1A message from the LORD came to me. The LORD 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 make yourselves “unclean” by making statues of gods.4You are guilty of spilling blood. Your statues have made you “unclean”. You have brought your days to a close. The end of your years has come. So the nations will make fun of you. All 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.8You 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.10You 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.12You accept money from people who want special favours. You do this to spill someone’s blood. You charge interest to poor people when you lend them money. You make money from them. You get rich by cheating your neighbours. 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 this. I am the LORD.15I will scatter you among the nations. I will send you to other countries. I will put an end to your “uncleanness”.16You will be “unclean” in the sight of the nations. Then you will know that I am the LORD.’ ” ’17A message from the LORD came to me. The LORD 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 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.20People 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 from the LORD came to me. The LORD said,24‘Son of man, speak to the land. Tell it, “You have not been washed clean with rain. That’s because I am angry with you.”25Ezekiel, 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.26Its priests break my law. They treat things 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.27The 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 these acts for them. The visions of these 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.29The 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 someone 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 of my great anger against them. And anything that happens to them will be their own fault,’ announces the LORD and King.
Ezekiel 22
English Standard Version
Israel’s Shedding of Blood
1And the word of the Lord came to me, saying,2“And you, son of man, will you judge, will you judge the bloody city? Then declare to her all her abominations. (2Ki 21:16; Eze 2:1; Eze 7:23; Eze 16:2; Eze 16:38; Eze 20:4; Eze 23:37; Eze 24:6)3You shall say, Thus says the Lord God: A city that sheds blood in her midst, so that her time may come, and that makes idols to defile herself! (Eze 21:25; Eze 21:29)4You have become guilty by the blood that you have shed, and defiled by the idols that you have made, and you have brought your days near, the appointed time of[1] your years has come. Therefore I have made you a reproach to the nations, and a mockery to all the countries. (Eze 5:14; Eze 22:2; Eze 22:3)5Those who are near and those who are far from you will mock you; your name is defiled; you are full of tumult. (Isa 1:21; Isa 22:2)6“Behold, the princes of Israel in you, every one according to his power, have been bent on shedding blood. (Eze 22:27)7Father and mother are treated with contempt in you; the sojourner suffers extortion in your midst; the fatherless and the widow are wronged in you. (Ex 20:12; Ex 22:21; De 27:16; Eph 6:2)8You have despised my holy things and profaned my Sabbaths. (Eze 20:13; Eze 22:26)9There are men in you who slander to shed blood, and people in you who eat on the mountains; they commit lewdness in your midst. (Le 19:16; 1Sa 22:9; Eze 16:43; Eze 18:6)10In you men uncover their fathers’ nakedness; in you they violate women who are unclean in their menstrual impurity. (Le 18:7; Le 20:11)11One commits abomination with his neighbor’s wife; another lewdly defiles his daughter-in-law; another in you violates his sister, his father’s daughter. (Le 18:9; Le 18:15; Le 18:20; Le 20:12; Le 20:17; Jer 5:8; Eze 18:6; Am 2:7)12In you they take bribes to shed blood; you take interest and profit[2] and make gain of your neighbors by extortion; but me you have forgotten, declares the Lord God. (De 27:25; Jer 2:32; Eze 18:8; Eze 23:35)13“Behold, I strike my hand at the dishonest gain that you have made, and at the blood that has been in your midst. (Eze 21:14; Eze 21:17; Eze 22:2; Eze 22:27)14Can your courage endure, or can your hands be strong, in the days that I shall deal with you? I the Lord have spoken, and I will do it. (Eze 17:24; Eze 21:7)15I will scatter you among the nations and disperse you through the countries, and I will consume your uncleanness out of you. (Eze 5:10; Eze 22:21; Eze 24:11)16And you shall be profaned by your own doing in the sight of the nations, and you shall know that I am the Lord.” (Eze 5:8; Eze 6:7; Eze 7:24; Eze 22:26)17And the word of the Lord came to me:18“Son of man, the house of Israel has become dross to me; all of them are bronze and tin and iron and lead in the furnace; they are dross of silver. (Ps 119:119; Isa 1:22; Isa 1:25; Jer 6:28; Eze 2:1)19Therefore thus says the Lord God: Because you have all become dross, therefore, behold, I will gather you into the midst of Jerusalem.20As one gathers silver and bronze and iron and lead and tin into a furnace, to blow the fire on it in order to melt it, so I will gather you in my anger and in my wrath, and I will put you in and melt you. (Jer 33:5; Eze 21:31; Mal 3:3)21I will gather you and blow on you with the fire of my wrath, and you shall be melted in the midst of it.22As silver is melted in a furnace, so you shall be melted in the midst of it, and you shall know that I am the Lord; I have poured out my wrath upon you.” (Eze 7:8)23And the word of the Lord came to me:24“Son of man, say to her, You are a land that is not cleansed or rained upon in the day of indignation. (1Ki 8:35; Eze 22:2; Eze 34:26)25The conspiracy of her prophets in her midst is like a roaring lion tearing the prey; they have devoured human lives; they have taken treasure and precious things; they have made many widows in her midst. (Jer 11:9; Eze 19:3; Eze 22:27)26Her priests have done violence to my law and have profaned my holy things. They have made no distinction between the holy and the common, neither have they taught the difference between the unclean and the clean, and they have disregarded my Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them. (Le 10:10; Jer 17:22; Jer 17:24; Jer 17:27; Eze 22:8; Eze 36:20; Zep 3:4; Mal 2:8)27Her princes in her midst are like wolves tearing the prey, shedding blood, destroying lives to get dishonest gain. (Eze 22:6; Eze 22:13; Eze 22:25; Mic 3:1; Zep 3:3; Mt 7:15)28And her prophets have smeared whitewash for them, seeing false visions and divining lies for them, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord God,’ when the Lord has not spoken. (Eze 13:6; Eze 13:10)29The people of the land have practiced extortion and committed robbery. They have oppressed the poor and needy, and have extorted from the sojourner without justice. (Eze 22:7)30And I sought for a man among them who should build up the wall and stand in the breach before me for the land, that I should not destroy it, but I found none. (Isa 59:16; Jer 5:1; Eze 13:5)31Therefore I have poured out my indignation upon them. I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath. I have returned their way upon their heads, declares the Lord God.” (Eze 7:4; Eze 22:21)