Ezekiel 22:1-31 (New American Standard)

The Sins of Israel

1 Then 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 cause her to know all her abominations. 3 "You shall say, 'Thus says the Lord ^aGOD, "A city ¹shedding blood in her midst, so that her time will come, and that makes idols, contrary to her interest, for defilement ! 4 "You have become ²guilty by ^bthe blood which you have shed, and defiled by your idols which you have made. Thus you have brought your ^cday near and have come to your years ; therefore I have made you a ³reproach to the nations and a mocking to all the lands. 5 "Those who are near and those who are far from you will mock you, you of ill repute, full of ⁴turmoil. 6 "Behold, the ⁵rulers of Israel, each according to his ^dpower, have been in you for the purpose of shedding blood. 7 "They have ⁶treated father and mother lightly within you. The ⁷alien they have oppressed in your midst ; the ⁸fatherless and the widow they have wronged in you. 8 "You have ⁹despised My holy things and ¹⁰profaned My sabbaths. 9 "Slanderous men have been in you for the purpose of shedding blood, and in you they have eaten at the mountain shrines. In your midst they have ¹¹committed acts of lewdness. 10 "In you ^ethey have ¹²uncovered their fathers' nakedness ; in you they have humbled her who was ¹³unclean in her menstrual impurity. 11 "One has committed abomination with his ¹⁴neighbor's wife and another has lewdly defiled his ¹⁵daughter-in-law. And another in you has ¹⁶humbled his sister, his father's daughter. 12 "In you they have ¹⁷taken bribes to shed blood ; you have taken ¹⁸interest and profits, and you have injured your neighbors for gain by ¹⁹oppression, and you have ²⁰forgotten Me," declares the Lord GOD. 13 "Behold, then, I smite My hand at your ²¹dishonest gain which you have acquired and at ^fthe bloodshed which is among you. 14 "Can ²²your heart endure, or can your hands be strong in the days that I will deal with you? ²³I, the LORD, have spoken and will act. 15 "I will ²⁴scatter you among the nations and I will disperse you through the lands, and I will ²⁵consume your uncleanness from you. 16 "You will profane yourself in the sight of the nations, and you will ²⁶know that I am the LORD.""' 17 And the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 18 "Son of man, the house of Israel has become ²⁷dross to Me; all of them are ²⁸bronze and tin and iron and lead in the ²⁹furnace ; they are the dross of silver. 19 "Therefore, thus says the Lord GOD, 'Because all of you have become dross, therefore, behold, I am going to gather you into the midst of Jerusalem. 20 'As they gather silver and bronze and iron and lead and tin into the ³⁰furnace to blow fire on it in order to melt it, so I will gather you in My anger and in My wrath and I will lay you there and melt you. 21 'I will gather you and blow on you with the fire of My wrath, and you will be melted in the midst of it. 22 'As silver is melted in the furnace, so you will be melted in the midst of it; and you will know that I, the LORD, have ³¹poured out My wrath on you.' " 23 And the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 24 "Son of man, say to her, 'You are a land that is ³²not cleansed or rained on in the day of indignation.' 25 "There is a ³³conspiracy of her prophets in her midst like a roaring lion tearing the prey. They have ³⁴devoured lives ; they have taken treasure and precious things ; they have made many ³⁵widows in the midst of her. 26 "Her ³⁶priests have done violence to My law and have ³⁷profaned My holy things ; they have made no ³⁸distinction between the holy and the profane, and they have not taught the difference between the ³⁹unclean and the clean ; and they hide their eyes from My sabbaths, and I am profaned among them. 27 "Her princes within her are like wolves tearing the prey, by shedding blood and ⁴⁰destroying lives in order to get ⁴¹dishonest gain. 28 "Her prophets have smeared whitewash for them, seeing ⁴²false visions and divining lies for them, saying, 'Thus says the Lord GOD,' when the LORD has not spoken. 29 "The people of the land have practiced ⁴³oppression and committed robbery, and they have wronged the poor and needy and have ⁴⁴oppressed the sojourner without justice. 30 "I ⁴⁵searched for a man among them who would ⁴⁶build up the wall and ⁴⁷stand in the gap before Me for the land, so that I would not destroy it; but I found ^gno one. 31 "Thus I have poured out My ⁴⁸indignation on them; I have consumed them with the fire of My wrath ; ⁴⁹their way I have brought upon their heads," declares the Lord GOD.