Bible in 90 Days
2 How the LORD has darkened the daughter of Zion in His wrath, has cast down the beauty of Israel from Heaven to the Earth, and not remembered His footstool on the day of His wrath!
2 The LORD has destroyed all the habitations of Jacob, and not spared. He has thrown down the strongholds of the daughter of Judah in His wrath. He has cast them down to the ground. He has polluted the kingdom and its princes.
3 In His fierce wrath He has cut off all the horn of Israel. He has drawn back His right Hand from before the enemy. He has burned in Jacob like a flame of fire, which devours all around.
4 He has bent His bow like an enemy. His right Hand was stretched up, as an adversary, and killed all that was pleasant to the eye in the Tabernacle of the daughter of Zion. He poured out His wrath like fire.
5 The LORD was like an enemy. He has devoured Israel, consumed all its palaces. He has destroyed its strongholds and has increased lamentation and mourning in the daughter of Judah.
6 For He has destroyed His Tabernacle. Like a garden, He has destroyed His Congregation. The LORD has caused the Feasts and Sabbaths to be forgotten in Zion, and has spurned, in the indignation of His wrath, the king and the priest.
7 The LORD has forsaken His Altar. He has abhorred His Sanctuary. He has given the walls of her palaces into the hand of the enemy. They have made a noise in the House of the LORD, as on the day of a solemn Feast.
8 The LORD has determined to destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion. He stretched out a line. He has not withdrawn His Hand from destroying. Therefore, He caused the rampart and the wall to lament. They were destroyed together.
9 Her gates have sunk to the ground. He has destroyed and broken her bars. Her king and her princes are among the Gentiles. The Law is no more, nor can her Prophets receive vision from the LORD.
10 The elders of the daughter of Zion sit upon the ground and keep silent. They have thrown dust upon their heads. They have girded themselves with sackcloth. The virgins of Jerusalem hang down their heads to the ground.
11 My eyes fail with tears. My bowels swell. My liver is poured upon the earth for the destruction of the daughter of my people, because the children and infants swoon in the streets of the city.
12 They have said to their mothers, “Where is bread and drink?” when they swooned like the wounded in the streets of the city, when they gave up the ghost in their mother’s bosom.
13 How shall I witness to you? To what thing shall I compare you, O daughter Jerusalem? What shall I compare to you, so that I may comfort you, O virgin daughter Zion? For your breach is great, like the sea. Who can heal you?
14 Your prophets have seen empty and foolish things for you. And they have not discovered your iniquity, to turn away your captivity, but have seen false prophecies for you, and causes of banishment.
15 All who pass by the way, clap their hands at you. They hiss and wag their head upon the daughter Jerusalem, saying, “Is this the city that is called, ‘The perfection of beauty, the joy of the whole Earth?’”
16 All your enemies have opened their mouth against you. They hiss and gnash the teeth, saying, “Let us devour it! Certainly, this is the day that we looked for! We have found and seen it!”
17 The LORD has done that which He had purposed. He has fulfilled His Word that He had determined from days of old. He has thrown down, and not spared. He has caused your enemy to rejoice over you, and set up the horn of your adversaries.
18 Their heart cried to the LORD, “O wall of the daughter Zion! Let tears run down like a river, day and night! Take no rest for yourself or let the apple of your eye cease!
19 “Arise! Cry in the night! In 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 who faint for hunger in the corners of all the streets.”
20 Behold, O LORD, and consider to whom You have done this. Shall the women eat their fruit, nursing children? Shall the Priest and the Prophet be killed in the Sanctuary of the LORD?
21 The young and the old lie on the ground in the streets. My virgins and my young men have fallen by the sword. You have killed them on the day of Your wrath. You have killed, and not spared.
22 You have called my terrors, all around, as on a Feast Day; so that on the day of the LORD’s wrath, no one escaped or remained. Those whom I have nourished and brought up my enemy has consumed.
3 I am the man who has seen affliction in the rod of His indignation.
2 He has led me, and brought me into darkness, but not to light.
3 Surely, He has turned against me; His Hand overturns me all day long.
4 He has caused my flesh and my skin to grow old. He has broken my bones.
5 He has built against me and surrounded me with bitterness and hardship.
6 He has set me in dark places, as those who are dead forever.
7 He has put a hedge around me, so that I cannot get out. He has made my chains heavy.
8 Also, when I cry and shout, He shuts out my prayer.
9 He has blocked my way with hewn stone, turned away my paths.
10 He was, to me, like a bear lying in wait, as a lion in secret places.
11 He has blocked my way and torn me in pieces. He has made me desolate.
12 He has bent His bow and made me a mark for the arrow.
13 He caused the arrows of His quiver to enter into my core.
14 I was a laughingstock to all my people, their song all day long.
15 He has filled me with bitterness, made me drunk with wormwood.
16 He has also broken my teeth with gravel and covered me with ashes.
17 Thus, my soul was far away from peace. I forgot what is good.
18 And I said, “My strength and my hope have perished from the LORD.”
19 Remember my affliction and my mourning, the wormwood and the bitterness.
20 My soul has remembered them and is humbled in me.
21 I consider this in my heart; therefore, I have hope.
22 It is because of the LORD’s mercies that we are not consumed. His compassions do not fail.
23 They are renewed every morning. Great is Your faithfulness!
24 “The LORD is my portion;” says my soul, “therefore, I will hope in Him!”
25 The LORD is good to those who trust in Him, to the soul that seeks Him.
26 It is good to wait, watchfully yet silently, for the salvation of the LORD.
27 It is good for a man that he bears the yoke in his youth.
28 He sits alone and keeps silent because he has borne it upon him.
29 Let him put his mouth in the dust. Perhaps there may be hope.
30 He gives his cheek to him who strikes him. He is fully filled with reproach.
31 For the LORD will not forsake forever.
32 But though He sends affliction, He will still have compassion, according to the multitude of His mercies.
33 For He does not afflict willingly or grieve the children of men.
34 To stamp under His feet all the prisoners of the Earth,
35 to divert the rights of a man before the Face of the Most High,
36 to subvert a man in his cause, the LORD does not approve.
37 Who is he, then, who speaks and it happens, if the LORD has not Commanded it?
38 Does not both misery and prosperity proceed out of the Mouth of the Most High?
39 Why, then, does a man, living and mighty, complain about the penalty for his sins?
40 Let us search and test our ways and turn back to the LORD.
41 Let us lift up our hearts with our hands to God in the heavens.
42 We have sinned and have rebelled. You have not spared.
43 You have covered us with wrath, and persecuted us. You have killed, not spared.
44 You have covered Yourself with a cloud, so that prayer would not pass through.
45 You have made us offscouring and refuse in the midst of the people.
46 All our enemies have opened their mouths against us.
47 Fear and a snare have come upon us, desolation and destruction.
48 My eyes run down with rivers of water for the destruction of the Daughter of my people.
49 My eyes run down without pause, and will not cease
50 until the LORD looks down and beholds from Heaven.
51 My eyes break my heart, because of all the daughters of my city.
52 My enemies hunted me like a bird, without cause.
53 They have shut up my life in the dungeon, and cast a stone upon me.
54 Waters flowed over my head. I thought, “I am destroyed.”
55 I called upon Your Name, O LORD, out of the low dungeon.
56 You have heard my voice. Do not hide Your Ear from my sigh, from my cry.
57 You drew near on the day that I called upon You. You said: “Do not fear.”
58 O LORD, You have maintained the cause of my soul, have redeemed my life.
59 O LORD, You have seen my wrong. Judge my cause.
60 You have seen all their vengeance, all their devices against me:
61 You have heard their reproach, O LORD, and all their imaginations against me,
62 the lips of those who rose against me, and their continual whispering against me.
63 Behold their sitting down and their rising up. I am their song.
64 Give them recompense, O LORD, according to the work of their hands.
65 Give them sorrow of heart. Your curse be upon them!
66 Persecute with wrath and destroy them from under the heavens, O LORD.
4 How dim the gold has become? The most fine gold has changed. The stones of the Sanctuary are scattered in the corner of every street.
2 The noble men of Zion, comparable to fine gold, how they are regarded as earthen pitchers, the work of the potter’s hands!
3 Even the dragons present their breasts to nurse their young; but the daughter of my people has become cruel, like the ostriches in the wilderness.
4 The tongue of the infant child clings to the roof of his mouth for thirst. The young children ask for bread, but no one breaks it for them.
5 Those who fed on delicacies perish in the streets. Those who were brought up in scarlet embrace the dung.
6 For the iniquity of the daughter of my people has become greater than the sin of Sodom, which was destroyed in a moment with no hand raised.
7 Her Nazirites were purer than the snow, whiter than milk. They were more ruddy in body than the red precious stones. They were polished sapphire.
8 Now, their visage is blacker than coal. They are unrecognizable in the streets. Their skin clings to their bones. It is withered, like a stick.
9 Those who are killed with the sword are better than those who are killed with hunger. For they fade away, stricken through by the fruits of the field.
10 The hands of the pitiful women have boiled their own children, which were their food in the destruction of the daughter of my people.
11 The LORD has accomplished His indignation. He has poured out His fierce wrath. He has kindled a fire in Zion, which has devoured its foundations.
12 The kings of the Earth, and all the inhabitants of the world, would not have believed that the adversary and the enemy could have entered into the gates of Jerusalem,
13 because of the sins of her prophets and the iniquities of her priests, who have shed the blood of the just in her midst.
14 They have wandered like blind men in the streets. And they were polluted with blood, so that they would not touch their garments.
15 They cried to them, “Depart, you polluted! Depart! Depart! Do not touch!” Therefore, they fled away and wandered. They have said among the heathen, “They shall no longer dwell there.”
16 The anger of the LORD has scattered them. He will no longer regard them. They did not respect the face of the Priest, nor have compassion on the elders.
17 While we waited in vain for help, our eyes failed. For in our waiting we looked for a nation that could not save us.
18 They hunt our steps, so that we cannot walk in our streets. Our end is near. Our days are fulfilled, for our end has come.
19 Our persecutors are swifter than the eagles of the sky. They pursued us upon the mountains and laid in wait for us in the wilderness.
20 The breath of our nostrils, the Anointed of the LORD, was taken in their nets, of whom we said, “Under his shadow we shall be preserved alive among the heathen.”
21 Rejoice and be glad, O daughter Edom, who dwells in the land of Uz! The cup shall also pass through to you. You shall be drunk and vomit.
22 Your punishment is accomplished, O daughter Zion! He will no longer carry you away into captivity. He will visit your iniquity, O daughter Edom! He will discover your sins!
5 Remember, O LORD, what has come upon us. Consider, and behold our reproach.
2 Our inheritance has turned to strangers, our houses to the aliens.
3 We are orphans, without fathers. Our mothers are like widows.
4 We pay money for our drinking water. Our wood is sold to us.
5 Our necks are under persecution. We are weary and have no rest.
6 We have given our hands to the Egyptians, and to Assyria, to be satisfied with bread.
7 Our fathers have sinned, and are no more, but we have borne their iniquities.
8 Servants have ruled over us. No one would deliver us out of their hands.
9 We get our bread at the risk of our lives, because of the sword of the wilderness.
10 Our skin is black, like an oven, because of the terrible famine.
11 They defile the women in Zion, and the maids in the cities of Judah.
12 The princes were hung up by their hands. The faces of the elders were not respected.
13 They took the young men for the grindstone, and the children fell under the loads of wood.
14 The elders are gone from the gate, and the young men from their songs.
15 The joy of our heart has gone. Our dance has turned into mourning.
16 The crown of our head has fallen. Woe, now, to us! For we have sinned!
17 Therefore, our heart is heavy for these things. Our eyes are dim,
18 because of the mountain of Zion, which is desolate. The foxes run upon it.
19 But You, O LORD, remain forever! Your throne is from generation to generation!
20 Why do You forget us forever, forsake us for such a long time?
21 Turn us to You, O LORD, and we shall be turned! Renew our days, as of old!
22 But You have utterly rejected us. You are exceedingly angry with us.
1 It happened at that time, in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, on the fifth day of the month (as I was among the captives by the river Chebar) that the heavens were opened; and I saw visions of God.
2 On the fifth day of the month (which was the fifth year of King Jehoiachin’s captivity),
3 the Word of the LORD came to Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans, by the river Chebar, where the Hand of the LORD was upon him.
4 And I looked, and behold, a whirlwind came out of the North, a great cloud and a fire wrapped about it. And a brightness surrounded it. And in the midst of it, in the midst of the fire, the likeness of amber came out.
5 Also out of its midst came the likeness of four beasts. And this was their form: they had the appearance of a man.
6 And each one had four faces. And each one had four wings.
7 And their feet were straight feet. And the sole of their feet was like the soles of a calf’s foot. And they sparkled like the appearance of bright bronze.
8 And the hands of a man came out from under their wings, in the four parts of them. And those four had their faces and their wings.
9 They were joined, by their wings, to one another. When they went forth, they did not return. Each one went straight forward.
10 And the likeness of their faces was as the face of a man. And those four had the face of a lion on the right side. And those four had the face of a bull on the left side. Those four also had the face of an eagle.
11 Thus were their faces. But their wings were spread out above. Two of each one were joined to each other and two covered their bodies.
12 And each one went straight forward. They went wherever their spirit led them. They did not return when they went forth.
13 As for the likeness of the beasts, their appearance was like burning coals of fire, and like the appearance of lamps running among the beasts. And the fire had a brightness. And the fire went out of the lightning.
14 And the beasts ran and returned, like lightning.
15 Now, as I beheld the beasts, behold, a wheel appeared upon the earth by the beasts, having four faces.
16 The appearance of the wheels and their workings was like chrysolite. And those four had one form, and their appearance and their workings as a wheel inside another wheel.
17 When they moved, they moved in one of four directions. They did not turn when they moved.
18 As for their rims, they were so high that they were terrifying to behold. And their rims were full of eyes, around all four of them.
19 And when the beasts moved, the wheels went with them. And when the beasts were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up.
20 Wherever their spirit led them, they went, and there the spirit of the wheels led them; and the wheels were lifted up with them. For the spirit of the beasts was in the wheels.
21 When the beasts moved, they moved. And when they stood still, they stood still. And when they were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up with them. For the spirit of the beasts was in the wheels.
22 And the likeness of the firmament upon the heads of the beasts was wonderful, like crystal, spread out over their heads.
23 And under the firmament their wings were straight, one toward another. Each one had two which covered them, and each one had two which covered their bodies.
24 And when they went forth, I heard the noise of their wings, like the noise of great waters, as the Voice of the Almighty, the voice of speech, as the noise of an army. When they stood, they let down their wings.
25 And when they stood and had let down their wings, there was a voice from the firmament that was over their heads.
26 And above the firmament that was over their heads, was the appearance of a throne, like a Sapphire stone. And upon the likeness of the throne was a likeness with the appearance of a man above upon it.
27 And I saw the likeness of amber, and the likeness of fire, all around and within it, from his loins upward, as well as from his loins downward. I saw a likeness of fire and brightness all around it.
28 As the likeness of the rainbow that is in the clouds on the day of rain, so was the appearance of the light all around.
29 This was the appearance of the likeness of the Glory of the LORD. And when I saw it, I fell upon my face. And I heard the Voice of One Who spoke.
2 And He said to me: “Son of man, stand up upon your feet, and I will speak to you.”
2 And the Spirit entered into me after He had spoken to me, and set me upon my feet, so that I heard Him Who spoke to me.
3 And He said to me: “Son of man, I send you to the children of Israel, to a rebellious nation that has rebelled against Me. They and their fathers have rebelled against Me to this very day.
4 “For they are impudent children, and stiff-hearted. I send you to them. And you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the LORD God.’
5 “But surely, they will not hear. Indeed, nor will they cease. For they are a rebellious House: Yet they shall know that there has been a Prophet among them.
6 “And you, son of man, do not fear them or be afraid of their words, although rebels and thorns are with you, and you remain with scorpions. Do not fear their words or be afraid of their looks, for they are a rebellious House.
7 “Therefore, you shall speak My Words to them. Surely, they will not hear. Indeed, nor will they cease, for they are rebellious.
8 “But you, son of man, hear what I say to you. Do not be rebellious, like this rebellious House. Open your mouth and eat that I give you.”
9 And when I looked up, behold, a Hand was sent to me. And lo, a scroll of a book was inside.
10 And He spread it before me, and there was writing inside and outside. And lamentations and mourning and woe were written on it.
3 Moreover, He said to me: “Son of man, eat what you find. Eat this scroll. And go, speak to the House of Israel.”
2 So I opened my mouth, and He gave me this scroll to eat.
3 And He said to me: “Son of man, cause your belly to eat, and fill your core with this scroll that I give you.” Then I ate. And it was as sweet as honey in my mouth.
4 And He said to me: “Son of man, go, enter into the House of Israel, and declare to them My Words.
5 “For you are not sent to a people of an unknown tongue, or of a hard language, but to the House of Israel,
6 “not to many people of an unknown tongue, or of a hard language, whose words you cannot understand. Yet, if I would send you to them, they would obey you.
7 “But, the House of Israel will not obey you. For they will not obey Me. Yea, all the House of Israel are impudent and stiff-hearted.
8 “Behold, I have made your face strong against their faces, and your forehead hard against their foreheads.
9 “I have made your forehead as a sharp stone, harder than the flint. Therefore, do not fear them or be afraid of their look. For they are a rebellious House.”
10 Moreover, He said to me: “Son of man, receive in your heart all My Words that I speak to you, and hear them with your ears.
11 “And go, get to those who are led away captives, to the children of your people. And speak to them and tell them, ‘Thus says the LORD God:’ Surely, they will not hear. Indeed, nor will they cease.”
12 Then the Spirit took me up, and I heard a noise of a great rushing behind me, saying, “Blessed be the Glory of the LORD out of His place.
13 I also heard the noise of the wings of the beasts that touched one another, and the rattling of the wheels that were beside them, a noise of a great rushing.
14 So the Spirit lifted me up and took me away. And I went in bitterness and indignation of my spirit. But the Hand of the LORD was strong upon me.
15 Then I came to those who were led away captives to Tel Abib, who dwelt by the river Chebar. And I sat where they sat, and remained there, astonished among them for seven days.
16 And at the end of seven days, the Word of the LORD came again to me, saying:
17 “Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the House of Israel. Therefore, hear the Word in My Mouth, and give them warning from Me.
18 “When I shall say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ and you do not give him warning or speak to admonish the wicked of his wicked way, so that he may live, that same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at your hand.
19 “Yet, if you warn the wicked and he does not turn from his wickedness, or from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have delivered your soul.
20 “Likewise, if a righteous man turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, I will lay a stumbling block before him and he shall die. And 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.
21 “However, if you admonish the righteous man that the righteous does not sin (so that he does not sin), he shall live because he is admonished; and you have also delivered your soul.”
22 And the Hand of the LORD was there upon me. And He said to me: “Arise. Go into the field, and I will talk with you there.”
23 So when I had risen up and gone forth into the field, behold, the Glory of the LORD stood there, as the Glory which I saw by the river Chebar. And I fell down upon my face.
24 Then the Spirit entered into me and set me up upon my feet and spoke to me and said to me: “Come. Shut yourself inside your house.
25 “And you, O son of man, behold, they shall put ropes upon you and shall bind you with them. And you shall not go out among them.
26 “And I will make your tongue cling to the roof of your mouth, so that you shall be dumb, and shall not be to them as a man who rebukes. For they are a rebellious House.
27 “But when I have spoken to you, I will open your mouth. And you shall say to them: ‘Thus says the LORD God.’ He who hears, let him hear. And he who refuses, let him refuse. For they are a rebellious House.”
4 “You, also, son of man, take a brick and lay it before you and engrave the city of Jerusalem on it.
2 “And lay siege against it, and build a siege wall against it, and pour a mound against it. Also, set the camp against it and lay engines of war against it, all around.
3 “Moreover, take an iron plate and set it as a wall of iron between yourself and the city, and direct 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 “Also, sleep on your left side and lay the iniquity of the House of Israel upon it. According to the number of days that you shall sleep on it shall you bear their iniquity.
5 “For I have laid the years of their iniquity upon you, according to the number of days: three hundred ninety days. So shall you bear the iniquity of the House of Israel.
6 “And when you have completed them, sleep again on your right side. And you shall bear the iniquity of the House of Judah for forty days —a day for a year. I have appointed to you a day for a year.
7 “Therefore, you shall direct your face toward the siege of Jerusalem. And your arm shall be uncovered. And you shall prophesy against it.
8 “And behold, I will lay ropes upon you. And you shall not turn from one side to another until you have ended the days of your siege.
9 “You shall also take wheat for yourself, and barley, and beans, and lentils, and millet, and spelt, and put them in one vessel, and make yourself bread from it. According to the number of the days that you shall sleep on your side —three hundred ninety days —you shall eat it.
10 “And the food which you shall eat shall be twenty shekels a day by weight. From time to time, you shall eat it.
11 “You shall also drink water, the sixth part of a hin by measure. From time to time, you shall drink.
12 “And you shall eat it like barley cakes. And you shall bake it in the dung that comes out of man, in their sight.”
13 And the LORD said: “So shall the children of Israel eat their defiled bread among the Gentiles, wherever I cast them.”
14 Then I said, “Ah, Lord GOD! Behold, my soul has not been polluted. For from my youth, even until this hour, I have not eaten of a thing dead or torn in pieces, nor came there any unclean flesh in my mouth.”
15 Then He said to me, “Lo, I have given you bull’s dung instead of man’s dung. And you shall prepare your bread with it.”
16 Moreover, 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 care. And they shall drink water by measure, and with astonishment,
17 “because bread and water shall fail. They shall be appalled with one another and shall waste away because of their iniquity.”
5 “And you, son of man, take a sharp sword and use it as a barber’s razor, and cause it to pass over your head and over your beard. Then take a scale to weigh and divide the hair.
2 “You shall burn a third of it with fire, in the center of the city, after the days of the siege are completed. And you shall take a third and strike around it with the sword. And you shall scatter a third to the wind. And I will draw a sword afterward.
3 “You shall also take a few of them in number and bind them in your clothes.
4 “Then take them again and cast them into the midst of the fire and burn them in the fire. From there a fire shall come forth into all the House of Israel.
5 “Thus says the Lord GOD: ‘This is Jerusalem. I have set it in the midst of the nations and countries all around her.
6 ‘And she has changed My Judgments into wickedness more than the nations, and my Statutes more than the countries that are all around her. For they have refused My Judgments, and My Statutes. They have not walked in them.’
7 “Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: ‘Because your multitude is greater than the nations that are all around you, and you have not walked in My Statutes, nor have you kept My Judgments —you have not even done according to the judgments of the nations that are all around you —
8 “therefore thus says the Lord GOD: ‘Behold, I, even I come against you, and will execute judgment in the midst of you in the sight of the nations.
9 ‘And I will do in you that which I have never done before, and the like of which I will never do again, because of all your abominations.
10 ‘For in the midst of you the fathers shall eat their sons, and the sons shall eat their fathers. And I will execute judgment in you. And I will scatter the whole remnant of you into all the winds.
11 ‘Therefore, as I live,’ says the Lord GOD, ‘surely, because you have defiled My Sanctuary with all your filthiness, and with all your abominations, therefore I will also destroy you. Nor shall My Eye spare. Nor will I have any pity.
12 ‘A third of you shall die from pestilence and shall be consumed with famine in the midst of you. A third shall fall by the sword all around you. And I will scatter a third of you into all winds. And I will draw a sword afterward.
13 ‘Thus shall My anger be ended. And I will cause My wrath to cease in them. And I will be comforted. And they shall know that I, the LORD, have spoken it in My zeal, when I have ended My wrath upon them.
14 ‘Moreover, I will make you desolate and abhorred among the nations that are all around you, in the sight of all who pass by.
15 ‘So you shall be a reproach and shame, a chastisement and an astonishment to the nations that are all around you, when I shall execute judgments in you, in anger and in wrath and in sharp rebukes. I, the LORD, have spoken it.
16 ‘When I shall send upon them the miserable arrows of famine, which shall be for destruction, which I will send to destroy you, I will increase the famine upon you and will break your staff of bread.
17 ‘So I will send upon you famine and calamitous beasts. And they shall plunder you. And pestilence and blood shall pass through you. And I will bring the sword upon you.’ I, the LORD, have spoken it.”
6 Again, the Word of the LORD came to me, saying:
2 “Son of man, set your face towards the mountains of Israel. And prophesy against them,
3 “and 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 rivers and to the valleys: “Behold, I, even I, will bring a sword upon you. And I will destroy your high places.
4 “And your altars shall be desolate, and your images of the Sun shall be broken. And I will cast down your slain men before your idols.
5 “And I will lay the dead carcasses of the children of Israel before their idols, and I will scatter your bones all around your altars.
6 “In all your dwelling places, the cities shall be desolate and the high places shall be laid waste, so that your altars shall be made waste, and desolate, and your idols shall be broken, and cease, and your images of the Sun shall be cut in pieces and your works shall be abolished.
7 “And the slain shall fall in the midst of you. And you shall know that I am the LORD.
8 “Yet, I will leave a remnant, so that you may have some who shall escape the sword among the nations when you shall be scattered through the countries.
9 “And those of you who escape shall remember Me among the nations where they shall be in captivity, because I am grieved for their whorish hearts which have departed from Me, and for their eyes which have gone a whoring after their idols. And they shall be displeased in themselves for the evils which they have committed in all their abominations.
10 “And they shall know that I am the LORD, that I have not said in vain that I would bring this misery upon them.”
11 ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “Strike with your hand, and stretch forth with your foot, and say, ‘Alas,’ for all the wicked abominations of the House of Israel! For they shall fall by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence.
12 “He who is far away shall die of pestilence. And he who is near shall fall by the sword. And he who remains and is besieged shall die by famine. Thus will I accomplish My wrath upon them.
13 “Then you shall know that I am the LORD, when their slain men shall be among their idols, all around altars, upon every high hill, in all the tops of the mountains, and under every green tree, and under every thick oak (the place where they offered sweet savor to all their idols).
14 “So will I stretch My Hand upon them and make the land waste and desolate, from the wilderness to Diblath, in all their habitations. And they shall know that I am the LORD.”’”
7 Moreover the Word of the LORD came to me, saying:
2 “Also, you son of man, thus says the Lord GOD: ‘An end has come to the land of Israel. The end has come upon the four corners of the land.
3 ‘Now has the end come upon you. And I will send My wrath upon you, and will judge you according to your ways, and will lay all your abominations upon you.
4 ‘My Eye shall not spare you, nor will I have pity. But I will lay your ways upon you. And your abomination shall be in the midst of you. And you shall know that I am the LORD.’
5 “Thus says the Lord GOD: ‘Behold, a disaster! A singular disaster has come!
6 ‘An end has come! The end has come! It watched for you. Behold, it has come.
7 ‘Doom has come to you who dwell in the land! The time has come, the day of trouble is near, and not the joyful shout of the mountains.
8 ‘Now I will shortly pour out My wrath upon you and fulfill My anger upon you. I will judge you according to your ways and will lay all your abominations upon you.
9 ‘My Eye shall not spare you, nor will I have pity. But I will lay upon you according to your ways. And your abominations shall be in the midst of you. And you shall know that I, the LORD, strike.
10 ‘Behold the day. Behold, it has come. Doom has gone forth. The rod flourishes. Pride has budded.
11 ‘Cruelty has risen up into a rod of wickedness. None of them shall remain, nor their riches, nor any of them, nor shall there be lamentation for them.
12 ‘The time has come. The day draws near. Do not let the buyer rejoice or let him who sells mourn. For the wrath is upon their whole multitude.
13 ‘For he who sells shall not return to that which is sold, although they were still alive. For the vision was for their whole multitude, and they did not return. Nor does anyone encourage himself in the iniquity of his life.
14 ‘They have blown the trumpet and prepared everyone. But no one goes to the battle. For My wrath is upon their whole multitude.
15 ‘The 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.
16 ‘But those who flee away from them shall escape, and shall be in the mountains, like the doves of the valleys. All of them shall mourn, every one, for his iniquity.
17 ‘All hands shall be weak, and all knees shall fall away as water.
18 ‘They shall also gird themselves with sackcloth. And fear shall cover them, and shame upon all faces, and baldness upon their heads.
19 ‘They shall fling their silver into the streets, and their gold shall be far away. Their silver and their gold cannot deliver them on the day of the wrath of the LORD. They shall neither satisfy their souls nor fill their stomachs. For this ruin is for their iniquity.
20 ‘He had also set the beauty of His ornaments in majesty. But they made images of their abominations and of their idols in them. Therefore, I have set it far away from them.
21 ‘And I will give it into the hands of the strangers, to be plundered, and to the wicked of the Earth, to be robbed. And they shall pollute it.
22 ‘I will also turn My Face from them, and they shall pollute My secret place. For the destroyers shall enter it and defile it.
23 ‘Make a chain, for the land is full of the judgment of blood. And the city is full of cruelty.
24 ‘Therefore, I will bring the most wicked of the heathen, and they shall possess their houses. I will also make the pomp of the mighty cease. And their holy places shall be defiled.
25 ‘When destruction comes, they shall seek peace, and shall not have it.
26 ‘Calamity shall come upon calamity, and rumor shall be upon rumor. Then they shall seek a vision from the Prophet. But the Law shall perish from the Priest, and counsel from the Ancient.
27 ‘The king shall mourn, and the prince shall be clothed with desolation, and the hands of the people in the land shall be troubled. I will do to them according to their ways. And I will judge them according to their judgments. And they shall know that I am the LORD.’”
8 And in the sixth year, in the sixth month, on the fifth day of the month, as I sat in my house, and the elders of Judah sat before me, the Hand of the Lord GOD fell upon me there.
2 Then, I looked. And lo, there was a likeness, as the appearance of fire from His loins downward, and from His loins upward as the appearance of brightness, and like amber.
3 And He stretched out the likeness of a Hand and took me by a hairy lock of my head. And the Spirit lifted me up between the Earth and Heaven and brought me (in this vision) to Jerusalem, into the entry of the inner gate that lies toward the North, where there remained the idol of jealousy, which provoked jealousy.
4 And behold, the Glory of the God of Israel was there, like the vision that I saw in the field.
5 Then He said to me: “Son of man, lift up your eyes toward the North now.” So, I lifted up my eyes toward the North. And behold, Northward, at the gate of the Altar, was this idol of jealousy in the entry.
6 Furthermore, He said to me: “Son of man, do you not see what they do—the great abominations that the House of Israel commits here, to cause Me to depart from My Sanctuary? But turn again. You shall yet see greater abominations.”
7 And He caused me to enter at the gate of the court. And when I looked, behold, a hole was in the wall.
8 Then He said to me: “Son of man, dig in the wall now.” And when I had dug in the wall, behold, a door.
9 And He said to me: “Go in and behold the wicked abominations that they do here.”
10 So I went in and looked. And behold, there was every likeness of creeping things, and abominable beasts, and all the idols of the House of Israel, painted upon the wall, all around.
11 And seventy ancients of the House of Israel stood before them. And Jaazaniah, the son of Shaphan, stood in the midst of them, each man with his censor in his hand; and the vapor of the incense went up like a cloud.
12 Then He said to me: “Son of man, have you seen what the ancients of the House of Israel do in the dark, each one in the chamber of his idols? For they say, ‘The LORD does not see us. The LORD has forsaken the Earth.’”
13 Again, He said also to me, “Turn again, and you shall see greater abominations that they do.”
14 And He caused me to enter into the entry of the gate of the LORD’s House which was toward the North. And behold, women sat there, mourning for Tammuz.
15 Then He said to me: “Have you seen, O son of man? Turn again, and you shall see greater abominations than these.”
16 And He caused me to enter into the inner court of the LORD’s House. And behold, at the door of the Temple of the LORD, between the porch and the Altar, were about twenty-five men with their backs toward the Temple of the LORD, and their faces toward the East. And they worshipped the Sun, toward the East.
17 Then He said to me: “Have you seen, O son of man? Is it a small thing to the House of Judah to commit these abominations which they do here? For they have filled the land with cruelty, and have returned to provoke Me. And lo, they have put the branch before their noses.
18 “Therefore, I will also execute wrath. My Eye shall not spare, nor will I have pity. And though they cry in My Ears with a loud voice, I will not hear them.”
9 He also cried with a loud voice in my ears, saying, “The reckonings of the city draw near; and every man has a weapon in his hand to destroy it.”
2 And behold, six men came by the way of the high gate which lies toward the North, and every man with a weapon in his hand to destroy it. And one man among them was clothed in linen, with a writer’s inkhorn by his side. And they went in and stood beside the bronze Altar.
3 And the Glory of the God of Israel had gone up from the Cherub, upon which it had been, to the door of the house. And he called to the man clothed in linen, who had the writer’s inkhorn by his side.
4 And the LORD said to him: “Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of those who mourn, and cry for all the abominations that are done in their midst.”
5 And to the others, he said in my hearing: “Go after him, throughout the city, and strike. Let your eye spare no one, nor have pity.
6 “Completely destroy the old, the young, the maids, the children, and the women. But touch no man upon whom is the mark; and begin at My Sanctuary.” Then they began with the elderly men who were before the house.
7 And he said to them: “Defile the house; and fill the courts with the slain. Go out!” And they went out and killed in the city.
8 Now when they had killed them, and I had escaped, I fell down upon my face, and cried, saying, “Ah Lord GOD, will you destroy all the rest of Israel in pouring out Your wrath upon Jerusalem?”
9 Then He said to me: “The iniquity of the House of Israel and Judah is exceedingly great, so that the land is full of blood, and the city full of corrupt judgment. For they say, ‘The LORD has forsaken the Earth,’ and ‘The LORD does not see.’
10 “As touching Me, also, My Eye shall not spare. Nor will I have pity. I will set their ways upon their heads.”
11 And behold, the man clothed in linen who had the inkhorn by his side, reported, and said, “I have done as You have Commanded me.”
10 And as I looked, behold, in the firmament that was above the head of the Cherubim, there appeared something like a sapphire stone upon them, having the likeness of a throne.
2 And He spoke to the man clothed in linen, and said: “Go in between the wheels, under the Cherub, and fill your hands with coals of fire from between the Cherubim and scatter them over the city.” And he went as I watched.
3 Now as the Cherubim stood upon the right side of the house, the man went in, and the cloud filled the inner court.
4 Then the Glory of the LORD went up from the Cherub, and stood over the door of the house. And the house was filled with the cloud, and the court was filled with the brightness of the LORD’s Glory.
5 And the sound of the Cherubim’ wings was heard as far as the outer court, like the Voice of the Almighty God, when He speaks.
6 And when He had Commanded the man clothed with linen, saying: “Take fire from between the wheels, from between the Cherubim,” then He went in and stood beside the wheel.
7 And one Cherub stretched forth his hand from between the Cherubim, to the fire that was between the Cherubim, and took from it and put it into the hands of him who was clothed in linen, who took it and went out.
8 And there appeared in the Cherubim, the likeness of a man’s hand under their wings.
9 And when I looked up, behold, four wheels were beside the Cherubim, one wheel by one Cherub and another wheel by another Cherub, and the appearance of the wheels was as the color of a chrysolite stone.
10 And their appearance (there were four of the same) was as if one wheel had been in another wheel.
11 When they went forth, they went upon their four sides. And they did not turn as they went but went only in their original direction. They did not turn as they went.
12 And their whole body, and their backs, and their hands, and their wings, and the wheels, were full of eyes, all around, in the same four wheels.
13 And they cried to these wheels within my hearing, “O wheel!”
14 And every beast had four faces. The first face was the face of a Cherub. And the second face was the face of a man, and the third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle.
15 And the Cherubim were lifted up. This is the beast that I saw at the river Chebar.
16 And when the Cherubim moved, the wheels went beside them. And when the Cherubim lifted up their wings to mount up from the Earth, the same wheels also did not turn from beside them.
17 When the Cherubim stood still, the wheels stood still. And when one was lifted up, the other also lifted themselves up. For the spirit of the beast was in them.
18 Then the Glory of the LORD departed from above the door of the house, and stood upon the Cherubim.
19 And the Cherubim lifted up their wings and mounted up from the Earth in my sight. When they went out, the wheels were also beside them. And everyone stood at the entry of the gate of the LORD’s House, at the east side, and the Glory of the God of Israel was upon them on high.
20 This is the beast that I saw under the God of Israel, by the river Chebar. And I knew that they were the Cherubim.
21 Each one had four faces, and each one four wings, and the likeness of man’s hands under their wings,
22 and the likeness of their faces the same as the faces which I saw by the river Chebar. The appearance of the Cherubim was the same. They each went straight forward.
11 Moreover, the Spirit lifted me up and brought me to the East Gate of the LORD’s House, which lies eastward. And behold, at the entry of the gate were twenty-five men, among whom I saw Jaazaniah, the son of Azzur, and Pelatiah, the son of Benaiah, the princes of the people.
2 Then He said to me, “Son of man, these are the men that imagine mischief, and devise wicked counsel in this city.
3 They say, ‘It is not near, to build houses. This is the caldron, and we are the flesh.’
4 “Therefore, prophesy against them, son of man. Prophesy!”
5 And the Spirit of the LORD fell upon me, and said to me: “Say, ‘Thus says the LORD: “O you House of Israel! This you have said. And I know that which rises up from your minds.
6 “You have murdered many in this city. And you have filled its streets with the slain.
7 ‘Therefore thus says the LORD God: “Those whom you have killed, and have laid in the midst of it, they are the flesh; and this is the caldron. But I will bring you forth from the midst of it.
8 “You have feared the sword; and I will bring a sword upon you,” says the Lord GOD.
9 “And I will bring you out of its midst, and deliver you into the hands of strangers, and will execute judgments among you.
10 “You shall fall by the sword. I will judge you on the border of Israel. And you shall know that I am the LORD.
11 “This shall not be your caldron, nor shall you be the flesh in its midst. I will judge you on the border of Israel.
12 “And you shall know that I am the LORD! For you have not walked in My Statutes or executed My Judgments but have observed the ordinances of the heathen who are all around you.”’”
13 And after I prophesied, Pelatiah, the son of Benaiah, died. Then I fell down upon my face and cried with a loud voice, and said, “Ah, Lord GOD! Will You then utterly destroy all the remnant of Israel?”
14 The Word of the LORD came to me again, saying:
15 “Son of man. Your brethren, your relatives, your kinsmen, and all the House of Israel, are those to whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, ‘Go far away from the LORD! This land has been given to us as a possession!’
16 “Therefore say, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “Although I have cast them far away, among the heathen; and although I have scattered them among the countries, I will still be to them as a little Sanctuary in the countries where they shall go.”’
17 “Therefore say, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “I will gather you again from the people, and assemble you out of the countries where you have been scattered. And I will give you the land of Israel.
18 “And they shall come there; and they shall take away all its idols, and all its abominations from there.
19 “And I will give them one heart. And I will put a new spirit within their core. And I will take the stony heart out of their bodies. And will give them a heart of flesh,
20 “so that they may walk in My Statutes, and keep My Judgments, and execute them. And they shall be My people, and I will be their God.
21 “But upon those whose heart is toward their idols, and whose affection goes after their abominations, I will lay their way upon their own heads,” says the Lord GOD.’”
22 Then, the Cherubim lifted up their wings, and the wheels with them, and the Glory of the God of Israel was upon them on high.
23 And the Glory of the LORD went up from the midst of the city and stood upon the mountain which is toward the east side of the city.
24 Afterward, the Spirit took me up and brought me, in a vision by the Spirit of God, into Chaldea, to those who were led away as captives. So the vision that I had seen went up from me.
25 Then I declared all the things that the LORD had shown me to those who had been led away as captives.
12 The Word of the LORD also came to me, saying:
2 “Son of man, you dwell in the midst of a rebellious House, which have eyes to see and do not see. They have ears to hear and do not hear. For they are a rebellious House.
3 “Therefore, you, son of man, prepare your stuff to go into captivity; and go forth by day, in their sight. And you shall pass from your place to another place, in their sight. It may be that they consider it, though they are a rebellious house.
4 “Then you shall bring forth your stuff by day, in their sight, as the stuff of him who goes into captivity. And you shall go forth in the evening, in their sight, as those who go forth into captivity.
5 “Dig through the wall in their sight and carry it out.
6 “You shall bear it upon your shoulders in their sight, carry it forth in the dark. You shall cover your face, so that you cannot see the ground. For I have set you as a sign to the House of Israel.”
7 And as I was commanded, so I brought forth my stuff by day, as the stuff of one who goes into captivity. And by night, I dug through the wall with my hand, and brought it forth in the dark. I bore it upon my shoulder, in their sight.
8 And in the morning, the Word of the LORD came to me, saying:
9 “Son of man, has not the House of Israel, the rebellious House, said to you, ‘What are you doing?’
10 “Say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “This burden concerns the chief in Jerusalem, and all the House of Israel who are among them.”’
11 “Say, ‘I am your sign. As I have done, so shall it be done to them. They shall go into bondage and captivity.’
12 “And the chief among them shall bear upon his shoulder in the dark and shall go forth. They shall dig through the wall to carry it out. He shall cover his face, so that he cannot see the ground with his eyes.
13 “I will also spread My net over him; and he shall be taken in My net. And I will bring him to Babel, to the land of the Chaldeans. Yet he shall not see it, though he shall die there.
14 “And I will scatter all who are around him toward every wind, to help him, and all his garrisons. And I will draw out the sword after them.
15 “And they shall know that I am the LORD when I shall scatter them among the nations and disperse them in the countries.
16 “But I will save a small number of them from the sword, from the famine, and from the pestilence, so that they may declare all these abominations among the heathen, wherever they go. And they shall know that I am the LORD.”
17 Moreover, the Word of the LORD came to me, saying:
18 “Son of man, eat your bread with trembling, and drink your water with trouble, and with carefulness.
19 “And say to the people of the land, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD about the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and of the land of Israel: “They shall eat their bread with carefulness and drink their water with desolation. For the land shall be desolate from her abundance, because of the cruelty of those who dwell in it.
20 “And the cities that are inhabited shall be left empty. And the land shall be desolate. And you shall know that I am the LORD.”’”
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