2:1How has the Lord covered the daughter of Zion with a cloud in his anger! He has cast the beauty of Israel down from heaven to the earth, and hasn’t remembered his footstool in the day of his anger. 2:2The Lord has swallowed up all the dwellings of Jacob without pity. He has thrown down in his wrath the strongholds of the daughter of Judah. He has brought them down to the ground. He has profaned the kingdom and its princes. 2:3He has cut off all the horn of Israel in fierce anger. He has drawn back his right hand from before the enemy. He has burned up Jacob like a flaming fire, which devours all around. 2:4He has bent his bow like an enemy. He has stood with his right hand as an adversary. Has killed all that were pleasant to the eye. In the tent of the daughter of Zion, he has poured out his wrath like fire. 2:5The Lord has become as an enemy. He has swallowed up Israel. He has swallowed up all her palaces. He has destroyed his strongholds. He has multiplied mourning and lamentation in the daughter of Judah. 2:6He has violently taken away his tabernacle, as if it were of a garden. He has destroyed his place of assembly. Yahweh has caused solemn assembly and Sabbath to be forgotten in Zion. In the indignation of his anger, he has despised the king and the priest. 2:7The Lord has cast off his altar. He has abhorred his sanctuary. He has given the walls of her palaces into the hand of the enemy. They have made a noise in Yahweh’s house, as in the day of a solemn assembly. 2:8Yahweh has purposed to destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion. He has stretched out the line. He has not withdrawn his hand from destroying; He has made the rampart and wall lament. They languish together. 2:9Her gates have sunk into the ground. He has destroyed and broken her bars. Her king and her princes are among the nations where the law is not. Yes, her prophets find no vision from Yahweh. 2:10The elders of the daughter of Zion sit on the ground. They keep silence. They have cast up dust on their heads. They have clothed themselves with sackcloth. The virgins of Jerusalem hang down their heads to the ground. 2:11My eyes fail with tears. My heart is troubled. My liver is poured on the earth, because of the destruction of the daughter of my people, because the young children and the infants swoon in the streets of the city. 2:12They ask their mothers, “Where is grain and wine?” when they swoon as the wounded in the streets of the city, when their soul is poured out into their mothers’ bosom. 2:13What shall I testify to you? What shall I liken to you, daughter of Jerusalem? What shall I compare to you, that I may comfort you, virgin daughter of Zion? For your breach is as big as the sea. Who can heal you? 2:14Your prophets have seen false and foolish visions for you. They have not uncovered your iniquity, to reverse your captivity, but have seen for you false revelations and causes of banishment. 2:15All that pass by clap their hands at you. They hiss and wag their head at the daughter of Jerusalem, saying, “Is this the city that men called ‘The perfection of beauty, the joy of the whole earth’?” 2:16All your enemies have opened their mouth wide against you. They hiss and gnash their teeth. They say, “We have swallowed her up. Certainly this is the day that we looked for. We have found it. We have seen it.” 2:17Yahweh has done that which he planned. He has fulfilled his word that he commanded in the days of old. He has thrown down, and has not pitied. He has caused the enemy to rejoice over you. He has exalted the horn of your adversaries. 2:18Their heart cried to the Lord. O wall of the daughter of Zion, let tears run down like a river day and night. Give yourself no relief. Don’t let the your eyes rest. 2:19Arise, cry out in the night, at the beginning of the watches! Pour out your heart like water before the face of the Lord. Lift up your hands toward him for the life of your young children, who faint for hunger at the head of every street. 2:20“Look, Yahweh, and see to whom you have done thus! Should the women eat their offspring, the children that they held and bounced on their knees? Should the priest and the prophet be killed in the sanctuary of the Lord? 2:21“The youth and the old man lie on the ground in the streets. My virgins and my young men have fallen by the sword. You have killed them in the day of your anger. You have slaughtered, and not pitied. 2:22“You have called, as in the day of a solemn assembly, my terrors on every side. There was no one that escaped or remained in the day of Yahweh’s anger. My enemy has consumed those whom I have cared for and brought up.
3:1I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of his wrath. 3:2He has led me and caused me to walk in darkness, and not in light. 3:3Surely he turns his hand against me again and again all day long. 3:4He has made my flesh and my skin old. He has broken my bones. 3:5He has built against me, and surrounded me with bitterness and hardship. 3:6He has made me dwell in dark places, as those who have been long dead. 3:7He has walled me about, so that I can’t go out. He has made my chain heavy. 3:8Yes, when I cry, and call for help, he shuts out my prayer. 3:9He has walled up my ways with cut stone. He has made my paths crooked. 3:10He is to me as a bear lying in wait, as a lion in secret places. 3:11He has turned away my ways, and pulled me in pieces. He has made me desolate. 3:12He has bent his bow, and set me as a mark for the arrow. 3:13He has caused the shafts of his quiver to enter into my kidneys. 3:14I have become a derision to all my people, and their song all day long. 3:15He has filled me with bitterness. He has stuffed me with wormwood. 3:16He has also broken my teeth with gravel. He has covered me with ashes. 3:17You have removed my soul far away from peace. I forgot prosperity. 3:18I said, “My strength has perished, along with my expectation from Yahweh.” 3:19Remember my affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the bitterness. 3:20My soul still remembers them, and is bowed down within me. 3:21This I recall to my mind; therefore I have hope. 3:22It is because of Yahweh’s loving kindnesses that we are not consumed, because his compassion doesn’t fail. 3:23They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness. 3:24“Yahweh is my portion,” says my soul. “Therefore I will hope in him.” 3:25Yahweh is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him. 3:26It is good that a man should hope and quietly wait for the salvation of Yahweh. 3:27It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth. 3:28Let him sit alone and keep silence, because he has laid it on him. 3:29Let him put his mouth in the dust, if it is so that there may be hope. 3:30Let him give his cheek to him who strikes him. Let him be filled full of reproach. 3:31For the Lord will not cast off forever. 3:32For though he causes grief, yet he will have compassion according to the multitude of his loving kindnesses. 3:33For he does not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men. 3:34To crush under foot all the prisoners of the earth, 3:35to turn away the right of a man before the face of the Most High, 3:36to subvert a man in his cause, the Lord doesn’t approve. 3:37Who is he who says, and it comes to pass, when the Lord doesn’t command it? 3:38Doesn’t evil and good come out of the mouth of the Most High? 3:39Why does a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins? 3:40Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to Yahweh. 3:41Let us lift up our heart with our hands to God in the heavens. 3:42“We have transgressed and have rebelled. You have not pardoned. 3:43“You have covered us with anger and pursued us. You have killed. You have not pitied. 3:44You have covered yourself with a cloud, so that no prayer can pass through. 3:45You have made us an off-scouring and refuse in the middle of the peoples. 3:46“All our enemies have opened their mouth wide against us. 3:47Terror and the pit have come on us, devastation and destruction.” 3:48My eye runs down with streams of water, for the destruction of the daughter of my people. 3:49My eye pours down and doesn’t cease, without any intermission, 3:50until Yahweh looks down, and sees from heaven. 3:51My eye affects my soul, because of all the daughters of my city. 3:52They have chased me relentlessly like a bird, those who are my enemies without cause. 3:53They have cut off my life in the dungeon, and have cast a stone on me. 3:54Waters flowed over my head. I said, “I am cut off.” 3:55I called on your name, Yahweh, out of the lowest dungeon. 3:56You heard my voice: “Don’t hide your ear from my sighing, and my cry.” 3:57You came near in the day that I called on you. You said, “Don’t be afraid.” 3:58Lord, you have pleaded the causes of my soul. You have redeemed my life. 3:59Yahweh, you have seen my wrong. Judge my cause. 3:60You have seen all their vengeance and all their plans against me. 3:61You have heard their reproach, Yahweh, and all their plans against me, 3:62the lips of those that rose up against me, and their plots against me all day long. 3:63You see their sitting down and their rising up. I am their song. 3:64You will pay them back, Yahweh, according to the work of their hands. 3:65You will give them hardness of heart, your curse to them. 3:66You will pursue them in anger, and destroy them from under the heavens of Yahweh.
4:1How the gold has become dim! The most pure gold has changed! The stones of the sanctuary are poured out at the head of every street. 4:2The precious sons of Zion, comparable to fine gold, how are they esteemed as earthen pitchers, the work of the hands of the potter! 4:3Even the jackals offer their breast. They nurse their young ones. But the daughter of my people has become cruel, like the ostriches in the wilderness. 4:4The tongue of the nursing child clings to the roof of his mouth for thirst. The young children ask bread, and no one breaks it for them. 4:5Those who ate delicacies are desolate in the streets. Those who were brought up in purple embrace dunghills. 4:6For the iniquity of the daughter of my people is greater than the sin of Sodom, which was overthrown as in a moment. No hands were laid on her. 4:7Her nobles were purer than snow. They were whiter than milk. They were more ruddy in body than rubies. Their polishing was like sapphire. 4:8Their appearance is blacker than a coal. They are not known in the streets. Their skin clings to their bones. It is withered. It has become like a stick. 4:9Those who are killed with the sword are better than those who are killed with hunger; For these pine away, stricken through, for lack of the fruits of the field. 4:10The hands of the pitiful women have boiled their own children. They were their food in the destruction of the daughter of my people. 4:11Yahweh has accomplished his wrath. He has poured out his fierce anger. He has kindled a fire in Zion, which has devoured its foundations. 4:12The kings of the earth didn’t believe, neither did all the inhabitants of the world, that the adversary and the enemy would enter into the gates of Jerusalem. 4:13It is because of the sins of her prophets and the iniquities of her priests, That have shed the blood of the just in the middle of her. 4:14They wander as blind men in the streets. They are polluted with blood, So that men can’t touch their garments. 4:15“Go away!” they cried to them. “Unclean! Go away! Go away! Don’t touch! When they fled away and wandered, men said among the nations, “They can’t live here any more.” 4:16Yahweh’s anger has scattered them. He will not pay attention to them any more. They didn’t respect the persons of the priests. They didn’t favor the elders. 4:17Our eyes still fail, looking in vain for our help. In our watching we have watched for a nation that could not save. 4:18They hunt our steps, so that we can’t go in our streets. Our end is near. Our days are fulfilled, for our end has come. 4:19Our pursuers were swifter than the eagles of the sky. They chased us on the mountains. They set an ambush for us in the wilderness. 4:20The breath of our nostrils, the anointed of Yahweh, was taken in their pits; of whom we said, under his shadow we will live among the nations. 4:21Rejoice and be glad, daughter of Edom, that dwells in the land of Uz. The cup will pass through to you also. You will be drunken, and will make yourself naked. 4:22The punishment of your iniquity is accomplished, daughter of Zion. He will no more carry you away into captivity. He will visit your iniquity, daughter of Edom. He will uncover your sins.
5:1Remember, Yahweh, what has come on us. Look, and see our reproach. 5:2Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers, our houses to aliens. 5:3We are orphans and fatherless. Our mothers are as widows. 5:4We have drunken our water for money. Our wood is sold to us. 5:5Our pursuers are on our necks. We are weary, and have no rest. 5:6We have given our hands to the Egyptians, and to the Assyrians, to be satisfied with bread. 5:7Our fathers sinned, and are no more. We have borne their iniquities. 5:8Servants rule over us. There is no one to deliver us out of their hand. 5:9We get our bread at the peril of our lives, because of the sword of the wilderness. 5:10Our skin is black like an oven, because of the burning heat of famine. 5:11They ravished the women in Zion, the virgins in the cities of Judah. 5:12Princes were hanged up by their hands. The faces of elders were not honored. 5:13The young men carry millstones. The children stumbled under loads of wood. 5:14The elders have ceased from the gate, and the young men from their music. 5:15The joy of our heart has ceased. Our dance is turned into mourning. 5:16The crown has fallen from our head. Woe to us, for we have sinned! 5:17For this our heart is faint. For these things our eyes are dim. 5:18For the mountain of Zion, which is desolate. The foxes walk on it. 5:19You, Yahweh, remain forever. Your throne is from generation to generation. 5:20Why do you forget us forever, and forsake us for so long a time? 5:21Turn us to yourself, Yahweh, and we will be turned. Renew our days as of old. 5:22But you have utterly rejected us. You are very angry against us.
Ezekiel
1:1Now in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, in the fifth of the month, as I was among the captives by the river Chebar, the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God. 1:2In the fifth of the month, which was the fifth year of king Jehoiachin’s captivity, 1:3Yahweh’s word came to Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar; and Yahweh’s hand was there on him. 1:4I looked, and behold, a stormy wind came out of the north: a great cloud, with flashing lightning, and a brightness around it, and out of the middle of it as it were glowing metal, out of the middle of the fire. 1:5Out of its center came the likeness of four living creatures. This was their appearance: They had the likeness of a man. 1:6Everyone had four faces, and each one of them had four wings. 1:7Their feet were straight feet. The sole of their feet was like the sole of a calf’s foot; and they sparkled like burnished brass. 1:8They had the hands of a man under their wings on their four sides. The four of them had their faces and their wings like this: 1:9Their wings were joined to one another. They didn’t turn when they went. Each one went straight forward. 1:10As for the likeness of their faces, they had the face of a man. The four of them had the face of a lion on the right side. The four of them had the face of an ox on the left side. The four of them also had the face of an eagle. 1:11Such were their faces. Their wings were spread out above. Two wings of each one touched another, and two covered their bodies. 1:12Each one went straight forward: where the spirit was to go, they went. They didn’t turn when they went. 1:13As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire, like the appearance of torches. The fire went up and down among the living creatures. The fire was bright, and lightning went out of the fire. 1:14The living creatures ran and returned as the appearance of a flash of lightning. 1:15Now as I saw the living creatures, behold, there was one wheel on the earth beside the living creatures, for each of the four faces of it. 1:16The appearance of the wheels and their work was like a beryl. The four of them had one likeness. Their appearance and their work was as it were a wheel within a wheel. 1:17When they went, they went in their four directions. They didn’t turn when they went. 1:18As for their rims, they were high and dreadful; and the four of them had their rims full of eyes all around. 1:19When the living creatures went, the wheels went beside them. Then the living creatures were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up. 1:20Wherever the spirit was to go, they went. The spirit was to go there. The wheels were lifted up beside them; for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels. 1:21When those went, these went. When those stood, these stood. When those were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up beside them; for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels. 1:22Over the head of the living creature there was the likeness of an expanse, like an awesome crystal to look at, stretched out over their heads above. 1:23Under the expanse, their wings were straight, one toward the other. Each one had two which covered on this side, and each one had two which covered their bodies on that side. 1:24When they went, I heard the noise of their wings like the noise of great waters, like the voice of the Almighty, a noise of tumult like the noise of an army. When they stood, they let down their wings. 1:25There was a voice above the expanse that was over their heads. When they stood, they let down their wings. 1:26Above the expanse that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone. On the likeness of the throne was a likeness as the appearance of a man on it above. 1:27I saw as it were glowing metal, as the appearance of fire within it all around, from the appearance of his waist and upward; and from the appearance of his waist and downward I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and there was brightness around him. 1:28As the appearance of the rainbow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness all around. This was the appearance of the likeness of Yahweh’s glory. When I saw it, I fell on my face, and I heard a voice of one that spoke.
2:1He said to me, “Son of man, stand on your feet, and I will speak with you.” 2:2The Spirit entered into me when he spoke to me, and set me on my feet; and I heard him who spoke to me. 2:3He said to me, “Son of man, I send you to the children of Israel, to a nation of rebels who have rebelled against me. They and their fathers have transgressed against me even to this very day. 2:4The children are impudent and stiff-hearted. I am sending you to them, and you shall tell them, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh.’ 2:5They, whether they will hear, or whether they will refuse, for they are a rebellious house, yet they will know that there has been a prophet among them. 2:6You, son of man, don’t be afraid of them, neither be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns are with you, and you do dwell among scorpions. Don’t be afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, though they are a rebellious house. 2:7You shall speak my words to them, whether they will hear, or whether they will refuse; for they are most rebellious. 2:8But you, son of man, hear what I tell you. Don’t be rebellious like that rebellious house. Open your mouth, and eat that which I give you.” 2:9When I looked, behold, a hand was stretched out to me; and, behold, a scroll of a book was in it. 2:10He spread it before me. It was written within and without; and lamentations, mourning, and woe were written in it.
3:1He said to me, “Son of man, eat what you find. Eat this scroll, and go, speak to the house of Israel.” 3:2So I opened my mouth, and he caused me to eat the scroll. 3:3He said to me, “Son of man, cause your belly to eat, and fill your bowels with this scroll that I give you.” Then I ate it; and it was as sweet as honey in my mouth. 3:4He said to me, “Son of man, go to the house of Israel, and speak my words to them. 3:5For you are not sent to a people of a strange speech and of a hard language, but to the house of Israel; 3:6not to many peoples of a strange speech and of a hard language, whose words you can’t understand. Surely, if I sent you to them, they would listen to you. 3:7But the house of Israel will not listen to you, for they will not listen to me; for all the house of Israel are obstinate and hard-hearted. 3:8Behold, I have made your face hard against their faces, and your forehead hard against their foreheads. 3:9I have made your forehead as a diamond, harder than flint. Don’t be afraid of them, neither be dismayed at their looks, though they are a rebellious house.” 3:10Moreover he said to me, “Son of man, receive in your heart and hear with your ears all my words that I speak to you. 3:11Go to them of the captivity, to the children of your people, and speak to them, and tell them, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh;’ whether they will hear, or whether they will refuse. 3:12Then the Spirit lifted me up, and I heard behind me the voice of a great rushing, saying, “Blessed be Yahweh’s glory from his place.” 3:13I heard the noise of the wings of the living creatures as they touched one another, and the noise of the wheels beside them, even the noise of a great rushing. 3:14So the Spirit lifted me up, and took me away; and I went in bitterness, in the heat of my spirit; and Yahweh’s hand was strong on me. 3:15Then I came to them of the captivity at Tel Aviv, that lived by the river Chebar, and to where they lived; and I sat there overwhelmed among them seven days. 3:16At the end of seven days, Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, 3:17“Son of man, I have made you a watchman to the house of Israel. Therefore hear the word from my mouth, and warn them from me. 3:18When I tell the wicked, ‘You will surely die;’ and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man will die in his iniquity; but I will require his blood at your hand. 3:19Yet if you warn the wicked, and he doesn’t turn from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he will die in his iniquity; but you have delivered your soul.” 3:20“Again, when a righteous man turns from his righteousness, and commits iniquity, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he will die. Because you have not given him warning, he will die in his sin, and his righteous deeds which he has done will not be remembered; but I will require his blood at your hand. 3:21Nevertheless if you warn the righteous man, that the righteous not sin, and he does not sin, he will surely live, because he took warning; and you have delivered your soul.” 3:22Yahweh’s hand was there on me; and he said to me, “Arise, go out into the plain, and I will talk with you there.” 3:23Then I arose, and went out into the plain, and behold, Yahweh’s glory stood there, like the glory which I saw by the river Chebar. Then I fell on my face. 3:24Then the Spirit entered into me, and set me on my feet. He spoke with me, and said to me, “Go, shut yourself inside your house. 3:25But you, son of man, behold, they will put ropes on you, and will bind you with them, and you will not go out among them. 3:26I will make your tongue stick to the roof of your mouth, that you will be mute, and will not be able to correct them; for they are a rebellious house. 3:27But when I speak with you, I will open your mouth, and you shall tell them, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh.’ He who hears, let him hear; and he who refuses, let him refuse; for they are a rebellious house.”
4:1“You also, son of man, take a tile, and lay it before yourself, and portray on it a city, even Jerusalem. 4:2Lay siege against it, build forts against it, and cast up a mound against it. Also set camps against it and plant battering rams against it all around. 4:3Take for yourself an iron pan, and set it for a wall of iron between you and the city. Then set your face toward it. It will be besieged, and you shall lay siege against it. This shall be a sign to the house of Israel. 4:4“Moreover lie on your left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel on it. According to the number of the days that you shall lie on it, you shall bear their iniquity. 4:5For I have appointed the years of their iniquity to be to you a number of days, even three hundred ninety days. So you shall bear the iniquity of the house of Israel. 4:6“Again, when you have accomplished these, you shall lie on your right side, and shall bear the iniquity of the house of Judah. I have appointed forty days, each day for a year, to you. 4:7You shall set your face toward the siege of Jerusalem, with your arm uncovered; and you shall prophesy against it. 4:8Behold, I put ropes on you, and you shall not turn yourself from one side to the other, until you have accomplished the days of your siege. 4:9“Take for yourself also wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and spelt, and put them in one vessel. Make bread of it. According to the number of the days that you will lie on your side, even three hundred ninety days, you shall eat of it. 4:10Your food which you shall eat shall be by weight, twenty shekels a day. From time to time you shall eat it. 4:11You shall drink water by measure, the sixth part of a hin. From time to time you shall drink. 4:12You shall eat it as barley cakes, and you shall bake it in their sight with dung that comes out of man.” 4:13Yahweh said, “Even thus will the children of Israel eat their bread unclean, among the nations where I will drive them.” 4:14Then I said, “Ah Lord Yahweh! Behold, my soul has not been polluted; for from my youth up even until now I have not eaten of that which dies of itself, or is torn of animals. No abominable meat has come into my mouth!” 4:15Then he said to me, “Behold, I have given you cow’s dung for man’s dung, and you shall prepare your bread on it.” 4:16Moreover he said to me, “Son of man, behold, I will break the staff of bread in Jerusalem. They will eat bread by weight, and with fearfulness. They will drink water by measure, and in dismay; 4:17that they may lack bread and water, be dismayed one with another, and pine away in their iniquity.
5:1“You, son of man, take a sharp sword. You shall take it as a barber’s razor to yourself, and shall cause it to pass over your head and over your beard. Then take balances to weigh and divide the hair. 5:2A third part you shall burn in the fire in the middle of the city, when the days of the siege are fulfilled. You shall take a third part, and strike with the sword around it. A third part you shall scatter to the wind, and I will draw out a sword after them. 5:3You shall take of it a few in number, and bind them in the folds of your robe. 5:4Of these again you shall take, and cast them into the middle of the fire, and burn them in the fire. From it a fire will come out into all the house of Israel. 5:5“Thus says the Lord Yahweh: ‘This is Jerusalem. I have set her in the middle of the nations, and countries are around her. 5:6She has rebelled against my ordinances in doing wickedness more than the nations, and against my statutes more than the countries that are around her; for they have rejected my ordinances, and as for my statutes, they have not walked in them.’ 5:7“Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: ‘Because you are more turbulent than the nations that are around you, and have not walked in my statutes, neither have kept my ordinances, neither have followed the ordinances of the nations that are around you; 5:8therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: ‘Behold, I, even I, am against you; and I will execute judgments among you in the sight of the nations. 5:9I will do in you that which I have not done, and which I will not do anything like it any more, because of all your abominations. 5:10Therefore the fathers will eat the sons within you, and the sons will eat their fathers. I will execute judgments on you; and I will scatter the whole remnant of you to all the winds. 5:11Therefore as I live,’ says the Lord Yahweh, ‘surely, because you have defiled my sanctuary with all your detestable things, and with all your abominations, therefore I will also diminish you. My eye won’t spare, and I will have no pity. 5:12A third part of you will die with the pestilence, and they will be consumed with famine within you. A third part will fall by the sword around you. A third part I will scatter to all the winds, and will draw out a sword after them. 5:13“‘Thus my anger will be accomplished, and I will cause my wrath toward them to rest, and I will be comforted. They will know that I, Yahweh, have spoken in my zeal, when I have accomplished my wrath on them. 5:14“‘Moreover I will make you a desolation and a reproach among the nations that are around you, in the sight of all that pass by. 5:15So it will be a reproach and a taunt, an instruction and an astonishment, to the nations that are around you, when I execute judgments on you in anger and in wrath, and in wrathful rebukes—I, Yahweh, have spoken it— 5:16when I send on them the evil arrows of famine that are for destruction, which I will send to destroy you. I will increase the famine on you, and will break your staff of bread. 5:17I will send on you famine and evil animals, and they will bereave you. Pestilence and blood will pass through you. I will bring the sword on you. I, Yahweh, have spoken it.’”
6:1Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, 6:2“Son of man, set your face toward the mountains of Israel, and prophesy to them, 6:3and say, ‘You mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord Yahweh! Thus says the Lord Yahweh to the mountains and to the hills, to the watercourses and to the valleys: “Behold, I, even I, will bring a sword on you, and I will destroy your high places. 6:4Your altars will become desolate, and your incense altars will be broken. I will cast down your slain men before your idols. 6:5I will lay the dead bodies of the children of Israel before their idols. I will scatter your bones around your altars. 6:6In all your dwelling places, the cities will be laid waste and the high places will be desolate; that your altars may be laid waste and made desolate, and your idols may be broken and cease, and your incense altars may be cut down, and your works may be abolished. 6:7The slain will fall among you, and you will know that I am Yahweh. 6:8“‘“Yet I will leave a remnant, in that you will have some that escape the sword among the nations, when you are scattered through the countries. 6:9Those of you that escape will remember me among the nations where they are carried captive, how I have been broken with their lewd heart, which has departed from me, and with their eyes, which play the prostitute after their idols. Then they will loathe themselves in their own sight for the evils which they have committed in all their abominations. 6:10They will know that I am Yahweh. I have not said in vain that I would do this evil to them.”’ 6:11“Thus says the Lord Yahweh: ‘Strike with your hand, and stamp with your foot, and say, “Alas!” Because of all the evil abominations of the house of Israel; for they will fall by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence. 6:12He who is far off will die of the pestilence. He who is near will fall by the sword. He who remains and is besieged will die by the famine. Thus I will accomplish my wrath on them. 6:13You will know that I am Yahweh, when their slain men are among their idols around their altars, on every high hill, on all the tops of the mountains, under every green tree, and under every thick oak, the places where they offered pleasant aroma to all their idols. 6:14I will stretch out my hand on them, and make the land desolate and waste, from the wilderness toward Diblah, throughout all their habitations. Then they will know that I am Yahweh.’”
7:1Moreover Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, 7:2“You, son of man, thus says the Lord Yahweh to the land of Israel, ‘An end! The end has come on the four corners of the land. 7:3Now is the end on you, and I will send my anger on you, and will judge you according to your ways. I will bring on you all your abominations. 7:4My eye will not spare you, neither will I have pity; but I will bring your ways on you, and your abominations will be among you. Then you will know that I am Yahweh.’ 7:5“Thus says the Lord Yahweh: ‘An evil! A unique evil! Behold, it comes. 7:6An end has come. The end has come! It awakes against you. Behold, it comes. 7:7Your doom has come to you, inhabitant of the land! The time has come! The day is near, a day of tumult, and not of joyful shouting, on the mountains. 7:8Now I will shortly pour out my wrath on you, and accomplish my anger against you, and will judge you according to your ways. I will bring on you all your abominations. 7:9My eye won’t spare, neither will I have pity. I will punish you according to your ways. Your abominations will be among you. Then you will know that I, Yahweh, strike. 7:10“‘Behold, the day! Behold, it comes! Your doom has gone out. The rod has blossomed. Pride has budded. 7:11Violence has risen up into a rod of wickedness. None of them will remain, nor of their multitude, nor of their wealth. There will be nothing of value among them. 7:12The time has come! The day draws near. Don’t let the buyer rejoice, nor the seller mourn; for wrath is on all its multitude. 7:13For the seller won’t return to that which is sold, although they are still alive; for the vision concerns the whole multitude of it. None will return. None will strengthen himself in the iniquity of his life. 7:14They have blown the trumpet, and have made all ready; but no one goes to the battle; for my wrath is on all its multitude. 7:15“‘The sword is outside, and the pestilence and the famine within. He who is in the field will die by the sword. He who is in the city will be devoured by famine and pestilence. 7:16But those of those who escape, they will escape and will be on the mountains like doves of the valleys, all of them moaning, everyone in his iniquity. 7:17All hands will be feeble, and all knees will be weak as water. 7:18They will also clothe themselves with sackcloth, and horror will cover them. Shame will be on all faces, and baldness on all their heads. 7:19They will cast their silver in the streets, and their gold will be as an unclean thing. Their silver and their gold won’t be able to deliver them in the day of Yahweh’s wrath. They won’t satisfy their souls or fill their bellies; because it has been the stumbling block of their iniquity. 7:20As for the beauty of his ornament, he set it in majesty; but they made the images of their abominations and their detestable things therein. Therefore I have made it to them as an unclean thing. 7:21I will give it into the hands of the strangers for a prey, and to the wicked of the earth for a plunder; and they will profane it. 7:22I will also turn my face from them, and they will profane my secret place. Robbers will enter into it, and profane it. 7:23“‘Make chains; for the land is full of bloody crimes, and the city is full of violence. 7:24Therefore I will bring the worst of the nations, and they will possess their houses. I will also make the pride of the strong to cease. Their holy places will be profaned. 7:25Destruction comes! They will seek peace, and there will be none. 7:26Mischief will come on mischief, and rumor will be on rumor. They will seek a vision of the prophet; but the law will perish from the priest, and counsel from the elders. 7:27The king will mourn, and the prince will be clothed with desolation. The hands of the people of the land will be troubled. I will do to them after their way, and according to their own judgments I will judge them. Then they will know that I am Yahweh.’”
8:1In the sixth year, in the sixth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I sat in my house, and the elders of Judah sat before me, the Lord Yahweh’s hand fell on me there. 8:2Then I saw, and behold, a likeness as the appearance of fire; from the appearance of his waist and downward, fire; and from his waist and upward, as the appearance of brightness, as it were glowing metal. 8:3He stretched out the form of a hand, and took me by a lock of my head; and the Spirit lifted me up between earth and the sky, and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem, to the door of the gate of the inner court that looks toward the north; where there was the seat of the image of jealousy, which provokes to jealousy. 8:4Behold, the glory of the God of Israel was there, according to the appearance that I saw in the plain. 8:5Then he said to me, “Son of man, lift up your eyes now the way toward the north.” So I lifted up my eyes the way toward the north, and saw, northward of the gate of the altar this image of jealousy in the entry. 8:6He said to me, “Son of man, do you see what they do? Even the great abominations that the house of Israel commit here, that I should go far off from my sanctuary? But you will again see yet other great abominations.” 8:7He brought me to the door of the court; and when I looked, behold, a hole in the wall. 8:8Then he said to me, “Son of man, dig now in the wall.” When I had dug in the wall, I saw a door. 8:9He said to me, “Go in, and see the wicked abominations that they do here.” 8:10So I went in and looked, and saw every form of creeping things, abominable animals, and all the idols of the house of Israel, portrayed around on the wall. 8:11Seventy men of the elders of the house of Israel stood before them. In the middle of them Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan stood, every man with his censer in his hand; and the smell of the cloud of incense went up. 8:12Then he said to me, “Son of man, have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in his rooms of imagery? For they say, ‘Yahweh doesn’t see us. Yahweh has forsaken the land.’” 8:13He said also to me, “You will again see more of the great abominations which they do.” 8:14Then he brought me to the door of the gate of Yahweh’s house which was toward the north; and I saw the women sit there weeping for Tammuz. 8:15Then he said to me, “Have you seen this, son of man? You will again see yet greater abominations than these.” 8:16He brought me into the inner court of Yahweh’s house; and I saw at the door of Yahweh’s temple, between the porch and the altar, there were about twenty-five men, with their backs toward Yahweh’s temple, and their faces toward the east. They were worshiping the sun toward the east. 8:17Then he said to me, “Have you seen this, son of man? Is it a light thing to the house of Judah that they commit the abominations which they commit here? For they have filled the land with violence, and have turned again to provoke me to anger. Behold, they put the branch to their nose. 8:18Therefore will I also deal in wrath. My eye won’t spare, neither will I have pity. Though they cry in my ears with a loud voice, yet I will not hear them.”
9:1Then he cried in my ears with a loud voice, saying, “Cause those who are in charge of the city to draw near, each man with his destroying weapon in his hand.” 9:2Behold, six men came from the way of the upper gate, which lies toward the north, every man with his slaughter weapon in his hand. One man in the middle of them was clothed in linen, with a writer’s inkhorn by his side. They went in, and stood beside the bronze altar. 9:3The glory of the God of Israel went up from the cherub, whereupon it was, to the threshold of the house; and he called to the man clothed in linen, who had the writer’s inkhorn by his side. 9:4Yahweh said to him, “Go through the middle of the city, through the middle of Jerusalem, and set a mark on the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry over all the abominations that are done within it.” 9:5To the others he said in my hearing, “Go through the city after him, and strike. Don’t let your eye spare, neither have pity. 9:6Kill utterly the old man, the young man, the virgin, little children and women; but don’t come near any man on whom is the mark. Begin at my sanctuary.” Then they began at the old men who were before the house. 9:7He said to them, “Defile the house, and fill the courts with the slain. Go out!” They went out, and struck in the city. 9:8While they were killing, and I was left, I fell on my face, and cried, and said, “Ah Lord Yahweh! Will you destroy all the residue of Israel in your pouring out of your wrath on Jerusalem?” 9:9Then he said to me, “The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is exceedingly great, and the land is full of blood, and the city full of perversion; for they say, ‘Yahweh has forsaken the land, and Yahweh doesn’t see.’ 9:10As for me also, my eye won’t spare, neither will I have pity, but I will bring their way on their head.” 9:11Behold, the man clothed in linen, who had the inkhorn by his side, reported the matter, saying, “I have done as you have commanded me.”
10:1Then I looked, and see, in the expanse that was over the head of the cherubim there appeared above them as it were a sapphire stone, as the appearance of the likeness of a throne. 10:2He spoke to the man clothed in linen, and said, “Go in between the whirling wheels, even under the cherub, and fill both your hands with coals of fire from between the cherubim, and scatter them over the city.” He went in as I watched. 10:3Now the cherubim stood on the right side of the house, when the man went in; and the cloud filled the inner court. 10:4Yahweh’s glory mounted up from the cherub, and stood over the threshold of the house; and the house was filled with the cloud, and the court was full of the brightness of Yahweh’s glory. 10:5The sound of the wings of the cherubim was heard even to the outer court, as the voice of God Almighty when he speaks. 10:6It came to pass, when he commanded the man clothed in linen, saying, “Take fire from between the whirling wheels, from between the cherubim,” that he went in, and stood beside a wheel. 10:7The cherub stretched out his hand from between the cherubim to the fire that was between the cherubim, and took some of it, and put it into the hands of him who was clothed in linen, who took it and went out. 10:8The form of a man’s hand appeared here in the cherubim under their wings. 10:9I looked, and behold, there were four wheels beside the cherubim, one wheel beside one cherub, and another wheel beside another cherub. The appearance of the wheels was like a beryl stone. 10:10As for their appearance, the four of them had one likeness, like a wheel within a wheel. 10:11When they went, they went in their four directions. They didn’t turn as they went, but to the place where the head looked they followed it. They didn’t turn as they went. 10:12Their whole body, including their backs, their hands, their wings, and the wheels, were full of eyes all around, even the wheels that the four of them had. 10:13As for the wheels, they were called in my hearing, “the whirling wheels”. 10:14Every one them had four faces. The first face was the face of the cherub. The second face was the face of a man. The third face was the face of a lion. The fourth was the face of an eagle. 10:15The cherubim mounted up. This is the living creature that I saw by the river Chebar. 10:16When the cherubim went, the wheels went beside them; and when the cherubim lifted up their wings to mount up from the earth, the wheels also didn’t turn from beside them. 10:17When they stood, these stood. When they mounted up, these mounted up with them; for the spirit of the living creature was in them. 10:18Yahweh’s glory went out from over the threshold of the house, and stood over the cherubim. 10:19The cherubim lifted up their wings, and mounted up from the earth in my sight when they went out, with the wheels beside them. Then they stood at the door of the east gate of Yahweh’s house; and the glory of the God of Israel was over them above. 10:20This is the living creature that I saw under the God of Israel by the river Chebar; and I knew that they were cherubim. 10:21Every one had four faces, and every one four wings. The likeness of the hands of a man was under their wings. 10:22As for the likeness of their faces, they were the faces which I saw by the river Chebar, their appearances and themselves. They each went straight forward.
11:1Moreover the Spirit lifted me up, and brought me to the east gate of Yahweh’s house, which looks eastward. Behold, twenty-five men were at the door of the gate; and I saw among them Jaazaniah the son of Azzur, and Pelatiah the son of Benaiah, princes of the people. 11:2He said to me, “Son of man, these are the men who devise iniquity, and who give wicked counsel in this city; 11:3who say, ‘The time is not near to build houses. This is the cauldron, and we are the meat.’ 11:4Therefore prophesy against them. Prophesy, son of man.” 11:5Yahweh’s Spirit fell on me, and he said to me, “Speak, ‘Yahweh says: “Thus you have said, house of Israel; for I know the things that come into your mind. 11:6You have multiplied your slain in this city, and you have filled its streets with the slain. 11:7“‘Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Your slain whom you have laid in the middle of it, they are the meat, and this is the cauldron; but you will be brought out of the middle of it. 11:8You have feared the sword; and I will bring the sword on you,” says the Lord Yahweh. 11:9“I will bring you out of the middle of it, and deliver you into the hands of strangers, and will execute judgments among you. 11:10You will fall by the sword. I will judge you in the border of Israel. Then you will know that I am Yahweh. 11:11This will not be your cauldron, neither will you be the meat in the middle of it. I will judge you in the border of Israel. 11:12You will know that I am Yahweh, for you have not walked in my statutes, You have not executed my ordinances, but have done after the ordinances of the nations that are around you.”’” 11:13When I prophesied, Pelatiah the son of Benaiah died. Then fell I down on my face, and cried with a loud voice, and said, “Ah Lord Yahweh! will you make a full end of the remnant of Israel?” 11:14Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, 11:15“Son of man, your brothers, even your brothers, the men of your relatives, and all the house of Israel, all of them, are they to whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, ‘Go far away from Yahweh. This land has been given to us for a possession.’” 11:16“Therefore say, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Whereas I have removed them far off among the nations, and whereas I have scattered them among the countries, yet I will be to them a sanctuary for a little while in the countries where they have come.”’ 11:17“Therefore say, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “I will gather you from the peoples, and assemble you out of the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.” 11:18“‘They will come there, and they will take away all its detestable things and all its abominations from there. 11:19I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you. I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh; 11:20that they may walk in my statutes, and keep my ordinances, and do them. They will be my people, and I will be their God. 11:21But as for them whose heart walks after the heart of their detestable things and their abominations, I will bring their way on their own heads,’ says the Lord Yahweh.” 11:22Then the cherubim lifted up their wings, and the wheels were beside them. The glory of the God of Israel was over them above. 11:23Yahweh’s glory went up from the middle of the city, and stood on the mountain which is on the east side of the city. 11:24The Spirit lifted me up, and brought me in the vision by the Spirit of God into Chaldea, to the captives. So the vision that I had seen went up from me. 11:25Then I spoke to the captives all the things that Yahweh had shown me.
12:1Yahweh’s word also came to me, saying, 12:2“Son of man, you dwell in the middle of the rebellious house, who have eyes to see, and don’t see, who have ears to hear, and don’t hear; for they are a rebellious house. 12:3“Therefore, you son of man, prepare your stuff for moving, and move by day in their sight. You shall move from your place to another place in their sight. It may be they will consider, though they are a rebellious house. 12:4You shall bring out your stuff by day in their sight, as stuff for moving. You shall go out yourself at evening in their sight, as when men go out into exile. 12:5Dig through the wall in their sight, and carry your stuff out that way. 12:6In their sight you shall bear it on your shoulder, and carry it out in the dark. You shall cover your face, so that you don’t see the land, for I have set you for a sign to the house of Israel.” 12:7I did so as I was commanded. I brought out my stuff by day, as stuff for moving, and in the evening I dug through the wall with my hand. I brought it out in the dark, and bore it on my shoulder in their sight. 12:8In the morning, Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, 12:9“Son of man, hasn’t the house of Israel, the rebellious house, said to you, ‘What are you doing?’ 12:10“Say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “This burden concerns the prince in Jerusalem, and all the house of Israel among whom they are.”’ 12:11“Say, ‘I am your sign. As I have done, so will it be done to them. They will go into exile, into captivity. 12:12“‘The prince who is among them will bear on his shoulder in the dark, and will go out. They will dig through the wall to carry things out that way. He will cover his face, because he will not see the land with his eyes. 12:13I will also spread my net on him, and he will be taken in my snare. I will bring him to Babylon to the land of the Chaldeans; yet he will not see it, though he will die there. 12:14I will scatter toward every wind all who are around him to help him, and all his bands. I will draw out the sword after them. 12:15“‘They will know that I am Yahweh when I disperse them among the nations, and scatter them through the countries. 12:16But I will leave a few men of them from the sword, from the famine, and from the pestilence, that they may declare all their abominations among the nations where they come. Then they will know that I am Yahweh.’” 12:17Moreover Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, 12:18“Son of man, eat your bread with quaking, and drink your water with trembling and with fearfulness. 12:19Tell the people of the land, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh concerning the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the land of Israel: “They will eat their bread with fearfulness, and drink their water in dismay, that her land may be desolate, and all that is therein, because of the violence of all those who dwell therein. 12:20The cities that are inhabited will be laid waste, and the land will be a desolation. Then you will know that I am Yahweh.”’” 12:21Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, 12:22“Son of man, what is this proverb that you have in the land of Israel, saying, ‘The days are prolonged, and every vision fails?’ 12:23Tell them therefore, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “I will make this proverb to cease, and they will no more use it as a proverb in Israel;”’ but tell them, ‘“The days are at hand, and the fulfillment of every vision. 12:24For there will be no more any false vision nor flattering divination within the house of Israel. 12:25For I am Yahweh. I will speak, and the word that I speak will be performed. It will be no more deferred; for in your days, rebellious house, I will speak the word, and will perform it,” says the Lord Yahweh.’” 12:26Again Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, 12:27“Son of man, behold, they of the house of Israel say, ‘The vision that he sees is for many day to come, and he prophesies of times that are far off.’ 12:28“Therefore tell them, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “None of my words will be deferred any more, but the word which I speak will be performed,” says the Lord Yahweh.’”
13:1Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, 13:2“Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel who prophesy, and say to those who prophesy out of their own heart, ‘Hear Yahweh’s word: 13:3Thus says the Lord Yahweh, “Woe to the foolish prophets, who follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing! 13:4Israel, your prophets have been like foxes in the waste places. 13:5You have not gone up into the gaps or built up the wall for the house of Israel, to stand in the battle in Yahweh’s day. 13:6They have seen falsehood and lying divination, who say, ‘Yahweh says;’ but Yahweh has not sent them. They have made men to hope that the word would be confirmed. 13:7Haven’t you seen a false vision, and haven’t you spoken a lying divination, in that you say, ‘Yahweh says;’ but I have not spoken?” 13:8“‘Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Because you have spoken falsehood and seen lies, therefore, behold, I am against you,” says the Lord Yahweh. 13:9“My hand will be against the prophets who see false visions and who utter lying divinations. They will not be in the council of my people, neither will they be written in the writing of the house of Israel, neither will they enter into the land of Israel. Then you will know that I am the Lord Yahweh” 13:10“‘Because, even because they have seduced my people, saying, “Peace;” and there is no peace. When one builds up a wall, behold, they plaster it with whitewash. 13:11Tell those who plaster it with whitewash that it will fall. There will be an overflowing shower; and you, great hailstones, will fall. A stormy wind will tear it. 13:12Behold, when the wall has fallen, won’t it be said to you, “Where is the plaster with which you have plastered it?” 13:13“‘Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: “I will even tear it with a stormy wind in my wrath. There will be an overflowing shower in my anger, and great hailstones in wrath to consume it. 13:14So will I break down the wall that you have plastered with whitewash, and bring it down to the ground, so that its foundation will be uncovered. It will fall, and you will be consumed in the middle of it. Then you will know that I am Yahweh. 13:15Thus will I accomplish my wrath on the wall, and on those who have plastered it with whitewash. I will tell you, ‘The wall is no more, neither those who plastered it; 13:16to wit, the prophets of Israel who prophesy concerning Jerusalem, and who see visions of peace for her, and there is no peace,’” says the Lord Yahweh.’” 13:17You, son of man, set your face against the daughters of your people, who prophesy out of their own heart; and prophesy against them, 13:18and say, “Thus says the Lord Yahweh: ‘Woe to the women who sew pillows on all elbows, and make kerchiefs for the head of persons of every stature to hunt souls! Will you hunt the souls of my people, and save souls alive for yourselves? 13:19You have profaned me among my people for handfuls of barley and for pieces of bread, to kill the souls who should not die, and to save the souls alive who should not live, by your lying to my people who listen to lies.’ 13:20“Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: ‘Behold, I am against your pillows, with which you hunt the souls to make them fly, and I will tear them from your arms. I will let the souls go, even the souls whom you hunt to make them fly. 13:21I will also tear your kerchiefs, and deliver my people out of your hand, and they will be no more in your hand to be hunted. Then you will know that I am Yahweh. 13:22Because with lies you have grieved the heart of the righteous, whom I have not made sad; and strengthened the hands of the wicked, that he should not return from his wicked way, and be saved alive. 13:23Therefore you shall no more see false visions, nor practice divination. I will deliver my people out of your hand. Then you will know that I am Yahweh.’”
14:1Then some of the elders of Israel came to me, and sat before me. 14:2Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, 14:3“Son of man, these men have taken their idols into their heart, and put the stumbling block of their iniquity before their face. Should I be inquired of at all by them? 14:4Therefore speak to them, and tell them, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Every man of the house of Israel who takes his idols into his heart, and puts the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and comes to the prophet; I Yahweh will answer him therein according to the multitude of his idols; 14:5that I may take the house of Israel in their own heart, because they are all estranged from me through their idols.”’ 14:6“Therefore tell the house of Israel, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Return, and turn yourselves from your idols! Turn away your faces from all your abominations. 14:7“‘“For everyone of the house of Israel, or of the strangers who live in Israel, who separates himself from me, and takes his idols into his heart, and puts the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and comes to the prophet to inquire for himself of me; I Yahweh will answer him by myself. 14:8I will set my face against that man, and will make him an astonishment, for a sign and a proverb, and I will cut him off from among my people. Then you will know that I am Yahweh. 14:9“‘“If the prophet is deceived and speaks a word, I, Yahweh, have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand on him, and will destroy him from among my people Israel. 14:10They will bear their iniquity. The iniquity of the prophet will be even as the iniquity of him who seeks him; 14:11that the house of Israel may no more go astray from me, neither defile themselves any more with all their transgressions; but that they may be my people, and I may be their God,” says the Lord Yahweh.’” 14:12Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, 14:13“Son of man, when a land sins against me by committing a trespass, and I stretch out my hand on it, and break the staff of its bread, and send famine on it, and cut off from it man and animal; 14:14though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they would deliver only their own souls by their righteousness,” says the Lord Yahweh. 14:15“If I cause evil animals to pass through the land, and they ravage it, and it is made desolate, so that no man may pass through because of the animals; 14:16though these three men were in it, as I live,” says the Lord Yahweh, “they would deliver neither sons nor daughters. They only would be delivered, but the land would be desolate. 14:17“Or if I bring a sword on that land, and say, ‘Sword, go through the land; so that I cut off from it man and animal;’ 14:18though these three men were in it, as I live,” says the Lord Yahweh, “they would deliver neither sons nor daughters, but they only would be delivered themselves. 14:19“Or if I send a pestilence into that land, and pour out my wrath on it in blood, to cut off from it man and animal; 14:20though Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, as I live,” says the Lord Yahweh, “they would deliver neither son nor daughter; they would deliver only their own souls by their righteousness.” 14:21For thus says the Lord Yahweh: “How much more when I send my four severe judgments on Jerusalem, the sword, the famine, the evil animals, and the pestilence, to cut off from it man and animal! 14:22Yet, behold, there will be left a remnant in it that will be carried out, both sons and daughters. Behold, they will come out to you, and you will see their way and their doings. Then you will be comforted concerning the evil that I have brought on Jerusalem, even concerning all that I have brought on it. 14:23They will comfort you, when you see their way and their doings; then you will know that I have not done all that I have done in it without cause,” says the Lord Yahweh.
15:1Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, 15:2“Son of man, what is the vine tree more than any tree, the vine-branch which is among the trees of the forest? 15:3Will wood be taken of it to make anything? Will men take a pin of it to hang any vessel on it? 15:4Behold, it is cast into the fire for fuel; the fire has devoured both its ends, and the middle of it is burned. Is it profitable for any work? 15:5Behold, when it was whole, it was suitable for no work. How much less, when the fire has devoured it, and it has been burned, will it yet be suitable for any work?” 15:6Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: “As the vine tree among the trees of the forest, which I have given to the fire for fuel, so I will give the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 15:7I will set my face against them. They will go out from the fire, but the fire will devour them. Then you will know that I am Yahweh, when I set my face against them. 15:8I will make the land desolate, because they have committed a trespass,” says the Lord Yahweh.