Day 58 of 90

¹ALEPH How the Lord covered the daughter of Zion with a cloud in his anger! He has cast down from heaven to the earth the splendor of Israel, and hasn't remembered his footstool in the day of his anger.

²The Lord has swallowed up all the habitations of Jacob, and has not pitied. He has thrown down in his wrath the strongholds of the daughter of Judah. He has brought them down to the ground; he has humiliated the kingdom and its princes.

³He has cut off in fierce anger all the strength of Israel. He has drawn back his right hand before the enemy. He has blazed in Jacob like a flaming fire, which devours all around.

⁴He has bent his bow like an enemy; his right hand he has positioned like an adversary. He killed all that were pleasant to the eye. In the tent of the daughter of Zion he has poured out his wrath like fire.

⁵The Lord has become as an enemy; he has swallowed up Israel; he has swallowed up all her palaces and has destroyed its strongholds. He has multiplied in the daughter of Judah mourning and lamentation.

⁶He has done violence to his temple, as if it were a garden; he has destroyed his place of assembly. The Lord has caused solemn assembly and Sabbath to be forgotten in Zion. He has spurned in his fierce anger the king and the priest.

⁷The Lord has rejected his altar, he has disowned his sanctuary, and has given up into the hand of the enemy the walls of her palaces. They have made a shout in the house of the Lord, as in the day of a solemn assembly.

⁸The Lord has determined to destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion. He has stretched out the line, he has not withdrawn his hand from destroying. He has made the rampart and wall to lament; they languish together.

⁹Her gates are sunk into the ground; he has destroyed and broken her bars. Her king and her princes are among the nations where the law is no more, and her prophets find no vision from the Lord.

¹⁰The elders of the daughter of Zion sit on the ground in silence. They have cast up dust on their heads; they have clothed themselves with sackcloth. The virgins of Jerusalem hang down their heads to the ground.

¹¹My eyes are worn out from weeping, my stomach is churning. My heart is poured on the earth, because of the destruction of the daughter of my people, because the young children and the infants faint in the streets of the city.

¹²They tell their mothers, "Where is grain and wine?" When they faint as the wounded in the streets of the city, as their lives fade away in their mothers' bosom.

¹³What shall I testify of you? What shall I liken to you, daughter of Jerusalem? What shall I compare to you, that I may comfort you, virgin daughter of Zion? For your ruin is great like the sea. Who can heal you?

¹⁴Your prophets have seen for you false and deceptive visions. They have not uncovered your iniquity, to bring back your captivity, but have seen for you false and misleading oracles.

¹⁵All that pass by clap their hands at you, they hiss and wag their head at the daughter of Jerusalem, saying, "Is this the city that men called 'The perfection of beauty,' 'The joy of the whole earth'?"

¹⁶All your enemies have opened wide their mouth against you. They hiss and gnash the teeth; they say, "We have swallowed her up. Certainly this is the day that we looked for; we have found, we have seen it."

¹⁷The Lord has done that which he purposed, he has fulfilled his word that he commanded in the days of old. He has thrown down, and has not pitied. He has caused the enemy to gloat over you and exalted the horn of your adversaries.

¹⁸Their heart cried to the Lord. O wall of the daughter of Zion, let tears run down like a river day and night. Give yourself no respite; do not let your tears cease.

¹⁹Arise, cry out in the night, at the beginning of the watches. Pour out your heart like water before the face of the Lord. Lift up your hands toward him for the life of your young children, that faint for hunger at the head of every street.

²⁰Look, Lord, and see to whom you have done like this! Shall the women eat their fruit, the children that are dandled in the hands? Shall the priest and the prophet be killed in the sanctuary of the Lord?

²¹The youth and the old man lie on the ground in the streets; my virgins and my young men have fallen by the sword. You have killed them in the day of your anger; you have slaughtered, without pity.

²²You have called, as in the day of a solemn assembly, my terrors on every side. There was none that escaped or remained in the day of the Lord's anger. Those that I have borne and brought up has my enemy destroyed.

¹ALEPH I am the man that has seen affliction by the rod of his wrath.

²He has led me and caused me to walk in darkness, and not in light.

³Surely against me he turns his hand again and again all the day.

⁴My flesh and my skin he has made old; he has broken my bones.

⁵He has built against me, and surrounded me with bitterness and hardship.

⁶He has made me to dwell in dark places, like those that have been long dead.

⁷He has walled me in, so I can't escape; he has made my chains heavy.

⁸Yes, when I cry, and call for help, he shuts out my prayer.

⁹He has walled up my ways with cut stone; he has made my paths crooked.

¹⁰He is to me as a bear lying in wait, as a lion in hiding.

¹¹He has obstructed my path, and torn me in pieces; he has made me desolate.

¹²He has bent his bow, and set me as a mark for the arrow.

¹³He has caused the arrows of his quiver to pierce my inward parts.

¹⁴I have become a laughingstock to all my people, and their song all the day.

¹⁵He has filled me with bitterness, he has given me in full measure wormwood.

¹⁶He has also broken my teeth with gravel; he has pressed me down in the dust.

¹⁷You have removed my soul far away from peace; I have forgotten what prosperity is.

¹⁸And I said, "My strength and my hope has perished from the Lord."

¹⁹Remember my affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall.

²⁰My soul considers them, and is depressed.

²¹But this I call to my mind; therefore I have hope:

²²The Lord's faithful love does not cease; his compassion does not fail.

²³They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

²⁴"The Lord is my portion," says my soul, "therefore will I hope in him."

²⁵The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul that seeks him.

²⁶It is good that a man should hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord.

²⁷It is good for a man that he bear the yoke while he is young.

²⁸Let him sit alone and keep silence when he is disciplining him.

²⁹Let him put his mouth to the dust, there may yet be hope.

³⁰Let him give his cheek to him who strikes him; let him be filled with insults.

³¹For the Lord will not reject forever.

³²For though he may cause grief, yet he will have compassion according to the abundance of his loving kindness.

³³For he is not predisposed to bring affliction or suffering to the children of men.

³⁴To crush under foot all the prisoners of the earth;

³⁵to deprive a man of justice before the face of the Most High,

³⁶to subvert a man in his cause, the Lord does not approve.

³⁷Who can speak a thing and have it come to pass, unless the Lord has commanded it?

³⁸Doesn't both calamity and good come out of the mouth of the Most High?

³⁹Why does a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins?

⁴⁰Let us examine and search our ways, and return to the Lord.

⁴¹Let us lift up our heart with our hands to God in the heavens.

⁴²We have transgressed and have rebelled, and you have not forgiven.

⁴³You have covered yourself with anger and pursued us; you killed without sparing.

⁴⁴You have covered yourself with a cloud, so that no prayer can pass through.

⁴⁵You have made us rubbish and refuse in the midst of the peoples.

⁴⁶All our enemies have opened their mouth wide against us.

⁴⁷Fear and the pit have come on us, devastation and destruction.

⁴⁸Streams of tears run down from my eyes because of the destruction of the daughter of my people.

⁴⁹My tears flow and do not cease, without respite,

⁵⁰until the Lord looks down and sees from heaven.

⁵¹My eyes bring my soul grief, because of all the daughters of my city.

⁵²They have chased me relentlessly like a bird, those who are my enemies without cause.

⁵³They have cut off my life in a pit, and have cast a stone on me.

⁵⁴Waters flowed over my head; I said, 'I am finished.'

⁵⁵I called on your name, Lord, out of the depths of the pit.

⁵⁶You heard my voice; do not hide your ear at my sighs, to my cry.

⁵⁷You drew near in the day that I called on you; you said, "Do not be afraid."

⁵⁸Lord, you have taken up the case for my soul; you have redeemed my life.

⁵⁹Lord, you have seen the wrong done to me; judge my case.

⁶⁰You have seen all their vengeance and all their plots against me.

⁶¹You have heard their insults, Lord, and all their plots against me.

⁶²The lips of those that rose up against me, and their plots against me all day long.

⁶³Behold their sitting down, and their rising up; I am their mocking song.

⁶⁴You will render to them what they deserve, Lord, according to the work of their hands.

⁶⁵You will give them hardness of heart as your curse to them.

⁶⁶You will pursue them in anger, and destroy them from under the heavens of the Lord.

¹ALEPH How the gold has become dim! How the most pure gold has changed! The stones of the sanctuary are poured out at the head of every street.

²The precious sons of Zion, comparable to fine gold, How they are regarded as clay jars, the work of the hands of the potter!

³Even the jackals offer the breast, they nurse their young ones, but the daughter of my people has become cruel, like the ostriches in the wilderness.

⁴The nursing infant's tongue sticks to the roof of his mouth for thirst. The young children ask for bread, but no one gives to them.

⁵Those who ate delicacies are destitute in the streets. Those who were brought up in purple embrace ash heaps.

⁶For the iniquity of the daughter of my people is greater than the sin of Sodom, which was overthrown in an instant, and no hands were laid on her.

⁷Her consecrated ones were purer than snow, whiter than milk; their bodies more ruddy than rubies, their appearance was like lapis lazuli.

⁸They appear darker than soot; they are not known in the streets. Their skin cleaves to their bones; it is withered and has become as dry as a stick.

⁹Those who are killed with the sword are better than those who are killed with hunger; those who waste away, pierced through, for lack of the fruits of the field.

¹⁰The hands of the compassionate women have cooked their own children; they were their food in the destruction of the daughter of my people.

¹¹The Lord has accomplished his wrath, he has poured out his fierce anger; he has kindled a fire in Zion, which has devoured its foundations.

¹²The kings of the earth did not believe, neither all the inhabitants of the world, that the adversary or the enemy would enter into the gates of Jerusalem.

¹³It is because of the sins of her prophets, and the iniquities of her priests, that have shed the blood of the just in the midst of her.

¹⁴They wander as blind men in the streets, they are polluted with blood, so that men can't touch their garments.

¹⁵"Turn away!" they cried to them, "Unclean! depart, depart, do not touch!" When they fled away and wandered, men said among the nations, "They shall not live here anymore."

¹⁶The Lord himself has scattered them; he will no more regard them. They did not respect the priests, they did not favor the elders.

¹⁷Our eyes still fail, looking in vain for our help. In our watching we have watched for a nation that could not save.

¹⁸They hunt our steps, so that we can't go in our streets. Our end is near, our days are fulfilled; for our end has come.

¹⁹Our pursuers were swifter than the eagles of the sky. They chased us on the mountains, they lay in wait for us in the wilderness.

²⁰The breath of our nostrils, the anointed of the Lord, was taken in their pits; of whom we said, "Under his shadow we can live among the nations."

²¹Rejoice and be glad, daughter of Edom, that dwell in the land of Uz. The cup shall pass through to you also; you will get drunk, and shall make yourself naked.

²²The punishment of your iniquity is accomplished, daughter of Zion; he will no more carry you away into captivity. He will visit your iniquity, daughter of Edom; he will uncover your sins.

¹Remember, Lord, what has come on us. Look, and see our disgrace.

²Our inheritance is turned over to strangers, our houses to foreigners.

³We are orphans and fatherless. Our mothers are like widows.

⁴We have to pay for a drink of water; our wood is sold to us.

⁵Our pursuers are on our necks; we are weary, and have no rest.

⁶We have submitted to the Egyptians and to the Assyrians, to get enough bread.

⁷Our fathers sinned, and are no more; we have borne their iniquities.

⁸Servants rule over us: There is none to deliver us out of their hand.

⁹We get our bread at the peril of our lives, because of the sword in the wilderness.

¹⁰Our skin is hot like an oven, because of the burning heat of famine.

¹¹They raped the women in Zion, the virgins in the cities of Judah.

¹²Princes were hanged by their hands; elders were shown no respect.

¹³The young men grind at the mill; the boys stagger under loads of wood.

¹⁴The elders have gone from the gate, the young men from their music.

¹⁵The joy of our heart has ceased; our dancing is turned into mourning.

¹⁶The crown is fallen from our head; woe to us, for we have sinned!

¹⁷For this our heart is faint; for these things our eyes grow dim.

¹⁸For the mountain of Zion, which is desolate; the foxes walk on it.

¹⁹You, Lord, abide forever; your throne is from generation to generation.

²⁰Why do you keep on forgetting us? Why do you forsake us so long?

²¹Restore us to you, Lord, and we shall be restored; renew our days as in former times,

²²unless you have completely rejected us and are angry with us beyond measure.

¹Now it happened in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, in the fifth of the month, as I was among the captives by the river Chebar, that the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God.

²In the fifth of the month, which was the fifth year of king Jehoiachin's captivity,

³the word of the Lord came expressly to Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar; and the hand of the Lord was there on him.

⁴I looked, and behold, a stormy wind came out of the north, a great cloud, with flashing lightning, and a brightness around it, and out of its midst as it were glowing metal, out of the midst of the fire.

⁵Out of its midst came the likeness of four living creatures. This was their appearance: they had the likeness of a man.

⁶Everyone had four faces, and each one of them had four wings.

⁷Their feet were straight feet; and the sole of their feet was like the sole of a calf's foot; and they sparkled like burnished brass.

⁸They had the hands of a man under their wings on their four sides; and the four of them had their faces and their wings thus:

⁹their wings were joined one to another; they didn't turn when they went; each one went straight forward.

¹⁰As for the likeness of their faces, they had the face of a man; and the four of them had the face of a lion on the right side; and the four of them had the face of an ox on the left side; the four of them also had the face of an eagle.

¹¹Such were their faces. Their wings were spread out above. Two wings of each one touched another, and two covered their bodies.

¹²Each one went straight forward: where the spirit was to go, they went; they didn't turn when they went.

¹³As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire, like the appearance of torches: the fire went up and down among the living creatures; and the fire was bright, and out of the fire went forth lightning.

¹⁴The living creatures ran and returned as the appearance of a flash of lightning.

¹⁵Now as I saw the living creatures, behold, one wheel on the earth beside the living creatures, for each of the four faces of it.

¹⁶The appearance of the wheels and their work was like a beryl: and the four of them had one likeness; and their appearance and their work was as it were a wheel within a wheel.

¹⁷When they went, they went in their four directions: they didn't turn when they went.

¹⁸As for their rims, they were high and dreadful; and the four of them had their rims full of eyes all around.

¹⁹When the living creatures went, the wheels went beside them; and when the living creatures were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up.

²⁰Wherever the spirit was to go, they went; there was the spirit to go: and the wheels were lifted up beside them; for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels.

²¹When those went, these went; and when those stood, these stood; and when those were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up beside them: for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels.

²²Over the head of the living creature there was the likeness of an expanse, like the awesome crystal to look on, stretched forth over their heads above.

²³Under the expanse were their wings straight, the one toward the other: each one had two which covered on this side, and every one had two which covered on that side, their bodies.

²⁴When they went, I heard the noise of their wings like the noise of great waters, like the voice of the Almighty, a noise of tumult like the noise of an army: when they stood, they let down their wings.

²⁵There was a voice above the expanse that was over their heads: when they stood, they let down their wings.

²⁶Above the expanse that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone; and on the likeness of the throne was a likeness as the appearance of a man on it above.

²⁷I saw as it were glowing metal, as the appearance of fire within it all around, from the appearance of his waist and upward; and from the appearance of his waist and downward I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and there was brightness around him.

²⁸As the appearance of the rainbow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness all around. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. When I saw it, I fell on my face, and I heard a voice of one that spoke.

¹He said to me, "Son of man, stand on your feet, and I will speak with you."

²The Spirit entered into me when he spoke to me, and set me on my feet; and I heard him who spoke to me.

³He said to me, "Son of man, I send you to the children of Israel, to a nation of rebels who have rebelled against me. They and their fathers have transgressed against me even to this very day.

⁴The children are impudent and stiff-hearted: I am sending you to them; and you shall tell them, 'Thus says the Lord God.'

⁵They, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear, (for they are a rebellious house), yet shall know that there has been a prophet among them.

⁶You, son of man, do not be afraid of them, neither be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns are with you, and you do dwell among scorpions: do not be afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, though they are a rebellious house.

⁷You shall speak my words to them, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear; for they are most rebellious.

⁸But you, son of man, hear what I tell you; do not be rebellious like that rebellious house: open your mouth, and eat that which I give you."

⁹When I looked, behold, a hand was put forth to me; and, behold, a scroll of a book was therein;

¹⁰He spread it before me: and it was written within and without; and there were written therein lamentations, and mourning, and woe.

¹He said to me, "Son of man, eat that which you find. Eat this scroll, and go, speak to the house of Israel."

²So I opened my mouth, and he caused me to eat the scroll.

³He said to me, "Son of man, cause your belly to eat, and fill your bowels with this scroll that I give you." Then I ate it; and it was as sweet as honey in my mouth.

⁴He said to me, "Son of man, go to the house of Israel, and speak my words to them.

⁵For you are not sent to a people of a strange speech and of a hard language, but to the house of Israel;

⁶not to many peoples of a strange speech and of a hard language, whose words you can not understand. Surely, if I sent you to them, they would listen to you.

⁷But the house of Israel will not listen to you; for they will not listen to me: for all the house of Israel are obstinate and hard-hearted.

⁸Behold, I have made your face hard against their faces, and your forehead hard against their foreheads.

⁹As an adamant harder than flint have I made your forehead: do not be afraid of them, neither be dismayed at their looks, though they are a rebellious house."

¹⁰Moreover he said to me, "Son of man, all my words that I shall speak to you receive in your heart, and hear with your ears.

¹¹Go to them of the captivity, to the children of your people, and speak to them, and tell them, 'Thus says the Lord God'; whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear.

¹²Then the Spirit lifted me up, and I heard behind me the voice of a great rushing, saying, "Blessed be the glory of the Lord from his place."

¹³I heard the noise of the wings of the living creatures as they touched one another, and the noise of the wheels beside them, even the noise of a great rushing.

¹⁴So the Spirit lifted me up, and took me away; and I went in bitterness, in the anger of my spirit; and the hand of the Lord was strong on me.

¹⁵Then I came to them of the exiles at Tel Aviv, that lived by the river Chebar, and to where they lived; and I sat there overwhelmed among them seven days.

¹⁶It happened at the end of seven days, that the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

¹⁷"Son of man, I have made you a watchman to the house of Israel: therefore hear the word from my mouth, and give them warning from me.

¹⁸When I tell the wicked, 'You shall surely die'; and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at your hand.

¹⁹Yet if you warn the wicked, and he doesn't turn from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have delivered your soul.

²⁰"Again, when a righteous man does turn from his righteousness, and commit iniquity, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die: because you have not given him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteous deeds which he has done shall not be remembered; but his blood will I require at your hand.

²¹Nevertheless if you warn the righteous man, that the righteous not sin, and he does not sin, he shall surely live, because he took warning; and you have delivered your soul."

²²The hand of the Lord was there on me; and he said to me, "Arise, go forth into the plain, and I will there talk with you."

²³Then I arose, and went forth into the plain: and behold, the glory of the Lord stood there, as the glory which I saw by the river Chebar; and I fell on my face.

²⁴Then the Spirit entered into me, and set me on my feet; and he spoke with me, and said to me, "Go, shut yourself inside your house.

²⁵But you, son of man, behold, they shall lay bands on you, and shall bind you with them, and you shall not go out among them:

²⁶and I will make your tongue stick to the roof of your mouth, that you shall be mute, and shall not be to them a reprover; for they are a rebellious house.

²⁷But when I speak with you, I will open your mouth, and you shall tell them, 'Thus says the Lord God': He who hears, let him hear; and he who forbears, let him forbear: for they are a rebellious house.

¹"You also, son of man, take a tile, and lay it before yourself, and portray on it a city, even Jerusalem:

²and lay siege against it, and build forts against it, and cast up a mound against it; set camps also against it, and plant battering rams against it all around.

³Take for yourself an iron pan, and set it for a wall of iron between you and the city: and set your face toward it, and it shall be besieged, and you shall lay siege against it. This shall be a sign to the house of Israel.

⁴"Moreover lie on your left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel on it; according to the number of the days that you shall lie on it, you shall bear their iniquity.

⁵For I have appointed the years of their iniquity to be to you a number of days, even three hundred ninety days: so you shall bear the iniquity of the house of Israel.

⁶"Again, when you have accomplished these, you shall lie on your right side, and shall bear the iniquity of the house of Judah: forty days, each day for a year, have I appointed it to you.

⁷You shall set your face toward the siege of Jerusalem, with your arm uncovered; and you shall prophesy against it.

⁸Behold, I lay bands on you, and you shall not turn you from one side to the other, until you have accomplished the days of your siege.

⁹"Take for yourself also wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentils, and millet, and spelt, and put them in one vessel, and make bread of it; according to the number of the days that you shall lie on your side, even three hundred ninety days, you shall eat of it.

¹⁰Your food which you shall eat shall be by weight, twenty shekels a day: from time to time you shall eat it.

¹¹You shall drink water by measure, the sixth part of a hin: from time to time you shall drink.

¹²You shall eat it as barley cakes, and you shall bake it in their sight with dung that comes out of man."

¹³The Lord said, "Even thus shall the children of Israel eat their bread unclean, among the nations where I will drive them."

¹⁴Then I said, "Ah Lord God! Behold, my soul has not been polluted; for from my youth up even until now have I not eaten of that which dies of itself, or is torn of animals; neither came there abominable flesh into my mouth."

¹⁵Then he said to me, "Behold, I have given you cow's dung for man's dung, and you shall prepare your bread thereon."

¹⁶Moreover he said to me, "Son of man, behold, I will break the staff of bread in Jerusalem: and they shall eat bread by weight, and with fearfulness; and they shall drink water by measure, and in dismay:

¹⁷that they may want bread and water, and be dismayed one with another, and pine away in their iniquity.

¹"You, son of man, take a sharp sword; You shall take it as a barber's razor to you, and shall cause it to pass on your head and on your beard: then take balances to weigh, and divide the hair.

²A third part you shall burn in the fire in the midst of the city, when the days of the siege are fulfilled; and you shall take a third part, and strike with the sword around it; and a third part you shall scatter to the wind, and I will draw out a sword after them.

³You shall take of it a few in number, and bind them in your skirts.

⁴Of these again you shall take, and cast them into the midst of the fire, and burn them in the fire; from it shall a fire come forth into all the house of Israel."

⁵"Thus says the Lord God: 'This is Jerusalem; I have set her in the midst of the nations, and countries are around her.

⁶She has rebelled against my ordinances in doing wickedness more than the nations, and against my statutes more than the countries that are around her; for they have rejected my ordinances, and as for my statutes, they have not walked in them.'

⁷"Therefore thus says the Lord God: 'Because you are turbulent more than the nations that are around you, and have not walked in my statutes, neither have kept my ordinances, neither have done after the ordinances of the nations that are around you';

⁸therefore thus says the Lord God: 'Behold, I, even I, am against you; and I will execute judgments in the midst of you in the sight of the nations.

⁹I will do in you that which I have not done, and whereunto I will not do any more the like, because of all your abominations.

¹⁰Therefore the fathers shall eat the sons in the midst of you, and the sons shall eat their fathers; and I will execute judgments on you; and the whole remnant of you will I scatter to all the winds.'

¹¹"'Therefore as I live,' says the Lord God, 'surely, because you have defiled my sanctuary with all your detestable things, and with all your abominations, therefore will I also diminish you; neither shall my eye spare, and I also will have no pity.

¹²A third part of you shall die with the pestilence, and with famine shall they be consumed in the midst of you; and a third part shall fall by the sword around you; and a third part I will scatter to all the winds, and will draw out a sword after them.

¹³Thus shall my anger be accomplished, and I will cause my wrath toward them to rest, and I shall be comforted; and they shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken in my zeal, when I have accomplished my wrath on them.

¹⁴Moreover I will make you a desolation and a reproach among the nations that are around you, in the sight of all that pass by.

¹⁵So it shall be a reproach and a taunt, an instruction and an astonishment, to the nations that are around you, when I shall execute judgments on you in anger and in wrath, and in wrathful rebukes; (I, the Lord, have spoken it;)

¹⁶when I shall send on them the evil arrows of famine, that are for destruction, which I will send to destroy you: and I will increase the famine on you, and will break your staff of bread;

¹⁷and I will send on you famine and evil animals, and they shall bereave you; and pestilence and blood shall pass through you; and I will bring the sword on you: I, the Lord, have spoken it.'"

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

²"Son of man, set your face toward the mountains of Israel, and prophesy to them,

³and say, 'You mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord God: Thus says the Lord God to the mountains and to the hills, to the watercourses and to the valleys: "Behold, I, even I, will bring a sword on you, and I will destroy your high places.

⁴Your altars shall become desolate, and your incense altars shall be broken; and I will cast down your slain men before your idols.

⁵I will lay the dead bodies of the children of Israel before their idols; and I will scatter your bones around your altars.

⁶In all your dwelling places the cities shall be laid waste, and the high places shall be desolate; that your altars may be laid waste and made desolate, and your idols may be broken and cease, and your incense altars may be cut down, and your works may be abolished.

⁷The slain shall fall in the midst of you, and you shall know that I am the Lord.

⁸"'"Yet will I leave a remnant, in that you shall have some that escape the sword among the nations, when you shall be scattered through the countries.

⁹Those of you that escape shall remember me among the nations where they shall be carried captive, how that I have been broken with their lewd heart, which has departed from me, and with their eyes, which play the prostitute after their idols: and they shall loathe themselves in their own sight for the evils which they have committed in all their abominations.

¹⁰They shall know that I am the Lord: I have not said in vain that I would bring this disaster on them."'"

¹¹"Thus says the Lord God: 'Strike with your hand, and stamp with your foot, and say, "Alas!" because of all the evil abominations of the house of Israel; for they shall fall by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence.

¹²He who is far off shall die of the pestilence; and he who is near shall fall by the sword; and he who remains and is besieged shall die by the famine: thus will I accomplish my wrath on them.

¹³You shall know that I am the Lord, when their slain men shall be among their idols around their altars, on every high hill, on all the tops of the mountains, and under every green tree, and under every thick oak, the places where they offered pleasant aroma to all their idols.

¹⁴I will stretch out my hand on them, and make the land desolate and waste, from the wilderness toward Diblah, throughout all their habitations: and they shall know that I am the Lord."'"

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

²"You, son of man, thus says the Lord God to the land of Israel, 'An end: the end has come on the four corners of the land.

³Now is the end on you, and I will send my anger on you, and will judge you according to your ways; and I will bring on you all your abominations.

⁴My eye shall not spare you, neither will I have pity; but I will bring your ways on you, and your abominations shall be in the midst of you: and you shall know that I am the Lord.'"

⁵"Thus says the Lord God: 'A disaster, a unique disaster; behold, it comes.

⁶An end has come, the end has come; it awakes against you; behold, it comes.

⁷Your doom has come to you, inhabitant of the land: the time has come, the day is near, a day of tumult, and not of joyful shouting, on the mountains.

⁸Now will I shortly pour out my wrath on you, and accomplish my anger against you, and will judge you according to your ways; and I will bring on you all your abominations.

⁹My eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity: I will bring on you according to your ways; and your abominations shall be in the midst of you; and you shall know that I, the Lord, do strike.

¹⁰Behold, the day, behold, it comes: your doom is gone forth; the rod has blossomed, pride has budded.'

¹¹"Violence has risen up into a rod of wickedness. None of them shall remain, nor of their multitude, nor of their wealth. There shall be nothing of value among them.

¹²The time has come, the day draws near: do not let the buyer rejoice, nor the seller mourn; for wrath is on all its multitude.

¹³For the seller shall not return to that which is sold, although they be yet alive: for the vision is touching the whole multitude of it, none shall return; neither shall any strengthen himself in the iniquity of his life.

¹⁴They have blown the trumpet, and have made all ready; but none goes to the battle; for my wrath is on all its multitude.

¹⁵The sword is outside, and the pestilence and the famine within: he who is in the field shall die with the sword: and he who is in the city, famine and pestilence shall devour him.

¹⁶But those of those who escape shall escape, and shall be on the mountains like doves of the valleys, all of them moaning, every one in his iniquity.

¹⁷All hands shall be feeble, and all knees shall be weak as water.

¹⁸They shall also clothe themselves with sackcloth, and horror shall cover them; and shame shall be on all faces, and baldness on all their heads.

¹⁹They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be as an unclean thing; their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the Lord: they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels; because it has been the stumbling block of their iniquity.

²⁰As for the beauty of his ornament, he set it in majesty; but they made the images of their abominations and their detestable things therein: therefore have I made it to them as an unclean thing.

²¹I will give it into the hands of the strangers for a prey, and to the wicked of the earth for a spoil; and they shall profane it.

²²My face will I turn also from them, and they shall profane my secret place; and robbers shall enter into it, and profane it.

²³"Make the chain; for the land is full of bloody crimes, and the city is full of violence.

²⁴Therefore I will bring the worst of the nations, and they shall possess their houses: I will also make the pride of the strong to cease; and their holy places shall be profaned.

²⁵Destruction comes; and they shall seek peace, and there shall be none.

²⁶Disaster shall come upon disaster, and rumor shall follow rumor; and they shall seek a vision from a prophet; but the law shall perish from the priest, and counsel from the elders.

²⁷The king shall mourn, and the prince shall be clothed with desolation, and the hands of the people of the land shall be troubled: I will do to them after their way, and according to their own judgments will I judge them; and they shall know that I am the Lord."

¹It happened in the sixth year, in the sixth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I sat in my house, and the elders of Judah sat before me, that the hand of the Lord God fell there on me.

²Then I saw, and behold, a likeness as the appearance of fire; from the appearance of his waist and downward, fire; and from his waist and upward, as the appearance of brightness, as it were glowing metal.

³He put forth the form of a hand, and took me by a lock of my head; and the Spirit lifted me up between earth and the sky, and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem, to the door of the gate of the inner court that looks toward the north; where there was the seat of the image of jealousy, which provokes to jealousy.

⁴Behold, the glory of the God of Israel was there, according to the appearance that I saw in the plain.

⁵Then he said to me, "Son of man, lift up your eyes now the way toward the north." So I lifted up my eyes the way toward the north, and see, northward of the gate of the altar this image of jealousy in the entry.

⁶He said to me, "Son of man, do you see what they do? Even the great abominations that the house of Israel do commit here, that I should go far off from my sanctuary? But you shall again see yet other great abominations."

⁷He brought me to the door of the court; and when I looked, behold, a hole in the wall.

⁸Then he said to me, "Son of man, dig now in the wall": and when I had dug in the wall, behold, a door.

⁹He said to me, "Go in, and see the wicked abominations that they do here."

¹⁰So I went in and saw; and see, every form of creeping things, and abominable animals, and all the idols of the house of Israel, portrayed around on the wall.

¹¹There stood before them seventy men of the elders of the house of Israel; and in their midst stood Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan, every man with his censer in his hand; and the odor of the cloud of incense went up.

¹²Then he said to me, "Son of man, have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in his rooms of imagery? For they say, 'The Lord doesn't see us. The Lord has forsaken the land.'"

¹³He said also to me, "You shall again see yet other great abominations which they do."

¹⁴Then he brought me to the door of the gate of the Lord's house which was toward the north; and see, there sat the women weeping for Tammuz.

¹⁵Then he said to me, "Have you seen this, son of man? You shall again see yet greater abominations than these."

¹⁶He brought me into the inner court of the Lord's house; and see, at the door of the Lord's temple, between the porch and the altar, were about twenty-five men, with their backs toward the Lord's temple, and their faces toward the east; and they were worshipping the sun toward the east.

¹⁷Then he said to me, "Have you seen this, son of man? Is it a light thing to the house of Judah that they commit the abominations which they commit here? For they have filled the land with violence, and have turned again to provoke me to anger: and behold, they put the branch to their nose.

¹⁸Therefore will I also deal in wrath; my eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity; and though they cry in my ears with a loud voice, yet will I not hear them."

¹Then he cried in my ears with a loud voice, saying, "Cause those who are in charge of the city to draw near, every man with his destroying weapon in his hand."

²Behold, six men came from the way of the upper gate, which lies toward the north, every man with his slaughter weapon in his hand; and one man in their midst clothed in linen, with a writer's inkhorn by his side. They went in, and stood beside the bronze altar.

³The glory of the God of Israel was gone up from the cherub, whereupon it was, to the threshold of the house: and he called to the man clothed in linen, who had the writer's inkhorn by his side.

⁴The Lord said to him, "Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark on the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry over all the abominations that are done in its midst."

⁵To the others he said in my hearing, "Go through the city after him, and strike: do not let your eye spare, neither have pity;

⁶kill utterly the old man, the young man and the virgin, and little children and women; but do not come near any man on whom is the mark: and begin at my sanctuary." Then they began at the old men that were before the house.

⁷He said to them, "Defile the house, and fill the courts with the slain. Go forth!" They went forth, and struck in the city.

⁸It happened, while they were smiting, and I was left, that I fell on my face, and cried, and said, "Ah Lord God! Will you destroy all the residue of Israel in your pouring out of your wrath on Jerusalem?"

⁹Then he said to me, "The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is exceedingly great, and the land is full of blood, and the city full of perversion: for they say, 'The Lord has forsaken the land, and the Lord doesn't see.'

¹⁰As for me also, my eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity, but I will bring their way on their head."

¹¹Behold, the man clothed in linen, who had the inkhorn by his side, reported the matter, saying, "I have done as you have commanded me."

¹Then I looked, and saw, in the expanse that was over the head of the cherubim there appeared above them as it were a sapphire stone, as the appearance of the likeness of a throne.

²He spoke to the man clothed in linen, and said, "Go in between the whirling wheels, even under the cherub, and fill both your hands with coals of fire from between the cherubim, and scatter them over the city." He went in as I watched.

³Now the cherubim stood on the right side of the house, when the man went in; and the cloud filled the inner court.

⁴The glory of the Lord mounted up from the cherub, and stood over the threshold of the house; and the house was filled with the cloud, and the court was full of the brightness of the Lord's glory.

⁵The sound of the wings of the cherubim was heard even to the outer court, as the voice of God Almighty when he speaks.

⁶It came to pass, when he commanded the man clothed in linen, saying, "Take fire from between the whirling wheels, from between the cherubim," that he went in, and stood beside a wheel.

⁷The cherub stretched forth his hand from between the cherubim to the fire that was between the cherubim, and took of it, and put it into the hands of him who was clothed in linen, who took it and went out.

⁸There appeared in the cherubim the form of a man's hand under their wings.

⁹I looked, and behold, four wheels beside the cherubim, one wheel beside one cherub, and another wheel beside another cherub; and the appearance of the wheels was like a beryl stone.

¹⁰As for their appearance, the four of them had one likeness, like a wheel within a wheel.

¹¹When they went, they went in their four directions: they didn't turn as they went, but to the place where the head looked they followed it; they didn't turn as they went.

¹²Their whole body, and their backs, and their hands, and their wings, and the wheels, were full of eyes all around, even the wheels that the four of them had.

¹³As for the wheels, they were called in my hearing, "the whirling wheels."

¹⁴Every one had four faces: the first face was the face of the cherub, and the second face was the face of a man, and the third face the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle.

¹⁵The cherubim mounted up: this is the living creature that I saw by the river Chebar.

¹⁶When the cherubim went, the wheels went beside them; and when the cherubim lifted up their wings to mount up from the earth, the wheels also didn't turn from beside them.

¹⁷When they stood, these stood; and when they mounted up, these mounted up with them: for the spirit of the living creature was in them.

¹⁸The glory of the Lord went forth from over the threshold of the house, and stood over the cherubim.

¹⁹The cherubim lifted up their wings, and mounted up from the earth in my sight when they went forth, and the wheels beside them: and they stood at the door of the east gate of the Lord's house; and the glory of the God of Israel was over them above.

²⁰These were the living creatures that I saw under the God of Israel by the river Chebar; and I knew that they were cherubim.

²¹Every one had four faces, and every one four wings; and the likeness of the hands of a man was under their wings.

²²As for the likeness of their faces, they were the faces which I saw by the river Chebar, their appearances and themselves; they went every one straight forward.