Ezekiel 13:22–28:26

²²Because ^fwith lies ye have made the heart of the righteous sad, whom I have not made sad; and ^gstrengthened the hands of the wicked, that he should not return from his wicked way, by promising him life: ²³therefore ^hye shall see no more vanity, nor divine divinations: for ^dI will deliver my people out of your hand: ^eand ye shall know that I am the Lord.

XIV.Then ^acame certain of the elders of Israel unto me, and sat before me. ²And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, ³Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their heart, and put ^bthe stumblingblock of their iniquity before their face: ^cshould I be inquired of at all by them? ⁴Therefore speak unto them, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Every man of the house of Israel that setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth ^bthe stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to the prophet; I the Lord will answer him that cometh according to the multitude of his idols; ^5dthat I may take the house of Israel in their own heart, because they are all ^eestranged from me through their idols. ⁶Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord God; Repent, and turn ^fyourselves from your idols; and turn away your faces from all your abominations. ⁷For every one of the house of Israel, or of the stranger that sojourneth in Israel, which ^eseparateth himself from me, and setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth ^bthe stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to a prophet to inquire of him concerning me; I the Lord will answer him by myself: ⁸and ^gI will set my face against that man, and will make him a ^hsign and ⁱa proverb, and ^gI will cut him off from the midst of my people; ^kand ye shall know that I am the Lord. ⁹And if the prophet be deceived when he hath spoken a thing, ^lI the Lord have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand upon him, and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel. ¹⁰And they shall bear ^mthe punishment of their iniquity: ^mthe punishment of the prophet shall be even as the punishment of him that seeketh unto him; ¹¹that the house of Israel ⁿmay go no more astray from me, neither ^obe polluted any more with all their transgressions; but ^pthat they may be my people, ^pand I may be their God, saith the Lord God.

¹²The word of the Lord came again to me, saying, ¹³Son of man, when the land sinneth against me ^qby trespassing grievously, then will I stretch out mine hand upon it, and ^rwill break the staff of the bread thereof, and ^rrwill send famine upon it, and will cut off man and beast from it: ^14sthough these three men, ^tNoah, ^uDaniel, and ^vJob, were in it, ^wthey should deliver but their own souls ^xby their righteousness, saith the Lord God. ¹⁵If I cause ^ynoisome beasts to pass through the land, and they spoil it, so that it be desolate, that no man may pass through because of the beasts: ^16sthough these three men were in it, ^zas I live, saith the Lord God, they shall deliver neither sons nor daughters; they only shall be delivered, but ^zzthe land shall be desolate. ¹⁷Or if ^aI bring ^ya sword upon that land, and say, ^aaSword, go through the land; so that ^bI cut off man and beast from it: ^18cthough these three men were in it, ^zas I live, saith the Lord God, they shall deliver neither sons nor daughters, but they only shall be delivered themselves. ¹⁹Or if I send ^da pestilence into that land, and ^epour out my fury upon it in blood, ^bto cut off from it man and beast: ^20cthough Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, ^zas I live, saith the Lord God, they shall deliver neither son nor daughter; ^wthey shall but deliver their own souls by their righteousness. ²¹For thus saith the Lord God; How much more when ^xI send my four sore judgments upon Jerusalem, ^fghithe sword, and ^fhkthe famine, and ^fglthe noisome beast, and ^fghmthe pestilence, ^bto cut off from it man and beast? ²²Yet behold, ⁿtherein shall be left a remnant that shall be brought forth, both sons and daughters: behold, they shall come forth unto you, and ye shall see ^otheir way and their doings: and ^pye shall be comforted concerning the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem, even concerning all that I have brought upon it. ²³And ^pthey shall comfort you, when ye see ^otheir ways and their doings: and ye shall know that I have not done ^qwithout cause all that I have done in it, saith the Lord God.

XV.And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, ²Son of man, What is the vine tree more than any tree, or than ^aa branch which is among the trees of the forest? ³Shall wood be taken thereof to do any work? or will men take ^ba pin of it to hang any vessel thereon? ⁴Behold, ^cit is ^dcast into the fire for fuel; the fire devoureth both the ends of it, and the midst of it is burnt. Is it meet for any work? ⁵Behold, when it was whole, it was meet for no work: ^ehow much less shall it be meet yet for any work, when the fire hath devoured it, and it is burned? ⁶Therefore thus saith the Lord God; ^fAs the vine tree among the trees of the forest, which I have given to the fire for fuel, so will I give the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And ^gI will set my face against them; ^hthey shall go out from one fire, and another fire shall devour them; ⁱand ye shall know that I am the Lord, ^gwhen I set my face against them. ⁸And ^kI will make the land desolate, because they have committed a trespass, saith the Lord God.

XVI.Again the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, ²Son of man, ^acause Jerusalem to know her abominations, ³and say, Thus saith the Lord God unto Jerusalem; Thy ^dbirth and thy nativity is of the land of ^eCanaan; ^fthy father was ^gan Amorite, and ^fthy mother ^ha Hittite. ⁴And as for thy nativity, ⁱin the day thou wast born thy navel was not cut, neither wast thou washed in water to supple thee; thou wast not salted at all, nor swaddled at all. ^5jNone eye pitied thee, to do any of these unto thee, to have compassion upon thee; but thou wast cast out in the open field, to ^kthe lothing of thy person, ⁱin the day that thou wast born.

⁶And when I passed by thee, and saw thee polluted in thine own blood, I said unto thee when thou wast ^kkin thy blood, Live; yea, I said unto thee when thou wast ^kkin thy blood, Live. ^7lI have caused thee to multiply as the bud of the field, and thou hast increased and waxen great, and thou art come to excellent ⁿornaments: ^othy breasts are fashioned, and thine hair is grown, whereas thou wast ^pnaked and bare. ⁸Now when I passed by thee, and looked upon thee, behold, thy time was the time of love; and ^qI spread my skirt over thee, and covered thy nakedness: yea, I sware unto thee, and entered into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord God, and ^rthou becamest mine. ⁹Then washed I thee with water; yea, I throughly washed away thy blood from thee, and ^sI anointed thee with oil. ¹⁰I clothed thee also with ^tbroidered work, and ^ttshod thee with ^ubadgers’ skin, and I girded thee about with ^vfine linen, and I covered thee with ^wsilk. ^11xI decked thee also with ornaments, and I put ^ybracelets upon thine hands, and ^za chain ^aon thy neck. ¹²And I put a jewel on thy forehead, and ^bearrings in thine ears, and ^ca beautiful crown upon thine head. ¹³Thus ^dwast thou decked with gold and silver; and thy raiment was of ^efine linen, and ^esilk, and ^ebroidered work; ^fthou didst eat fine flour, and honey, and oil: and ^gthou wast exceeding beautiful, and thou didst prosper into a kingdom. ¹⁴And ^hthy renown went forth among the heathen ^ghfor thy beauty: for it was perfect through my ⁱcomeliness, which I had put upon thee, saith the Lord God.

¹⁵But thou didst trust ^gin thine own beauty, and ^jplayedst the harlot because of thy renown, and pouredst out thy fornications ^kon every one that passed by; his it was. ¹⁶And of thy garments thou didst take, and ^ldeckedst thy high places ^mwith divers colours, and ^jplayedst the harlot thereupon: the like things shall not come, neither shall it be so. ¹⁷Thou hast also taken thy fair jewels of ⁿmy gold and of my silver, which I had given thee, and madest to thyself ^oimages of men, and ^jdidst commit whoredom with them, ¹⁸and tookest ^ethy broidered garments, and coveredst them: and ^pthou hast set mine oil and mine incense before them. ^19qMy meat also which I gave thee, ^ffine flour, and oil, and honey, wherewith I fed thee, thou hast even set it before them for a sweet savour: and thus it was, saith the Lord God. ²⁰Moreover thou hast taken thy sons and thy daughters, ^rwhom thou hast borne unto me, and ^sthese hast thou sacrificed unto them to be devoured. Is this of thy whoredoms ^ta small matter, ²¹that thou hast slain ^rmy children, and delivered them ^sto cause them to pass through ^uthe fire for them? ²²And in all thine abominations and thy whoredoms thou hast not remembered ^vthe days of thy youth, when thou wast ^wnaked and bare, and wast ^xpolluted ^kkin thy blood. ²³And it came to pass after all thy wickedness, (woe, woe unto thee! saith the Lord God;) ²⁴that thou hast also built unto thee an eminent place, and ^yhast made thee a high place in every street. ²⁵Thou hast built thy high place ^zat every head of the way, and hast made ^gthy beauty to be abhorred, and hast opened thy feet ^ato every one that passed by, and ^bmultiplied thy whoredoms. ^26aThou hast also committed fornication with ^cthe Egyptians thy neighbours, great of flesh; and ^bhast increased thy whoredoms, ^dto provoke me to anger. ²⁷Behold therefore, I have stretched out my hand over thee, and ^ehave diminished ^fthine ordinary food, and ^ffdelivered thee unto the will of them that hate thee, ^gthe daughters of the Philistines, which are ashamed of thy lewd way. ^28aThou hast played the whore also ^hwith the Assyrians, because thou wast unsatiable; yea, thou hast played the harlot with them, and yet couldest not be satisfied. ^29abThou hast moreover multiplied thy fornication in the land of ⁱCanaan unto ^jChaldea; and yet thou wast not satisfied herewith. ³⁰How weak is thine heart, saith the Lord God…