Ezekiel 22
1Moreover
the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2Now,
thou son of man, wilt thou judge, wilt thou judge the bloody city? yea, thou shalt shew her all her abominations.
3Then say thou, Thus saith the Lord GOD, The city sheddeth blood in the midst of
it, that her time may come, and maketh idols against herself to defile herself.
4Thou art become guilty in thy blood that thou hast shed; and hast defiled thyself in thine idols which
thou hast made; and thou hast caused thy days to draw near, and art come even unto thy years: therefore have I made thee a
reproach unto the heathen, and a mocking to all countries.
5Those
that be near, and those that be far from thee, shall mock thee, which art infamous and much vexed.
6Behold, the princes of Israel, every one were in thee to their power to shed blood.
7In thee have they set light by father and
mother: in the midst of thee have they dealt by oppression with the stranger: in thee have they vexed the fatherless and the
widow.
8Thou hast despised mine holy things,
and hast profaned my sabbaths.
9In thee are
men that carry tales to shed blood: and in thee they eat upon the mountains: in the midst of thee they commit lewdness.
10In thee have they discovered their fathers' nakedness: in thee have they humbled
her that was set apart for pollution.
11And
one hath committed abomination with his neighbour's wife; and another hath lewdly defiled his daughter in law; and another
in thee hath humbled his sister, his father's daughter.
12In
thee have they taken gifts to shed blood; thou hast taken usury and increase, and thou hast greedily gained of thy neighbours
by extortion, and hast forgotten me, saith the Lord GOD.
13Behold,
therefore I have smitten mine hand at thy dishonest gain which thou hast made, and at thy blood which hath been in the midst
of thee.
14Can thine heart endure, or can
thine hands be strong, in the days that I shall deal with thee? I the LORD have spoken it, and will do it.
15And I will scatter thee among the heathen, and disperse thee in the countries,
and will consume thy filthiness out of thee.
16And
thou shalt take thine inheritance in thyself in the sight of the heathen, and thou shalt know that I am the LORD.
17And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
18Son of man, the house of Israel is to me become dross: all they are brass, and
tin, and iron, and lead, in the midst of the furnace; they are even the dross of silver.
19Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because ye are all become dross, behold, therefore
I will gather you into the midst of Jerusalem.
20As
they gather silver, and brass, and iron, and lead, and tin, into the midst of the furnace, to blow the fire upon it, to melt
it; so will I gather you in mine anger and in my fury, and I will leave you there, and melt you.
21Yea, I will gather you, and blow upon you in the fire of my wrath, and ye shall
be melted in the midst therof.
22As silver
is melted in the midst of the furnace, so shall ye be melted in the midst thereof; and ye shall know that I the LORD have
poured out my fury upon you.
23And the word
of the LORD came unto me, saying,
24Son of
man, say unto her, Thou art the land that is not cleansed, nor rained upon in the day of indignation.
25There is a conspiracy of her prophets in the midst thereof, like a roaring lion
ravening the prey; they have devoured souls; they have taken the treasure and precious things; they have made her many widows
in the midst thereof.
26Her priests have violated
my law, and have profaned mine holy things: they have put no difference between the holy and profane, neither have they shewed
difference between the unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes from my sabbaths, and I am profaned among them.
27Her princes in the midst thereof are like wolves ravening the prey, to shed blood,
and to destroy souls, to get dishonest gain.
28And
her prophets have daubed them with untempered morter, seeing vanity, and divining lies unto them, saying, Thus saith the Lord
GOD, when the LORD hath not spoken.
29The
people of the land have used oppression, and exercised robbery, and have vexed the poor and needy: yea, they have oppressed
the stranger wrongfully.
30And I sought for
a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it:
but I found none.
31Therefore have I poured
out mine indignation upon them; I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath: their own way have I recompensed upon their
heads, saith the Lord GOD.