Ezekiel 11–13

Judgment On Evil Rulers

11And the Spirit lifted me up, and it brought me to the eastern gate, the one facing east, of the temple^a of Yahweh. And look, there were twenty-five men in the doorway of the gate, and I saw Jaazaniah the son of Azzur in the midst of them, and Pelatiah the son of Benaiah, the commanders of the people. ²And he said to me, “Son of man,^b these are the men who devise mischief,^c and who are offering bad counsel in this city, ³who are saying, ‘The building of houses is not near; the city is the pot, and we are the flesh.’ ⁴Therefore prophesy against them! Prophesy, son of man!”^d

⁵And the Spirit of Yahweh fell on me, and he said to me, “Say, ‘thus says Yahweh: “This is what you think, house of Israel, and I myself know them,^e the thoughts of your spirit. ⁶You made your slain ones numerous in this city, and you have filled its streets with slain ones.” ’^{f 7}Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Your slain ones whom you put in its midst, they are the flesh, and it is the pot, and I^g will bring you out from its midst. ⁸The sword you have feared, and the sword I will bring against you!” declares^h the Lord Yahweh. ⁹“And I will bring you out from its midst, and I will give you into the hand of strangers, and I will execute judgments against you. ¹⁰By the sword you will fall at the border of Israel; I will judge you, and you will know that I am Yahweh. ¹¹It will not be as a pot to you, and so you would beⁱ in the midst of it as flesh, for at the border of Israel I will judge you. ¹²And you will know that I am Yahweh, whose^j rules you did not follow, and whose^k regulations you did not do, but according to the regulations of the nations that are around you, you acted.” ’^l

¹³And it happened that as I was prophesying,^m Pelatiahu the son of Benaiahu died! And I fell on my face, and I cried with a loud voice, and I said, “Ah, Lord Yahweh, you are making a complete destruction of the remnant of Israel!” ¹⁴And the word of Yahweh came to me, saying,^{n 15}“Son of man,^o your brothers, your brothers, the men of your redemption, and all of the house of Israel, all of it, who said concerning the inhabitants of Jerusalem,^p ‘They are far from Yahweh, therefore to us this land was given as a possession.’ ¹⁶Therefore say, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Though I have removed them far away among the nations and though I have scattered them among the countries, yet I was a sanctuary to them for a little while in the countries to which they have gone.’ ”^{q 17}Therefore say, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “And I will assemble you from the peoples, and I will gather you from the countries to which you were scattered among them, and I will give the land of Israel to you. ¹⁸And when they come there, then they will remove all of its vile idols and all of its detestable things from it. ¹⁹And I will give to them one heart, and a new spirit I will give^r in their inner parts. And I will remove their^s heart of stone from their body, and I will give to them a heart of flesh, ²⁰so that they may walk in my statutes, and they will keep my regulations, and they will do them, and they will be to me a people, and I myself will be to them as God. ²¹But to^t the heart of their abominations and the detestable things their heart is going. I will bring their way on their head,” declares^u the Lord Yahweh.’ ”

²²Then^v the cherubim lifted up their wings, and their^w wheels were beside them, and the glory of the God of Israel was over them.^{x 23}And the glory of Yahweh went up from the midst of the city, and it stood still on the mountain that is to the east of the city. ²⁴And the Spirit lifted me up, and it brought me to Chaldea, to the exiles,^y in the vision by the spirit of God; and the vision that I had seen left me.^{z 25}And I spoke to the exiles^a all of the words of Yahweh that he had shown me.

The Announcement of the Imminent Coming of the Exile

12And the word of Yahweh came to me, saying,^{a 2}“Son of man,^b you are dwelling in the midst of the house of rebellion who has eyes to see and they do not see;^c they have ears to hear,^d and they do not hear, for they are a house of rebellion. ³And you, son of man,^e prepare for yourself^f the baggage of an exile, and go into exile by day before their eyes. And you must go into^g exile from your place to another place before their eyes; perhaps they will see that they are a house of rebellion. ⁴And you must bring out your baggage like the baggage of an exile by day before their eyes, and you must go out in the evening before their eyes like those who go into exile.^{h 5}Before their eyes dig through for yourself,ⁱ through the wall, and you must bring the baggage out through it. ⁶Before their eyes, on your^j shoulder, you must lift up the baggage in the dusk, and your face you must cover, so that you may not see the land, for I make you as a sign to the house of Israel.” ⁷And I did just as^k I was commanded; my baggage, like the baggage of an exile, I brought out by day, and in the evening I dug through for myself^l into^m the wall with my hand in the dusk; I brought the baggage on my shoulder; I carried it before their eyes. ⁸And the word of Yahweh came to me in the morning, saying,^{n 9}“Son of man,^o did not they, the house of Israel, the house of rebellion, say to you, ‘What are you doing?’ ¹⁰Say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “This oracle is about the prince in Jerusalem and the entire^p house of Israel who are among them.” ’^{q 11}Say, ‘I am your sign, and just as^r I did, so will it be done to them in the exile; into^s captivity they will go.’ ¹²And the prince who is in the midst of them, on his shoulder he will carry the baggage in the dusk, and^t he will go out; the wall will be dug through^u to bring him through it; and he will cover his face so that he will^v not see the land with his^w eye. ¹³And I will spread out my net on him, and he will be captured in my hunting snare, and I will bring him to Babylon, the land of the Chaldeans, but he will not see it, and there he will die. ¹⁴And all who are around him, his help^x and all of his troops I will scatter in every direction,^y and I will draw^z the sword behind them. ¹⁵And they will know that I am Yahweh when I scatter them^a among the nations and I scatter them in the countries. ¹⁶But^b I will spare from them a few men^c from the sword, from the famine and from the plague, so that they may tell of all their abominations among the nations to which they will go, and they will know that I am Yahweh.”

¹⁷And the word of Yahweh came to me, saying,^{d 18}“Son of man,^e you must eat your food with trembling, and your water with shuddering, and with anxiety you must drink. ¹⁹And you must say to the people of the land, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh to the inhabitants of Jerusalem about the land of Israel: “They will eat their food with anxiety and their water they will drink with horror, because their land will be desolate from^f its fullness because of all the violence of those who are dwelling in it.^{g 20}And the inhabited cites will be desolate,^h and the land will be a desolation, and you will know that I am Yahweh.” ’ ”

²¹And the word of Yahweh came to me, saying,^{i 22}“Son of man,^j what is this proverb you people have^k about the land of Israel, saying,^l ‘The days are prolonged,^m and every vision has come to nothing.’ ²³Therefore say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “I will put an end to this proverb, and they will not quote it as a proverb again in Israel.” ’ Butⁿ say to them, ‘The days are near, and also the word of every vision.’ ²⁴For there will not be any longer any false vision^o or flattering divination in the midst of the house of Israel. ²⁵For I, Yahweh, I will speak what I will speak as a word, and it will be done. It will not prolong itself any longer, for in your days, house of rebellion, I will speak a word and I will fulfill it!” declares^p the Lord Yahweh. ²⁶And the word of Yahweh came to me, saying,^{q 27}“Son of man,^r look! The house of Israel is saying, ‘The vision that he is seeing is for many days from now, and for distant times he is prophesying.’ ²⁸Therefore say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “None of my words will be prolonged any longer that I speak as a word, and it will be fulfilled!” ’ ” declares^s the Lord Yahweh.

Condemnation of False Prophets

13And the word of Yahweh came to me, saying,^{a 2}“Son of man,^b prophesy to^c the prophets of Israel who are prophesying,^d and you must say to those who are prophets out of their own imagination,^e ‘Hear the word of Yahweh!’ ³Thus says the Lord Yahweh: ‘Alas, for the foolish prophets who are going after their own spirit, and they did not see anything!^{f 4}Your prophets have been like foxes^g among ruins. ⁵You did not go up into^h the breaches and repair a wall for the house of Israel to stand firm in the battle on the day of Yahweh. ⁶They saw falseness and a lying divination,ⁱ the ones saying, ‘Declaration of Yahweh!’ and Yahweh did not send them, and they wait for the confirmation of their word.^{j 7}Have you not seen a false vision^k and spoken a lying divination,^l and you said, ‘Declaration of Yahweh!’ but I myself did not speak.^{m 8}Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: ‘Because of your speaking falseness and because you envisioned a lie, therefore, look! I am against you!” declaresⁿ the Lord Yahweh. ⁹“And it will be my hand against the prophets who are seeing falseness and who are practicing lying divination. They will not be in the council of my people, and they will not be written down in the record book of the house of Israel, and into^o the land of Israel they will not come, and then you will know that I am the Lord Yahweh. ¹⁰Because, yes, because they led my people astray, saying^p ‘Peace!’ And there is not peace. And when anyone^q builds a flimsy wall, look, they coat it with whitewash. ¹¹Say to those covering it with whitewash that it will fall; there will be a torrent of rain,^r and I will give stones of hail; they will fall! ^s And a windstorm^t will burst forth! ¹²And…