Ezekiel 20:20-38

201Sanctify My Sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between Me and you, so that you may know that I am the Lord your God.’ 21But the 2children rebelled against Me; they did not walk in My statutes, nor were they careful to 3follow My ordinances which, if 4a person 5follows them, then he will live by them; they profaned My Sabbaths. So I 6resolved to pour out My wrath on them, to 7use up My anger against them in the wilderness. 22But I 8withdrew My hand and acted 9for the sake of My name, so that it would not be defiled in the sight of the nations in whose sight I had brought them out. 23Also I swore to them in the wilderness that I would 10scatter them among the nations and disperse them among the lands, 24because they had not 11complied with My ordinances, but had rejected My statutes and had profaned My Sabbaths, and 12their eyes were 13on the idols of their fathers. 25I also gave them statutes that were 14not good, and ordinances by which they could not live; 26and I pronounced them 15unclean because of their gifts, in that they 16made all 17their firstborn pass through the fire so that I might make them desolate, in order that they might 18know that I am the Lord.”’

27“Therefore 19speak to the house of Israel, son of man, and say to them, ‘This is what the Lord God says: “Again, in this your fathers have 20blasphemed Me by 21being disloyal to Me. 28When I had 22brought them into the land which I swore to give to them, then they saw every 23high hill and every tree thick with branches, and there they offered their sacrifices and there they presented the provocation of their offering. There also they made their soothing aroma and there they poured out their drink offerings. 29Then I said to them, ‘What is the high place to which you go?’ So its name is called 24Bamah to this day.”’ 30Therefore, say to the house of Israel, ‘This is what the Lord God says: “Will you defile yourselves in the way of your 25fathers and adulterously pursue their detestable things? 31And 26when you offer your gifts, when you 27make your sons pass through the fire, you are defiling yourselves with all your idols to this day. So shall I be inquired of by you, house of Israel? As I live,” declares the Lord God, “I certainly will not be inquired of by you. 32And whatever 28comes 29into your mind certainly will not come about, when you say: ‘We will be like the nations, like the families of the lands, 30serving wood and stone.’

33“As I live,” declares the Lord God, “with a mighty hand and with an 31outstretched arm and with wrath poured out, I assuredly shall be 32king over you. 34I will 33bring you out from the peoples and gather you from the lands where you are scattered, with a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm and with 34wrath poured out; 35and I will bring you into the 35wilderness of the peoples, and there I will enter into judgment with you face to face. 36Just as I 36entered into judgment with your fathers in the 37wilderness of the land of Egypt, so I will enter into judgment with you,” declares the Lord God. 37“I will make you 38pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant; 38and I will 39purge from you the rebels and those who revolt against Me; I will bring them out of the land where they reside, but they will 40not enter the 41land of Israel. So you will know that I am the Lord.