Ezekiel 13-18

Ezekiel 13

¹And the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

²Son of man, be a prophet against the prophets of Israel, and say to those prophets whose words are the invention of their hearts, Give ear to the word of the Lord;

³This is what the Lord has said: A curse on the foolish prophets who go after the spirit which is in them and have seen nothing!

⁴O Israel, your prophets have been like jackals in the waste places.

⁵You have not gone up into the broken places or made up the wall for the children of Israel to take your place in the fight in the day of the Lord.

⁶They have seen visions without substance and made use of secret arts, who say, The Lord has said; and the Lord has not sent them: hoping that the word would have effect.

⁷Have you not seen a vision without substance and have you not falsely made use of secret arts, when you say, The Lord has said; though I have said nothing?

⁸So this is what the Lord has said: Because your words are without substance and your visions are false, see, I am against you, says the Lord.

⁹And my hand will be against the prophets who see visions without substance and who make false use of secret arts: they will not be in the secret of my people, and they will not be recorded in the list of the children of Israel, and they will not come into the land of Israel; and it will be clear to you that I am the Lord.

¹⁰Because, even because they have been guiding my people into error, saying, Peace; when there is no peace; and in the building of a division wall they put whitewash on it:

¹¹Say to those who put whitewash on it, There will be an overflowing shower; and you, O ice-drops, will come raining down; and it will be broken in two by the storm-wind.

¹²And when the wall has come down, will they not say to you, Where is the whitewash which you put on it?

¹³For this reason, the Lord has said: I will have it broken in two by a storm-wind in my passion; and there will be an overflowing shower in my wrath, and you, O ice-drops, will come raining angrily down.

¹⁴So I will let the wall, which you were covering with whitewash, be broken down; I will have it levelled to the earth so that its base is uncovered: it will come down, and destruction will come on you with it; and it will be clear to you that I am the Lord.

¹⁵So I will let loose my passion on the wall in full measure, and on those who put whitewash on it; and I will say to you, Where is the wall, and where are those who put whitewash on it?

¹⁶Even the prophets of Israel who say words to Jerusalem, who see visions of peace for her when there is no peace, says the Lord.

¹⁷And you, son of man, let your face be turned against the daughters of your people, who are acting the part of prophets at their pleasure; be a prophet against them, and say,

¹⁸This is what the Lord has said: A curse is on the women who are stitching bands on all arms and putting veils on the heads of those of every size, so that they may go after souls! Will you go after the souls of my people and keep yourselves safe from death?

¹⁹And you have put me to shame among my people for a little barley and some bits of bread, sending death on souls for whom there is no cause of death, and keeping those souls living who have no right to life, by the false words you say to my people who give ear to what is false.

²⁰For this cause the Lord has said: See, I am against your bands with which you go after souls, and I will violently take them off their arms; and I will let loose the souls, even the souls whom you go after freely.

²¹And I will have your veils violently parted in two, and will make my people free from your hands, and they will no longer be in your power for you to go after them; and you will be certain that I am the Lord.

²²Because with your false words you have given pain to the heart of the upright man when I had not made him sad; in order to make strong the hands of the evil-doer so that he may not be turned from his evil way and get life:

²³For this cause you will see no more foolish visions or make false use of secret arts: and I will make my people free from your power; and you will be certain that I am the Lord.

Ezekiel 14

¹Then certain of the responsible men of Israel came to me and took their seats before me.

²And the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

³Son of man, these men have taken their false gods into their hearts and put before their faces the sin which is the cause of their fall: am I to give ear when they come to me for directions?

⁴For this cause say to them, These are the words of the Lord: Every man of Israel who has taken his false god into his heart, and put before his face the sin which is the cause of his fall, and comes to the prophet; I the Lord will give him an answer by myself in agreement with the number of his false gods;

⁵So as to take the children of Israel in the thoughts of their hearts, because they have become strange to me through their false gods.

⁶For this cause say to the children of Israel, These are the words of the Lord: Come back and give up your false gods and let your faces be turned from your disgusting things.

⁷When any one of the men of Israel, or of those from other lands who are living in Israel, who has become strange to me, and takes his false gods into his heart, and puts before his face the sin which is the cause of his fall, comes to the prophet to get directions from me; I the Lord will give him an answer by myself:

⁸And my face will be turned against that man, and I will make him a sign and a common saying, cutting him off from among my people; and you will be certain that I am the Lord.

⁹And if the prophet, tricked by deceit, says anything, it is I the Lord by whom he has been tricked, and I will put out my hand against him, and he will be cut off from among my people Israel.

¹⁰And the punishment of their sin will be on them: the sin of the prophet will be the same as the sin of him who goes to him for directions;

¹¹So that the children of Israel may no longer go wandering away from me, or make themselves unclean with all their wrongdoing; but they will be my people, and I will be their God, says the Lord.

¹²And the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

¹³Son of man, when a land, sinning against me, does wrong, and my hand is stretched out against it, and the support of its bread is broken, and I make it short of food, cutting off man and beast from it:

¹⁴Even if these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, only themselves would they keep safe by their righteousness, says the Lord.

¹⁵Or if I send evil beasts through the land causing destruction and making it waste, so that no man may go through because of the beasts:

¹⁶Even if these three men were in it, by my life, says the Lord, they would not keep safe their sons or daughters, but only themselves, and the land would be made waste.

¹⁷Or if I send a sword against that land, and say, Sword, go through the land, cutting off from it man and beast:

¹⁸Even if these three men were in it, by my life, says the Lord, they would not keep safe their sons or daughters, but only themselves.

¹⁹Or if I send disease into that land, letting loose my wrath on it in blood, cutting off from it man and beast:

²⁰Even if Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, by my life, says the Lord, they would not keep son or daughter safe; only themselves would they keep safe through their righteousness.

²¹For this is what the Lord has said: How much more when I send my four bitter punishments on Jerusalem, the sword and need of food and evil beasts and disease, cutting off from it man and beast?

²²But truly, there will still be a small band who will be safe, even sons and daughters: and they will come out to you, and you will see their ways and their doings: and you will be comforted about the evil which I have sent on Jerusalem, even about everything I have sent on it.

²³They will give you comfort when you see their ways and their doings: and you will be certain that not for nothing have I done all the things I have done in it, says the Lord.

Ezekiel 15

¹And the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

²Son of man, what is the vine-tree more than any branching tree which is among the trees of the woods?

³Will its wood be used for any work? do men make of it a pin for hanging any vessel on?

⁴See, it is put into the fire for burning: the fire has made a meal of its two ends and the middle part of it is burned; is it good for any work?

⁵Truly, before it was cut down, it was not used for any purpose: how much less, when the fire has made a meal of it and it is burned, will it be made into anything?

⁶For this cause the Lord has said: Like the vine-tree among the trees of the woods which I have given to the fire for burning, so will I give the people of Jerusalem.

⁷And my face will be turned against them; and though they have come out of the fire they will be burned up by it; and it will be clear to you that I am the Lord when my face is turned against them.

⁸And I will make the land a waste because they have done evil, says the Lord.

Ezekiel 16

¹And the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

²Son of man, make clear to Jerusalem her disgusting ways,

³And say, This is what the Lord has said to Jerusalem: Your start and your birth was from the land of the Canaanite; an Amorite was your father and your mother was a Hittite.

⁴As for your birth, on the day of your birth your cord was not cut and you were not washed in water to make you clean; you were not salted or folded in linen bands.

⁵No eye had pity on you to do any of these things to you or to be kind to you; but you were put out into the open country, because your life was hated at the time of your birth.

⁶And when I went past you and saw you stretched out in your blood, I said to you, Though you are stretched out in your blood, have life;

⁷And be increased in number like the buds of the field; and you were increased and became great, and you came to the time of love: your breasts were formed and your hair was long; but you were uncovered and without clothing.

⁸Now when I went past you, looking at you, I saw that your time was the time of love; and I put my skirts over you, covering your unclothed body: and I gave you my oath and made an agreement with you, says the Lord, and you became mine.

⁹Then I had you washed with water, washing away all your blood and rubbing you with oil.

¹⁰And I had you clothed with needlework, and put leather shoes on your feet, folding fair linen about you and covering you with silk.

¹¹And I made you fair with ornaments and put jewels on your hands and a chain on your neck.

¹²And I put a ring in your nose and ear-rings in your ears and a beautiful crown on your head.

¹³So you were made beautiful with gold and silver; and your clothing was of the best linen and silk and needlework; your food was the best meal and honey and oil: and you were very beautiful.

¹⁴You were so beautiful that the story of you went out into all nations; you were completely beautiful because of my glory which I had put on you, says the Lord.

¹⁵But you put your faith in the fact that you were beautiful, acting like a loose woman because you were widely talked of, and offering your cheap love to everyone who went by, whoever it might be.

¹⁶And you took your robes and made high places for yourself ornamented with every colour, acting like a loose woman on them, without shame or fear.

¹⁷And you took the fair jewels, my silver and gold which I had given to you, and made for yourself male images, acting like a loose woman with them;

¹⁸And you took your robes of needlework for their clothing, and put my oil and my perfume before them.

¹⁹And my bread which I gave you, the best meal and oil and honey which I gave you for your food, you put it before them for a sweet smell, says the Lord.

²⁰And you took your sons and your daughters whom I had by you, offering even these to them to be their food. Was your loose behaviour so small a thing,

²¹That you put my children to death and gave them up to go through the fire to them?

²²And in all your disgusting and false behaviour you had no memory of your early days, when you were uncovered and without clothing, stretched out in your blood.

²³And it came about, after all your evil-doing, says the Lord,

²⁴That you made for yourself an arched room in every open place.

²⁵You put up your high places at the top of every street, and made the grace of your form a disgusting thing, opening your feet to everyone who went by, increasing your loose ways.

²⁶And you went with the Egyptians, your neighbours, great of flesh; increasing your loose ways, moving me to wrath.

²⁷Now, then, my hand is stretched out against you, cutting down your fixed amount, and I have given you up to the desire of your haters, the daughters of the Philistines who are shamed by your loose ways.

²⁸And you went with the Assyrians, because of your desire which was without measure; you were acting like a loose woman with them, and still you had not enough.

²⁹And you went on in your loose ways, even as far as the land of Chaldaea, and still you had not enough.

³⁰How feeble is your heart, says the Lord, seeing that you do all these things, the work of a loose and overruling woman;

³¹For you have made your arched room at the top of every street, and your high place in every open place; though you were not like a loose woman in getting together your payment.

³²The untrue wife who takes strange lovers in place of her husband!

³³They give payment to all loose women: but you give rewards to your lovers, offering them payment so that they may come to you on every side for your cheap love.

³⁴And in your loose behaviour you are different from other women, for no one goes after you to make love to you: and because you give payment and no payment is given to you, in this you are different from them.

³⁵For this cause, O loose woman, give ear to the voice of the Lord:

³⁶This is what the Lord has said: Because your unclean behaviour was let loose and your body uncovered in your loose ways with your lovers and with your disgusting images, and for the blood of your children which you gave to them;

³⁷For this cause I will get together all your lovers with whom you have taken your pleasure, and all those to whom you have given your love, with all those who were hated by you; I will even make them come together against you on every side, and I will have you uncovered before them so that they may see your shame.

³⁸And you will be judged by me as women are judged who have been untrue to their husbands and have taken life; and I will let loose against you passion and bitter feeling.

³⁹I will give you into their hands, and your arched room will be overturned and your high places broken down; they will take your clothing off you and take away your fair jewels: and when they have done, you will be uncovered and shamed.

⁴⁰And they will get together a meeting against you, stoning you with stones and wounding you with their swords.

⁴¹And they will have you burned with fire, sending punishments on you before the eyes of great numbers of women; and I will put an end to your loose ways, and you will no longer give payment.

⁴²And the heat of my wrath against you will have an end, and my bitter feeling will be turned away from you, and I will be quiet and will be angry no longer.

⁴³Because you have not kept in mind the days when you were young, but have been troubling me with all these things; for this reason I will make the punishment of your ways come on your head, says the Lord, because you have done this evil thing in addition to all your disgusting acts.

⁴⁴See, in every common saying about you it will be said, As the mother is, so is her daughter.

⁴⁵You are the daughter of your mother whose soul is turned in disgust from her husband and her children; and you are the sister of your sisters who were turned in disgust from their husbands and their children: your mother was a Hittite and your father an Amorite.

⁴⁶Your older sister is Samaria, living at your left hand, she and her daughters: and your younger sister, living at your right hand, is Sodom and her daughters.

⁴⁷Still you have not gone in their ways or done the disgusting things which they have done; but, as if that was only a little thing, you have gone deeper in evil than they in all your ways.

⁴⁸By my life, says the Lord, Sodom your sister never did, she or her daughters, what you and your daughters have done.

⁴⁹Truly, this was the sin of your sister Sodom: pride, a full measure of food, and the comforts of wealth in peace, were seen in her and her daughters, and she gave no help to the poor or to those in need.

⁵⁰They were full of pride and did what was disgusting to me: and so I took them away as you have seen.

⁵¹And Samaria has not done half your sins; but you have made the number of your disgusting acts greater than theirs, making your sisters seem more upright than you by all the disgusting things which you have done.

⁵²And you yourself will be put to shame, in that you have given the decision for your sisters; through your sins, which are more disgusting than theirs, they are more upright than you: truly, you will be shamed and made low, for you have made your sisters seem upright.

⁵³And I will let their fate be changed, the fate of Sodom and her daughters, and the fate of Samaria and her daughters, and your fate with theirs.

⁵⁴So that you will be shamed and made low because of all you have done, when I have mercy on you.

⁵⁵And your sisters, Sodom and her daughters, will go back to their first condition, and Samaria and her daughters will go back to their first condition, and you and your daughters will go back to your first condition.

⁵⁶Was not your sister Sodom an oath in your mouth in the day of your pride,

⁵⁷Before your shame was uncovered? Now you have become like her a word of shame to the daughters of Edom and all who are round about you, the daughters of the Philistines who put shame on you round about.

⁵⁸The reward of your evil designs and your disgusting ways has come on you, says the Lord.

⁵⁹For this is what the Lord has said: I will do to you as you have done, you who, putting the oath on one side, have let the agreement be broken.

⁶⁰But still I will keep in mind the agreement made with you in the days when you were young, and I will make with you an eternal agreement.

⁶¹Then at the memory of your ways you will be overcome with shame, when I take your sisters, the older and the younger, and give them to you for daughters, but not by your agreement.

⁶²And I will make my agreement with you; and you will be certain that I am the Lord:

⁶³So that, at the memory of these things, you may be at a loss, never opening your mouth because of your shame; when you have my forgiveness for all you have done, says the Lord.

Ezekiel 17

¹And the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

²Son of man, give out a dark saying, and make a comparison for the children of Israel,

³And say, This is what the Lord has said: A great eagle with great wings, full of long feathers of different colours, came to Lebanon, and took the top of the cedar:

⁴Biting off the highest of its young branches, he took it to the land of Canaan, and put it in a town of traders.

⁵And he took some of the seed of the land, planting it in fertile earth, placing it by great waters; he put it in like a willow-tree.

⁶And its growth went on and it became a vine, low and widely stretching, whose branches were turned to him and its roots were under him: so it became a vine, putting out branches and young leaves.

⁷And there was another eagle with great wings and thick feathers: and now this vine, pushing out its roots to him, sent out its branches in his direction from the bed where it was planted, so that he might give it water.

⁸He had it planted in a good field by great waters so that it might put out branches and have fruit and be a strong vine.

⁹Say, This is what the Lord has said: Will it do well? will he not have its roots pulled up and its branches cut off, so that all its young leaves may become dry and it may be pulled up by its roots?

¹⁰And if it is planted will it do well? will it not become quite dry at the touch of the east wind, drying up in the bed where it was planted?

¹¹Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

¹²Say now to this uncontrolled people, Are these things not clear to you? Say to them, See, the king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and took its king and its rulers away with him to Babylon;

¹³And he took one of the sons of the king and made an agreement with him; and he put him under an oath, and took away the great men of the land:

¹⁴So that the kingdom might be made low with no power of lifting itself up, but might keep his agreement to be his servants.

¹⁵But he went against his authority in sending representatives to Egypt to get from them horses and a great army. Will he do well? will he be safe who does such things? if the agreement is broken will he be safe?

¹⁶By my life, says the Lord, truly in the place of the king who made him king, whose oath he put on one side and let his agreement with him be broken, even in Babylon he will come to his death.

¹⁷And Pharaoh with his strong army and great forces will be no help to him in the war, when they put up earthworks and make strong walls for the cutting off of lives:

¹⁸For he put his oath on one side in letting the agreement be broken; and though he had given his hand to it, he did all these things; he will not get away safe.

¹⁹And so the Lord has said, By my life, truly, for my oath which he put on one side, and my agreement which has been broken, I will send punishment on his head.

²⁰My net will be stretched out over him, and he will be taken in my cords, and I will send him to Babylon, and there I will be his judge for the wrong which he has done against me.

²¹All his best fighting-men will be put to the sword, and the rest will be sent away to every wind: and you will be certain that I the Lord have said it.

²²This is what the Lord has said: Further, I will take the highest top of the cedar and put it in the earth; cutting off from the highest of his young branches a soft one, I will have it planted on a high and great mountain;

²³It will be planted on the high mountain of Israel: it will put out branches and have fruit and be a fair cedar: under it all birds of every sort will make their living-place, resting in the shade of its branches.

²⁴And it will be clear to all the trees of the field that I the Lord have made low the high tree and made high the low tree, drying up the green tree and making the dry tree full of growth; I the Lord have said it and have done it.

Ezekiel 18

¹The word of the Lord came to me again, saying,

²Why do you make use of this saying about the land of Israel, The fathers have been tasting bitter grapes and the children's teeth are on edge?

³By my life, says the Lord, you will no longer have this saying in Israel.

⁴See, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so the soul of the son is mine: death will be the fate of the sinner's soul.

⁵But if a man is upright, living rightly and doing righteousness,

⁶And has not taken flesh with the blood for food, or given worship to the images of the children of Israel; if he has not had connection with his neighbour's wife, or come near to a woman at the time when she is unclean;

⁷And has done no wrong to any, but has given back to the debtor what is his, and has taken no one's goods by force, and has given food to him who was in need of it, and clothing to him who was without it;

⁸And has not given his money out at interest or taken great profits, and, turning his hand from evil-doing, has kept faith between man and man,

⁹And has been guided by my rules and has kept my laws and done them: he is upright, life will certainly be his, says the Lord.

¹⁰If he has a son who is a thief, a taker of life, who does any of these things,

¹¹Who has taken flesh with the blood as food, and has had connection with his neighbour's wife,

¹²Has done wrong to the poor and to him who is in need, and taken property by force, and has not given back to one in his debt what is his, and has given worship to images and has done disgusting things,

¹³And has given out his money at interest and taken great profits: he will certainly not go on living: he has done all these disgusting things: death will certainly be his fate; his blood will be on him.

¹⁴Now if he has a son who sees all his father's sins which he has done, and in fear does not do the same:

¹⁵Who has not taken the flesh with the blood for food, or given worship to the images of the children of Israel, and has not had connection with his neighbour's wife,

¹⁶Or done wrong to any, or taken anything from one in his debt, or taken goods by force, but has given food to him who was in need of it, and clothing to him who was without it;

¹⁷Who has kept his hand from evil-doing and has not taken interest or great profits, who has done my orders and been guided by my rules: he will certainly not be put to death for the evil-doing of his father; life will certainly be his.

¹⁸As for his father, because he was cruel, took goods by force, and did what is not good among his people, truly, death will overtake him in his evil-doing.

¹⁹But you say, Why does not the son undergo punishment for the evil-doing of the father? When the son has done what is ordered and right, and has kept my rules and done them, life will certainly be his.

²⁰The soul which does sin will be put to death: the son will not be made responsible for the evil-doing of the father, or the father for the evil-doing of the son; the righteousness of the upright will be on himself, and the evil-doing of the evil-doer on himself.

²¹But if the evil-doer, turning away from all the sins which he has done, keeps my rules and does what is ordered and right, life will certainly be his; death will not be his fate.

²²Not one of the sins which he has done will be kept in memory against him: in the righteousness which he has done he will have life.

²³Have I any pleasure in the death of the evil-doer? says the Lord: am I not pleased if he is turned from his way so that he may have life?

²⁴But when the upright man, turning away from his righteousness, does evil, like all the disgusting things which the evil man does, will he have life? Not one of his upright acts will be kept in memory: in the wrong which he has done and in his sin death will overtake him.

²⁵But you say, The way of the Lord is not equal. Give ear, now, O children of Israel; is my way not equal? are not your ways unequal?

²⁶When the upright man, turning away from his righteousness, does evil, death will overtake him; in the evil which he has done death will overtake him.

²⁷Again, when the evil-doer, turning away from the evil he has done, does what is ordered and right, he will have life for his soul.

²⁸Because he had fear and was turned away from all the wrong which he had done, life will certainly be his, death will not be his fate.

²⁹But still the children of Israel say, The way of the Lord is not equal. O children of Israel, are my ways not equal? are not your ways unequal?

³⁰For this cause I will be your judge, O children of Israel, judging every man by his ways, says the Lord. Come back and be turned from all your sins; so that they may not be the cause of your falling into evil.

³¹Put away all your evil-doing in which you have done sin; and make for yourselves a new heart and a new spirit: why are you desiring death, O children of Israel?

³²For I have no pleasure in the death of him on whom death comes, says the Lord: be turned back then, and have life.