Chapter 7

Punishment for Wickedness Foretold

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

2 “And you, son of man, thus says the Lord 1God to the land of Israel, ‘An aend! The end is coming on the four corners of the land.

3 ‘Now the end is upon you, and I will send My anger against you; I will judge you according to your ways and bring all your abominations upon you.

4 ‘For My eye will have no pity on you, nor will I spare you, but I will abring your ways upon you, and your abominations will be among you; then you will bknow that I am the Lord!’

5 “Thus says the Lord 1God, ‘A adisaster, unique disaster, behold it is coming!

6 ‘An end is coming; the end has come! It has aawakened against you; behold, it has come!

7 ‘Your doom has come to you, O inhabitant of the land. The atime has come, the bday is near—tumult rather than joyful shouting on the mountains.

8 ‘Now I will shortly apour out My wrath on you and spend My anger against you; bjudge you according to your ways and bring on you all your abominations.

9 ‘My eye will show no pity nor will I spare. I will 1repay you according to your ways, while your abominations are in your midst; then you will know that I, the Lord, do the smiting.

10 ‘Behold, the day! Behold, it is coming! Your doom has gone forth; the arod has budded, arrogance has blossomed.

11 ‘Violence 1has grown into a rod of awickedness. None of them shall remain, none of their people, none of their bwealth, nor anything eminent among them.

12 ‘The atime has come, the day has arrived. Let not the bbuyer rejoice nor the seller mourn; for cwrath is against all their multitude.

13 ‘Indeed, the seller will not 1aregain 2what he sold as long as 3they both live; for the vision regarding all their multitude will not 4be averted, nor will any of them maintain his life by his iniquity.

14 ‘They have ablown the trumpet and made everything ready, but no one is going to the battle, for My wrath is against all 1their multitude.

15 ‘The asword is outside and the plague and the famine are within. He who is in the field will die by the sword; famine and the plague will also consume those in the city.

16 ‘Even when their survivors aescape, they will be on the mountains like bdoves of the valleys, all of them 1cmourning, each over his own iniquity.

17 ‘All ahands will hang limp and all knees will 1become like water.

18 ‘They will agird themselves with sackcloth and bshuddering will overwhelm them; and shame will be on all faces and cbaldness on all their heads.

19 ‘They will afling their silver into the streets and their gold will become an abhorrent thing; their bsilver and their gold will not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the Lord. They cannot satisfy their 1appetite nor can they fill their stomachs, for their iniquity has become an occasion of stumbling.

The Temple Profaned

20 ‘They transformed the beauty of His ornaments into pride, and athey made the images of their abominations and their detestable things with it; therefore I will make it an abhorrent thing to them.

21 ‘I will give it into the hands of the aforeigners as plunder and to the wicked of the earth as spoil, and they will profane it.

22 ‘I will also turn My aface from them, and they will profane My secret place; then robbers will enter and profane it.

23 ‘aMake the chain, for the land is full of 1bbloody crimes and the city is cfull of violence.

24 ‘Therefore, I will bring the worst of the anations, and they will possess their houses. I will also make the bpride of the strong ones cease, and their choly places will be profaned.

25 ‘When anguish comes, they will seek apeace, but there will be none.

26 ‘aDisaster will come upon disaster and brumor will be added to rumor; then they will seek a cvision from a prophet, but the dlaw will be lost from the priest and ecounsel from the elders.

27 ‘The king will mourn, the prince will be aclothed with horror, and the hands of the people of the land will 1tremble. According to their conduct I will deal with them, and by their judgments I will judge them. And they will know that I am the Lord.’ ”