Ezekiel22

¹Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

²“Now, son of man, will you judge, will you judge the bloody city? Yes, show her all her abominations!

³Then say, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “The city sheds blood in her own midst, that her time may come; and she makes idols within herself to defile herself.

⁴You have become guilty by the blood which you have shed, and have defiled yourself with the idols which you have made. You have caused your days to draw near, and have come to the end of your years; therefore I have made you a reproach to the nations, and a mockery to all countries.

⁵Those near and those far from you will mock you as infamous and full of tumult.

⁶“Look, the princes of Israel: each one has used his power to shed blood in you.

⁷In you they have made light of father and mother; in your midst they have oppressed the stranger; in you they have mistreated the fatherless and the widow.

⁸You have despised My holy things and profaned My Sabbaths.

⁹In you are men who slander to cause bloodshed; in you are those who eat on the mountains; in your midst they commit lewdness.

¹⁰In you men uncover their fathers’ nakedness; in you they violate women who are set apart during their impurity.

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

¹²In you they take bribes to shed blood; you take usury and increase; you have made profit from your neighbors by extortion, and have forgotten Me,” says the Lord God.

¹³“Behold, therefore, I beat My fists at the dishonest profit which you have made, and at the bloodshed which has been in your midst.

¹⁴Can your heart endure, or can your hands remain strong, in the days when I shall deal with you? I, the Lord, have spoken, and will do it.

¹⁵I will scatter you among the nations, disperse you throughout the countries, and remove your filthiness completely from you.

¹⁶You shall defile yourself in the sight of the nations; then you shall know that I am the Lord.” ’ ”

¹⁷The word of the Lord came to me, saying,

¹⁸“Son of man, the house of Israel has become dross to Me; they are all bronze, tin, iron, and lead, in the midst of a furnace; they have become dross from silver.

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

²⁰As men gather silver, bronze, iron, 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 leave you there and melt you.

²¹Yes, I will gather you and blow on you with the fire of My wrath, and you shall be melted in its midst.

²²As silver is melted in the midst of a furnace, so shall you be melted in its midst; then you shall know that I, the Lord, have poured out My fury on you.’ ”

²³And the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

²⁴“Son of man, say to her: ‘You are a land that is not cleansed or rained on in the day of indignation.’

²⁵The conspiracy of her prophets in her midst is like a roaring lion tearing the prey; they have devoured people; they have taken treasure and precious things; they have made many widows in her midst.

²⁶Her priests have violated My law and profaned My holy things; they have not distinguished between the holy and unholy, nor have they made known the difference between the unclean and the clean; and they have hidden their eyes from My Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them.

²⁷Her princes in her midst are like wolves tearing the prey, to shed blood, to destroy people, and to get dishonest gain.

²⁸Her prophets plastered them with untempered mortar, seeing false visions, and divining lies for them, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord God,’ when the Lord had not spoken.

²⁹The people of the land have used oppressions, committed robbery, and mistreated the poor and needy; and they wrongfully oppress the stranger.

³⁰So I sought for a man among them who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found no one.

³¹Therefore I have poured out My indignation on them; I have consumed them with the fire of My wrath; and I have recompensed their deeds on their own heads,” says the Lord God.