Ezekiel 11

Judgment on Wicked Counselors

11^sThe Spirit lifted me up and brought me to ^tthe east gate of the house of the Lord, which faces east. And behold, at the entrance of the gateway there were ^utwenty-five men. And I saw among them Jaazaniah ^vthe son of Azzur, and ^wPelatiah the son of Benaiah, princes of the people. ²And he said to me, ^x“Son of man, these are the men who devise iniquity and who give wicked counsel in this city; ^3ywho say, ^z‘The time is not near¹ to build houses. ^aThis city is the cauldron, and we are the meat.’ ⁴Therefore prophesy against them; prophesy, O son of man.”

⁵And ^bthe Spirit of the Lord fell upon me, and he said to me, “Say, Thus says the Lord: So you think, O house of Israel. ^cFor I know the things that come into your mind. ^6dYou have multiplied your slain in this city and have filled its streets with the slain. ⁷Therefore thus says the Lord God: ^eYour slain whom you have laid in the midst of it, ^athey are the meat, and ^athis city is the cauldron, but you shall be brought out of the midst of it. ^8fYou have feared the sword, and I will bring the sword upon you, declares the Lord God. ⁹And I will bring you out of the midst of it, and ^ggive you into the hands of foreigners, and ^hexecute judgments upon you. ¹⁰ⁱYou shall fall by the sword. I will judge you at the border of Israel, ^jand you shall know that I am the Lord. ^11kThis city shall not be your cauldron, nor shall you be the meat in the midst of it. I will judge you at the border of Israel, ¹²and you shall know that I am the Lord. For you have not walked in my statutes, nor obeyed my rules, ^lbut have acted according to the rules of the nations that are around you.”

¹³And it came to pass, while I was prophesying, ^mthat ⁿPelatiah the son of Benaiah died. ^oThen I fell down on my face and cried out with a loud voice and said, ^o“Ah, Lord God! ^pWill you make a full end of the remnant of Israel?”

Israel’s New Heart and Spirit

¹⁴And the word of the Lord came to me: ^15q“Son of man, your brothers, even your brothers, your kinsmen,² the whole house of Israel, all of them, are those of whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, ^r‘Go far from the Lord; to us this land is given for a possession.’ ¹⁶Therefore say, ‘Thus says the Lord God: Though I removed them far off among the nations, and though I scattered them among the countries, yet ^sI have been a sanctuary to them for a while³ in the countries where they have gone.’ ¹⁷Therefore say, ‘Thus says the Lord God: ^tI will gather you from the peoples and assemble you out of the countries where you have been scattered, ^tand I will give you the land of Israel.’ ¹⁸And when they come there, ^uthey will remove from it all its ^vdetestable things and all its abominations. ^19wAnd I will give them one heart, and ^xa new spirit I will put within them. ^yI will remove the heart of stone from their flesh ^zand give them a heart of flesh, ^20athat they may walk in my statutes and keep my rules and obey them. ^bAnd they shall be my people, and I will be their God. ^21cBut as for those whose heart goes after their detestable things and their abominations, ^dI will⁴ bring their deeds upon their own heads, declares the Lord God.”

^22eThen the cherubim lifted up their wings, with the wheels beside them, ^eand the glory of the God of Israel was over them. ²³And the glory of the Lord went up from the midst of the city and ^fstood on the mountain that is on the east side of the city. ^24gAnd the Spirit lifted me up and brought me ^hin the vision by the Spirit of God ⁱinto Chaldea, to the exiles. Then the vision that I had seen went up from me. ²⁵And I told the exiles all the things that the Lord had shown me.