Ezekiel 21–23

1And the word of the LORD came to me, saying,

2“Son of man, set your face against Jerusalem and preach against the sanctuaries. Prophesy against the land of Israel

3and tell her that this is what the LORD says: ‘I am against you, and I will draw My sword from its sheath and cut off from you both the righteous and the wicked.

4Because I will cut off both the righteous and the wicked, My sword will be unsheathed against everyone from south to north.

5Then all flesh will know that I, the LORD, have taken My sword from its sheath, not to return it again.’

6But you, son of man, groan! Groan before their eyes with a broken heart and bitter grief.

7And when they ask, ‘Why are you groaning?’ you are to say, ‘Because of the news that is coming. Every heart will melt, and every hand will go limp. Every spirit will faint, and every knee will turn to water.’ Yes, it is coming and it will surely happen, declares the Lord GOD.”

8Again the word of the LORD came to me, saying,

9“Son of man, prophesy and tell them that this is what the Lord says: ‘A sword, a sword, sharpened and polished—

10it is sharpened for the slaughter, polished to flash like lightning! Should we rejoice in the scepter of My son? The sword despises every such stick.

11The sword is appointed to be polished, to be grasped in the hand. It is sharpened and polished, to be placed in the hand of the slayer.

12Cry out and wail, O son of man, for the sword is wielded against My people; it is against all the princes of Israel! They are tossed to the sword with My people; therefore strike your thigh.

13Surely testing will come! And what if even the scepter, which the sword despises, does not continue?’ declares the Lord GOD.

14‘So then, son of man, prophesy and strike your hands together. Let the sword strike two times, even three. It is a sword that slays, a sword of great slaughter closing in on every side!

15So that their hearts may melt and many may stumble, I have appointed at all their gates a sword for slaughter. Yes, it is ready to flash like lightning; it is drawn for slaughter.

16Slash to the right; set your blade to the left— wherever your blade is directed.

17I too will strike My hands together, and I will satisfy My wrath.’ I, the LORD, have spoken.”

18Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,

19“Now you, son of man, mark out two roads for the sword of the king of Babylon to take, both starting from the same land. And make a signpost where the road branches off to each city.

20Mark out one road for the sword to come against Rabbah of the Ammonites, and another against Judah into fortified Jerusalem.

21For the king of Babylon stands at the fork in the road, at the junction of the two roads, to seek an omen: He shakes the arrows, he consults the idols, he examines the liver.

22In his right hand appears the portent for Jerusalem, where he is to set up battering rams, to call for the slaughter, to lift a battle cry, to direct the battering rams against the gates, to build a ramp, and to erect a siege wall.

23It will seem like a false omen to the eyes of those who have sworn allegiance to him, but it will draw attention to their guilt and take them captive.

24Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Because you have drawn attention to your guilt, exposing your transgressions, so that your sins are revealed in all your deeds—because you have come to remembrance—you shall be taken in hand.

25And you, O profane and wicked prince of Israel, the day has come for your final punishment.’

26This is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Remove the turban, and take off the crown. Things will not remain as they are: Exalt the lowly and bring low the exalted.

27A ruin, a ruin, I will make it a ruin! And it will not be restored until the arrival of Him to whom it belongs, to whom I have assigned the right of judgment.’

28Now prophesy, son of man, and declare that this is what the Lord GOD says concerning the Ammonites and their contempt: ‘A sword! A sword is drawn for slaughter, polished to consume, to flash like lightning—

29while they offer false visions for you and lying divinations about you— to be placed on the necks of the wicked who are slain, whose day has come, the time of their final punishment.

30Return the sword to its sheath! In the place where you were created, in the land of your origin, I will judge you.

31I will pour out My anger upon you; I will breathe the fire of My fury against you; I will hand you over to brutal men, skilled in destruction.

32You will be fuel for the fire. Your blood will stain your own land. You will not be remembered, for I, the LORD, have spoken.’”

1Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,

2“As for you, son of man, will you judge her? Will you pass judgment on the city of bloodshed? Then confront her with all her abominations

3and tell her that this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘O city who brings her own doom by shedding blood within her walls and making idols to defile herself,

4you are guilty of the blood you have shed, and you are defiled by the idols you have made. You have brought your days to a close and have come to the end of your years. Therefore I have made you a reproach to the nations and a mockery to all the lands.

5Those near and far will mock you, O infamous city, full of turmoil.

6See how every prince of Israel within you has used his power to shed blood.

7Father and mother are treated with contempt. Within your walls the foreign resident is exploited, the fatherless and the widow are oppressed.

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

9Among you are slanderous men bent on bloodshed; within you are those who eat on the mountain shrines and commit acts of indecency.

10In you they have uncovered the nakedness of their fathers; in you they violate women during their menstrual impurity.

11One man commits an abomination with his neighbor’s wife; another wickedly defiles his daughter-in-law; and yet another violates his sister, his own father’s daughter.

12In you they take bribes to shed blood. You engage in usury, take excess interest, and extort your neighbors. But Me you have forgotten, declares the Lord GOD.

13Now look, I strike My hands together against your unjust gain and against the blood you have shed in your midst.

14Will your courage endure or your hands be strong in the day I deal with you? I, the LORD, have spoken, and I will act.

15I will disperse you among the nations and scatter you throughout the lands; I will purge your uncleanness.

16And when you have defiled yourself in the eyes of the nations, then you will know that I am the LORD.’”

17Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,

18“Son of man, the house of Israel has become dross to Me. All of them are copper, tin, iron, and lead inside the furnace; they are but the dross of silver.

19Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Because all of you have become dross, behold, I will gather you into Jerusalem.

20Just as one gathers silver, copper, iron, lead, and tin into the furnace to melt with a fiery blast, so I will gather you in My anger and wrath, leave you there, and melt you.

21Yes, I will gather you together and blow on you with the fire of My wrath, and you will be melted within the city.

22As silver is melted in a furnace, so you will be melted within the city. Then you will know that I, the LORD, have poured out My wrath upon you.’”

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

24“Son of man, say to her, ‘In the day of indignation, you are a land that has not been cleansed, upon which no rain has fallen.’

25The conspiracy of the princes in her midst is like a roaring lion tearing its prey. They devour the people, seize the treasures and precious things, and multiply the widows within her.

26Her priests do violence to My law and profane My holy things. They make no distinction between the holy and the common, and they fail to distinguish between the clean and the unclean. They disregard My Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them.

27Her officials within her are like wolves tearing their prey, shedding blood, and destroying lives for dishonest gain.

28Her prophets whitewash these deeds by false visions and lying divinations, saying, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says,’ when the LORD has not spoken.

29The people of the land have practiced extortion and committed robbery. They have oppressed the poor and needy and have exploited the foreign resident without justice.

30I searched for a man among them to repair the wall and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, so that I should not destroy it. But I found no one.

31So I have poured out My indignation upon them and consumed them with the fire of My fury. I have brought their ways down upon their own heads, declares the Lord GOD.”

1Again the word of the LORD came to me, saying,

2“Son of man, there were two women, daughters of the same mother,

3and they played in Egypt, prostituting themselves from their youth. Their breasts were fondled there, and their virgin bosoms caressed.

4The older was named Oholah, and her sister was named Oholibah. They became Mine and gave birth to sons and daughters. As for their identities, Oholah is Samaria, and Oholibah is Jerusalem.

5Oholah prostituted herself while she was still Mine. She lusted after her lovers, the Assyrians—warriors

6clothed in blue, governors and commanders, all desirable young men, horsemen mounted on steeds.

7She offered sexual favors to all the elite of Assyria. She defiled herself with all the idols of those for whom she lusted.

8She did not give up the prostitution she began in Egypt, when men slept with her in her youth, caressed her virgin bosom, and poured out their lust upon her.

9Therefore I delivered her into the hands of her lovers, the Assyrians for whom she lusted.

10They exposed her nakedness, seized her sons and daughters, and put her to the sword. Thus she became a byword among women, and they executed judgment against her.

11Her sister Oholibah saw this, yet in her lust and prostitution she was more depraved than her sister.

12She too lusted after the Assyrians—governors and commanders, warriors dressed in splendor, horsemen riding on steeds, all desirable young men.

13And I saw that she too had defiled herself; both of them had taken the same path.

14But Oholibah carried her prostitution even further. She saw the men portrayed on the wall, images of the Chaldeans, engraved in vermilion,

15wearing belts on their waists and flowing turbans on their heads; all of them looked like officers of the Babylonians in Chaldea, the land of their birth.

16At the sight of them, she lusted for them and sent messengers to them in Chaldea.

17Then the Babylonians came to her, to the bed of love, and in their lust they defiled her. But after she had been defiled by them, she turned away in disgust.

18When Oholibah openly prostituted herself and exposed her nakedness, I turned away from her in disgust, just as I had turned away from her sister.

19Yet she multiplied her promiscuity, remembering the days of her youth, when she had prostituted herself in the land of Egypt

20and lusted after their lovers, whose genitals were like those of donkeys and whose emission was like that of stallions.

21So you revisited the indecency of your youth, when the Egyptians caressed your bosom and pressed your young breasts.

22Therefore, Oholibah, this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘I will incite your lovers against you, those from whom you turned away in disgust. And I will bring them against you from every side—

23the Babylonians and all the Chaldeans, the men of Pekod, Shoa, and Koa, and all the Assyrians with them—all desirable young men, governors and commanders, officers and men of renown, mounted on horses.

24They will come against you with a host of peoples, with weapons, chariots, and wagons. They will array themselves against you on every side with buckler and shield and helmet. I will delegate judgment to them, and they will punish you according to their own standards.

25And I will set My jealous rage against you, and they will deal with you in fury. They will cut off your noses and ears, and your survivors will fall by the sword. They will seize your sons and daughters, and your remnant will be consumed by fire.

26They will strip off your clothes and take your fine jewelry.

27So I will put an end to your indecency and prostitution, which began in the land of Egypt, and you will not lift your eyes to them or remember Egypt anymore.’

28For this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Surely I will deliver you into the hands of those you hate, from whom you turned away in disgust.

29They will treat you with hatred, take all for which you have worked, and leave you naked and bare, so that the shame of your prostitution will be exposed. Your indecency and promiscuity

30have brought these things upon you, because you have prostituted yourself with the nations and defiled yourself with their idols.

31Because you have followed the path of your sister, I will put her cup into your hand.’

32This is what the Lord GOD says: ‘You will drink your sister’s cup, a cup deep and wide. It will bring scorn and derision, for it holds so much.

33You will be filled with drunkenness and grief, with a cup of devastation and desolation, the cup of your sister Samaria.

34You will drink it and drain it; you will dash it to pieces, and tear your breasts. For I have spoken,’ declares the Lord GOD.

35Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Because you have forgotten Me and have cast Me behind your back, you must bear the consequences of your indecency and prostitution.’”

36Then the LORD said to me: “Son of man, will you pass judgment against Oholah and Oholibah? Then declare to them their abominations.

37For they have committed adultery, and blood is on their hands. They have committed adultery with their idols. They have even sacrificed their children, whom they bore to Me, in the fire as food for their idols.

38They have also done this to Me: On that very same day, they defiled My sanctuary and profaned My Sabbaths.

39On the very day they slaughtered their children for their idols, they entered My sanctuary to profane it. Yes, they did this inside My house.

40Furthermore, you sisters sent messengers for men who came from afar; and behold, when they arrived, you bathed for them, painted your eyes, and adorned yourself with jewelry.

41You sat on a couch of luxury with a table spread before it, on which you had set My incense and My oil,

42accompanied by the sound of a carefree crowd. Drunkards were brought in from the desert along with men from the rabble, who put bracelets on your wrists and beautiful crowns on your head.

43Then I said of her who had grown old in adulteries: ‘Now let them use her as a prostitute, for that is all she is!’

44And they slept with her as with a prostitute; they slept with Oholah and Oholibah, those lewd women.

45But righteous men will sentence them to the punishment of those who commit adultery and bloodshed, because they are adulteresses with blood on their hands.

46This is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Bring a mob against them and consign them to terror and plunder.

47The mob will stone them and cut them down with their swords. They will kill their sons and daughters and burn down their houses.

48So I will put an end to indecency in the land, and all the women will be admonished not to imitate your behavior.

49They will repay you for your indecency, and you will bear the consequences of your sins of idolatry. Then you will know that I am the Lord GOD.’”