CHAPTER 11 Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth
month, in the fifth day of the month, as I was among the captives by the
river of Chebar, that the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God.
2 In the fifth day of the month, which was the fifth year of king Jehoiachin's
captivity,
3 The word of the LORD came expressly unto Ezekiel the priest,
the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar; and the
hand of the LORD was there upon him.
4 And I looked, and, behold, a whirlwind
came out of the north, a great cloud, and a fire infolding itself, and a
brightness was about it, and out of the midst thereof as the colour of amber,
out of the midst of the fire.
5 Also out of the midst thereof came the
likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance; they had
the likeness of a man.
6 And every one had four faces, and every one had
four wings.
7 And their feet were straight feet; and the sole of their
feet was like the sole of a calf's foot: and they sparkled like the colour
of burnished brass.
8 And they had the hands of a man under their wings
on their four sides; and they four had their faces and their wings.
9 Their
wings were joined one to another; they turned not when they went; they went
every one straight forward.
10 As for the likeness of their faces, they
four had the face of a man, and the face of a lion, on the right side: and
they four had the face of an ox on the left side; they four also had the
face of an eagle.
11 Thus were their faces: and their wings were stretched
upward; two wings of every one were joined one to another, and two covered
their bodies.
12 And they went every one straight forward: whither the
spirit was to go, they went; and they turned not when they went.
13 As
for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning
coals of fire, and like the appearance of lamps: it went up and down among
the living creatures; and the fire was bright, and out of the fire went forth
lightning.
14 And the living creatures ran and returned as the appearance
of a flash of lightning.
15 Now as I beheld the living creatures, behold
one wheel upon the earth by the living creatures, with his four faces.
16
The appearance of the wheels and their work was like unto the colour of a
beryl: and they four had one likeness: and their appearance and their work
was as it were a wheel in the middle of a wheel.
17 When they went, they
went upon their four sides: and they turned not when they went.
18 As for
their rings, they were so high that they were dreadful; and their rings were
full of eyes round about them four.
19 And when the living creatures went,
the wheels went by them: and when the living creatures were lifted up from
the earth, the wheels were lifted up.
20 Whithersoever the spirit was to
go, they went, thither was their spirit to go; and the wheels were lifted
up over against them: for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels.
21 When those went, these went; and when those stood, these stood; and
when those were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up over
against them: for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels.
22
And the likeness of the firmament upon the heads of the living creature was
as the colour of the terrible crystal, stretched forth over their heads above.
23 And under the firmament were their wings straight, the one toward the
other: every one had two, which covered on this side, and every one had two,
which covered on that side, their bodies.
24 And when they went, I heard
the noise of their wings, like the noise of great waters, as the voice of
the Almighty, the voice of speech, as the noise of an host: when they stood,
they let down their wings.
25 And there was a voice from the firmament
that was over their heads, when they stood, and had let down their wings.
26 And above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of
a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone: and upon the likeness of
the throne was the likeness as the appearance of a man above upon it.
27
And I saw as the colour of amber, as the appearance of fire round about within
it, from the appearance of his loins even upward, and from the appearance
of his loins even downward, I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and
it had brightness round about.
28 As the appearance of the bow that is
in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness
round about. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the
LORD. And when I saw it, I fell upon my face, and I heard a voice of one
that spake.
CHAPTER 2
1 And he said unto me, Son of man, stand upon thy feet, and
I will speak unto thee.
2 And the spirit entered into me when he spake
unto me, and set me upon my feet, that I heard him that spake unto me.
3
And he said unto me, Son of man, I send thee to the children of Israel, to
a rebellious nation that hath rebelled against me: they and their fathers
have transgressed against me, even unto this very day.
4 For they are impudent
children and stiffhearted. I do send thee unto them; and thou shalt say unto
them, Thus saith the Lord GOD.
5 And they, whether they will hear, or whether
they will forbear, (for they are a rebellious house,) yet shall know that
there hath been a prophet among them.
6 And thou, son of man, be not afraid
of them, neither be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns be with
thee, and thou dost dwell among scorpions: be not afraid of their words,
nor be dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious house.
7 And
thou shalt speak my words unto them, whether they will hear, or whether they
will forbear: for they are most rebellious.
8 But thou, son of man, hear
what I say unto thee; Be not thou rebellious like that rebellious house:
open thy mouth, and eat that I give thee.
9 And when I looked, behold,
an hand was sent unto me; and, lo, a roll of a book was therein;
10 And
he spread it before me; and it was written within and without: and there
was written therein lamentations, and mourning, and woe.
CHAPTER 3
1 Moreover he
said unto me, Son of man, eat that thou findest; eat this roll, and go speak
unto the house of Israel.
2 So I opened my mouth, and he caused me to eat
that roll.
3 And he said unto me, Son of man, cause thy belly to eat, and
fill thy bowels with this roll that I give thee. Then did I eat it; and it
was in my mouth as honey for sweetness.
4 And he said unto me, Son of man,
go, get thee unto the house of Israel, and speak with my words unto them.
5 For thou art not sent to a people of a strange speech and of an hard
language, but to the house of Israel;
6 Not to many people of a strange
speech and of an hard language, whose words thou canst not understand. Surely,
had I sent thee to them, they would have hearkened unto thee.
7 But the
house of Israel will not hearken unto thee; for they will not hearken unto
me: for all the house of Israel are impudent and hardhearted.
8 Behold,
I have made thy face strong against their faces, and thy forehead strong
against their foreheads.
9 As an adamant harder than flint have I made
thy forehead: fear them not, neither be dismayed at their looks, though they
be a rebellious house.
10 Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, all my
words that I shall speak unto thee receive in thine heart, and hear with
thine ears.
11 And go, get thee to them of the captivity, unto the children
of thy people, and speak unto them, and tell them, Thus saith the Lord GOD;
whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear.
12 Then the spirit
took me up, and I heard behind me a voice of a great rushing, saying, Blessed
be the glory of the LORD from his place.
13 I heard also the noise of the
wings of the living creatures that touched one another, and the noise of
the wheels over against them, and a noise of a great rushing.
14 So the
spirit lifted me up, and took me away, and I went in bitterness, in the heat
of my spirit; but the hand of the LORD was strong upon me.
15 Then I came
to them of the captivity at Telabib, that dwelt by the river of Chebar, and
I sat where they sat, and remained there astonished among them seven days.
16 And it came to pass at the end of seven days, that the word of the LORD
came unto me, saying,
17 Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the
house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning
from me.
18 When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou
givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way,
to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his
blood will I require at thine hand.
19 Yet if thou warn the wicked, and
he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in
his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul.
20 Again, When a righteous
man doth turn from his righteousness, and commit iniquity, and I lay a stumbling-block
before him, he shall die: because thou hast not given him warning, he shall
die in his sin, and his righteousness which he hath done shall not be remembered;
but his blood will I require at thine hand.
21 Nevertheless if thou warn
the righteous man, that the righteous sin not, and he doth not sin, he shall
surely live, because he is warned; also thou hast delivered thy soul.
22
And the hand of the LORD was there upon me; and he said unto me, Arise, go
forth into the plain, and I will there talk with thee.
23 Then I arose,
and went forth into the plain: and, behold, the glory of the LORD stood there,
as the glory which I saw by the river of Chebar: and I fell on my face.
24
Then the spirit entered into me, and set me upon my feet, and spake with
me, and said unto me, Go, shut thyself within thine house.
25 But thou,
O son of man, behold, they shall put bands upon thee, and shall bind thee
with them, and thou shalt not go out among them:
26 And I will make thy
tongue cleave to the roof of thy mouth, that thou shalt be dumb, and shalt
not be to them a reprover: for they are a rebellious house.
27 But when
I speak with thee, I will open thy mouth, and thou shalt say unto them, Thus
saith the Lord GOD; He that heareth, let him hear; and he that forbeareth,
let him forbear: for they are a rebellious house.
CHAPTER 4
1 Thou also, son of man,
take thee a tile, and lay it before thee, and pourtray upon it the city,
even Jerusalem:
2 And lay siege against it, and build a fort against it,
and cast a mount against it; set the camp also against it, and set battering
rams against it round about.
3 Moreover take thou unto thee an iron pan,
and set it for a wall of iron between thee and the city: and set thy face
against it, and it shall be besieged, and thou shalt lay siege against it.
This shall be a sign to the house of Israel.
4 Lie thou also upon thy left
side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it: according to the
number of the days that thou shalt lie upon it thou shalt bear their iniquity.
5 For I have laid upon thee the years of their iniquity, according to the
number of the days, three hundred and ninety days: so shalt thou bear the
iniquity of the house of Israel.
6 And when thou hast accomplished them,
lie again on thy right side, and thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house
of Judah forty days: I have appointed thee each day for a year.
7 Therefore
thou shalt set thy face toward the siege of Jerusalem, and thine arm shall
be uncovered, and thou shalt prophesy against it.
8 And, behold, I will
lay bands upon thee, and thou shalt not turn thee from one side to another,
till thou hast ended the days of thy siege.
9 Take thou also unto thee
wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentiles, and millet, and fitches, and
put them in one vessel, and make thee bread thereof, according to the number
of the days that thou shalt lie upon thy side, three hundred and ninety days
shalt thou eat thereof.
10 And thy meat which thou shalt eat shall be by
weight, twenty shekels a day: from time to time shalt thou eat it.
11 Thou
shalt drink also water by measure, the sixth part of an hin: from time to
time shalt thou drink.
12 And thou shalt eat it as barley cakes, and thou
shalt bake it with dung that cometh out of man, in their sight.
13 And
the LORD said, Even thus shall the children of Israel eat their defiled bread
among the Gentiles, whither I will drive them.
14 Then said I, Ah Lord
GOD! behold, my soul hath not been polluted: for from my youth up even till
now have I not eaten of that which dieth of itself, or is torn in pieces;
neither came there abominable flesh into my mouth.
15 Then he said unto
me, Lo, I have given thee cow's dung for man's dung, and thou shalt prepare
thy bread therewith.
16 Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, behold, I
will break the staff of bread in Jerusalem: and they shall eat bread by weight,
and with care; and they shall drink water by measure, and with astonishment:
17
That they may want bread and water, and be astonied one with another, and
consume away for their iniquity.
CHAPTER 5
1 And thou, son of man, take thee a sharp
knife, take thee a barber's razor, and cause it to pass upon thine head and
upon thy beard: then take thee balances to weigh, and divide the hair.
2
Thou shalt burn with fire a third part in the midst of the city, when the
days of the siege are fulfilled: and thou shalt take a third part, and smite
about it with a knife: and a third part thou shalt scatter in the wind; and
I will draw out a sword after them.
3 Thou shalt also take thereof a few
in number, and bind them in thy skirts.
4 Then take of them again, and
cast them into the midst of the fire, and burn them in the fire; for thereof
shall a fire come forth into all the house of Israel.
5 Thus saith the
Lord GOD; This is Jerusalem: I have set it in the midst of the nations and
countries that are round about her.
6 And she hath changed my judgments
into wickedness more than the nations, and my statutes more than the countries
that are round about her: for they have refused my judgments and my statutes,
they have not walked in them.
7 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because
ye multiplied more than the nations that are round about you, and have not
walked in my statutes, neither have kept my judgments, neither have done
according to the judgments of the nations that are round about you;
8 Therefore
thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I, even I, am against thee, and will execute
judgments in the midst of thee in the sight of the nations.
9 And I will
do in thee that which I have not done, and whereunto I will not do any more
the like, because of all thine abominations.
10 Therefore the fathers shall
eat the sons in the midst of thee, and the sons shall eat their fathers;
and I will execute judgments in thee, and the whole remnant of thee will
I scatter into all the winds.
11 Wherefore, as I live, saith the Lord GOD;
Surely, because thou hast defiled my sanctuary with all thy detestable things,
and with all thine abominations, therefore will I also diminish thee; neither
shall mine eye spare, neither will I have any pity.
12 A third part of
thee shall die with the pestilence, and with famine shall they be consumed
in the midst of thee: and a third part shall fall by the sword round about
thee; and I will scatter a third part into all the winds, and I will draw
out a sword after them.
13 Thus shall mine anger be accomplished, and I
will cause my fury to rest upon them, and I will be comforted: and they shall
know that I the LORD have spoken it in my zeal, when I have accomplished
my fury in them.
14 Moreover I will make thee waste, and a reproach among
the nations that are round about thee, in the sight of all that pass by.
15 So it shall be a reproach and a taunt, an instruction and an astonishment
unto the nations that are round about thee, when I shall execute judgments
in thee in anger and in fury and in furious rebukes. I the LORD have spoken
it.
16 When I shall send upon them the evil arrows of famine, which shall
be for their destruction, and which I will send to destroy you: and I will
increase the famine upon you, and will break your staff of bread:
17 So
will I send upon you famine and evil beasts, and they shall bereave thee:
and pestilence and blood shall pass through thee; and I will bring the sword
upon thee. I the LORD have spoken it.
CHAPTER 6
1 And the word of the LORD came unto
me, saying,
2 Son of man, set thy face toward the mountains of Israel, and
prophesy against them,
3 And say, Ye mountains of Israel, hear the word
of the Lord GOD; Thus saith the Lord GOD to the mountains, and to the hills,
to the rivers, and to the valleys; Behold, I, even I, will bring a sword
upon you, and I will destroy your high places.
4 And your altars shall
be desolate, and your images shall be broken: and I will cast down your slain
men before your idols.
5 And I will lay the dead carcases of the children
of Israel before their idols; and I will scatter your bones round about your
altars.
6 In all your dwellingplaces the cities shall be laid waste, and
the high places shall be desolate; that your altars may be laid waste and
made desolate, and your idols may be broken and cease, and your images may
be cut down, and your works may be abolished.
7 And the slain shall fall
in the midst of you, and ye shall know that I am the LORD.
8 Yet will I
leave a remnant, that ye may have some that shall escape the sword among
the nations, when ye shall be scattered through the countries.
9 And they
that escape of you shall remember me among the nations whither they shall
be carried captives, because I am broken with their whorish heart, which
hath departed from me, and with their eyes, which go a whoring after their
idols: and they shall lothe themselves for the evils which they have committed
in all their abominations.
10 And they shall know that I am the LORD, and
that I have not said in vain that I would do this evil unto them.
11 Thus
saith the Lord GOD; Smite with thine hand, and stamp with thy foot, and say,
Alas for all the evil abominations of the house of Israel! for they shall
fall by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence.
12 He that is
far off shall die of the pestilence; and he that is near shall fall by the
sword; and he that remaineth and is besieged shall die by the famine: thus
will I accomplish my fury upon them.
13 Then shall ye know that I am the
LORD, when their slain men shall be among their idols round about their altars,
upon every high hill, in all the tops of the mountains, and under every green
tree, and under every thick oak, the place where they did offer sweet savour
to all their idols.
14 So will I stretch out my hand upon them, and make
the land desolate, yea, more desolate than the wilderness toward Diblath,
in all their habitations: and they shall know that I am the LORD.
CHAPTER 7
1 Moreover
the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Also, thou son of man, thus
saith the Lord GOD unto the land of Israel; An end, the end is come upon
the four corners of the land.
3 Now is the end come upon thee, and I will
send mine anger upon thee, and will judge thee according to thy ways, and
will recompense upon thee all thine abominations.
4 And mine eye shall
not spare thee, neither will I have pity: but I will recompense thy ways
upon thee, and thine abominations shall be in the midst of thee: and ye shall
know that I am the LORD.
5 Thus saith the Lord GOD; An evil, an only evil,
behold, is come.
6 An end is come, the end is come: it watcheth for thee;
behold, it is come.
7 The morning is come unto thee, O thou that dwellest
in the land: the time is come, the day of trouble is near, and not the sounding
again of the mountains.
8 Now will I shortly pour out my fury upon thee,
and accomplish mine anger upon thee: and I will judge thee according to thy
ways, and will recompense thee for all thine abominations.
9 And mine eye
shall not spare, neither will I have pity: I will recompense thee according
to thy ways and thine abominations that are in the midst of thee; and ye
shall know that I am the LORD that smiteth.
10 Behold the day, behold,
it is come: the morning is gone forth; the rod hath blossomed, pride hath
budded.
11 Violence is risen up into a rod of wickedness: none of them
shall remain, nor of their multitude, nor of any of their's: neither shall
there be wailing for them.
12 The time is come, the day draweth near: let
not the buyer rejoice, nor the seller mourn: for wrath is upon all the multitude
thereof.
13 For the seller shall not return to that which is sold, although
they were yet alive: for the vision is touching the whole multitude thereof,
which shall not return; neither shall any strengthen himself in the iniquity
of his life.
14 They have blown the trumpet, even to make all ready; but
none goeth to the battle: for my wrath is upon all the multitude thereof.
15 The sword is without, and the pestilence and the famine within: he that
is in the field shall die with the sword; and he that is in the city, famine
and pestilence shall devour him.
16 But they that escape of them shall
escape, and shall be on the mountains like doves of the valleys, all of them
mourning, every one for his iniquity.
17 All hands shall be feeble, and
all knees shall be weak as water.
18 They shall also gird themselves with
sackcloth, and horror shall cover them; and shame shall be upon all faces,
and baldness upon all their heads.
19 They shall cast their silver in the
streets, and their gold shall be removed: their silver and their gold shall
not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD: they shall
not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels: because it is the stumblingblock
of their iniquity.
20 As for the beauty of his ornament, he set it in majesty:
but they made the images of their abominations and of their detestable things
therein: therefore have I set it far from them.
21 And I will give it into
the hands of the strangers for a prey, and to the wicked of the earth for
a spoil; and they shall pollute it.
22 My face will I turn also from them,
and they shall pollute my secret place: for the robbers shall enter into
it, and defile it.
23 Make a chain: for the land is full of bloody crimes,
and the city is full of violence.
24 Wherefore I will bring the worst of
the heathen, and they shall possess their houses: I will also make the pomp
of the strong to cease; and their holy places shall be defiled.
25 Destruction
cometh; and they shall seek peace, and there shall be none.
26 Mischief
shall come upon mischief, and rumour shall be upon rumour; then shall they
seek a vision of the prophet; but the law shall perish from the priest, and
counsel from the ancients.
27 The king shall mourn, and the prince shall
be clothed with desolation, and the hands of the people of the land shall
be troubled: I will do unto them after their way, and according to their
deserts will I judge them; and they shall know that I am the LORD.
CHAPTER 8
1 And
it came to pass in the sixth year, in the sixth month, in the fifth day of
the month, as I sat in mine house, and the elders of Judah sat before me,
that the hand of the Lord GOD fell there upon me.
2 Then I beheld, and
lo a likeness as the appearance of fire: from the appearance of his loins
even downward, fire; and from his loins even upward, as the appearance of
brightness, as the colour of amber.
3 And he put forth the form of an hand,
and took me by a lock of mine head; and the spirit lifted me up between the
earth and the heaven, and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem,
to the door of the inner gate that looketh toward the north; where was the
seat of the image of jealousy, which provoketh to jealousy.
4 And, behold,
the glory of the God of Israel was there, according to the vision that I
saw in the plain.
5 Then said he unto me, Son of man, lift up thine eyes
now the way toward the north. So I lifted up mine eyes the way toward the
north, and behold northward at the gate of the altar this image of jealousy
in the entry.
6 He said furthermore unto me, Son of man, seest thou what
they do? even the great abominations that the house of Israel committeth
here, that I should go far off from my sanctuary? but turn thee yet again,
and thou shalt see greater abominations.
7 And he brought me to the door
of the court; and when I looked, behold a hole in the wall.
8 Then said
he unto me, Son of man, dig now in the wall: and when I had digged in the
wall, behold a door.
9 And he said unto me, Go in, and behold the wicked
abominations that they do here.
10 So I went in and saw; and behold every
form of creeping things, and abominable beasts, and all the idols of the
house of Israel, pourtrayed upon the wall round about.
11 And there stood
before them seventy men of the ancients of the house of Israel, and in the
midst of them stood Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan, with every man his censer
in his hand; and a thick cloud of incense went up.
12 Then said he unto
me, Son of man, hast thou seen what the ancients of the house of Israel do
in the dark, every man in the chambers of his imagery? for they say, the
LORD seeth us not; the LORD hath forsaken the earth.
13 He said also unto
me, Turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations that they
do.
14 Then he brought me to the door of the gate of the LORD's house which
was toward the north; and, behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz.
15
Then said he unto me, Hast thou seen this, O son of man? turn thee yet again,
and thou shalt see greater abominations than these.
16 And he brought me
into the inner court of the LORD's house, and, behold, at the door of the
temple of the LORD, between the porch and the altar, were about five and
twenty men, with their backs toward the temple of the LORD, and their faces
toward the east; and they worshipped the sun toward the east.
17 Then he
said unto me, Hast thou seen this, O son of man? Is it a light thing to the
house of Judah that they commit the abominations which they commit here?
for they have filled the land with violence, and have returned to provoke
me to anger: and, lo, they put the branch to their nose.
18 Therefore will
I also deal in fury: mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity:
and though they cry in mine ears with a loud voice, yet will I not hear them.
CHAPTER 9
1 He cried also in mine ears with a loud voice, saying, Cause them that
have charge over the city to draw near, even every man with his destroying
weapon in his hand.
2 And, behold, six men came from the way of the higher
gate, which lieth toward the north, and every man a slaughter weapon in his
hand; and one man among them was clothed with linen, with a writer's inkhorn
by his side: and they went in, and stood beside the brasen altar.
3 And
the glory of the God of Israel was gone up from the cherub, whereupon he
was, to the threshold of the house. And he called to the man clothed with
linen, which had the writer's inkhorn by his side;
4 And the LORD said
unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem,
and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all
the abominations that be done in the midst thereof.
5 And to the others
he said in mine hearing, Go ye after him through the city, and smite: let
not your eye spare, neither have ye pity:
6 Slay utterly old and young,
both maids, and little children, and women: but come not near any man upon
whom is the mark; and begin at my sanctuary. Then they began at the ancient
men which were before the house.
7 And he said unto them, Defile the house,
and fill the courts with the slain: go ye forth. And they went forth, and
slew in the city.
8 And it came to pass, while they were slaying them,
and I was left, that I fell upon my face, and cried, and said, Ah Lord GOD!
wilt thou destroy all the residue of Israel in thy pouring out of thy fury
upon Jerusalem?
9 Then said he unto me, The iniquity of the house of Israel
and Judah is exceeding great, and the land is full of blood, and the city
full of perverseness: for they say, The LORD hath forsaken the earth, and
the LORD seeth not.
10 And as for me also, mine eye shall not spare, neither
will I have pity, but I will recompense their way upon their head.
11 And,
behold, the man clothed with linen, which had the inkhorn by his side, reported
the matter, saying, I have done as thou hast commanded me.
CHAPTER 10
1 Then I looked,
and, behold, in the firmament that was above the head of the cherubims there
appeared over them as it were a sapphire stone, as the appearance of the
likeness of a throne.
2 And he spake unto the man clothed with linen,
and said, Go in between the wheels, even under the cherub, and fill thine
hand with coals of fire from between the cherubims, and scatter them over
the city. And he went in in my sight.
3 Now the cherubims stood on the
right side of the house, when the man went in; and the cloud filled the inner
court.
4 Then the glory of the LORD went up from the cherub, and stood
over the threshold of the house; and the house was filled with the cloud,
and the court was full of the brightness of the LORD's glory.
5 And the
sound of the cherubims' wings was heard even to the outer court, as the voice
of the Almighty God when he speaketh.
6 And it came to pass, that when
he had commanded the man clothed with linen, saying, Take fire from between
the wheels, from between the cherubims; then he went in, and stood beside
the wheels.
7 And one cherub stretched forth his hand from between the
cherubims unto the fire that was between the cherubims, and took thereof,
and put it into the hands of him that was clothed with linen: who took it,
and went out.
8 And there appeared in the cherubims the form of a man's
hand under their wings.
9 And when I looked, behold the four wheels by
the cherubims, one wheel by one cherub, and another wheel by another cherub:
and the appearance of the wheels was as the colour of a beryl stone.
10
And as for their appearances, they four had one likeness, as if a wheel had
been in the midst of a wheel.
11 When they went, they went upon their
four sides; they turned not as they went, but to the place whither the head
looked they followed it; they turned not as they went.
12 And their whole
body, and their backs, and their hands, and their wings, and the wheels,
were full of eyes round about, even the wheels that they four had.
13
As for the wheels, it was cried unto them in my hearing, O wheel.
14 And
every one had four faces: the first face was the face of a cherub, and the
second face was the face of a man, and the third the face of a lion, and
the fourth the face of an eagle.
15 And the cherubims were lifted up.
This is the living creature that I saw by the river of Chebar.
16 And
when the cherubims went, the wheels went by them: and when the cherubims
lifted up their wings to mount up from the earth, the same wheels also turned
not from beside them.
17 When they stood, these stood; and when they were
lifted up, these lifted up themselves also: for the spirit of the living
creature was in them.
18 Then the glory of the LORD departed from off
the threshold of the house, and stood over the cherubims.
19 And the cherubims
lifted up their wings, and mounted up from the earth in my sight: when they
went out, the wheels also were beside them, and every one stood at the door
of the east gate of the LORD's house; and the glory of the God of Israel
was over them above.
20 This is the living creature that I saw under the
God of Israel by the river of Chebar; and I knew that they were the cherubims.
21 Every one had four faces apiece, and every one four wings; and the
likeness of the hands of a man was under their wings.
22 And the likeness
of their faces was the same faces which I saw by the river of Chebar, their
appearances and themselves: they went every one straight forward.
CHAPTER 11
1 Moreover
the spirit lifted me up, and brought me unto the east gate of the LORD's
house, which looketh eastward: and behold at the door of the gate five and
twenty men; among whom I saw Jaazaniah the son of Azur, and Pelatiah the
son of Benaiah, princes of the people.
2 Then said he unto me, Son of
man, these are the men that devise mischief, and give wicked counsel in this
city:
3 Which say, It is not near; let us build houses: this city is the
caldron, and we be the flesh.
4 Therefore prophesy against them, prophesy,
O son of man.
5 And the Spirit of the LORD fell upon me, and said unto
me, Speak; Thus saith the LORD; Thus have ye said, O house of Israel: for
I know the things that come into your mind, every one of them.
6 Ye have
multiplied your slain in this city, and ye have filled the streets thereof
with the slain.
7 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Your slain whom ye
have laid in the midst of it, they are the flesh, and this city is the caldron:
but I will bring you forth out of the midst of it.
8 Ye have feared the
sword; and I will bring a sword upon you, saith the Lord GOD.
9 And I
will bring you out of the midst thereof, and deliver you into the hands of
strangers, and will execute judgments among you.
10 Ye shall fall by the
sword; I will judge you in the border of Israel; and ye shall know that I
am the LORD.
11 This city shall not be your caldron, neither shall ye
be the flesh in the midst thereof; but I will judge you in the border of
Israel:
12 And ye shall know that I am the LORD: for ye have not walked
in my statutes, neither executed my judgments, but have done after the manners
of the heathen that are round about you.
13 And it came to pass, when
I prophesied, that Pelatiah the son of Benaiah died. Then fell I down upon
my face, and cried with a loud voice, and said, Ah Lord GOD! wilt thou make
a full end of the remnant of Israel?
14 Again the word of the LORD came
unto me, saying,
15 Son of man, thy brethren, even thy brethren, the men
of thy kindred, and all the house of Israel wholly, are they unto whom the
inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, Get you far from the LORD: unto us is
this land given in possession.
16 Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord GOD;
Although I have cast them far off among the heathen, and although I have
scattered them among the countries, yet will I be to them as a little sanctuary
in the countries where they shall come.
17 Therefore say, Thus saith the
Lord GOD; I will even gather you from the people, and assemble you out of
the countries where ye have been scattered, and I will give you the land
of Israel.
18 And they shall come thither, and they shall take away all
the detestable things thereof and all the abominations thereof from thence.
19 And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within
you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them
an heart of flesh:
20 That they may walk in my statutes, and keep mine
ordinances, and do them: and they shall be my people, and I will be their
God.
21 But as for them whose heart walketh after the heart of their detestable
things and their abominations, I will recompense their way upon their own
heads, saith the Lord GOD.
22 Then did the cherubims lift up their wings,
and the wheels beside them; and the glory of the God of Israel was over them
above.
23 And the glory of the LORD went up from the midst of the city,
and stood upon the mountain which is on the east side of the city.
24
Afterwards the spirit took me up, and brought me in a vision by the Spirit
of God into Chaldea, to them of the captivity. So the vision that I had seen
went up from me.
25 Then I spake unto them of the captivity all the things
that the LORD had shewed me.
CHAPTER 12
1 The word of the LORD also came unto me,
saying,
2 Son of man, thou dwellest in the midst of a rebellious house,
which have eyes to see, and see not; they have ears to hear, and hear not:
for they are a rebellious house.
3 Therefore, thou son of man, prepare
thee stuff for removing, and remove by day in their sight; and thou shalt
remove from thy place to another place in their sight: it may be they will
consider, though they be a rebellious house.
4 Then shalt thou bring forth
thy stuff by day in their sight, as stuff for removing: and thou shalt go
forth at even in their sight, as they that go forth into captivity.
5
Dig thou through the wall in their sight, and carry out thereby.
6 In
their sight shalt thou bear it upon thy shoulders, and carry it forth in
the twilight: thou shalt cover thy face, that thou see not the ground: for
I have set thee for a sign unto the house of Israel.
7 And I did so as
I was commanded: I brought forth my stuff by day, as stuff for captivity,
and in the even I digged through the wall with mine hand; I brought it forth
in the twilight, and I bare it upon my shoulder in their sight.
8 And
in the morning came the word of the LORD unto me, saying,
9 Son of man,
hath not the house of Israel, the rebellious house, said unto thee, What
doest thou?
10 Say thou unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; This burden
concerneth the prince in Jerusalem, and all the house of Israel that are
among them.
11 Say, I am your sign: like as I have done, so shall it be
done unto them: they shall remove and go into captivity.
12 And the prince
that is among them shall bear upon his shoulder in the twilight, and shall
go forth: they shall dig through the wall to carry out thereby: he shall
cover his face, that he see not the ground with his eyes.
13 My net also
will I spread upon him, and he shall be taken in my snare: and I will bring
him to Babylon to the land of the Chaldeans; yet shall he not see it, though
he shall die there.
14 And I will scatter toward every wind all that are
about him to help him, and all his bands; and I will draw out the sword after
them.
15 And they shall know that I am the LORD, when I shall scatter
them among the nations, and disperse them in the countries.
16 But I will
leave a few men of them from the sword, from the famine, and from the pestilence;
that they may declare all their abominations among the heathen whither they
come; and they shall know that I am the LORD.
17 Moreover the word of
the LORD came to me, saying,
18 Son of man, eat thy bread with quaking,
and drink thy water with trembling and with carefulness;
19 And say unto
the people of the land, Thus saith the Lord GOD of the inhabitants of Jerusalem,
and of the land of Israel; They shall eat their bread with carefulness, and
drink their water with astonishment, that her land may be desolate from all
that is therein, because of the violence of all them that dwell therein.
20 And the cities that are inhabited shall be laid waste, and the land
shall be desolate; and ye shall know that I am the LORD.
21 And the word
of the LORD came unto me, saying,
22 Son of man, what is that proverb that
ye have in the land of Israel, saying, The days are prolonged, and every
vision faileth?
23 Tell them therefore, Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will
make this proverb to cease, and they shall no more use it as a proverb in
Israel; but say unto them, The days are at hand, and the effect of every
vision.
24 For there shall be no more any vain vision nor flattering divination
within the house of Israel.
25 For I am the LORD: I will speak, and the
word that I shall speak shall come to pass; it shall be no more prolonged:
for in your days, O rebellious house, will I say the word, and will perform
it, saith the Lord GOD.
26 Again the word of the LORD came to me, saying.
27 Son of man, behold, they of the house of Israel say, The vision that
he seeth is for many days to come, and he prophesieth of the times that are
far off.
28 Therefore say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; There shall
none of my words be prolonged any more, but the word which I have spoken
shall be done, saith the Lord GOD.
CHAPTER 13
1 And the word of the LORD came unto
me, saying,
2 Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel that
prophesy, and say thou unto them that prophesy out of their own hearts, Hear
ye the word of the LORD;
3 Thus saith the Lord GOD; Woe unto the foolish
prophets, that follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing!
4 O Israel,
thy prophets are like the foxes in the deserts.
5 Ye have not gone up
into the gaps, neither made up the hedge for the house of Israel to stand
in the battle in the day of the LORD.
6 They have seen vanity and lying
divination, saying, The LORD saith: and the LORD hath not sent them: and
they have made others to hope that they would confirm the word.
7 Have
ye not seen a vain vision, and have ye not spoken a lying divination, whereas
ye say, The LORD saith it; albeit I have not spoken?
8 Therefore thus
saith the Lord GOD; Because ye have spoken vanity, and seen lies, therefore,
behold, I am against you, saith the Lord GOD.
9 And mine hand shall be
upon the prophets that see vanity, and that divine lies: they shall not be
in the assembly of my people, neither shall they be written in the writing
of the house of Israel, neither shall they enter into the land of Israel;
and ye shall know that I am the Lord GOD.
10 Because, even because they
have seduced my people, saying, Peace; and there was no peace; and one built
up a wall, and, lo, others daubed it with untempered morter:
11 Say unto
them which daub it with untempered morter, that it shall fall: there shall
be an overflowing shower; and ye, O great hailstones, shall fall; and a stormy
wind shall rend it.
12 Lo, when the wall is fallen, shall it not be said
unto you, Where is the daubing wherewith ye have daubed it?
13 Therefore
thus saith the Lord GOD; I will even rend it with a stormy wind in my fury;
and there shall be an overflowing shower in mine anger, and great hailstones
in my fury to consume it.
14 So will I break down the wall that ye have
daubed with untempered morter, and bring it down to the ground, so that the
foundation thereof shall be discovered, and it shall fall, and ye shall be
consumed in the midst thereof: and ye shall know that I am the LORD.
15
Thus will I accomplish my wrath upon the wall, and upon them that have daubed
it with untempered morter, and will say unto you, The wall is no more, neither
they that daubed it;
16 To wit, the prophets of Israel which prophesy concerning
Jerusalem, and which see visions of peace for her, and there is no peace,
saith the Lord GOD.
17 Likewise, thou son of man, set thy face against
the daughters of thy people, which prophesy out of their own heart; and prophesy
thou against them,
18 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Woe to the women
that sew pillows to all armholes, and make kerchiefs upon the head of every
stature to hunt souls! Will ye hunt the souls of my people, and will ye save
the souls alive that come unto you?
19 And will ye pollute me among my
people for handfuls of barley and for pieces of bread, to slay the souls
that should not die, and to save the souls alive that should not live, by
your lying to my people that hear your lies?
20 Wherefore thus saith the
Lord GOD; Behold, I am against your pillows, wherewith ye there hunt the
souls to make them fly, and I will tear them from your arms, and will let
the souls go, even the souls that ye hunt to make them fly.
21 Your kerchiefs
also will I tear, and deliver my people out of your hand, and they shall
be no more in your hand to be hunted; and ye shall know that I am the LORD.
22 Because with lies ye have made the heart of the righteous sad, whom
I have not made sad; and strengthened the hands of the wicked, that he should
not return from his wicked way, by promising him life:
23 Therefore ye
shall see no more vanity, nor divine divinations: for I will deliver my people
out of your hand: and ye shall know that I am the LORD.
CHAPTER 14
1 Then came certain
of the elders of Israel unto me, and sat before me.
2 And the word of
the LORD came unto me, saying,
3 Son of man, these men have set up their
idols in their heart, and put the stumblingblock of their iniquity before
their face: should I be enquired of at all by them?
4 Therefore speak
unto them, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Every man of the house
of Israel that setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumblingblock
of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to the prophet; I the LORD will
answer him that cometh according to the multitude of his idols;
5 That
I may take the house of Israel in their own heart, because they are all estranged
from me through their idols.
6 Therefore say unto the house of Israel,
Thus saith the Lord GOD; Repent, and turn yourselves from your idols; and
turn away your faces from all your abominations.
7 For every one of the
house of Israel, or of the stranger that sojourneth in Israel, which separateth
himself from me, and setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumblingblock
of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to a prophet to enquire of him
concerning me; I the LORD will answer him by myself:
8 And I will set my
face against that man, and will make him a sign and a proverb, and I will
cut him off from the midst of my people; and ye shall know that I am the
LORD.
9 And if the prophet be deceived when he hath spoken a thing, I
the LORD have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand upon
him, and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel.
10 And they
shall bear the punishment of their iniquity: the punishment of the prophet
shall be even as the punishment of him that seeketh unto him;
11 That the
house of Israel may go no more astray from me, neither be polluted any more
with all their transgressions; but that they may be my people, and I may
be their God, saith the Lord GOD.
12 The word of the LORD came again to
me, saying,
13 Son of man, when the land sinneth against me by trespassing
grievously, then will I stretch out mine hand upon it, and will break the
staff of the bread thereof, and will send famine upon it, and will cut off
man and beast from it:
14 Though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job,
were in it, they should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness,
saith the Lord GOD.
15 If I cause noisome beasts to pass through the land,
and they spoil it, so that it be desolate, that no man may pass through because
of the beasts:
16 Though these three men were in it, as I live, saith the
Lord GOD, they shall deliver neither sons nor daughters; they only shall
be delivered, but the land shall be desolate.
17 Or if I bring a sword
upon that land, and say, Sword, go through the land; so that I cut off man
and beast from it:
18 Though these three men were in it, as I live, saith
the Lord GOD, they shall deliver neither sons nor daughters, but they only
shall be delivered themselves.
19 Or if I send a pestilence into that
land, and pour out my fury upon it in blood, to cut off from it man and beast:
20
Though Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, as I live, saith the Lord GOD, they
shall deliver neither son nor daughter; they shall but deliver their own
souls by their righteousness.
21 For thus saith the Lord GOD; How much
more when I send my four sore judgments upon Jerusalem, the sword, and the
famine, and the noisome beast, and the pestilence, to cut off from it man
and beast?
22 Yet, behold, therein shall be left a remnant that shall
be brought forth, both sons and daughters: behold, they shall come forth
unto you, and ye shall see their way and their doings: and ye shall be comforted
concerning the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem, even concerning all
that I have brought upon it.
23 And they shall comfort you, when ye see
their ways and their doings: and ye shall know that I have not done without
cause all that I have done in it, saith the Lord GOD.
CHAPTER 15
1 And the word of
the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, what is the vine tree more
than any tree, or than a branch which is among the trees of the forest?
3
Shall wood be taken thereof to do any work? or will men take a pin of it
to hang any vessel thereon?
4 Behold, it is cast into the fire for fuel;
the fire devoureth both the ends of it, and the midst of it is burned. Is
it meet for any work?
5 Behold, when it was whole, it was meet for no
work: how much less shall it be meet yet for any work, when the fire hath
devoured it, and it is burned?
6 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; As
the vine tree among the trees of the forest, which I have given to the fire
for fuel, so will I give the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
7 And I will set
my face against them; they shall go out from one fire, and another fire shall
devour them; and ye 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 committed
a trespass, saith the Lord GOD.
CHAPTER 16
1 Again the word of the LORD came unto
me, saying,
2 Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations,
3
And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD unto Jerusalem; Thy birth and thy nativity
is of the land of Canaan; thy father was an Amorite, and thy mother an Hittite.
4 And as for thy nativity, in the day thou wast born thy navel was not
cut, neither wast thou washed in water to supple thee; thou wast not salted
at all, nor swaddled at all.
5 None eye pitied thee, to do any of these
unto thee, to have compassion upon thee; but thou wast cast out in the open
field, to the lothing of thy person, in the day that thou wast born.
6
And when I passed by thee, and saw thee polluted in thine own blood, I said
unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, Live; yea, I said unto thee when thou
wast in thy blood, Live.
7 I have caused thee to multiply as the bud of
the field, and thou hast increased and waxen great, and thou art come to
excellent ornaments: thy breasts are fashioned, and thine hair is grown,
whereas thou wast naked and bare.
8 Now when I passed by thee, and looked
upon thee, behold, thy time was the time of love; and I spread my skirt over
thee, and covered thy nakedness: yea, I sware unto thee, and entered into
a covenant with thee, saith the Lord GOD, and thou becamest mine.
9 Then
washed I thee with water; yea, I throughly washed away thy blood from thee,
and I anointed thee with oil.
10 I clothed thee also with broidered work,
and shod thee with badgers' skin, and I girded thee about with fine linen,
and I covered thee with silk.
11 I decked thee also with ornaments, and
I put bracelets upon thy hands, and a chain on thy neck.
12 And I put
a jewel on thy forehead, and earrings in thine ears, and a beautiful crown
upon thine head.
13 Thus wast thou decked with gold and silver; and thy
raiment was of fine linen, and silk, and broidered work; thou didst eat fine
flour, and honey, and oil: and thou wast exceeding beautiful, and thou didst
prosper into a kingdom.
14 And thy renown went forth among the heathen
for thy beauty: for it was perfect through my comeliness, which I had put
upon thee, saith the Lord GOD.
15 But thou didst trust in thine own beauty,
and playedst the harlot because of thy renown, and pouredst out thy fornications
on every one that passed by; his it was.
16 And of thy garments thou didst
take, and deckedst thy high places with divers colours, and playedst the
harlot thereupon: the like things shall not come, neither shall it be so.
17 Thou hast also taken thy fair jewels of my gold and of my silver, which
I had given thee, and madest to thyself images of men, and didst commit whoredom
with them,
18 And tookest thy broidered garments, and coveredst them: and
thou hast set mine oil and mine incense before them.
19 My meat also which
I gave thee, fine flour, and oil, and honey, wherewith I fed thee, thou hast
even set it before them for a sweet savour: and thus it was, saith the Lord
GOD.
20 Moreover thou hast taken thy sons and thy daughters, whom thou
hast borne unto me, and these hast thou sacrificed unto them to be devoured.
Is this of thy whoredoms a small matter,
21 That thou hast slain my children,
and delivered them to cause them to pass through the fire for them?
22
And in all thine abominations and thy whoredoms thou hast not remembered
the days of thy youth, when thou wast naked and bare, and wast polluted in
thy blood.
23 And it came to pass after all thy wickedness, (woe, woe
unto thee! saith the LORD GOD;)
24 That thou hast also built unto thee
an eminent place, and hast made thee an high place in every street.
25
Thou hast built thy high place at every head of the way, and hast made thy
beauty to be abhorred, and hast opened thy feet to every one that passed
by, and multiplied thy whoredoms.
26 Thou hast also committed fornication
with the Egyptians thy neighbours, great of flesh; and hast increased thy
whoredoms, to provoke me to anger.
27 Behold, therefore I have stretched
out my hand over thee, and have diminished thine ordinary food, and delivered
thee unto the will of them that hate thee, the daughters of the Philistines,
which are ashamed of thy lewd way.
28 Thou hast played the whore also
with the Assyrians, because thou wast unsatiable; yea, thou hast played the
harlot with them, and yet couldest not be satisfied.
29 Thou hast moreover
multiplied thy fornication in the land of Canaan unto Chaldea; and yet thou
wast not satisfied therewith.
30 How weak is thine heart, saith the LORD
GOD, seeing thou doest all these things, the work of an imperious whorish
woman;
31 In that thou buildest thine eminent place in the head of every
way, and makest thine high place in every street; and hast not been as an
harlot, in that thou scornest hire;
32 But as a wife that committeth adultery,
which taketh strangers instead of her husband!
33 They give gifts to all
whores: but thou givest thy gifts to all thy lovers, and hirest them, that
they may come unto thee on every side for thy whoredom.
34 And the contrary
is in thee from other women in thy whoredoms, whereas none followeth thee
to commit whoredoms: and in that thou givest a reward, and no reward is given
unto thee, therefore thou art contrary.
35 Wherefore, O harlot, hear the
word of the LORD:
36 Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thy filthiness was
poured out, and thy nakedness discovered through thy whoredoms with thy lovers,
and with all the idols of thy abominations, and by the blood of thy children,
which thou didst give unto them;
37 Behold, therefore I will gather all
thy lovers, with whom thou hast taken pleasure, and all them that thou hast
loved, with all them that thou hast hated; I will even gather them round
about against thee, and will discover thy nakedness unto them, that they
may see all thy nakedness.
38 And I will judge thee, as women that break
wedlock and shed blood are judged; and I will give thee blood in fury and
jealousy.
39 And I will also give thee into their hand, and they shall
throw down thine eminent place, and shall break down thy high places: they
shall strip thee also of thy clothes, and shall take thy fair jewels, and
leave thee naked and bare.
40 They shall also bring up a company against
thee, and they shall stone thee with stones, and thrust thee through with
their swords.
41 And they shall burn thine houses with fire, and execute
judgments upon thee in the sight of many women: and I will cause thee to
cease from playing the harlot, and thou also shalt give no hire any more.
42 So will I make my fury toward thee to rest, and my jealousy shall depart
from thee, and I will be quiet, and will be no more angry.
43 Because
thou hast not remembered the days of thy youth, but hast fretted me in all
these things; behold, therefore I also will recompense thy way upon thine
head, saith the Lord GOD: and thou shalt not commit this lewdness above all
thine abominations.
44 Behold, every one that useth proverbs shall use
this proverb against thee, saying, As is the mother, so is her daughter.
45 Thou art thy mother's daughter, that lotheth her husband and her children;
and thou art the sister of thy sisters, which lothed their husbands and their
children: your mother was an Hittite, and your father an Amorite.
46 And
thine elder sister is Samaria, she and her daughters that dwell at thy left
hand: and thy younger sister, that dwelleth at thy right hand, is Sodom and
her daughters.
47 Yet hast thou not walked after their ways, nor done
after their abominations: but, as if that were a very little thing, thou
wast corrupted more than they in all thy ways.
48 As I live, saith the
Lord GOD, Sodom thy sister hath not done, she nor her daughters, as thou
hast done, thou and thy daughters.
49 Behold, this was the iniquity of
thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was
in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor
and needy.
50 And they were haughty, and committed abomination before
me: therefore I took them away as I saw good.
51 Neither hath Samaria
committed half of thy sins; but thou hast multiplied thine abominations more
than they, and hast justified thy sisters in all thine abominations which
thou hast done.
52 Thou also, which hast judged thy sisters, bear thine
own shame for thy sins that thou hast committed more abominable than they:
they are more righteous than thou: yea, be thou confounded also, and bear
thy shame, in that thou hast justified thy sisters.
53 When I shall bring
again their captivity, the captivity of Sodom and her daughters, and the
captivity of Samaria and her daughters, then will I bring again the captivity
of thy captives in the midst of them:
54 That thou mayest bear thine own
shame, and mayest be confounded in all that thou hast done, in that thou
art a comfort unto them.
55 When thy sisters, Sodom and her daughters,
shall return to their former estate, and Samaria and her daughters shall
return to their former estate, then thou and thy daughters shall return to
your former estate.
56 For thy sister Sodom was not mentioned by thy mouth
in the day of thy pride,
57 Before thy wickedness was discovered, as at
the time of thy reproach of the daughters of Syria, and all that are round
about her, the daughters of the Philistines, which despise thee round about.
58 Thou hast borne thy lewdness and thine abominations, saith the LORD.
59 For thus saith the Lord GOD; I will even deal with thee as thou hast
done, which hast despised the oath in breaking the covenant.
60 Nevertheless
I will remember my covenant with thee in the days of thy youth, and I will
establish unto thee an everlasting covenant.
61 Then thou shalt remember
thy ways, and be ashamed, when thou shalt receive thy sisters, thine elder
and thy younger: and I will give them unto thee for daughters, but not by
thy covenant.
62 And I will establish my covenant with thee; and thou
shalt know that I am the LORD:
63 That thou mayest remember, and be confounded,
and never open thy mouth any more because of thy shame, when I am pacified
toward thee for all that thou hast done, saith the Lord GOD.
CHAPTER 17
1 And the
word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, put forth a riddle,
and speak a parable unto the house of Israel;
3 And say, Thus saith the
Lord GOD; A great eagle with great wings, longwinged, full of feathers, which
had divers colours, came unto Lebanon, and took the highest branch of the
cedar:
4 He cropped off the top of his young twigs, and carried it into
a land of traffick; he set it in a city of merchants.
5 He took also of
the seed of the land, and planted it in a fruitful field; he placed it by
great waters, and set it as a willow tree.
6 And it grew, and became a
spreading vine of low stature, whose branches turned toward him, and the
roots thereof were under him: so it became a vine, and brought forth branches,
and shot forth sprigs.
7 There was also another great eagle with great
wings and many feathers: and, behold, this vine did bend her roots toward
him, and shot forth her branches toward him, that he might water it by the
furrows of her plantation.
8 It was planted in a good soil by great waters,
that it might bring forth branches, and that it might bear fruit, that it
might be a goodly vine.
9 Say thou, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Shall it
prosper? shall he not pull up the roots thereof, and cut off the fruit thereof,
that it wither? it shall wither in all the leaves of her spring, even without
great power or many people to pluck it up by the roots thereof.
10 Yea,
behold, being planted, shall it prosper? shall it not utterly wither, when
the east wind toucheth it? it shall wither in the furrows where it grew.
11 Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
12 Say now to
the rebellious house, Know ye not what these things mean? tell them, Behold,
the king of Babylon is come to Jerusalem, and hath taken the king thereof,
and the princes thereof, and led them with him to Babylon;
13 And hath
taken of the king's seed, and made a covenant with him, and hath taken an
oath of him: he hath also taken the mighty of the land:
14 That the kingdom
might be base, that it might not lift itself up, but that by keeping of his
covenant it might stand.
15 But he rebelled against him in sending his
ambassadors into Egypt, that they might give him horses and much people.
Shall he prosper? shall he escape that doeth such things? or shall he break
the covenant, and be delivered?
16 As I live, saith the Lord GOD, surely
in the place where the king dwelleth that made him king, whose oath he despised,
and whose covenant he brake, even with him in the midst of Babylon he shall
die.
17 Neither shall Pharaoh with his mighty army and great company make
for him in the war, by casting up mounts, and building forts, to cut off
many persons:
18 Seeing he despised the oath by breaking the covenant,
when, lo, he had given his hand, and hath done all these things, he shall
not escape.
19 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; As I live, surely mine
oath that he hath despised, and my covenant that he hath broken, even it
will I recompense upon his own head.
20 And I will spread my net upon
him, and he shall be taken in my snare, and I will bring him to Babylon,
and will plead with him there for his trespass that he hath trespassed against
me.
21 And all his fugitives with all his bands shall fall by the sword,
and they that remain shall be scattered toward all winds: and ye shall know
that I the LORD have spoken it.
22 Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will also
take of the highest branch of the high cedar, and will set it; I will crop
off from the top of his young twigs a tender one, and will plant it upon
an high mountain and eminent:
23 In the mountain of the height of Israel
will I plant it: and it shall bring forth boughs, and bear fruit, and be
a goodly cedar: and under it shall dwell all fowl of every wing; in the shadow
of the branches thereof shall they dwell.
24 And all the trees of the
field shall know that I the LORD have brought down the high tree, have exalted
the low tree, have dried up the green tree, and have made the dry tree to
flourish: I the LORD have spoken and have done it.
CHAPTER 18
1 The word of the LORD
came unto me again, saying,
2 What mean ye, that ye use this proverb concerning
the land of Israel, saying, The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's
teeth are set on edge?
3 As I live, saith the Lord GOD, ye shall not have
occasion any more to use this proverb in Israel.
4 Behold, all souls are
mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the
soul that sinneth, it shall die.
5 But if a man be just, and do that which
is lawful and right,
6 And hath not eaten upon the mountains, neither hath
lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, neither hath defiled
his neighbour's wife, neither hath come near to a menstruous woman,
7 And
hath not oppressed any, but hath restored to the debtor his pledge, hath
spoiled none by violence, hath given his bread to the hungry, and hath covered
the naked with a garment;
8 He that hath not given forth upon usury, neither
hath taken any increase, that hath withdrawn his hand from iniquity, hath
executed true judgment between man and man,
9 Hath walked in my statutes,
and hath kept my judgments, to deal truly; he is just, he shall surely live,
saith the Lord GOD.
10 If he beget a son that is a robber, a shedder of
blood, and that doeth the like to any one of these things,
11 And that
doeth not any of those duties, but even hath eaten upon the mountains, and
defiled his neighbour's wife,
12 Hath oppressed the poor and needy, hath
spoiled by violence, hath not restored the pledge, and hath lifted up his
eyes to the idols, hath committed abomination,
13 Hath given forth upon
usury, and hath taken increase: shall he then live? he shall not live: he
hath done all these abominations; he shall surely die; his blood shall be
upon him.
14 Now, lo, if he beget a son, that seeth all his father's sins
which he hath done, and considereth, and doeth not such like,
15 That hath
not eaten upon the mountains, neither hath lifted up his eyes to the idols
of the house of Israel, hath not defiled his neighbour's wife,
16 Neither
hath oppressed any, hath not withholden the pledge, neither hath spoiled
by violence, but hath given his bread to the hungry, and hath covered the
naked with a garment,
17 That hath taken off his hand from the poor, that
hath not received usury nor increase, hath executed my judgments, hath walked
in my statutes; he shall not die for the iniquity of his father, he shall
surely live.
18 As for his father, because he cruelly oppressed, spoiled
his brother by violence, and did that which is not good among his people,
lo, even he shall die in his iniquity.
19 Yet say ye, Why? doth not the
son bear the iniquity of the father? When the son hath done that which is
lawful and right, and hath kept all my statutes, and hath done them, he shall
surely live.
20 The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not
bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity
of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the
wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.
21 But if the wicked will
turn from all his sins that he hath committed, and keep all my statutes,
and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not
die.
22 All his transgressions that he hath committed, they shall not
be mentioned unto him: in his righteousness that he hath done he shall live.
23 Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? saith the Lord
GOD: and not that he should return from his ways, and live?
24 But when
the righteous turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity,
and doeth according to all the abominations that the wicked man doeth, shall
he live? All his righteousness that he hath done shall not be mentioned:
in his trespass that he hath trespassed, and in his sin that he hath sinned,
in them shall he die.
25 Yet ye say, The way of the LORD is not equal.
Hear now, O house of Israel; Is not my way equal? are not your ways unequal?
26 When a righteous man turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth
iniquity, and dieth in them; for his iniquity that he hath done shall he
die.
27 Again, when the wicked man turneth away from his wickedness that
he hath committed, and doeth that which is lawful and right, he shall save
his soul alive.
28 Because he considereth, and turneth away from all his
transgressions that he hath committed, he shall surely live, he shall not
die.
29 Yet saith the house of Israel, The way of the LORD is not equal.
O house of Israel, are not my ways equal? are not your ways unequal?
30
Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his
ways, saith the Lord GOD. Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions;
so iniquity shall not be your ruin.
31 Cast away from you all your transgressions,
whereby ye have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit:
for why will ye die, O house of Israel?
32 For I have no pleasure in the
death of him that dieth, saith the Lord GOD: wherefore turn yourselves, and
live ye.
CHAPTER 19
1 Moreover take thou up a lamentation for the princes of Israel,
2 And say, What is thy mother? A lioness: she lay down among lions, she
nourished her whelps among young lions.
3 And she brought up one of her
whelps: it became a young lion, and it learned to catch the prey; it devoured
men.
4 The nations also heard of him; he was taken in their pit, and they
brought him with chains unto the land of Egypt.
5 Now when she saw that
she had waited, and her hope was lost, then she took another of her whelps,
and made him a young lion.
6 And he went up and down among the lions,
he became a young lion, and learned to catch the prey, and devoured men.
7 And he knew their desolate palaces, and he laid waste their cities;
and the land was desolate, and the fulness thereof, by the noise of his roaring.
8 Then the nations set against him on every side from the provinces, and
spread their net over him: he was taken in their pit.
9 And they put him
in ward in chains, and brought him to the king of Babylon: they brought him
into holds, that his voice should no more be heard upon the mountains of
Israel.
10 Thy mother is like a vine in thy blood, planted by the waters:
she was fruitful and full of branches by reason of many waters.
11 And
she had strong rods for the sceptres of them that bare rule, and her stature
was exalted among the thick branches, and she appeared in her height with
the multitude of her branches.
12 But she was plucked up in fury, she
was cast down to the ground, and the east wind dried up her fruit: her strong
rods were broken and withered; the fire consumed them.
13 And now she
is planted in the wilderness, in a dry and thirsty ground.
14 And fire
is gone out of a rod of her branches, which hath devoured her fruit, so that
she hath no strong rod to be a sceptre to rule. This is a lamentation, and
shall be for a lamentation.
CHAPTER 20
1 And it came to pass in the seventh year,
in the fifth month, the tenth day of the month, that certain of the elders
of Israel came to enquire of the LORD, and sat before me.
2 Then came
the word of the LORD unto me, saying,
3 Son of man, speak unto the elders
of Israel, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Are ye come to enquire
of me? As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I will not be enquired of by you.
4
Wilt thou judge them, son of man, wilt thou judge them? cause them to know
the abominations of their fathers:
5 And say unto them, Thus saith the
Lord GOD; In the day when I chose Israel, and lifted up mine hand unto the
seed of the house of Jacob, and made myself known unto them in the land of
Egypt, when I lifted up mine hand unto them, saying, I am the LORD your God;
6
In the day that I lifted up mine hand unto them, to bring them forth of the
land of Egypt into a land that I had espied for them, flowing with milk and
honey, which is the glory of all lands:
7 Then said I unto them, Cast ye
away every man the abominations of his eyes, and defile not yourselves with
the idols of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.
8 But they rebelled against
me, and would not hearken unto me: they did not every man cast away the abominations
of their eyes, neither did they forsake the idols of Egypt: then I said,
I will pour out my fury upon them, to accomplish my anger against them in
the midst of the land of Egypt.
9 But I wrought for my name's sake, that
it should not be polluted before the heathen, among whom they were, in whose
sight I made myself known unto them, in bringing them forth out of the land
of Egypt.
10 Wherefore I caused them to go forth out of the land of Egypt,
and brought them into the wilderness.
11 And I gave them my statutes,
and shewed them my judgments, which if a man do, he shall even live in them.
12 Moreover also I gave them my sabbaths, to be a sign between me and
them, that they might know that I am the LORD that sanctify them.
13 But
the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness: they walked not
in my statutes, and they despised my judgments, which if a man do, he shall
even live in them; and my sabbaths they greatly polluted: then I said, I
would pour out my fury upon them in the wilderness, to consume them.
14
But I wrought for my name's sake, that it should not be polluted before the
heathen, in whose sight I brought them out.
15 Yet also I lifted up my
hand unto them in the wilderness, that I would not bring them into the land
which I had given them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of
all lands;
16 Because they despised my judgments, and walked not in my
statutes, but polluted my sabbaths: for their heart went after their idols.
17 Nevertheless mine eye spared them from destroying them, neither did
I make an end of them in the wilderness.
18 But I said unto their children
in the wilderness, Walk ye not in the statutes of your fathers, neither observe
their judgments, nor defile yourselves with their idols:
19 I am the LORD
your God; walk in my statutes, and keep my judgments, and do them;
20 And
hallow my sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between me and you, that ye
may know that I am the LORD your God.
21 Notwithstanding the children
rebelled against me: they walked not in my statutes, neither kept my judgments
to do them, which if a man do, he shall even live in them; they polluted
my sabbaths: then I said, I would pour out my fury upon them, to accomplish
my anger against them in the wilderness.
22 Nevertheless I withdrew mine
hand, and wrought for my name's sake, that it should not be polluted in the
sight of the heathen, in whose sight I brought them forth.
23 I lifted
up mine hand unto them also in the wilderness, that I would scatter them
among the heathen, and disperse them through the countries;
24 Because
they had not executed my judgments, but had despised my statutes, and had
polluted my sabbaths, and their eyes were after their fathers' idols.
25
Wherefore I gave them also statutes that were not good, and judgments whereby
they should not live;
26 And I polluted them in their own gifts, in that
they caused to pass through the fire all that openeth the womb, that I might
make them desolate, to the end that they might know that I am the LORD.
27
Therefore, son of man, speak unto the house of Israel, and say unto them,
Thus saith the Lord GOD; Yet in this your fathers have blasphemed me, in
that they have committed a trespass against me.
28 For when I had brought
them into the land, for the which I lifted up mine hand to give it to them,
then they saw every high hill, and all the thick trees, and they offered
there their sacrifices, and there they presented the provocation of their
offering: there also they made their sweet savour, and poured out there their
drink offerings.
29 Then I said unto them, What is the high place whereunto
ye go? And the name whereof is called Bamah unto this day.
30 Wherefore
say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Are ye polluted after
the manner of your fathers? and commit ye whoredom after their abominations?
31 For when ye offer your gifts, when ye make your sons to pass through
the fire, ye pollute yourselves with all your idols, even unto this day:
and shall I be enquired of by you, O house of Israel? As I live, saith the
Lord GOD, I will not be enquired of by you.
32 And that which cometh into
your mind shall not be at all, that ye say, We will be as the heathen, as
the families of the countries, to serve wood and stone.
33 As I live,
saith the Lord GOD, surely with a mighty hand, and with a stretched out arm,
and with fury poured out, will I rule over you:
34 And I will bring you
out from the people, and will gather you out of the countries wherein ye
are scattered, with a mighty hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with
fury poured out.
35 And I will bring you into the wilderness of the people,
and there will I plead with you face to face.
36 Like as I pleaded with
your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so will I plead with
you, saith the Lord GOD.
37 And I will cause you to pass under the rod,
and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant:
38 And I will purge
out from among you the rebels, and them that transgress against me: I will
bring them forth out of the country where they sojourn, and they shall not
enter into the land of Israel: and ye shall know that I am the LORD.
39
As for you, O house of Israel, thus saith the Lord GOD; Go ye, serve ye every
one his idols, and hereafter also, if ye will not hearken unto me: but pollute
ye my holy name no more with your gifts, and with your idols.
40 For in
mine holy mountain, in the mountain of the height of Israel, saith the Lord
GOD, there shall all the house of Israel, all of them in the land, serve
me: there will I accept them, and there will I require your offerings, and
the firstfruits of your oblations, with all your holy things.
41 I will
accept you with your sweet savour, when I bring you out from the people,
and gather you out of the countries wherein ye have been scattered; and I
will be sanctified in you before the heathen.
42 And ye shall know that
I am the LORD, when I shall bring you into the land of Israel, into the country
for the which I lifted up mine hand to give it to your fathers.
43 And
there shall ye remember your ways, and all your doings, wherein ye have been
defiled; and ye shall lothe yourselves in your own sight for all your evils
that ye have committed.
44 And ye shall know that I am the LORD when I
have wrought with you for my name's sake, not according to your wicked ways,
nor according to your corrupt doings, O ye house of Israel, saith the Lord
GOD.
45 Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
46 Son of
man, set thy face toward the south, and drop thy word toward the south, and
prophesy against the forest of the south field;
47 And say to the forest
of the south, Hear the word of the LORD; Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold,
I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour every green tree in thee,
and every dry tree: the flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces
from the south to the north shall be burned therein.
48 And all flesh
shall see that I the LORD have kindled it: it shall not be quenched.
49
Then said I, Ah Lord GOD! they say of me, Doth he not speak parables?
CHAPTER 21
1
And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, set thy face
toward Jerusalem, and drop thy word toward the holy places, and prophesy
against the land of Israel,
3 And say to the land of Israel, Thus saith
the LORD; Behold, I am against thee, and will draw forth my sword out of
his sheath, and will cut off from thee the righteous and the wicked.
4
Seeing then that I will cut off from thee the righteous and the wicked, therefore
shall my sword go forth out of his sheath against all flesh from the south
to the north:
5 That all flesh may know that I the LORD have drawn forth
my sword out of his sheath: it shall not return any more.
6 Sigh therefore,
thou son of man, with the breaking of thy loins; and with bitterness sigh
before their eyes.
7 And it shall be, when they say unto thee, Wherefore
sighest thou? that thou shalt answer, For the tidings; because it cometh:
and every heart shall melt, and all hands shall be feeble, and every spirit
shall faint, and all knees shall be weak as water: behold, it cometh, and
shall be brought to pass, saith the Lord GOD.
8 Again the word of the
LORD came unto me, saying,
9 Son of man, prophesy, and say, Thus saith
the LORD; Say, A sword, a sword is sharpened, and also furbished:
10 It
is sharpened to make a sore slaughter; it is furbished that it may glitter:
should we then make mirth? it contemneth the rod of my son, as every tree.
11 And he hath given it to be furbished, that it may be handled: this
sword is sharpened, and it is furbished, to give it into the hand of the
slayer.
12 Cry and howl, son of man: for it shall be upon my people, it
shall be upon all the princes of Israel: terrors by reason of the sword shall
be upon my people: smite therefore upon thy thigh.
13 Because it is a
trial, and what if the sword contemn even the rod? it shall be no more,
saith the Lord GOD.
14 Thou therefore, son of man, prophesy, and smite
thine hands together. and let the sword be doubled the third time, the sword
of the slain: it is the sword of the great men that are slain, which entereth
into their privy chambers.
15 I have set the point of the sword against
all their gates, that their heart may faint, and their ruins be multiplied:
ah! it is made bright, it is wrapped up for the slaughter.
16 Go thee
one way or other, either on the right hand, or on the left, whithersoever
thy face is set.
17 I will also smite mine hands together, and I will
cause my fury to rest: I the LORD have said it.
18 The word of the LORD
came unto me again, saying,
19 Also, thou son of man, appoint thee two
ways, that the sword of the king of Babylon may come: both twain shall come
forth out of one land: and choose thou a place, choose it at the head of
the way to the city.
20 Appoint a way, that the sword may come to Rabbath
of the Ammonites, and to Judah in Jerusalem the defenced.
21 For the king
of Babylon stood at the parting of the way, at the head of the two ways,
to use divination: he made his arrows bright, he consulted with images, he
looked in the liver.
22 At his right hand was the divination for Jerusalem,
to appoint captains, to open the mouth in the slaughter, to lift up the voice
with shouting, to appoint battering rams against the gates, to cast a mount,
and to build a fort.
23 And it shall be unto them as a false divination
in their sight, to them that have sworn oaths: but he will call to remembrance
the iniquity, that they may be taken.
24 Therefore thus saith the Lord
GOD; Because ye have made your iniquity to be remembered, in that your transgressions
are discovered, so that in all your doings your sins do appear; because,
I say, that ye are come to remembrance, ye shall be taken with the hand.
25 And thou, profane wicked prince of Israel, whose day is come, when
iniquity shall have an end,
26 Thus saith the Lord GOD; Remove the diadem,
and take off the crown: this shall not be the same: exalt him that is low,
and abase him that is high.
27 I will overturn, overturn, overturn, it:
and it shall be no more, until he come whose right it is; and I will give
it him.
28 And thou, son of man, prophesy and say, Thus saith the Lord
GOD concerning the Ammonites, and concerning their reproach; even say thou,
The sword, the sword is drawn: for the slaughter it is furbished, to consume
because of the glittering:
29 Whiles they see vanity unto thee, whiles
they divine a lie unto thee, to bring thee upon the necks of them that are
slain, of the wicked, whose day is come, when their iniquity shall have an
end.
30 Shall I cause it to return into his sheath? I will judge thee
in the place where thou wast created, in the land of thy nativity.
31
And I will pour out mine indignation upon thee, I will blow against thee
in the fire of my wrath, and deliver thee into the hand of brutish men, and
skilful to destroy.
32 Thou shalt be for fuel to the fire; thy blood shall
be in the midst of the land; thou shalt be no more remembered: for I the
LORD have spoken it.
CHAPTER 22
1 Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2
Now, thou son of man, wilt thou judge, wilt thou judge the bloody city? yea,
thou shalt shew her all her abominations.
3 Then say thou, Thus saith
the Lord GOD, The city sheddeth blood in the midst of it, that her time may
come, and maketh idols against herself to defile herself.
4 Thou art become
guilty in thy blood that thou hast shed; and hast defiled thyself in thine
idols which thou hast made; and thou hast caused thy days to draw near, and
art come even unto thy years: therefore have I made thee a reproach unto
the heathen, and a mocking to all countries.
5 Those that be near, and
those that be far from thee, shall mock thee, which art infamous and much
vexed.
6 Behold, the princes of Israel, every one were in thee to their
power to shed blood.
7 In thee have they set light by father and mother:
in the midst of thee have they dealt by oppression with the stranger: in
thee have they vexed the fatherless and the widow.
8 Thou hast despised
mine holy things, and hast profaned my sabbaths.
9 In thee are men that
carry tales to shed blood: and in thee they eat upon the mountains: in the
midst of thee they commit lewdness.
10 In thee have they discovered their
fathers' nakedness: in thee have they humbled her that was set apart for
pollution.
11 And one hath committed abomination with his neighbour's
wife; and another hath lewdly defiled his daughter in law; and another in
thee hath humbled his sister, his father's daughter.
12 In thee have they
taken gifts to shed blood; thou hast taken usury and increase, and thou hast
greedily gained of thy neighbours by extortion, and hast forgotten me, saith
the Lord GOD.
13 Behold, therefore I have smitten mine hand at thy dishonest
gain which thou hast made, and at thy blood which hath been in the midst
of thee.
14 Can thine heart endure, or can thine hands be strong, in the
days that I shall deal with thee? I the LORD have spoken it, and will do
it.
15 And I will scatter thee among the heathen, and disperse thee in
the countries, and will consume thy filthiness out of thee.
16 And thou
shalt take thine inheritance in thyself in the sight of the heathen, and
thou shalt know that I am the LORD.
17 And the word of the LORD came unto
me, saying,
18 Son of man, the house of Israel is to me become dross: all
they are brass, and tin, and iron, and lead, in the midst of the furnace;
they are even the dross of silver.
19 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD;
Because ye are all become dross, behold, therefore I will gather you into
the midst of Jerusalem.
20 As they gather silver, and brass, and iron,
and lead, and tin, into the midst of the furnace, to blow the fire upon it,
to melt it; so will I gather you in mine anger and in my fury, and I will
leave you there, and melt you.
21 Yea, I will gather you, and blow upon
you in the fire of my wrath, and ye shall be melted in the midst therof.
22 As silver is melted in the midst of the furnace, so shall ye be melted
in the midst thereof; and ye shall know that I the LORD have poured out my
fury upon you.
23 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
24
Son of man, say unto her, Thou art the land that is not cleansed, nor rained
upon in the day of indignation.
25 There is a conspiracy of her prophets
in the midst thereof, like a roaring lion ravening the prey; they have devoured
souls; they have taken the treasure and precious things; they have made her
many widows in the midst thereof.
26 Her priests have violated my law,
and have profaned mine holy things: they have put no difference between the
holy and profane, neither have they shewed difference between the unclean
and the clean, and have hid their eyes from my sabbaths, and I am profaned
among them.
27 Her princes in the midst thereof are like wolves ravening
the prey, to shed blood, and to destroy souls, to get dishonest gain.
28
And her prophets have daubed them with untempered morter, seeing vanity,
and divining lies unto them, saying, Thus saith the Lord GOD, when the LORD
hath not spoken.
29 The people of the land have used oppression, and exercised
robbery, and have vexed the poor and needy: yea, they have oppressed the
stranger wrongfully.
30 And I sought for a man among them, that should
make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should
not destroy it: but I found none.
31 Therefore have I poured out mine
indignation upon them; I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath: their
own way have I recompensed upon their heads, saith the Lord GOD.
CHAPTER 23
1 The
word of the LORD came again unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, there were two
women, the daughters of one mother:
3 And they committed whoredoms in Egypt;
they committed whoredoms in their youth: there were their breasts pressed,
and there they bruised the teats of their virginity.
4 And the names of
them were Aholah the elder, and Aholibah her sister: and they were mine,
and they bare sons and daughters. Thus were their names; Samaria is Aholah,
and Jerusalem Aholibah.
5 And Aholah played the harlot when she was mine;
and she doted on her lovers, on the Assyrians her neighbours,
6 Which were
clothed with blue, captains and rulers, all of them desirable young men,
horsemen riding upon horses.
7 Thus she committed her whoredoms with them,
with all them that were the chosen men of Assyria, and with all on whom she
doted: with all their idols she defiled herself.
8 Neither left she her
whoredoms brought from Egypt: for in her youth they lay with her, and they
bruised the breasts of her virginity, and poured their whoredom upon her.
9 Wherefore I have delivered her into the hand of her lovers, into the
hand of the Assyrians, upon whom she doted.
10 These discovered her nakedness:
they took her sons and her daughters, and slew her with the sword: and she
became famous among women; for they had executed judgment upon her.
11
And when her sister Aholibah saw this, she was more corrupt in her inordinate
love than she, and in her whoredoms more than her sister in her whoredoms.
12 She doted upon the Assyrians her neighbours, captains and rulers clothed
most gorgeously, horsemen riding upon horses, all of them desirable young
men.
13 Then I saw that she was defiled, that they took both one way,
14 And that she increased her whoredoms: for when she saw men pourtrayed
upon the wall, the images of the Chaldeans pourtrayed with vermilion,
15
Girded with girdles upon their loins, exceeding in dyed attire upon their
heads, all of them princes to look to, after the manner of the Babylonians
of Chaldea, the land of their nativity:
16 And as soon as she saw them
with her eyes, she doted upon them, and sent messengers unto them into Chaldea.
17 And the Babylonians came to her into the bed of love, and they defiled
her with their whoredom, and she was polluted with them, and her mind was
alienated from them.
18 So she discovered her whoredoms, and discovered
her nakedness: then my mind was alienated from her, like as my mind was alienated
from her sister.
19 Yet she multiplied her whoredoms, in calling to remembrance
the days of her youth, wherein she had played the harlot in the land of Egypt.
20 For she doted upon their paramours, whose flesh is as the flesh of
asses, and whose issue is like the issue of horses.
21 Thus thou calledst
to remembrance the lewdness of thy youth, in bruising thy teats by the Egyptians
for the paps of thy youth.
22 Therefore, O Aholibah, thus saith the Lord
GOD; Behold, I will raise up thy lovers against thee, from whom thy mind
is alienated, and I will bring them against thee on every side;
23 The
Babylonians, and all the Chaldeans, Pekod, and Shoa, and Koa, and all the
Assyrians with them: all of them desirable young men, captains and rulers,
great lords and renowned, all of them riding upon horses.
24 And they
shall come against thee with chariots, wagons, and wheels, and with an assembly
of people, which shall set against thee buckler and shield and helmet round
about: and I will set judgment before them, and they shall judge thee according
to their judgments.
25 And I will set my jealousy against thee, and they
shall deal furiously with thee: they shall take away thy nose and thine ears;
and thy remnant shall fall by the sword: they shall take thy sons and thy
daughters; and thy residue shall be devoured by the fire.
26 They shall
also strip thee out of thy clothes, and take away thy fair jewels.
27
Thus will I make thy lewdness to cease from thee, and thy whoredom brought
from the land of Egypt: so that thou shalt not lift up thine eyes unto them,
nor remember Egypt any more.
28 For thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I
will deliver thee into the hand of them whom thou hatest, into the hand of
them from whom thy mind is alienated:
29 And they shall deal with thee
hatefully, and shall take away all thy labour, and shall leave thee naked
and bare: and the nakedness of thy whoredoms shall be discovered, both thy
lewdness and thy whoredoms.
30 I will do these things unto thee, because
thou hast gone a whoring after the heathen, and because thou art polluted
with their idols.
31 Thou hast walked in the way of thy sister; therefore
will I give her cup into thine hand.
32 Thus saith the Lord GOD; Thou
shalt drink of thy sister's cup deep and large: thou shalt be laughed to
scorn and had in derision; it containeth much.
33 Thou shalt be filled
with drunkenness and sorrow, with the cup of astonishment and desolation,
with the cup of thy sister Samaria.
34 Thou shalt even drink it and suck
it out, and thou shalt break the sherds thereof, and pluck off thine own
breasts: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.
35 Therefore thus saith
the Lord GOD; Because thou hast forgotten me, and cast me behind thy back,
therefore bear thou also thy lewdness and thy whoredoms.
36 The LORD said
moreover unto me; Son of man, wilt thou judge Aholah and Aholibah? yea, declare
unto them their abominations;
37 That they have committed adultery, and
blood is in their hands, and with their idols have they committed adultery,
and have also caused their sons, whom they bare unto me, to pass for them
through the fire, to devour them.
38 Moreover this they have done unto
me: they have defiled my sanctuary in the same day, and have profaned my
sabbaths.
39 For when they had slain their children to their idols, then
they came the same day into my sanctuary to profane it; and, lo, thus have
they done in the midst of mine house.
40 And furthermore, that ye have
sent for men to come from far, unto whom a messenger was sent; and, lo, they
came: for whom thou didst wash thyself, paintedst thy eyes, and deckedst
thyself with ornaments,
41 And satest upon a stately bed, and a table prepared
before it, whereupon thou hast set mine incense and mine oil.
42 And a
voice of a multitude being at ease was with her: and with the men of the
common sort were brought Sabeans from the wilderness, which put bracelets
upon their hands, and beautiful crowns upon their heads.
43 Then said
I unto her that was old in adulteries, Will they now commit whoredoms with
her, and she with them?
44 Yet they went in unto her, as they go in unto
a woman that playeth the harlot: so went they in unto Aholah and unto Aholibah,
the lewd women.
45 And the righteous men, they shall judge them after
the manner of adulteresses, and after the manner of women that shed blood;
because they are adulteresses, and blood is in their hands.
46 For thus
saith the Lord GOD; I will bring up a company upon them, and will give them
to be removed and spoiled.
47 And the company shall stone them with stones,
and dispatch them with their swords; they shall slay their sons and their
daughters, and burn up their houses with fire.
48 Thus will I cause lewdness
to cease out of the land, that all women may be taught not to do after your
lewdness.
49 And they shall recompense your lewdness upon you, and ye
shall bear the sins of your idols: and ye shall know that I am the Lord GOD.
CHAPTER 24
1 Again in the ninth year, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the
month, the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, write thee
the name of the day, even of this same day: the king of Babylon set himself
against Jerusalem this same day.
3 And utter a parable unto the rebellious
house, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Set on a pot, set it on,
and also pour water into it:
4 Gather the pieces thereof into it, even
every good piece, the thigh, and the shoulder; fill it with the choice bones.
5 Take the choice of the flock, and burn also the bones under it, and
make it boil well, and let them seethe the bones of it therein.
6 Wherefore
thus saith the Lord GOD; Woe to the bloody city, to the pot whose scum is
therein, and whose scum is not gone out of it! bring it out piece by piece;
let no lot fall upon it.
7 For her blood is in the midst of her; she set
it upon the top of a rock; she poured it not upon the ground, to cover it
with dust;
8 That it might cause fury to come up to take vengeance; I have
set her blood upon the top of a rock, that it should not be covered.
9
Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Woe to the bloody city! I will even make
the pile for fire great.
10 Heap on wood, kindle the fire, consume the
flesh, and spice it well, and let the bones be burned.
11 Then set it
empty upon the coals thereof, that the brass of it may be hot, and may burn,
and that the filthiness of it may be molten in it, that the scum of it may
be consumed.
12 She hath wearied herself with lies, and her great scum
went not forth out of her: her scum shall be in the fire.
13 In thy filthiness
is lewdness: because I have purged thee, and thou wast not purged, thou shalt
not be purged from thy filthiness any more, till I have caused my fury to
rest upon thee.
14 I the LORD have spoken it: it shall come to pass, and
I will do it; I will not go back, neither will I spare, neither will I repent;
according to thy ways, and according to thy doings, shall they judge thee,
saith the Lord GOD.
15 Also the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
16
Son of man, behold, I take away from thee the desire of thine eyes with a
stroke: yet neither shalt thou mourn nor weep, neither shall thy tears run
down.
17 Forbear to cry, make no mourning for the dead, bind the tire
of thine head upon thee, and put on thy shoes upon thy feet, and cover not
thy lips, and eat not the bread of men.
18 So I spake unto the people
in the morning: and at even my wife died; and I did in the morning as I was
commanded.
19 And the people said unto me, Wilt thou not tell us what
these things are to us, that thou doest so?
20 Then I answered them, The
word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
21 Speak unto the house of Israel,
Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will profane my sanctuary, the excellency
of your strength, the desire of your eyes, and that which your soul pitieth;
and your sons and your daughters whom ye have left shall fall by the sword.
22 And ye shall do as I have done: ye shall not cover your lips, nor eat
the bread of men.
23 And your tires shall be upon your heads, and your
shoes upon your feet: ye shall not mourn nor weep; but ye shall pine away
for your iniquities, and mourn one toward another.
24 Thus Ezekiel is
unto you a sign: according to all that he hath done shall ye do: and when
this cometh, ye shall know that I am the Lord GOD.
25 Also, thou son of
man, shall it not be in the day when I take from them their strength, the
joy of their glory, the desire of their eyes, and that whereupon they set
their minds, their sons and their daughters,
26 That he that escapeth in
that day shall come unto thee, to cause thee to hear it with thine ears?
27 In that day shall thy mouth be opened to him which is escaped, and
thou shalt speak, and be no more dumb: and thou shalt be a sign unto them;
and they shall know that I am the LORD.
CHAPTER 25
1 The word of the LORD came again
unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, set thy face against the Ammonites, and
prophesy against them;
3 And say unto the Ammonites, Hear the word of the
Lord GOD; Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thou saidst, Aha, against my sanctuary,
when it was profaned; and against the land of Israel, when it was desolate;
and against the house of Judah, when they went into captivity;
4 Behold,
therefore I will deliver thee to the men of the east for a possession, and
they shall set their palaces in thee, and make their dwellings in thee: they
shall eat thy fruit, and they shall drink thy milk.
5 And I will make
Rabbah a stable for camels, and the Ammonites a couching place for flocks:
and ye shall know that I am the LORD.
6 For thus saith the Lord GOD; Because
thou hast clapped thine hands, and stamped with the feet, and rejoiced in
heart with all thy despite against the land of Israel;
7 Behold, therefore
I will stretch out mine hand upon thee, and will deliver thee for a spoil
to the heathen; and I will cut thee off from the people, and I will cause
thee to perish out of the countries: I will destroy thee; and thou shalt
know that I am the LORD.
8 Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because that Moab
and Seir do say, Behold, the house of Judah is like unto all the heathen;
9
Therefore, behold, I will open the side of Moab from the cities, from his
cities which are on his frontiers, the glory of the country, Bethjeshimoth,
Baalmeon, and Kiriathaim,
10 Unto the men of the east with the Ammonites,
and will give them in possession, that the Ammonites may not be remembered
among the nations.
11 And I will execute judgments upon Moab; and they
shall know that I am the LORD.
12 Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because that
Edom hath dealt against the house of Judah by taking vengeance, and hath
greatly offended, and revenged himself upon them;
13 Therefore thus saith
the Lord GOD; I will also stretch out mine hand upon Edom, and will cut off
man and beast from it; and I will make it desolate from Teman; and they of
Dedan shall fall by the sword.
14 And I will lay my vengeance upon Edom
by the hand of my people Israel: and they shall do in Edom according to mine
anger and according to my fury; and they shall know my vengeance, saith the
Lord GOD.
15 Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because the Philistines have dealt
by revenge, and have taken vengeance with a despiteful heart, to destroy
it for the old hatred;
16 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I
will stretch out mine hand upon the Philistines, and I will cut off the Cherethims,
and destroy the remnant of the sea coast.
17 And I will execute great
vengeance upon them with furious rebukes; and they shall know that I am the
LORD, when I shall lay my vengeance upon them.
CHAPTER 26
1 And it came to pass in
the eleventh year, in the first day of the month, that the word of the LORD
came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, because that Tyrus hath said against
Jerusalem, Aha, she is broken that was the gates of the people: she is turned
unto me: I shall be replenished, now she is laid waste:
3 Therefore thus
saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Tyrus, and will cause many
nations to come up against thee, as the sea causeth his waves to come up.
4 And they shall destroy the walls of Tyrus, and break down her towers:
I will also scrape her dust from her, and make her like the top of a rock.
5 It shall be a place for the spreading of nets in the midst of the sea:
for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD: and it shall become a spoil to
the nations.
6 And her daughters which are in the field shall be slain
by the sword; and they shall know that I am the LORD.
7 For thus saith
the Lord GOD; Behold, I will bring upon Tyrus Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon,
a king of kings, from the north, with horses, and with chariots, and with
horsemen, and companies, and much people.
8 He shall slay with the sword
thy daughters in the field: and he shall make a fort against thee, and cast
a mount against thee, and lift up the buckler against thee.
9 And he shall
set engines of war against thy walls, and with his axes he shall break down
thy towers.
10 By reason of the abundance of his horses their dust shall
cover thee: thy walls shall shake at the noise of the horsemen, and of the
wheels, and of the chariots, when he shall enter into thy gates, as men enter
into a city wherein is made a breach.
11 With the hoofs of his horses
shall he tread down all thy streets: he shall slay thy people by the sword,
and thy strong garrisons shall go down to the ground.
12 And they shall
make a spoil of thy riches, and make a prey of thy merchandise: and they
shall break down thy walls, and destroy thy pleasant houses: and they shall
lay thy stones and thy timber and thy dust in the midst of the water.
13
And I will cause the noise of thy songs to cease; and the sound of thy harps
shall be no more heard.
14 And I will make thee like the top of a rock:
thou shalt be a place to spread nets upon; thou shalt be built no more: for
I the LORD have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.
15 Thus saith the Lord
GOD to Tyrus; Shall not the isles shake at the sound of thy fall, when the
wounded cry, when the slaughter is made in the midst of thee?
16 Then
all the princes of the sea shall come down from their thrones, and lay away
their robes, and put off their broidered garments: they shall clothe themselves
with trembling; they shall sit upon the ground, and shall tremble at every
moment, and be astonished at thee.
17 And they shall take up a lamentation
for thee, and say to thee, How art thou destroyed, that wast inhabited of
seafaring men, the renowned city, which wast strong in the sea, she and her
inhabitants, which cause their terror to be on all that haunt it!
18 Now
shall the isles tremble in the day of thy fall; yea, the isles that are in
the sea shall be troubled at thy departure.
19 For thus saith the Lord
GOD; When I shall make thee a desolate city, like the cities that are not
inhabited; when I shall bring up the deep upon thee, and great waters shall
cover thee;
20 When I shall bring thee down with them that descend into
the pit, with the people of old time, and shall set thee in the low parts
of the earth, in places desolate of old, with them that go down to the pit,
that thou be not inhabited; and I shall set glory in the land of the living;
21
I will make thee a terror, and thou shalt be no more: though thou be sought
for, yet shalt thou never be found again, saith the Lord GOD.
CHAPTER 27
1 The word
of the LORD came again unto me, saying,
2 Now, thou son of man, take up
a lamentation for Tyrus;
3 And say unto Tyrus, O thou that art situate
at the entry of the sea, which art a merchant of the people for many isles,
Thus saith the Lord GOD; O Tyrus, thou hast said, I am of perfect beauty.
4 Thy borders are in the midst of the seas, thy builders have perfected
thy beauty.
5 They have made all thy ship boards of fir trees of Senir:
they have taken cedars from Lebanon to make masts for thee.
6 Of the oaks
of Bashan have they made thine oars; the company of the Ashurites have made
thy benches of ivory, brought out of the isles of Chittim.
7 Fine linen
with broidered work from Egypt was that which thou spreadest forth to be
thy sail; blue and purple from the isles of Elishah was that which covered
thee.
8 The inhabitants of Zidon and Arvad were thy mariners: thy wise
men, O Tyrus, that were in thee, were thy pilots.
9 The ancients of Gebal
and the wise men thereof were in thee thy calkers: all the ships of the sea
with their mariners were in thee to occupy thy merchandise.
10 They of
Persia and of Lud and of Phut were in thine army, thy men of war: they hanged
the shield and helmet in thee; they set forth thy comeliness.
11 The men
of Arvad with thine army were upon thy walls round about, and the Gammadims
were in thy towers: they hanged their shields upon thy walls round about;
they have made thy beauty perfect.
12 Tarshish was thy merchant by reason
of the multitude of all kind of riches; with silver, iron, tin, and lead,
they traded in thy fairs.
13 Javan, Tubal, and Meshech, they were thy
merchants: they traded the persons of men and vessels of brass in thy market.
14 They of the house of Togarmah traded in thy fairs with horses and horsemen
and mules.
15 The men of Dedan were thy merchants; many isles were the
merchandise of thine hand: they brought thee for a present horns of ivory
and ebony.
16 Syria was thy merchant by reason of the multitude of the
wares of thy making: they occupied in thy fairs with emeralds, purple, and
broidered work, and fine linen, and coral, and agate.
17 Judah, and the
land of Israel, they were thy merchants: they traded in thy market wheat
of Minnith, and Pannag, and honey, and oil, and balm.
18 Damascus was
thy merchant in the multitude of the wares of thy making, for the multitude
of all riches; in the wine of Helbon, and white wool.
19 Dan also and
Javan going to and fro occupied in thy fairs: bright iron, cassia, and calamus,
were in thy market.
20 Dedan was thy merchant in precious clothes for
chariots.
21 Arabia, and all the princes of Kedar, they occupied with
thee in lambs, and rams, and goats: in these were they thy merchants.
22
The merchants of Sheba and Raamah, they were thy merchants: they occupied
in thy fairs with chief of all spices, and with all precious stones, and
gold.
23 Haran, and Canneh, and Eden, the merchants of Sheba, Asshur,
and Chilmad, were thy merchants.
24 These were thy merchants in all sorts
of things, in blue clothes, and broidered work, and in chests of rich apparel,
bound with cords, and made of cedar, among thy merchandise.
25 The ships
of Tarshish did sing of thee in thy market: and thou wast replenished, and
made very glorious in the midst of the seas.
26 Thy rowers have brought
thee into great waters: the east wind hath broken thee in the midst of the
seas.
27 Thy riches, and thy fairs, thy merchandise, thy mariners, and
thy pilots, thy calkers, and the occupiers of thy merchandise, and all thy
men of war, that are in thee, and in all thy company which is in the midst
of thee, shall fall into the midst of the seas in the day of thy ruin.
28
The suburbs shall shake at the sound of the cry of thy pilots.
29 And
all that handle the oar, the mariners, and all the pilots of the sea, shall
come down from their ships, they shall stand upon the land;
30 And shall
cause their voice to be heard against thee, and shall cry bitterly, and shall
cast up dust upon their heads, they shall wallow themselves in the ashes:
31
And they shall make themselves utterly bald for thee, and gird them with
sackcloth, and they shall weep for thee with bitterness of heart and bitter
wailing.
32 And in their wailing they shall take up a lamentation for
thee, and lament over thee, saying, What city is like Tyrus, like the destroyed
in the midst of the sea?
33 When thy wares went forth out of the seas,
thou filledst many people; thou didst enrich the kings of the earth with
the multitude of thy riches and of thy merchandise.
34 In the time when
thou shalt be broken by the seas in the depths of the waters thy merchandise
and all thy company in the midst of thee shall fall.
35 All the inhabitants
of the isles shall be astonished at thee, and their kings shall be sore afraid,
they shall be troubled in their countenance.
36 The merchants among the
people shall hiss at thee; thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt be any
more.
CHAPTER 28
1 The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying,
2 Son of man,
say unto the prince of Tyrus, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thine heart
is lifted up, and thou hast said, I am a God, I sit in the seat of God, in
the midst of the seas; yet thou art a man, and not God, though thou set thine
heart as the heart of God:
3 Behold, thou art wiser than Daniel; there
is no secret that they can hide from thee:
4 With thy wisdom and with
thine understanding thou hast gotten thee riches, and hast gotten gold and
silver into thy treasures:
5 By thy great wisdom and by thy traffick hast
thou increased thy riches, and thine heart is lifted up because of thy riches:
6
Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thou hast set thine heart as the
heart of God;
7 Behold, therefore I will bring strangers upon thee, the
terrible of the nations: and they shall draw their swords against the beauty
of thy wisdom, and they shall defile thy brightness.
8 They shall bring
thee down to the pit, and thou shalt die the deaths of them that are slain
in the midst of the seas.
9 Wilt thou yet say before him that slayeth
thee, I am God? but thou shalt be a man, and no God, in the hand of him that
slayeth thee.
10 Thou shalt die the deaths of the uncircumcised by the
hand of strangers: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.
11 Moreover
the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
12 Son of man, take up a lamentation
upon the king of Tyrus, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Thou sealest
up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty.
13 Thou hast been in
Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius,
topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire,
the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets
and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created.
14 Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so:
thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in
the midst of the stones of fire.
15 Thou wast perfect in thy ways from
the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.
16 By
the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with
violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out
of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from
the midst of the stones of fire.
17 Thine heart was lifted up because
of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness:
I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may
behold thee.
18 Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of
thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffick; therefore will I bring
forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring
thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee.
19
All they that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee: thou
shalt be a terror, and never shalt thou be any more.
20 Again the word
of the LORD came unto me, saying,
21 Son of man, set thy face against Zidon,
and prophesy against it,
22 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I
am against thee, O Zidon; and I will be glorified in the midst of thee: and
they shall know that I am the LORD, when I shall have executed judgments
in her, and shall be sanctified in her.
23 For I will send into her pestilence,
and blood into her streets; and the wounded shall be judged in the midst
of her by the sword upon her on every side; and they shall know that I am
the LORD.
24 And there shall be no more a pricking brier unto the house
of Israel, nor any grieving thorn of all that are round about them, that
despised them; and they shall know that I am the Lord GOD.
25 Thus saith
the Lord GOD; When I shall have gathered the house of Israel from the people
among whom they are scattered, and shall be sanctified in them in the sight
of the heathen, then shall they dwell in their land that I have given to
my servant Jacob.
26 And they shall dwell safely therein, and shall build
houses, and plant vineyards; yea, they shall dwell with confidence, when
I have executed judgments upon all those that despise them round about them;
and they shall know that I am the LORD their God.
CHAPTER 29
1 In the tenth year,
in the tenth month, in the twelfth day of the month, the word of the LORD
came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, set thy face against Pharaoh king of
Egypt, and prophesy against him, and against all Egypt:
3 Speak, and say,
Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, Pharaoh king of Egypt,
the great dragon that lieth in the midst of his rivers, which hath said,
My river is mine own, and I have made it for myself.
4 But I will put
hooks in thy jaws, and I will cause the fish of thy rivers to stick unto
thy scales, and I will bring thee up out of the midst of thy rivers, and
all the fish of thy rivers shall stick unto thy scales.
5 And I will leave
thee thrown into the wilderness, thee and all the fish of thy rivers: thou
shalt fall upon the open fields; thou shalt not be brought together, nor
gathered: I have given thee for meat to the beasts of the field and to the
fowls of the heaven.
6 And all the inhabitants of Egypt shall know that
I am the LORD, because they have been a staff of reed to the house of Israel.
7 When they took hold of thee by thy hand, thou didst break, and rend
all their shoulder: and when they leaned upon thee, thou brakest, and madest
all their loins to be at a stand.
8 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD;
Behold, I will bring a sword upon thee, and cut off man and beast out of
thee.
9 And the land of Egypt shall be desolate and waste; and they shall
know that I am the LORD: because he hath said, The river is mine, and I have
made it.
10 Behold, therefore I am against thee, and against thy rivers,
and I will make the land of Egypt utterly waste and desolate, from the tower
of Syene even unto the border of Ethiopia.
11 No foot of man shall pass
through it, nor foot of beast shall pass through it, neither shall it be
inhabited forty years.
12 And I will make the land of Egypt desolate in
the midst of the countries that are desolate, and her cities among the cities
that are laid waste shall be desolate forty years: and I will scatter the
Egyptians among the nations, and will disperse them through the countries.
13 Yet thus saith the Lord GOD; At the end of forty years will I gather
the Egyptians from the people whither they were scattered:
14 And I will
bring again the captivity of Egypt, and will cause them to return into the
land of Pathros, into the land of their habitation; and they shall be there
a base kingdom.
15 It shall be the basest of the kingdoms; neither shall
it exalt itself any more above the nations: for I will diminish them, that
they shall no more rule over the nations.
16 And it shall be no more the
confidence of the house of Israel, which bringeth their iniquity to remembrance,
when they shall look after them: but they shall know that I am the Lord GOD.
17 And it came to pass in the seven and twentieth year, in the first month,
in the first day of the month, the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
18
Son of man, Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon caused his army to serve a great
service against Tyrus: every head was made bald, and every shoulder was peeled:
yet had he no wages, nor his army, for Tyrus, for the service that he had
served against it:
19 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will
give the land of Egypt unto Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon; and he shall
take her multitude, and take her spoil, and take her prey; and it shall be
the wages for his army.
20 I have given him the land of Egypt for his
labour wherewith he served against it, because they wrought for me, saith
the Lord GOD.
21 In that day will I cause the horn of the house of Israel
to bud forth, and I will give thee the opening of the mouth in the midst
of them; and they shall know that I am the LORD.
CHAPTER 30
1 The word of the LORD
came again unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, prophesy and say, Thus saith
the Lord GOD; Howl ye, Woe worth the day!
3 For the day is near, even
the day of the LORD is near, a cloudy day; it shall be the time of the heathen.
4 And the sword shall come upon Egypt, and great pain shall be in Ethiopia,
when the slain shall fall in Egypt, and they shall take away her multitude,
and her foundations shall be broken down.
5 Ethiopia, and Libya, and Lydia,
and all the mingled people, and Chub, and the men of the land that is in
league, shall fall with them by the sword.
6 Thus saith the LORD; They
also that uphold Egypt shall fall; and the pride of her power shall come
down: from the tower of Syene shall they fall in it by the sword, saith the
Lord GOD.
7 And they shall be desolate in the midst of the countries that
are desolate, and her cities shall be in the midst of the cities that are
wasted.
8 And they shall know that I am the LORD, when I have set a fire
in Egypt, and when all her helpers shall be destroyed.
9 In that day shall
messengers go forth from me in ships to make the careless Ethiopians afraid,
and great pain shall come upon them, as in the day of Egypt: for, lo, it
cometh.
10 Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will also make the multitude of
Egypt to cease by the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon.
11 He and
his people with him, the terrible of the nations, shall be brought to destroy
the land: and they shall draw their swords against Egypt, and fill the land
with the slain.
12 And I will make the rivers dry, and sell the land into
the hand of the wicked: and I will make the land waste, and all that is therein,
by the hand of strangers: I the LORD have spoken it.
13 Thus saith the
Lord GOD; I will also destroy the idols, and I will cause their images to
cease out of Noph; and there shall be no more a prince of the land of Egypt:
and I will put a fear in the land of Egypt.
14 And I will make Pathros
desolate, and will set fire in Zoan, and will execute judgments in No.
15
And I will pour my fury upon Sin, the strength of Egypt; and I will cut off
the multitude of No.
16 And I will set fire in Egypt: Sin shall have great
pain, and No shall be rent asunder, and Noph shall have distresses daily.
17 The young men of Aven and of Pibeseth shall fall by the sword: and
these cities shall go into captivity.
18 At Tehaphnehes also the day shall
be darkened, when I shall break there the yokes of Egypt: and the pomp of
her strength shall cease in her: as for her, a cloud shall cover her, and
her daughters shall go into captivity.
19 Thus will I execute judgments
in Egypt: and they shall know that I am the LORD.
20 And it came to pass
in the eleventh year, in the first month, in the seventh day of the month,
that the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
21 Son of man, I have broken
the arm of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and, lo, it shall not be bound up to be
healed, to put a roller to bind it, to make it strong to hold the sword.
22 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against Pharaoh king
of Egypt, and will break his arms, the strong, and that which was broken;
and I will cause the sword to fall out of his hand.
23 And I will scatter
the Egyptians among the nations, and will disperse them through the countries.
24 And I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, and put my sword
in his hand: but I will break Pharaoh's arms, and he shall groan before him
with the groanings of a deadly wounded man.
25 But I will strengthen the
arms of the king of Babylon, and the arms of Pharaoh shall fall down; and
they shall know that I am the LORD, when I shall put my sword into the hand
of the king of Babylon, and he shall stretch it out upon the land of Egypt.
26 And I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and disperse them
among the countries; and they shall know that I am the LORD.
CHAPTER 31
1 And it
came to pass in the eleventh year, in the third month, in the first day of
the month, that the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man,
speak unto Pharaoh king of Egypt, and to his multitude; Whom art thou like
in thy greatness?
3 Behold, the Assyrian was a cedar in Lebanon with fair
branches, and with a shadowing shroud, and of an high stature; and his top
was among the thick boughs.
4 The waters made him great, the deep set
him up on high with her rivers running round about his plants, and sent her
little rivers unto all the trees of the field.
5 Therefore his height
was exalted above all the trees of the field, and his boughs were multiplied,
and his branches became long because of the multitude of waters, when he
shot forth.
6 All the fowls of heaven made their nests in his boughs,
and under his branches did all the beasts of the field bring forth their
young, and under his shadow dwelt all great nations.
7 Thus was he fair
in his greatness, in the length of his branches: for his root was by great
waters.
8 The cedars in the garden of God could not hide him: the fir
trees were not like his boughs, and the chestnut trees were not like his
branches; nor any tree in the garden of God was like unto him in his beauty.
9 I have made him fair by the multitude of his branches: so that all the
trees of Eden, that were in the garden of God, envied him.
10 Therefore
thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thou hast lifted up thyself in height, and
he hath shot up his top among the thick boughs, and his heart is lifted up
in his height;
11 I have therefore delivered him into the hand of the mighty
one of the heathen; he shall surely deal with him: I have driven him out
for his wickedness.
12 And strangers, the terrible of the nations, have
cut him off, and have left him: upon the mountains and in all the valleys
his branches are fallen, and his boughs are broken by all the rivers of the
land; and all the people of the earth are gone down from his shadow, and
have left him.
13 Upon his ruin shall all the fowls of the heaven remain,
and all the beasts of the field shall be upon his branches:
14 To the end
that none of all the trees by the waters exalt themselves for their height,
neither shoot up their top among the thick boughs, neither their trees stand
up in their height, all that drink water: for they are all delivered unto
death, to the nether parts of the earth, in the midst of the children of
men, with them that go down to the pit.
15 Thus saith the Lord GOD; In
the day when he went down to the grave I caused a mourning: I covered the
deep for him, and I restrained the floods thereof, and the great waters were
stayed: and I caused Lebanon to mourn for him, and all the trees of the field
fainted for him.
16 I made the nations to shake at the sound of his fall,
when I cast him down to hell with them that descend into the pit: and all
the trees of Eden, the choice and best of Lebanon, all that drink water,
shall be comforted in the nether parts of the earth.
17 They also went
down into hell with him unto them that be slain with the sword; and they
that were his arm, that dwelt under his shadow in the midst of the heathen.
18 To whom art thou thus like in glory and in greatness among the trees
of Eden? yet shalt thou be brought down with the trees of Eden unto the nether
parts of the earth: thou shalt lie in the midst of the uncircumcised with
them that be slain by the sword. This is Pharaoh and all his multitude, saith
the Lord GOD.
CHAPTER 32
1 And it came to pass in the twelfth year, in the twelfth
month, in the first day of the month, that the word of the LORD came unto
me, saying,
2 Son of man, take up a lamentation for Pharaoh king of Egypt,
and say unto him, Thou art like a young lion of the nations, and thou art
as a whale in the seas: and thou camest forth with thy rivers, and troubledst
the waters with thy feet, and fouledst their rivers.
3 Thus saith the
Lord GOD; I will therefore spread out my net over thee with a company of
many people; and they shall bring thee up in my net.
4 Then will I leave
thee upon the land, I will cast thee forth upon the open field, and will
cause all the fowls of the heaven to remain upon thee, and I will fill the
beasts of the whole earth with thee.
5 And I will lay thy flesh upon the
mountains, and fill the valleys with thy height.
6 I will also water with
thy blood the land wherein thou swimmest, even to the mountains; and the
rivers