The Sins of Jerusalem
1 Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 2 “You, son of man, will you judge? Will you judge the bloody city? Then show her all her abominations.
3 You shall tell her that this is what the Lord God says: ‘O city that sheds blood within herself, bringing her own judgement on herself and making idols to her own defilement! 4 You are guilty from the blood you have shed, and are defiled from the idols which you have made, you have caused the end of your days, and have come to the end of your years. Therefore I have made you a reproach to the nations and a mockery to other countries. 5 Those who are near and those who are far will mock you, infamous one, full of tumult.
6 Every prince of Israel has used his power for the shedding of blood. 7 In you have they treated father and mother with contempt. Among you they have oppressed the foreigner. In you they have wronged the fatherless and the widow.
8 You have despised my holy things and have profaned my Sabbaths. 9 Slanderous men have been in you to shed blood. In you they have eaten on the mountain shrines and have committed lewd acts among you.
10 In you men have sexual intercourse with their father’s wives and intercourse with women during their menstrual period. 11 One has committed abomination with his neighbor’s wife, and another has lewdly defiled his daughter-in-law. Another in you has had intercourse with his sister, his father’s daughter.
12 In you have they taken bribes to shed blood. You have taken interest and profit on loans and have greedily gained from your neighbors through oppression, and you have forgotten me, declares the Lord God.
13 Therefore I strike my hands together at the dishonest gain which you have made and at the blood which you have shed within you. 14 Can your heart endure, or will your hands have the strength to endure when I deal with you? I, the Lord, have spoken it, and will do this. 15 I will scatter you among the nations and disperse you throughout the countries. I will purge the filth from you. 16 When you have been profaned in your own sight and in the sight of the nations, then you will know that I am the Lord.’ ”
The Refining Furnace
17 The word of the Lord came to me, saying, 18 “Son of man, the house of Israel has become worthless junk to me. All of them are a pile of bronze, tin, iron, and lead in the furnace. They are the waste from silver.
19 Therefore this is what the Lord God says: ‘Because all of you have become worthless junk, therefore, I will gather you in the midst of Jerusalem. 20 As they gather silver, bronze, iron, lead, and tin into the furnace, to blow fire on it and melt it, so I will gather you in my anger and in my wrath, and I will lay you there, and melt you. 21 Yes, I will gather you, and blow on you with the fire of my wrath, and you will be melted in its midst. 22 As silver is melted in the furnace, so you will be melted, and you will know that I, the Lord, have poured out my wrath on you.’ ”
23 The word of the Lord came to me, saying, 24 “Son of man, tell her, ‘In the day of my indignation you will be like an unclean land without rain.’ 25 The conspiracy of her prophets within her is like a roaring lion ravening the prey. They have devoured souls. They have taken treasure and precious things. They have made many widows within her.
26 Her priests have done violence to my law and have profaned my holy things. They have made no distinction between the holy and the common, nor have they caused men to discern between the unclean and the clean and have hidden their eyes from my Sabbaths. So I am profaned among them.
27 Her princes within her are like wolves ravening the prey, to shed blood, and to destroy souls, that they may get dishonest gain. 28 Her prophets have plastered them with whitewash, seeing false visions, and divining lies to them, saying, ‘The Lord God says,’ when the Lord has not spoken. 29 The people of the land have used oppression and exercised robbery. Yes, they have troubled the poor and needy and have wrongfully oppressed the foreigner.
30 I sought for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I would not destroy it, but I found no one. 31 Therefore I have poured out my indignation on them. I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath. I have brought their own ways down on their own heads,” says the Lord God.