Ezekiel 11

Evil Rulers to Be Judged

1Now the 1Spirit lifted me up and brought me to the east gate of the Lord’s house which faced eastward. And behold, there were twenty-five men at the entrance of the gate, and among them I saw Jaazaniah son of Azzur and 2Pelatiah son of Benaiah, leaders of the people. 2Then He said to me, “Son of man, these are the men who devise wrongdoing and 3give evil advice in this city, 3who say, ‘The time is not near to build houses. 4This 5city is the pot and we are the meat.’ 4Therefore, 6prophesy against them, prophesy, son of man!”

5Then the Spirit of the Lord fell upon me, and He said to me, “Say, ‘This is what the Lord says: “This is how you think, house of Israel, for 7I know 8your 9thoughts. 6You have 10multiplied your slain in this city, and filled its streets with 11them.” 7Therefore, this is what the Lord 12God says: “Your 13slain whom you have laid in the midst of 14the city are the meat and this city is the pot; but 15I will 16bring you out of it. 8You have 17feared a sword; so I will 18bring a sword upon you,” the Lord God declares. 9“And I will bring you out of the midst of 19the city, and hand you over to 20strangers, and 21execute judgments against you. 10You will 22fall by the sword. I will judge you to the 23border of Israel; so you shall know that I am the Lord. 11This city will 24not be a pot for you, nor will you be meat in the midst of it; I will judge you to the border of Israel. 12So you will know that I am the Lord; for you have not walked in My statutes, nor have you 25executed My ordinances, but you have acted in accordance with the ordinances of the 26nations around you.”’”

13Now it came about, as I prophesied, that 27Pelatiah son of Benaiah died. Then I fell on my face and cried out with a loud voice, and said, “28Oh, Lord God! Will You bring the remnant of Israel to a complete destruction?”

Promise of Restoration

14Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 15“Son of man, your brothers, your relatives, 29your fellow exiles, and the entire house of Israel, all of them, are those to whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, ‘Keep far from the Lord; this land has been given 30to us as a possession.’ 16Therefore say, ‘This is what the Lord God says: “Though I had removed them far away among the nations, and though I had scattered them among the countries, yet I was a 31sanctuary for them for a little while in the countries where they had gone.”’ 17Therefore say, ‘This is what the Lord God says: “I will 32gather you from the peoples and assemble you from the countries among which you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.”’ 18When they come there, they will 33remove all its 34detestable things and all its abominations from it. 19And I will 35give them one heart, and put a new spirit within 36them. And I will remove the 37heart of stone from their flesh and give them a 38heart of flesh, 20so that they may 39walk in My statutes, and keep My ordinances and do them. Then they will be 40My people, and I shall be their God. 2141But as for those whose hearts go after their 42detestable things and abominations, I will 4344bring their conduct down on their heads,” declares the Lord God.

22Then the cherubim 45lifted up their wings with the wheels beside them, and 46the glory of the God of Israel 47hovered over them. 23The 48glory of the Lord went up from the midst of the city and 49stood over the mountain which is east of the city. 24And the 50Spirit lifted me up and brought me in a vision by the Spirit of God to 51Chaldea, to the exiles. Then the vision that I had seen 5253left me. 25And I 54told the exiles all the things that the Lord had shown me.