestable practices, I myself will shave you; I will not look on you with pity or spare you.
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When I shoot at you with my deadly and destructive arrows of famine, I will shoot to destroy you. I will bring more and more famine upon you and cut off your supply of food.
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Doom for the Mountains of Israel
The word of the Lord came to me:
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“Son of man, set your face against the mountains of Israel; prophesy against them
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and say: ‘You mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Sovereign Lord. This is what the Sovereign Lord says to the mountains and hills, to the ravines and valleys: I am about to bring a sword against you, and I will destroy your high places.
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Your altars will be demolished and your incense altars will be smashed; and I will slay your people in front of your idols.
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I will lay the dead bodies of the Israelites in front of their idols, and I will scatter your bones around your altars.
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Wherever you live, the towns will be laid waste and the high places demolished, so that your altars will be laid waste and devastated, your idols smashed and ruined, your incense altars broken down, and what you have made wiped out.
