Ezekiel 13:22–28:26

²²You have discouraged righteous people with your lies, even though I hadn’t brought them any grief. You encouraged wicked people not to turn from their wicked ways to save their lives. ²³That is why you will no longer see false visions or make predictions. I will rescue my people from your power. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’ ” 

14TH CHAPTER

Idolaters Condemned

¹Some of Israel’s leaders came to me and sat down in front of me. ²Then the Lord spoke his word to me. He said, ³“Son of man, these people are devoted to their idols, and they are allowing themselves to fall into sin. Should they be allowed to ask me for help? 

⁴“So speak to them. Tell them, ‘This is what the Lord says: Suppose an Israelite is devoted to idols and allows himself to fall into sin. Suppose he goes to a prophet ⸤to ask for my help⸥. I, the Lord, will give that Israelite an answer, the answer that his many idols deserve. ⁵I will do this to recapture the hearts of the nation of Israel. They have deserted me because of their disgusting idols.’ 

⁶“So tell the nation of Israel, ‘This is what the Almighty Lord says: Change the way you think and act! Turn away from your idols, and don’t return to any of your disgusting things. ⁷Suppose an Israelite or a foreigner who lives in Israel deserts me by devoting himself to idols and by allowing himself to fall into sin. If he goes to a prophet to ask for my help, I, the Lord, will give him an answer. ⁸I will reject him, and I will make an example of him. I will exclude him from my people. Then you will know that I am the Lord. 

⁹“ ‘If a prophet is tricked into giving a prophecy, it is I, the Lord, who tricked the prophet. I will use my power against you and destroy you from among my people Israel. ¹⁰Both of you will suffer for your sins. The prophet will be as guilty as you are when you ask for his help. ¹¹Then the people of Israel will no longer wander away from me. They will no longer dishonor me with all their sins. Then they will be my people, and I will be their God, declares the Almighty Lord.’ ” 

¹²The Lord spoke his word to me. He said, ¹³“Son of man, suppose a country sins against me by being unfaithful to me. I will use my power against it, cut off its food supply, send a famine to it, and destroy its people and animals. ¹⁴Even if these three men—Noah, Daniel, and Job—were in that country, they would, by their righteousness, rescue only themselves,” declares the Almighty Lord. 

¹⁵“Suppose I send wild animals through that country and they make it childless and turn it into such a wasteland that no one travels through it because of the animals. ¹⁶As I live, declares the Almighty Lord, not even Noah, Daniel, and Job could rescue their own sons or daughters. They could rescue only themselves. And the country would become a wasteland. 

¹⁷“Suppose I bring a war against that country by saying, ‘I will let a war go throughout this country.’ Suppose I destroy the people and the animals in it. ¹⁸As I live, declares the Almighty Lord, not even Noah, Daniel, and Job could rescue their sons or daughters. They could rescue only themselves. 

¹⁹“Suppose I send a plague into that country or pour out my fury on it by killing people and destroying animals. ²⁰As I live, declares the Almighty Lord, not even Noah, Daniel, and Job could, by their righteousness, rescue their sons or daughters. They could rescue only themselves. 

²¹“This is what the Almighty Lord says: I will surely send four terrible punishments against Jerusalem. I will send wars, famines, wild animals, and plagues. They will destroy people and animals. ²²But some people will survive. Some of your sons and daughters will be brought out. When they come out to you, you will see how they live. Then you will be comforted after the disasters that I will bring on Jerusalem, after every disaster that I will bring against it. ²³You will be comforted when you see how they live. Then you will know that everything I have done was done for a reason,” declares the Almighty Lord. 

15TH CHAPTER

Jerusalem Is Compared to Wood from a Wild Vine

¹The Lord spoke his word to me. He said, ²“Son of man, what good is the wood from a vine? Is it better than the wood from a tree in the forest? ³Do people use it to make something? Do they make a peg from it to hang things on? ⁴No! It is only thrown into the fire as fuel. The fire burns up both its ends and chars its middle. Then can it be used to make anything? ⁵When the vine was in perfect condition, it couldn’t be made into anything. How can it be used to make anything after the fire has burned and charred it? 

⁶“So this is what the Almighty Lord says: As a vine is taken from among the trees in the forest to be used to feed the fire, so I will take the people who live in Jerusalem to punish them. ⁷I will turn against the people of Jerusalem. Even though they have escaped one fire, another fire will burn them. Then they will know that I am the Lord, because I will turn against them. ⁸I will turn the country into a wasteland because they have been unfaithful,” declares the Almighty Lord. 

16TH CHAPTER

A Description of Jerusalem’s Sins

¹The Lord spoke his word to me. He said, ²“Son of man, make known to the people of Jerusalem the disgusting things they have done. ³Tell them, ‘This is what the Almighty Lord says to the people of Jerusalem: Your birthplace and your ancestors were in the land of the Canaanites. Your father was an Amorite, and your mother was a Hittite. ⁴When you were born, your umbilical cord wasn’t cut. You weren’t washed with water to make you clean. You weren’t rubbed with salt or wrapped in cloth. ⁵No one who saw you felt sorry enough for you to do any of these things. But you were thrown into an open field. You were rejected when you were born. 

⁶“ ‘Then I went by you and saw you kicking around in your own blood. I said to you, “Live.” ⁷I made you grow like a plant in the field. You grew up, matured, and became a young woman. Your breasts developed, and your hair grew. Yet, you were naked and bare. 

⁸“ ‘I went by you again and looked at you. You were old enough to make love to. So I spread my robe over you, and covered your naked body. I promised to love you, and I exchanged marriage vows with you. You became mine, declares the Almighty Lord. 

⁹“ ‘Then I bathed you with water, and I washed off your blood. I poured olive oil over you. ¹⁰I put an embroidered dress on you and fine leather sandals on your feet. I dressed you in fine linen and covered you with silk. ¹¹I gave you jewelry. I put bracelets on your wrists and a necklace around your neck. ¹²I put a ring in your nose, earrings on your ears, and a beautiful crown on your head. ¹³So you wore gold and silver jewelry. You were dressed in fine linen, silk, and embroidered clothes. Your food was flour, honey, and olive oil. You were very beautiful, and eventually you became a queen. ¹⁴You became famous in every nation because of your beauty. Your beauty was perfect because I gave you my glory, declares the Almighty Lord. 

¹⁵“ ‘But you trusted your beauty, and you used your fame to become a prostitute. You had sex with everyone who walked by. ¹⁶You took some of your clothes and made your worship sites colorful. This is where you acted like a prostitute. Such things shouldn’t happen. They shouldn’t occur. ¹⁷You took your beautiful gold and silver jewelry that I had given you and made male idols for yourself. Then you committed adultery with them. ¹⁸You took off your embroidered clothes and covered the idols with them. You offered my olive oil and incense in their presence. ¹⁹You also offered them sweet and fragrant sacrifices. You gave flour, olive oil, and honey—all the food that I gave you to eat. This is what happened, declares the Almighty Lord. 

²⁰“ ‘You took your sons and daughters, who belonged to me, and you sacrificed them as food to idols. Wasn’t your prostitution enough? ²¹You slaughtered my children and presented them as burnt offerings to idols. ²²With all the disgusting things that you did and all your acts of prostitution, you didn’t remember the time when you were young. You didn’t remember when you were naked and bare, kicking around in your own blood. 

²³“ ‘How horrible! How horrible it will be for you! declares the Almighty Lord. After all your wickedness, ²⁴you built yourself platforms and illegal worship sites in every city square. ²⁵You also built worship sites at the head of every street. You used your beauty to seduce people there. You offered your body to everyone who passed by. You increased your acts of prostitution. ²⁶You had sex with your lustful neighbors, the Egyptians. You used your prostitution to make me angry. 

²⁷“ ‘So I used my power against you. I took away some of your land, and I handed you over to your greedy enemies, the Philistines, who were ashamed of what you had done. 

²⁸“ ‘You had sex with the Assyrians because you weren’t satisfied. You still weren’t satisfied. ²⁹So you increased your acts of prostitution to include the land of the merchants, the Babylonians. Even after that, you weren’t satisfied. 

³⁰“ ‘You have no will power! declares the Almighty Lord. You do everything a shameless prostitute does. ³¹You build your platforms at the head of every street and place your illegal worship sites in every square. Yet, you aren’t like other prostitutes, because you don’t want to be paid. ³²You are an adulterous wife who prefers strangers to her husband. ³³All prostitutes get paid. But you give gifts to all your lovers and bribe them to come to you from all directions to have sex with you. ³⁴You are a different kind of prostitute. No one goes after you for favors. You are the opposite. You pay them, and you don’t accept payment. 

Jerusalem’s Punishment

³⁵“ ‘Listen to the Lord’s word, you prostitute. ³⁶This is what the Almighty Lord says: You exposed yourself and uncovered your naked body when you gave yourself to your lovers and to all your disgusting idols. You also…