Ezekiel

¹Now in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I was among the captives by the river Chebar, the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God.

²In the fifth of the month, which was the fifth year of King Jehoiachin’s captivity, ³Yahweh’s word came to Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar; and Yahweh’s hand was there on him.

⁴I looked, and behold, a stormy wind came out of the north: a great cloud, with flashing lightning, and a brightness around it, and out of the middle of it as it were glowing metal, out of the middle of the fire. ⁵Out of its center came the likeness of four living creatures. This was their appearance: They had the likeness of a man. ⁶Everyone had four faces, and each one of them had four wings. ⁷Their feet were straight feet. The sole of their feet was like the sole of a calf’s foot; and they sparkled like burnished bronze. ⁸They had the hands of a man under their wings on their four sides. The four of them had their faces and their wings like this: ⁹Their wings were joined to one another. They didn’t turn when they went. Each one went straight forward.

¹⁰As for the likeness of their faces, they had the face of a man. The four of them had the face of a lion on the right side. The four of them had the face of an ox on the left side. The four of them also had the face of an eagle. ¹¹Such were their faces. Their wings were spread out above. Two wings of each one touched another, and two covered their bodies. ¹²Each one went straight forward. Where the spirit was to go, they went. They didn’t turn when they went. ¹³As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire, like the appearance of torches. The fire went up and down among the living creatures. The fire was bright, and lightning went out of the fire. ¹⁴The living creatures ran and returned as the appearance of a flash of lightning.

¹⁵Now as I saw the living creatures, behold, there was one wheel on the earth beside the living creatures, for each of the four faces of it. ¹⁶The appearance of the wheels and their work was like a beryl. The four of them had one likeness. Their appearance and their work was as it were a wheel within a wheel. ¹⁷When they went, they went in their four directions. They didn’t turn when they went. ¹⁸As for their rims, they were high and dreadful; and the four of them had their rims full of eyes all around.

¹⁹When the living creatures went, the wheels went beside them. When the living creatures were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up. ²⁰Wherever the spirit was to go, they went. The spirit was to go there. The wheels were lifted up beside them; for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels. ²¹When those went, these went. When those stood, these stood. When those were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up beside them; for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels.

²²Over the head of the living creature there was the likeness of an expanse, like an awesome crystal to look at, stretched out over their heads above. ²³Under the expanse, their wings were straight, one toward the other. Each one had two which covered on this side, and each one had two which covered their bodies on that side.

¹He said to me, “Son of man, stand on your feet, and I will speak with you.” ²The Spirit entered into me when he spoke to me, and set me on my feet; and I heard him who spoke to me.

³He said to me, “Son of man, I send you to the children of Israel, to a nation of rebels who have rebelled against me. They and their fathers have transgressed against me even to this very day. ⁴The children are impudent and stiff-hearted. I am sending you to them, and you shall tell them, ‘This is what the Lord ” Yahweh says.’ ⁵They, whether they will hear, or whether they will refuse—for they are a rebellious house—yet they will know that there has been a prophet among them. ⁶You, son of man, don’t be afraid of them, neither be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns are with you, and you dwell among scorpions. Don’t be afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, though they are a rebellious house. ⁷You shall speak my words to them, whether they will hear or whether they will refuse; for they are most rebellious. ⁸But you, son of man, hear what I tell you. Don’t be rebellious like that rebellious house. Open your mouth, and eat that which I give you.”

⁹When I looked, behold, a hand was stretched out to me; and behold, a scroll of a book was in it. ¹⁰He spread it before me. It was written within and without; and lamentations, mourning, and woe were written in it.

¹He said to me, “Son of man, eat what you find. Eat this scroll, and go, speak to the house of Israel.”

²So I opened my mouth, and he caused me to eat the scroll.

³He said to me, “Son of man, eat this scroll that I give you and fill your belly and your bowels with it.”

⁴He said to me, “Son of man, go to the house of Israel, and speak my words to them. ⁵For you are not sent to a people of a strange speech and of a hard language, but to the house of Israel— ⁶not to many peoples of a strange speech and of a hard language, whose words you can’t understand. Surely, if I sent you to them, they would listen to you. ⁷But the house of Israel will not listen to you, for they will not listen to me; for all the house of Israel are obstinate ⁸Behold, I have made your face hard against their faces, and your forehead hard against their foreheads. ⁹I have made your forehead as a diamond, harder than flint. Don’t be afraid of them, neither be dismayed at their looks, though they are a rebellious house.”

¹⁰Moreover he said to me, “Son of man, receive in your heart and hear with your ears all my words that I speak to you. ¹¹Go to them of the captivity, to the children of your people, and speak to them, and tell them, ‘This is what the Lord Yahweh says,’ whether they will hear, or whether they will refuse.”

¹²Then the Spirit lifted me up, and I heard behind me the voice of a great rushing, saying, “Blessed be Yahweh’s glory from his place.” ¹³I heard the noise of the wings of the living creatures as they touched one another, and the noise of the wheels beside them, even the noise of a great rushing. ¹⁴So the Spirit lifted me up, and took me away; and I went in bitterness, in the heat of my spirit; and Yahweh’s hand was strong on me. ¹⁵Then I came to them of the captivity at Tel Aviv who lived by the river Chebar, and to where they lived; and I sat there overwhelmed among them seven days.

¹⁶At the end of seven days, Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, ¹⁷“Son of man, I have made you a watchman to the house of Israel. Therefore hear the word from my mouth, and warn them from me. ¹⁸When I tell the wicked, ‘You will surely die;’ and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life, that wicked man will die in his iniquity; but I will require his blood at your hand. ¹⁹Yet if you warn the wicked, and he doesn’t turn from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he will die in his iniquity; but you have delivered your soul.”

²⁰“Again, when a righteous man turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he will die. Because you have not given him warning, he will die in his sin, and his righteous deeds which he has done will not be remembered; but I will require his blood at your hand. ²¹Nevertheless if you warn the righteous man, that the righteous not sin, and he does not sin, he will surely live, because he took warning; and you have delivered your soul.”

²²Yahweh’s hand was there on me; and he said to me, “Arise, go out into the plain, and I will talk with you there.”

²³Then I arose, and went out into the plain, and behold, Yahweh’s glory stood there, like the glory which I saw by the river Chebar. Then I fell on my face.

¹“You also, son of man, take a tile, and lay it before yourself, and portray on it a city, even Jerusalem. ²Lay siege against it, build forts against it, and cast up a mound against it. Also set camps against it and plant battering rams against it all around. ³Take for yourself an iron pan and set it for a wall of iron between you and the city. Then set your face toward it. It will be besieged, and you shall lay siege against it. This shall be a sign to the house of Israel.

⁴“Moreover lie on your left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel on it. According to the number of the days that you shall lie on it, you shall bear their iniquity. ⁵For I have appointed the years of their iniquity to be to you a number of days, even three hundred ninety days. So you shall bear the iniquity of the house of Israel.

⁶“Again, when you have accomplished these, you shall lie on your right side, and shall bear the iniquity of the house of Judah. I have appointed forty days, each day for a year, to you. ⁷You shall set your face toward the siege of Jerusalem, with your arm uncovered; and you shall prophesy against it. ⁸Behold, I put ropes on you, and you shall not turn yourself from one side to the other, until you have accomplished the days of your siege.

⁹“Take for yourself also wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and spelt, and put them in one vessel. Make bread of it. According to the number of the days that you will lie on your side, even three hundred ninety days, you shall eat of it. ¹⁰Your food which you shall eat shall be by weight, twenty shekels 35 ounces. a day. From time to time you shall eat it. ¹¹You shall drink water by measure, the sixth part of a hin. 5 liters or 1.7 gallons. From time to time you shall drink. ¹²You shall eat it as barley cakes, and you shall bake it in their sight with dung that comes out of man.” ¹³Yahweh said, “Even thus will the children of Israel eat their bread unclean, among the nations where I will drive them.”

¹⁴Then I said, “Ah Lord Yahweh! Behold, my soul has not been polluted; for from my youth up even until now I have not eaten of that which dies of itself, or is torn of animals. No abominable meat has come into my mouth!”

¹⁵Then he said to me, “Behold, I have given you cow’s dung for man’s dung, and you shall prepare your bread on it.”

¹⁶Moreover he said to me, “Son of man, behold, I will break the staff of bread in Jerusalem. They will eat bread by weight, and with fearfulness. They will drink water by measure, and in dismay; ¹⁷that they may lack bread and water, be dismayed one with another, and pine away in their iniquity.

¹“You, son of man, take a sharp sword. You shall take it as a barber’s razor to yourself, and shall cause it to pass over your head and over your beard. Then take balances to weigh and divide the hair. ²A third part you shall burn in the fire in the middle of the city, when the days of the siege are fulfilled. You shall take a third part, and strike with the sword around it. A third part you shall scatter to the wind, and I will draw out a sword after them. ³You shall take a small number of these and bind them in the folds of your robe. ⁴Of these again you shall take, and cast them into the middle of the fire, and burn them in the fire. From it a fire will come out into all the house of Israel.

⁵“The Lord Yahweh says: ‘This is Jerusalem. I have set her in the middle of the nations, and countries are around her. ⁶She has rebelled against my ordinances in doing wickedness more than the nations, and against my statutes more than the countries that are around her; for they have rejected my ordinances, and as for my statutes, they have not walked in them.’

⁷“Therefore the Lord Yahweh says: ‘Because you are more turbulent than the nations that are around you, and have not walked in my statutes, neither have kept my ordinances, neither have followed the ordinances of the nations that are around you; ⁸therefore the Lord Yahweh says: ‘Behold, I, even I, am against you; and I will execute judgments among you in the sight of the nations. ⁹I will do in you that which I have not done, and which I will not do anything like it any more, because of all your abominations. ¹⁰Therefore the fathers will eat the sons within you, and the sons will eat their fathers. I will execute judgments on you; and I will scatter the whole remnant of you to all the winds. ¹¹Therefore as I live,’ says the Lord Yahweh, ‘surely, because you have defiled my sanctuary with all your detestable things, and with all your abominations, therefore I will also diminish you. My eye won’t spare, and I will have no pity. ¹²A third part of you will die with the pestilence, and they will be consumed with famine within you. A third part will fall by the sword around you. A third part I will scatter to all the winds, and will draw out a sword after them.

¹³“‘Thus my anger will be accomplished, and I will cause my wrath toward them to rest, and I will be comforted. They will know that I, Yahweh, have spoken in my zeal, when I have accomplished my wrath on them.

¹⁴“‘Moreover I will make you a desolation and a reproach among the nations that are around you, in the sight of all that pass by. ¹⁵So it will be a reproach and a taunt, an instruction and an astonishment, to the nations that are around you, when I execute judgments on you in anger and in wrath, and in wrathful rebukes—I, Yahweh, have spoken it— ¹⁶when I send on them the evil arrows of famine that are for destruction, which I will send to destroy you. I will increase the famine on you and will break your staff of bread. ¹⁷I will send on you famine and evil animals, and they will bereave you. Pestilence and blood will pass through you. I will bring the sword on you. I, Yahweh, have spoken it.’”

¹Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, ²“Son of man, set your face toward the mountains of Israel, and prophesy to them, ³and say, ‘You mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord Yahweh! The Lord Yahweh says to the mountains and to the hills, to the watercourses and to the valleys: “Behold, I, even I, will bring a sword on you, and I will destroy your high places. ⁴Your altars will become desolate, and your incense altars will be broken. I will cast down your slain men before your idols. ⁵I will lay the dead bodies of the children of Israel before their idols. I will scatter your bones around your altars. ⁶In all your dwelling places, the cities will be laid waste and the high places will be desolate, so that your altars may be laid waste and made desolate, and your idols may be broken and cease, and your incense altars may be cut down, and your works may be abolished. ⁷The slain will fall among you, and you will know that I am Yahweh.

⁸“‘“Yet I will leave a remnant, in that you will have some that escape the sword among the nations, when you are scattered through the countries. ⁹Those of you that escape will remember me among the nations where they are carried captive, how I have been broken with their lewd heart, which has departed from me, and with their eyes, which play the prostitute after their idols. Then they will loathe themselves in their own sight for the evils which they have committed in all their abominations. ¹⁰They will know that I am Yahweh. I have not said in vain that I would do this evil to them.”’

¹¹“The Lord Yahweh says: ‘Strike with your hand, and stamp with your foot, and say, “Alas!”, because of all the evil abominations of the house of Israel; for they will fall by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence. ¹²He who is far off will die of the pestilence. He who is near will fall by the sword. He who remains and is besieged will die by the famine. Thus I will accomplish my wrath on them. ¹³You will know that I am Yahweh when their slain men are among their idols around their altars, on every high hill, on all the tops of the mountains, under every green tree, and under every thick oak—the places where they offered pleasant aroma to all their idols. ¹⁴I will stretch out my hand on them and make the land desolate and waste, from the wilderness toward Diblah, throughout all their habitations. Then they will know that I am Yahweh.’”

¹Moreover Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, ²“You, son of man, the Lord Yahweh says to the land of Israel, ‘An end! The end has come on the four corners of the land. ³Now the end is on you, and I will send my anger on you, and will judge you according to your ways. I will bring on you all your abominations. ⁴My eye will not spare you, neither will I have pity; but I will bring your ways on you, and your abominations will be among you. Then you will know that I am Yahweh.’

⁵“The Lord Yahweh says: ‘A disaster! A unique disaster! Behold, it comes. ⁶An end has come. The end has come! It awakes against you. Behold, it comes. ⁷Your doom has come to you, inhabitant of the land! The time has come! The day is near, a day of tumult, and not of joyful shouting, on the mountains. ⁸Now I will shortly pour out my wrath on you, and accomplish my anger against you, and will judge you according to your ways. I will bring on you all your abominations. ⁹My eye won’t spare, neither will I have pity. I will punish you according to your ways. Your abominations will be among you. Then you will know that I, Yahweh, strike.

¹⁰“‘Behold, the day! Behold, it comes! Your doom has gone out. The rod has blossomed. Pride has budded. ¹¹Violence has risen up into a rod of wickedness. None of them will remain, nor of their multitude, nor of their wealth. There will be nothing of value among them. ¹²The time has come! The day draws near. Don’t let the buyer rejoice, nor the seller mourn; for wrath is on all its multitude. ¹³For the seller won’t return to that which is sold, although they are still alive; for the vision concerns the whole multitude of it. None will return. None will strengthen himself in the iniquity of his life. ¹⁴They have blown the trumpet, and have made all ready; but no one goes to the battle, for my wrath is on all its multitude.

¹⁵“‘The sword is outside, and the pestilence and the famine within. He who is in the field will die by the sword. He who is in the city will be devoured by famine and pestilence. ¹⁶But of those who escape, they will escape and will be on the mountains like doves of the valleys, all of them moaning, everyone in his iniquity. ¹⁷All hands will be feeble, and all knees will be weak as water. ¹⁸They will also clothe themselves with sackcloth, and horror will cover them. Shame will be on all faces, and baldness on all their heads. ¹⁹They will cast their silver in the streets, and their gold will be as an unclean thing. Their silver and their gold won’t be able to deliver them in the day of Yahweh’s wrath. They won’t satisfy their souls or fill their bellies; because it has been the stumbling block of their iniquity. ²⁰As for the beauty of his ornament, he set it in majesty; but they made the images of their abominations and their detestable things therein. Therefore I have made it to them as an unclean thing. ²¹I will give it into the hands of the strangers for a prey, and to the wicked of the earth for a plunder; and they will profane it. ²²I will also turn my face from them, and they will profane my secret place. Robbers will enter into it, and profane it.

²³“‘Make chains, for the land is full of bloody crimes, and the city is full of violence.

¹In the sixth year, in the sixth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I sat in my house, and the elders of Judah sat before me, the Lord Yahweh’s hand fell on me there. ²Then I saw, and behold, a likeness as the appearance of fire—from the appearance of his waist and downward, fire, and from his waist and upward, as the appearance of brightness, as it were glowing metal. ³He stretched out the form of a hand, and took me by a lock of my head; and the Spirit lifted me up between earth and the sky, and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem, to the door of the gate of the inner court that looks toward the north, where there was the seat of the image of jealousy, which provokes to jealousy. ⁴Behold, the glory of the God of Israel was there, according to the appearance that I saw in the plain.

⁵Then he said to me, “Son of man, lift up your eyes now the way toward the north.”

⁶He said to me, “Son of man, do you see what they do? Even the great abominations that the house of Israel commit here, that I should go far off from my sanctuary? But you will again see yet other great abominations.”

⁷He brought me to the door of the court; and when I looked, behold, a hole in the wall. ⁸Then he said to me, “Son of man, dig now in the wall.”

⁹He said to me, “Go in, and see the wicked abominations that they do here.”

¹⁰So I went in and looked, and saw every form of creeping things, abominable animals, and all the idols of the house of Israel, portrayed around on the wall. ¹¹Seventy men of the elders of the house of Israel stood before them. In the middle of them Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan stood, every man with his censer in his hand; and the smell of the cloud of incense went up.

¹²Then he said to me, “Son of man, have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in his rooms of imagery? For they say, ‘Yahweh doesn’t see us. Yahweh has forsaken the land.’” ¹³He said also to me, “You will again see more of the great abominations which they do.”

¹⁴Then he brought me to the door of the gate of Yahweh’s house which was toward the north; and I saw the women sit there weeping for Tammuz. ¹⁵Then he said to me, “Have you seen this, son of man? You will again see yet greater abominations than these.”

¹⁶He brought me into the inner court of Yahweh’s house; and I saw at the door of Yahweh’s temple, between the porch and the altar, there were about twenty-five men with their backs toward Yahweh’s temple and their faces toward the east. They were worshiping the sun toward the east.

¹⁷Then he said to me, “Have you seen this, son of man? Is it a light thing to the house of Judah that they commit the abominations which they commit here? For they have filled the land with violence, and have turned again to provoke me to anger. Behold, they put the branch to their nose. ¹⁸Therefore I will also deal in wrath. My eye won’t spare, neither will I have pity. Though they cry in my ears with a loud voice, yet I will not hear them.”

¹Then he cried in my ears with a loud voice, saying, “Cause those who are in charge of the city to draw near, each man with his destroying weapon in his hand.” ²Behold, six men came from the way of the upper gate, which lies toward the north, every man with his slaughter weapon in his hand. One man in the middle of them was clothed in linen, with a writer’s inkhorn by his side. They went in, and stood beside the bronze altar.

³The glory of the God of Israel went up from the cherub, whereupon it was, to the threshold of the house; and he called to the man clothed in linen, who had the writer’s inkhorn by his side. ⁴Yahweh said to him, “Go through the middle of the city, through the middle of Jerusalem, and set a mark on the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry over all the abominations that are done within it.”

⁵To the others he said in my hearing, “Go through the city after him, and strike. Don’t let your eye spare, neither have pity. ⁶Kill utterly the old man, the young man, the virgin, little children and women; but don’t come near any man on whom is the mark. Begin at my sanctuary.”

⁷He said to them, “Defile the house, and fill the courts with the slain. Go out!”

⁸While they were killing, and I was left, I fell on my face, and cried, and said, “Ah Lord Yahweh! Will you destroy all the residue of Israel in your pouring out of your wrath on Jerusalem?”

⁹Then he said to me, “The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is exceedingly great, and the land is full of blood, and the city full of perversion; for they say, ‘Yahweh has forsaken the land, and Yahweh doesn’t see.’ ¹⁰As for me also, my eye won’t spare, neither will I have pity, but I will bring their way on their head.”

¹¹Behold, the man clothed in linen, who had the inkhorn by his side, reported the matter, saying, “I have done as you have commanded me.”

¹Then I looked, and see, in the expanse that was over the head of the cherubim there appeared above them as it were a sapphire ²He spoke to the man clothed in linen, and said, “Go in between the whirling wheels, even under the cherub, and fill both your hands with coals of fire from between the cherubim, and scatter them over the city.”

³Now the cherubim stood on the right side of the house when the man went in; and the cloud filled the inner court. ⁴Yahweh’s glory mounted up from the cherub, and stood over the threshold of the house; and the house was filled with the cloud, and the court was full of the brightness of Yahweh’s glory. ⁵The sound of the wings of the cherubim was heard even to the outer court, as the voice of God Almighty when he speaks.

⁶It came to pass, when he commanded the man clothed in linen, saying, “Take fire from between the whirling wheels, from between the cherubim,” that he went in and stood beside a wheel. ⁷The cherub stretched out his hand from between the cherubim to the fire that was between the cherubim, and took some of it, and put it into the hands of him who was clothed in linen, who took it and went out. ⁸The form of a man’s hand appeared here in the cherubim under their wings.

⁹I looked, and behold, there were four wheels beside the cherubim, one wheel beside one cherub, and another wheel beside another cherub. The appearance of the wheels was like a beryl stone. ¹⁰As for their appearance, the four of them had one likeness, like a wheel within a wheel. ¹¹When they went, they went in their four directions. They didn’t turn as they went, but to the place where the head looked they followed it. They didn’t turn as they went. ¹²Their whole body, including their backs, their hands, their wings, and the wheels, were full of eyes all around, even the wheels that the four of them had. ¹³As for the wheels, they were called in my hearing, “the whirling wheels”. ¹⁴Every one them had four faces. The first face was the face of the cherub. The second face was the face of a man. The third face was the face of a lion. The fourth was the face of an eagle.

¹⁵The cherubim mounted up. This is the living creature that I saw by the river Chebar. ¹⁶When the cherubim went, the wheels went beside them; and when the cherubim lifted up their wings to mount up from the earth, the wheels also didn’t turn from beside them. ¹⁷When they stood, these stood. When they mounted up, these mounted up with them; for the spirit of the living creature was in them.

¹⁸Yahweh’s glory went out from over the threshold of the house and stood over the cherubim. ¹⁹The cherubim lifted up their wings and mounted up from the earth in my sight when they went out, with the wheels beside them. Then they stood at the door of the east gate of Yahweh’s house; and the glory of the God of Israel was over them above.

²⁰This is the living creature that I saw under the God of Israel by the river Chebar; and I knew that they were cherubim. ²¹Every one had four faces, and every one four wings. The likeness of the hands of a man was under their wings. ²²As for the likeness of their faces, they were the faces which I saw by the river Chebar, their appearances and themselves. They each went straight forward.

¹Moreover the Spirit lifted me up and brought me to the east gate of Yahweh’s house, which looks eastward. Behold, twenty-five men were at the door of the gate; and I saw among them Jaazaniah the son of Azzur, and Pelatiah the son of Benaiah, princes of the people. ²He said to me, “Son of man, these are the men who devise iniquity, and who give wicked counsel in this city; ³who say, ‘The time is not near to build houses. This is the cauldron, and we are the meat.’ ⁴Therefore prophesy against them. Prophesy, son of man.”

⁵Yahweh’s Spirit fell on me, and he said to me, “Speak, ‘Yahweh says: “Thus you have said, house of Israel; for I know the things that come into your mind. ⁶You have multiplied your slain in this city, and you have filled its streets with the slain.”

⁷“‘Therefore the Lord Yahweh says: “Your slain whom you have laid in the middle of it, they are the meat, and this is the cauldron; but you will be brought out of the middle of it. ⁸You have feared the sword; and I will bring the sword on you,” says the Lord Yahweh. ⁹“I will bring you out of the middle of it, and deliver you into the hands of strangers, and will execute judgments among you. ¹⁰You will fall by the sword. I will judge you in the border of Israel. Then you will know that I am Yahweh. ¹¹This will not be your cauldron, neither will you be the meat in the middle of it. I will judge you in the border of Israel. ¹²You will know that I am Yahweh, for you have not walked in my statutes. You have not executed my ordinances, but have done after the ordinances of the nations that are around you.”’”

¹³When I prophesied, Pelatiah the son of Benaiah died. Then I fell down on my face, and cried with a loud voice, and said, “Ah Lord Yahweh! Will you make a full end of the remnant of Israel?”

¹⁴Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, ¹⁵“Son of man, your brothers, even your brothers, the men of your relatives, and all the house of Israel, all of them, are the ones to whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, ‘Go far away from Yahweh. This land has been given to us for a possession.’

¹⁶“Therefore say, ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “Whereas I have removed them far off among the nations, and whereas I have scattered them among the countries, yet I will be to them a sanctuary for a little while in the countries where they have come.”’

¹⁷“Therefore say, ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “I will gather you from the peoples, and assemble you out of the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.”

¹⁸“‘They will come there, and they will take away all its detestable things and all its abominations from there. ¹⁹I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within them. I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh, ²⁰that they may walk in my statutes, and keep my ordinances, and do them. They will be my people, and I will be their God. ²¹But as for them whose heart walks after the heart of their detestable things and their abominations, I will bring their way on their own heads,’ says the Lord Yahweh.”

²²Then the cherubim lifted up their wings, and the wheels were beside them. The glory of the God of Israel was over them above. ²³Yahweh’s glory went up from the middle of the city, and stood on the mountain which is on the east side of the city.

¹Yahweh’s word also came to me, saying, ²“Son of man, you dwell in the middle of the rebellious house, who have eyes to see, and don’t see, who have ears to hear, and don’t hear; for they are a rebellious house.

³“Therefore, you son of man, prepare your baggage for moving, and move by day in their sight. You shall move from your place to another place in their sight. It may be they will consider, though they are a rebellious house. ⁴You shall bring out your baggage by day in their sight, as baggage for moving. You shall go out yourself at evening in their sight, as when men go out into exile. ⁵Dig through the wall in their sight, and carry your baggage out that way. ⁶In their sight you shall bear it on your shoulder, and carry it out in the dark. You shall cover your face, so that you don’t see the land, for I have set you for a sign to the house of Israel.”

⁷I did so as I was commanded. I brought out my baggage by day, as baggage for moving, and in the evening I dug through the wall with my hand. I brought it out in the dark, and bore it on my shoulder in their sight.

⁸In the morning, Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, ⁹“Son of man, hasn’t the house of Israel, the rebellious house, said to you, ‘What are you doing?’

¹⁰“Say to them, ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “This burden concerns the prince in Jerusalem, and all the house of Israel among whom they are.”’

¹¹“Say, ‘I am your sign. As I have done, so will it be done to them. They will go into exile, into captivity.

¹²“‘The prince who is among them will bear his baggage on his shoulder in the dark, and will go out. They will dig through the wall to carry things out that way. He will cover his face, because he will not see the land with his eyes. ¹³I will also spread my net on him, and he will be taken in my snare. I will bring him to Babylon to the land of the Chaldeans; yet he will not see it, though he will die there. ¹⁴I will scatter toward every wind all who are around him to help him, and all his bands. I will draw out the sword after them.

¹⁵“‘They will know that I am Yahweh when I disperse them among the nations and scatter them through the countries. ¹⁶But I will leave a few men of them from the sword, from the famine, and from the pestilence, that they may declare all their abominations among the nations where they come. Then they will know that I am Yahweh.’”

¹⁷Moreover Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, ¹⁸“Son of man, eat your bread with quaking, and drink your water with trembling and with fearfulness. ¹⁹Tell the people of the land, ‘The Lord Yahweh says concerning the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the land of Israel: “They will eat their bread with fearfulness and drink their water in dismay, that her land may be desolate, and all that is therein, because of the violence of all those who dwell therein. ²⁰The cities that are inhabited will be laid waste, and the land will be a desolation. Then you will know that I am Yahweh.”’”

²¹Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, ²²“Son of man, what is this proverb that you have in the land of Israel, saying, ‘The days are prolonged, and every vision fails?’

¹Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, ²“Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel who prophesy, and say to those who prophesy out of their own heart, ‘Hear Yahweh’s word: ³The Lord Yahweh says, “Woe to the foolish prophets, who follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing! ⁴Israel, your prophets have been like foxes in the waste places. ⁵You have not gone up into the gaps or built up the wall for the house of Israel, to stand in the battle in Yahweh’s day. ⁶They have seen falsehood and lying divination, who say, ‘Yahweh says;’ but Yahweh has not sent them. They have made men to hope that the word would be confirmed. ⁷Haven’t you seen a false vision, and haven’t you spoken a lying divination, in that you say, ‘Yahweh says;’ but I have not spoken?”

⁸“‘Therefore the Lord Yahweh says: “Because you have spoken falsehood and seen lies, therefore, behold, I am against you,” says the Lord Yahweh. ⁹“My hand will be against the prophets who see false visions and who utter lying divinations. They will not be in the council of my people, neither will they be written in the writing of the house of Israel, neither will they enter into the land of Israel. Then you will know that I am the Lord Yahweh.”

¹⁰“‘Because, even because they have seduced my people, saying, “Peace;” and there is no peace. When one builds up a wall, behold, they plaster it with whitewash. ¹¹Tell those who plaster it with whitewash that it will fall. There will be an overflowing shower; and you, great hailstones, will fall. A stormy wind will tear it. ¹²Behold, when the wall has fallen, won’t it be said to you, “Where is the plaster with which you have plastered it?”

¹³“‘Therefore the Lord Yahweh says: “I will even tear it with a stormy wind in my wrath. There will be an overflowing shower in my anger, and great hailstones in wrath to consume it. ¹⁴So I will break down the wall that you have plastered with whitewash, and bring it down to the ground, so that its foundation will be uncovered. It will fall, and you will be consumed in the middle of it. Then you will know that I am Yahweh. ¹⁵Thus I will accomplish my wrath on the wall, and on those who have plastered it with whitewash. I will tell you, ‘The wall is no more, nor those who plastered it— ¹⁶to wit, the prophets of Israel who prophesy concerning Jerusalem, and who see visions of peace for her, and there is no peace,’” says the Lord Yahweh.’”

¹⁷You, son of man, set your face against the daughters of your people, who prophesy out of their own heart; and prophesy against them, ¹⁸and say, “The Lord Yahweh says: ‘Woe to the women who sew magic bands on all elbows and make veils for the head of persons of every stature to hunt souls! Will you hunt the souls of my people and save souls alive for yourselves? ¹⁹You have profaned me among my people for handfuls of barley and for pieces of bread, to kill the souls who should not die and to save the souls alive who should not live, by your lying to my people who listen to lies.’

²⁰“Therefore the Lord Yahweh says: ‘Behold, I am against your magic bands, with which you hunt the souls to make them fly, and I will tear them from your arms. I will let the souls fly free, even the souls whom you ensnare like birds. ²¹I will also tear your veils and deliver my people out of your hand; and they will no longer be in your hand to be ensnared. Then you will know that I am Yahweh. ²²Because with lies you have grieved the heart of the righteous, whom I have not made sad; and strengthened the hands of the wicked, that he should not return from his wicked way, and be saved alive. ²³Therefore you shall no more see false visions nor practice divination. I will deliver my people out of your hand. Then you will know that I am Yahweh.’”

¹Then some of the elders of Israel came to me and sat before me. ²Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, ³“Son of man, these men have taken their idols into their heart, and put the stumbling block of their iniquity before their face. Should I be inquired of at all by them? ⁴Therefore speak to them and tell them, ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “Every man of the house of Israel who takes his idols into his heart and puts the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face then comes to the prophet, I Yahweh will answer him there according to the multitude of his idols, ⁵that I may take the house of Israel in their own heart, because they are all estranged from me through their idols.”’

⁶“Therefore tell the house of Israel, ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “Return, and turn yourselves from your idols! Turn away your faces from all your abominations.

⁷“‘“For everyone of the house of Israel, or of the strangers who live in Israel, who separates himself from me and takes his idols into his heart, and puts the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and comes to the prophet to inquire for himself of me, I Yahweh will answer him by myself. ⁸I will set my face against that man and will make him an astonishment, for a sign and a proverb, and I will cut him off from among my people. Then you will know that I am Yahweh.

⁹“‘“If the prophet is deceived and speaks a word, I, Yahweh, have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand on him, and will destroy him from among my people Israel. ¹⁰They will bear their iniquity. The iniquity of the prophet will be even as the iniquity of him who seeks him, ¹¹that the house of Israel may no more go astray from me, neither defile themselves any more with all their transgressions; but that they may be my people, and I may be their God,” says the Lord Yahweh.’”

¹²Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, ¹³“Son of man, when a land sins against me by committing a trespass, and I stretch out my hand on it, and break the staff of its bread and send famine on it, and cut off from it man and animal— ¹⁴though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they would deliver only their own souls by their righteousness,” says the Lord Yahweh.

¹⁵“If I cause evil animals to pass through the land, and they ravage it and it is made desolate, so that no man may pass through because of the animals— ¹⁶though these three men were in it, as I live,” says the Lord Yahweh, “they would deliver neither sons nor daughters. They only would be delivered, but the land would be desolate.

¹⁷“Or if I bring a sword on that land, and say, ‘Sword, go through the land, so that I cut off from it man and animal’— ¹⁸though these three men were in it, as I live,” says the Lord Yahweh, “they would deliver neither sons nor daughters, but they only would be delivered themselves.

¹⁹“Or if I send a pestilence into that land, and pour out my wrath on it in blood, to cut off from it man and animal— ²⁰though Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, as I live,” says the Lord Yahweh, “they would deliver neither son nor daughter; they would deliver only their own souls by their righteousness.”

²¹For the Lord Yahweh says: “How much more when I send my four severe judgments on Jerusalem—the sword, the famine, the evil animals, and the pestilence—to cut off from it man and animal! ²²Yet, behold, there will be left a remnant in it that will be carried out, both sons and daughters. Behold, they will come out to you, and you will see their way and their doings. Then you will be comforted concerning the evil that I have brought on Jerusalem, even concerning all that I have brought on it. ²³They will comfort you, when you see their way and their doings; then you will know that I have not done all that I have done in it without cause,” says the Lord Yahweh.

¹Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, ²“Son of man, what is the vine tree more than any tree, the vine branch which is among the trees of the forest? ³Will wood be taken of it to make anything? Will men take a pin of it to hang any vessel on it? ⁴Behold, it is cast into the fire for fuel; the fire has devoured both its ends, and the middle of it is burned. Is it profitable for any work? ⁵Behold, when it was whole, it was suitable for no work. How much less, when the fire has devoured it, and it has been burned, will it yet be suitable for any work?”

⁶Therefore the Lord Yahweh says: “As the vine wood among the trees of the forest, which I have given to the fire for fuel, so I will give the inhabitants of Jerusalem. ⁷I will set my face against them. They will go out from the fire, but the fire will still devour them. Then you will know that I am Yahweh, when I set my face against them. ⁸I will make the land desolate, because they have acted unfaithfully,” says the Lord Yahweh.

¹Again Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, ²“Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations; ³and say, ‘The Lord Yahweh says to Jerusalem: “Your origin and your birth is of the land of the Canaanite. An Amorite was your father, and your mother was a Hittite. ⁴As for your birth, in the day you were born your navel was not cut. You weren’t washed in water to cleanse you. You weren’t salted at all, nor wrapped in blankets at all. ⁵No eye pitied you, to do any of these things to you, to have compassion on you; but you were cast out in the open field, because you were abhorred in the day that you were born.

⁶“‘“When I passed by you, and saw you wallowing in your blood, I said to you, ‘Though you are in your blood, live!’ Yes, I said to you, ‘Though you are in your blood, live!’ ⁷I caused you to multiply as that which grows in the field, and you increased and grew great, and you attained to excellent beauty. Your breasts were formed, and your hair grew; yet you were naked and bare.

⁸“‘“Now when I passed by you, and looked at you, behold, your time was the time of love; and I spread my garment over you and covered your nakedness. Yes, I pledged myself to you and entered into a covenant with you,” says the Lord Yahweh, “and you became mine.

⁹“‘“Then I washed you with water. Yes, I thoroughly washed away your blood from you, and I anointed you with oil. ¹⁰I clothed you also with embroidered work and put leather sandals on you. I dressed you with fine linen and covered you with silk. ¹¹I decked you with ornaments, put bracelets on your hands, and put a chain on your neck. ¹²I put a ring on your nose, earrings in your ears, and a beautiful crown on your head. ¹³Thus you were decked with gold and silver. Your clothing was of fine linen, silk, and embroidered work. You ate fine flour, honey, and oil. You were exceedingly beautiful, and you prospered to royal estate. ¹⁴Your renown went out among the nations for your beauty; for it was perfect, through my majesty which I had put on you,” says the Lord Yahweh.

¹⁵“‘“But you trusted in your beauty, and played the prostitute because of your renown, and poured out your prostitution on everyone who passed by. It was his. ¹⁶You took some of your garments, and made for yourselves high places decked with various colors, and played the prostitute on them. This shouldn’t happen, neither shall it be. ¹⁷You also took your beautiful jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given you, and made for yourself images of men, and played the prostitute with them. ¹⁸You took your embroidered garments, covered them, and set my oil and my incense before them. ¹⁹My bread also which I gave you, fine flour, oil, and honey, with which I fed you, you even set it before them for a pleasant aroma; and so it was,” says the Lord Yahweh.

²⁰“‘“Moreover you have taken your sons and your daughters, whom you have borne to me, and you have sacrificed these to them to be devoured. Was your prostitution a small matter, ²¹that you have slain my children and delivered them up, in causing them to pass through the fire to them? ²²In all your abominations and your prostitution you have not remembered the days of your youth, when you were naked and bare, and were wallowing in your blood.

²³“‘“It has happened after all your wickedness—woe, woe to you!” says the Lord Yahweh—

¹Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, ²“Son of man, tell a riddle, and speak a parable to the house of Israel; ³and say, ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “A great eagle with great wings and long feathers, full of feathers which had various colors, came to Lebanon and took the top of the cedar. ⁴He cropped off the topmost of its young twigs, and carried it to a land of traffic. He planted it in a city of merchants.

⁵“‘“He also took some of the seed of the land and planted it in fruitful soil. He placed it beside many waters. He set it as a willow tree. ⁶It grew and became a spreading vine of low stature, whose branches turned toward him, and its roots were under him. So it became a vine, produced branches, and shot out sprigs.

⁷“‘“There was also another great eagle with great wings and many feathers. Behold, this vine bent its roots toward him, and shot out its branches toward him, from the ground where it was planted, that he might water it. ⁸It was planted in a good soil by many waters, that it might produce branches and that it might bear fruit, that it might be a good vine.”’

⁹“Say, ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “Will it prosper? Won’t he pull up its roots and cut off its fruit, that it may wither, that all its fresh springing leaves may wither? It can’t be raised from its roots by a strong arm or many people. ¹⁰Yes, behold, being planted, will it prosper? Won’t it utterly wither when the east wind touches it? It will wither in the ground where it grew.”’”

¹¹Moreover Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, ¹²“Say now to the rebellious house, ‘Don’t you know what these things mean?’ Tell them, ‘Behold, the king of Babylon came to Jerusalem, and took its king, and its princes, and brought them to him to Babylon. ¹³He took one of the royal offspring, He also brought him under an oath, and took away the mighty of the land, ¹⁴that the kingdom might be brought low, that it might not lift itself up, but that by keeping his covenant it might stand. ¹⁵But he rebelled against him in sending his ambassadors into Egypt, that they might give him horses and many people. Will he prosper? Will he who does such things escape? Will he break the covenant, and still escape?

¹⁶“‘As I live,’ says the Lord Yahweh, ‘surely in the place where the king dwells who made him king, whose oath he despised, and whose covenant he broke, even with him in the middle of Babylon he will die. ¹⁷Pharaoh with his mighty army and great company won’t help him in the war, when they cast up mounds and build forts to cut off many persons. ¹⁸For he has despised the oath by breaking the covenant; and behold, he had given his hand, and yet has done all these things. He won’t escape.

¹⁹“Therefore the Lord Yahweh says: ‘As I live, I will surely bring on his own head my oath that he has despised and my covenant that he has broken. ²⁰I will spread my net on him, and he will be taken in my snare. I will bring him to Babylon, and will enter into judgment with him there for his trespass that he has trespassed against me. ²¹All his fugitives in all his bands will fall by the sword, and those who remain will be scattered toward every wind. Then you will know that I, Yahweh, have spoken it.’

²²“The Lord Yahweh says: ‘I will also take some of the lofty top of the cedar, and will plant it. I will crop off from the topmost of its young twigs a tender one, and I will plant it on a high and lofty mountain. ²³I will plant it in the mountain of the height of Israel; and it will produce boughs, and bear fruit, and be a good cedar. Birds of every kind will dwell in the shade of its branches.

¹Yahweh’s word came to me again, saying, ²“What do you mean, that you use this proverb concerning the land of Israel, saying,

³“As I live,” says the Lord Yahweh, “you shall not use this proverb any more in Israel. ⁴Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine. The soul who sins, he shall die.

⁵“But if a man is just,

⁶and has not eaten on the mountains,

⁷and has not wronged any,

⁸he who hasn’t lent to them with interest,

⁹has walked in my statutes,

¹⁰“If he fathers a son who is a robber who sheds blood, and who does any one of these things, ¹¹or who does not do any of those things

¹²has wronged the poor and needy,

¹³has lent with interest,

¹⁴“Now, behold, if he fathers a son who sees all his father’s sins which he has done, and fears, and doesn’t do likewise,

¹⁵who hasn’t eaten on the mountains,

¹⁶hasn’t wronged any,

¹⁷who has withdrawn his hand from the poor,

¹⁸As for his father, because he cruelly oppressed, robbed his brother, and did that which is not good among his people, behold, he will die in his iniquity.

¹⁹“Yet you say, ‘Why doesn’t the son bear the iniquity of the father?’ When the son has done that which is lawful and right, and has kept all my statutes, and has done them, he will surely live. ²⁰The soul who sins, he shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be on him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be on him.

²¹“But if the wicked turns from all his sins that he has committed, and keeps all my statutes, and does that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live. He shall not die. ²²None of his transgressions that he has committed will be remembered against him. In his righteousness that he has done, he shall live.

¹“Moreover, take up a lamentation for the princes of Israel, ²and say,

³She brought up one of her cubs.

⁴The nations also heard of him.

⁵“‘Now when she saw that she had waited,

⁶He went up and down among the lions.

⁷He knew their palaces,

⁸Then the nations attacked him on every side from the provinces.

⁹They put him in a cage with hooks,

¹⁰“‘Your mother was like a vine in your blood, planted by the waters.

¹¹It had strong branches for the scepters of those who ruled.

¹²But it was plucked up in fury.

¹³Now it is planted in the wilderness,

¹⁴Fire has gone out of its branches.

¹In the seventh year, in the fifth month, the tenth day of the month, some of the elders of Israel came to inquire of Yahweh, and sat before me.

²Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, ³“Son of man, speak to the elders of Israel, and tell them, ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “Is it to inquire of me that you have come? As I live,” says the Lord Yahweh, “I will not be inquired of by you.”’

⁴“Will you judge them, son of man? Will you judge them? Cause them to know the abominations of their fathers. ⁵Tell them, ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “In the day when I chose Israel, and swore to the offspring of the house of Jacob, and made myself known to them in the land of Egypt, when I swore to them, saying, ‘I am Yahweh your God;’ ⁶in that day I swore to them to bring them out of the land of Egypt into a land that I had searched out for them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands. ⁷I said to them, ‘Each of you throw away the abominations of his eyes. Don’t defile yourselves with the idols of Egypt. I am Yahweh your God.’

⁸“‘“But they rebelled against me and wouldn’t listen to me. They didn’t all throw away the abominations of their eyes. They also didn’t forsake the idols of Egypt. Then I said I would pour out my wrath on them, to accomplish my anger against them in the middle of the land of Egypt. ⁹But I worked for my name’s sake, that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations among which they were, in whose sight I made myself known to them in bringing them out of the land of Egypt. ¹⁰So I caused them to go out of the land of Egypt and brought them into the wilderness. ¹¹I gave them my statutes and showed them my ordinances, which if a man does, he will live in them. ¹²Moreover also I gave them my Sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am Yahweh who sanctifies them.

¹³“‘“But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness. They didn’t walk in my statutes and they rejected my ordinances, which if a man keeps, he shall live in them. They greatly profaned my Sabbaths. Then I said I would pour out my wrath on them in the wilderness, to consume them. ¹⁴But I worked for my name’s sake, that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations, in whose sight I brought them out. ¹⁵Moreover also I swore to them in the wilderness that I would not bring them into the land which I had given them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands, ¹⁶because they rejected my ordinances, and didn’t walk in my statutes, and profaned my Sabbaths; for their heart went after their idols. ¹⁷Nevertheless my eye spared them, and I didn’t destroy them. I didn’t make a full end of them in the wilderness. ¹⁸I said to their children in the wilderness, ‘Don’t walk in the statutes of your fathers. Don’t observe their ordinances or defile yourselves with their idols. ¹⁹I am Yahweh your God. Walk in my statutes, keep my ordinances, and do them. ²⁰Make my Sabbaths holy. They shall be a sign between me and you, that you may know that I am Yahweh your God.’

²¹“‘“But the children rebelled against me. They didn’t walk in my statutes, and didn’t keep my ordinances to do them, which if a man does, he shall live in them. They profaned my Sabbaths. Then I said I would pour out my wrath on them, to accomplish my anger against them in the wilderness. ²²Nevertheless I withdrew my hand and worked for my name’s sake, that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations, in whose sight I brought them out. ²³Moreover I swore to them in the wilderness, that I would scatter them among the nations and disperse them through the countries,

¹Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, ²“Son of man, set your face toward Jerusalem, and preach toward the sanctuaries, and prophesy against the land of Israel. ³Tell the land of Israel, ‘Yahweh says: “Behold, I am against you, and will draw my sword out of its sheath, and will cut off from you the righteous and the wicked. ⁴Seeing then that I will cut off from you the righteous and the wicked, therefore my sword will go out of its sheath against all flesh from the south to the north. ⁵All flesh will know that I, Yahweh, have drawn my sword out of its sheath. It will not return any more.”’

⁶“Therefore sigh, you son of man. You shall sigh before their eyes with a broken heart ⁷It shall be, when they ask you, ‘Why do you sigh?’ that you shall say, ‘Because of the news, for it comes! Every heart will melt, all hands will be feeble, every spirit will faint, and all knees will be weak as water. Behold, it comes, and it shall be done, says the Lord Yahweh.’”

⁸Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, ⁹“Son of man, prophesy, and say, ‘Yahweh says:

¹⁰It is sharpened that it may make a slaughter.

¹¹It is given to be polished,

¹²Cry and wail, son of man;

¹³“For there is a trial. What if even the rod that condemns will be no more?” says the Lord Yahweh.

¹⁴“You therefore, son of man, prophesy,

¹⁵I have set the threatening sword against all their gates,

¹⁶Gather yourselves together.

¹⁷I will also strike my hands together,

¹⁸Yahweh’s word came to me again, saying, ¹⁹“Also, you son of man, appoint two ways, that the sword of the king of Babylon may come. They both will come out of one land, and mark out a place. Mark it out at the head of the way to the city. ²⁰You shall appoint a way for the sword to come to Rabbah of the children of Ammon, and to Judah in Jerusalem the fortified. ²¹For the king of Babylon stood at the parting of the way, at the head of the two ways, to use divination. He shook the arrows back and forth. He consulted the teraphim. He looked in the liver. ²²In his right hand was the lot for Jerusalem, to set battering rams, to open the mouth in the slaughter, to lift up the voice with shouting, to set battering rams against the gates, to cast up mounds, and to build forts. ²³It will be to them as a false divination in their sight, who have sworn oaths to them; but he brings iniquity to memory, that they may be taken.

¹Moreover Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, ²“You, son of man, will you judge? Will you judge the bloody city? Then cause her to know all her abominations. ³You shall say, ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “A city that sheds blood within herself, that her time may come, and that makes idols against herself to defile her! ⁴You have become guilty in your blood that you have shed, and are defiled in your idols which you have made! You have caused your days to draw near, and have come to the end of your years. Therefore I have made you a reproach to the nations, and a mocking to all the countries. ⁵Those who are near and those who are far from you will mock you, you infamous one, full of tumult.

⁶“‘“Behold, the princes of Israel, everyone according to his power, have been in you to shed blood. ⁷In you have they treated father and mother with contempt. Among you they have oppressed the foreigner. In you they have wronged the fatherless and the widow. ⁸You have despised my holy things, and have profaned my Sabbaths. ⁹Slanderous men have been in you to shed blood. In you they have eaten on the mountains. They have committed lewdness among you. ¹⁰In you have they uncovered their fathers’ nakedness. In you have they humbled her who was unclean in her impurity. ¹¹One has committed abomination with his neighbor’s wife, and another has lewdly defiled his daughter-in-law. Another in you has humbled his sister, his father’s daughter. ¹²In you have they taken bribes to shed blood. You have taken interest and increase, and you have greedily gained of your neighbors by oppression, and have forgotten me,” says the Lord Yahweh.

¹³“‘“Behold, therefore I have struck my hand at your dishonest gain which you have made, and at the blood which has been shed within you. ¹⁴Can your heart endure, or can your hands be strong, in the days that I will deal with you? I, Yahweh, have spoken it, and will do it. ¹⁵I will scatter you among the nations, and disperse you through the countries. I will purge your filthiness out of you. ¹⁶You will be profaned in yourself in the sight of the nations. Then you will know that I am Yahweh.”’”

¹⁷Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, ¹⁸“Son of man, the house of Israel has become dross to me. All of them are bronze, tin, iron, and lead in the middle of the furnace. They are the dross of silver. ¹⁹Therefore the Lord Yahweh says: ‘Because you have all become dross, therefore, behold, I will gather you into the middle of Jerusalem. ²⁰As they gather silver, bronze, iron, lead, and tin into the middle of the furnace, to blow the fire on it, to melt it, so I will gather you in my anger and in my wrath, and I will lay you there and melt you. ²¹Yes, I will gather you, and blow on you with the fire of my wrath, and you will be melted in the middle of it. ²²As silver is melted in the middle of the furnace, so you will be melted in the middle of it; and you will know that I, Yahweh, have poured out my wrath on you.’”

²³Yahweh’s word came to me, saying,

¹Yahweh’s word came again to me, saying, ²“Son of man, there were two women, the daughters of one mother. ³They played the prostitute in Egypt. They played the prostitute in their youth. Their breasts were fondled there, and their youthful nipples were caressed there. ⁴Their names were Oholah the elder, and Oholibah her sister. They became mine, and they bore sons and daughters. As for their names, Samaria is Oholah, and Jerusalem Oholibah.

⁵“Oholah played the prostitute when she was mine. She doted on her lovers, on the Assyrians her neighbors, ⁶who were clothed with blue—governors and rulers, all of them desirable young men, horsemen riding on horses. ⁷She gave herself as a prostitute to them, all of them the choicest men of Assyria. She defiled herself with the idols of whoever she lusted after. ⁸She hasn’t left her prostitution since leaving Egypt; for in her youth they lay with her. They caressed her youthful nipples and they poured out their prostitution on her.

⁹“Therefore I delivered her into the hand of her lovers, into the hand of the Assyrians on whom she doted. ¹⁰These uncovered her nakedness. They took her sons and her daughters, and they killed her with the sword. She became a byword among women; for they executed judgments on her.

¹¹“Her sister Oholibah saw this, yet she was more corrupt in her lusting than she, and in her prostitution which was more depraved than the prostitution of her sister. ¹²She lusted after the Assyrians, governors and rulers—her neighbors, clothed most gorgeously, horsemen riding on horses, all of them desirable young men. ¹³I saw that she was defiled. They both went the same way.

¹⁴“She increased her prostitution; for she saw men portrayed on the wall, the images of the Chaldeans portrayed with red, ¹⁵dressed with belts on their waists, with flowing turbans on their heads, all of them looking like princes, after the likeness of the Babylonians in Chaldea, the land of their birth. ¹⁶As soon as she saw them, she lusted after them and sent messengers to them into Chaldea. ¹⁷The Babylonians came to her into the bed of love, and they defiled her with their prostitution. She was polluted with them, and her soul was alienated from them. ¹⁸So she uncovered her prostitution and uncovered her nakedness. Then my soul was alienated from her, just like my soul was alienated from her sister. ¹⁹Yet she multiplied her prostitution, remembering the days of her youth, in which she had played the prostitute in the land of Egypt. ²⁰She lusted after their lovers, whose flesh is as the flesh of donkeys, and whose issue is like the issue of horses. ²¹Thus you called to memory the lewdness of your youth, in the caressing of your nipples by the Egyptians because of your youthful breasts.

²²“Therefore, Oholibah, the Lord Yahweh says: ‘Behold, I will raise up your lovers against you, from whom your soul is alienated, and I will bring them against you on every side: ²³the Babylonians and all the Chaldeans, Pekod, Shoa, Koa, and all the Assyrians with them; all of them desirable young men, governors and rulers, princes and men of renown, all of them riding on horses.

¹Again, in the ninth year, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, ²“Son of man, write the name of the day, this same day. The king of Babylon drew close to Jerusalem this same day. ³Utter a parable to the rebellious house, and tell them, ‘The Lord Yahweh says,

⁴Gather its pieces into it,

⁵Take the choice of the flock,

⁶“‘Therefore the Lord Yahweh says:

⁷“‘“For the blood she shed is in the middle of her.

⁸That it may cause wrath to come up to take vengeance,

⁹“‘Therefore the Lord Yahweh says:

¹⁰Heap on the wood.

¹¹Then set it empty on its coals,

¹²She is weary with toil;

¹³“‘“In your filthiness is lewdness. Because I have cleansed you and you weren’t cleansed, you won’t be cleansed from your filthiness any more, until I have caused my wrath toward you to rest.

¹⁴“‘“I, Yahweh, have spoken it. It will happen, and I will do it. I won’t go back. I won’t spare. I won’t repent. According to your ways and according to your doings, they will judge you,” says the Lord Yahweh.’”

¹⁵Also Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, ¹⁶“Son of man, behold, I will take away from you the desire of your eyes with one stroke; yet you shall neither mourn nor weep, neither shall your tears run down. ¹⁷Sigh, but not aloud. Make no mourning for the dead. Bind your headdress on you, and put your sandals on your feet. Don’t cover your lips, and don’t eat mourner’s bread.”

¹⁸So I spoke to the people in the morning, and at evening my wife died. So I did in the morning as I was commanded.

¹⁹The people asked me, “Won’t you tell us what these things mean to us, that you act like this?”

²⁰Then I said to them, “Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, ²¹‘Speak to the house of Israel, “The Lord Yahweh says: ‘Behold, I will profane my sanctuary, the pride of your power, the desire of your eyes, and that which your soul pities; and your sons and your daughters whom you have left behind will fall by the sword. ²²You will do as I have done. You won’t cover your lips or eat mourner’s bread. ²³Your turbans will be on your heads, and your sandals on your feet. You won’t mourn or weep; but you will pine away in your iniquities, and moan one toward another.

¹Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, ²“Son of man, set your face toward the children of Ammon, and prophesy against them. ³Tell the children of Ammon, ‘Hear the word of the Lord Yahweh! The Lord Yahweh says, “Because you said, ‘Aha!’ against my sanctuary when it was profaned, and against the land of Israel when it was made desolate, and against the house of Judah when they went into captivity, ⁴therefore, behold, I will deliver you to the children of the east for a possession. They will set their encampments in you and make their dwellings in you. They will eat your fruit and they will drink your milk. ⁵I will make Rabbah a stable for camels and the children of Ammon a resting place for flocks. Then you will know that I am Yahweh.” ⁶For the Lord Yahweh says: “Because you have clapped your hands, stamped with the feet, and rejoiced with all the contempt of your soul against the land of Israel, ⁷therefore, behold, I have stretched out my hand on you, and will deliver you for a plunder to the nations. I will cut you off from the peoples, and I will cause you to perish out of the countries. I will destroy you. Then you will know that I am Yahweh.”

⁸“‘The Lord Yahweh says: “Because Moab and Seir say, ‘Behold, the house of Judah is like all the nations,’ ⁹therefore, behold, I will open the side of Moab from the cities, from his cities which are on its frontiers, the glory of the country, Beth Jeshimoth, Baal Meon, and Kiriathaim, ¹⁰to the children of the east, to go against the children of Ammon; and I will give them for a possession, that the children of Ammon may not be remembered among the nations. ¹¹I will execute judgments on Moab. Then they will know that I am Yahweh.”

¹²“‘The Lord Yahweh says: “Because Edom has dealt against the house of Judah by taking vengeance, and has greatly offended, and taken revenge on them,” ¹³therefore the Lord Yahweh says, “I will stretch out my hand on Edom, and will cut off man and animal from it; and I will make it desolate from Teman. They will fall by the sword even to Dedan. ¹⁴I will lay my vengeance on Edom by the hand of my people Israel. They will do in Edom according to my anger and according to my wrath. Then they will know my vengeance,” says the Lord Yahweh.

¹⁵“‘The Lord Yahweh says: “Because the Philistines have taken revenge, and have taken vengeance with contempt of soul to destroy with perpetual hostility,” ¹⁶therefore the Lord Yahweh says, “Behold, I will stretch out my hand on the Philistines, and I will cut off the Cherethites, and destroy the remnant of the sea coast. ¹⁷I will execute great vengeance on them with wrathful rebukes. Then they will know that I am Yahweh, when I lay my vengeance on them.”’”

¹In the eleventh year, in the first of the month, Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, ²“Son of man, because Tyre has said against Jerusalem, ‘Aha! She is broken! She who was the gateway of the peoples has been returned to me. I will be replenished, now that she is laid waste;’ ³therefore the Lord Yahweh says, ‘Behold, I am against you, Tyre, and will cause many nations to come up against you, as the sea causes its waves to come up. ⁴They will destroy the walls of Tyre, and break down her towers. I will also scrape her dust from her, and make her a bare rock. ⁵She will be a place for the spreading of nets in the middle of the sea; for I have spoken it,’ says the Lord Yahweh. ‘She will become plunder for the nations. ⁶Her daughters who are in the field will be slain with the sword. Then they will know that I am Yahweh.’

⁷“For the Lord Yahweh says: ‘Behold, I will bring on Tyre Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, king of kings, from the north, with horses, with chariots, with horsemen, and an army with many people. ⁸He will kill your daughters in the field with the sword. He will make forts against you, cast up a mound against you, and raise up the buckler against you. ⁹He will set his battering engines against your walls, and with his axes he will break down your towers. ¹⁰By reason of the abundance of his horses, their dust will cover you. Your walls will shake at the noise of the horsemen, of the wagons, and of the chariots, when he enters into your gates, as men enter into a city which is broken open. ¹¹He will tread down all your streets with the hoofs of his horses. He will kill your people with the sword. The pillars of your strength will go down to the ground. ¹²They will make a plunder of your riches and make a prey of your merchandise. They will break down your walls and destroy your pleasant houses. They will lay your stones, your timber, and your dust in the middle of the waters. ¹³I will cause the noise of your songs to cease. The sound of your harps won’t be heard any more. ¹⁴I will make you a bare rock. You will be a place for the spreading of nets. You will be built no more; for I Yahweh have spoken it,’ says the Lord Yahweh.

¹⁵“The Lord Yahweh says to Tyre: ‘Won’t the islands shake at the sound of your fall, when the wounded groan, when the slaughter is made within you? ¹⁶Then all the princes of the sea will come down from their thrones, and lay aside their robes, and strip off their embroidered garments. They will clothe themselves with trembling. They will sit on the ground, and will tremble every moment, and be astonished at you. ¹⁷They will take up a lamentation over you, and tell you,

¹⁸Now the islands will tremble in the day of your fall.

¹⁹“For the Lord Yahweh says: ‘When I make you a desolate city, like the cities that are not inhabited, when I bring up the deep on you, and the great waters cover you, ²⁰then I will bring you down with those who descend into the pit, to the people of old time, and will make you dwell in the lower parts of the earth, in the places that are desolate of old, with those who go down to the pit, that you be not inhabited; and I will set glory in the land of the living. ²¹I will make you a terror, and you will no more have any being. Though you are sought for, yet you will never be found again,’ says the Lord Yahweh.”

¹Yahweh’s word came again to me, saying, ²“You, son of man, take up a lamentation over Tyre; ³and tell Tyre, ‘You who dwell at the entry of the sea, who are the merchant of the peoples to many islands, the Lord Yahweh says:

⁴Your borders are in the heart of the seas.

⁵They have made all your planks of cypress trees from Senir.

⁶They have made your oars of the oaks of Bashan.

⁷Your sail was of fine linen with embroidered work from Egypt,

⁸The inhabitants of Sidon and Arvad were your rowers.

⁹The old men of Gebal

¹⁰“‘“Persia, Lud, and Put were in your army,

¹¹The men of Arvad with your army were on your walls all around,

¹²“‘“Tarshish was your merchant by reason of the multitude of all kinds of riches. They traded for your wares with silver, iron, tin, and lead.

¹³“‘“Javan, Tubal, and Meshech were your traders. They traded the persons of men and vessels of bronze for your merchandise.

¹⁴“‘“They of the house of Togarmah traded for your wares with horses, war horses, and mules.

¹⁵“‘“The men of Dedan traded with you. Many islands were the market of your hand. They brought you horns of ivory and ebony in exchange.

¹⁶“‘“Syria was your merchant by reason of the multitude of your handiworks. They traded for your wares with emeralds, purple, embroidered work, fine linen, coral, and rubies.

¹⁷“‘“Judah and the land of Israel were your traders. They traded wheat of Minnith, confections, honey, oil, and balm for your merchandise.

¹⁸“‘“Damascus was your merchant for the multitude of your handiworks by reason of the multitude of all kinds of riches, with the wine of Helbon, and white wool.

¹⁹“‘“Vedan and Javan traded with yarn for your wares; wrought iron, cassia, and calamus were among your merchandise.

²⁰“‘“Dedan was your merchant in precious saddle blankets for riding.

²¹“‘“Arabia and all the princes of Kedar were your favorite dealers in lambs, rams, and goats. In these, they were your merchants.

²²“‘“The traders of Sheba and Raamah were your traders. They traded for your wares with the best of all spices, all precious stones, and gold.

²³“‘“Haran, Canneh, Eden, the traders of Sheba, Asshur and Chilmad, were your traders.

¹Yahweh’s word came again to me, saying, ²“Son of man, tell the prince of Tyre, ‘The Lord Yahweh says:

³behold, you are wiser than Daniel.

⁴By your wisdom and by your understanding you have gotten yourself riches,

⁵By your great wisdom

⁶“‘therefore the Lord Yahweh says:

⁷therefore, behold, I will bring strangers on you,

⁸They will bring you down to the pit.

⁹Will you yet say before him who kills you, ‘I am God’?

¹⁰You will die the death of the uncircumcised

¹¹Moreover Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, ¹²“Son of man, take up a lamentation over the king of Tyre, and tell him, ‘The Lord Yahweh says:

¹³You were in Eden,

¹⁴You were the anointed cherub who covers.

¹⁵You were perfect in your ways from the day that you were created,

¹⁶By the abundance of your commerce, your insides were filled with violence,

¹⁷Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty.

¹⁸By the multitude of your iniquities,

¹⁹All those who know you among the peoples will be astonished at you.

²⁰Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, ²¹“Son of man, set your face toward Sidon, and prophesy against it, ²²and say, ‘The Lord Yahweh says:

²³For I will send pestilence into her,

¹In the tenth year, in the tenth month, on the twelfth day of the month, Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, ²“Son of man, set your face against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and prophesy against him and against all Egypt. ³Speak and say, ‘The Lord Yahweh says:

⁴I will put hooks in your jaws,

⁵I’ll cast you out into the wilderness,

⁶“‘“All the inhabitants of Egypt will know that I am Yahweh, because they have been a staff of reed to the house of Israel. ⁷When they took hold of you by your hand, you broke and tore all their shoulders. When they leaned on you, you broke and paralyzed all of their thighs.”

⁸“‘Therefore the Lord Yahweh says: “Behold, I will bring a sword on you, and will cut off man and animal from you. ⁹The land of Egypt will be a desolation and a waste. Then they will know that I am Yahweh.

¹⁰therefore, behold, I am against you and against your rivers. I will make the land of Egypt an utter waste and desolation, from the tower of Seveneh even to the border of Ethiopia. ¹¹No foot of man will pass through it, nor will any animal foot pass through it. It won’t be inhabited for forty years. ¹²I will make the land of Egypt a desolation in the middle of the countries that are desolate. Her cities among the cities that are laid waste will be a desolation forty years. I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and will disperse them through the countries.”

¹³“‘For the Lord Yahweh says: “At the end of forty years I will gather the Egyptians from the peoples where they were scattered. ¹⁴I will reverse the captivity of Egypt, and will cause them to return into the land of Pathros, into the land of their birth. There they will be a lowly kingdom. ¹⁵It will be the lowest of the kingdoms. It won’t lift itself up above the nations any more. I will diminish them so that they will no longer rule over the nations. ¹⁶It will no longer be the confidence of the house of Israel, bringing iniquity to memory, when they turn to look after them. Then they will know that I am the Lord Yahweh.”’”

¹⁷It came to pass in the twenty-seventh year, in the first month, in the first day of the month, Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, ¹⁸“Son of man, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon caused his army to serve a great service against Tyre. Every head was made bald, and every shoulder was worn; yet he had no wages, nor did his army, from Tyre, for the service that he had served against it. ¹⁹Therefore the Lord Yahweh says: ‘Behold, I will give the land of Egypt to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. He will carry off her multitude, take her plunder, and take her prey. That will be the wages for his army. ²⁰I have given him the land of Egypt as his payment for which he served, because they worked for me,’ says the Lord Yahweh.

²¹“In that day I will cause a horn to sprout for the house of Israel, and I will open your mouth among them. Then they will know that I am Yahweh.”

¹Yahweh’s word came again to me, saying, ²“Son of man, prophesy, and say, ‘The Lord Yahweh says:

³For the day is near,

⁴A sword will come on Egypt,

⁵“‘“Ethiopia, Put, Lud, all the mixed people, Cub, and the children of the land that is allied with them, will fall with them by the sword.”

⁶“‘Yahweh says:

⁷“They will be desolate in the middle of the countries that are desolate.

⁸They will know that I am Yahweh

⁹“‘“In that day messengers will go out from before me in ships to make the careless Ethiopians afraid. There will be anguish on them, as in the day of Egypt; for, behold, it comes.”

¹⁰“‘The Lord Yahweh says:

¹¹He and his people with him,

¹²I will make the rivers dry,

¹³“‘The Lord Yahweh says:

¹⁴I will make Pathros desolate,

¹⁵I will pour my wrath on Sin,

¹⁶I will set a fire in Egypt

¹⁷The young men of Aven and of Pibeseth will fall by the sword.

¹⁸At Tehaphnehes also the day will withdraw itself,

¹⁹Thus I will execute judgments on Egypt.

²⁰In the eleventh year, in the first month, in the seventh day of the month, Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, ²¹“Son of man, I have broken the arm of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Behold, it has not been bound up, to apply medicines, to put a bandage to bind it, that it may become strong to hold the sword. ²²Therefore the Lord Yahweh says: ‘Behold, I am against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and will break his arms, the strong arm, and that which was broken. I will cause the sword to fall out of his hand. ²³I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and will disperse them through the countries.

¹In the eleventh year, in the third month, in the first day of the month, Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, ²“Son of man, tell Pharaoh king of Egypt and his multitude:

³Behold, the Assyrian was a cedar in Lebanon

⁴The waters nourished it.

⁵Therefore its stature was exalted above all the trees of the field;

⁶All the birds of the sky made their nests in its boughs.

⁷Thus it was beautiful in its greatness,

⁸The cedars in the garden of God could not hide it.

⁹I made it beautiful by the multitude of its branches,

¹⁰“Therefore thus said the Lord Yahweh: ‘Because he is exalted in stature, and he has set his top among the thick branches, and his heart is lifted up in his height, ¹¹I will deliver him into the hand of the mighty one of the nations. He will surely deal with him. I have driven him out for his wickedness. ¹²Foreigners, the tyrants of the nations, have cut him off and have left him. His branches have fallen on the mountains and in all the valleys, and his boughs are broken by all the watercourses of the land. All the peoples of the earth have gone down from his shadow and have left him. ¹³All the birds of the sky will dwell on his ruin, and all the animals of the field will be on his branches, ¹⁴to the end that none of all the trees by the waters exalt themselves in their stature, and don’t set their top among the thick boughs. Their mighty ones don’t stand up on their height, even all who drink water; for they are all delivered to death, to the lower parts of the earth, among the children of men, with those who go down to the pit.’

¹⁵“The Lord Yahweh says: ‘In the day when he went down to Sheol, I caused a mourning. I covered the deep for him, and I restrained its rivers. The great waters were stopped. I caused Lebanon to mourn for him, and all the trees of the field fainted for him. ¹⁶I made the nations to shake at the sound of his fall, when I cast him down to Sheol with those who descend into the pit. All the trees of Eden, the choice and best of Lebanon, all that drink water, were comforted in the lower parts of the earth. ¹⁷They also went down into Sheol with him to those who are slain by the sword; yes, those who were his arm, who lived under his shadow in the middle of the nations.

¹⁸“‘To whom are you thus like in glory and in greatness among the trees of Eden? Yet you will be brought down with the trees of Eden to the lower parts of the earth. You will lie in the middle of the uncircumcised, with those who are slain by the sword.

¹In the twelfth year, in the twelfth month, in the first day of the month, “Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, ²‘Son of man, take up a lamentation over Pharaoh king of Egypt, and tell him,

³The Lord Yahweh says:

⁴I will leave you on the land.

⁵I will lay your flesh on the mountains,

⁶I will also water the land in which you swim with your blood,

⁷When I extinguish you, I will cover the heavens

⁸I will make all the bright lights of the sky dark over you,

⁹“I will also trouble the hearts of many peoples,

¹⁰Yes, I will make many peoples amazed at you,

¹¹For the Lord Yahweh says:

¹²I will cause your multitude to fall by the swords of the mighty.

¹³I will destroy also all its animals from beside many waters.

¹⁴Then I will make their waters clear,

¹⁵“When I make the land of Egypt desolate and waste,

¹⁶“‘“This is the lamentation with which they will lament. The daughters of the nations will lament with this. They will lament with it over Egypt, and over all her multitude,” says the Lord Yahweh.’”

¹⁷Also in the twelfth year, in the fifteenth day of the month, Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, ¹⁸“Son of man, wail for the multitude of Egypt, and cast them down, even her and the daughters of the famous nations, to the lower parts of the earth, with those who go down into the pit. ¹⁹Whom do you pass in beauty? Go down, and be laid with the uncircumcised. ²⁰They will fall among those who are slain by the sword. She is delivered to the sword. Draw her away with all her multitudes. ²¹The strong among the mighty will speak to him out of the middle of Sheol with those who help him. They have gone down. The uncircumcised lie still, slain by the sword.

²²“Asshur is there with all her company. Her graves are all around her. All of them are slain, fallen by the sword, ²³whose graves are set in the uttermost parts of the pit, and her company is around her grave, all of them slain, fallen by the sword, who caused terror in the land of the living.

¹Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, ²“Son of man, speak to the children of your people, and tell them, ‘When I bring the sword on a land, and the people of the land take a man from among them, and set him for their watchman, ³if, when he sees the sword come on the land, he blows the trumpet and warns the people, ⁴then whoever hears the sound of the trumpet and doesn’t heed the warning, if the sword comes and takes him away, his blood will be on his own head. ⁵He heard the sound of the trumpet and didn’t take warning. His blood will be on him; whereas if he had heeded the warning, he would have delivered his soul. ⁶But if the watchman sees the sword come and doesn’t blow the trumpet, and the people aren’t warned, and the sword comes and takes any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at the watchman’s hand.’

⁷“So you, son of man, I have set you a watchman to the house of Israel. Therefore hear the word from my mouth, and give them warnings from me. ⁸When I tell the wicked, ‘O wicked man, you will surely die,’ and you don’t speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man will die in his iniquity, but I will require his blood at your hand. ⁹Nevertheless, if you warn the wicked of his way to turn from it, and he doesn’t turn from his way; he will die in his iniquity, but you have delivered your soul.

¹⁰“You, son of man, tell the house of Israel: ‘You say this, “Our transgressions and our sins are on us, and we pine away in them. How then can we live?”’ ¹¹Tell them, ‘“As I live,” says the Lord Yahweh, “I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways! For why will you die, house of Israel?”’

¹²“You, son of man, tell the children of your people, ‘The righteousness of the righteous will not deliver him in the day of his disobedience. And as for the wickedness of the wicked, he will not fall by it in the day that he turns from his wickedness; neither will he who is righteous be able to live by it in the day that he sins. ¹³When I tell the righteous that he will surely live, if he trusts in his righteousness and commits iniquity, none of his righteous deeds will be remembered; but he will die in his iniquity that he has committed. ¹⁴Again, when I say to the wicked, “You will surely die,” if he turns from his sin and does that which is lawful and right, ¹⁵if the wicked restore the pledge, give again that which he had taken by robbery, walk in the statutes of life, committing no iniquity, he will surely live. He will not die. ¹⁶None of his sins that he has committed will be remembered against him. He has done that which is lawful and right. He will surely live.

¹⁷“‘Yet the children of your people say, “The way of the Lord is not fair;” but as for them, their way is not fair. ¹⁸When the righteous turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, he will even die therein. ¹⁹When the wicked turns from his wickedness and does that which is lawful and right, he will live by it. ²⁰Yet you say, “The way of the Lord is not fair.” House of Israel, I will judge every one of you after his ways.’”

²¹In the twelfth year of our captivity, in the tenth month, in the fifth day of the month, one who had escaped out of Jerusalem came to me, saying, “The city has been defeated!” ²²Now Yahweh’s hand had been on me in the evening, before he who had escaped came; and he had opened my mouth until he came to me in the morning; and my mouth was opened, and I was no longer mute.

²³Yahweh’s word came to me, saying,

¹Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, ²“Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel. Prophesy, and tell them, even the shepherds, ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “Woe to the shepherds of Israel who feed themselves! Shouldn’t the shepherds feed the sheep? ³You eat the fat. You clothe yourself with the wool. You kill the fatlings, but you don’t feed the sheep. ⁴You haven’t strengthened the diseased. You haven’t healed that which was sick. You haven’t bound up that which was broken. You haven’t brought back that which was driven away. You haven’t sought that which was lost, but you have ruled over them with force and with rigor. ⁵They were scattered, because there was no shepherd. They became food to all the animals of the field, and were scattered. ⁶My sheep wandered through all the mountains and on every high hill. Yes, my sheep were scattered on all the surface of the earth. There was no one who searched or sought.”

⁷“‘Therefore, you shepherds, hear Yahweh’s word: ⁸“As I live,” says the Lord Yahweh, “surely because my sheep became a prey, and my sheep became food to all the animals of the field, because there was no shepherd, and my shepherds didn’t search for my sheep, but the shepherds fed themselves, and didn’t feed my sheep, ⁹therefore, you shepherds, hear Yahweh’s word!” ¹⁰The Lord Yahweh says: “Behold, I am against the shepherds. I will require my sheep at their hand, and cause them to cease from feeding the sheep. The shepherds won’t feed themselves any more. I will deliver my sheep from their mouth, that they may not be food for them.”

¹¹“‘For the Lord Yahweh says: “Behold, I myself, even I, will search for my sheep, and will seek them out. ¹²As a shepherd seeks out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered abroad, so I will seek out my sheep. I will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day. ¹³I will bring them out from the peoples, and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land. I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the watercourses, and in all the inhabited places of the country. ¹⁴I will feed them with good pasture, and their fold will be on the mountains of the height of Israel. There they will lie down in a good fold. They will feed on rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. ¹⁵I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I will cause them to lie down,” says the Lord Yahweh. ¹⁶“I will seek that which was lost, and will bring back that which was driven away, and will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen that which was sick; but I will destroy the fat and the strong. I will feed them in justice.”’

¹⁷“As for you, O my flock, the Lord Yahweh says: ‘Behold, I judge between sheep and sheep, the rams and the male goats. ¹⁸Does it seem a small thing to you to have fed on the good pasture, but you must tread down with your feet the residue of your pasture? And to have drunk of the clear waters, but must you foul the residue with your feet? ¹⁹As for my sheep, they eat that which you have trodden with your feet, and they drink that which you have fouled with your feet.’

²⁰“Therefore the Lord Yahweh says to them: ‘Behold, I, even I, will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. ²¹Because you thrust with side and with shoulder, and push all the diseased with your horns, until you have scattered them abroad, ²²therefore I will save my flock, and they will no more be a prey. I will judge between sheep and sheep. ²³I will set up one shepherd over them, and he will feed them, even my servant David. He will feed them, and he will be their shepherd.

¹Moreover Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, ²“Son of man, set your face against Mount Seir, and prophesy against it, ³and tell it, ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “Behold, I am against you, Mount Seir, and I will stretch out my hand against you. I will make you a desolation and an astonishment. ⁴I will lay your cities waste, and you will be desolate. Then you will know that I am Yahweh.

⁵“‘“Because you have had a perpetual hostility, and have given over the children of Israel to the power of the sword in the time of their calamity, in the time of the iniquity of the end, ⁶therefore, as I live,” says the Lord Yahweh, “I will prepare you for blood, and blood will pursue you. Since you have not hated blood, therefore blood will pursue you. ⁷Thus I will make Mount Seir an astonishment and a desolation. I will cut off from it him who passes through and him who returns. ⁸I will fill its mountains with its slain. The slain with the sword will fall in your hills and in your valleys and in all your watercourses. ⁹I will make you a perpetual desolation, and your cities will not be inhabited. Then you will know that I am Yahweh.

¹⁰“‘“Because you have said, ‘These two nations and these two countries will be mine, and we will possess it,’ although Yahweh was there, ¹¹therefore, as I live,” says the Lord Yahweh, “I will do according to your anger, and according to your envy which you have shown out of your hatred against them; and I will make myself known among them when I judge you. ¹²You will know that I, Yahweh, have heard all your insults which you have spoken against the mountains of Israel, saying, ‘They have been laid desolate. They have been given to us to devour.’ ¹³You have magnified yourselves against me with your mouth, and have multiplied your words against me. I have heard it.” ¹⁴The Lord Yahweh says: “When the whole earth rejoices, I will make you desolate. ¹⁵As you rejoiced over the inheritance of the house of Israel because it was desolate, so I will do to you. You will be desolate, Mount Seir, and all Edom, even all of it. Then they will know that I am Yahweh.’”

¹You, son of man, prophesy to the mountains of Israel, and say, “You mountains of Israel, hear Yahweh’s word. ²The Lord Yahweh says: ‘Because the enemy has said against you, “Aha!” and, “The ancient high places are ours in possession!”’ ³therefore prophesy, and say, ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “Because, even because they have made you desolate, and swallowed you up on every side, that you might be a possession to the residue of the nations, and you are taken up in the lips of talkers, and the evil report of the people;” ⁴therefore, you mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord Yahweh: The Lord Yahweh says to the mountains and to the hills, to the watercourses and to the valleys, to the desolate wastes and to the cities that are forsaken, which have become a prey and derision to the residue of the nations that are all around; ⁵therefore the Lord Yahweh says: “Surely in the fire of my jealousy I have spoken against the residue of the nations, and against all Edom, that have appointed my land to themselves for a possession with the joy of all their heart, with despite of soul, to cast it out for a prey.”’ ⁶Therefore prophesy concerning the land of Israel, and tell the mountains, the hills, the watercourses and the valleys, ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “Behold, I have spoken in my jealousy and in my wrath, because you have borne the shame of the nations.” ⁷Therefore the Lord Yahweh says: “I have sworn, ‘Surely the nations that are around you will bear their shame.’

⁸“‘“But you, mountains of Israel, you shall shoot out your branches and yield your fruit to my people Israel; for they are at hand to come. ⁹For, behold, I am for you, and I will come to you, and you will be tilled and sown. ¹⁰I will multiply men on you, all the house of Israel, even all of it. The cities will be inhabited and the waste places will be built. ¹¹I will multiply man and animal on you. They will increase and be fruitful. I will cause you to be inhabited as you were before, and you will do better than at your beginnings. Then you will know that I am Yahweh. ¹²Yes, I will cause men to walk on you, even my people Israel. They will possess you, and you will be their inheritance, and you will never again bereave them of their children.”

¹³“‘The Lord Yahweh says: “Because they say to you, ‘You are a devourer of men, and have been a bereaver of your nation;’ ¹⁴therefore you shall devour men no more, and not bereave your nation any more,” says the Lord Yahweh. ¹⁵“I won’t let you hear the shame of the nations any more. You won’t bear the reproach of the peoples any more, and you won’t cause your nation to stumble any more,” says the Lord Yahweh.’”

¹⁶Moreover Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, ¹⁷“Son of man, when the house of Israel lived in their own land, they defiled it by their ways and by their deeds. Their way before me was as the uncleanness of a woman in her impurity. ¹⁸Therefore I poured out my wrath on them for the blood which they had poured out on the land, and because they had defiled it with their idols. ¹⁹I scattered them among the nations, and they were dispersed through the countries. I judged them according to their way and according to their deeds. ²⁰When they came to the nations where they went, they profaned my holy name, in that men said of them, ‘These are Yahweh’s people, and have left his land.’ ²¹But I had respect for my holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations where they went.

²²“Therefore tell the house of Israel, ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “I don’t do this for your sake, house of Israel, but for my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you went. ²³I will sanctify my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned among them. Then the nations will know that I am Yahweh,” says the Lord Yahweh, “when I am proven holy in you before their eyes.

¹Yahweh’s hand was on me, and he brought me out in Yahweh’s Spirit, and set me down in the middle of the valley; and it was full of bones. ²He caused me to pass by them all around; and behold, there were very many in the open valley, and behold, they were very dry. ³He said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?”

⁴Again he said to me, “Prophesy over these bones, and tell them, ‘You dry bones, hear Yahweh’s word. ⁵The Lord Yahweh says to these bones: “Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and you will live. ⁶I will lay sinews on you, and will bring up flesh on you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you will live. Then you will know that I am Yahweh.”’”

⁷So I prophesied as I was commanded. As I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold, there was an earthquake. Then the bones came together, bone to its bone. ⁸I saw, and, behold, there were sinews on them, and flesh came up, and skin covered them above; but there was no breath in them.

⁹Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the wind, prophesy, son of man, and tell the wind, ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “Come from the four winds, breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live.”’”

¹⁰So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up on their feet, an exceedingly great army.

¹¹Then he said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost. We are completely cut off.’ ¹²Therefore prophesy, and tell them, ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “Behold, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, my people; and I will bring you into the land of Israel. ¹³You will know that I am Yahweh, when I have opened your graves and caused you to come up out of your graves, my people. ¹⁴I will put my Spirit in you, and you will live. Then I will place you in your own land; and you will know that I, Yahweh, have spoken it and performed it,” says Yahweh.’”

¹⁵Yahweh’s word came again to me, saying, ¹⁶“You, son of man, take one stick and write on it, ‘For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions.’ Then take another stick, and write on it, ‘For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions.’ ¹⁷Then join them for yourself to one another into one stick, that they may become one in your hand.

¹⁸“When the children of your people speak to you, saying, ‘Won’t you show us what you mean by these?’ ¹⁹tell them, ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his companions; and I will put them with it, with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they will be one in my hand. ²⁰The sticks on which you write will be in your hand before their eyes.”’ ²¹Say to them, ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the nations where they have gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land. ²²I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel. One king will be king to them all. They will no longer be two nations. They won’t be divided into two kingdoms any more at all. ²³They won’t defile themselves any more with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions; but I will save them out of all their dwelling places in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them. So they will be my people, and I will be their God.

¹Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, ²“Son of man, set your face toward Gog, of the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal, and prophesy against him, ³and say, ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “Behold, I am against you, Gog, prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal. ⁴I will turn you around, and put hooks into your jaws, and I will bring you out, with all your army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed in full armor, a great company with buckler and shield, all of them handling swords; ⁵Persia, Cush, and Put with them, all of them with shield and helmet; ⁶Gomer, and all his hordes; the house of Togarmah in the uttermost parts of the north, and all his hordes—even many peoples with you.

⁷“‘“Be prepared, yes, prepare yourself, you, and all your companies who are assembled to you, and be a guard to them. ⁸After many days you will be visited. In the latter years you will come into the land that is brought back from the sword, that is gathered out of many peoples, on the mountains of Israel, which have been a continual waste; but it is brought out of the peoples and they will dwell securely, all of them. ⁹You will ascend. You will come like a storm. You will be like a cloud to cover the land, you and all your hordes, and many peoples with you.”

¹⁰“‘The Lord Yahweh says: “It will happen in that day that things will come into your mind, and you will devise an evil plan. ¹¹You will say, ‘I will go up to the land of unwalled villages. I will go to those who are at rest, who dwell securely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates, ¹²to take the plunder and to take prey; to turn your hand against the waste places that are inhabited, and against the people who are gathered out of the nations, who have gotten livestock and goods, who dwell in the middle of the earth.’ ¹³Sheba, Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish, with all its young lions, will ask you, ‘Have you come to take the plunder? Have you assembled your company to take the prey, to carry away silver and gold, to take away livestock and goods, to take great plunder?’”’

¹⁴“Therefore, son of man, prophesy, and tell Gog, ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “In that day when my people Israel dwells securely, will you not know it? ¹⁵You will come from your place out of the uttermost parts of the north, you, and many peoples with you, all of them riding on horses, a great company and a mighty army. ¹⁶You will come up against my people Israel as a cloud to cover the land. It will happen in the latter days that I will bring you against my land, that the nations may know me when I am sanctified in you, Gog, before their eyes.”

¹⁷“‘The Lord Yahweh says: “Are you he of whom I spoke in old time by my servants the prophets of Israel, who prophesied in those days for years that I would bring you against them? ¹⁸It will happen in that day, when Gog comes against the land of Israel,” says the Lord Yahweh, “that my wrath will come up into my nostrils. ¹⁹For in my jealousy and in the fire of my wrath I have spoken. Surely in that day there will be a great shaking in the land of Israel, ²⁰so that the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the animals of the field, all creeping things who creep on the earth, and all the men who are on the surface of the earth will shake at my presence. Then the mountains will be thrown down, the steep places will fall, and every wall will fall to the ground. ²¹I will call for a sword against him to all my mountains,” says the Lord Yahweh. “Every man’s sword will be against his brother. ²²I will enter into judgment with him with pestilence and with blood. I will rain on him, on his hordes, and on the many peoples who are with him, torrential rains with great hailstones, fire, and sulfur. ²³I will magnify myself and sanctify myself, and I will make myself known in the eyes of many nations. Then they will know that I am Yahweh.”’

¹“You, son of man, prophesy against Gog, and say, ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “Behold, I am against you, Gog, prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal. ²I will turn you around, will lead you on, and will cause you to come up from the uttermost parts of the north; and I will bring you onto the mountains of Israel. ³I will strike your bow out of your left hand, and will cause your arrows to fall out of your right hand. ⁴You will fall on the mountains of Israel, you, and all your hordes, and the peoples who are with you. I will give you to the ravenous birds of every sort and to the animals of the field to be devoured. ⁵You will fall on the open field, for I have spoken it,” says the Lord Yahweh. ⁶“I will send a fire on Magog and on those who dwell securely in the islands. Then they will know that I am Yahweh.

⁷“‘“I will make my holy name known among my people Israel. I won’t allow my holy name to be profaned any more. Then the nations will know that I am Yahweh, the Holy One in Israel. ⁸Behold, it comes, and it will be done,” says the Lord Yahweh. “This is the day about which I have spoken.

⁹“‘“Those who dwell in the cities of Israel will go out and will make fires of the weapons and burn them, both the shields and the bucklers, the bows and the arrows, and the war clubs and the spears, and they will make fires with them for seven years; ¹⁰so that they will take no wood out of the field, and not cut down any out of the forests; for they will make fires with the weapons. They will plunder those who plundered them, and rob those who robbed them,” says the Lord Yahweh.

¹¹“‘“It will happen in that day, that I will give to Gog a place for burial in Israel, the valley of those who pass through on the east of the sea; and it will stop those who pass through. They will bury Gog and all his multitude there, and they will call it ‘The valley of Hamon Gog’.

¹²“‘“The house of Israel will be burying them for seven months, that they may cleanse the land. ¹³Yes, all the people of the land will bury them; and they will become famous in the day that I will be glorified,” says the Lord Yahweh.

¹⁴“‘“They will set apart men of continual employment who will pass through the land. Those who pass through will go with those who bury those who remain on the surface of the land, to cleanse it. After the end of seven months they will search. ¹⁵Those who search through the land will pass through; and when anyone sees a man’s bone, then he will set up a sign by it, until the undertakers have buried it in the valley of Hamon Gog. ¹⁶Hamonah will also be the name of a city. Thus they will cleanse the land.”’

¹⁷“You, son of man, the Lord Yahweh says: ‘Speak to the birds of every sort, and to every animal of the field, “Assemble yourselves, and come; gather yourselves on every side to my sacrifice that I sacrifice for you, even a great sacrifice on the mountains of Israel, that you may eat meat and drink blood. ¹⁸You shall eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood of the princes of the earth, of rams, of lambs, and of goats, of bulls, all of them fatlings of Bashan. ¹⁹You shall eat fat until you are full, and drink blood until you are drunk, of my sacrifice which I have sacrificed for you. ²⁰You shall be filled at my table with horses and charioteers, with mighty men, and with all men of war,” says the Lord Yahweh.’

²¹“I will set my glory among the nations. Then all the nations will see my judgment that I have executed, and my hand that I have laid on them. ²²So the house of Israel will know that I am Yahweh their God, from that day and forward. ²³The nations will know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity, because they trespassed against me, and I hid my face from them; so I gave them into the hand of their adversaries, and they all fell by the sword.

¹In the twenty-fifth year of our captivity, in the beginning of the year, in the tenth day of the month, in the fourteenth year after the city was struck, in the same day, Yahweh’s hand was on me, and he brought me there. ²In the visions of God he brought me into the land of Israel, and set me down on a very high mountain, on which was something like the frame of a city to the south. ³He brought me there; and, behold, there was a man whose appearance was like the appearance of bronze, with a line of flax in his hand and a measuring reed; and he stood in the gate. ⁴The man said to me, “Son of man, see with your eyes, and hear with your ears, and set your heart on all that I will show you; for you have been brought here so that I may show them to you. Declare all that you see to the house of Israel.”

⁵Behold, there was a wall on the outside of the house all around, and in the man’s hand a measuring reed six cubits A handbreadth is about 4.3 inches or 11 centimeters, so the long cubit described here would be about 22.3 inches or 57 centimeters long. Thus, a 6 long cubit measuring reed would have been about 3 yards 26.6 inches or about 3.42 meters long. long, of a cubit and a hand width each. So he measured the thickness of the building, one reed; and the height, one reed.

⁶Then he came to the gate which looks toward the east, and went up its steps. He measured the threshold of the gate, one reed wide; and the other threshold, one reed wide. ⁷Every lodge was one reed long and one reed wide. Between the lodges was five cubits. The threshold of the gate by the porch of the gate toward the house was one reed.

⁸He measured also the porch of the gate toward the house, one reed. ⁹Then he measured the porch of the gate, eight cubits; and its posts, two cubits; and the porch of the gate was toward the house.

¹⁰The side rooms of the gate eastward were three on this side, and three on that side. The three of them were of one measure. The posts had one measure on this side and on that side. ¹¹He measured the width of the opening of the gate, ten cubits; and the length of the gate, thirteen cubits; ¹²and a border before the lodges, one cubit on this side, and a border, one cubit on that side; and the side rooms, six cubits on this side, and six cubits on that side. ¹³He measured the gate from the roof of the one side room to the roof of the other, a width of twenty-five cubits, door against door. ¹⁴He also made posts, sixty cubits; and the court reached to the posts, around the gate. ¹⁵From the forefront of the gate at the entrance to the forefront of the inner porch of the gate were fifty cubits. ¹⁶There were closed windows to the side rooms, and to their posts within the gate all around, and likewise to the arches. Windows were around inward. Palm trees were on each post.

¹⁷Then he brought me into the outer court. Behold, there were rooms and a pavement made for the court all around. Thirty rooms were on the pavement. ¹⁸The pavement was by the side of the gates, corresponding to the length of the gates, even the lower pavement. ¹⁹Then he measured the width from the forefront of the lower gate to the forefront of the inner court outside, one hundred cubits, both on the east and on the north.

²⁰He measured the length and width of the gate of the outer court which faces toward the north. ²¹The lodges of it were three on this side and three on that side. Its posts and its arches were the same as the measure of the first gate: its length was fifty cubits, and the width twenty-five cubits. ²²Its windows, its arches, and its palm trees were the same as the measure of the gate which faces toward the east. They went up to it by seven steps. Its arches were before them. ²³There was a gate to the inner court facing the other gate, on the north and on the east. He measured one hundred cubits from gate to gate.

¹He brought me to the nave and measured the posts, six cubits wide on the one side and six cubits wide on the other side, which was the width of the tent. ²The width of the entrance was ten cubits, and the sides of the entrance were five cubits on the one side, and five cubits on the other side. He measured its length, forty cubits, and the width, twenty cubits.

³Then he went inward and measured each post of the entrance, two cubits; and the entrance, six cubits; and the width of the entrance, seven cubits. ⁴He measured its length, twenty cubits, and the width, twenty cubits, before the nave. He said to me, “This is the most holy place.”

⁵Then he measured the wall of the house, six cubits; and the width of every side room, four cubits, all around the house on every side. ⁶The side rooms were in three stories, one over another, and thirty in each story. They entered into the wall which belonged to the house for the side rooms all around, that they might be supported and not penetrate the wall of the house. ⁷The side rooms were wider on the higher levels, because the walls were narrower at the higher levels. Therefore the width of the house increased upward; and so one went up from the lowest level to the highest through the middle level.

⁸I saw also that the house had a raised base all around. The foundations of the side rooms were a full reed of six great cubits. ⁹The thickness of the outer wall of the side rooms was five cubits. That which was left was the place of the side rooms that belonged to the house. ¹⁰Between the rooms was a width of twenty cubits around the house on every side. ¹¹The doors of the side rooms were toward an open area that was left, one door toward the north, and another door toward the south. The width of the open area was five cubits all around.

¹²The building that was before the separate place at the side toward the west was seventy cubits wide; and the wall of the building was five cubits thick all around, and its length ninety cubits.

¹³So he measured the temple, one hundred cubits long; and the separate place, and the building, with its walls, one hundred cubits long; ¹⁴also the width of the face of the temple, and of the separate place toward the east, one hundred cubits.

¹⁵He measured the length of the building before the separate place which was at its back, and its galleries on the one side and on the other side, one hundred cubits from the inner temple, and the porches of the court, ¹⁶the thresholds, and the closed windows, and the galleries around on their three stories, opposite the threshold, with wood ceilings all around, and from the ground up to the windows, (now the windows were covered), ¹⁷to the space above the door, even to the inner house, and outside, and by all the wall all around inside and outside, by measure. ¹⁸It was made with cherubim and palm trees. A palm tree was between cherub and cherub, and every cherub had two faces, ¹⁹so that there was the face of a man toward the palm tree on the one side, and the face of a young lion toward the palm tree on the other side. It was made like this through all the house all around. ²⁰Cherubim and palm trees were made from the ground to above the door. The wall of the temple was like this.

²¹The door posts of the nave were squared. As for the face of the nave, its appearance was as the appearance of the temple. ²²The altar was of wood, three cubits high, and its length two cubits. Its corners, its base, and its walls were of wood. He said to me, “This is the table that is before Yahweh.” ²³The temple and the sanctuary had two doors.

¹Then he brought me out into the outer court, the way toward the north. Then he brought me into the room that was opposite the separate place, and which was opposite the building toward the north. ²Facing the length of one hundred cubits was the north door, and the width was fifty cubits. ³Opposite the twenty cubits which belonged to the inner court, and opposite the pavement which belonged to the outer court, was gallery against gallery in the three stories. ⁴Before the rooms was a walk of ten cubits’ width inward, a way of one cubit; and their doors were toward the north. ⁵Now the upper rooms were shorter; for the galleries took away from these more than from the lower and the middle in the building. ⁶For they were in three stories, and they didn’t have pillars as the pillars of the courts. Therefore the uppermost was set back more than the lowest and the middle from the ground. ⁷The wall that was outside by the side of the rooms, toward the outer court before the rooms, was fifty cubits long. ⁸For the length of the rooms that were in the outer court was fifty cubits. Behold, those facing the temple were one hundred cubits. ⁹From under these rooms was the entry on the east side, as one goes into them from the outer court.

¹⁰In the thickness of the wall of the court toward the east, before the separate place, and before the building, there were rooms. ¹¹The way before them was like the appearance of the rooms which were toward the north. Their length and width were the same. All their exits had the same arrangement and doors. ¹²Like the doors of the rooms that were toward the south was a door at the head of the way, even the way directly before the wall toward the east, as one enters into them.

¹³Then he said to me, “The north rooms and the south rooms, which are opposite the separate place, are the holy rooms, where the priests who are near to Yahweh shall eat the most holy things. There they shall lay the most holy things, with the meal offering, the sin offering, and the trespass offering; for the place is holy. ¹⁴When the priests enter in, then they shall not go out of the holy place into the outer court until they lay their garments in which they minister there; for they are holy. Then they shall put on other garments, and shall approach that which is for the people.”

¹⁵Now when he had finished measuring the inner house, he brought me out by the way of the gate which faces toward the east, and measured it all around. ¹⁶He measured on the east side with the measuring reed five hundred reeds, with the measuring reed all around. ¹⁷He measured on the north side five hundred reeds with the measuring reed all around. ¹⁸He measured on the south side five hundred reeds with the measuring reed. ¹⁹He turned about to the west side, and measured five hundred reeds with the measuring reed. ²⁰He measured it on the four sides. It had a wall around it, the length five hundred cubits, and the width five hundred cubits, to make a separation between that which was holy and that which was common.

¹Afterward he brought me to the gate, even the gate that looks toward the east. ²Behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east. His voice was like the sound of many waters; and the earth was illuminated with his glory. ³It was like the appearance of the vision which I saw, even according to the vision that I saw when I came to destroy the city; and the visions were like the vision that I saw by the river Chebar; and I fell on my face. ⁴Yahweh’s glory came into the house by the way of the gate which faces toward the east. ⁵The Spirit took me up and brought me into the inner court; and behold, Yahweh’s glory filled the house.

⁶I heard one speaking to me out of the house, and a man stood by me. ⁷He said to me, “Son of man, this is the place of my throne and the place of the soles of my feet, where I will dwell among the children of Israel forever. The house of Israel will no more defile my holy name, neither they nor their kings, by their prostitution and by the dead bodies of their kings in their high places; ⁸in their setting of their threshold by my threshold and their door post beside my door post. There was a wall between me and them; and they have defiled my holy name by their abominations which they have committed. Therefore I have consumed them in my anger. ⁹Now let them put away their prostitution, and the dead bodies of their kings far from me. Then I will dwell among them forever.

¹⁰“You, son of man, show the house to the house of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities; and let them measure the pattern. ¹¹If they are ashamed of all that they have done, make known to them the form of the house, its fashion, its exits, its entrances, its structure, all its ordinances, all its forms, and all its laws; and write it in their sight, that they may keep the whole form of it, and all its ordinances, and do them.

¹²“This is the law of the house. On the top of the mountain the whole limit around it shall be most holy. Behold, this is the law of the house.

¹³“These are the measurements of the altar by cubits (the cubit A hand width is about 4.3 inches or 11 cm. is a cubit and a hand width): the bottom shall be a cubit, and the width a cubit, and its border around its edge a span; 8 cm.) and this shall be the base of the altar. ¹⁴From the bottom on the ground to the lower ledge shall be two cubits, and the width one cubit; and from the lesser ledge to the greater ledge shall be four cubits, and the width a cubit. ¹⁵The upper altar shall be four cubits; and from the altar hearth and upward there shall be four horns. ¹⁶The altar hearth shall be twelve cubits long by twelve wide, square in its four sides. ¹⁷The ledge shall be fourteen cubits long by fourteen wide in its four sides; and the border about it shall be half a cubit; and its bottom shall be a cubit around; and its steps shall look toward the east.”

¹⁸He said to me, “Son of man, the Lord Yahweh says: ‘These are the ordinances of the altar in the day when they make it, to offer burnt offerings on it, and to sprinkle blood on it. ¹⁹You shall give to the Levitical priests who are of the offspring of Zadok, who are near to me, to minister to me,’ says the Lord Yahweh, ‘a young bull for a sin offering. ²⁰You shall take of its blood and put it on its four horns, and on the four corners of the ledge, and on the border all around. You shall cleanse it and make atonement for it that way. ²¹You shall also take the bull of the sin offering, and it shall be burned in the appointed place of the house, outside of the sanctuary.

²²“On the second day you shall offer a male goat without defect for a sin offering; and they shall cleanse the altar, as they cleansed it with the bull. ²³When you have finished cleansing it, you shall offer a young bull without defect and a ram out of the flock without defect.

¹Then he brought me back by the way of the outer gate of the sanctuary, which looks toward the east; and it was shut. ²Yahweh said to me, “This gate shall be shut. It shall not be opened, no man shall enter in by it; for Yahweh, the God of Israel, has entered in by it. Therefore it shall be shut. ³As for the prince, he shall sit in it as prince to eat bread before Yahweh. He shall enter by the way of the porch of the gate, and shall go out the same way.”

⁴Then he brought me by the way of the north gate before the house; and I looked, and behold, Yahweh’s glory filled Yahweh’s house; so I fell on my face.

⁵Yahweh said to me, “Son of man, mark well, and see with your eyes, and hear with your ears all that I tell you concerning all the ordinances of Yahweh’s house and all its laws; and mark well the entrance of the house, with every exit of the sanctuary. ⁶You shall tell the rebellious, even the house of Israel, ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “You house of Israel, let that be enough of all your abominations, ⁷in that you have brought in foreigners, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in my sanctuary, to profane it, even my house, when you offer my bread, the fat and the blood; and they have broken my covenant, to add to all your abominations. ⁸You have not performed the duty of my holy things; but you have set performers of my duty in my sanctuary for yourselves.” ⁹The Lord Yahweh says, “No foreigner, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter into my sanctuary, of any foreigners who are among the children of Israel.

¹⁰“‘“But the Levites who went far from me when Israel went astray, who went astray from me after their idols, they will bear their iniquity. ¹¹Yet they shall be ministers in my sanctuary, having oversight at the gates of the house, and ministering in the house. They shall kill the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people, and they shall stand before them to minister to them. ¹²Because they ministered to them before their idols, and became a stumbling block of iniquity to the house of Israel, therefore I have lifted up my hand against them,” says the Lord Yahweh, “and they will bear their iniquity. ¹³They shall not come near to me, to execute the office of priest to me, nor to come near to any of my holy things, to the things that are most holy; but they will bear their shame and their abominations which they have committed. ¹⁴Yet I will make them performers of the duty of the house, for all its service and for all that will be done therein.

¹⁵“‘“But the Levitical priests, the sons of Zadok, who performed the duty of my sanctuary when the children of Israel went astray from me, shall come near to me to minister to me. They shall stand before me to offer to me the fat and the blood,” says the Lord Yahweh. ¹⁶“They shall enter into my sanctuary, and they shall come near to my table, to minister to me, and they shall keep my instruction.

¹⁷“‘“It will be that when they enter in at the gates of the inner court, they shall be clothed with linen garments. No wool shall come on them while they minister in the gates of the inner court, and within. ¹⁸They shall have linen turbans on their heads, and shall have linen trousers on their waists. They shall not clothe themselves with anything that makes them sweat. ¹⁹When they go out into the outer court, even into the outer court to the people, they shall put off their garments in which they minister and lay them in the holy rooms. They shall put on other garments, that they not sanctify the people with their garments.

²⁰“‘“They shall not shave their heads, or allow their locks to grow long. They shall only cut off the hair of their heads. ²¹None of the priests shall drink wine when they enter into the inner court. ²²They shall not take for their wives a widow, or her who is put away; but they shall take virgins of the offspring of the house of Israel, or a widow who is the widow of a priest. ²³They shall teach my people the difference between the holy and the common, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean.

¹“‘“Moreover, when you divide by lot the land for inheritance, you shall offer an offering to Yahweh, a holy portion of the land. The length shall be the length of twenty-five thousand reeds, and the width shall be ten thousand. It shall be holy in all its border all around. ²Of this there shall be a five hundred by five hundred square for the holy place, and fifty cubits for its pasture lands all around. ³Of this measure you shall measure a length of twenty-five thousand, and a width of ten thousand. In it shall be the sanctuary, which is most holy. ⁴It is a holy portion of the land; it shall be for the priests, the ministers of the sanctuary, who come near to minister to Yahweh. It shall be a place for their houses and a holy place for the sanctuary. ⁵Twenty-five thousand cubits in length and ten thousand in width shall be for the Levites, the ministers of the house, as a possession for themselves, for twenty rooms.

⁶“‘“You shall appoint the possession of the city five thousand cubits wide and twenty-five thousand long, side by side with the offering of the holy portion. It shall be for the whole house of Israel.

⁷“‘“What is for the prince shall be on the one side and on the other side of the holy allotment and of the possession of the city, in front of the holy allotment and in front of the possession of the city, on the west side westward, and on the east side eastward, and in length corresponding to one of the portions, from the west border to the east border. ⁸In the land it shall be to him for a possession in Israel. My princes shall no more oppress my people, but they shall give the land to the house of Israel according to their tribes.”

⁹“‘The Lord Yahweh says: “Enough you, princes of Israel! Remove violence and plunder, and execute justice and righteousness! Stop dispossessing my people!” says the Lord Yahweh. ¹⁰“You shall have just balances, a just ephah, ¹¹The ephah and the bath shall be of one measure, that the bath may contain one tenth of a homer, Its measure shall be the same as the homer. ¹²The shekel 35 ounces. shall be twenty gerahs. 5 grams or about 7.7 grains Twenty shekels plus twenty-five shekels plus fifteen shekels shall be your mina. 3 U. S. pounds.

¹³“‘“This is the offering that you shall offer: the sixth part of an ephah from a homer of wheat, and you shall give the sixth part of an ephah from a homer of barley, ¹⁴and the set portion of oil, of the bath of oil, one tenth of a bath out of the cor, which is ten baths, even a homer (for ten baths are a homer), 9 gallons, or 6 bushels. 1 bath is about 21.1 liters, 5.59 gallons, or 2.4 pecks. ¹⁵and one lamb of the flock out of two hundred, from the well-watered pastures of Israel—for a meal offering, for a burnt offering, and for peace offerings, to make atonement for them,” says the Lord Yahweh. ¹⁶“All the people of the land shall give to this offering for the prince in Israel. ¹⁷It shall be the prince’s part to give the burnt offerings, the meal offerings, and the drink offerings, in the feasts, and on the new moons, and on the Sabbaths, in all the appointed feasts of the house of Israel. He shall prepare the sin offering, the meal offering, the burnt offering, and the peace offerings, to make atonement for the house of Israel.”

¹⁸“‘The Lord Yahweh says: “In the first month, on the first day of the month, you shall take a young bull without defect, and you shall cleanse the sanctuary. ¹⁹The priest shall take of the blood of the sin offering and put it on the door posts of the house, and on the four corners of the ledge of the altar, and on the posts of the gate of the inner court. ²⁰So you shall do on the seventh day of the month for everyone who errs, and for him who is simple. So you shall make atonement for the house.

²¹“‘“In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, you shall have the Passover, a feast of seven days; unleavened bread shall be eaten. ²²On that day the prince shall prepare for himself and for all the people of the land a bull for a sin offering. ²³The seven days of the feast he shall prepare a burnt offering to Yahweh, seven bulls and seven rams without defect daily the seven days; and a male goat daily for a sin offering.

¹“‘The Lord Yahweh says: “The gate of the inner court that looks toward the east shall be shut the six working days; but on the Sabbath day it shall be opened, and on the day of the new moon it shall be opened. ²The prince shall enter by the way of the porch of the gate outside, and shall stand by the post of the gate; and the priests shall prepare his burnt offering and his peace offerings, and he shall worship at the threshold of the gate. Then he shall go out, but the gate shall not be shut until the evening. ³The people of the land shall worship at the door of that gate before Yahweh on the Sabbaths and on the new moons. ⁴The burnt offering that the prince shall offer to Yahweh shall be on the Sabbath day, six lambs without defect and a ram without defect; ⁵and the meal offering shall be an ephah for the ram, and the meal offering for the lambs as he is able to give, and a hin 5 liters or 1.7 gallons. of oil to an ephah.46:5 1 ephah is about 22 liters or about 2/3 of a bushel ⁶On the day of the new moon it shall be a young bull without defect, six lambs, and a ram. They shall be without defect. ⁷He shall prepare a meal offering: an ephah for the bull, and an ephah for the ram, and for the lambs according as he is able, and a hin of oil to an ephah. ⁸When the prince enters, he shall go in by the way of the porch of the gate, and he shall go out by its way.

⁹“‘“But when the people of the land come before Yahweh in the appointed feasts, he who enters by the way of the north gate to worship shall go out by the way of the south gate; and he who enters by the way of the south gate shall go out by the way of the north gate. He shall not return by the way of the gate by which he came in, but shall go out straight before him. ¹⁰The prince shall go in with them when they go in. When they go out, he shall go out.

¹¹“‘“In the feasts and in the appointed holidays, the meal offering shall be an ephah ¹²When the prince prepares a free will offering, a burnt offering or peace offerings as a free will offering to Yahweh, one shall open for him the gate that looks toward the east; and he shall prepare his burnt offering and his peace offerings, as he does on the Sabbath day. Then he shall go out; and after his going out one shall shut the gate.

¹³“‘“You shall prepare a lamb a year old without defect for a burnt offering to Yahweh daily. Morning by morning you shall prepare it. ¹⁴You shall prepare a meal offering with it morning by morning, the sixth part of an ephah, ¹⁵Thus they shall prepare the lamb, the meal offering, and the oil, morning by morning, for a continual burnt offering.”

¹⁶“‘The Lord Yahweh says: “If the prince gives a gift to any of his sons, it is his inheritance. It shall belong to his sons. It is their possession by inheritance. ¹⁷But if he gives of his inheritance a gift to one of his servants, it shall be his to the year of liberty; then it shall return to the prince; but as for his inheritance, it shall be for his sons. ¹⁸Moreover the prince shall not take of the people’s inheritance, to thrust them out of their possession. He shall give inheritance to his sons out of his own possession, that my people not each be scattered from his possession.”’”

¹⁹Then he brought me through the entry, which was at the side of the gate, into the holy rooms for the priests, which looked toward the north. Behold, there was a place on the back part westward. ²⁰He said to me, “This is the place where the priests shall boil the trespass offering and the sin offering, and where they shall bake the meal offering, that they not bring them out into the outer court, to sanctify the people.”

²¹Then he brought me out into the outer court and caused me to pass by the four corners of the court; and behold, in every corner of the court there was a court. ²²In the four corners of the court there were courts enclosed, forty cubits long and thirty wide. These four in the corners were the same size. ²³There was a wall around in them, around the four, and boiling places were made under the walls all around.

¹He brought me back to the door of the temple; and behold, waters flowed out from under the threshold of the temple eastward, for the front of the temple faced toward the east. The waters came down from underneath, from the right side of the temple, on the south of the altar. ²Then he brought me out by the way of the gate northward, and led me around by the way outside to the outer gate, by the way of the gate that looks toward the east. Behold, waters ran out on the right side.

³When the man went out eastward with the line in his hand, he measured one thousand cubits, and he caused me to pass through the waters, waters that were to the ankles. ⁴Again he measured one thousand, and caused me to pass through the waters, waters that were to the knees. Again he measured one thousand, and caused me to pass through waters that were to the waist. ⁵Afterward he measured one thousand; and it was a river that I could not pass through, for the waters had risen, waters to swim in, a river that could not be walked through.

⁶He said to me, “Son of man, have you seen this?”

⁷Now when I had returned, behold, on the bank of the river were very many trees on the one side and on the other. ⁸Then he said to me, “These waters flow out toward the eastern region and will go down into the Arabah. Then they will go toward the sea and flow into the sea which will be made to flow out; and the waters will be healed. ⁹It will happen that every living creature which swarms, in every place where the rivers come, will live. Then there will be a very great multitude of fish; for these waters have come there, and the waters of the sea will be healed, and everything will live wherever the river comes. ¹⁰It will happen that fishermen will stand by it. From En Gedi even to En Eglaim will be a place for the spreading of nets. Their fish will be after their kinds, as the fish of the great sea, exceedingly many. ¹¹But its swamps marshes will not be healed. They will be given up to salt. ¹²By the river banks, on both sides, will grow every tree for food, whose leaf won’t wither, neither will its fruit fail. It will produce new fruit every month, because its waters issue out of the sanctuary. Its fruit will be for food, and its leaf for healing.”

¹³The Lord Yahweh says: “This shall be the border by which you shall divide the land for inheritance according to the twelve tribes of Israel. Joseph shall have two portions. ¹⁴You shall inherit it, one as well as another; for I swore to give it to your fathers. This land will fall to you for inheritance.

¹⁵“This shall be the border of the land:

¹⁶Hamath, Berothah, Sibraim (which is between the border of Damascus and the border of Hamath), to Hazer Hatticon, which is by the border of Hauran. ¹⁷The border from the sea shall be Hazar Enon at the border of Damascus; and on the north northward is the border of Hamath. This is the north side.

¹⁸“The east side, between Hauran, Damascus, Gilead, and the land of Israel, shall be the Jordan; from the north border to the east sea you shall measure. This is the east side.

¹⁹“The south side southward shall be from Tamar as far as the waters of Meriboth Kadesh, to the brook, to the great sea. This is the south side southward.

²⁰“The west side shall be the great sea, from the south border as far as opposite the entrance of Hamath. This is the west side.

²¹“So you shall divide this land to yourselves according to the tribes of Israel. ²²You shall divide it by lot for an inheritance to you and to the aliens who live among you, who will father children among you. Then they shall be to you as the native-born among the children of Israel. They shall have inheritance with you among the tribes of Israel. ²³In whatever tribe the stranger lives, there you shall give him his inheritance,” says the Lord Yahweh.

¹“Now these are the names of the tribes: From the north end, beside the way of Hethlon to the entrance of Hamath, Hazar Enan at the border of Damascus, northward beside Hamath (and they shall have their sides east and west), Dan, one portion.

²“By the border of Dan, from the east side to the west side, Asher, one portion.

³“By the border of Asher, from the east side even to the west side, Naphtali, one portion.

⁴“By the border of Naphtali, from the east side to the west side, Manasseh, one portion.

⁵“By the border of Manasseh, from the east side to the west side, Ephraim, one portion.

⁶“By the border of Ephraim, from the east side even to the west side, Reuben, one portion.

⁷“By the border of Reuben, from the east side to the west side, Judah, one portion.

⁸“By the border of Judah, from the east side to the west side, shall be the offering which you shall offer, twenty-five thousand reeds in width, and in length as one of the portions, from the east side to the west side; and the sanctuary shall be in the middle of it.

⁹“The offering that you shall offer to Yahweh shall be twenty-five thousand reeds in length, and ten thousand in width. ¹⁰For these, even for the priests, shall be the holy offering: toward the north twenty-five thousand in length, and toward the west ten thousand in width, and toward the east ten thousand in width, and toward the south twenty-five thousand in length; and the sanctuary of Yahweh shall be in the middle of it. ¹¹It shall be for the priests who are sanctified of the sons of Zadok, who have kept my instruction, who didn’t go astray when the children of Israel went astray, as the Levites went astray. ¹²It shall be to them an offering from the offering of the land, a most holy thing, by the border of the Levites.

¹³“Alongside the border of the priests, the Levites shall have twenty-five thousand cubits in length and ten thousand in width. All the length shall be twenty-five thousand, and the width ten thousand. ¹⁴They shall sell none of it, nor exchange it, nor shall the first fruits of the land be alienated, for it is holy to Yahweh.

¹⁵“The five thousand cubits that are left in the width, in front of the twenty-five thousand, shall be for common use, for the city, for dwelling and for pasture lands; and the city shall be in the middle of it. ¹⁶These shall be its measurements: the north side four thousand and five hundred, and the south side four thousand and five hundred, and on the east side four thousand and five hundred, and the west side four thousand and five hundred. ¹⁷The city shall have pasture lands: toward the north two hundred fifty, and toward the south two hundred fifty, and toward the east two hundred fifty, and toward the west two hundred fifty. ¹⁸The remainder of the length, alongside the holy offering, shall be ten thousand eastward and ten thousand westward; and it shall be alongside the holy offering. Its increase shall be for food to those who labor in the city. ¹⁹Those who labor in the city, out of all the tribes of Israel, shall cultivate it. ²⁰All the offering shall be a square of twenty-five thousand by twenty-five thousand. You shall offer it as a holy offering, with the possession of the city.

²¹“The remainder shall be for the prince, on the one side and on the other of the holy offering and of the possession of the city; in front of the twenty-five thousand of the offering toward the east border, and westward in front of the twenty-five thousand toward the west border, alongside the portions, it shall be for the prince. The holy offering and the sanctuary of the house shall be in the middle of it. ²²Moreover, from the possession of the Levites, and from the possession of the city, being in the middle of that which is the prince’s, between the border of Judah and the border of Benjamin, shall be for the prince.

²³“As for the rest of the tribes: from the east side to the west side, Benjamin, one portion.