Ezekiel 22

The Sins of Israel

1Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 2“And you, son of man, will you judge, will you judge the bloody city? Then cause her to know all her abominations. 3You shall say, ‘Thus says the Lord 1God, “A city 2shedding blood in her midst, so that her time will come, and that makes idols, contrary to her interest, for defilement! 4You have become 3guilty by 4the blood which you have shed, and defiled by your idols which you have made. Thus you have brought your 5day near and have come to your years; therefore I have made you a 6reproach to the nations and a mocking to all the lands. 5Those who are near and those who are far from you will mock you, you of ill repute, full of 7turmoil.

6“Behold, the 8rulers of Israel, each according to his 9power, have been in you for the purpose of shedding blood. 7They have 10treated father and mother lightly within you. The 11alien they have oppressed in your midst; the 12fatherless and the widow they have wronged in you. 8You have 13despised My holy things and 14profaned My sabbaths. 9Slanderous men have been in you for the purpose of shedding blood, and in you they have eaten at the mountain shrines. In your midst they have 15committed acts of lewdness. 10In you 16they have 17uncovered their fathers’ nakedness; in you they have humbled her who was 18unclean in her menstrual impurity. 11One has committed abomination with his 19neighbor’s wife and another has lewdly defiled his 20daughter-in-law. And another in you has 21humbled his sister, his father’s daughter. 12In you they have 22taken bribes to shed blood; you have taken 23interest and profits, and you have injured your neighbors for gain by 24oppression, and you have 25forgotten Me,” declares the Lord God.

13“Behold, then, I smite My hand at your 26dishonest gain which you have acquired and at 27the bloodshed which is among you. 14Can 28your heart endure, or can your hands be strong in the days that I will deal with you? 29I, the Lord, have spoken and will act. 15I will 30scatter you among the nations and I will disperse you through the lands, and I will 31consume your uncleanness from you. 16You will profane yourself in the sight of the nations, and you will 32know that I am the Lord.”’”

17And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 18“Son of man, the house of Israel has become 33dross to Me; all of them are 34bronze and tin and iron and lead in the 35furnace; they are the dross of silver. 19Therefore, thus says the Lord God, ‘Because all of you have become dross, therefore, behold, I am going to gather you into the midst of Jerusalem. 20As they gather silver and bronze and iron and lead and tin into the 36furnace to blow fire on it in order to melt it, so I will gather you in My anger and in My wrath and I will lay you there and melt you. 21I will gather you and blow on you with the fire of My wrath, and you will be melted in the midst of it. 22As silver is melted in the furnace, so you will be melted in the midst of it; and you will know that I, the Lord, have 37poured out My wrath on you.’”

23And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 24“Son of man, say to her, ‘You are a land that is 38not cleansed or rained on in the day of indignation.’ 25There is a 39conspiracy of her prophets in her midst like a roaring lion tearing the prey. They have 40devoured lives; they have taken treasure and precious things; they have made many 41widows in the midst of her. 26Her 42priests have done violence to My law and have 43profaned My holy things; they have made no 44distinction between the holy and the profane, and they have not taught the difference between the 45unclean and the clean; and they hide their eyes from My sabbaths, and I am profaned among them. 27Her princes within her are like wolves tearing the prey, by shedding blood and 46destroying lives in order to get 47dishonest gain. 28Her prophets have smeared whitewash for them, seeing 48false visions and divining lies for them, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord God,’ when the Lord has not spoken. 29The people of the land have practiced 49oppression and committed robbery, and they have wronged the poor and needy and have 50oppressed the sojourner without justice. 30I 51searched for a man among them who would 52build up the wall and 53stand in the gap before Me for the land, so that I would not destroy it; but I found 54no one. 31Thus I have poured out My 55indignation on them; I have consumed them with the fire of My wrath; 56their way I have brought upon their heads,” declares the Lord God.