Bible in 90 Days

²¹ The word of the Lord came to me, saying: ²² Son of man, what is this proverb that you people have in the land of Israel, saying, “The days are prolonged, and every vision fails”? ²³ Tell them therefore, “Thus says the Lord God: I will make this proverb cease so that they shall no more use it as a proverb in Israel.” But say to them, The days are at hand and the effect of every vision. ²⁴ For there shall be no more any vain vision or flattering divination within the house of Israel. ²⁵ For I the Lord will speak, and the word that I speak shall come to pass. It shall be no more prolonged. For in your days, O rebellious house, I will say the word, and will perform it, says the Lord God.

²⁶ Again the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ²⁷ Son of man, look, the house of Israel says, “The vision that he sees is for many days to come, and he prophesies of the times that are far off.”

²⁸ Therefore say to them, Thus says the Lord God: There shall none of My words be prolonged anymore, but the word which I have spoken shall be done, says the Lord God.

False Prophets Condemned

13 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ² Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel who prophesy, and say to those who prophesy out of their own hearts, “Hear the word of the Lord!” ³ Thus says the Lord God: Woe to the foolish prophets who follow their own spirit and have seen nothing! ⁴ O Israel, your prophets are like the foxes in the ruins. ⁵ You have not gone up into the gaps, nor did you build up the hedge for the house of Israel to stand in the battle on the day of the Lord. ⁶ They have seen vanity and lying divination, saying, “The Lord says,” when the Lord has not sent them. And they have made others to hope for the confirmation of their word. ⁷ Have you not seen a vain vision, and have you not spoken a lying divination when you say, “The Lord says,” yet it is not I who have spoken?

⁸ Therefore thus says the Lord God: Because you have spoken vanity and seen lies, therefore I am against you, says the Lord God. ⁹ Thus My hand shall be against the prophets who see vanity and who divine lies. They shall not have a place in the council of My people, nor shall they be written in the register of the house of Israel, nor shall they enter into the land of Israel so that you may know that I am the Lord God.

¹⁰ It is surely because they have seduced My people, saying, “Peace,” when there was no peace. And when anyone builds up a wall, they daub it with whitewash. ¹¹ Say to those who daub it with whitewash that it shall fall. There shall be an overflowing shower, and you, O great hailstones, shall fall. And a stormy wind shall break it. ¹² When the wall has fallen, will you not be asked, “Where is the whitewash with which you have daubed it?”

¹³ Therefore thus says the Lord God: I will make a violent wind break out in My fury. And there shall be an overflowing shower in My anger, and hailstones in My fury to consume it. ¹⁴ So I will break down the wall that you have daubed with whitewash, and bring it down to the ground so that its foundation is laid bare. And when it falls, you shall be consumed in its midst. And you shall know that I am the Lord. ¹⁵ Thus I will accomplish My wrath upon the wall and upon those who have daubed it with whitewash, and I will say to you, The wall is no more, nor those who daubed it, ¹⁶ along with the prophets of Israel who prophesy concerning Jerusalem and who see visions of peace for her when there is no peace, says the Lord God.

¹⁷ Now you, son of man, set your face against the daughters of your people who prophesy out of their own heart and prophesy against them, ¹⁸ and say, Thus says the Lord God: Woe to the women who sew magic bands on all wrists and make veils on the heads of persons of every stature to hunt souls! Will you hunt the souls of My people but save the souls alive of others for yourselves? ¹⁹ And you pollute Me among My people for handfuls of barley and pieces of bread to slay the souls of those who should not die and to save the souls alive of those who should not live by your lying to My people who hear your lies.

²⁰ Therefore thus says the Lord God: I am against your magic bands with which you hunt the souls there as birds, and I will tear them from your arms, and will let the souls go, even the souls that you hunt as birds. ²¹ Your veils also I will tear off and deliver My people out of your hands, and they shall be no more in your hand to be hunted. And you shall know that I am the Lord. ²² Because with lies you have made the heart of the righteous sad, whom I have not made sad, and strengthened the hands of the wicked that he should not turn from his wicked way and save his life, ²³ therefore you women shall no more see vanity or practice divinations, and I will deliver My people out of your hand. Thus you shall know that I am the Lord.

Idolatrous Elders Condemned

14 Then some of the elders of Israel came to me and sat before me. ² The word of the Lord came to me, saying: ³ Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their heart and put the stumbling block of their iniquity before their face. Should I be inquired of by them at all? ⁴ Therefore speak to them and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Every man of the house of Israel who sets up his idols in his heart, and puts the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and comes to the prophet, I the Lord will answer him who comes according to the multitude of his idols, ⁵ in order to seize the heart of the house of Israel who are estranged from Me through all their idols.

⁶ Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: Repent and turn away from your idols and turn away your faces from all your abominations.

⁷ For every one of the house of Israel or of the stranger who sojourns in Israel who separates himself from Me, and sets up his idols in his heart, and puts the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and comes to the prophet to inquire of Me for himself, I the Lord will answer him by Myself. ⁸ And I will set My face against that man and will make him a sign and a proverb, and I will cut him off from the midst of My people. And you shall know that I am the Lord.

⁹ And if the prophet is deceived when he has spoken a word, I the Lord have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out My hand against him and will destroy him from the midst of My people Israel. ¹⁰ They shall bear the punishment of their iniquity. The punishment of the prophet shall be even as the punishment of him who seeks him ¹¹ in order that the house of Israel may no more go astray from Me or be polluted anymore with all their transgressions. Thus they shall be My people, and I shall be their God, says the Lord God.

Jerusalem’s Imminent Judgment

¹² The word of the Lord came to me again, saying: ¹³ Son of man, when the land sins against Me by trespassing grievously, then I will stretch out My hand against it, and break the staff of the bread, and send famine against it, and cut off man and beast from it. ¹⁴ Even though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they could deliver but their own souls by their righteousness, says the Lord God.

¹⁵ If I cause wild beasts to pass through the land, and they destroy it so that it becomes desolate, that no man may pass through because of the beasts, ¹⁶ though these three men were in it, as I live, says the Lord God, they could deliver neither their sons nor their daughters. They alone would be delivered, but the land would be desolate.

¹⁷ Or if I bring a sword on that land, and say, “Let the sword go through the land and cut off man and beast from it,” ¹⁸ though these three men were in it, as I live, says the Lord God, they would deliver neither their sons nor their daughters, but they alone would deliver themselves.

¹⁹ Or if I send a pestilence into that land and pour out My fury on it in blood to cut off from it man and beast, ²⁰ though Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, as I live, says the Lord God, they would deliver neither their sons nor their daughters. They would deliver only their own souls by their righteousness.

²¹ For thus says the Lord God: How much more when I send My four sore judgments on Jerusalem, the sword, and the famine, and the wild beasts, and the pestilence, to cut off man and beast from it. ²² Yet a remnant shall be left in it who shall be brought out, both sons and daughters. They shall come out to you, and you shall see their way and their deeds. Then you shall be comforted concerning the disaster that I have brought against Jerusalem, even concerning all that I have brought upon it. ²³ Then they shall comfort you when you see their ways and their deeds. And you shall know that I have not done without cause all that I have done in it, says the Lord God.

Jerusalem as a Useless Vine

15 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ² Son of man, how is the wood of the vine tree better than any wood of a branch which is among the trees of the forest? ³ Can wood be taken from it to do any work, or can men take a peg of it to hang any vessel on it? ⁴ If it has been cast into the fire for fuel and the fire has devoured both ends of it and the middle of it is burned, is it useful for any work? ⁵ When it was whole, it was not made into anything. How much less is it useful for any work when the fire has devoured it and it is burned!

⁶ Therefore thus says the Lord God: As the wood of the vine tree among the trees of the forest, which I have given to the fire for fuel, so I will give the inhabitants of Jerusalem. ⁷ I will set My face against them. Though they go out from one fire, yet the fire shall devour them. Then you shall know that I am the Lord when I set My face against them. ⁸ I will make the land desolate, because they have committed a trespass, says the Lord God.

Jerusalem as an Adulterous Bride

16 Again the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ² Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations, ³ and say, Thus says the Lord God to Jerusalem: Your birth and your nativity are from the land of Canaan. Your father was an Amorite, and your mother a Hittite. ⁴ As for your birth, on the day you were born your navel cord was not cut, nor were you washed in water to cleanse you. You were not rubbed with salt, nor wrapped in swaddling cloths. ⁵ No eye pitied you to do any of these to you, to have compassion on you. But you were cast out in the open field, to the loathing of your person, in the day that you were born.

⁶ When I passed by you and saw you polluted in your own blood, I said to you when you were in your blood, “Live!” Indeed, I said to you when you were in your blood, “Live!” ⁷ I have caused you to multiply as the bud of the field, and you have increased and become tall, and you have reached the age of fine ornaments. Your breasts were fashioned and your hair had grown, yet you were naked and bare.

⁸ Now when I passed by you and looked upon you, you were old enough for love. So I spread My garment over you and covered your nakedness. Indeed, I swore to you, and entered into a covenant with you, says the Lord God, and you became Mine.

⁹ Then I washed you with water. Indeed, I thoroughly washed away your blood from you, and I anointed you with oil. ¹⁰ I clothed you also with embroidered work, and put sandals of porpoise skin on your feet, and girded you about with fine linen, and covered you with silk. ¹¹ I decked you also with ornaments, and put bracelets on your hands, and a chain on your neck. ¹² I put a jewel on your forehead, and earrings in your ears, and a beautiful crown on your head. ¹³ Thus you were decked with gold and silver. And your raiment was of fine linen, and silk, and embroidered work. You ate fine flour, and honey, and oil. And you were exceedingly beautiful and advanced to royalty. ¹⁴ Then your renown went out among the nations for your beauty. For it was perfect through My comeliness which I had put upon you, says the Lord God.

¹⁵ But you trusted in your own beauty, and played the harlot because of your renown, and poured out your fornications on every willing passerby. ¹⁶ Of your garments you took and decked your high places with various colors and played the harlot on them, which should never come about or happen. ¹⁷ You have also taken your fair jewels made of My gold and My silver, which I had given you, and made for yourself images of men that you might commit harlotry with them. ¹⁸ Then you took your embroidered garments and covered them. And you have set My oil and My incense before them. ¹⁹ My bread also which I gave you, fine flour, and oil, and honey, with which I fed you, you have even set before them for a sweet savor. And thus it was, says the Lord God.

²⁰ Moreover you have taken your sons and your daughters, whom you have borne to Me, and these you have sacrificed to them to be devoured. Were your harlotries so small a matter? ²¹ You have slain My children and delivered them up to idols by causing them to pass through the fire. ²² Besides all your abominations and your harlotries you have not remembered the days of your youth when you were naked and bare and were polluted in your blood.

²³ After all your wickedness (Woe, woe to you! says the Lord God) ²⁴ you also built for yourself a shrine and have made yourself a high place in every street. ²⁵ You have built yourself a high place at the head of every street, and have made your beauty to be abhorred, and have spread your legs to every passerby to multiply your harlotries. ²⁶ You have also committed fornication with the Egyptians, your lustful neighbors, and increased your harlotries to provoke Me to anger. ²⁷ Therefore I have stretched out My hand against you and have diminished your ordinary food and delivered you to the will of those who hate you, the daughters of the Philistines who are ashamed of your lewd conduct. ²⁸ You have played the harlot also with the Assyrians because you were insatiable. Indeed, you have played the harlot with them, and yet could not be satisfied. ²⁹ You have moreover multiplied your fornication with the land of merchants, Chaldea. And yet you were not satisfied even with this.

³⁰ How weak is your heart, says the Lord God, seeing you do all these things, the works of an imperious harlot. ³¹ When you built your shrine at the head of every street and made your high place in every square, you have not been as a harlot in that you scorned payment.

³² You have been as a wife who commits adultery, who takes strangers instead of her husband! ³³ Men give gifts to all harlots. But you give your gifts to all your lovers, and hire them that they may come to you on every side for your harlotry. ³⁴ Thus you are different from other women in your harlotries in that no one follows you to commit harlotries, because you give money, and no money is given to you. Thus you are different.

³⁵ Therefore, O harlot, hear the word of the Lord. ³⁶ Thus says the Lord God, Because your filthiness was poured out and your nakedness discovered through your harlotries with your lovers, and with all the idols of your abominations, and by the blood of your children, which you gave to idols, ³⁷ therefore I will gather all your lovers with whom you have taken pleasure and all those whom you have loved with all those whom you have hated. I will even gather them from all around against you and will reveal your nakedness to them so that they may see all your nakedness. ³⁸ I will judge you as women who commit adultery or shed blood are judged. And I will bring on you the blood of fury and jealousy. ³⁹ I will also give you into their hand, and they shall throw down your shrines, and shall break down your high places. They shall strip you also of your clothes, and shall take your fair jewels, and leave you naked and bare. ⁴⁰ They shall also bring up a company against you, and they shall stone you with stones, and thrust you through with their swords. ⁴¹ They shall burn your houses with fire and execute judgments on you in the sight of many women. And I will cause you to cease from playing the harlot, and you also shall give no hire anymore. ⁴² So I will make My fury toward you to rest, and My jealousy shall depart from you, and I will be quiet, and will be angry no more.

⁴³ Because you have not remembered the days of your youth, but have enraged Me in all these things, I also will recompense your way upon your head, says the Lord God, so that you shall not commit this lewdness above all your other abominations.

⁴⁴ Everyone who uses proverbs shall use this proverb against you, saying, “Like mother, like daughter.” ⁴⁵ You are your mother’s daughter who loathed her husband and her children. And you are the sister of your sisters who loathed their husbands and their children. Your mother was a Hittite, and your father an Amorite. ⁴⁶ Now your elder sister is Samaria, she and her daughters who dwell north of you. And your younger sister who dwells south of you is Sodom and her daughters. ⁴⁷ Yet you have not walked after their ways, or done according to their abominations. But, as if that were a very little thing, you were corrupted more than they in all your ways. ⁴⁸ As I live, says the Lord God, Sodom your sister has not done, she nor her daughters, as you and your daughters have done.

⁴⁹ This was the iniquity of your sister Sodom. Pride, abundance of bread, and careless ease was in her and in her daughters, but she did strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. ⁵⁰ They were haughty and committed abominations before Me. Therefore I took them away when I saw it. ⁵¹ Moreover, Samaria did not commit half of your sins. But you have multiplied your abominations more than they and have made your sisters appear righteous in all your abominations which you have done. ⁵² Also bear your own shame in that you have made judgment favorable to your sisters. Because of your sins that you have committed more abominable than they, they are more righteous than you. Indeed, be humiliated also and bear your shame in that you have made your sisters appear righteous.

⁵³ Yet I shall restore their captivity, the captivity of Sodom and her daughters, and the captivity of Samaria and her daughters, and along with them your own captivity, ⁵⁴ in order that you may bear your own shame and may be humiliated in all that you have done in that you are a comfort to them. ⁵⁵ Your sisters, Sodom and her daughters and Samaria and her daughters, shall return to their former state, and you and your daughters shall return to your former state. ⁵⁶ As the name of your sister Sodom was not mentioned by your mouth in the day of your pride, ⁵⁷ before your wickedness was uncovered, so now you have become the reproach of the daughters of Edom and all who are around her, the daughters of the Philistines, those all around who despise you. ⁵⁸ You have borne the punishment of your lewdness and your abominations, says the Lord.

An Everlasting Covenant

⁵⁹ For thus, says the Lord God, I will even deal with you as you have done, you who have despised the oath by breaking the covenant. ⁶⁰ Nevertheless I will remember My covenant with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish an everlasting covenant with you. ⁶¹ Then you shall remember your ways and be ashamed when you receive your sisters, your elder and your younger. And I will give them to you as daughters, but not because of your covenant. ⁶² Thus I will establish My covenant with you, and you shall know that I am the Lord, ⁶³ in order that you may remember, and be humiliated, and never open your mouth anymore because of your shame, when I am pacified toward you for all that you have done, says the Lord God.

Two Eagles and a Vine

17 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ² Son of man, put forth a riddle, and speak a parable to the house of Israel, ³ and say, Thus says the Lord God: A great eagle with great wings, long-winged, full of feathers which had various colors, came to Lebanon and took away the highest branch of the cedar. ⁴ He cropped off the top of its young twigs and carried it into a land of merchants. He set it in a city of dealers.

⁵ He took also some of the seed of the land and planted it in a fruitful field. He placed it by great waters and set it as a willow tree. ⁶ It grew and became a spreading vine of low stature, whose branches turned toward him, and its roots were under it. So it became a vine, and brought forth branches, and shot forth sprigs.

⁷ There was also another great eagle with great wings and many feathers. And this vine bent its roots toward him and shot forth its branches toward him, that he might water it by the bed where it was planted. ⁸ It was planted in a good soil by many waters, that it might bring forth branches, and that it might bear fruit, that it might be a splendid vine.

⁹ Say: Thus says the Lord God: Will it thrive? Will he not pull up its roots and cut off its fruit, so that it withers, so that all its spring leaves wither? It will not take a great power or many people to pull it from its roots. ¹⁰ Though it has been planted, will it prosper? Shall it not utterly wither when the east wind hits it? It shall wither in the furrows where it grew.

¹¹ Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ¹² Say now to the rebellious house: Do you not know what these things mean? Tell them: The king of Babylon came to Jerusalem, and took its king and its officials, and led them to him in Babylon. ¹³ He took one of the king’s seed, and made a covenant with him, and put him under oath. He has also taken away the mighty of the land, ¹⁴ that the kingdom might be debased, that it might not lift itself up, but by the keeping of his covenant it might stand. ¹⁵ But he rebelled against him in sending his ambassadors into Egypt, that they might give him horses and much people. Shall he prosper? Shall he escape who does such things? Can he indeed break the covenant and be delivered?

¹⁶ As I live, says the Lord God, surely in the country of the king who made him king, whose oath he despised and whose covenant he broke, in the midst of Babylon he shall die. ¹⁷ Nor shall Pharaoh with his mighty army and great company help him in the war by casting up mounts and building forts to cut off many persons. ¹⁸ Seeing he despised the oath by breaking the covenant, when he had given his allegiance and has done all these things, he shall not escape.

¹⁹ Therefore thus says the Lord God: As I live, surely My oath that he has despised and My covenant that he has broken, I will inflict upon his own head. ²⁰ I will spread My net upon him, and he shall be taken in My snare, and I will bring him to Babylon and will enter into judgment with him there for his trespass that he has trespassed against Me. ²¹ All the choice men in all his troops shall fall by the sword, and those who remain shall be scattered toward all winds. And you shall know that I the Lord have spoken it.

²² Thus says the Lord God: I will also take of the highest branch of the high cedar and set it aside. I will crop off from the top of its young twigs a tender one and will plant it on a high and lofty mountain. ²³ On the mountain of the height of Israel I will plant it. And it shall bring forth boughs, and bear fruit, and be a splendid cedar. And under it all fowl of every wing shall nest. In the shadow of its branches they shall nest. ²⁴ All the trees of the field shall know that I the Lord have brought down the high tree, have exalted the low tree, have dried up the green tree, and have made the dry tree to flourish.

I, the Lord, have spoken and will do it.

The Soul Who Sins Will Die

18 The word of the Lord came to me again, saying: ² What do you mean in using this proverb concerning the land of Israel, saying:

³ As I live, says the Lord God, you shall not have occasion anymore to use this proverb in Israel. ⁴ All souls are Mine. The soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is Mine. The soul who sins shall die.

¹⁰ If he begets a son who is a robber, a shedder of blood, and who does any of these things to a brother ¹¹ (though he himself does not do any of these things),

He shall not live. He has done all these abominations. He shall surely die. His blood shall be upon his own head.

¹⁴ Now if he begets a son who sees all his father’s sins which he has done, and considering does not do likewise:

He shall not die for the iniquity of his father; he shall surely live. ¹⁸ As for his father, because he cruelly oppressed, devastated his brother by violence, and did that which is not good among his people, he shall die for his iniquity.

Repent and Live

¹⁹ Yet you say, “Why should the son not bear the punishment of the iniquity of the father?” When the son has done what is lawful and right, and has kept all My statutes, and has done them, he shall surely live. ²⁰ The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not bear the punishment of the iniquity of the father, nor shall the father bear the punishment of the iniquity of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.

²¹ But if the wicked turns from all his sins that he has committed, and keeps all My statutes, and does that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live. He shall not die. ²² All his transgressions that he has committed, they shall not be remembered against him. Because of his righteousness that he has done, he shall live. ²³ Do I have any pleasure in the death of the wicked, says the Lord God, but rather that he should turn from his ways and live?

²⁴ But when a righteous man turns away from his righteousness, and commits iniquity, and does according to all the abominations that the wicked man does, shall he live? All his righteousness that he has done shall not be remembered for his trespass that he has committed and in his sin that he has done. In them he shall die.

²⁵ Yet you say, “The way of the Lord is not right.” Hear now, O house of Israel. Is not My way right? Are not your ways not right? ²⁶ When a righteous man turns away from his righteousness and commits iniquity, he dies in it. For his iniquity that he has done he shall die. ²⁷ Again, when the wicked man turns away from his wickedness that he has committed and does that which is lawful and right, he shall save his soul. ²⁸ Because he considered and turned away from all his transgressions that he has committed, he shall surely live. He shall not die. ²⁹ Yet the house of Israel says, “The way of the Lord is not right.” O house of Israel, are not My ways right? Are not your ways not right?

³⁰ Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, says the Lord God. Repent, and turn away from all your transgressions so that iniquity shall not be your ruin. ³¹ Cast away from you all your transgressions whereby you have transgressed, and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. For why will you die, O house of Israel? ³² For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone who dies, says the Lord God. Therefore, repent and live.

A Lament for Israel’s Princes

19 Moreover take up a lamentation for the officials of Israel, ² and say:

This is a lamentation, and has become a lamentation.

Israel’s Continuing Rebellion

20 In the seventh year, in the fifth month, on the tenth day of the month, certain of the elders of Israel came to inquire of the Lord and sat before me.

² Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ³ Son of man, speak to the elders of Israel, and say to them: Thus says the Lord God: Do you come to inquire of Me? As I live, says the Lord God, I will not be inquired of by you.

⁴ Will you judge them, son of man, will you judge them? Cause them to know the abominations of their fathers. ⁵ And say to them: Thus says the Lord God: On the day when I chose Israel, and lifted up My hand to the seed of the house of Jacob, and made Myself known to them in the land of Egypt, when I lifted up My hand to them, saying, I am the Lord your God, ⁶ on that day that I lifted up My hand to them to bring them out of the land of Egypt into a land that I had selected for them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands, ⁷ then I said to them: Cast away, each of you, the abominations of his eyes, and do not defile yourselves with the idols of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.

⁸ But they rebelled against Me and would not listen to Me. They did not cast away the abominations of their eyes, nor did they forsake the idols of Egypt. Then I said I will pour out My fury upon them, to accomplish My anger against them in the midst of the land of Egypt. ⁹ But I acted for My name’s sake, that it should not be polluted before the nations among whom they were, in whose sight I made Myself known to them in bringing them out of the land of Egypt. ¹⁰ Therefore I caused them to go forth out of the land of Egypt and brought them into the wilderness. ¹¹ I gave them My statutes and showed them My judgments, which if a man does them, he shall live. ¹² Moreover I gave them My Sabbaths to be a sign between them and Me, that they might know that I am the Lord who sanctifies them.

¹³ But the house of Israel rebelled against Me in the wilderness. They did not walk in My statutes, and they despised My judgments, which if a man does them, he shall live. And My Sabbaths they greatly polluted. Then I said I would pour out My fury upon them in the wilderness to consume them. ¹⁴ But I acted for My name’s sake, that it should not be polluted before the nations in whose sight I brought them out. ¹⁵ Also I lifted up My hand to them in the wilderness that I would not bring them into the land which I had given them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands, ¹⁶ because they despised My judgments and did not walk in My statutes, but polluted My Sabbaths. For their hearts went after their idols. ¹⁷ Nevertheless My eye spared them from destroying them, nor did I make an end of them in the wilderness. ¹⁸ But I said to their children in the wilderness: Do not walk in the statutes of your fathers, neither observe their judgments, nor defile yourselves with their idols. ¹⁹ I am the Lord your God: Walk in My statutes, and keep My judgments, and do them. ²⁰ And hallow My Sabbaths. And they shall be a sign between Me and you that you may know that I am the Lord your God.

²¹ Yet the children rebelled against Me. They did not walk in My statutes, nor did they keep My judgments to do them, which if a man does them, he shall live. They polluted My Sabbaths. Then I said I would pour out My fury upon them to accomplish My anger against them in the wilderness. ²² Nevertheless I withdrew My hand and acted for My name’s sake, that it should not be polluted in the sight of the nations in whose sight I brought them out. ²³ I lifted up My hand to them also in the wilderness, that I would scatter them among the nations and disperse them through the countries, ²⁴ because they had not executed My judgments, but had despised My statutes and had polluted My Sabbaths, and their eyes were after their fathers’ idols. ²⁵ Therefore I gave them also statutes that were not good and judgments by which they could not live. ²⁶ And I pronounced them unclean because of their gifts, in that they caused to pass through the fire all who opened the womb, that I might make them desolate in order that they might know that I am the Lord.

²⁷ Therefore, son of man, speak to the house of Israel and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Yet in this your fathers have blasphemed Me, in that they have committed a trespass against Me. ²⁸ When I had brought them into the land for which I lifted up My hand to give it to them, then they saw every high hill and all the leafy trees, and there they offered their sacrifices, and there they presented the provocation of their offering. There also they made their sweet savor and there poured out their drink offerings. ²⁹ Then I said to them: What is the high place to which you go? And the name is called Bamah to this day.

³⁰ Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: Will you pollute yourselves after the manner of your fathers and commit harlotry after their abominations? ³¹ When you offer your gifts, when you make your sons to pass through the fire, you pollute yourselves with all your idols, even to this day. And shall I be inquired of by you, O house of Israel? As I live, says the Lord God, I will not be inquired of by you.

³² That which comes into your mind shall not come about when you say, “We will be as the nations, as the families of the countries, to serve wood and stone.”

God Will Restore Israel

³³ As I live, says the Lord God, surely with a mighty hand and with a stretched-out arm and with fury poured out, I will rule over you. ³⁴ And I will bring you out from the peoples and will gather you out of the countries in which you are scattered with a mighty hand and with a stretched-out arm and with fury poured out. ³⁵ I will bring you into the wilderness of the peoples, and there I will enter into judgment with you face to face. ³⁶ As I entered into judgment with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so I will enter into judgment with you, says the Lord God. ³⁷ I will cause you to pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant. ³⁸ And I will purge from among you the rebels and those who transgress against Me. I will bring them out of the country where they sojourn, and they shall not enter into the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am the Lord.

³⁹ As for you, O house of Israel, thus says the Lord God: Go serve every one of you his idols, but later you shall surely listen to Me. But do not pollute My holy name anymore with your gifts and with your idols. ⁴⁰ For on My holy mountain, on the mountain of the height of Israel, says the Lord God, there all the house of Israel, all of them, shall serve Me in the land. There I will accept them, and there I will seek your offerings and the first fruits of your gifts with all your holy things. ⁴¹ I will accept you with your sweet savor when I bring you out from the peoples and gather you out of the countries in which you have been scattered. And I will be sanctified among you before the nations. ⁴² You shall know that I am the Lord when I bring you into the land of Israel, into the country for which I lifted up My hand to give it to your fathers. ⁴³ There you shall remember your ways and all your deeds in which you have been defiled. And you shall loathe yourselves in your own sight for all your evils that you have committed. ⁴⁴ You shall know that I am the Lord when I have dealt with you for My name’s sake, not according to your wicked ways, or according to your corrupt deeds, O house of Israel, says the Lord God.

A Prophecy Against the Negev

⁴⁵ Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ⁴⁶ Son of man, set your face toward the south, preach against the south, and prophesy against the forest land in the Negev. ⁴⁷ And say to the forest of the Negev, Hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord God: I will kindle a fire in you, and it shall devour every green tree in you and every dry tree. The flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be burned in it. ⁴⁸ All flesh shall see that I the Lord have kindled it. It shall not be quenched.

⁴⁹ Then I said, “Ah, Lord God! They say of me, ‘Does he not speak parables?’ ”

Babylon, the Sword of the Lord

21 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ² Son of man, set your face toward Jerusalem, and speak against the holy places, and prophesy against the land of Israel, ³ and say to the land of Israel, Thus says the Lord: I am against you, and will draw My sword from its sheath, and will cut off from you the righteous and the wicked. ⁴ Seeing then that I will cut off from you the righteous and the wicked, therefore My sword shall be drawn from its sheath against all flesh from the south to the north, ⁵ that all flesh shall know that I the Lord have drawn forth My sword from its sheath. It shall not return anymore.

⁶ As for you, son of man, groan with breaking heart and bitter grief, groan before their eyes. ⁷ It shall be when they say to you, “Why do you groan?” that you shall answer, “Because of the news that is coming. And every heart shall melt, and all hands shall be feeble, and every spirit shall faint, and all knees shall be weak as water. It comes and shall be brought to pass,” says the Lord God.

⁸ Again the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ⁹ Son of man, prophesy and say, Thus says the Lord! Say:

Should we then make cheer, the rod of My son despising every tree?

¹³ Because it is a trial, and what if even the rod which despises shall be no more? says the Lord God.

¹⁸ The word of the Lord came to me again, saying: ¹⁹ As for you, son of man, appoint two ways for the sword of the king of Babylon to come. Both of them shall come out of one land. And make a signpost. Make it at the head of the way to the city. ²⁰ Appoint a way for the sword to come to Rabbah of the sons of Ammon and to Judah in Jerusalem the fortified. ²¹ For the king of Babylon stands at the parting of the way, at the head of the two ways, to use divination: He shakes the arrows, he consults the images, he looks in the liver. ²² At his right hand was the divination for Jerusalem: to appoint battering rams, to open the mouth for the slaughter, to lift up the voice with a battle shout, to appoint battering rams against the gates, to cast up a ramp, and to build a siege tower. ²³ It shall be to them as a false divination in their sight, to those who have sworn oaths. But he will call to remembrance the iniquity, that they may be seized.

²⁴ Therefore thus says the Lord God: Because you have made your iniquity to be remembered, in that your transgressions are uncovered, so that in all your deeds your sins do appear, because, I say, that you have come to remembrance, you shall be seized with the hand.

²⁵ You, profane wicked prince of Israel, whose day has come in the time of the punishment of the end, ²⁶ thus says the Lord God: Remove the diadem and take off the crown. This shall not be the same anymore. Exalt what is low, and abase what is high. ²⁷ A ruin, a ruin, a ruin I shall make it. And it shall be no more until He comes whose right it is, and I shall give it to Him.

A Sword Against the Ammonites

²⁸ You, son of man, prophesy and say: Thus says the Lord God concerning the sons of Ammon and concerning their reproach, and say,

The Sins of Jerusalem

22 Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

² Now you, son of man, will you judge, will you judge the bloody city? Indeed, you shall show her all her abominations. ³ Then say, Thus says the Lord God: The city sheds blood in her midst, that her time may come, and makes idols against herself to defile herself. ⁴ You have become guilty in your blood that you have shed and have defiled yourself with your idols which you have made. And you have caused your day to draw near and have come to your years. Therefore I have made you a reproach to the nations and a mocking to all countries. ⁵ Those who are near and those who are far from you shall mock you, you of infamy and much turmoil.

⁶ The princes of Israel in you, every one according to his power, have been bent on shedding blood. ⁷ In you they have treated father and mother lightly. In your midst they have dealt with the stranger by oppression. In you they have vexed the fatherless and the widow. ⁸ You have despised My holy things and have profaned My Sabbaths. ⁹ In you are men who carry slanders to shed blood. And in you they eat at the mountain shrines. In your midst they commit lewdness. ¹⁰ In you they have uncovered their fathers’ nakedness. In you they have humbled her who was unclean in her menstrual impurity. ¹¹ One has committed abomination with his neighbor’s wife, and another has lewdly defiled his daughter-in-law. And another in you has humbled his sister, his father’s daughter. ¹² In you they have taken bribes to shed blood. You have taken usury and increase, and you have injured your neighbors for gain by extortion, and you have forgotten Me, says the Lord God.

¹³ Therefore I have struck My hand toward your dishonest gain which you have made, and toward your blood which has been in your midst. ¹⁴ Can your heart endure, or can your hands be strong in the days that I shall deal with you? I the Lord have spoken and will do it. ¹⁵ I will scatter you among the nations and disperse you in the countries and consume your filthiness out of you. ¹⁶ You shall profane yourself in the sight of the nations, and you shall know that I am the Lord.

Jerusalem as God’s Furnace

¹⁷ The word of the Lord came to me, saying: ¹⁸ Son of man, the house of Israel has become dross to Me. All of them are bronze and tin and iron and lead in the midst of the furnace. They are the dross of silver. ¹⁹ Therefore thus says the Lord God: Because you all have become dross, therefore, I will gather you into the midst of Jerusalem. ²⁰ As they gather silver and bronze and iron and lead and tin into the midst of a furnace to blow fire on it to melt it, so I will gather you in My anger and in My fury, and I will lay you there and melt you. ²¹ Indeed, I will gather you and blow upon you in the fire of My wrath, and you shall be melted in the midst of it. ²² As silver is melted in the midst of a furnace, so you shall be melted in the midst of it. And you shall know that I the Lord have poured out My fury upon you.

Indictment of Sinful Leaders

²³ The word of the Lord came to me, saying: ²⁴ Son of man, say to her: You are the land that is not cleansed nor rained upon in the day of indignation. ²⁵ There is a conspiracy of her prophets in her midst like a roaring lion ravening the prey. They have devoured souls. They have taken the treasure and precious things. They have made many widows in her midst. ²⁶ Her priests have violated My law and have profaned My holy things. They have made no distinction between the holy and profane, nor have they shown the difference between the unclean and the clean, and they have hidden their eyes from My Sabbaths, and I am profaned among them. ²⁷ Her officials in her midst are like wolves ravening the prey by shedding blood and destroying lives in order to obtain dishonest gain. ²⁸ Her prophets have daubed them with whitewash, seeing vanity and divining lies for them, saying, “Thus says the Lord God,” when the Lord has not spoken. ²⁹ The people of the land have used oppression and exercised robbery and have vexed the poor and needy and have oppressed the sojourner wrongfully.

³⁰ I sought for a man among them who would build up the hedge and stand in the gap before Me for the land so that I would not destroy it, but I found no one. ³¹ Therefore I have poured out My indignation on them. I have consumed them with the fire of My wrath. Their own way I have recompensed on their heads, says the Lord God.

The Sins of Oholah and Oholibah

23 The word of the Lord came again to me, saying: ² Son of man, there were two women, the daughters of one mother. ³ And they committed harlotries in Egypt. They committed harlotries in their youth. There their breasts were pressed, and there their virgin bosom was handled. ⁴ Their names were Oholah the elder and Oholibah her sister. And they were mine, and they bore sons and daughters. As for their names, Samaria is Oholah, and Jerusalem is Oholibah.

Samaria

⁵ Oholah played the harlot when she was Mine. And she lusted after her lovers, on the Assyrians her neighbors, ⁶ who were clothed in purple, captains and rulers, all of them desirable young men, horsemen riding on horses. ⁷ Thus she committed her harlotries with them, with all those who were the chosen men of Assyria, and with all on whom she doted, with all their idols she defiled herself. ⁸ She did not forsake her harlotries from the time in Egypt. For in her youth they lay with her, and they handled her virgin bosom and poured their harlotry upon her.

⁹ Therefore I have delivered her into the hand of her lovers, into the hand of the Assyrians after whom she doted. ¹⁰ They uncovered her nakedness. They took her sons and her daughters and killed her with the sword. And she became a byword among women, for they had executed judgments on her.

Jerusalem

¹¹ Now her sister Oholibah saw this, but she was more corrupt in her inordinate love than she, and in her harlotries more than her sister in her harlotries. ¹² She lusted after the Assyrians her neighbors, captains and rulers clothed most gorgeously, horsemen riding on horses, all of them desirable young men. ¹³ Then I saw that she was defiled, that they both took the same way.

¹⁴ So she increased her harlotries. And she saw men portrayed on the wall, the images of the Chaldeans portrayed with vermilion, ¹⁵ girded with belts on their loins, exceeding in dyed attire on their heads, all of them looking like officials, after the manner of the Babylonians of Chaldea, the land of their nativity. ¹⁶ And as soon as she saw them with her eyes, she lusted after them and sent messengers to them into Chaldea. ¹⁷ The Babylonians came to her into the bed of love, and they defiled her with their harlotry, and she was polluted with them, and her soul became disgusted with them. ¹⁸ So she uncovered her harlotries and uncovered her nakedness. Then My soul became disgusted with her, as My soul became disgusted with her sister. ¹⁹ Yet she multiplied her harlotries while remembering the days of her youth in which she had played the harlot in the land of Egypt. ²⁰ For she lusted after their paramours, whose flesh is as the flesh of donkeys and whose issue is like the issue of horses. ²¹ Thus you longed for the lewdness of your youth when the Egyptians handled your bosom because of the breasts of your youth.

Judgment on Jerusalem

²² Therefore, O Oholibah, thus says the Lord God: I will raise up your lovers against you, from whom you were alienated, and I will bring them against you on every side: ²³ the Babylonians and all the Chaldeans, Pekod and Shoa and Koa, and all the Assyrians with them. All of them are desirable young men, captains and rulers, officers and men of renown, all of them riding on horses. ²⁴ They shall come against you with weapons, chariots and wagons, and with an assembly of peoples. They shall set themselves against you on every side with buckler and shield and helmet. And I will set the judgment before them, and they shall judge you according to their customs. ²⁵ I will set My jealousy against you, so that they deal furiously with you. They shall take away your nose and your ears. And your remnant shall fall by the sword. They shall take your sons and your daughters. And your remnant shall be devoured by the fire. ²⁶ They shall also strip you of your clothes and take away your fair jewels. ²⁷ Thus I will make your lewdness and your harlotry brought from the land of Egypt to cease from you so that you shall not lift up your eyes to them or remember Egypt anymore.

²⁸ For thus says the Lord God: I will deliver you into the hand of those whom you hate, into the hand of those from whom you were alienated. ²⁹ And they shall deal with you hatefully, and shall take away all your labor, and shall leave you naked and bare. And the nakedness of your harlotries shall be uncovered, both your lewdness and your harlotries. ³⁰ I will do these things to you because you have gone whoring after the nations, because you have polluted yourself with their idols. ³¹ You have walked in the way of your sister. Therefore I will give her cup into your hand.

³² Thus says the Lord God:

for I have spoken, says the Lord God.

³⁵ Therefore thus says the Lord God: Because you have forgotten Me and cast Me behind your back, now bear the punishment of your lewdness and your harlotries.

Judgment on the Sisters

³⁶ The Lord moreover said to me: Son of man, will you judge Oholah and Oholibah? Then declare to them their abominations. ³⁷ For they have committed adultery, and blood is in their hands. Thus with their idols they have committed adultery and have also caused their sons whom they bore to Me to pass through the fire for them as food. ³⁸ Moreover they have done this to Me: They have defiled My sanctuary in the same day and have profaned My Sabbaths. ³⁹ For when they had slain their children to their idols, then they came the same day into My sanctuary to profane it. And thus they have done in the midst of My house.