Ezek. 21:1‑23:49• 1And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying,
2Son of man, set thy face against Jerusalem, and drop words against the holy places, and prophesy against the land of Israel,
3and say to the land of Israel, Thus saith Jehovah: Behold, I am against thee, and I will draw forth my sword out of its sheath, and will cut off from thee the righteous and the wicked.
4Seeing that I will cut off from thee the righteous and the wicked, therefore shall my sword go forth out of its sheath against all flesh, from the south to the north;
5and all flesh shall know that I Jehovah have drawn forth my sword out of its sheath: it shall not return any more.
6Sigh then, thou son of man; with breaking of the loins, and with bitterness sigh before their eyes.
7And it shall be, when they say unto thee, Wherefore dost thou sigh? that thou shalt say, Because of the tidings, for it cometh; and every heart shall melt, and all hands shall be feeble, and every spirit shall languish, and all knees shall melt into water: behold, it cometh; it is here, saith the Lord Jehovah.
8And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying,
9Son of man, prophesy, and say, Thus saith Jehovah: Say, A sword, a sword is sharpened, and also furbished.
10It is sharpened for sore slaughter, it is furbished that it may glitter. Shall we then make mirth, saying, The sceptre of my son contemneth all wood?
11And he hath given it to be furbished that it may be handled. The sword,--it is sharpened, and it is furbished to give it into the hand of the slayer.
12Cry and howl, son of man; for it shall be against my people, it shall be against all the princes of Israel: they are given up to the sword along with my people: smite therefore upon the thigh.
13For the trial is made; and what if even the contemning sceptre shall be no more? saith the Lord Jehovah.
14And thou, son of man, prophesy, and smite thy hands together; for the strokes of the sword shall be doubled the third time: it is the sword of the slain, the sword that hath slain the great one, which encompasseth them privily.
15In order that the heart may melt, and the stumbling-blocks be multiplied, I have set the threatening sword against all their gates: ah! it is made glittering, it is whetted for the slaughter.
16Gather up strength, go to the right hand, turn thee, go to the left, whithersoever thy face is appointed.
17And I myself will smite my hands together, and I will satisfy my fury: I Jehovah have spoken it.
18And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying,
19And thou, son of man, set thee two ways, by which the sword of the king of Babylon may come--out of one land shall they both come--and make thee a signpost, make it at the head of the way to the city.
20Appoint a way for the coming of the sword to Rabbah of the children of Ammon, and to Judah at the fenced city of Jerusalem.
21For the king of Babylon standeth at the parting of the way, at the head of the two ways, to use divination: he shaketh his arrows, he inquireth of the teraphim, he looketh in the liver.
22In his right hand is the lot of Jerusalem to appoint battering-rams, to open the mouth for bloodshed, to lift up the voice with shouting, to appoint battering-rams against the gates, to cast mounds, to build siege-towers.
23And this shall be a false divination in their sight, for them that have sworn oaths; but he will call to remembrance the iniquity, that they may be taken.
24Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Because ye make your iniquity to be remembered in that your transgressions are discovered, so that in all your doings your sins appear; because ye are come to remembrance, ye shall be taken with the hand.
25And thou, profane, wicked prince of Israel, whose day is come, at the time of the iniquity of the end,
26--thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Remove the mitre and take off the crown; what is shall be no more. Exalt that which is low, and abase that which is high.
27I will overturn, overturn, overturn it! This also shall be no more, until he come whose right it is; and I will give it to him.
28And thou, son of man, prophesy and say, Thus speaketh the Lord Jehovah concerning the children of Ammon, and concerning their reproach; and thou shalt say, A sword, a sword is drawn; for the slaughter is it furbished, that it may consume, that it may glitter:
29whilst they see vanity for thee, whilst they divine a lie unto thee, to lay thee upon the necks of the wicked that are slain, whose day is come at the time of the iniquity of the end.
30Restore it to its sheath. I will judge thee in the place where thou wast created, in the land of thy birth.
31And I will pour out mine indignation upon thee, I will blow upon thee the fire of my wrath, and give thee into the hand of brutish men, skilful to destroy.
32Thou shalt be for fuel to the fire; thy blood shall be in the midst of the land; thou shalt not be remembered: for I Jehovah have spoken.
1And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying,
2And thou, son of man, wilt thou judge, wilt thou judge the bloody city? Yea, cause her to know all her abominations,
3and say, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: A city that sheddeth blood in her midst, that her time may come, and maketh idols against herself to defile herself.
4Thou art become guilty by thy blood which thou hast shed, and hast defiled thyself with thine idols which thou hast made; and thou hast caused thy days to draw near, and art come unto thy years: therefore have I made thee a reproach unto the nations, and a mocking unto all countries.
5Those that are near, and those that are far from thee, shall mock thee, who art infamous and full of tumult.
6Behold, the princes of Israel have been in thee to shed blood, each according to his power.
7In thee have they made light of father and mother; in the midst of thee have they dealt by oppression with the stranger; in thee have they vexed the fatherless and the widow.
8Thou hast despised my holy things, and hast profaned my sabbaths.
9In thee there have been slanderous men to shed blood; and in thee have they eaten upon the mountains; in the midst of thee they have committed lewdness;
10in thee have they discovered their fathers' nakedness; in thee have they humbled her that was unclean in her separation.
11And one hath committed abomination with his neighbour's wife; and another hath lewdly defiled his daughter-in-law; and another in thee hath humbled his sister, his father's daughter.
12In thee have they taken gifts to shed blood; thou hast taken usury and increase, and thou hast overreached thy neighbours by oppression, and hast forgotten me, saith the Lord Jehovah.
13And behold, I have smitten mine hand at thine overreaching which thou hast done, and at thy bloodshed which hath been in the midst of thee.
14Shall thy heart endure, shall thy hands be strong, in the days that I shall deal with thee? I Jehovah have spoken, and will do it.
15And I will scatter thee among the nations, and disperse thee through the countries, and will consume thy filthiness out of thee.
16And thou shalt be polluted through thyself in the sight of the nations, and thou shalt know that I am Jehovah.
17And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying,
18Son of man, the house of Israel is become dross to me: they are all copper, and tin, and iron, and lead, in the midst of the furnace: they are become the dross of silver.
19Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Because ye are all become dross, therefore behold, I will gather you into the midst of Jerusalem.
20As they gather silver, and copper, and iron, and lead, and tin, into the midst of the furnace, to blow the fire upon it, to melt it, so will I gather you in mine anger and in my fury, and I will lay you on and melt you.
21Yea, I will collect you, and blow upon you the fire of my wrath, and ye shall be melted in the midst thereof.
22As silver is melted in the midst of the furnace, so shall ye be melted in the midst thereof: and ye shall know that I Jehovah have poured out my fury upon you.
23And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying,
24Son of man, say unto her, Thou art a land that is not cleansed, nor rained upon in the day of indignation.
25There is a conspiracy of her prophets in the midst of her like a roaring lion ravening the prey; they devour souls; they take away treasure and precious things; they increase her widows in the midst of her;
26her priests do violence to my law, and profane my holy things: they put no difference between the holy and profane, neither do they make known the difference between the unclean and the clean, and they hide their eyes from my sabbaths, and I am profaned among them.
27Her princes in the midst of her are like wolves ravening the prey, to shed blood, to destroy souls, to get dishonest gain.
28And her prophets have daubed for them with untempered mortar, seeing vanity and divining lies unto them, saying, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah! and Jehovah hath not spoken.
29The people of the land use oppression and practise robbery; and they vex the poor and needy, and oppress the stranger wrongfully.
30And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the fence, and stand in the breach before me for the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found none.
31And I will pour out mine indignation upon them; I will consume them in the fire of my wrath: their own way will I recompense upon their head, saith the Lord Jehovah.
1And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying,
2Son of man, there were two women, daughters of one mother.
3And they committed whoredom in Egypt; they committed whoredom in their youth: there were their breasts pressed, and there were handled the teats of their virginity.
4And 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 Oholibah.
5And Oholah played the harlot when she was mine; and she lusted after her lovers, after the Assyrians her neighbours,
6clothed with blue, governors and rulers, all of them attractive young men, horsemen riding upon horses.
7And she bestowed her whoredoms upon them, all of them the choice of the children of Asshur; and with all after whom she lusted, with all their idols she defiled herself.
8Neither left she her whoredoms brought from Egypt; for in her youth they had lain with her, and had handled the breasts of her virginity, and poured their fornication upon her.
9Therefore I gave her into the hand of her lovers, into the hand of the children of Asshur, after whom she lusted.
10These discovered her nakedness, they took her sons and her daughters, and slew her with the sword; and she became a name among women; and they executed judgment upon her.
11And her sister Oholibah saw this, and was more corrupt in her passion than she, and in her fornications more than the whoredoms of her sister.
12She lusted after the children of Asshur her neighbours, governors and rulers, clothed most gorgeously, horsemen riding upon horses, all of them attractive young men.
13And I saw that she was defiled: both took one way.
14And she increased her fornications; for she saw men portrayed upon the wall, the images of the Chaldeans portrayed with vermilion,
15girded with girdles upon their loins, with flowing turbans on their heads, all of them captains in appearance, after the likeness of the children of Babylon, of Chaldea, the land of their nativity.
16And as soon as she saw them with her eyes, she lusted after them, and sent messengers unto them into Chaldea.
17And the children of Babylon came to her into the bed of love, and they defiled her with their fornication; she too defiled herself with them, and her soul was alienated from them.
18And she discovered her whoredoms, and discovered her nakedness; and my soul was alienated from her, like as my soul was alienated from her sister.
19Yet she multiplied her whoredoms, calling to remembrance the days of her youth, wherein she played the harlot in the land of Egypt;
20and she lusted after their paramours, whose flesh is as the flesh of asses, and whose issue is as the issue of horses.
21And thou didst look back to the lewdness of thy youth, in the handling of thy teats by the Egyptians, for the breasts of thy youth.
22Therefore, Oholibah, thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Behold, I will raise up thy lovers against thee, from whom thy soul is alienated, and I will bring them against thee on every side.
23The children of Babylon, and all the Chaldeans, Pekod and Shoa and Koa, all the children of Asshur with them; all of them attractive young men, governors and rulers, great lords and renowned, all of them riding upon horses.
24And they shall come against thee with armour, chariots and wheels, and with an assemblage of peoples; they shall set themselves against thee with target, and shield, and helmet round about; and I will put judgment before them, and they shall judge thee according to their judgments.
25And I will set my jealousy against thee, and they shall deal furiously with thee: they shall cut off thy nose and thine ears, and thy remnant shall fall by the sword; they shall take thy sons and thy daughters; and thy residue shall be devoured by the fire.
26They shall also strip the of thy garments, and take away thy fair jewels.
27And I will make thy lewdness to cease from thee, and thy whoredom brought from the land of Egypt; and thou shalt not lift up thine eyes unto them, nor remember Egypt any more.
28For thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Behold, I will give thee over into the hand of them whom thou hatest, into the hand of them from whom thy soul is alienated.
29And they shall deal with thee in hatred, and shall take away all thy labour, and shall leave thee naked and bare; so that the nakedness of thy whoredoms shall be discovered, both thy lewdness and thy fornications.
30These things shall be done unto thee, because thou hast gone a whoring after the nations, because thou hast defiled thyself with their idols.
31Thou hast walked in the way of thy sister; and I have given her cup into thy hand.
32Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Thou shalt drink of thy sister's cup deep and large; thou shalt be for a laughing-stock and a derision, for it containeth much.
33Thou shalt be filled with drunkenness and sorrow, with the cup of astonishment and desolation, the cup of thy sister Samaria;
34thou shalt even drink it and suck it out, and thou shalt gnaw the sherds thereof, and pluck off thine own breasts: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord Jehovah.
35Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Because thou hast forgotten me, and cast me behind thy back, therefore bear thou also thy lewdness and thy fornications.
36And Jehovah said unto me, Son of man, wilt thou judge Oholah and Oholibah? yea, declare unto them their abominations.
37For they have committed adultery, and blood is in their hands; and with their idols have they committed adultery, and have also passed over unto them their children, whom they bore unto me, to be devoured.
38Moreover this have they done unto me: in the same day have they defiled my sanctuary and profaned my sabbaths.
39For when they had slaughtered their children unto their idols, they came the same day into my sanctuary to profane it; and behold, thus have they done in the midst of my house.
40And furthermore, they sent for men to come from far, unto whom a messenger was sent; and behold, they came: for whom thou didst wash thyself, paintedst thine eyes, and deckedst thyself with ornaments;
41and satest upon a stately bed, with a table prepared before it, whereupon thou hadst set mine incense and mine oil.
42And the voice of a multitude living carelessly was with her; and with people of the common sort were brought Sabeans from the wilderness, and they put bracelets upon their hands, and a beautiful crown upon their heads.
43And I said of her that was old in adulteries, Will she now commit her fornications, even she.
44And they went in unto her, as they go in unto a whorish woman: so went they in unto Oholah and unto Oholibah the lewd women.
45And righteous men, they shall judge them with the judgment of adulteresses, and with the judgment of women that shed blood; for they are adulteresses, and blood is in their hands.
46For thus saith the Lord Jehovah: I will bring up an assemblage against them, and will give them to be driven hither and thither and spoiled.
47And the assemblage shall stone them with stones, and despatch them with their swords; they shall kill their sons and their daughters, and burn their houses with fire.
48And I will cause lewdness to cease out of the land, and all women shall receive instruction and shall not do according to your lewdness.
49And they shall recompense your lewdness upon you, and ye shall bear the sins of your idols; and ye shall know that I am the Lord Jehovah. (Ezek. 21:1‑23:49)