Ezekiel 22–23

Chapter 22

The Sins of Israel

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

²“And you, son of man, will you judge, will you judge the bloody city? Then cause her to know all her abominations.

³“You shall say, ‘Thus says the Lord ¹God, “A city ^ashedding blood in her midst, so that her time will come, and that makes idols, contrary to her interest, for defilement!

⁴“You have become ^aguilty by ¹the blood which you have shed, and defiled by your idols which you have made. Thus you have brought your ²day near and have come to your years; therefore I have made you a ^breproach to the nations and a mocking to all the lands.

⁵“Those who are near and those who are far from you will mock you, you of ill repute, full of ^aturmoil.

⁶“Behold, the ^arulers of Israel, each according to his ¹power, have been in you for the purpose of shedding blood.

⁷“They have ^atreated father and mother lightly within you. The ^balien they have oppressed in your midst; the ^cfatherless and the widow they have wronged in you.

⁸“You have ^adespised My holy things and ^bprofaned My sabbaths.

⁹“Slanderous men have been in you for the purpose of shedding blood, and in you they have eaten at the mountain shrines. In your midst they have ^acommitted acts of lewdness.

¹⁰“In you ¹they have ^auncovered their fathers’ nakedness; in you they have humbled her who was ^bunclean in her menstrual impurity.

¹¹“One has committed abomination with his ^aneighbor’s wife and another has lewdly defiled his ^bdaughter-in-law. And another in you has ^chumbled his sister, his father’s daughter.

¹²“In you they have ^ataken bribes to shed blood; you have taken ^binterest and profits, and you have injured your neighbors for gain by ^coppression, and you have ^dforgotten Me,” declares the Lord God.

¹³“Behold, then, I smite My hand at your ^adishonest gain which you have acquired and at ¹the bloodshed which is among you.

¹⁴“Can ^ayour heart endure, or can your hands be strong in the days that I will deal with you? ^bI, the Lord, have spoken and will act.

¹⁵“I will ^ascatter you among the nations and I will disperse you through the lands, and I will ^bconsume your uncleanness from you.

¹⁶“You will profane yourself in the sight of the nations, and you will ^aknow that I am the Lord.” ’ ”

¹⁷And the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

¹⁸“Son of man, the house of Israel has become ^adross to Me; all of them are ^bbronze and tin and iron and lead in the ^cfurnace; they are the dross of silver.

¹⁹“Therefore, thus says the Lord God, ‘Because all of you have become dross, therefore, behold, I am going to gather you into the midst of Jerusalem.

²⁰‘As they gather silver and bronze and iron and lead and tin into the ^afurnace to blow fire on it in order to melt it, so I will gather you in My anger and in My wrath and I will lay you there and melt you.

²¹‘I will gather you and blow on you with the fire of My wrath, and you will be melted in the midst of it.

²²‘As silver is melted in the furnace, so you will be melted in the midst of it; and you will know that I, the Lord, have ^apoured out My wrath on you.’ ”

²³And the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

²⁴“Son of man, say to her, ‘You are a land that is ^anot cleansed or rained on in the day of indignation.’

²⁵“There is a ^aconspiracy of her prophets in her midst like a roaring lion tearing the prey. They have ^bdevoured lives; they have taken treasure and precious things; they have made many ^cwidows in the midst of her.

²⁶“Her ^apriests have done violence to My law and have ^bprofaned My holy things; they have made no ^cdistinction between the holy and the profane, and they have not taught the difference between the ^dunclean and the clean; and they hide their eyes from My sabbaths, and I am profaned among them.

²⁷“Her princes within her are like wolves tearing the prey, by shedding blood and ^adestroying lives in order to get ^bdishonest gain.

²⁸“Her prophets have smeared whitewash for them, seeing ^afalse visions and divining lies for them, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord God,’ when the Lord has not spoken.

²⁹“The people of the land have practiced ^aoppression and committed robbery, and they have wronged the poor and needy and have ^boppressed the sojourner without justice.

³⁰“I ^asearched for a man among them who would ^bbuild up the wall and ^cstand in the gap before Me for the land, so that I would not destroy it; but I found ¹no one.

³¹“Thus I have poured out My ^aindignation on them; I have consumed them with the fire of My wrath; ^btheir way I have brought upon their heads,” declares the Lord God.

Chapter 23

Oholah and Oholibah’s Sin and Its Consequences

¹The word of the Lord came to me again, saying,

²“Son of man, there were ^atwo women, the daughters of one mother;

³and they played the harlot in Egypt. They ^aplayed the harlot in their youth; there their breasts were pressed and there their virgin bosom was handled.

⁴“Their names were Oholah the elder and Oholibah her sister. And they became Mine, and they bore sons and daughters. And as for their names, Samaria is Oholah and Jerusalem is Oholibah.

⁵“Oholah played the harlot ¹while she was Mine; and she lusted after her lovers, after the ^aAssyrians, her neighbors,

⁶who were clothed in purple, ^agovernors and officials, all of them desirable young men, horsemen riding on horses.

⁷“She bestowed her harlotries on them, all of whom were the choicest ¹men of Assyria; and with all whom she lusted after, with all their idols she ^adefiled herself.

⁸“She did not forsake her harlotries ^afrom the time in Egypt; for in her youth ¹men had lain with her, and they handled her virgin bosom and poured out their ²lust on her.

⁹“Therefore, I gave her into the hand of her ^alovers, into the hand of the ¹Assyrians, after whom she lusted.

¹⁰“They ^auncovered her nakedness; they took her sons and her daughters, but they slew her with the sword. Thus she became a ¹byword among women, and they executed judgments on her.

¹¹“Now her sister Oholibah saw this, yet she was ^amore corrupt in her lust than she, and her harlotries were more than the harlotries of her sister.

¹²“She lusted after the ^1aAssyrians, governors and officials, the ones near, magnificently dressed, horsemen riding on horses, all of them desirable young men.

¹³“I saw that she had defiled herself; they both took ¹the same way.

¹⁴“So she increased her harlotries. And she saw men ^aportrayed on the wall, images of the ^bChaldeans portrayed with vermilion,

¹⁵girded with belts on their loins, with flowing turbans on their heads, all of them looking like officers, ¹like the ²Babylonians in Chaldea, the land of their birth.

¹⁶“¹When she saw them she ^alusted after them and sent messengers to them in Chaldea.

¹⁷“The ^1aBabylonians came to her to the bed of love and defiled her with their harlotry. And when she had been defiled by them, ²she became disgusted with them.

¹⁸“She ^auncovered her harlotries and uncovered her nakedness; then ¹I became ^bdisgusted with her, as I had become disgusted with her ^csister.

¹⁹“Yet she multiplied her harlotries, remembering the days of her youth, when she played the harlot in the land of Egypt.

²⁰“She ^alusted after their paramours, whose flesh is like the flesh of donkeys and whose issue is like the issue of horses.

²¹“Thus you longed for the ^alewdness of your youth, when ¹the Egyptians handled your bosom because of the breasts of your youth.

²²“Therefore, O Oholibah, thus says the Lord ¹God, ‘Behold I will arouse your lovers against you, from whom ²you were alienated, and I will bring them against you from every side:

²³the ^1aBabylonians and all the ^bChaldeans, ^cPekod and Shoa and Koa, and all the ^2dAssyrians with them; desirable young men, governors and officials all of them, officers and ³men of renown, all of them riding on horses.

²⁴‘They will come against you with weapons, ^achariots and ¹wagons, and with a company of peoples. They will set themselves against you on every side with buckler and shield and helmet; and I will commit the ^bjudgment to them, and they will judge you according to their customs.

²⁵‘I will set My ^ajealousy against you, that they may deal with you in wrath. They will remove your nose and your ears; and your ¹survivors will fall by the sword. They will take your ^bsons and your daughters; and your survivors will be consumed by the fire.

²⁶‘They will also ^astrip you of your clothes and take away your ^bbeautiful jewels.

²⁷‘Thus ^aI will make your lewdness and your harlotry brought from the land of Egypt to cease from you, so that you will not lift up your eyes to them or remember Egypt anymore.’

²⁸“For thus says the Lord God, ‘Behold, I will give you into the hand of those whom you ^ahate, into the hand of those from whom ¹you were alienated.

²⁹‘They will ^adeal with you in hatred, take all your property, and leave you naked and bare. And the nakedness of your harlotries will be uncovered, both your lewdness and your harlotries.

³⁰‘These things will be done to you because you have ^aplayed the harlot with the nations, because you have defiled yourself with their idols.

³¹‘You have walked in the way of your sister; therefore I will give ^aher cup into your hand.’

³²“Thus says the Lord God,

‘You will ^adrink your sister’s cup,

Which is deep and wide.

¹You will be ^blaughed at and held in derision;

It contains much.

³³‘You will be filled with ^adrunkenness and sorrow,

The cup of horror and desolation,

The cup of your sister Samaria.

³⁴‘You will ^adrink it and drain it.

Then you will gnaw its fragments

And tear your breasts;

for I have spoken,’ declares the Lord God.

³⁵“Therefore, thus says the Lord God, ‘Because you have ^aforgotten Me and ^bcast Me behind your back, bear now the punishment of your lewdness and your harlotries.’ ”

³⁶Moreover, the Lord said to me, “Son of man, will you ^ajudge Oholah and Oholibah? Then ^bdeclare to them their abominations.

³⁷“For they have committed adultery, and blood is on their hands. Thus they have committed adultery with their idols and even caused their sons, ^awhom they bore to Me, to pass through the fire to ¹them as…