Ezekiel 22 — Legacy Standard Bible

The Abominations of Israel

22Then 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 ^ashedding blood in her midst, so that her time will come; and she makes idols against herself for defilement! ⁴“You have become ^aguilty by ¹the blood which you have shed, and defiled by your idols which you have made. Thus you have brought your ²day near and have come to your years; therefore I have made you a ^breproach 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 ^aturmoil.

⁶“Behold, the ^aprinces of Israel, each according to his ¹power, have been in you for the purpose of shedding blood. ⁷“They have ^atreated father and mother with contempt within you. The ^bsojourner they have oppressed in your midst; the ^cfatherless and the widow they have mistreated in you. ⁸“You have ^adespised My holy things and ^bprofaned 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 ^adone acts of lewdness. ¹⁰“In you ¹they have ^auncovered their fathers’ nakedness; in you they have humbled her who was ^bunclean in her menstrual impurity. ¹¹“One has also done what is an abomination with his ^aneighbor’s wife, and another has lewdly defiled his ^bdaughter-in-law. And another in you has ^cviolated his sister, his father’s daughter. ¹²“In you they have ^ataken bribes for the purpose of shedding blood; you have taken ^binterest and profits, and you have injured your neighbors for gain by ^coppression, and you have ^dforgotten Me,” declares Lord Yahweh.

¹³“Now behold, I have struck My hand at your ^agreedy gain which you have acquired and at ¹the bloodshed which is among you. ¹⁴“Can ^ayour heart stand, or can your hands be strong in the days that I will act against you? ^bI, Yahweh, have spoken and will act. ¹⁵“I will ^ascatter you among the nations, and I will disperse you through the lands, and I will ^bput an end to your uncleanness from you. ¹⁶“You will profane yourself in the sight of the nations, and you will ^aknow that I am Yahweh.”’”

¹⁷And the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, ¹⁸“Son of man, the house of Israel has become ^adross to Me; all of them are ^bbronze and tin and iron and lead in the ^cfurnace; 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 ^afurnace 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 ^apoured out My wrath on you.’”

²³And the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, ²⁴“Son of man, say to her, ‘You are a land that is ^anot cleansed or rained on in the day of indignation.’ ²⁵“There is a ^aconspiracy of her prophets in her midst like a roaring lion tearing the prey. They have ^bdevoured lives; they have taken treasure and precious things; they have made many ^cwidows in the midst of her. ²⁶“Her ^apriests have done violence to My law and have ^bprofaned My holy things; they have made no ^cseparation between the holy and the profane, and they have not made known the difference between the ^dunclean 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 ^adestroying lives in order to get ^bgreedy gain. ²⁸“And her prophets have smeared whitewash for them, beholding ^aworthless visions and divining lies for them, saying, ‘Thus says Lord Yahweh,’ when Yahweh has not spoken. ²⁹“The people of the land have practiced ^aoppression and committed robbery, and they have mistreated the afflicted and needy and have ^boppressed the sojourner without justice. ³⁰“And I ^asearched for a man among them who would ^bbuild up the wall and ^cstand in the breach before Me for the land, so that I would not bring it to ruin; but I found ¹no one. ³¹“Thus I have poured out My ^aindignation on them; I have consumed them with the fire of My fury; ^btheir way I have brought upon their heads,” declares Lord Yahweh.