CHAPTER 22
“As for you,
son
of man,
will you judge her?
Will you pass judgment
on the city
of bloodshed?
Then confront her
with all
her abominations
and tell her
that this is what
the Lord
GOD
says:
‘O city
who brings her own doom
by shedding
blood
within her walls
and making
idols
to defile herself,
you are guilty
of the blood
you have shed,
and you are defiled
by the idols
you have made.
You have brought your days
to a close
and have come
to
the end of your years.
Therefore
I have made you
a reproach
to the nations
and a mockery
to all
the lands.
Father
and mother
are treated with contempt.
Within your walls
the foreign resident
is exploited,
the fatherless
and the widow
are oppressed.
Among you
are
slanderous
men
bent on
bloodshed;
within you
are those who eat
on
the mountain shrines
and commit
acts of indecency.
In you
they have uncovered
the nakedness
of their fathers;
in you
they violate
women during their impurity.
One man
commits
an abomination
with
his neighbor’s
wife;
another
wickedly
defiles
his daughter-in-law;
and yet another
violates
his sister,
his own father’s
daughter.
In you
they take
bribes
to
shed
blood.
You engage
in usury,
take
excess interest,
and extort
your neighbors.
But Me
you have forgotten,
declares
the Lord
GOD.
Now look,
I strike
My hands
together against
your unjust gain
and against
the blood you have shed
in your midst.
Will your courage
endure
or
your hands
be strong
in the day
I
deal
with you?
I,
the LORD,
have spoken,
and I will act.
I will disperse
you among the nations
and scatter you
throughout the lands;
I will purge
your uncleanness.
And when you have defiled
yourself
in the eyes
of the nations,
then you will know
that
I
am the LORD.’”
“Son
of man,
the house
of Israel
has become
dross to Me.
All
of them are copper,
tin,
iron,
and lead
inside
the furnace;
they are but
the dross
of silver.
Therefore
this is what
the Lord
GOD
says:
‘Because
all
of you have become
dross,
behold,
I will gather
you
into
Jerusalem.
Just as one gathers
silver,
copper,
iron,
lead,
and tin
into
the furnace
to melt
with a fiery
blast,
so
I will gather
you in My anger
and wrath,
leave you there,
and melt
you.
Yes, I will gather you together
and blow
on you
with the fire
of My wrath,
and you will be melted
within the city.
As silver
is melted
in
a furnace,
so
you will be melted
inside the city.
Then you will know
that
I,
the LORD,
have poured out
My wrath
upon you.’”
“Son
of man,
say
to her,
‘In the day
of indignation,
you
are a land
that has not
been cleansed,
upon which
no rain has fallen.’
The conspiracy
of the princes
in her midst
is like a roaring
lion
tearing
its prey.
They devour
the people,
seize
the treasures
and precious things,
and multiply
the widows
within her.
Her priests
do violence to
My law
and profane
My holy things.
They make no
distinction
between
the holy
and the common,
and they fail
to distinguish
between
the clean
and the unclean.
They disregard
My Sabbaths,
so that I am profaned
among them.
Her officials
within
her are like wolves
tearing
their prey,
shedding
blood,
and destroying
lives
for
dishonest gain.
Her prophets
whitewash
these deeds
by false
visions
and lying
divinations,
saying,
‘This is what
the Lord
GOD
says,’
when the LORD
has not
spoken.
The people
of the land
have practiced
extortion
and committed robbery.
They have oppressed
the poor
and needy,
and exploited
the foreign resident
without
justice.
I searched for
a man
among them
to repair
the wall
and stand
in the gap
before Me
on behalf of
the land,
so that I should not
destroy it.
But I found
no one.
So I have poured out
My indignation
upon them
and consumed
them with the fire
of My fury.
I have brought
their ways
down upon their own heads,
declares
the Lord
GOD.”