Ezekiel 22:1–13

Israel’s Shedding of Blood

22And 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. ³You 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! ⁴You 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. ⁵Those 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. ⁷Father and mother ^hare treated with contempt in you; the sojourner ⁱsuffers extortion in your midst; the fatherless and the widow ⁱare wronged in you. ^8jYou have despised my holy things and ^kprofaned my Sabbaths. ^9lThere are men in you who slander to shed blood, and people in you ^mwho eat on the mountains; ⁿthey commit lewdness in your midst. ¹⁰In you ^omen uncover their fathers’ nakedness; in you they violate women who are unclean in their menstrual impurity. ^11pOne commits abomination with his neighbor’s wife; ^qanother lewdly defiles his daughter-in-law; ^ranother in you violates his sister, his father’s daughter. ¹²In 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.