Israel’s Shedding of Blood

22 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 2 “And you, yson of man, zwill you judge, will you judge athe bloody city? bThen declare to her all her abominations. 3 You shall say, Thus says the Lord God: A city that sheds blood in her midst, so that cher time may come, and that makes idols to defile herself! 4 You have become guilty aby the blood that you have shed, and defiled by the idols that you have made, and you have brought cyour days near, the appointed time of1 your years has come. dTherefore I have made you a reproach to the nations, and a mockery to all the countries. 5 Those who are near and those who are far from you will mock you; eyour name is defiled; fyou are full of tumult.

6 “Behold, gthe princes of Israel in you, every one according to his power, have been bent on shedding blood. 7 Father and mother hare treated with contempt in you; the sojourner isuffers extortion in your midst; the fatherless and the widow iare wronged in you. 8 jYou have despised my holy things and kprofaned my Sabbaths. 9 lThere are men in you who slander to shed blood, and people in you mwho eat on the mountains; nthey commit lewdness in your midst. 10 In you omen uncover their fathers’ nakedness; in you they violate women who are unclean in their menstrual impurity. 11 pOne commits abomination with his neighbor’s wife; qanother lewdly defiles his daughter-in-law; ranother in you violates his sister, his father’s daughter. 12 In you sthey take bribes to shed blood; tyou take interest and profit2 and make gain of your neighbors by extortion; but ume you have forgotten, declares the Lord God.

13 “Behold, vI strike my hand at wthe dishonest gain that you have made, and at xthe blood that has been in your midst. 14 yCan your courage endure, or can your hands be strong, in the days that I shall deal with you? zI the Lord have spoken, and I will do it. 15 aI will scatter you among the nations and disperse you through the countries, and bI will consume your uncleanness out of you. 16 And cyou shall be profaned by your own doing din the sight of the nations, eand you shall know that I am the Lord.”

17 And the word of the Lord came to me: 18 f“Son of man, the house of Israel has become gdross to me; all of them are hbronze and tin and iron and lead in the furnace; they are idross of silver. 19 Therefore thus says the Lord God: Because you have all become dross, therefore, behold, I will gather you into the midst of Jerusalem. 20 As one gathers silver and bronze and iron and lead and tin into a furnace, jto blow the fire on it in order to melt it, so I will gather you kin my anger and in my wrath, and I will put you in and melt you. 21 I will gather you and blow on you with the fire of my wrath, and you shall be melted in the midst of it. 22 As silver is melted in a furnace, so you shall be melted in the midst of it, and you shall know that I am the Lord; lI have poured out my wrath upon you.”

23 And the word of the Lord came to me: 24 “Son of man, say to her, You are a land that is mnot cleansed nor rained upon in the day of indignation. 25 oThe conspiracy of her prophets in her midst is plike a roaring lion qtearing the prey; they have devoured human lives; they have taken treasure and precious things; they have made many widows in her midst. 26 rHer priests shave done violence to my law and thave profaned my holy things. uThey have made no distinction between the holy and the common, neither have they taught the difference between the unclean and the clean, and vthey have disregarded my Sabbaths, wso that I am profaned among them. 27 xHer princes in her midst are like wolves ytearing the prey, zshedding blood, destroying lives to get dishonest gain. 28 And aher prophets have smeared whitewash for them, bseeing false visions and divining lies for them, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord God,’ when the Lord has not spoken. 29 The people of the land chave practiced extortion and committed robbery. They have oppressed the poor and needy, and chave extorted from the sojourner without justice. 30 dAnd I sought for a man among them ewho should build up the wall eand stand in the breach before me for the land, that I should not destroy it, but I found none. 31 Therefore fI have poured out my indignation upon them. I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath. I have returned gtheir way upon their heads, declares the Lord God.”

Oholah and Oholibah

23 The word of the Lord came to me: 2 h“Son of man, there were itwo women, the daughters of one mother. 3 jThey played the whore in Egypt; jthey played the whore kin their youth; there their breasts were pressed and their virgin bosoms1 handled. 4 Oholah was the name of the elder and Oholibah the name of her sister. lThey became mine, and they mbore sons and daughters. As for their names, Oholah is nSamaria, and Oholibah is Jerusalem.

5 “Oholah played the whore owhile she was mine, and pshe lusted after her lovers qthe Assyrians, warriors 6 clothed in purple, rgovernors and commanders, sall of them desirable young men, thorsemen riding on horses. 7 She bestowed her whoring upon them, the choicest men of Assyria all of them, and she defiled herself with all the idols of everyone after whom she lusted. 8 She did not give up her whoring uthat she had begun in Egypt; for in her youth men had lain with her and handled her virgin bosom and poured out their whoring lust upon her. 9 Therefore vI delivered her into the hands of her lovers, into the hands of the Assyrians, after whom she lusted. 10 wThese uncovered her nakedness; xthey seized her sons and her daughters; and as for her, they killed her with the sword; and she became ya byword among women, zwhen judgment had been executed on her.

11 a“Her sister Oholibah saw this, and she became bmore corrupt than her sister2 in her lust and in her whoring, which was worse than that of her sister. 12 She lusted after the Assyrians, governors and commanders, warriors clothed in full armor, horsemen riding on horses, sall of them desirable young men. 13 And I saw that she was defiled; they both took the same way. 14 But she carried her whoring further. She saw men cportrayed on the wall, the dimages of ethe Chaldeans portrayed in vermilion, 15 wearing belts on their waists, with flowing turbans on their heads, all of them having the appearance of officers, a likeness of Babylonians whose native land was Chaldea. 16 When she saw them, she lusted after them and fsent messengers to them ein Chaldea. 17 And the Babylonians came to her ginto the bed of love, and they defiled her with their whoring lust. And after she was defiled by them, hshe turned from them in disgust. 18 When she carried on her whoring so openly and flaunted her nakedness, I turned in disgust from her, as I had turned in disgust from her sister. 19 Yet she increased her whoring, iremembering the days of her youth, when she played the whore in the land of Egypt 20 and lusted after her lovers there, whose members were like those of donkeys, and whose issue was like that of horses. 21 Thus you longed for the lewdness of your youth, when the Egyptians handled your bosom and pressed3 your young breasts.”

22 Therefore, O Oholibah, thus says the Lord God: “Behold, I will stir up against you your lovers hfrom whom you turned in disgust, jand I will bring them against you from every side: 23 the Babylonians and all the Chaldeans, kPekod and Shoa and Koa, and all the Assyrians with them, ldesirable young men, lgovernors and commanders all of them, officers and men of renown, all of them riding on horses. 24 And they shall come against you from the north4 with chariots and wagons and a host of peoples. mThey shall set themselves against you on every side with buckler, shield, and helmet; and nI will commit the judgment to them, and othey shall judge you according to their judgments. 25 And I will direct my jealousy against you, pthat they may deal with you in fury. They shall cut off your nose and your ears, and your survivors shall fall by the sword. qThey shall seize your sons and your daughters, and your survivors shall be devoured by fire. 26 rThey shall also strip you of your clothes and take away your beautiful jewels. 27 sThus I will put an end to your lewdness and tyour whoring begun in the land of Egypt, so that you shall not lift up your eyes to them or remember Egypt anymore.

28 “For thus says the Lord God: uBehold, I will deliver you into the hands of those whom you hate, vinto the hands of those from whom you turned in disgust, 29 and wthey shall deal with you in hatred and take away all the fruit of your labor xand leave you naked and bare, and ythe nakedness of your whoring shall be uncovered. Your lewdness and your whoring 30 have brought this upon you, because zyou played the whore with the nations and defiled yourself with their idols. 31 You have gone the way of your sister; atherefore I will give bher cup into your hand. 32 Thus says the Lord God:

“You shall drink your sister’s cup

that is deep and large;

you shall be laughed at and held in derision,

for it contains much;

33  you will be filled with cdrunkenness and sorrow.

cA cup of horror and desolation,

the cup of dyour sister Samaria;

34  eyou shall drink it and drain it out,

and gnaw its shards,

and tear your breasts;

for I have spoken, declares the Lord God. 35 Therefore thus says the Lord God: Because fyou have forgotten me and gcast me behind your back, you yourself hmust bear the consequences of your lewdness and whoring.”

36 The Lord said to me: i“Son of man, jwill you judge Oholah and Oholibah? Declare to them their abominations. 37 For kthey have committed adultery, land blood is on their hands. With their idols they have committed adultery, and they have even moffered up5 to them for food the children whom they had borne to me. 38 Moreover, this they have done to me: nthey have defiled my sanctuary on the same day and oprofaned my Sabbaths. 39 For when pthey had slaughtered their children in …