| | 1 | The word of the LORD came to me: | |
| | 2 | "Son of man, will you judge her? Will you judge this city of bloodshed? Then confront her with all her detestable practices | |
| | 3 | and say: 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: O city that brings on herself doom by shedding blood in her midst and defiles herself by making idols, | |
| | 4 | you have become guilty because of the blood you have shed and have become defiled by the idols you have made. You have brought your days to a close, and the end of your years has come. Therefore I will make you an object of scorn to the nations and a laughingstock to all the countries. | |
| | 5 | Those who are near and those who are far away will mock you, O infamous city, full of turmoil. | |
| | 6 | "'See how each of the princes of Israel who are in you uses his power to shed blood. | |
| | 7 | In you they have treated father and mother with contempt; in you they have oppressed the alien and mistreated the fatherless and the widow. | |
| | 8 | You have despised my holy things and desecrated my Sabbaths. | |
| | 9 | In you are slanderous men bent on shedding blood; in you are those who eat at the mountain shrines and commit lewd acts. | |
| | 10 | In you are those who dishonor their fathers' bed; in you are those who violate women during their period, when they are ceremonially unclean. | |
| | 11 | In you one man commits a detestable offense with his neighbor's wife, another shamefully defiles his daughter-in-law, and another violates his sister, his own father's daughter. | |
| | 12 | In you men accept bribes to shed blood; you take usury and excessive interest and make unjust gain from your neighbors by extortion. And you have forgotten me, declares the Sovereign LORD. | |
| | 13 | "'I will surely strike my hands together at the unjust gain you have made and at the blood you have shed in your midst. | |
| | 14 | Will your courage endure or your hands be strong in the day I deal with you? I the LORD have spoken, and I will do it. | |
| | 15 | I will disperse you among the nations and scatter you through the countries; and I will put an end to your uncleanness. | |
| | 16 | When you have been defiled in the eyes of the nations, you will know that I am the LORD.'" | |
| | 17 | Then the word of the LORD came to me: | |
| | 18 | "Son of man, the house of Israel has become dross to me; all of them are the copper, tin, iron and lead left inside a furnace. They are but the dross of silver. | |
| | 19 | Therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says: 'Because you have all become dross, I will gather you into Jerusalem. | |
| | 20 | As men gather silver, copper, iron, lead and tin into a furnace to melt it with a fiery blast, so will I gather you in my anger and my wrath and put you inside the city and melt you. | |
| | 21 | I will gather you and I will blow on you with my fiery wrath, and you will be melted inside her. | |
| | 22 | As silver is melted in a furnace, so you will be melted inside her, and you will know that I the LORD have poured out my wrath upon you.'" | |
| | 23 | Again the word of the LORD came to me: | |
| | 24 | "Son of man, say to the land, 'You are a land that has had no rain or showers in the day of wrath.' | |
| | 25 | There is a conspiracy of her princes within her like a roaring lion tearing its prey; they devour people, take treasures and precious things and make many widows within her. | |
| | 26 | Her priests do violence to my law and profane my holy things; they do not distinguish between the holy and the common; they teach that there is no difference between the unclean and the clean; and they shut their eyes to the keeping of my Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them. | |
| | 27 | Her officials within her are like wolves tearing their prey; they shed blood and kill people to make unjust gain. | |
| | 28 | Her prophets whitewash these deeds for them by false visions and lying divinations. They say, 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says'--when the LORD has not spoken. | |
| | 29 | The people of the land practice extortion and commit robbery; they oppress the poor and needy and mistreat the alien, denying them justice. | |
| | 30 | "I looked for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found none. | |
| | 31 | So I will pour out my wrath on them and consume them with my fiery anger, bringing down on their own heads all they have done, declares the Sovereign LORD." | |
