Ezekiel 11

Chapter 11

Evil Rulers to Be Judged

¹Moreover, the ^aSpirit lifted me up and brought me to the east gate of the Lord’s house which faced eastward. And behold, there were twenty-five men at the entrance of the gate, and among them I saw Jaazaniah son of Azzur and ^bPelatiah son of Benaiah, leaders of the people.

²He said to me, “Son of man, these are the men who devise iniquity and ^agive evil advice in this city,

³who say, ‘The time is not near to build houses. ²This ^acity is the pot and we are the flesh.’

⁴“Therefore, ^aprophesy against them, son of man, prophesy!”

⁵Then the Spirit of the Lord fell upon me, and He said to me, “Say, ‘Thus says the Lord, “So you think, house of Israel, for ^aI know ¹your ^bthoughts.

⁶“You have ^amultiplied your slain in this city, filling its streets with ¹them.”

⁷‘Therefore, thus says the Lord ¹God, “Your ^aslain whom you have laid in the midst of ²the city are the flesh and this city is the pot; but ³I will ^bbring you out of it.

⁸“You have ^afeared a sword; so I will ^bbring a sword upon you,” the Lord God declares.

⁹“And I will bring you out of the midst of ¹the city and deliver you into the hands of ^astrangers and ^bexecute judgments against you.

¹⁰“You will ^afall by the sword. I will judge you to the ^bborder of Israel; so you shall know that I am the Lord.

¹¹“This city will ^anot be a pot for you, nor will you be flesh in the midst of it, but I will judge you to the border of Israel.

¹²“Thus you will know that I am the Lord; for you have not walked in My statutes nor have you ^aexecuted My ordinances, but have acted according to the ordinances of the ^bnations around you.” ’ ”

¹³Now it came about as I prophesied, that ^aPelatiah son of Benaiah died. Then I fell on my face and cried out with a loud voice and said, “^bAlas, Lord God! Will You bring the remnant of Israel to a complete end?”

Promise of Restoration

¹⁴Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

¹⁵“Son of man, your brothers, your ¹relatives, ²your fellow exiles and the whole house of Israel, all of them, are those to whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, ‘Go far from the Lord; this land has been given ^aus as a possession.’

¹⁶“Therefore say, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “Though I had removed them far away among the nations and though I had scattered them among the countries, yet I was a ^asanctuary for them a little while in the countries where they had gone.” ’

¹⁷“Therefore say, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “I will ^agather you from the peoples and assemble you out of the countries among which you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.” ’

¹⁸“When they come there, they will ^aremove all its ^bdetestable things and all its abominations from it.

¹⁹“And I will ^agive them one heart, and put a new spirit within ¹them. And I will take the ^bheart of stone out of their flesh and give them a ^cheart of flesh,

²⁰that they may ^awalk in My statutes and keep My ordinances and do them. Then they will be ^bMy people, and I shall be their God.

²¹“¹But as for those whose hearts go after their ^adetestable things and abominations, I will ^bbring their conduct down on their heads,” declares the Lord God.

²²Then the cherubim ^alifted up their wings with the wheels beside them, and ^bthe glory of the God of Israel ¹hovered over them.

²³The ^aglory of the Lord went up from the midst of the city and ^bstood over the mountain which is east of the city.

²⁴And the ^aSpirit lifted me up and brought me in a vision by the Spirit of God to the exiles ¹in Chaldea. So the vision that I had seen ^2bleft me.

²⁵Then I ^atold the exiles all the things that the Lord had shown me.