Ezekiel 13-18

Ezekiel 13

¹The LORD’s word came to me, saying,

²“Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel who prophesy, and say to those who prophesy out of their own heart, ‘Hear the LORD’s word:

³The Lord GOD says, “Woe to the foolish prophets, who follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing!

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

⁵You have not gone up into the gaps or built up the wall for the house of Israel, to stand in the battle in the LORD’s day.

⁶They have seen falsehood and lying divination, who say, ‘The LORD says;’ but the LORD has not sent them. They have made men to hope that the word would be confirmed.

⁷Haven’t you seen a false vision, and haven’t you spoken a lying divination, in that you say, ‘The LORD says;’ but I have not spoken?”

⁸“‘Therefore the Lord GOD says: “Because you have spoken falsehood and seen lies, therefore, behold, I am against you,” says the Lord GOD.

⁹“My hand will be against the prophets who see false visions and who utter lying divinations. They will not be in the council of my people, neither will they be written in the writing of the house of Israel, neither will they enter into the land of Israel. Then you will know that I am the Lord GOD.”

¹⁰“‘Because, even because they have seduced my people, saying, “Peace;” and there is no peace. When one builds up a wall, behold, they plaster it with whitewash.

¹¹Tell those who plaster it with whitewash that it will fall. There will be an overflowing shower; and you, great hailstones, will fall. A stormy wind will tear it.

¹²Behold, when the wall has fallen, won’t it be said to you, “Where is the plaster with which you have plastered it?”

¹³“‘Therefore the Lord GOD says: “I will even tear it with a stormy wind in my wrath. There will be an overflowing shower in my anger, and great hailstones in wrath to consume it.

¹⁴So I will break down the wall that you have plastered with whitewash, and bring it down to the ground, so that its foundation will be uncovered. It will fall, and you will be consumed in the middle of it. Then you will know that I am the LORD.

¹⁵Thus I will accomplish my wrath on the wall, and on those who have plastered it with whitewash. I will tell you, ‘The wall is no more, nor those who plastered it—

¹⁶to wit, the prophets of Israel who prophesy concerning Jerusalem, and who see visions of peace for her, and there is no peace,’” says the Lord GOD.’”

¹⁷You, son of man, set your face against the daughters of your people, who prophesy out of their own heart; and prophesy against them,

¹⁸and say, “The Lord GOD says: ‘Woe to the women who sew magic bands on all elbows and make veils for the head of persons of every stature to hunt souls! Will you hunt the souls of my people and save souls alive for yourselves?

¹⁹You have profaned me among my people for handfuls of barley and for pieces of bread, to kill the souls who should not die and to save the souls alive who should not live, by your lying to my people who listen to lies.’

²⁰“Therefore the Lord GOD says: ‘Behold, I am against your magic bands, with which you hunt the souls to make them fly, and I will tear them from your arms. I will let the souls fly free, even the souls whom you ensnare like birds.

²¹I will also tear your veils and deliver my people out of your hand; and they will no longer be in your hand to be ensnared. Then you will know that I am the LORD.

²²Because with lies you have grieved the heart of the righteous, whom I have not made sad; and strengthened the hands of the wicked, that he should not return from his wicked way, and be saved alive.

²³Therefore you shall no more see false visions nor practice divination. I will deliver my people out of your hand. Then you will know that I am the LORD.’”

Ezekiel 14

¹Then some of the elders of Israel came to me and sat before me.

²The LORD’s word came to me, saying,

³“Son of man, these men have taken their idols into their heart, and put the stumbling block of their iniquity before their face. Should I be inquired of at all by them?

⁴Therefore speak to them and tell them, ‘The Lord GOD says: “Every man of the house of Israel who takes his idols into his heart and puts the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face then comes to the prophet, I the LORD will answer him there according to the multitude of his idols,

⁵that I may take the house of Israel in their own heart, because they are all estranged from me through their idols.”’

⁶“Therefore tell the house of Israel, ‘The Lord GOD says: “Return, and turn yourselves from your idols! Turn away your faces from all your abominations.

⁷“‘“For everyone of the house of Israel, or of the strangers who live in Israel, who separates himself from me and takes his idols into his heart, and puts the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and comes to the prophet to inquire for himself of me, I the LORD will answer him by myself.

⁸I will set my face against that man and will make him an astonishment, for a sign and a proverb, and I will cut him off from among my people. Then you will know that I am the LORD.

⁹“‘“If the prophet is deceived and speaks a word, I, the LORD, have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand on him, and will destroy him from among my people Israel.

¹⁰They will bear their iniquity. The iniquity of the prophet will be even as the iniquity of him who seeks him,

¹¹that the house of Israel may no more go astray from me, neither defile themselves any more with all their transgressions; but that they may be my people, and I may be their God,” says the Lord GOD.’”

¹²The LORD’s word came to me, saying,

¹³“Son of man, when a land sins against me by committing a trespass, and I stretch out my hand on it, and break the staff of its bread and send famine on it, and cut off from it man and animal—

¹⁴though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they would deliver only their own souls by their righteousness,” says the Lord GOD.

¹⁵“If I cause evil animals to pass through the land, and they ravage it and it is made desolate, so that no man may pass through because of the animals—

¹⁶though these three men were in it, as I live,” says the Lord GOD, “they would deliver neither sons nor daughters. They only would be delivered, but the land would be desolate.

¹⁷“Or if I bring a sword on that land, and say, ‘Sword, go through the land, so that I cut off from it man and animal’—

¹⁸though these three men were in it, as I live,” says the Lord GOD, “they would deliver neither sons nor daughters, but they only would be delivered themselves.

¹⁹“Or if I send a pestilence into that land, and pour out my wrath on it in blood, to cut off from it man and animal—

²⁰though Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, as I live,” says the Lord GOD, “they would deliver neither son nor daughter; they would deliver only their own souls by their righteousness.”

²¹For the Lord GOD says: “How much more when I send my four severe judgments on Jerusalem—the sword, the famine, the evil animals, and the pestilence—to cut off from it man and animal!

²²Yet, behold, there will be left a remnant in it that will be carried out, both sons and daughters. Behold, they will come out to you, and you will see their way and their doings. Then you will be comforted concerning the evil that I have brought on Jerusalem, even concerning all that I have brought on it.

²³They will comfort you, when you see their way and their doings; then you will know that I have not done all that I have done in it without cause,” says the Lord GOD.

Ezekiel 15

¹The LORD’s word came to me, saying,

²“Son of man, what is the vine tree more than any tree, the vine branch which is among the trees of the forest?

³Will wood be taken of it to make anything? Will men take a pin of it to hang any vessel on it?

⁴Behold, it is cast into the fire for fuel; the fire has devoured both its ends, and the middle of it is burned. Is it profitable for any work?

⁵Behold, when it was whole, it was suitable for no work. How much less, when the fire has devoured it, and it has been burned, will it yet be suitable for any work?”

⁶Therefore the Lord GOD says: “As the vine wood among the trees of the forest, which I have given to the fire for fuel, so I will give the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

⁷I will set my face against them. They will go out from the fire, but the fire will still devour them. Then you will know that I am the LORD, when I set my face against them.

⁸I will make the land desolate, because they have acted unfaithfully,” says the Lord GOD.

Ezekiel 16

¹Again the LORD’s word came to me, saying,

²“Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations;

³and say, ‘The Lord GOD says to Jerusalem: “Your origin and your birth is of the land of the Canaanite. An Amorite was your father, and your mother was a Hittite.

⁴As for your birth, in the day you were born your navel was not cut. You weren’t washed in water to cleanse you. You weren’t salted at all, nor wrapped in blankets at all.

⁵No eye pitied you, to do any of these things to you, to have compassion on you; but you were cast out in the open field, because you were abhorred in the day that you were born.

⁶“‘“When I passed by you, and saw you wallowing in your blood, I said to you, ‘Though you are in your blood, live!’ Yes, I said to you, ‘Though you are in your blood, live!’

⁷I caused you to multiply as that which grows in the field, and you increased and grew great, and you attained to excellent beauty. Your breasts were formed, and your hair grew; yet you were naked and bare.

⁸“‘“Now when I passed by you, and looked at you, behold, your time was the time of love; and I spread my garment over you and covered your nakedness. Yes, I pledged myself to you and entered into a covenant with you,” says the Lord GOD, “and you became mine.

⁹“‘“Then I washed you with water. Yes, I thoroughly washed away your blood from you, and I anointed you with oil.

¹⁰I clothed you also with embroidered work and put leather sandals on you. I dressed you with fine linen and covered you with silk.

¹¹I decked you with ornaments, put bracelets on your hands, and put a chain on your neck.

¹²I put a ring on your nose, earrings in your ears, and a beautiful crown on your head.

¹³Thus you were decked with gold and silver. Your clothing was of fine linen, silk, and embroidered work. You ate fine flour, honey, and oil. You were exceedingly beautiful, and you prospered to royal estate.

¹⁴Your renown went out among the nations for your beauty; for it was perfect, through my majesty which I had put on you,” says the Lord GOD.

¹⁵“‘“But you trusted in your beauty, and played the prostitute because of your renown, and poured out your prostitution on everyone who passed by. It was his.

¹⁶You took some of your garments, and made for yourselves high places decked with various colors, and played the prostitute on them. This shouldn’t happen, neither shall it be.

¹⁷You also took your beautiful jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given you, and made for yourself images of men, and played the prostitute with them.

¹⁸You took your embroidered garments, covered them, and set my oil and my incense before them.

¹⁹My bread also which I gave you, fine flour, oil, and honey, with which I fed you, you even set it before them for a pleasant aroma; and so it was,” says the Lord GOD.

²⁰“‘“Moreover you have taken your sons and your daughters, whom you have borne to me, and you have sacrificed these to them to be devoured. Was your prostitution a small matter,

²¹that you have slain my children and delivered them up, in causing them to pass through the fire to them?

²²In all your abominations and your prostitution you have not remembered the days of your youth, when you were naked and bare, and were wallowing in your blood.

²³“‘“It has happened after all your wickedness—woe, woe to you!” says the Lord GOD—

²⁴“that you have built for yourselves a vaulted place, and have made yourselves a lofty place in every street.

²⁵You have built your lofty place at the head of every way, and have made your beauty an abomination, and have opened your feet to everyone who passed by, and multiplied your prostitution.

²⁶You have also committed sexual immorality with the Egyptians, your neighbors, great of flesh; and have multiplied your prostitution, to provoke me to anger.

²⁷See therefore, I have stretched out my hand over you, and have diminished your portion, and delivered you to the will of those who hate you, the daughters of the Philistines, who are ashamed of your lewd way.

²⁸You have played the prostitute also with the Assyrians, because you were insatiable; yes, you have played the prostitute with them, and yet you weren’t satisfied.

²⁹You have moreover multiplied your prostitution to the land of merchants, to Chaldea; and yet you weren’t satisfied with this.

³⁰“‘“How weak is your heart,” says the Lord GOD, “since you do all these things, the work of an impudent prostitute;

³¹in that you build your vaulted place at the head of every way, and make your lofty place in every street, and have not been as a prostitute, in that you scorn pay.

³²“‘“Adulterous wife, who takes strangers instead of her husband!

³³People give gifts to all prostitutes; but you give your gifts to all your lovers, and bribe them, that they may come to you on every side for your prostitution.

³⁴You are different from other women in your prostitution, in that no one follows you to play the prostitute; and whereas you give hire, and no hire is given to you, therefore you are different.”’

³⁵“Therefore, prostitute, hear the LORD’s word:

³⁶‘The Lord GOD says, “Because your filthiness was poured out, and your nakedness uncovered through your prostitution with your lovers; and because of all the idols of your abominations, and for the blood of your children, that you gave to them;

³⁷therefore see, I will gather all your lovers, with whom you have taken pleasure, and all those whom you have loved, with all those whom you have hated. I will even gather them against you on every side, and will uncover your nakedness to them, that they may see all your nakedness.

³⁸I will judge you as women who break wedlock and shed blood are judged; and I will bring on you the blood of wrath and jealousy.

³⁹I will also give you into their hand, and they will throw down your vaulted place, and break down your lofty places. They will strip you of your clothes and take your beautiful jewels. They will leave you naked and bare.

⁴⁰They will also bring up a company against you, and they will stone you with stones, and thrust you through with their swords.

⁴¹They will burn your houses with fire, and execute judgments on you in the sight of many women. I will cause you to cease from playing the prostitute, and you will also give no hire any more.

⁴²So I will cause my wrath toward you to rest, and my jealousy will depart from you. I will be quiet, and will not be angry any more.

⁴³“‘“Because you have not remembered the days of your youth, but have raged against me in all these things; therefore, behold, I also will bring your way on your head,” says the Lord GOD: “and you shall not commit this lewdness with all your abominations.

⁴⁴“‘“Behold, everyone who uses proverbs will use this proverb against you, saying, ‘As is the mother, so is her daughter.’

⁴⁵You are the daughter of your mother, who loathes her husband and her children; and you are the sister of your sisters, who loathed their husbands and their children. Your mother was a Hittite, and your father an Amorite.

⁴⁶Your elder sister is Samaria, who dwells at your left hand, she and her daughters; and your younger sister, who dwells at your right hand, is Sodom with her daughters.

⁴⁷Yet you have not walked in their ways, nor done their abominations; but soon you were more corrupt than they in all your ways.

⁴⁸As I live,” says the Lord GOD, “Sodom your sister has not done, she nor her daughters, as you have done, you and your daughters.

⁴⁹“‘“Behold, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: pride, fullness of bread, and prosperous ease was in her and in her daughters. She also didn’t strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.

⁵⁰They were arrogant and committed abomination before me. Therefore I took them away when I saw it.

⁵¹Samaria hasn’t committed half of your sins; but you have multiplied your abominations more than they, and have justified your sisters by all your abominations which you have done.

⁵²You also bear your own shame yourself, in that you have given judgment for your sisters; through your sins that you have committed more abominable than they, they are more righteous than you. Yes, be also confounded, and bear your shame, in that you have justified your sisters.

⁵³“‘“I will reverse their captivity, the captivity of Sodom and her daughters, and the captivity of Samaria and her daughters, and the captivity of your captives among them;

⁵⁴that you may bear your own shame, and may be ashamed because of all that you have done, in that you are a comfort to them.

⁵⁵Your sisters, Sodom and her daughters, will return to their former estate; and Samaria and her daughters will return to their former estate; and you and your daughters will return to your former estate.

⁵⁶For your sister Sodom was not mentioned by your mouth in the day of your pride,

⁵⁷before your wickedness was uncovered, as at the time of the reproach of the daughters of Syria, and of all who are around her, the daughters of the Philistines, who despise you all around.

⁵⁸You have borne your lewdness and your abominations,” says the LORD.

⁵⁹“‘For the Lord GOD says: “I will also deal with you as you have done, who have despised the oath in breaking the covenant.

⁶⁰Nevertheless I will remember my covenant with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish an everlasting covenant with you.

⁶¹Then you will remember your ways and be ashamed when you receive your sisters, your elder sisters and your younger; and I will give them to you for daughters, but not by your covenant.

⁶²I will establish my covenant with you. Then you will know that I am the LORD;

⁶³that you may remember, and be confounded, and never open your mouth any more because of your shame, when I have forgiven you all that you have done,” says the Lord GOD.’”

Ezekiel 17

¹The LORD’s word came to me, saying,

²“Son of man, tell a riddle, and speak a parable to the house of Israel;

³and say, ‘The Lord GOD says: “A great eagle with great wings and long feathers, full of feathers which had various colors, came to Lebanon and took the top of the cedar.

⁴He cropped off the topmost of its young twigs, and carried it to a land of traffic. He planted it in a city of merchants.

⁵“‘“He also took some of the seed of the land and planted it in fruitful soil. He placed it beside many waters. He set it as a willow tree.

⁶It grew and became a spreading vine of low stature, whose branches turned toward him, and its roots were under him. So it became a vine, produced branches, and shot out sprigs.

⁷“‘“There was also another great eagle with great wings and many feathers. Behold, this vine bent its roots toward him, and shot out its branches toward him, from the ground where it was planted, that he might water it.

⁸It was planted in a good soil by many waters, that it might produce branches and that it might bear fruit, that it might be a good vine.”’

⁹“Say, ‘The Lord GOD says: “Will it prosper? Won’t he pull up its roots and cut off its fruit, that it may wither, that all its fresh springing leaves may wither? It can’t be raised from its roots by a strong arm or many people.

¹⁰Yes, behold, being planted, will it prosper? Won’t it utterly wither when the east wind touches it? It will wither in the ground where it grew.”’”

¹¹Moreover the LORD’s word came to me, saying,

¹²“Say now to the rebellious house, ‘Don’t you know what these things mean?’ Tell them, ‘Behold, the king of Babylon came to Jerusalem, and took its king, and its princes, and brought them to him to Babylon.

¹³He took one of the royal offspring, and made a covenant with him. He also brought him under an oath, and took away the mighty of the land,

¹⁴that the kingdom might be brought low, that it might not lift itself up, but that by keeping his covenant it might stand.

¹⁵But he rebelled against him in sending his ambassadors into Egypt, that they might give him horses and many people. Will he prosper? Will he who does such things escape? Will he break the covenant, and still escape?

¹⁶“‘As I live,’ says the Lord GOD, ‘surely in the place where the king dwells who made him king, whose oath he despised, and whose covenant he broke, even with him in the middle of Babylon he will die.

¹⁷Pharaoh with his mighty army and great company won’t help him in the war, when they cast up mounds and build forts to cut off many persons.

¹⁸For he has despised the oath by breaking the covenant; and behold, he had given his hand, and yet has done all these things. He won’t escape.

¹⁹“Therefore the Lord GOD says: ‘As I live, I will surely bring on his own head my oath that he has despised and my covenant that he has broken.

²⁰I will spread my net on him, and he will be taken in my snare. I will bring him to Babylon, and will enter into judgment with him there for his trespass that he has trespassed against me.

²¹All his fugitives in all his bands will fall by the sword, and those who remain will be scattered toward every wind. Then you will know that I, the LORD, have spoken it.’

²²“The Lord GOD says: ‘I will also take some of the lofty top of the cedar, and will plant it. I will crop off from the topmost of its young twigs a tender one, and I will plant it on a high and lofty mountain.

²³I will plant it in the mountain of the height of Israel; and it will produce boughs, and bear fruit, and be a good cedar. Birds of every kind will dwell in the shade of its branches.

²⁴All the trees of the field will 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 flourish. “‘I, the LORD, have spoken and have done it.’”

Ezekiel 18

¹The LORD’s word came to me again, saying,

²“What do you mean, that you 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,” says the Lord GOD, “you shall not use this proverb any more in Israel.

⁴Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine. The soul who sins, he shall die.

⁵“But if a man is just, and does that which is lawful and right,

⁶and has not eaten on the mountains, hasn’t lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, hasn’t defiled his neighbor’s wife, hasn’t come near a woman in her impurity,

⁷and has not wronged any, but has restored to the debtor his pledge, has taken nothing by robbery, has given his bread to the hungry, and has covered the naked with a garment;

⁸he who hasn’t lent to them with interest, hasn’t taken any increase from them, who has withdrawn his hand from iniquity, has executed true justice between man and man,

⁹has walked in my statutes, and has kept my ordinances, to deal truly; he is just, he shall surely live,” says the Lord GOD.

¹⁰“If he fathers a son who is a robber who sheds blood, and who does any one of these things,

¹¹or who does not do any of those things but has eaten at the mountain shrines and defiled his neighbor’s wife,

¹²has wronged the poor and needy, has taken by robbery, has not restored the pledge, and has lifted up his eyes to the idols, has committed abomination,

¹³has lent with interest, and has taken increase from the poor, shall he then live? He shall not live. He has done all these abominations. He shall surely die. His blood will be on him.

¹⁴“Now, behold, if he fathers a son who sees all his father’s sins which he has done, and fears, and doesn’t do likewise,

¹⁵who hasn’t eaten on the mountains, hasn’t lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, hasn’t defiled his neighbor’s wife,

¹⁶hasn’t wronged any, hasn’t taken anything to pledge, hasn’t taken by robbery, but has given his bread to the hungry, and has covered the naked with a garment;

¹⁷who has withdrawn his hand from the poor, who hasn’t received interest or increase, has executed my ordinances, has walked in my statutes; he shall not die for the iniquity of his father. He shall surely live.

¹⁸As for his father, because he cruelly oppressed, robbed his brother, and did that which is not good among his people, behold, he will die in his iniquity.

¹⁹“Yet you say, ‘Why doesn’t the son bear the iniquity of the father?’ When the son has done that which is lawful and right, and has kept all my statutes, and has done them, he will surely live.

²⁰The soul who sins, he 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 on him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be on him.

²¹“But if the wicked turns from all his sins that he has committed, and keeps all my statutes, and does that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live. He shall not die.

²²None of his transgressions that he has committed will be remembered against him. In his righteousness that he has done, he shall live.

²³Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked?” says the Lord GOD, “and not rather that he should return from his way, and live?

²⁴“But when the righteous turns away from his righteousness, and commits iniquity, and does according to all the abominations that the wicked man does, should he live? None of his righteous deeds that he has done will be remembered. In his trespass that he has trespassed, and in his sin that he has sinned, in them he shall die.

²⁵“Yet you say, ‘The way of the Lord is not equal.’ Hear now, house of Israel: Is my way not equal? Aren’t your ways unequal?

²⁶When the righteous man turns away from his righteousness, and commits iniquity, and dies in it, then he dies in his iniquity that he has done.

²⁷Again, when the wicked man turns away from his wickedness that he has committed, and does that which is lawful and right, he will save his soul alive.

²⁸Because he considers, and turns away from all his transgressions that he has committed, he shall surely live. He shall not die.

²⁹Yet the house of Israel says, ‘The way of the Lord is not fair.’ House of Israel, aren’t my ways fair? Aren’t your ways unfair?

³⁰“Therefore I will judge you, house of Israel, everyone according to his ways,” says the Lord GOD. “Return, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions, so iniquity will not be your ruin.

³¹Cast away from you all your transgressions in which you have transgressed; and make yourself a new heart and a new spirit. For why will you die, house of Israel?

³²For I have no pleasure in the death of him who dies,” says the Lord GOD. “Therefore turn yourselves, and live!