Ezekiel

22 And the word of Jehovah continued to occur to me, saying: 2 “And as for you, O son of man, will you judge,+ will you judge the bloodguilty city*+ and certainly cause her to know all her detestable things?+ 3 And you must say, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord Jehovah has said: “O city that is shedding blood+ in her midst till her time comes,+ and that has made dungy idols within herself in order to become unclean,+ 4 by your blood that you have shed you have become guilty,+ and by your dungy idols that you have made you have become unclean.+ And you bring your days near, and you will come to your years. That is why I must make you an object of reproach to the nations and of jeering to all the lands.+ 5 The [lands] nearby and those far away from you will jeer you, O you unclean in name, abounding in confusion.+ 6 Look! The chieftains+ of Israel have proved to be in you, each one [given over] to his arm for the purpose of shedding blood.+ 7 Father and mother they have treated with contempt in you.+ Toward the alien resident they have acted with defrauding in the midst of you.+ Fatherless boy and widow they have maltreated in you.”’”+

8 “‘My holy places you have despised, and my sabbaths you have profaned.+ 9 Outright slanderers* have proved to be in you, for the purpose of shedding blood;+ and on the mountains they have eaten in you.+ Loose conduct they have carried on in the midst of you.+ 10 The nakedness of a father they have uncovered* in you;+ a woman unclean in [her] menstruation they have humiliated in you.+ 11 And with the wife of his companion a man has done a detestable thing,+ and his own daughter-in-law a man has defiled with loose conduct;+ and his sister, the daughter of his own father, a man has humiliated in you.+ 12 A bribe they have taken in you for the purpose of shedding blood.+ Interest+ and usury you have taken,+ and you violently keep making gain+ of your companions with defrauding,+ and me you have forgotten,’+ is the utterance of the Sovereign Lord Jehovah.

13 “‘And, look! I have struck my hand+ at your unjust gain that you have made,+ and over your acts of bloodshed* that have proved to be in the midst of you.+ 14 Will your heart keep enduring+ or your hands furnish strength in the days when I am taking action toward you?+ I myself, Jehovah, have spoken and I will take action.+ 15 And I will scatter you among the nations and disperse you among the lands,+ and I will destroy* your uncleanness* out of you.+ 16 And you will certainly be profaned within yourself before the eyes of [the] nations, and you will have to know that I am Jehovah.’”+

17 And the word of Jehovah continued to come to me, saying: 18 “Son of man, to me those of the house of Israel have become as scummy dross.+ All of them are copper and tin and iron and lead in the midst of a furnace. Much scummy dross, [that of] silver, they have become.+

19 “Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord Jehovah has said, ‘For the reason that all of YOU have become as much scummy dross,+ therefore here I am collecting YOU together into the midst of Jerusalem.+ 20 As in collecting silver and copper and iron+ and lead and tin into the midst of a furnace, in order to blow+ upon it with fire to cause a liquefying,+ so I shall collect [them] together in my anger and in my rage, and I will blow* and cause YOU people to liquefy. 21 And I will bring YOU together and blow upon YOU with the fire of my fury,+ and YOU must be liquefied in the midst of her.*+ 22 As in the liquefying of silver in the midst of a furnace, so YOU people will be liquefied in the midst of her; and YOU will have to know that I myself, Jehovah, have poured out my rage upon YOU.’”+

23 And the word of Jehovah continued to come to me, saying: 24 “Son of man, say to her, ‘You are a land not being cleansed, one not rained down upon in the day of denunciation.+ 25 There is a conspiracy of her prophets in the midst of her,+ like the roaring lion, tearing prey.+ A soul they actually devour.+ Treasure and precious things they keep taking.+ Her widows they have multiplied in the midst of her.+ 26 Her priests themselves have done violence to my law,+ and they keep profaning my holy places.+ Between the holy thing and the common*+ they have made no distinction,+ and between the unclean thing and the clean they have made nothing known,+ and from my sabbaths they have hidden their eyes,+ and I am profaned in the midst of them.+ 27 Her princes in the midst of her are like wolves tearing prey in shedding blood,+ in destroying souls* for the purpose of making unjust gain.+ 28 And her prophets have plastered for them with whitewash,+ visioning an unreality+ and divining for them a lie,+ saying: “This is what the Sovereign Lord Jehovah has said,” when Jehovah himself has not spoken. 29 The people of the land themselves have carried on a scheme of defrauding+ and have done a tearing away in robbery,+ and the afflicted one and the poor one they have maltreated,+ and the alien resident they have defrauded without justice.’+

30 “‘And I kept looking for a man* from among them who would be repairing the stone wall+ and standing in the gap+ before me in behalf of the land, in order [for me] not to bring it to ruin;+ and I found no one. 31 So I shall pour out my denunciation+ upon them. With the fire of my fury I will exterminate them.+ Their way I will bring upon their own head,’+ is the utterance of the Sovereign Lord Jehovah.”