Ezekiel 22–23

The Sins of Jerusalem

22The Lord spoke his word to me, saying: ²“And you, human, will you judge? Will you judge the city of murderers? Then tell her about all her hateful acts. ³You are to say: ‘This is what the Lord God says: You are a city that kills those who come to live there. You make yourself unclean by making idols. ⁴You have become guilty of murder and have become unclean by your idols which you have made. So you have brought your time of punishment near; you have come to the end of your years. That is why I have made you a shame to the nations and why all lands laugh at you. ⁵Those near and those far away laugh at you with your bad name, you city full of confusion.

⁶“ ‘Jerusalem, see how each ruler of Israel in you has been trying to kill people. ⁷The people in you hate their fathers and mothers. They mistreat the foreigners in you and wrong the orphans and widows in you. ⁸You hate my holy things and dishonor my Sabbaths. ⁹The men in you tell lies to cause the death of others. The people in you eat food offered to idols at the mountain places of worship, and they take part in sexual sins. ¹⁰The men in you have sexual relations with their fathers’ wives and with women who are unclean, during their time of monthly bleeding. ¹¹One man in you does a hateful act with his neighbor’s wife, while another has shamefully made his daughter-in-law unclean sexually. And another forces his half sister to have sexual relations with him. ¹²The people in you take money to kill others. You take unfair interest and profits and make profits by mistreating your neighbor. And you have forgotten me, says the Lord God.

¹³“ ‘So, Jerusalem, I will shake my fist at you for stealing money and for murdering people. ¹⁴Will you still be brave and strong when I punish you? I, the Lord, have spoken, and I will act. ¹⁵I will scatter you among the nations and spread you through the countries. That is how I will get rid of your uncleanness. ¹⁶But you, yourself, will be dishonored in the sight of the nations. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’ ”

Israel Is Worthless

¹⁷The Lord spoke his word to me, saying: ¹⁸“Human, the people of Israel have become useless like scum to me. They are like the copper, tin, iron, and lead left in the furnace when silver is purified. ¹⁹So this is what the Lord God says: ‘Because you have become useless like scum, I am going to put you together inside Jerusalem. ²⁰People put silver, copper, iron, lead, and tin together inside a furnace to melt them down in a blazing fire. In the same way I will gather you in my hot anger and put you together in Jerusalem and melt you down. ²¹I will put you together and make you feel the heat of my anger. You will be melted down inside Jerusalem. ²²As silver is melted in a furnace, you will be melted inside the city. Then you will know that I, the Lord, have poured out my anger on you.’ ”

Sins of the People

²³The Lord spoke his word to me, saying: ²⁴“Human, say to the land, ‘You are a land that has not had rain or showers when God is angry.’ ²⁵Like a roaring lion that tears the animal it has caught, Israel’s rulers make evil plans. They have destroyed lives and have taken treasure and valuable things. They have caused many women to become widows. ²⁶Israel’s priests do cruel things to my teachings and do not honor my holy things. They make no difference between holy and unholy things, and they teach there is no difference between clean and unclean things. They do not remember my Sabbaths, so I am dishonored by them. ²⁷Like wolves tearing a dead animal, Jerusalem’s leaders have killed people for profit. ²⁸And the prophets try to cover this up by false visions and by lying messages. They say, ‘This is what the Lord God says’ when the Lord has not spoken. ²⁹The people cheat others and steal. They hurt people who are poor and needy. They cheat foreigners and do not treat them fairly.

³⁰“I looked for someone to build up the walls and to stand before me where the walls are broken to defend these people so I would not have to destroy them. But I could not find anyone. ³¹So I let them see my anger. I destroyed them with an anger that was like fire because of all the things they have done, says the Lord God.”

Samaria and Jerusalem

23The Lord spoke his word to me, saying: ²“Human, a woman had two daughters. ³While they were young, they went to Egypt and became prostitutes. They let men touch and hold their breasts. ⁴The older girl was named Oholah, and her sister was named Oholibah. They became my wives and had sons and daughters. Oholah is Samaria, and Oholibah is Jerusalem. ⁿ

⁵“While still my wife, Samaria had sexual relations with other men. She had great sexual desire for her lovers, men from Assyria. The Assyrians were warriors and ⁶wore blue uniforms. They were all handsome young captains and lieutenants riding on horseback. ⁷Samaria became a prostitute for all the important men in Assyria and made herself unclean with all the idols of everyone she desired. ⁸She continued the prostitution she began in Egypt. When she was young, she had slept with men, and they touched her breasts and had sexual relations with her.

⁹“So I handed her over to her lovers, the Assyrians, that she wanted so badly. ¹⁰They stripped her naked and took away her sons and daughters. Then they killed her with a sword. Women everywhere began talking about how she had been punished.

¹¹“Her sister Jerusalem saw what happened, but she became worse than her sister in her sexual desire and prostitution. ¹²She also desired the Assyrians, who were all soldiers in beautiful uniforms—handsome young captains and lieutenants riding horses. ¹³I saw that both girls were alike; both were prostitutes.

¹⁴“But Jerusalem went even further. She saw carvings of Babylonian men on a wall. They wore red ¹⁵and had belts around their waists and turbans on their heads. They all looked like chariot officers born in Babylonia. ¹⁶When she saw them, she wanted to have sexual relations with them and sent messengers to them in Babylonia. ¹⁷So these Babylonian men came and had sexual relations with her and made her unclean. After that, she became sick of them. ¹⁸But she continued her prostitution so openly that everyone knew about it. And I finally became sick of her, as I had her sister. ¹⁹But she remembered how she was a young prostitute in Egypt, so she took part in even more prostitution. ²⁰She wanted men who behaved like animals in their sexual desire. ²¹In the same way you desired to do the sinful things you had done in Egypt. There men touched and held your young breasts.

God’s Judgment on Jerusalem

²²“So, Jerusalem, this is what the Lord God says: You are tired of your lovers. So now I will make them angry with you and have them attack you from all sides. ²³Men from Babylon and all Babylonia and men from Pekod, Shoa, and Koa will attack you. All the Assyrians will attack you: handsome young captains and lieutenants, all of them important men and all riding horses. ²⁴Those men will attack with great armies and with their weapons, chariots, and wagons. They will surround you with large and small shields and with helmets. And I will give them the right to punish you, and they will give you their own kind of punishment. ²⁵Then you will see how strong my anger can be when they punish you in their anger. They will cut off your noses and ears. They will take away your sons and daughters, and those who are left will be burned. ²⁶They will take off your clothes and steal your jewelry. ²⁷I will put a stop to the sinful life you began when you were in Egypt so that you will not desire it or remember Egypt anymore.

²⁸“This is what the Lord God says: You became tired of your lovers, but I am going to hand you over to those men you now hate. ²⁹They will treat you with hate and take away everything you worked for, leaving you empty and naked. Everyone will know about the sinful things you did. Your sexual sins ³⁰have brought this on you. You have had sexual relations with the nations and made yourselves unclean by worshiping their idols. ³¹You did the same things your sister did, so you will get the same punishment, like a bitter cup to drink.

³²“This is what the Lord God says:

You will drink the same cup your sister did,

and that cup is deep and wide.

Everyone will make fun of you,

because the cup is full.

³³It will make you miserable and drunk.

It is the cup of fear and ruin.

It is the cup of your sister Samaria.

³⁴You will drink everything in it,

and then you will smash it

and tear at your breasts.

I have spoken, says the Lord God.

³⁵“So this is what the Lord God says: You have forgotten me and turned your back on me. So you will be punished for your sexual sins.”

Judgment on Samaria and Jerusalem

³⁶The Lord said to me: “Human, will you judge Samaria and Jerusalem, showing them their hateful acts? ³⁷They are guilty of adultery and murder. They have taken part in adultery with their idols. They even offered our children as sacrifices in the fire to be food for these idols. ³⁸They have also done this to me: They made my Temple unclean at the same time they dishonored my Sabbaths. ³⁹They sacrificed their children to their idols. Then they entered my Temple at that very time to dishonor it. That is what they did inside my Temple!

⁴⁰“They even sent for men from far away, who came after a messenger was sent to them. The two sisters bathed themselves for them, painted their eyes, and put on jewelry. ⁴¹They sat on a fine bed with a table set before it, on which they put my incense and my oil.

⁴²“There was the noise of a reckless crowd in the city. Common people gathered, and drunkards were brought from the desert. They put bracelets on the wrists of the two sisters and beautiful crowns on their heads. ⁴³Then I said about the one who was worn out by her acts of adultery, ‘Let them continue their sexual sins with her. She is nothing but a prostitute.’ ⁴⁴They kept going to her as they would go to a prostitute. So…