Ezekiel, 22

1. The word of Yahweh was addressed to me as follows,

1. Moreover the word of the LORD came to me, saying,

2. 'Son of man, are you ready to judge? Are you ready to judge the blood-stained city? Confront her with all her loathsome practices!

2. "And you, son of man, will you judge, will you judge the bloody city? Then declare to her all her abominable deeds.

3. Say, "The Lord Yahweh says this: City shedding blood inside yourself to hasten your doom, making foul idols on your soil to defile yourself,

3. You shall say, Thus says the Lord GOD: A city that sheds blood in the midst of her, that her time may come, and that makes idols to defile herself!

4. you have incurred guilt by the blood you have shed, you have defiled yourself with the foul idols you have made, you have shortened your days, you have come to the end of your years. This is why I have made you an object of scorn to the nations and a laughing-stock to every country.

4. You have become guilty by the blood which you have shed, and defiled by the idols which you have made; and you have brought your day near, the appointed time of your years has come. Therefore I have made you a reproach to the nations, and a mocking to all the countries.

5. From far and near they will taunt you with your infamous disorders.

5. Those who are near and those who are far from you will mock you, you infamous one, full of tumult.

6. "Look! In you the princes of Israel, one and all, have furthered their own interests at the cost of bloodshed;

6. "Behold, the princes of Israel in you, every one according to his power, have been bent on shedding blood.

7. in you people have despised their fathers and mothers; in you they have ill-treated the settler; in you they have oppressed the widow and orphan.

7. Father and mother are treated with contempt in you; the sojourner suffers extortion in your midst; the fatherless and the widow are wronged in you.

8. You have treated my sanctuary with contempt, you have profaned my Sabbaths.

8. You have despised my holy things, and profaned my sabbaths.

9. In you informers incite to bloodshed; in you people eat on the mountains and act licentiously;

9. There are men in you who slander to shed blood, and men in you who eat upon the mountains; men commit lewdness in your midst.

10. in you they have sexual intercourse with their fathers; in you they force themselves on women in their periods;

10. In you men uncover their fathers' nakedness; in you they humble women who are unclean in their impurity.

11. in you one man engages in loathsome practices with his neighbour's wife, another lewdly defiles his daughter-in-law, another violates his sister, his own father's daughter.

11. One commits abomination with his neighbor's wife; another lewdly defiles his daughter-in-law; another in you defiles his sister, his father's daughter.

12. In you people take bribes for shedding blood; you lend for profit and charge interest, you profit from your fellow by extortion and have forgotten about me -- declares the Lord Yahweh.

12. In you men take bribes to shed blood; you take interest and increase and make gain of your neighbors by extortion; and you have forgotten me, says the Lord GOD.

13. "Now I shall clap my hands at your acts of banditry and the blood that flows in you.

13. "Behold, therefore, I strike my hands together at the dishonest gain which you have made, and at the blood which has been in the midst of you.

14. Will your heart be able to resist, will your hands be steady, the day when I call you to account? I, Yahweh, have spoken and shall act.

14. Can your courage endure, or can your hands be strong, in the days that I shall deal with you? I the LORD have spoken, and I will do it.

15. I shall scatter you among the nations and disperse you in foreign countries, and so put an end to the filthiness now inside you;

15. I will scatter you among the nations and disperse you through the countries, and I will consume your filthiness out of you.

16. through your own fault, you will be profaned in the eyes of the nations, and you will know that I am Yahweh!" '

16. And I shall be profaned through you in the sight of the nations; and you shall know that I am the LORD."

17. The word of Yahweh was addressed to me as follows,

17. And the word of the LORD came to me:

18. 'Son of man, for me, the House of Israel has become dross: copper, tin, iron, lead, all mixed up together in the melting-pot; they are dross.

18. "Son of man, the house of Israel has become dross to me; all of them, silver and bronze and tin and iron and lead in the furnace, have become dross.

19. And so, Lord Yahweh says this, "Since you have all become dross, right! I shall collect you inside Jerusalem.

19. Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Because you have all become dross, therefore, behold, I will gather you into the midst of Jerusalem.

20. As silver, copper, iron, lead and tin are collected in the melting-pot, and the fire is blown underneath to melt them down, so I shall collect you in my furious anger and have you melted down;

20. As men gather silver and bronze and iron and lead and tin into a furnace, to blow the fire upon it in order to melt it; so I will gather you in my anger and in my wrath, and I will put you in and melt you.

21. I shall collect you and blow up the fire of my rage for you and have you melted down inside the city.

21. I will gather you and blow upon you with the fire of my wrath, and you shall be melted in the midst of it.

22. As silver is melted in the melting-pot, so you will be melted down inside the city, and you will know that I, Yahweh, have vented my fury on you." '

22. As silver is melted in a furnace, so you shall be melted in the midst of it; and you shall know that I the LORD have poured out my wrath upon you."

23. The word of Yahweh was addressed to me as follows,

23. And the word of the LORD came to me:

24. 'Son of man, say to her, "You are a land that has not received rain or shower on the day of anger.

24. "Son of man, say to her, You are a land that is not cleansed, or rained upon in the day of indignation.

25. In you, the princes are like a roaring lion tearing its prey. They have eaten the people, seized wealth and jewels and widowed many inside her.

25. Her princes in the midst of her are like a roaring lion tearing the prey; they have devoured human lives; they have taken treasure and precious things; they have made many widows in the midst of her.

26. Her priests have violated my law and desecrated my sanctuary; they have made no distinction between sacred and profane, they have not taught people the difference between clean and unclean; they have turned their eyes away from my Sabbaths and I have been dishonoured by them.

26. Her priests have done violence to my law and have profaned my holy things; they have made no distinction between the holy and the common, neither have they taught the difference between the unclean and the clean, and they have disregarded my sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them.

27. In her the leaders are wolves tearing their prey, shedding blood and killing people to steal their possessions.

27. Her princes in the midst of her are like wolves tearing the prey, shedding blood, destroying lives to get dishonest gain.

28. Her prophets have plastered these things over with their empty visions and lying prophecies, saying: Yahweh says this, although Yahweh has not spoken.

28. And her prophets have daubed for them with whitewash, seeing false visions and divining lies for them, saying, `Thus says the Lord GOD,' when the LORD has not spoken.

29. The people of the country have taken to extortion and banditry; they have oppressed the poor and needy and ill-treated the settler in a way that is unjustifiable.

29. The people of the land have practiced extortion and committed robbery; they have oppressed the poor and needy, and have extorted from the sojourner without redress.

30. I have been looking for someone among them to build a barricade and oppose me in the breach, to defend the country and prevent me from destroying it; but I have found no one.

30. And I sought for a man among them who should build up the wall and stand in the breach before me for the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found none.

31. Hence I have vented my fury on them; I have put an end to them in the fire of my rage. I have made their conduct recoil on their own heads -- declares the Lord Yahweh." '

31. Therefore I have poured out my indignation upon them; I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath; their way have I requited upon their heads, says the Lord GOD."