The Parable of the Cooking Pot
1 Again, on the tenth day of the tenth month, in the ninth year of king Jehoiachin’s captivity, the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 2 “Son of man, record this date. The king of Babylon drew close to Jerusalem on this day. 3 Utter a parable to the rebellious house and tell them that this is what the Lord God says:
‘Put the cauldron on the fire.
Put it on and also pour water into it.
4 Gather its pieces into it,
every good piece,
the thigh and the shoulder.
Fill it with the choice bones.
5 Take the choice of the flock,
and also a pile of wood for the bones under the cauldron.
Make it boil well.
Yes, let its bones be boiled in it.’
6 Therefore this is what the Lord God says:
‘Woe to the bloody city,
to the rusted cauldron,
whose rust cannot be removed!
Take the meat out of it, piece by piece,
without drawing lots.
7 For the blood she shed is still in her midst.
She left it sitting on bare rock,
not pouring it on the ground
to cover it with dust.
8 To stir up wrath and to take vengeance,
I have set her blood on the bare rock,
that it should not be covered.’
9 Therefore this is what the Lord God says:
‘Woe to the bloody city!
I myself will make the kindling pile great.
10 Heaping on wood,
making the fire hot,
boiling the meat well,
making the broth thick,
and letting the bones be burned.
11 Then set it empty on its coals,
that it may be hot,
and its bronze may burn,
and that its filth may melt in it,
that its rust may be consumed.
12 She has wearied herself in vain.
Her rust is great.
Even by fire, the rust remains.
13 Because of the depravity of your licentiousness,
I tried to cleanse you,
but you were not cleansed.
You will not be cleansed from your filthiness,
until I have caused my wrath toward you to rest.
14 I, the Lord, have spoken.
It will happen, and I will do it.
I will not go back.
I will not spare you. I will not relent.
According to your ways and according to your deeds,
they will judge you,’ declares the Lord God.”
Ezekiel’s Wife Dies
15 Also the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 16 “Son of man, I will remove from you, in one stroke, the desire of your eyes, yet you shall neither mourn nor weep, nor shall your tears flow. 17 Groan, but not aloud. Do not mourn for the dead. Bind your headdress on your head, and put your sandals on your feet. Do not cover your lips, and do not eat the bread of mourners.”
18 So I spoke to the people in the morning, and that evening my wife died. So I did in the morning as I was commanded.
19 The people asked me, “Won’t you tell us what these things mean to us, that you are doing?”
20 Then I said to them, “The word of the Lord came to me, saying: 21 Speak to the house of Israel, that this is what the Lord God says: ‘I will profane my sanctuary, the pride of your power, the desire of your eyes, and that in which your heart delights, and your sons and your daughters whom you have left behind will fall by the sword.
22 You will do as I have done: You will not cover your lips or eat the bread of mourners. 23 Your turbans will be on your heads and your sandals on your feet. You will not mourn or weep, but you will pine away in your iniquities, and moan one toward another.
24 Thus Ezekiel will be a sign to you, according to all that he has done, you will do. When this comes, then you will know that I am the Lord God.
25 You, son of man, should it not be on the day when I take their strength from them, the joy of their glory, the desire of their eyes, and that upon which they set their heart, their sons and their daughters, 26 that on that day he who escapes will come to you, so that you hear it with your own ears? 27 On that day your mouth will be opened to him who has escaped, and you will speak and no longer be mute. So you will be a sign to them. Then they will know that I am the Lord.’ ”