Bible in 90 Days

²¹ Again a message came to me from the Lord:

²² “Son of dust, what is that proverb they quote in Israel—‘The days as they pass make liars out of every prophet.’ ²³ The Lord God says: I will put an end to this proverb and they will soon stop saying it. Give them this one instead: ‘The time has come for all these prophecies to be fulfilled.’

²⁴ “Then you will see what becomes of all the false predictions of safety and security for Jerusalem. ²⁵ For I am the Lord! What I threaten always happens. There will be no more delays, O rebels of Israel! I will do it in your own lifetime!” says the Lord God.

²⁶ Then this message came:

²⁷ “Son of dust, the people of Israel say, ‘His visions won’t come true for a long, long time.’ ²⁸ Therefore say to them: ‘The Lord God says: All delay has ended! I will do it now!’”

13 Then this message came to me: ^2-3 “Son of dust, prophesy against the false prophets of Israel who are inventing their own visions and claiming to have messages from me when I have never told them anything at all. Woe upon them!

⁴ “O Israel, these ‘prophets’ of yours are as useless as foxes for rebuilding your walls! ⁵ O evil prophets, what have you ever done to strengthen the walls of Israel against her enemies—by strengthening Israel in the Lord? ⁶ Instead you have lied when you said, ‘My message is from God!’ God did not send you. And yet you expect him to fulfill your prophecies. ⁷ Can you deny that you have claimed to see ‘visions’ you never saw, and that you have said, ‘This message is from God,’ when I never spoke to you at all?”

⁸ Therefore the Lord God says: “I will destroy you for these ‘visions’ and lies. ⁹ My hand shall be against you, and you shall be cut off from among the leaders of Israel; I will blot out your names, and you will never see your own country again. And you shall know I am the Lord. ¹⁰ For these evil men deceive my people by saying, ‘God will send peace,’ when that is not my plan at all! My people build a flimsy wall, and these prophets praise them for it—and cover it with whitewash!

¹¹ “Tell these evil builders that their wall will fall. A heavy rainstorm will undermine it; great hailstones and mighty winds will knock it down. ¹² And when the wall falls, the people will cry out, ‘Why didn’t you tell us that it wasn’t good enough? Why did you whitewash it and cover up its faults?’ ¹³ Yes, it will surely fall.” The Lord God says: “I will sweep it away with a storm of indignation, with a great flood of anger, and with hailstones of wrath. ¹⁴ I will break down your whitewashed wall; it will fall on you and crush you, and you shall know I am the Lord. ¹⁵ Then at last my wrath against the wall will be completed; and concerning those who praised it, I will say: The wall and its builders both are gone. ¹⁶ For they were lying prophets, claiming Jerusalem will have peace when there is no peace,” says the Lord God.

¹⁷ “Son of dust, speak out against the women prophets too who pretend the Lord has given them his messages. ¹⁸ Tell them, ‘The Lord God says: Woe to these women who are damning the souls of my people, of both young and old alike, by tying magic charms on their wrists, furnishing them with magic veils, and selling them indulgences. They refuse to even offer help unless they get a profit from it.^{[a] 19} For the sake of a few paltry handfuls of barley or a piece of bread will you turn away my people from me? You have led those to death who should not die! And you have promised life to those who should not live by lying to my people—and how they love it!’”

²⁰ And so the Lord says: “I will crush you because you hunt my people’s souls with all your magic charms. I will tear off the charms and set my people free like birds from cages. ²¹ I will tear off the magic veils and save my people from you; they will no longer be your victims, and you shall know I am the Lord. ²² Your lies have discouraged the righteous when I didn’t want it so. And you have encouraged the wicked by promising life, though they continue in their sins. ²³ But you will lie no more; no longer will you talk of seeing ‘visions’ that you never saw nor practice your magic, for I will deliver my people out of your hands by destroying you, and you shall know I am the Lord.”

14 Then some of the elders of Israel visited me to ask me for a message from the Lord, ² and this is the message that came to me to give to them:

³ “Son of dust, these men worship idols in their hearts—should I let them ask me anything? ⁴ Tell them, ‘The Lord God says: I, the Lord, will personally deal with anyone in Israel who worships idols and then comes to ask my help. ⁵ For I will punish the minds and hearts of those who turn from me to idols.’

^6-7 “Therefore, warn them that the Lord God says: ‘Repent and destroy your idols, and stop worshiping them in your hearts. I the Lord will personally punish everyone, whether people of Israel or the foreigners living among you, who rejects me for idols and then comes to a prophet to ask for my help and advice. ⁸ I will turn upon him and make a terrible example of him, destroying him; and you shall know I am the Lord. ⁹ And if one of the false prophets gives him a message anyway, it is a lie. His prophecy will not come true, and I will stand against that “prophet” and destroy him from among my people Israel. ¹⁰ False prophets and hypocrites—evil people who say they want my words—all will be punished for their sins, ¹¹ so that the people of Israel will learn not to desert me and not to be polluted any longer with sin. They will be my people and I their God.’ So says the Lord.”

¹² Then this message of the Lord came to me:

¹³ “Son of dust, if the people of a land sin against me, then I will crush them with my fist, break off their food supply, and send famine to destroy both man and beast. ¹⁴ Even if Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, they alone would be saved by their righteousness, and I would destroy the remainder of Israel,” says the Lord God.

¹⁵ “If I send an invasion of dangerous wild animals into the land to devastate the land, ¹⁶ even if these three men were there, the Lord God swears that it would do no good—it would not save the people from their doom. Those three only would be saved, but the land would be devastated.

¹⁷ “Or if I bring war against that land and tell the armies of the enemy to come and destroy everything, ¹⁸ even if these three men were in the land, the Lord God declares that they alone would be saved.

¹⁹ “And if I pour out my fury by sending an epidemic of disease into the land, and the plague kills man and beast alike, ²⁰ though Noah, Daniel, and Job were living there, the Lord God says that only they would be saved because of their righteousness.”

²¹ And the Lord says: “Four great punishments await Jerusalem to destroy all life: war, famine, ferocious beasts, plague. ²² If there are survivors and they come here to join you as exiles in Babylon, you will see with your own eyes how wicked they are, and you will know it was right for me to destroy Jerusalem. ²³ You will agree, when you meet them, that it is not without cause that all these things are being done to Israel.”

15 Then this message came to me from the Lord:

² “Son of dust, what good are vines from the forest? Are they as useful as trees? Are they even as valuable as a single branch? ³ No, for vines can’t be used even for making pegs to hang up pots and pans! ⁴ All they are good for is fuel—and even so, they burn but poorly! ^5-6 So they are useless both before and after being put in the fire!

“This is what I mean,” the Lord God says: “The people of Jerusalem are like the vines of the forest—useless before being burned and certainly useless afterwards! ⁷ And I will set myself against them to see to it that if they escape from one fire, they will fall into another; and then you shall know I am the Lord. ⁸ And I will make the land desolate because they worship idols,” says the Lord God.

16 Then again a message came to me from the Lord.

² “Son of dust,” he said, “speak to Jerusalem about her loathsome sins. ³ Tell her, ‘The Lord God says: You are no better than the people of Canaan—your father must have been an Amorite and your mother a Hittite!^{[b] 4} When you were born, no one cared for you. When I first saw you, your umbilical cord was uncut, and you had been neither washed nor rubbed with salt nor clothed. ⁵ No one had the slightest interest in you; no one pitied you or cared for you. On that day when you were born, you were dumped out into a field and left to die, unwanted.

^6-7 “‘But I came by and saw you there, covered with your own blood, and I said, “Live! Thrive like a plant in the field!” And you did! You grew up and became tall, slender and supple, a jewel among jewels. And when you reached the age of maidenhood, your breasts were full-formed and your pubic hair had grown; yet you were naked.

⁸ “‘Later, when I passed by and saw you again, you were old enough for marriage; and I wrapped my cloak around you to legally declare my marriage vow. I signed a covenant with you, and you became mine. ^9-10 Then, when the marriage had taken place, I gave you beautiful clothes of linens and silk, embroidered, and sandals made of dolphin hide. ¹¹ I gave you lovely ornaments, bracelets, and beautiful necklaces, ¹² a ring for your nose and two more for your ears, and a lovely tiara for your head. ¹³ And so you were made beautiful with gold and silver, and your clothes were silk and linen and beautifully embroidered. You ate the finest foods and became more beautiful than ever. You looked like a queen, and so you were! ¹⁴ Your reputation was great among the nations for your beauty; it was perfect because of all the gifts I gave you,’” says the Lord God.

¹⁵ “‘But you thought you could get along without me—you trusted in your beauty instead; and you gave yourself as a prostitute to every man who came along. Your beauty was his for the asking. ¹⁶ You used the lovely things I gave you for making idol shrines and to decorate your bed of prostitution. Unbelievable! There has never been anything like it before! ¹⁷ You took the very jewels and gold and silver ornaments I gave to you and made statues of men and worshiped them, which is adultery against me. ¹⁸ You used the beautifully embroidered clothes I gave you—to cover your idols! And used my oil and incense to worship them! ¹⁹ You set before them as a lovely sacrifice—imagine it—the fine flour and oil and honey I gave you! ²⁰ And you took my sons and daughters you had borne to me and sacrificed them to your gods; and they are gone. Wasn’t it enough that you should be a prostitute? ²¹ Must you also slay my children by sacrificing them to idols?

²² “‘And in all these years of adultery and sin you have not thought of those days long ago when you were naked and covered with blood.

²³ “‘And then, in addition to all your other wickedness—woe, woe upon you, says the Lord God— ²⁴ you built a spacious brothel for your lovers and idol altars on every street, ²⁵ and there you offered your beauty to every man who came by, in an endless stream of prostitution. ²⁶ And you added lustful Egypt to your prostitutions by your alliance with her. My anger is great.

²⁷ “‘Therefore I have crushed you with my fist; I have reduced your boundaries and delivered you into the hands of those who hate you—the Philistines—and even they are ashamed of you.

²⁸ “‘You have committed adultery with the Assyrians too by making them your allies and worshiping their gods;^[c] it seems that you can never find enough new gods. After your adultery there, you still weren’t satisfied, ²⁹ so you worshiped the gods of that great merchant land of Babylon—and you still weren’t satisfied. ³⁰ What a filthy heart you have, says the Lord God, to do such things as these; you are a brazen prostitute, ³¹ building your idol altars, your brothels, on every street. You have been worse than a prostitute, so eager for sin that you have not even charged for your love! ³² Yes, you are an adulterous wife who lives with other men instead of her own husband. ^33-34 Prostitutes charge for their services—men pay with many gifts. But not you, you give them gifts, bribing them to come to you! So you are different from other prostitutes. But you had to pay them, for no one wanted you.

³⁵ “‘O prostitute, hear the word of the Lord: ³⁶ This is what the Lord God says! Because I see your filthy sins, your adultery with your lovers—your worshiping of idols—and the slaying of your children as sacrifices to your gods, ³⁷ this is what I am going to do: I will gather together all your allies—these lovers of yours you have sinned with, both those you loved and those you hated—and I will make you naked before them that they may see you. ³⁸ I will punish you as a murderess is punished and as a woman breaking wedlock living with other men. ³⁹ I will give you to your lovers—these many nations—to destroy, and they will knock down your brothels and idol altars. They will strip you, take your beautiful jewels, and leave you naked and ashamed. ^40-41 They will burn your homes, punishing you before the eyes of many women. And I will see to it that you stop your adulteries with other gods and end your payments to your allies for their love.

⁴² “‘Then at last my fury against you will die away; my jealousy against you will end, and I will be quiet and not be angry with you anymore. ⁴³ But first, because you have not remembered your youth but have angered me by all these evil things you do, I will fully repay you for all of your sins,’” says the Lord. “‘For you are thankless in addition to all your other faults.

⁴⁴ “‘“Like mother, like daughter”—that is what everyone will say of you. ⁴⁵ For your mother loathed her husband and her children, and you do too. And you are exactly like your sisters, for they despised their husbands and their children. Truly, your mother must have been a Hittite and your father an Amorite.

⁴⁶ “‘Your older sister is Samaria, living with her daughters north of you; your younger sister is Sodom and her daughters, in the south. ⁴⁷ You have not merely sinned as they do—no, that was nothing to you; in a very short time you far surpassed them.

⁴⁸ “‘As I live, the Lord God says, Sodom and her daughters have never been as wicked as you and your daughters. ⁴⁹ Your sister Sodom’s sins were pride, laziness, and too much food, while the poor and needy suffered outside her door. ⁵⁰ She insolently worshiped many idols as I watched. Therefore I crushed her.

⁵¹ “‘Even Samaria has not committed half your sins. You have worshiped idols far more than your sisters have; they seem almost righteous in comparison with you! ⁵² Don’t be surprised then by the lighter punishment they get. For your sins are so awful that in comparison with you, your sisters seem innocent! ⁵³ (But someday I will restore the fortunes of Sodom and Samaria again, and those of Judah too.) ⁵⁴ Your terrible punishment will be a consolation to them, for it will be greater than theirs.

⁵⁵ “‘Yes, your sisters, Sodom and Samaria, and all their people will be restored again, and Judah, too, will prosper in that day. ⁵⁶ In your proud days you held Sodom in unspeakable contempt. ⁵⁷ But now your greater wickedness has been exposed to all the world, and you are the one who is scorned—by Edom and all her neighbors and by all the Philistines. ⁵⁸ This is part of your punishment for all your sins,’” says the Lord.

^59-60 For the Lord God says: “I will repay you for your broken promises. You lightly broke your solemn vows to me, yet I will keep the pledge I made to you when you were young. I will establish an everlasting covenant with you forever, ⁶¹ and you will remember with shame all the evil you have done; and you will be overcome by my favor when I take your sisters, Samaria and Sodom, and make them your daughters, for you to rule over. You will know you don’t deserve this gracious act, for you did not keep my covenant. ⁶² I will reaffirm my covenant with you, and you will know I am the Lord. ⁶³ Despite all you have done, I will be kind to you again; you will cover your mouth in silence and in shame when I forgive you all that you have done,” says the Lord God.

17 Then this message came to me from the Lord:

² “Son of dust, give this riddle to the people of Israel:

^3-4 “A great eagle with broad wings full of many-colored feathers came to Lebanon and plucked off the shoot at the top of the tallest cedar tree and carried it into a city filled with merchants. ⁵ There he planted it^[d] in fertile ground beside a broad river, where it would grow as quickly as a willow tree. ⁶ It took root and grew and became a low but spreading vine that turned toward the eagle and produced strong branches and luxuriant leaves. ⁷ But when another great, broad-winged, full-feathered eagle came along, this tree sent its roots and branches out toward him instead, ⁸ even though it was already in good soil with plenty of water to become a splendid vine, producing leaves and fruit.”

⁹ The Lord God asks: “Shall I let this tree grow and prosper? No! I will pull it out, roots and all! I will cut off its branches and let its leaves wither and die. It will pull out easily enough—it won’t take a big crew or a lot of equipment to do that. ¹⁰ Though the vine began so well, will it thrive? No, it will wither away completely when the east wind touches it, dying in the same choice soil where it had grown so well.”

¹¹ Then this message came to me from the Lord:

^12-13 “Ask these rebels of Israel: Don’t you understand what this riddle of the eagles means? I will tell you. Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon (the first of the two eagles),^[e] came to Jerusalem, took away her king and princes (her topmost buds and shoots), and brought them to Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar made a covenant with a member of the royal family (Zedekiah), and made him take an oath of loyalty. He took a seedling and planted it in fertile ground beside a broad river. He also exiled the top men of Israel’s government, ¹⁴ so that Israel would not be strong again and revolt. But by keeping her promises, Israel could be respected and maintain her identity.

¹⁵ “Nevertheless, Zedekiah rebelled against Babylon, sending ambassadors to Egypt to seek for a great army and many horses to fight against Nebuchadnezzar. But will Israel prosper after breaking all her promises like that? Will she succeed? ¹⁶ No! For as I live,” says the Lord, “the king of Israel shall die. (Nebuchadnezzar will pull out the tree, roots and all!) Zedekiah shall die in Babylon, where the king lives who gave him his power, and whose covenant he despised and broke. ¹⁷ Pharaoh and all his mighty army shall fail to help Israel when the king of Babylon lays siege to Jerusalem again and slaughters many lives. ¹⁸ For the king of Israel broke his promise after swearing to obey; therefore he shall not escape.”

¹⁹ The Lord God says: “As I live, surely I will punish him for despising the solemn oath he made in my name. ²⁰ I will throw my net over him, and he shall be captured in my snare; I will bring him to Babylon and deal with him there for this treason against me. ²¹ And all the best soldiers of Israel will be killed by the sword, and those remaining in the city will be scattered to the four winds. Then you will know that I, the Lord, have spoken these words.”

^22-23 The Lord God says: “I will take a tender sprout from the top of a tall cedar, and I will plant it on the top of Israel’s highest mountain. It shall become a noble cedar, bringing forth branches and bearing seed. Animals of every sort will gather under it; its branches will shelter every kind of bird. ²⁴ And everyone shall know that it is I, the Lord, who cuts down the high trees and exalts the low, that I make the green tree wither and the dead tree grow. I, the Lord, have said that I would do it, and I will.”

18 Then the Lord’s message came to me again.

² “Why do people use this proverb about the land of Israel: The children are punished for their fathers’ sins?^{[f] 3} As I live,” says the Lord God, “you will not use this proverb anymore in Israel, ⁴ for all souls are mine to judge—fathers and sons alike—and my rule is this: It is for a man’s own sins that he will die.

⁵ “But if a man is just and does what is lawful and right, ⁶ and has not gone out to the mountains to feast before the idols of Israel and worship them, and does not commit adultery nor lie with any woman during the time of her menstruation; ⁷ if he is a merciful creditor, not holding onto the items given to him in pledge by poor debtors, and is no robber but gives food to the hungry and clothes to those in need; ⁸ and if he grants loans without interest,^[g] stays away from sin, is honest and fair when judging others, ⁹ and obeys my laws—that man is just,” says the Lord, “and he shall surely live.

¹⁰ “But if that man has a son who is a robber or murderer and who fulfills none of his responsibilities, ¹¹ who refuses to obey the laws of God but worships idols on the mountains and commits adultery, ¹² oppresses the poor and helpless, robs his debtors by refusing to let them redeem what they have given him in pledge, loves idols and worships them, ¹³ and loans out his money at interest^[h]—shall that man live? No! He shall surely die, and it is his own fault.

¹⁴ “But if this sinful man has, in turn, a son who sees all his father’s wickedness, so that he fears God and decides against that kind of life; ¹⁵ he doesn’t go up on the mountains to feast before the idols and worship them and does not commit adultery; ¹⁶ he is fair to those who borrow from him and doesn’t rob them, but feeds the hungry, clothes the needy, ¹⁷ helps the poor, does not loan money at interest, and obeys my laws—he shall not die because of his father’s sins; he shall surely live. ¹⁸ But his father shall die for his own sins because he is cruel and robs and does wrong.

¹⁹ “‘What?’ you ask. ‘Doesn’t the son pay for his father’s sins?’ No! For if the son does what is right and keeps my laws, he shall surely live. ²⁰ The one who sins is the one who dies. The son shall not be punished for his father’s sins, nor the father for his son’s. The righteous person will be rewarded for his own goodness and the wicked person for his wickedness. ²¹ But if a wicked person turns away from all his sins and begins to obey my laws and do what is just and right, he shall surely live and not die. ²² All his past sins will be forgotten, and he shall live because of his goodness.

²³ “Do you think I like to see the wicked die?” asks the Lord. “Of course not! I only want him to turn from his wicked ways and live. ²⁴ However, if a righteous person turns to sinning and acts like any other sinner, should he be allowed to live? No, of course not. All his previous goodness will be forgotten and he shall die for his sins.

²⁵ “Yet you say: ‘The Lord isn’t being fair!’ Listen to me, O people of Israel. Am I the one who is unfair, or is it you? ²⁶ When a good man turns away from being good, begins sinning, and dies in his sins, he dies for the evil he has done. ²⁷ And if a wicked person turns away from his wickedness and obeys the law and does right, he shall save his soul, ²⁸ for he has thought it over and decided to turn from his sins and live a good life. He shall surely live—he shall not die.

²⁹ “And yet the people of Israel keep saying: ‘The Lord is unfair!’ O people of Israel, it is you who are unfair, not I. ³⁰ I will judge each of you, O Israel, and punish or reward each according to his own actions. Oh, turn from your sins while there is yet time. ³¹ Put them behind you and receive a new heart and a new spirit. For why will you die, O Israel? ³² I do not enjoy seeing you die,” the Lord God says. “Turn, turn and live!

19 “Sing this death dirge for the leaders of Israel: ² What a woman your mother was—like a lioness! Her children were like lion’s cubs! ³ One of her cubs, King Jehoahaz,^[i] grew into a strong young lion and learned to catch prey and became a man-eater. ⁴ Then the nations called out their hunters; they trapped him in a pit and brought him in chains to Egypt.

⁵ “When Israel, the mother lion, saw that all her hopes for him were gone, she took another of her cubs, King Jehoiachin,^[j] and taught him to be ‘king of the beasts.’ ⁶ He became a leader among the lions and learned to catch prey, and he too became a man-eater. ⁷ He demolished the palaces of the surrounding nations and ruined their cities; their farms were desolated, their crops destroyed; everyone in the land shook with terror when they heard him roar. ⁸ Then the armies of the nations surrounded him, coming from every side, and trapped him in a pit and captured him. ⁹ They prodded him into a cage and brought him before the king of Babylon. He was held in captivity so that his voice could never again be heard upon the mountains of Israel.

¹⁰ “Your mother was like a vine beside an irrigation ditch, with lush, green foliage because of all the water. ¹¹ Its strongest branch became a ruler’s scepter, and it was very great, towering above the others and noticed from far away. ¹² But the vine was uprooted in fury and thrown down to the ground. Its branches were broken and withered by a strong wind from the east; the fruit was destroyed by fire. ¹³ Now the vine is planted in the wilderness where the ground is hard and dry. ¹⁴ It is decaying from within;^[k] no strong branch remains. The fulfillment of this sad prophecy has already begun, and there is more ahead.”

20 Late in July, six years after King Jeconiah was captured,^[l] some of the elders of Israel came to ask instructions from the Lord and sat before me awaiting his reply.

² Then the Lord gave me this message: ³ “Son of dust, say to the elders of Israel, ‘The Lord God says: How dare you come to ask my help? I swear that I will tell you nothing.’ ⁴ Judge them, son of dust; condemn them; tell them of all the sins of this nation from the times of their fathers until now. ^5-6 Tell them, ‘The Lord God says: When I chose Israel and revealed myself to her in Egypt, I swore to her and her descendants that I would bring them out of Egypt to a land I had discovered and explored for them—a good land, flowing as it were with milk and honey, the best of all lands anywhere.’

⁷ “Then I said to them: ‘Get rid of every idol; do not defile yourselves with the Egyptian gods, for I am the Lord your God.’ ⁸ But they rebelled against me and would not listen. They didn’t get rid of their idols nor forsake the gods of Egypt. Then I thought, I will pour out my fury upon them and fulfill my anger against them while they are still in Egypt.

^9-10 “But I didn’t do it, for I acted to protect the honor of my name, lest the Egyptians laugh at Israel’s God who couldn’t keep them from harm. So I brought my people out of Egypt right before the Egyptians’ eyes and led them into the wilderness. ¹¹ There I gave them my laws so they could live by keeping them. If anyone keeps them, he will live. ¹² And I gave them the Sabbath—a day of rest every seventh day—as a symbol between them and me, to remind them that it is I, the Lord, who sanctifies them—that they are truly my people.

¹³ “But Israel rebelled against me. There in the wilderness they refused my laws. They would not obey my rules even though obeying them means life. And they misused my Sabbaths. Then I thought, I will pour out my fury upon them and utterly consume them in the desert.

¹⁴ “But again I refrained in order to protect the honor of my name, lest the nations who saw me bring them out of Egypt would say that it was because I couldn’t care for them that I destroyed them. ¹⁵ But I swore to them in the wilderness that I would not bring them into the land I had given them, a land full of milk and honey, the choicest spot on earth, ¹⁶ because they laughed at my laws, ignored my wishes, and violated my Sabbaths—their hearts were with their idols! ¹⁷ Nevertheless, I spared them. I didn’t finish them off in the wilderness.

¹⁸ “Then I spoke to their children and said: ‘Don’t follow your fathers’ footsteps. Don’t defile yourselves with their idols, ¹⁹ for I am the Lord your God. Follow my laws; keep my ordinances; ²⁰ hallow my Sabbaths; for they are a symbol of the contract between us to help you remember that I am the Lord your God.’

²¹ “But their children, too, rebelled against me. They refused my laws—the laws that if a person keeps them, he will live. And they defiled my Sabbaths. So then I said: ‘Now at last I will pour out my fury upon you in the wilderness.’

²² “Nevertheless, again I withdrew my judgment against them to protect my name among the nations who had seen my power in bringing them out of Egypt. ^23-24 But I took a solemn oath against them while they were in the wilderness that I would scatter them, dispersing them to the ends of the earth because they did not obey my laws but scorned them and violated my Sabbaths and longed for their fathers’ idols. ²⁵ I let them adopt^[m] customs and laws which were worthless. Through the keeping of them they could not attain life. ²⁶ In the hope that they would draw back in horror and know that I alone am God, I let them pollute themselves with the very gifts I gave them. They burnt their firstborn children as offerings to their gods!

^27-28 “Son of dust, tell them that the Lord God says: Your fathers continued to blaspheme and betray me when I brought them into the land I promised them, for they offered sacrifices and incense on every high hill and under every tree! They roused my fury as they offered up their sacrifices to those ‘gods.’ They brought their perfumes and incense and poured out their drink offerings to them! ²⁹ I said to them: ‘What is this place of sacrifice^[n] where you go?’ And so it is still called ‘The Place of Sacrifice’—that is how it got its name.

³⁰ “The Lord God wants to know whether you are going to pollute yourselves just as your fathers did and keep on worshiping idols. ³¹ For when you offer gifts to them and give your little sons to be burned to ashes as you do even today, shall I listen to you or help you, Israel? As I live,” the Lord God says, “I will not give you any message, though you have come to me to ask.

³² “What you have in mind will not be done—to be like the nations all around you, serving gods of wood and stone. ³³ I will rule you with an iron fist and in great anger and with power. ³⁴ With might and fury I will bring you out from the lands where you are scattered, ^35-36 and will bring you into my desert judgment hall.^[o] I will judge you there and get rid of the rebels, just as I did in the wilderness after I brought you out of Egypt. ³⁷ I will count you carefully and let only a small quota return. ³⁸ And the others—the rebels and all those who sin against me—I will purge from among you. They shall not enter Israel, but I will bring them out of the countries where they are in exile. And when that happens, you will know I am the Lord.

³⁹ “O Israel,” the Lord God says: “If you insist on worshiping your idols, go right ahead, but then don’t bring your gifts to me as well! Such desecration of my holy name must stop!

⁴⁰ “For at Jerusalem in my holy mountain,” says the Lord, “all Israel shall worship me. There I will accept you and require you to bring me your offerings and the finest of your gifts. ⁴¹ You will be to me as an offering of perfumed incense when I bring you back from exile, and the nations will see the great change in your hearts. ⁴² Then, when I have brought you home to the land I promised your fathers, you will know I am the Lord. ⁴³ Then you will look back at all your sins and loathe yourselves because of the evil you have done. ⁴⁴ And when I have honored my name by blessing you despite your wickedness, then, O Israel, you will know I am the Lord.”

⁴⁵ Then this message came to me from the Lord:

⁴⁶ “Son of dust, look toward Jerusalem and speak out against it and the forest lands of the Negeb. ⁴⁷ Prophesy to it and say: ‘Hear the word of the Lord. I will set you on fire, O forest, and every tree will die, green and dry alike. The terrible flames will not be quenched, and they will scorch the world. ⁴⁸ And all the world will see that I, the Lord, have set the fire. It shall not be put out.’”

⁴⁹ Then I said, “O Lord God, they say of me, ‘He only talks in riddles!’”

21 Then this message came to me from the Lord:

² “Son of dust, face toward Jerusalem and prophesy against Israel and against my Temple!^{[p] 3} For the Lord says: ‘I am against you, Israel. I will unsheath my sword and destroy your people, good and bad alike— ⁴ I will not spare even the righteous. I will make a clean sweep throughout the land from the Negeb to your northern borders. ⁵ All the world shall know that it is I, the Lord. His sword is in his hand, and it will not return to its sheath again until its work is finished.’

⁶ “Sigh and groan before the people, son of dust, in your bitter anguish; sigh with grief and broken heart. ⁷ When they ask you why, tell them: ‘Because of the fearsome news that God has given me. When it comes true, the boldest heart will melt with fear; all strength will disappear. Every spirit will faint; strong knees will tremble and become as weak as water.’ And the Lord God says: ‘Your doom is on the way; my judgments will be fulfilled!’”

⁸ Then again this message came to me from God:

^9-11 “Son of dust, tell them this: ‘A sword is being sharpened and polished for terrible slaughter. Now will you laugh? For those far stronger than you have perished beneath its power. It is ready now to hand to the executioner.’ ¹² Son of dust, with sobbing, beat upon your thigh, for that sword shall slay my people and all their leaders. All alike shall die. ¹³ It will put them all to the test—and what chance do they have?” the Lord God asks.

¹⁴ “Prophesy to them in this way: Clap your hands vigorously, then take a sword and brandish it twice, thrice, to symbolize the great massacre they face! ¹⁵ Let their hearts melt with terror, for a sword glitters at every gate; it flashes like lightning; it is razor-edged for slaughter. ¹⁶ O sword, slash to the right and slash to the left, wherever you will, wherever you want. ¹⁷ And you have prophesied with clapping hands that I, the Lord, will smite Jerusalem and satisfy my fury.”

¹⁸ Then this message came to me. The Lord said:

^19-20 “Son of dust, make a map and on it trace two routes for the king of Babylon to follow—one to Jerusalem and the other to Rabbah in Transjordan.^[q] And put a signpost at the fork in the road from Babylon. ²¹ For the king of Babylon stands at a fork, uncertain whether to attack Jerusalem or Rabbah. He will call his magicians to use divination; they will cast lots by shaking arrows from the quiver; they will sacrifice to idols and inspect the liver^[r] of their sacrifice. ²² They will decide to turn toward Jerusalem! With battering rams they will go against the gates, shouting for the kill; they will build siege towers and make a hill against the walls to reach the top. ²³ Jerusalem won’t understand this treachery; how could the diviners make this terrible mistake? For Babylon is Judah’s ally and has sworn to defend Jerusalem! But the king of Babylon will think only of the times the people rebelled. He will attack and defeat them.”

²⁴ The Lord God says: “Again and again your guilt cries out against you, for your sins are open and unashamed. Wherever you go, whatever you do, all is filled with sin. And now the time of punishment has come.

²⁵ “O King Zedekiah,^[s] evil prince of Israel, your final day of reckoning is here. ²⁶ Take off your jeweled crown,” the Lord God says. “The old order changes. Now the poor are exalted and the rich brought very low. ²⁷ I will overturn, overturn, overturn the kingdom, so that even the new order that emerges will not succeed until the Man appears who has a right to it. And I will give it all to him.

²⁸ “Son of dust, prophesy to the Ammonites too, for they mocked my people in their woe. Tell them this:

“‘Against you also my glittering sword is drawn from its sheath; it is sharpened and polished and flashes like lightning. ²⁹ Your magicians and false prophets have told you lies of safety and success—that your gods will save you from the king of Babylon. Thus they have caused your death along with all the other wicked, for when the day of final reckoning has come, you will be wounded unto death. ³⁰ Shall I return my sword to its sheath before I deal with you? No, I will destroy you in your own country where you were born. ³¹ I will pour out my fury upon you and blow upon the fire of my wrath until it becomes a roaring conflagration, and I will deliver you into the hands of cruel men skilled in destruction. ³² You are the fuel for the fire; your blood will be spilled in your own country, and you will be utterly wiped out, your memory lost in history. For I, the Lord, have spoken it.’”

22 Now another message came from the Lord. He said:

² “Son of dust, indict Jerusalem as the City of Murder. Publicly denounce her terrible deeds. ³ City of Murder, doomed and damned—City of Idols, filthy and foul— ⁴ you are guilty both of murder and idolatry. Now comes your day of doom. You have reached the limit of your years. I will make you a laughingstock and a reproach to all the nations of the world. ⁵ Near and far they will mock you, a city of infamous rebels.

⁶ “Every leader in Israel who lives within your walls is bent on murder. ⁷ Fathers and mothers are contemptuously ignored; immigrants and visitors are forced to pay you for your ‘protection’; orphans and widows are wronged and oppressed. ⁸ The things of God are all despised; my Sabbaths are ignored. ⁹ Prisoners are falsely accused and sent to their death. Every mountaintop is filled with idols; lewdness is everywhere. ¹⁰ There are men who commit adultery with their fathers’ wives and lie with menstruous women.^{[t] 11} Adultery with a neighbor’s wife, a daughter-in-law, a half sister—this is common. ¹² Hired murderers, loan racketeers, and extortioners are everywhere. You never even think of me and my commands,” the Lord God says.

¹³ “But now I snap my fingers and call a halt to your dishonest gain and bloodshed. ¹⁴ How strong and courageous will you be then, in my day of reckoning? For I, the Lord, have spoken, and I will do all that I have said. ¹⁵ I will scatter you throughout the world and burn out the wickedness within you. ¹⁶ You will be dishonored among the nations, and you shall know I am the Lord.”

¹⁷ Then the Lord said this:

^18-20 “Son of dust, the people of Israel are the worthless slag left when silver is smelted. They are the dross, compounded from the brass, the tin, the iron, and the lead. Therefore the Lord God says: ‘Because you are worthless dross, I will bring you to my crucible in Jerusalem, to smelt you with the heat of my wrath. ²¹ I will blow the fire of my wrath upon you, ²² and you will melt like silver in fierce heat, and you will know that I, the Lord, have poured my wrath upon you.’”

²³ Again the message of the Lord came to me, saying:

²⁴ “Son of dust, say to the people of Israel: ‘In the day of my indignation you shall be like an uncleared wilderness or a desert without rain.’ ²⁵ Your ‘prophets’ have plotted against you like lions stalking prey. They devour many lives; they seize treasures and extort wealth; they multiply the widows in the land. ²⁶ Your priests have violated my laws and defiled my Temple and my holiness. To them the things of God are no more important than any daily task. They have not taught my people the difference between right and wrong, and they disregard my Sabbaths, so my holy name is greatly defiled among them. ²⁷ Your leaders are like wolves, who tear apart their victims, and they destroy lives for profit. ²⁸ Your ‘prophets’ describe false visions and speak false messages they claim are from God, when he hasn’t spoken one word to them at all. Thus they repair the walls with whitewash! ²⁹ Even the common people oppress and rob the poor and needy and cruelly extort from aliens.

³⁰ “I looked in vain for anyone who would build again the wall of righteousness that guards the land, who could stand in the gap and defend you from my just attacks, but I found not one.” ³¹ And so the Lord God says: “I will pour out my anger upon you; I will consume you with the fire of my wrath. I have heaped upon you the full penalty for all your sins.”

23 The Lord’s message came to me again, saying:

^2-3 “Son of dust, there were two sisters who as young girls became prostitutes in Egypt.

^4-5 “The older girl was named Oholah; her sister was Oholibah. (I am speaking of Samaria and Jerusalem!) I married them, and they bore me sons and daughters. But then Oholah turned to other gods instead of me and gave her love to the Assyrians, her neighbors, ⁶ for they were all attractive young men, captains and commanders, in handsome blue, dashing about on their horses. ⁷ And so she sinned with them—the choicest men of Assyria—worshiping their idols, defiling herself. ⁸ For when she left Egypt, she did not leave her spirit of prostitution behind, but was still as lewd as in her youth when the Egyptians poured out their lusts upon her and robbed her of her virginity.

⁹ “And so I delivered her into the evil clutches of the Assyrians whose gods she loved so much. ¹⁰ They stripped her and killed her and took away her children as their slaves. Her name was known to every woman in the land as a sinner who had received what she deserved.

¹¹ “But when Oholibah (Jerusalem) saw what had happened to her sister, she went right ahead in the same way and sinned even more than her sister. ¹² She fawned over her Assyrian neighbors,^[u] those handsome young men on fine steeds, those army officers in handsome uniforms—all of them desirable. ¹³ I saw the way she was going, following right along behind her older sister.

^14-15 “She was in fact more debased than Samaria, for she fell in love with pictures she saw painted on a wall! They were pictures of Babylonian military officers, outfitted in striking red uniforms, with handsome belts, and flowing turbans on their heads. ¹⁶ When she saw these paintings, she longed to give herself to the men pictured, so she sent messengers to Chaldea^[v] to invite them to come to her. ¹⁷ And they came and committed adultery with her, defiling her in the bed of love, but afterward she hated them and broke off all relations with them.^[w]

¹⁸ “And I despised her, just as I despised her sister, because she flaunted herself before them and gave herself to their lust. ^19-20 But that didn’t bother her. She turned to even greater prostitution, sinning with the lustful men she remembered from her youth when she was a prostitute in Egypt.^{[x] 21} And thus you celebrated those former days when as a young girl you gave your virginity to those from Egypt.

²² “And now the Lord God says that he will raise against you, O Oholibah (Jerusalem), those very nations from which you turned away, disgusted. ²³ For the Babylonians will come, and all the Chaldeans from Pekod and Shoa and Koa; and all the Assyrians with them—handsome young men of high rank, riding their steeds. ²⁴ They will come against you from the north with chariots, wagons, and a great army fully prepared for attack. They will surround you on every side with armored men, and I will let them at you, to do with you as they wish. ²⁵ And I will send my jealousy against you and deal furiously with you. They will cut off your nose and ears; your survivors will be killed; your children will be taken away as slaves, and everything left will be burned. ²⁶ They will strip you of your beautiful clothes and jewels.

²⁷ “And so I will put a stop to your lewdness and prostitution brought from the land of Egypt; you will no more long for Egypt and her gods.” ²⁸ For the Lord God says: “I will surely deliver you over to your enemies, to those you loathe. ²⁹ They will deal with you in hatred and rob you of all you own, leaving you naked and bare. And the shame of your prostitution shall be exposed to all the world.

³⁰ “You brought all this upon yourself by worshiping the gods of other nations, defiling yourself with all their idols. ³¹ You have followed in your sister’s footsteps, so I will punish you with the same terrors that destroyed her. ³² Yes, the terrors that fell upon her will fall upon you—and the cup from which she drank was full and large. And all the world will mock you for your woe. ³³ You will reel like a drunkard beneath the awful blows of sorrow and distress, just as your sister Samaria did. ³⁴ In deep anguish you will drain that cup of terror to the very bottom and will lick the inside to get every drop. For I have spoken,” says the Lord. ³⁵ “Because you have forgotten me and turned your backs on me, therefore you must bear the consequence of all your sin.

³⁶ “Son of dust, you must accuse Jerusalem and Samaria of all their awful deeds. ³⁷ For they have committed both adultery and murder; they have worshiped idols and murdered my children whom they bore to me, burning them as sacrifices on their altars. ³⁸ On the same day they defiled my Temple and ignored my Sabbaths, ³⁹ for when they had murdered their children in front of their idols, then even that same day they actually came into my Temple to worship! That is how much regard they have for me!