Ezekiel 22:7-31; Ezekiel 23:1-18

7 In you they have treated father and mother with contempt; in you they have oppressed the foreigner and mistreated the fatherless and the widow.

8 You have despised my holy things and desecrated my Sabbaths.

9 In you are slanderers who are bent on shedding blood; in you are those who eat at the mountain shrines and commit lewd acts.

10 In you are those who dishonor their father’s bed; in you are those who violate women during their period, when they are ceremonially unclean.

11 In you one man commits a detestable offense with his neighbor’s wife, another shamefully defiles his daughter-in-law, and another violates his sister, his own father’s daughter.

12 In you are people who accept bribes to shed blood; you take interest and make a profit from the poor. You extort unjust gain from your neighbors. And you have forgotten me, declares the Sovereign LORD.

13 “ ‘I will surely strike my hands together at the unjust gain you have made and at the blood you have shed in your midst.

14 Will your courage endure or your hands be strong in the day I deal with you? I the LORD have spoken, and I will do it.

15 I will disperse you among the nations and scatter you through the countries; and I will put an end to your uncleanness.

16 When you have been defiled in the eyes of the nations, you will know that I am the LORD.’ ”

17 Then the word of the LORD came to me:

18 “Son of man, the people of Israel have become dross to me; all of them are the copper, tin, iron and lead left inside a furnace. They are but the dross of silver.

19 Therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says: ‘Because you have all become dross, I will gather you into Jerusalem.

20 As silver, copper, iron, lead and tin are gathered into a furnace to be melted with a fiery blast, so will I gather you in my anger and my wrath and put you inside the city and melt you.

21 I will gather you and I will blow on you with my fiery wrath, and you will be melted inside her.

22 As silver is melted in a furnace, so you will be melted inside her, and you will know that I the LORD have poured out my wrath on you.’ ”

23 Again the word of the LORD came to me:

24 “Son of man, say to the land, ‘You are a land that has not been cleansed or rained on in the day of wrath.’

25 There is a conspiracy of her princes within her like a roaring lion tearing its prey; they devour people, take treasures and precious things and make many widows within her.

26 Her priests do violence to my law and profane my holy things; they do not distinguish between the holy and the common; they teach that there is no difference between the unclean and the clean; and they shut their eyes to the keeping of my Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them.

27 Her officials within her are like wolves tearing their prey; they shed blood and kill people to make unjust gain.

28 Her prophets whitewash these deeds for them by false visions and lying divinations. They say, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says’—when the LORD has not spoken.

29 The people of the land practice extortion and commit robbery; they oppress the poor and needy and mistreat the foreigner, denying them justice.

30 “I looked for someone among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found no one.

31 So I will pour out my wrath on them and consume them with my fiery anger, bringing down on their own heads all they have done, declares the Sovereign LORD.”

1 The word of the LORD came to me:

2 “Son of man, there were two women, daughters of the same mother.

3 They became prostitutes in Egypt, engaging in prostitution from their youth. In that land their breasts were fondled and their virgin bosoms caressed.

4 The older was named Oholah, and her sister was Oholibah. They were mine and gave birth to sons and daughters. Oholah is Samaria, and Oholibah is Jerusalem.

5 “Oholah engaged in prostitution while she was still mine; and she lusted after her lovers, the Assyrians—warriors

6 clothed in blue, governors and commanders, all of them handsome young men, and mounted horsemen.

7 She gave herself as a prostitute to all the elite of the Assyrians and defiled herself with all the idols of everyone she lusted after.

8 She did not give up the prostitution she began in Egypt, when during her youth men slept with her, caressed her virgin bosom and poured out their lust on her.

9 “Therefore I delivered her into the hands of her lovers, the Assyrians, for whom she lusted.

10 They stripped her naked, took away her sons and daughters and killed her with the sword. She became a byword among women, and punishment was inflicted on her.

11 “Her sister Oholibah saw this, yet in her lust and prostitution she was more depraved than her sister.

12 She too lusted after the Assyrians—governors and commanders, warriors in full dress, mounted horsemen, all handsome young men.

13 I saw that she too defiled herself; both of them went the same way.

14 “But she carried her prostitution still further. She saw men portrayed on a wall, figures of Chaldeans portrayed in red,

15 with belts around their waists and flowing turbans on their heads; all of them looked like Babylonian chariot officers, natives of Chaldea.

16 As soon as she saw them, she lusted after them and sent messengers to them in Chaldea.

17 Then the Babylonians came to her, to the bed of love, and in their lust they defiled her. After she had been defiled by them, she turned away from them in disgust.

18 When she carried on her prostitution openly and exposed her naked body, I turned away from her in disgust, just as I had turned away from her sister.