Ezekiel
22:1 Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
22:2 Now, thou son of man, wilt thou judge, wilt thou judge the bloody city?
yea, thou shalt shew her all her abominations.
22:3 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.
22:4 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.
22:5 Those that be near, and those that be far from thee, shall mock thee,
which art infamous and much vexed.
22:6 Behold, the princes of Israel, every one were in thee to their power to
shed blood.
22:7 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.
22:8 Thou hast despised mine holy things, and hast profaned my sabbaths.
22:9 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.
22:10 In thee have they discovered their fathers' nakedness: in thee have they
humbled her that was set apart for pollution.
22:11 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.
22:12 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.
22:13 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.
22:14 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.
22:15 And I will scatter thee among the heathen, and disperse thee in the
countries, and will consume thy filthiness out of thee.
22:16 And thou shalt take thine inheritance in thyself in the sight of the
heathen, and thou shalt know that I am the LORD.
22:17 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
22:18 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.
22:19 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because ye are all become dross,
behold, therefore I will gather you into the midst of Jerusalem.
22:20 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.
22:21 Yea, I will gather you, and blow upon you in the fire of my wrath, and
ye shall be melted in the midst thereof.
22:22 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.
22:23 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
22:24 Son of man, say unto her, Thou art the land that is not cleansed, nor
rained upon in the day of indignation.
22:25 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.
22:26 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.
22:27 Her princes in the midst thereof are like wolves ravening the prey, to
shed blood, and to destroy souls, to get dishonest gain.
22:28 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.
22:29 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.
22:30 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.
22:31 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.
