Ezekiel 22 - Legacy Standard Bible

Ezekiel 22

The Abominations of Israel

Then the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 2 “Now as for you, son of man, will you judge, will you judge the city of blood? Then you shall cause her to know all her abominations. 3 And you shall say, ‘Thus says Lord Yahweh, “A city shedding blood in her midst, so that her time will come; and she makes idols against herself for defilement! 4 You have become guilty by the blood which you have shed, and defiled by your idols which you have made. Thus you have brought your day near and have come to your years; therefore I have made you a reproach to the nations and a mocking to all the lands. 5 Those who are near and those who are far from you will mock you, you of unclean name, full of turmoil. 6 “Behold, the princes of Israel, each according to his power, have been in you for the purpose of shedding blood. 7 They have treated father and mother with contempt within you. The sojourner they have oppressed in your midst; the fatherless and the widow they have mistreated in you. 8 You have despised My holy things and profaned My sabbaths. 9 Slanderous men have been in you for the purpose of shedding blood, and in you they have eaten at the mountain shrines. In your midst they have done acts of lewdness. 10 In you they have uncovered their fathers’ nakedness; in you they have humbled her who was unclean in her menstrual impurity. 11 One has also done what is an abomination with his neighbor’s wife, and another has lewdly defiled his daughter-in-law. And another in you has violated his sister, his father’s daughter. 12 In you they have taken bribes for the purpose of shedding blood; you have taken interest and profits, and you have injured your neighbors for gain by oppression, and you have forgotten Me,” declares Lord Yahweh. 13 “Now behold, I have struck My hand at your greedy gain which you have acquired and at the bloodshed which is among you. 14 Can your heart stand, or can your hands be strong in the days that I will act against you? I, Yahweh, have spoken and will act. 15 I will scatter you among the nations, and I will disperse you through the lands, and I will put an end to your uncleanness from you. 16 You will profane yourself in the sight of the nations, and you will know that I am Yahweh.”’” 17 And the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 18 “Son of man, the house of Israel has become dross to Me; all of them are bronze and tin and iron and lead in the furnace; they are the dross of silver. 19 Therefore, thus says Lord Yahweh, ‘Because all of you have become dross, therefore, behold, I am going to gather you into the midst of Jerusalem. 20 As they gather silver and bronze and iron and lead and tin into the furnace to blow fire on it in order to melt it, so I will gather you in My anger and in My wrath, and I will lay you there and melt you. 21 And I will collect you together and blow on you with the fire of My fury, and you will be melted in the midst of it. 22 As silver is melted in the furnace, so you will be melted in the midst of it; and you will know that I, Yahweh, have poured out My wrath on you.’” 23 And the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 24 “Son of man, say to her, ‘You are a land that is not cleansed or rained on in the day of indignation.’ 25 There is a conspiracy of her prophets in her midst like a roaring lion tearing the prey. They have devoured lives; they have taken treasure and precious things; they have made many widows in the midst of her. 26 Her priests have done violence to My law and have profaned My holy things; they have made no separation between the holy and the profane, and they have not made known the difference between the unclean and the clean; and they hide their eyes from My sabbaths, and I am profaned among them. 27 Her princes within her are like wolves tearing the prey by shedding blood and destroying lives in order to get greedy gain. 28 And her prophets have smeared whitewash for them, beholding worthless visions and divining lies for them, saying, ‘Thus says Lord Yahweh,’ when Yahweh has not spoken. 29 The people of the land have practiced oppression and committed robbery, and they have mistreated the afflicted and needy and have oppressed the sojourner without justice. 30 And I searched for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand in the breach before Me for the land, so that I would not bring it to ruin; but I found no one. 31 Thus I have poured out My indignation on them; I have consumed them with the fire of My fury; their way I have brought upon their heads,” declares Lord Yahweh.