1Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me,
saying,
2Now, thou son of man, wilt thou judge, wilt
thou judge the bloody city? yea, thou shalt shew her
all her abominations.
3Then say thou, Thus saith the Lord GOD, The
city sheddeth blood in the midst of it, that her
time may come, and maketh idols against herself to
defile herself.
4Thou art become guilty in thy blood that
thou hast shed; and hast defiled thyself in thine
idols which thou hast made; and thou hast caused thy
days to draw near, and art come even unto
thy years: therefore have I made thee a reproach
unto the heathen, and a mocking to all countries.
5Those
that be near, and those
that be far from thee, shall mock thee, which
art infamous and much
vexed.
6Behold, the princes of Israel, every one
were in thee to their power to shed blood.
7In thee have they set light by 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 mine holy things, and
hast profaned my sabbaths.
9In thee are men that carry tales to shed
blood: and in thee they eat upon the mountains: in
the midst of thee they commit lewdness.
10In thee have they discovered their fathers'
nakedness: in thee have they humbled her that was
set apart for pollution.
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 greedily gained of thy neighbours by extortion,
and hast forgotten me, saith the Lord GOD.
13Behold, therefore I have smitten mine hand
at thy dishonest gain which thou hast made, and at
thy blood which hath been in the midst of thee.
14Can thine heart endure, or can thine hands
be strong, in the days that I shall deal with thee?
I the LORD have spoken it,
and will do it.
15And I will scatter thee among the heathen,
and disperse thee in the countries, and will consume
thy filthiness out of thee.
16And thou shalt take thine inheritance in
thyself in the sight of the heathen, and thou shalt
know that I am the
LORD.
17And the word of the LORD came unto me,
saying,
18Son of man, the house of Israel is to me
become dross: all they are brass,
and tin, and iron, and lead, in the midst of the
furnace; they are even the
dross of silver.
19Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because
ye are all become dross, behold, therefore I will
gather you into the midst of Jerusalem.
20As they
gather silver, and brass, 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 leave you
there, and melt you.
21Yea, I will gather you, and blow upon you
in 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 the LORD have poured out my
fury upon you.
23And the word of the LORD came unto me,
saying,
24Son of man, say unto her, Thou art the
land that is not cleansed, nor rained upon in the
day of indignation.
25There
is a conspiracy of her prophets in the midst
thereof, like a roaring lion ravening the prey; they
have devoured souls; they have taken the treasure
and precious things; they have made her many widows
in the midst thereof.
26Her priests have violated my law, and have
profaned mine holy things: they have put no
difference between the holy and profane, neither
have they shewed difference between
the unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes
from my sabbaths, and I am profaned among them.
27Her princes in the midst thereof are like
wolves ravening the prey, to shed blood, and to
destroy souls, to get dishonest gain.
28And her prophets have daubed them with
untempered morter,
seeing vanity, and divining lies unto them, saying,
Thus saith the Lord GOD, when the LORD hath not
spoken.
29The people of the land have used
oppression, and exercised robbery, and have vexed
the poor and needy: yea, they have oppressed the
stranger wrongfully.
30And I sought for a man among them, that
should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap
before me for the land, that I should not destroy
it: but I found none.
31Therefore have I poured out mine
indignation upon them; I have consumed them with the
fire of my wrath: their own way have I recompensed
upon their heads, saith the Lord GOD.