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The pot to cook meat
24 The Lord gave this message to me on the tenth day of the tenth month in the ninth year: 2 ‘Son of man, remember this day. Write it down. On this day, the king of Babylon is starting to attack Jerusalem. 3 Tell a story to these people who refuse to obey me. Say to them, “This is what the Almighty Lord says:
Put the pot on the fire. Put it there now.
Pour some water into the pot.
4 Put the pieces of meat into it.
Put in all the good pieces of meat.
Put in the leg and the shoulder.
Fill it with all the best bones.
5 Use meat and bones from the best sheep.
Put more wood on the fire under the pot.
Cause the water in the pot to boil well.
Cook the bones and the meat.
6 This is what the Almighty Lord says:
Terrible trouble will come to the city that is full of murderers!
It is like a pot that has become dirty.
Nobody has tried to clean it.
Take out each piece of meat, one by one.
No piece is special.
7 You can see the blood of people that men killed in the city.
It lies on the rocks where everyone can see it.
Those murderers did not leave the blood on the ground,
where dirt would hide it.
8 I have put the blood on the rocks where everyone can see it.
Nothing will be able to hide it.
When I see it, I am very angry.
I will punish the people of that city as they deserve.
9 So this is what the Almighty Lord says:
Terrible trouble will come to the city that is full of murderers!
I will put more wood on the fire to destroy it.
10 Yes, make a big heap of wood.
Make the fire burn hot! Cook the meat well!
Mix in some spices!
Let the bones burn.
11 Then put the empty pot on the coals of the fire.
Make the pot very hot, so that its metal is bright red.
Burn all the dirt to remove it.
Make the pot clean again!
12 Yes, I have tried to make it clean.
But the disgusting dirt is still there.
So throw the pot and all its dirt on the fire!
13 The dirt on the pot shows the disgusting things that you do. I tried to remove those wicked things to make you clean, but you would not let me do that. So I will punish you until I am no longer angry with you. You will not be clean until that happens.
14 I, the Lord have said what I will do. Now I will do it! The time for your punishment has come! I will not change my mind. I will not be kind to you. I will not be sorry for you. I will judge you as you deserve for the things that you have done. That is what the Almighty Lord says.” ’
Ezekiel's wife dies
15 The Lord gave me this message: 16 ‘Son of man, I will suddenly take away from you the one person who makes you happy. But you must not weep. Do not let people see that you are sad. 17 Cry inside yourself but do not cry aloud. Do not show that you are sad because someone has died. Do not remove the cloth from your head. Keep your shoes on your feet. Do not cover the lower part of your face. Do not eat the food that people eat at funerals.’[a]
18 That morning I spoke to the people. In the evening of that day, my wife died. The next morning I did what the Lord had told me to do.
19 Then the people said to me, ‘Please tell us why you are doing these things. What are you trying to show us?’ 20 So I said to them, ‘The Lord gave this message to me:
21 Say to Israel's people, “This is what the Almighty Lord says: Listen! I will now make my holy place become unclean. It is the place that makes you very proud. You love it because it is so beautiful. But now enemy soldiers will kill your sons and daughters that you left in Jerusalem. 22 Then you will do the same things that I have done. You will not cover the lower part of your face. You will not eat special food that people eat at funerals. 23 You will still wear your cloths on your heads. You will wear your shoes on your feet. You will not cry aloud or weep. You will suffer and you will be weak because of the punishment for your sins. You will cry quietly among yourselves. 24 Ezekiel is an example to you. You must do the same as he has done when his wife died. When this happens, you will know that I am the Almighty Lord.”[b]
25 Son of man, I will soon take away from them Jerusalem's great temple. It is the beautiful place that has made them very happy. They are very proud of it. They love to look at it. I will also take away their sons and daughters. 26 On the day when that happens, a man will run away from the battle in Jerusalem. He will come here to tell you the news. 27 At that time, you will be able to speak again.[c] You will talk with that man. You will no longer have to be quiet. You will be an example to the people, and they will know that I am the Lord. ’
The Lord warns Ammon
25 The Lord gave this message to me: 2 ‘Son of man, look towards the people in Ammon.[d] You must tell them my message to warn them. 3 Say to them, “Listen to this message from the Almighty Lord. This is what he says: You shouted happily when enemies made my holy place unclean. You were happy when the land of Israel became an empty place. And you were happy when Judah's people went away as prisoners to a foreign country. 4 So listen to me! I will give you to the people in the east to be their slaves. Their soldiers will come and they will put their tents among you. They will live among you. They will eat your fruit and they will drink your milk. 5 I will make Rabbah a place where camels eat grass.[e] I will make Ammon a place where sheep rest. Then you will know that I am the Lord. 6 This is what the Almighty Lord says: You were happy when I punished Israel. You clapped your hands together. You stamped your feet on the ground. 7 So listen! I will now use my power to punish you. I will allow other nations to take all your valuable things. I will completely remove you so that you will not be a nation any longer. I will destroy you. Then you will know that I am the Lord.”
The Lord warns Moab
8 The Almighty Lord says this: The people in Moab and Seir said, “Judah's people have become the same as all the other nations.” 9 So listen! I will let enemies attack the towns on the border of Moab. I will destroy their greatest cities, Beth Jeshimoth, Baal Meon and Kiriathaim. 10 I will give Moab's people to the people in the east as their slaves, together with the Ammonites. The other nations will not remember the Ammonites any more. 11 I will also punish Moab's people.[f] Then they will know that I am the Lord.
The Lord warns Edom
12 The Almighty Lord says this: Edom's people were cruel to Judah's people when they wanted to punish them.[g] They are guilty because of what they did to Judah's people. 13 So the Almighty Lord God says this: I will use my power to punish Edom. I will destroy Edom's people and animals. Edom will become an empty place. Enemy soldiers will use their swords to kill the people, everywhere from Teman to Dedan. 14 I will use my people, the Israelites, to punish Edom. The Edomites will know that I am very angry with them. They will know that their punishment comes from me. That is what the Almighty Lord says.
The Lord warns the Philistines
15 The AlmightyLord says this: The Philistines were cruel to Judah's people when they wanted to punish them. They hated Judah's people and they wanted to destroy them. They would not stop attacking them. 16 So this is what the Almighty Lord says: Listen! I will use my power to punish the Philistines. I will kill the Kerethites. I will destroy the people who remain on the coast of the sea.[h] 17 I will punish them very much because of the things that they have done. I will show them that I am very angry with them. When and I punish them as they deserve, they will know that I am the Lord. ’
The Lord warns Tyre[i]
26 The Lord gave this message to me on the first day of the month, in the 11th year:
2 ‘Son of man, Tyre's people have said, “Good! An enemy has destroyed Jerusalem! Traders from that city went out to many nations. Now we will do that instead of them. We will become rich because Jerusalem is no longer a strong city.”
3 So this is what the Almighty Lord says: Listen! I have become your enemy, Tyre. I will bring many nations to attack you. They will be like the waves of the sea as they hit you. 4 They will destroy the walls of Tyre. They will knock down its strong towers. I will then remove all the stones that remain. The city will become a rock with nothing on it. 5 On that rock, in the middle of the sea, men will dry the nets that they use to catch fish. That is what I say, says the Almighty Lord. Armies from other nations will take Tyre's valuable things for themselves. 6 Soldiers will use their swords to kill people in the small towns on the coast near Tyre. Then people will know that I am the Lord.
7 This is what the Almighty Lord says: Listen! I will bring King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon to attack Tyre from the north. He is a powerful king. He will bring his great army with soldiers on horses and chariots. 8 His soldiers will destroy your towns and villages on the coast. They will build heaps of earth around your walls. They will hold up their shields like a wall as they attack you. 9 They will use heavy pieces of wood to knock down the city's walls. They will use their weapons to knock down the strong towers.
10 King Nebuchadnezzar's army will have many horses. As they attack you, the dirt from their feet will cover you. The noise of the riders on the horses and the chariots' wheels will cause the city's walls to shake. They will break through the city's gates and walls. 11 The horses will run along all the streets. The soldiers will kill your people with their swords. The strong pillars of your buildings will fall to the ground. 12 The soldiers will take your riches and valuable things for themselves. They will break down your walls. They will destroy your beautiful homes. They will throw into the sea all the wood and stones that remain from your buildings. 13 I will stop the noise of your songs. Nobody will hear the sound of your harps any longer. 14 Tyre will be a rock in the sea with no buildings on it. Men will dry their nets on it. Nobody will never build the city again. That is what I, the Almighty Lord, have said. So it will certainly happen!
15 This is what the Almighty Lord says to Tyre: All the people who live on the coast of the sea will hear the news. When they know that you have fallen to the ground, they will shake with fear.[j] They will hear the loud cries of your people when they die in the battle. 16 Then the rulers of the towns on the coast of the sea will be very sad. They will no longer sit on their thrones. They will remove their beautiful royal clothes. They will sit on the ground as they shake with fear. They will not stop shaking when they hear what has happened to you. 17 Then they will sing this funeral song about you:
“City that was famous for your great sailors,
now your power has gone!
In the past, you made many people afraid,
as your brave men travelled across the sea.
18 Now you have fallen to the ground
and people who live on the coast shake with fear.
Now your power has gone
and those people are very afraid.”
19 This is what the Almighty Lord says: I will make you an empty place, like cities where nobody lives. The great waves of the sea will completely cover you. 20 Then I will cause you to you to fall deep down into the earth. You will be part of the world of dead people who lived a long time ago. You will join other cities that became heaps of stones long ago. You will remain there. You will never again be a city in the world where people are alive. 21 I will cause terrible things to happen to you. You will come to a complete end. People will look for you, but they will never find you. That is what the Almighty Lord says.’
What it means to trust God
11 This is what it means to trust God: We will be sure about the things that we hope for. We will be sure in our minds about things that we cannot even see. 2 It was because of their faith that God said good things about the people of long ago. 3 Because of faith, we understand about how God made the universe. He spoke his word to make it happen. In that way, God made all the things that we can see. He made them from things that nobody could see.
4 Abel believed God. So he offered a better sacrifice to God than Cain did. And because of Abel's faith, God accepted him as right with him. God said that he was happy with Abel's gifts. Because Abel trusted God, we can still learn from his faith. Abel died long ago, but it is like he is still speaking to us.[a]
5 Enoch also believed God. Because of Enoch's faith, God took him away to heaven. He did not die like other people. As a result, nobody could ever find him, because God had taken him away. Before God took him away, it was clear that Enoch had made God happy.[b]
6 Unless we trust God, it is impossible for us to make God happy. Anyone who comes to God must believe that God is there. They must also believe that God helps everyone who wants to know him.
7 Noah believed God too. God told Noah about bad things that would happen. Nobody could see what would happen, but Noah believed God's message. He was careful to do exactly what God told him. He built a large ship to save his family. As a result of his faith, Noah showed that everyone else in the world was wrong. Noah himself became one of those people that God accepted as right with him. They are right with God because they trust him.[c]
8 Abraham also believed God. When God told him to leave his home, he obeyed God. He left his home to go to another country, but he did not know where he was going. It was the place that God had promised to give to Abraham. 9 Because of his faith, Abraham went to live like a stranger in that foreign country. God had promised to give that country to him, but Abraham lived there in tents. Isaac and Jacob also lived there in tents like strangers. God had also promised them that the land would belong to them one day.[d] 10 We see that Abraham was waiting to live in God's special place. That is the city that God himself has built. God has made it very strong so that it will be there for ever.[e]
11 Abraham and his wife, Sarah, were too old to have children. But Abraham believed God's promise that they would have children. He trusted God to do what he had promised. As a result of his faith, God made it possible for him and Sarah to have a baby.[f] 12 Abraham was so old that he was almost like a dead man. But from this one man there came very many grandchildren. His family became so large that nobody could count them. They were like the number of stars in the sky. They were as many as the bits of sand on the shore of the sea.[g]
13 All these people continued to believe God until they died. But they did not receive all the things that God had promised to give them. They were like people who saw those things far away. That made them happy. These people understood that they lived as strangers and travellers on the earth. 14 People who live in that way show that they expect to live somewhere else one day. That is the place where they will really be at home. 15 They were not thinking about the country that they had left. They could have gone back there if they really wanted to. 16 No, they wanted very much to go to a better place, in heaven. For that reason, God is not ashamed for them to call him their God. He has already prepared a city for them to live in.
David wrote this psalm.
The Lord's great King[a]
110 The Lord God said to my Lord,[b]
‘Sit at my right side[c] until I win against your enemies.
Then you will be able to put your feet on them.’
2 The Lord will give you great authority,
as you rule from Zion.[d]
You will rule over all your enemies
that are round you.
3 When you go to fight your enemies,
your people will be happy to fight beside you.
As the sun rises on the day of battle,
your young men will be there,
on the hills round Zion.[e]
4 The Lord has made a strong promise.
He will not change it.
He has promised, ‘You will be a priest for ever,
in the same way that Melchizedek was my priest.’[f]
5 The Lord is standing at your right side.
When he becomes angry,
he will knock down kings!
6 He will punish the nations,
so that dead bodies cover the ground.
He will destroy kings everywhere on the earth.
7 He will drink from a stream at the side of the road.
With new strength, he will lift up his head.
14 If you shout a blessing to your neighbour early in the morning,
he will think it is no better than a curse.
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