Ezekiel 24:3–13

³Tell these rebellious people a story. Tell them, ‘This is what the Almighty Lord says: 

Put the pot on the fire; put it on. 

Pour water in it. 

⁴Cut the meat into pieces, 

all the best pieces, the thigh and shoulder. 

Fill the pot with the meatiest bones 

⁵selected from the best sheep. 

Pile wood under the pot. 

Bring the mixture in the pot to a boil. 

Cook the bones that are in it well. 

⁶“ ‘This is what the Almighty Lord says: 

How horrible it will be for that city of murderers, 

for that tarnished pot. 

Its tarnish will not come off. 

Empty the meat out of it piece by piece 

without choosing any particular piece. 

⁷Blood is still in that city. 

The blood was poured on a bare rock. 

It wasn’t poured on the ground where dust would cover it. 

⁸In order to stir up my fury so that I would pay that city back, 

I put the blood of its victims on a bare rock. 

Now that blood can’t be covered. 

⁹“ ‘This is what the Almighty Lord says: 

How horrible it will be for that city of murderers. 

I, too, will pile the wood high. 

¹⁰Pile it high, and light the fire. 

Cook the meat thoroughly, stir the mixture, 

and let the bones burn. 

¹¹Then set the empty pot on the coals 

so that it gets hot and its copper glows. 

Its impurities will melt away, 

and its tarnish will burn off. 

¹²“ ‘I have worn myself out trying to clean this pot. Even the fire can’t take away its thick tarnish. ¹³I tried to clean you of your filthy lust, but you wouldn’t clean yourself from your filth. You will never be clean until I unleash my fury on you.