Ezekiel 13:22–28:26

²²Because you have disheartened the righteous falsely, although I have not disheartened them, and you have encouraged the wicked not to turn from their wicked way and save their lives,^{* 23}therefore you shall no longer see false visions or practice divination; I will save my people from your hand. Then you will know that I am the Lord.^*

God’s Judgments Justified

¹⁴Certain elders of Israel came to me and sat down before me.^{* 2}And the word of the Lord came to me: ³Mortal, these men have taken their idols into their hearts and placed their iniquity as a stumbling block before them; shall I let myself be consulted by them?^{* 4}Therefore speak to them, and say to them: Thus says the Lord God: Any of those of the house of Israel who take their idols into their hearts and place their iniquity as a stumbling block before them and yet come to the prophet, I the Lord will answer those who come with the multitude of their idols, ⁵in order that I may take hold of the hearts of the house of Israel, all of whom are estranged from me through their idols.^*

⁶Therefore say to the house of Israel: Thus says the Lord God: Repent and turn away from your idols, and turn away your faces from all your abominations.^{* 7}For any of those of the house of Israel or of the aliens who reside in Israel who separate themselves from me, taking their idols into their hearts and placing their iniquity as a stumbling block before them and yet come to a prophet to inquire of me by him, I the Lord will answer them myself.^{* 8}I will set my face against them; I will make them a sign and a byword and cut them off from the midst of my people, and you shall know that I am the Lord.^*

⁹If a prophet is deceived and speaks a word, I, the Lord, have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand against him and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel.^{* 10}And they shall bear their punishment—the punishment of the inquirer and the punishment of the prophet shall be the same—¹¹so that the house of Israel may no longer go astray from me nor defile themselves any more with all their transgressions. Then they shall be my people, and I will be their God, says the Lord God.^*

¹²The word of the Lord came to me: ¹³Mortal, when a land sins against me by acting faithlessly and I stretch out my hand against it and cut off its supply of bread^m and send famine upon it and cut off from it humans and animals,^{* 14}even if Noah, Daniel,ⁿ and Job, these three, were in it, they would save only their own lives by their righteousness, says the Lord God.^{* 15}If I send wild animals through the land to ravage it so that it is made desolate and no one may pass through because of the animals,^{* 16}even if these three men were in it, as I live, says the Lord God, they would save neither sons nor daughters; they alone would be saved, but the land would be desolate. ¹⁷Or if I bring a sword upon that land and say, “Let a sword pass through the land,” and I cut off humans and animals from it,^{* 18}though these three men were in it, as I live, says the Lord God, they would save neither sons nor daughters, but they alone would be saved. ¹⁹Or if I send a pestilence into that land and pour out my wrath upon it with blood, to cut off humans and animals from it,^{* 20}even if Noah, Daniel,^o and Job were in it, as I live, says the Lord God, they would save neither son nor daughter; they would save only their own lives by their righteousness.

²¹Therefore thus says the Lord God: How much more when I send upon Jerusalem my four deadly acts of judgment, sword, famine, wild animals, and pestilence, to cut off humans and animals from it!^{* 22}Yet survivors shall be left in it, sons and daughters who will be brought out; they will come out to you. When you see their ways and their deeds, you will be consoled for the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem, for all that I have brought upon it.^{* 23}They shall console you when you see their ways and their deeds, and you shall know that it was not without cause that I did all that I have done in it, says the Lord God.^*

The Useless Vine

¹⁵The word of the Lord came to me:

²O mortal, how does the wood of the vine surpass all other wood,

the vine branch that is among the trees of the forest?^*

³Is wood taken from it to make anything?

Does one take a peg from it on which to hang any object?

⁴It is put in the fire for fuel;

when the fire has consumed both ends of it

and the middle of it is charred,

is it useful for anything?^*

⁵When it was whole it was used for nothing;

how much less—when the fire has consumed it,

and it is charred—

can it ever be used for anything!

⁶Therefore thus says the Lord God: Like the wood of the vine among the trees of the forest, which I have given to the fire for fuel, so I will give up the inhabitants of Jerusalem.^{* 7}I will set my face against them; although they escape from the fire, the fire shall still consume them, and you shall know that I am the Lord when I set my face against them.^{* 8}And I will make the land desolate because they have acted faithlessly, says the Lord God.^*

God’s Faithless Bride

¹⁶The word of the Lord came to me: ²Mortal, make known to Jerusalem her abominations^{* 3}and say: Thus says the Lord God to Jerusalem: Your origin and your birth were in the land of the Canaanites; your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite.^{* 4}As for your birth, on the day you were born your navel cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water to cleanse you, nor rubbed with salt, nor wrapped in cloths.^{* 5}No eye pitied you to do any of these things for you out of compassion for you, but you were thrown out in the open field, for you were abhorred on the day you were born.^*

⁶I passed by you and saw you flailing about in your blood. As you lay in your blood, I said to you, “Live!^{* 7}and grow up^p like a plant of the field.” You grew up and became tall and arrived at full womanhood;^q your breasts were formed, and your hair had grown, yet you were naked and bare.^*

⁸I passed by you again and looked on you; you were at the age for love. I spread the edge of my cloak over you and covered your nakedness: I pledged myself to you and entered into a covenant with you, says the Lord God, and you became mine.^{* 9}Then I bathed you with water and washed off the blood from you and anointed you with oil. ¹⁰I clothed you with embroidered cloth and with sandals of fine leather; I bound you in fine linen and covered you with rich fabric.^{r 11}I adorned you with ornaments: I put bracelets on your arms, a chain on your neck,^{* 12}a ring on your nose, earrings in your ears, and a beautiful crown upon your head. ¹³You were adorned with gold and silver, while your clothing was of fine linen, rich fabric,^s and embroidered cloth. You had choice flour and honey and oil for food. You grew exceedingly beautiful, fit to be a queen.^{* 14}Your fame spread among the nations on account of your beauty, for it was perfect because of my splendor that I had bestowed on you, says the Lord God.

¹⁵But you trusted in your beauty and prostituted yourself because of your fame and lavished your prostitutions on any passer-by.^{t* 16}You took some of your garments and made for yourself colorful high places and on them prostituted yourself; nothing like this has ever been or ever shall be.^{u* 17}You also took your beautiful jewels of my gold and my silver that I had given you and made for yourself male images and with them prostituted yourself,^{* 18}and you took your embroidered garments to cover them and set my oil and my incense before them. ¹⁹Also my bread that I gave you—I fed you with choice flour and oil and honey—you set it before them as a pleasing odor, and so it was, says the Lord God. ²⁰You took your sons and your daughters, whom you had borne to me, and these you sacrificed to them to be devoured. As if your prostitutions were not enough!^{* 21}You slaughtered my children and delivered them up as an offering to them.^{* 22}And in all your abominations and your prostitutions you did not remember the days of your youth, when you were naked and bare, flailing about in your blood.^*

²³After all your wickedness (woe, woe to you! says the Lord God), ²⁴you built yourself a platform and made yourself a lofty place in every square;^{* 25}at the head of every street you built your lofty place and prostituted your beauty, offering yourself^v to every passer-by and multiplying your prostitution.^{* 26}You prostituted yourself with the Egyptians, your lustful neighbors,^w multiplying your prostitution, to provoke me to anger.^{* 27}Therefore I stretched out my hand against you, reduced your rations, and gave you up to the will of your enemies, the daughters of the Philistines, who were ashamed of your lewd behavior.^{* 28}You prostituted yourself with the Assyrians because you were insatiable; you prostituted yourself with them, and still you were not satisfied.^{* 29}You multiplied your prostitution with Chaldea, the land of merchants, and even with this you were not satisfied.^*

³⁰How sick is your heart,^x says the Lord God, that you did all these things, the deeds of a brazen prostitute, ³¹building your platform at the head of every street and making your lofty place in every square! Yet you were not like a prostitute because you scorned payment. ³²Adulterous wife who receives strangers instead of her husband! ³³Gifts are given to all prostitutes, but you gave your gifts to all your lovers, bribing them to come to you from all around for your prostitutions.^{* 34}So you were different from other women in your prostitutions: no one solicited you to prostitute yourself, and you gave payment, while no payment was given to you; you were different.

³⁵Therefore, O prostitute, hear the word of the Lord: ³⁶Thus says the Lord God: Because your lust was poured out and your nakedness uncovered in your prostitution with your lovers, and because of all your abominable idols, and because of the blood of your children that you gave to them,^{* 37}therefore, I will…