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.
16:1Again Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, 16:2“Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations; 16:3and say, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh to Jerusalem: “Your origin and your birth is of the land of the Canaanite. An Amorite was your father, and your mother was a Hittite. 16:4As for your birth, in the day you were born your navel was not cut. You weren’t washed in water to cleanse you. You weren’t salted at all, nor swaddled at all. 16:5No eye pitied you, to do any of these things to you, to have compassion on you; but you were cast out in the open field, because you were abhorred in the day that you were born. 16:6“‘“When I passed by you, and saw you wallowing in your blood, I said to you, ‘Though you are in your blood, live!’ Yes, I said to you, ‘Though you are in your blood, live!’ 16:7I caused you to multiply as that which grows in the field, and you increased and grew great, and you attained to excellent ornament. Your breasts were formed, and your hair grew; yet you were naked and bare. 16:8“‘“Now when I passed by you, and looked at you, behold, your time was the time of love; and I spread my skirt over you, and covered your nakedness. Yes, I swore to you, and entered into a covenant with you,” says the Lord Yahweh, “and you became mine. 16:9“‘“Then washed I you with water. Yes, I thoroughly washed away your blood from you, and I anointed you with oil. 16:10I clothed you also with embroidered work, and put sealskin shoes on you. I dressed you with fine linen and covered you with silk. 16:11I decked you with ornaments. put bracelets on your hands, and a chain on your neck. 16:12I put a ring on your nose, and earrings in your ears, and a beautiful crown on your head. 16:13Thus you were decked with gold and silver. Your clothing was of fine linen, silk, and embroidered work. You ate fine flour, honey, and oil. You were exceedingly beautiful, and you prospered to royal estate. 16:14Your renown went out among the nations for your beauty; for it was perfect, through my majesty which I had put on you,” says the Lord Yahweh. 16:15“‘“But you trusted in your beauty, and played the prostitute because of your renown, and poured out your prostitution on everyone who passed by. It was his. 16:16You took some of your garments, and made for yourselves high places decked with various colors, and played the prostitute on them. This shall not happen, neither shall it be. 16:17You also took your beautiful jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given you, and made for yourself images of men, and played the prostitute with them. 16:18You took your embroidered garments, covered them, and set my oil and my incense before them. 16:19My bread also which I gave you, fine flour, oil, and honey, with which I fed you, you even set it before them for a pleasant aroma; and so it was,” says the Lord Yahweh. 16:20“‘“Moreover you have taken your sons and your daughters, whom you have borne to me, and you have sacrificed these to them to be devoured. Was your prostitution a small matter, 16:21that you have slain my children, and delivered them up, in causing them to pass through the fire to them? 16:22In all your abominations and your prostitution you have not remembered the days of your youth, when you were naked and bare, and were wallowing in your blood. 16:23“‘“It has happened after all your wickedness. Woe, woe to you!” says the Lord Yahweh, 16:24“that you have built for yourselves a vaulted place, and have made yourselves a lofty place in every street. 16:25You have built your lofty place at the head of every way, and have made your beauty an abomination, and have opened your feet to everyone who passed by, and multiplied your prostitution. 16:26You have also committed sexual immorality with the Egyptians, your neighbors, great of flesh; and have multiplied your prostitution, to provoke me to anger. 16:27See therefore, I have stretched out my hand over you, and have diminished your portion, and delivered you to the will of those who hate you, the daughters of the Philistines, who are ashamed of your lewd way. 16:28You have played the prostitute also with the Assyrians, because you were insatiable; yes, you have played the prostitute with them, and yet you weren’t satisfied. 16:29You have moreover multiplied your prostitution to the land of merchants, to Chaldea; and yet you weren’t satisfied with this. 16:30“‘“How weak is your heart,” says the Lord Yahweh, “since you do all these things, the work of an impudent prostitute; 16:31in that you build your vaulted place at the head of every way, and make your lofty place in every street, and have not been as a prostitute, in that you scorn pay. 16:32“‘“A wife who commits adultery! Who takes strangers instead of her husband! 16:33People give gifts to all prostitutes; but you give your gifts to all your lovers, and bribe them, that they may come to you on every side for your prostitution. 16:34You are different from other women in your prostitution, in that no one follows you to play the prostitute; and whereas you give hire, and no hire is given to you, therefore you are different.”’ 16:35“Therefore, prostitute, hear Yahweh’s word: 16:36‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh, “Because your filthiness was poured out, and your nakedness uncovered through your prostitution with your lovers; and because of all the idols of your abominations, and for the blood of your children, that you gave to them; 16:37therefore see, I will gather all your lovers, with whom you have taken pleasure, and all those who you have loved, with all those who you have hated. I will even gather them against you on every side, and will uncover your nakedness to them, that they may see all your nakedness. 16:38I will judge you, as women who break wedlock and shed blood are judged; and I will bring on you the blood of wrath and jealousy. 16:39I will also give you into their hand, and they will throw down your vaulted place, and break down your lofty places. They will strip you of your clothes, and take your beautiful jewels. They will leave you naked and bare. 16:40They will also bring up a company against you, and they will stone you with stones, and thrust you through with their swords. 16:41They will burn your houses with fire, and execute judgments on you in the sight of many women. I will cause you to cease from playing the prostitute, and you will also give no hire any more. 16:42So will I cause my wrath toward you to rest, and my jealousy will depart from you. I will be quiet, and will not be angry any more. 16:43“‘“Because you have not remembered the days of your youth, but have raged against me in all these things; therefore, behold, I also will bring your way on your head,” says the Lord Yahweh: “and you shall not commit this lewdness with all your abominations. 16:44“‘“Behold, everyone who uses proverbs will use this proverb against you, saying, ‘As is the mother, so is her daughter.’ 16:45You are the daughter of your mother, who loathes her husband and her children; and you are the sister of your sisters, who loathed their husbands and their children. Your mother was a Hittite, and your father an Amorite. 16:46Your elder sister is Samaria, who dwells at your left hand, she and her daughters; and your younger sister, who dwells at your right hand, is Sodom with her daughters. 16:47Yet you have not walked in their ways, nor done their abominations; but soon you were more corrupt than they in all your ways. 16:48As I live,” says the Lord Yahweh, “Sodom your sister has not done, she nor her daughters, as you have done, you and your daughters. 16:49“‘“Behold, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: pride, fullness of bread, and prosperous ease was in her and in her daughters. She also didn’t strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. 16:50They were haughty, and committed abomination before me. Therefore I took them away when I saw it. 16:51Samaria hasn’t committed half of your sins; but you have multiplied your abominations more than they, and have justified your sisters by all your abominations which you have done. 16:52You also bear your own shame yourself, in that you have given judgment for your sisters; through your sins that you have committed more abominable than they, they are more righteous than you. Yes, be also confounded, and bear your shame, in that you have justified your sisters. 16:53“‘“I will reverse their captivity, the captivity of Sodom and her daughters, and the captivity of Samaria and her daughters, and the captivity of your captives among them; 16:54that you may bear your own shame, and may be ashamed because of all that you have done, in that you are a comfort to them. 16:55Your sisters, Sodom and her daughters, will return to their former estate; and Samaria and her daughters will return to their former estate; and you and your daughters will return to your former estate. 16:56For your sister Sodom was not mentioned by your mouth in the day of your pride, 16:57before your wickedness was uncovered, as at the time of the reproach of the daughters of Syria, and of all who are around her, the daughters of the Philistines, who despise you all around. 16:58You have borne your lewdness and your abominations,” says Yahweh. 16:59“‘For thus says the Lord Yahweh: “I will also deal with you as you have done, who have despised the oath in breaking the covenant. 16:60Nevertheless I will remember my covenant with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish to you an everlasting covenant. 16:61Then you will remember your ways and be ashamed, when you receive your sisters, your elder sisters and your younger; and I will give them to you for daughters, but not by your covenant. 16:62I will establish my covenant with you. Then you will know that I am Yahweh; 16:63that you may remember, and be confounded, and never open your mouth any more, because of your shame, when I have forgiven you all that you have done,” says the Lord Yahweh.’”
17:1Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, 17:2“Son of man, tell a riddle, and speak a parable to the house of Israel; 17:3and say, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “A great eagle with great wings and long feathers, full of feathers, which had various colors, came to Lebanon, and took the top of the cedar. 17:4He cropped off the topmost of its young twigs, and carried it to a land of traffic. He planted it in a city of merchants. 17:5“‘“He also took some of the seed of the land, and planted it in fruitful soil. He placed it beside many waters. He set it as a willow tree. 17:6It grew, and became a spreading vine of low stature, whose branches turned toward him, and its roots were under him. So it became a vine, produced branches, and shot out sprigs. 17:7“‘“There was also another great eagle with great wings and many feathers. Behold, this vine bent its roots toward him, and shot out its branches toward him, from the beds of its plantation, that he might water it. 17:8It was planted in a good soil by many waters, that it might produce branches, and that it might bear fruit, that it might be a good vine.”’ 17:9“Say, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Will it prosper? Won’t he pull up its roots, and cut off its fruit, that it may wither; that all its fresh springing leaves may wither? It can’t be raised from its roots by a strong arm or many people. 17:10Yes, behold, being planted, will it prosper? Won’t it utterly wither when the east wind touches it? It will wither in the beds where it grew.”’” 17:11Moreover Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, 17:12“Say now to the rebellious house, ‘Don’t you know what these things mean?’ Tell them, ‘Behold, the king of Babylon came to Jerusalem, and took its king, and its princes, and brought them to him to Babylon. 17:13He took some of the royal offspring, and made a covenant with him. He also brought him under an oath, and took away the mighty of the land; 17:14that the kingdom might be brought low, that it might not lift itself up, but that by keeping his covenant it might stand. 17:15But he rebelled against him in sending his ambassadors into Egypt, that they might give him horses and many people. Will he prosper? Will he who does such things escape? Will he break the covenant, and still escape? 17:16“‘As I live,’ says the Lord Yahweh, ‘surely in the place where the king dwells who made him king, whose oath he despised, and whose covenant he broke, even with him in the middle of Babylon he will die. 17:17Pharaoh with his mighty army and great company won’t help him in the war, when they cast up mounds and build forts, to cut off many persons. 17:18For he has despised the oath by breaking the covenant; and behold, he had given his hand, and yet has done all these things. He won’t escape. 17:19“Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: ‘As I live, I will surely bring on his own head my oath that he has despised and my covenant that he has broken. 17:20I will spread my net on him, and he will be taken in my snare. I will bring him to Babylon, and will enter into judgment with him there for his trespass that he has trespassed against me. 17:21All his fugitives in all his bands will fall by the sword, and those who remain will be scattered toward every wind. Then you will know that I, Yahweh, have spoken it.’ 17:22“Thus says the Lord Yahweh: ‘I will also take some of the lofty top of the cedar, and will plant it. I will crop off from the topmost of its young twigs a tender one, and I will plant it on a high and lofty mountain. 17:23I will plant it in the mountain of the height of Israel; and it will produce boughs, and bear fruit, and be a good cedar. Birds of every kind will dwell in the shade of its branches. 17:24All the trees of the field will know that I, Yahweh, have brought down the high tree, have exalted the low tree, have dried up the green tree, and have made the dry tree flourish. “‘I, Yahweh, have spoken and have done it.’”
18:1Yahweh’s word came to me again, saying, 18:2“What do you mean, that you use this proverb concerning the land of Israel, saying, ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge’? 18:3“As I live,” says the Lord Yahweh, “you shall not use this proverb any more in Israel. 18:4Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine. The soul who sins, he shall die. 18:5“But if a man is just, and does that which is lawful and right, 18:6and has not eaten on the mountains, hasn’t lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, hasn’t defiled his neighbor’s wife, hasn’t come near a woman in her impurity, 18:7and has not wronged any, but has restored to the debtor his pledge, has taken nothing by robbery, has given his bread to the hungry, and has covered the naked with a garment; 18:8he who hasn’t lent to them with interest, hasn’t taken any increase from them, who has withdrawn his hand from iniquity, has executed true justice between man and man, 18:9has walked in my statutes, and has kept my ordinances, to deal truly; he is just, he shall surely live,” says the Lord Yahweh. 18:10“If he fathers a son who is a robber who sheds blood, and who does any one of these things, 18:11or who does not do any of those things, but even has eaten at the mountain shrines, and defiled his neighbor’s wife, 18:12has wronged the poor and needy, has taken by robbery, has not restored the pledge, and has lifted up his eyes to the idols, has committed abomination, 18:13has lent with interest, and has taken increase from the poor; shall he then live? He shall not live. He has done all these abominations. He shall surely die. His blood will be on him. 18:14“Now, behold, if he fathers a son, who sees all his father’s sins, which he has done, and fears, and does not such like; 18:15who hasn’t eaten on the mountains, hasn’t lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, hasn’t defiled his neighbor’s wife, 18:16hasn’t wronged any, hasn’t taken anything to pledge, hasn’t taken by robbery, but has given his bread to the hungry, and has covered the naked with a garment; 18:17who has withdrawn his hand from the poor, who hasn’t received interest or increase, has executed my ordinances, has walked in my statutes; he shall not die for the iniquity of his father. He shall surely live. 18:18As for his father, because he cruelly oppressed, robbed his brother, and did that which is not good among his people, behold, he will die in his iniquity. 18:19“Yet you say, ‘Why doesn’t the son bear the iniquity of the father?’ When the son has done that which is lawful and right, and has kept all my statutes, and has done them, he will surely live. 18:20The soul who sins, he shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be on him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be on him. 18:21“But if the wicked turns from all his sins that he has committed, and keeps all my statutes, and does that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live. He shall not die. 18:22None of his transgressions that he has committed will be remembered against him. In his righteousness that he has done, he shall live. 18:23Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked?” says the Lord Yahweh; “and not rather that he should return from his way, and live? 18:24“But when the righteous turns away from his righteousness, and commits iniquity, and does according to all the abominations that the wicked man does, should he live? None of his righteous deeds that he has done will be remembered. In his trespass that he has trespassed, and in his sin that he has sinned, in them he shall die. 18:25“Yet you say, ‘The way of the Lord is not equal.’ Hear now, house of Israel: Is my way not equal? Aren’t your ways unequal? 18:26When the righteous man turns away from his righteousness, and commits iniquity, and dies therein; in his iniquity that he has done he shall die. 18:27Again, when the wicked man turns away from his wickedness that he has committed, and does that which is lawful and right, he will save his soul alive. 18:28Because he considers, and turns away from all his transgressions that he has committed, he shall surely live. He shall not die. 18:29Yet the house of Israel says, ‘The way of the Lord is not fair.’ House of Israel, aren’t my ways fair? Aren’t your ways unfair? 18:30“Therefore I will judge you, house of Israel, everyone according to his ways,” says the Lord Yahweh. “Return, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity will not be your ruin. 18:31Cast away from you all your transgressions, in which you have transgressed; and make yourself a new heart and a new spirit: for why will you die, house of Israel? 18:32For I have no pleasure in the death of him who dies,” says the Lord Yahweh. “Therefore turn yourselves, and live!