Ezekiel 22–23

Jerusalem Sins Against the Lord

22A message came to me from the Lord. He said, ²“Son of man, are you going to judge Jerusalem? Will you judge this city that has so many murderers in it? Then tell its people they have done many evil things. I hate those things. ³Tell them, ‘The Lord and King says, “Your city brings death on itself. You spill blood inside its walls. You pollute yourselves by making statues of gods. ⁴You are guilty of spilling blood. The statues you have made have polluted you.

“ ‘ “You have brought your days to a close. The end of your years has come. So the nations will make fun of you. All of the countries will laugh at you. ⁵Those who are near you will tell jokes about you. So will those who are far away. Trouble fills the streets of your sinful city.

⁶“ ‘ “The princes of Israel are in your city. All of them use their power to spill blood. ⁷They have made fun of fathers and mothers alike. They have crushed outsiders. They have treated badly the children whose fathers have died. They have done the same thing to widows.

⁸“ ‘ “You have looked down on the holy things that were set apart to me. You have misused my Sabbath days. ⁹You have spread lies about others so you can spill someone’s blood. You eat at the mountain temples. You commit impure acts.

¹⁰“ ‘ “You bring shame on your fathers by having sex with their wives. You have sex with women during their monthly period. That is when they are ‘unclean.’ ¹¹One of you has sex with another man’s wife. I hate that sin. Another brings shame on his daughter-in-law by having sex with her. Still another has sex with his sister, even though she is his own father’s daughter.

¹²“ ‘ “You accept money from people who want special favors. You do it to spill someone’s blood. You charge too much interest when you lend money. You get rich by cheating your neighbors. And you have forgotten me,” announces the Lord and King.

¹³“ ‘ “I will clap my hands because I am so angry. You got rich by cheating others. You spilled blood inside the walls of your city. ¹⁴Will you be brave on the day I deal with you? Will you be strong at that time? I have spoken. I will do it. I am the Lord.

¹⁵“ ‘ “I will scatter you among the nations. I will send you to other countries. I will put an end to your ‘uncleanness.’ ¹⁶You will be polluted in the sight of the nations. Then you will know that I am the Lord.” ’ ”

¹⁷A message came to me from the Lord. He said, ¹⁸“Son of man, the people of Israel have become like scum to me. All of them are like the copper, tin, iron and lead that are left inside a furnace. They are only the scum that is removed from silver.”

¹⁹So the Lord and King says, “People of Israel, all of you have become like scum. So I will gather you together in Jerusalem. ²⁰Men put silver, copper, iron, lead and tin into a furnace. They melt it with a blazing fire. In the same way, I will gather you. I will pour out my burning anger on you. I will put you inside the city and melt you. ²¹I will gather you together. My burning anger will blaze out at you. And you will be melted inside Jerusalem. ²²Silver is melted in a furnace. And you will be melted inside the city. Then you will know that I have poured out my burning anger on you. I am the Lord.”

²³Another message came to me from the Lord. He said, ²⁴“Son of man, speak to the land. Tell it, ‘You have not had any rain or showers. That is because I am angry with you.’

²⁵“Ezekiel, the princes of the land are like a roaring lion that tears its food apart. They eat people up. They take treasures and other valuable things. They cause many women in the land to become widows.

²⁶“Its priests break my law. They treat things that are set apart to me as if they were not holy. They treat holy and common things as if they were the same. They teach that there is no difference between things that are ‘clean’ and things that are not. They refuse to keep my Sabbath days. So they treat me as if I were not holy.

²⁷“The officials in the land are like wolves that tear their food apart. They spill blood and kill people to get rich. ²⁸The prophets cover up those acts for them. The visions of those prophets are false. They use magic to try to find out what is going to happen. But their magic tricks are lies. They say, ‘The Lord and King says,’ But I have not spoken to them.

²⁹“The people of the land get rich by cheating others. They steal. They crush those who are poor and in need. They treat outsiders badly. They refuse to be fair to them.

³⁰“I looked for a man among them who would stand up for Jerusalem. I tried to find someone who would pray to me for the land. Then I would not have to destroy it. But I could not find anyone who would pray for it. ³¹So I will pour out my anger on its people. I will destroy them because my anger burns against them. And anything that happens to them will be their own fault,” announces the Lord and King.

Samaria and Jerusalem Are Like Two Impure Sisters

23A message came to me from the Lord. He said, ²“Son of man, once there were two women. They had the same mother. ³They became prostitutes in Egypt. They have been unfaithful to me since they were young. In that land they allowed their breasts to be touched. They permitted their virgin breasts to be kissed.

⁴“The older sister was named Oholah. The younger one was Oholibah. They belonged to me. Sons and daughters were born to them. Oholah stands for Samaria. And Oholibah stands for Jerusalem.

⁵“Oholah was unfaithful to me even while she still belonged to me. She longed for her Assyrian lovers. ⁶They included soldiers who wore blue uniforms. They also included governors and commanders. All of them were young and handsome. They rode horses. ⁷She gave herself as a prostitute to all of Assyria’s finest warriors. She polluted herself with the statues of the gods of everyone she longed for.

⁸“She started being a prostitute in Egypt. And she never stopped. When she was young, men had sex with her. They kissed her virgin breasts. They used up all of their sinful longings on her.

⁹“So I handed her over to her Assyrian lovers. She longed for them. ¹⁰They stripped her naked. They took her sons and daughters away. And they killed her with their swords. Other women laughed when that happened. I was the one who had punished her.

¹¹“Her sister Oholibah saw it. But her evil longing for sexual sin was worse than her sister’s. ¹²She too longed for the men of Assyria. They included governors and commanders. They included soldiers who wore uniforms. They also included men who rode horses. All of them were young and handsome. ¹³I saw that she too polluted herself. So both sisters did the same evil things.

¹⁴“But Oholibah went even further with her sexual sins. She saw pictures of men drawn on a wall. They were figures of Babylonians drawn in red. ¹⁵They had belts around their waists. They wore flowing turbans on their heads. All of them looked like Babylonian chariot officers. They were from the land of the Chaldeans.

¹⁶“As soon as she saw the pictures, she longed for the men. So she sent messengers to them in Babylonia. ¹⁷Then the Babylonians came to her. They went to bed with her. They made love to her. They polluted her when they had sex with her. After they did it, she became sick of them. So she turned away from them.

¹⁸“She acted like a prostitute who had no shame at all. She openly showed her naked body. I became sick of what she was doing. So I turned away from her. I had also turned away from her sister.

¹⁹“But Oholibah offered her body to her lovers again and again. She remembered the days when she was a young prostitute in Egypt. ²⁰There she had longed for her lovers. Their private parts seemed as big as those of donkeys. And their flow of semen appeared to be as much as that of horses. ²¹So you wanted to return to the days when you were young. You longed for the time when you first became impure in Egypt. That was when you allowed your breasts to be kissed. And you permitted your young breasts to be touched.”

²²So the Lord and King says, “Oholibah, I will stir up your lovers against you. You became sick of them. You turned away from them. But I will bring them against you from every side. ²³They include the Babylonians and all of the Chaldeans. They include the men from Pekod, Shoa and Koa. They also include all of the Assyrians. They are young and handsome. Some of them are governors and commanders. Others are chariot officers. Still others are very high officials. All of them ride horses.

²⁴“So a huge army will come against you with weapons, chariots and wagons. They will take up positions against you on every side. They will carry large and small shields. They will wear helmets. I will turn you over to them to be punished. They will punish you in their own way.

²⁵“I will pour out my jealous anger on you. And the army’s anger will burn against you. They will cut off your noses and ears. Some of you who are left will be killed with swords. They will take your sons and daughters away. Others of you who are left will be burned up. ²⁶The army will also strip your clothes off. They will take your fine jewelry away from you.

²⁷“You became an impure prostitute in Egypt. But I will put a stop to all of that. You will no longer want to do any of it. You will not remember Egypt anymore.”

²⁸The Lord and King says, “I am about to hand you over to people you hate. You became sick of them. You turned away from them. ²⁹They will punish you because they hate you so much. They will take everything you have worked for away from you. They will leave you naked and bare. Then everyone will see that you are a prostitute who has no shame at all. You were impure. You offered your body to your lovers again and again.

³⁰“That is why you will be punished. You longed for lovers in other nations. You polluted yourself by worshiping their gods. ³¹You did the same things your sister Oholah did. So I will put her cup in your hand. It is filled with the wine of my anger.”

³²The Lord and King says to Oholibah,…