The story of the rebellion CHAP. XX. of the Israelites. 3 Son of man, speak unto the elders of polluted my sabbaths: for their heart went Israel, and say unto them, Thus saith the after their idols. Lord GOD; Are ye come to inquire of me? As I live, saith the Lord God, I will not be inquired of by you. 4 Wilt thou judge them, son of man? wilt thou judge them? cause them to know the abominations of their fathers: 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 judg5 ¶ And say unto them, Thus saith the ments, nor defile yourselves with their idols: Lord GOD; In the day when I chose Israel, 19 I am the LORD your God; walk in and lifted up mine hand unto the seed of my statutes, and keep my judgments, and the house of Jacob, and made myself do them; known unto them in the land of Egypt, 20 And hallow my sabbaths; and they when I lifted up mine hand unto them, shall be a sign between me and you, that ye saying, I am the LORD your God; may know that I am the LORD your God. 6 In the day that I lifted up mine hand 21 Notwithstanding the children rebelunto them, to bring them forth of the land led against me: they walked not in my of Egypt into a land that I had espied for statutes, neither kept my judgments to do them, flowing with milk and honey, which them, which if a man do, he shall even live is the glory of all lands: in them: they polluted my sabbaths: then 7 Then said I unto them, Cast ye away I said, I would pour out my fury upon them, every man the abominations of his eyes, to accomplish my anger against them in and defile not yourselves with the idols of the wilderness. Egypt: I am the LORD your God. 22 Nevertheless I withdrew mine hand, 8 But they rebelled against me, and and wrought for my name's sake, that it would not hearken unto me: they did not should not be polluted in the sight of the every man cast away the abominations of heathen, in whose sight I brought them forth. their eyes, neither did they forsake the 23 I lifted up mine hand unto them idols of Egypt: then I said, I will pour out also in the wilderness, that I would scatmy fury upon them, to accomplish my ter them among the heathen, and disperse anger against them in the midst of the land them through the countries; of Egypt. 24 Because they had not executed my 9 But I wrought for my name's sake, judgments, but had despised my statutes, that it should not be polluted before the and had polluted my sabbaths, and their heathen, among whom they were, in whose eyes were after their fathers' idols. sight I made myself known unto them, in 25 Wherefore I gave them also statutes bringing them forth out of the land of Egypt. that were not good, and judgments where10 Wherefore I caused them to go by they should not live; 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 man do, he shall even live in them. 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 a might make them desolate, to the end that they might know that I am the LORD. 12 Moreover also I gave them my sab- 27 Therefore, son of man, speak unto baths, to be a sign between me and them, the house of Israel, and say unto them, that they might know that I am the LORD Thus saith the Lord GOD, Yet in this your that sanctify them. fathers have blasphemed me, in that they 13 But the house of Israel rebelled have committed a trespass against me. against me in the wilderness: they walked 28 For when I had brought them into not in my statutes, and they despised my the land, for the which I lifted up mine judgments, which if a man do, he shall hand to give it to them, then they saw every even live in them and my sabbaths they high hill, and all the thick trees, and they greatly polluted: then I said, I would pour offered there their sacrifices, and there they out my fury upon them in the wilderness, presented the provocation of their offering: to consume them. there also they made their sweet savour, 14 But I wrought for my name's sake, and poured out there their drink-offerings. that it should not be polluted before the 29 Then I said unto them, What is the heathen, in whose sight I brought them out. high place whereunto ye go? and the name 15 Yet also I lifted up my hand unto thereof is called Bamah unto this day. them in the wilderness, that I would not 30 Wherefore say unto the house of bring them into the land which I had given Israel, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Are ye them, flowing with milk and honey, which polluted after the manner of your fathers? is the glory of all lands; and commit ye whoredom after their abo 16 Because they despised my judgminations? ments, and walked not in my statutes, but 31 For when ye offer your gifts, when God promises to gather them. EZEKIEL. Prophecy against Jerusalem. ye make your sons to pass through the fire, rupt doings, O ye house of Israel, saith the ye pollute yourselves with all your idols, Lord GOD. even unto this day; and shall I be in- 45 Moreover the word of the LORD quired of by you, O house of Israel? As came unto me, saying, I live, saith the Lord GoD, I will not be inquired of by you. 46 Son of man, set thy face toward the south, and drop thy word toward the south, 32 And that which cometh into your and prophesy against the forest of the south mind shall not be at all, that ye say, We field; will be as the heathen, as the families of 47 And say to the forest of the south, the countries, to serve wood and stone. 33 As I live, saith the Lord GOD, surely with a mighty hand, and with a stretchedout 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. Hear the word of the LORD; Thus saith the Lord Gop; 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 35 And I will bring you into the wil- of me, Doth he not speak parables? derness of the people, and there will I CHAP. XXI. plead with you face to face. 36 Like as I pleaded with your fathers AND the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so 2 Son of man, set thy face toward Jeruwill I plead with you, saith the Lord GOD. salem, and drop thy word toward the holy 37 And I will cause you to pass under places, and prophesy against the land of the rod, and I will bring you into the bond Israel, of the covenant: 3 And say to the land of Israel, Thus 38 And I will purge out from among you saith the LORD; Behold, I am against thee, the rebels, and them that transgress against and will draw forth my sword out of his me: I will bring them forth out of the sheath, and will cut off from thee the country where they sojourn, and they shall righteous and the wicked. not enter into the land of Israel: and ye shall know that I am the LORD. 4 Seeing then that I will cut off from thee the righteous and the wicked, there39 As for you, O house of Israel, thus fore shall my sword go forth out of his sheath saith the Lord GOD; Go ye, serve ye against all flesh from the south to the north: every one his idols, and hereafter also, if 5 That all flesh may know that I the ye will not hearken unto me: but pollute LORD have drawn forth my sword out of ye my holy name no more with your gifts, his sheath: it shall not return any more. and with your idols. 6 Sigh therefore, thou son of man, with 40 For in mine holy mountain, in the the breaking of thy loins; and with bittermountain of the height of Israel, saith the ness sigh before their eyes. : Lord God, there shall all the house of 7 And it shall be, when they say unto Israel, all of them in the land, serve me thee, Wherefore sighest thou? that thou there will I accept them, and there will I shalt answer, For the tidings, because it require your offerings, and the first fruits of cometh and every heart shall melt, and your oblations, with all your holy things. all hands shall be feeble, and every spirit 41 I will accept you with your sweet shall faint, and all knees shall be weak as savour, when I bring you out from the peo-water: behold, it cometh, and shall be ple, and gather you out of the countries brought to pass, saith the Lord GOD. wherein ye have been scattered; and I 8 Again the word of the LORD came will be sanctified in you before the heathen. unto me, saying, 42 And ye shall know that I am the LORD, 9 Son of man, prophesy, and say, Thus when I shall bring you into the land of Is-saith the LORD; Say, A sword, a sword is rael, into the country for the which I lift- sharpened, and also furbished: ed up mine hand to give it to your fathers. 10 It is sharpened to make a sore slaugh43 And there shall ye remember your ter, it is furbished that it may glitter; ways, and all your doings wherein ye have should we then make mirth? it contemneth been defiled; and ye shall loathe your- the rod of my son, as every tree. selves in your own sight for all your evils 11 And he hath given it to be furbished, that ye have committed. that it may be handled: this sword is 44 And ye shall know that I am the sharpened, and it is furbished, to give it LORD, when I have wrought with you for into the hand of the slayer. my name's sake, not according to your 12 Cry and howl, son of man: for it wicked ways, nor according to your cor-shall be upon my people, it shall be upon The Ammonites threatened. • CHAP. XXII. A catalogue of Jerusalem's sins. all the princes of Israel: terrors by reason whose right it is; and I will give it him. 14 Thou therefore, son of man, pro- bished, to consume because of the glit 15 I have set the point of the sword their iniquity shall have an end. 30 Shall I cause it to return into his against all their gates, that their heart may faint, and their ruins be multiplied: ah! sheath? I will judge thee in the place where it is made bright, it is wrapped up for the thou wast created, in the land of thy nativity. 31 And I will pour out mine indignation slaughter. 16 Go thee one way or other, either on upon thee, I will blow against thee in the the right hand, or on the left, whitherso-fire of my wrath, and deliver thee into the hand of brutish men, and skilful to destroy. ever thy face is set. 32 Thou shalt be for fuel to the fire; thy 17 I will also smite mine hands together, and I will cause my fury to rest: I the blood shall be in the midst of the land thou shalt be no more remembered; for i LORD have said it. 18 The word of the LORD came unto the LORD have spoken it. me again, saying, 19 Also, thou son of man, appoint thee two ways, that son 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. CHAP. XXII. OREOVER the word of the LORD MOREOVER 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: there22 At his right hand was the divination fore have I made thee a reproach unto the for Jerusalem, to appoint.captains, to open heathen, and a mocking to all countries. 5 Those that be near, and those that be the mouth in the slaughter, to lift up the voice with shouting, to appoint battering far from thee, shall mock thee, which art rams against the gates, to cast a mount, infamous and much vexed. 6 Behold, the princes of Israel, every one and to build a fort. 23 And it shall be unto them as a false were in thee to their power to shed blood. 7 In thee have they set light by father divination in their sight, to them that have sworn oaths: but he will call to remem- and mother: in the midst of thee have they brance the iniquity, that they may be taken. dealt by oppression with the stranger: in 24 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; thee have they vexed the fatherless and the Because ye have made your iniquity to be widow. 8 Thou hast despised mine holy things, remembered, in that your transgressions are discovered, so that in all your doings and hast profaned my sabbaths. your sins do appear; because, I say, that ye are come to remembrance, ye shall be taken with the hand. 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 25 T And thou, profane wicked prince lewdness. 10 In thee have they discovered their : 631 Of Aholah and Akolibah. 12 In thee have they taken gifts to shed 28 And her prophets have daubed them blood; thou hast taken usury and increase, with untempered mortar, seeing vanity, and thou hast greedily gained of thy neigh and divining lies unto them, saying, Thus bours by extortion, and hast forgotten me, saith the Lord GoD, when the LORD hath saith the Lord GOD. not spoken. 13 T Behold, therefore I have smitten 29 The people of the land have used mine hand at thy dishonest gain which oppression, and exercised robbery, and thou hast made, and at thy blood which have vexed the poor and needy: yea, they hath been in the midst of thee. have oppressed the stranger wrongfully. 14 Can thine heart endure, or can thine 30 And I sought for a man among them, hands be strong, in the days that I shall that should make up the hedge, and stand deal with thee! I the LORD have spoken in the gap before me for the land, that I it, and will do it. should not destroy it: but I found none. 15 And I will scatter thee among the heathen, and disperse thee in the countries, and will consume thy filthiness out of thee. 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, 16 And thou shalt take thine inheritance saith the Lord GOD. in thyself in the sight of the heathen, and CHAP. XXIII. thou shalt know that I am the LORD. 17 And the word of the Lone came THE word of the LORD came again unto me, saying, LORD unto me, saying, 2 Son of man, there were two women, 18 Son of man, the house of Israel is to the daughters of one mother: me become dross: all they are brass, and 3 And they committed whoredoms in tin, and iron, and lead, in the midst of the Egypt; they committed whoredoms in furnace; they are even the dross of silver. their youth: there were their breasts 19 Therefore thus saith the Lord Gon, pressed, and there they bruised the teats Because ye are all become dross, behold, of their virginity. therefore I will gather you into the midst of Jerusalem. 4 And the names of them were Aholah the elder, and Aholibah her sister; and 20 As they gather silver, and brass, and they were mine, and they bare sons and iron, and lead, and tin, into the midst of daughters. Thus were their names; Sathe furnace, to blow the fire upon it, to maria is Aholah, and Jerusalem Aholibah. melt it; so will I gather you in mine anger and in my fury, and I will leave you there, she was mine; and she doted on her lovers, 5 And Aholah played the harlot when and melt you. on the Assyrians her neighbours, 21 Yea, I will gather you, and blow 6 Which were clothed with blue, capupon you in the fire of my wrath, and ye tains and rulers, all of them desirable shall be melted in the midst thereof. 22 As silver is melted in the midst of young men, horsemen riding upon horses. 7 Thus she committed her whoredoms the furnace, so shall ye be melted in the with them, with all them that were the midst thereof; and ye shall know that I the chosen men of Assyria, and with all on LORD have poured out my fury upon you. whom she doted; with all their idols she 23 T And the word of the LORD came defiled herself. unto me, saying, 8 Neither left she her whoredoms 24 Son of man, say unto her, Thou art brought from Egypt: for in her youth they the land that is not cleansed, nor rained lay with her, and they bruised the breasts upon in the day of indignation. 25 There is a conspiracy of her pro-dom upon her. of her virginity, and poured their whorephets in the midst thereof, like a roaring 9 Wherefore I have delivered her inta lion ravening the prey; they have devoured the hand of her lovers, into the hand of the souls; they have taken the treasure and Assyrians, upon whom she doted. precious things; they have made her many 10 These discovered her nakedness: widows in the midst thereof. they took her sons and her daughters, and 26 Her priests have violated my law, slew her with the sword: and she became and have profaned mine holy things: they famous among women; for they had exehave put no difference between the holy cuted judgment upon her. and profane, neither have they shewed 11 And when her sister Aholibah saw difference between the unclean and the this, she was more corrupt in her inordiclean, and have hid their eyes from my nate love than she, and in her whoredoms sabbaths, and I am profaned among them. more than her sister in her whoredoms. 27 Her princes in the midst thereof are 12 She doted upon the Assyrians her like wolves ravening the prey, to shed neighbours, captains and rulers clothed blood, and to destroy souls, to get dis- most gorgeously, horsemen riding upon honest gain, horses, all of them desirable young men. Judgments on them CHAP. XXIII. for their whoredoms. 13 Then I saw that she was defiled, 28 For thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will deliver thee into the hand of that they took both one way; 14 And that she increased her whore-them whom thou hatest, into the hand of doms: for when she saw men pourtrayed them from whom, thy mind is alienated: 29 And they shall deal with thee hateupon the wall, the images of the Chaldeans fully, and shall take away all thy labour, poayed with vermilion, 15 Girded with girdles upon their loins, and shall leave thee naked and bare: and exceeding in dyed attire upon their heads, the nakedness of thy whoredoms shall be all of them princes to look to, after the discovered, both thy lewdness and thy manner of the Babylonians of Chaldea, the whoredoms. land of their nativity: 30 I will do these things unto thee, be16 And as soon as she saw them with cause thou hast gone a whoring after the her eyes she doted upon them, and sent heathen, and because thou art polluted with their idols. messengers unto them into Chaldea. way of thy 31 Thou hast walked in the 17 And the Babylonians came to her into the bed of love, and they defiled her with sister; therefore will I give her cup into their whoredom, and she was polluted with thine hand. 32 Thus saith the Lord GOD; Thou them,and her mind was alienated from them. 18 So she discovered her whoredoms, shalt drink of thy sister's cup deep and and discovered her nakedness: then my large: thou shalt be laughed to scorn and mind was alienated from her, like as my had in derision; it containeth much. 33 Thou shalt be filled with drunkenmind was alienated from her sister. 19 Yet she multiplied her whoredoms, ness and sorrow, with the cup of astonishin calling to remembrance the days of her ment and desolation, with the cup of thy youth, wherein she had played the harlot sister Samaria. in the land of Egypt. 34 Thou shalt even drink it and suck it 20 For she doted upon their paramours, out, and thou shalt break the sherds therewhose flesh is as the flesh of asses, and of, and pluck off thine owr breasts: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD. 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. 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 22 Therefore, O Aholibah, thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will raise up thy me; Son of man, wilt thou judge Aholah lovers against thee, from whom thy mind and Aholibah? yea, declare unto them is alienated, and I will bring them against their abominations thee on every side; ; 37 That they have committed adultery, 23 The Babylonians, and all the Chal- and blood is in their hands, and with their deans, Pekod, and Shoa, and Koa, and all idols have they committed adultery, and the Assyrians with them: all of them de- have also caused their sons, whom they sirable young men, captains and rulers, bare unto me, to pass for them through the great lords and renowned, all of them fire, to devour them. riding upon horses. 38 Moreover this they have done unto 24 And they shall come against thee me: they have defiled my sanctuary in the with chariots, waggons, and wheels, and same day, and have profaned my sabwith an assembly of people, which shall baths. 39 For when they had slain their chilset against thee buckler and shield and helmet round about: and I will set judg-dren to their idols, then they came the ment before them, and they shall judge same day into my sanctuary to profane it; thee according to their judgments. and lo, thus have they done in the midst of 25 And I will set my jealousy against mine house. thee, and they shall deal furiously with 40 And furthermore, that ye have sent thee: they shall take away thy nose and for men to come from far, unto whom a thine ears; and thy remnant shall fall by messenger was sent; and lo, they came: the sword: they shall take thy sons and for whom thou didst wash thyself, paintedst thy daughters; and thy residue shall be thy eyes, and deckedst thyself with ornadevoured by the fire. ments, 26 They shall also strip thee out of thy 41 And satest upon a stately bed, and clothes, and take away thy fair jewels. a table prepared before it, whereupon thou 27 Thus will I make thy lewdness to hast set mine incense and mine oil. cease from thee, and thy whoredom brought 42 And a voice of a multitude being at from the land of Egypt: so that thou shalt ease was with her: and with the men of the not lift up thine eyes unto them, nor re-common sort were brought Sabeans from member Egypt any more. the wilderness, which put bracelets upon 633 |