1 MOREOVER, THE word of the Lord came to me, saying, 2 And you son of man [Ezekiel], will you judge, will you judge the bloodshedding city? Then cause her to know all her abominations, 3 And say, Thus says the Lord God: A city that sheds blood in the midst of her so that her time [of doom] will come, and makes idols [over those who worship them] to defile her! 4 In your blood which you have shed you have become guilty, and you are defiled by the idols which you have made, and you have caused your time [of judgment and punishment] to draw near and have arrived at the full measure of your years. Therefore have I made you a reproach to the [heathen] nations and a mocking to all countries. 5 Those who are near and those who are far from you will mock you, you infamous one, full of tumult.
6 Behold, the princes of Israel in you, every one according to his power, have been intending to shed blood. 7 In you have they treated father and mother lightly; in the midst of you they have dealt unjustly and by oppression in relation to the stranger; in you they have wronged the fatherless and the widow. 8 You have despised and scorned My sacred things and have profaned My Sabbaths. 9 In you are slanderous men who arouse suspicions to shed blood, and in you are they who have eaten [food offered to idols] upon the mountains; in the midst of you they have committed lewdness. 10 In you men have uncovered their fathers' nakedness [the nakedness of mother or stepmother]; in you they have humbled women who are [ceremonially] unclean [during their periods or because of childbirth]. 11 And one has committed abomination with his neighbor's wife, 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 accepted bribes to shed blood; you have taken [forbidden] interest and [percentage of] increase, and you have greedily gained from your neighbors by oppression and extortion and have forgotten Me, says the Lord God.
13 Behold therefore, I have struck My hands together at your dishonest gain which you have made and at the blood which has been in the midst of you. 14 Can your heart and courage endure or can your hands be strong in the days that I shall deal with you? I the Lord have spoken it, and I will do it. 15 And I will scatter you among the nations and disperse you through the countries, and I will consume your filthiness out of you. 16 And you shall be dishonored and profane yourself in the sight of the nations, and you shall know (understand and realize) that I am the Lord.
17 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 18 Son of man, the house of Israel has become to Me scum and waste matter. 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 have all become scum and waste matter, behold therefore, I will gather you [O Israel] into the midst of Jerusalem. 20 As they gather silver and bronze and iron and lead and tin into the midst of the furnace, to blow the fire upon it in order to melt it, so will I gather you in My anger and in My wrath, and I will put you in and melt you. 21 Yes, 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 midst of the furnace, so shall you be melted in the midst of it, and you shall know, understand, and realize that I the Lord have poured out My wrath upon you [O Israel].
23 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 24 Son of man, say to her, You are a land that is not cleansed nor rained upon in the day of indignation. 25 There is a conspiracy of [Israel's false] prophets in the midst of her, like a roaring lion tearing the prey; they have devoured human lives; they have taken [in their greed] treasure and precious things; they have made many widows in the midst of her. 26 Her priests have done violence to My law and have profaned My holy things. They have made no distinction between the sacred and the secular, neither have they taught people the difference between the unclean and the clean and have hid their eyes from My Sabbaths, and I am profaned among them. 27 Her princes in the midst of her are like wolves rending and devouring the prey, shedding blood and destroying lives to get dishonest gain. 28 And her prophets have daubed them over with whitewash, seeing false visions and divining lies to them, saying, Thus says the Lord God--when the Lord has not spoken. 29 The people of the land have used oppression and extortion and have committed robbery; yes, they have wronged and vexed the poor and needy; yes, they have oppressed the stranger and temporary resident wrongfully. 30 And I sought a man among them who should build up the wall and stand in the gap before Me for the land, that I should not destroy it, but I found none. 31 Therefore have I poured out My indignation upon them; I have consumed them with the fire of My wrath; their own way have I repaid [by bringing it] upon their own heads, says the Lord God.