Ezekiel 13:22–28:26

²²“Because you ^adisheartened the righteous with falsehood when I did not cause him grief, but have ^1bencouraged the wicked not to ^cturn from his wicked way and preserve his life,

²³therefore, you women will no longer see ^1afalse visions or practice divination, and I will ^bdeliver My people out of your hand. Thus you will ^cknow that I am the Lord.”

Chapter 14

Idolatrous Elders Condemned

¹Then some ^aelders of Israel came to me and ^bsat down before me.

²And the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

³“Son of man, these men have ^aset up their idols in their hearts and have ^bput right before their faces the stumbling block of their iniquity. Should I be ^cconsulted by them at all?

⁴“Therefore speak to them and tell them, ‘Thus says the Lord ¹God, “Any man of the house of Israel who sets up his idols in his heart, puts right before his face the stumbling block of his iniquity, and then comes to the prophet, I the Lord will be brought to give him an answer in ²the matter in view of the ^amultitude of his idols,

⁵in order to lay hold of ^1athe hearts of the house of Israel who are ^2bestranged from Me through all their idols.” ’

⁶“Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “^aRepent and turn away from your idols and turn your faces away from all your ^babominations.

⁷“For anyone of the house of Israel or of the ^aimmigrants who stay in Israel who separates himself from Me, sets up his idols in his heart, puts right before his face the stumbling block of his iniquity, and then comes to the prophet to inquire of Me for himself, ^bI the Lord will be brought to answer him in My own person.

⁸“I will ^aset My face against that man and make him a ^bsign and ¹a proverb, and I will cut him off from among My people. So you will know that I am the Lord.

⁹“But if the prophet is ¹prevailed upon to speak a word, it is I, the Lord, who have prevailed upon that prophet, and I will stretch out My hand against him and ^adestroy him from among My people Israel.

¹⁰“They will bear the punishment of their iniquity; as the iniquity of the inquirer is, so the iniquity of the prophet will be,

¹¹in order that the house of Israel may no longer ^astray from Me and no longer ^bdefile themselves with all their transgressions. Thus they will be ^cMy people, and I shall be their God,” ’ declares the Lord God.”

The City Will Not Be Spared

¹²Then the word of the Lord came to me saying,

¹³“Son of man, if a country sins against Me by ^acommitting unfaithfulness, and I stretch out My hand against it, ¹destroy its ^bsupply of bread, send famine against it and cut off from it both man and beast,

¹⁴even ^athough these three men, ^bNoah, ^cDaniel and ^dJob were in its midst, by their own righteousness they could only deliver ^ethemselves,” declares the Lord God.

¹⁵“If I were to cause ^awild beasts to pass through the land and they ¹depopulated it, and it became desolate so that no one would pass through it because of the beasts,

¹⁶though these three men were in its midst, as I live,” declares the Lord God, “they could not deliver either their sons or their daughters. ^aThey alone would be delivered, but the country would be desolate.

¹⁷“Or if I should ^abring a sword on that country and say, ‘Let the sword pass through the country and ^bcut off man and beast from it,’

¹⁸even though these three men were in its midst, as I live,” declares the Lord God, “they could not deliver either their sons or their daughters, but they alone would be delivered.

¹⁹“Or if I should send a ^aplague against that country and pour out My wrath in blood on it to cut off man and beast from it,

²⁰even though Noah, Daniel and Job were in its midst, as I live,” declares the Lord God, “they could not deliver either their son or their daughter. They would deliver only themselves by their righteousness.”

²¹For thus says the Lord God, “How much more when ^aI send My four ¹severe judgments against Jerusalem: sword, famine, wild beasts and plague to cut off man and beast from it!

²²“Yet, behold, ¹survivors will be left in it who will be brought out, both sons and daughters. Behold, they are going to come forth to you and you will ^asee their conduct and actions; then you will be ^bcomforted for the calamity which I have brought against Jerusalem for everything which I have brought upon it.

²³“Then they will comfort you when you see their conduct and actions, for you will know that I have not done ^ain vain whatever I did ¹to it,” declares the Lord God.

Chapter 15

Jerusalem like a Useless Vine

¹Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

²“Son of man, how is the wood of the ^avine better than any wood of a branch which is among the trees of the forest?

³“Can wood be taken from it to make ¹anything, or can men take a peg from it on which to hang any vessel?

⁴“¹If it has been put into the ^afire for fuel, and the fire has consumed both of its ends and its middle part has been charred, is it then useful for ²anything?

⁵“Behold, while it is intact, it is not made into ¹anything. How much less, when the fire has consumed it and it is charred, can it still be made into anything!

⁶“Therefore, thus says the Lord ¹God, ‘As the wood of the vine among the trees of the forest, which I have given to the fire for fuel, so have I given up the inhabitants of Jerusalem;

⁷and I ^aset My face against them. Though they have ^bcome out of the fire, yet the fire will consume them. Then you will know that I am the Lord, when I set My face against them.

⁸‘Thus I will make the land desolate, because they have ^aacted unfaithfully,’ ” declares the Lord God.

Chapter 16

God’s Grace to Unfaithful Jerusalem

¹Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

²“Son of man, ^amake known to Jerusalem her abominations

³and say, ‘Thus says the Lord ¹God to Jerusalem, “Your origin and your birth are from the land of the Canaanite, your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite.

⁴“As for your birth, ^aon the day you were born your navel cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water for cleansing; you were not rubbed with salt or even wrapped in cloths.

⁵“No eye looked with pity on you to do any of these things for you, to have compassion on you. Rather you were thrown out into the ^1aopen field, ²for you were abhorred on the day you were born.

⁶“When I passed by you and saw you squirming in your blood, I said to you while you were in your blood, ‘Live!’ Yes, I said to you while you were in your blood, ‘Live!’

⁷“I ^amade you ¹numerous like plants of the field. Then you grew up, became tall and reached the age for fine ornaments; your breasts were formed and your hair had grown. Yet you were naked and bare.

⁸“Then I passed by you and saw you, and behold, ¹you were at the time for love; so I ^aspread My skirt over you and covered your nakedness. I also ^bswore to you and ^centered into a covenant with you so that you ^dbecame Mine,” declares the Lord God.

⁹“Then I bathed you with water, washed off your blood from you and ^aanointed you with oil.

¹⁰“I also clothed you with ^aembroidered cloth and put sandals of porpoise skin on your feet; and I wrapped you with fine linen and covered you with silk.

¹¹“I adorned you with ornaments, put ^abracelets on your hands and a ^bnecklace around your neck.

¹²“I also put a ^aring in your nostril, earrings in your ears and a ^bbeautiful crown on your head.

¹³“Thus you were adorned with ^agold and silver, and your dress was of fine linen, silk and embroidered cloth. You ate fine flour, honey and oil; so you were exceedingly beautiful and advanced to ^broyalty.

¹⁴“Then your ^afame went forth among the nations on account of your beauty, for it was ^bperfect because of My splendor which I bestowed on you,” declares the Lord God.

¹⁵“But you ^atrusted in your beauty and ^bplayed the harlot because of your fame, and you poured out your harlotries on every passer-by ¹who might be willing.

¹⁶“You took some of your clothes, made for yourself high places of various colors and played the harlot on them, ¹which should never come about nor happen.

¹⁷“You also took your beautiful ^1ajewels made of My gold and of My silver, which I had given you, and made for yourself male images that you might play the harlot with them.

¹⁸“Then you took your embroidered cloth and covered them, and offered My oil and My incense before them.

¹⁹“Also ^aMy bread which I gave you, fine flour, oil and honey with which I fed you, ¹you would offer before them for a soothing aroma; so it happened,” declares the Lord God.

²⁰“Moreover, you took your sons and daughters whom you had borne to ^aMe and ^bsacrificed them to ¹idols to be devoured. Were your harlotries so small a matter?

²¹“You slaughtered ^aMy children and offered them up to ¹idols by ^bcausing them to pass through the fire.

²²“Besides all your abominations and harlotries you did not remember the days of ^ayour youth, when you were naked and bare and squirming in your blood.

²³“Then it came about after all your wickedness (‘Woe, woe to you!’ declares the Lord God),

²⁴that you built yourself a ^ashrine and made yourself a ^bhigh place in every square.

²⁵“You built yourself a high place at the top of ^aevery street and made your beauty abominable, and you spread your legs to every passer-by to multiply your harlotry.

²⁶“You also played the harlot with the Egyptians, your ¹lustful neighbors, and multiplied your harlotry to ^amake Me angry.

²⁷“Behold now, I have stretched out My hand against you and diminished your rations. And I delivered you up to the desire of those who hate you, the ^adaughters of the Philistines, who are ashamed of your lewd conduct.

²⁸“Moreover, you played the harlot with the ^aAssyrians because you were not satisfied; you played the harlot with them and still were not satisfied.

²⁹“You also multiplied your harlotry with the land of merchants, Chaldea, yet even with this you were not satisfied.” ’ ”

³⁰“How ^alanguishing is your heart,” declares the Lord God, “while you do all these things, the actions of a ^1bbold-faced harlot.

³¹“When you built your shrine at the beginning of every street and made your high…