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Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month,
in the fifth day of the month, as I was among the captives by
the river of Chebar, that the heavens were opened, and I saw
visions of God.
In the fifth day of the month, which was the fifth year of king
Jehoiachin's captivity,
The word of the LORD came expressly unto Ezekiel the priest,
the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the river
Chebar; and the hand of the LORD was there upon him.
And I looked, and, behold, a whirlwind came out of the north, a
great cloud, and a fire infolding itself, and a brightness was
about it, and out of the midst thereof as the colour of amber,
out of the midst of the fire.
Also out of the midst thereof came the likeness of four living
creatures. And this was their appearance; they had the likeness
of a man.
And every one had four faces, and every one had four wings.
And their feet were straight feet; and the sole of their feet
was like the sole of a calf's foot: and they sparkled like the
colour of burnished brass.
And they had the hands of a man under their wings on their four
sides; and they four had their faces and their wings.
Their wings were joined one to another; they turned not when
they went; they went every one straight forward.
As for the likeness of their faces, they four had the face of a
man, and the face of a lion, on the right side: and they four
had the face of an ox on the left side; they four also had the
face of an eagle.
Thus were their faces: and their wings were stretched upward;
two wings of every one were joined one to another, and two
covered their bodies.
And they went every one straight forward: whither the spirit
was to go, they went; and they turned not when they went.
As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance
was like burning coals of fire, and like the appearance of
lamps: it went up and down among the living creatures; and the
fire was bright, and out of the fire went forth lightning.
And the living creatures ran and returned as the appearance of
a flash of lightning.
Now as I beheld the living creatures, behold one wheel upon the
earth by the living creatures, with his four faces.
The appearance of the wheels and their work was like unto the
colour of a beryl: and they four had one likeness: and their
appearance and their work was as it were a wheel in the middle
of a wheel.
When they went, they went upon their four sides: and they
turned not when they went.
As for their rings, they were so high that they were dreadful;
and their rings were full of eyes round about them four.
And when the living creatures went, the wheels went by them:
and when the living creatures were lifted up from the earth,
the wheels were lifted up.
Whithersoever the spirit was to go, they went, thither was
their spirit to go; and the wheels were lifted up over against
them: for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels.
When those went, these went; and when those stood, these stood;
and when those were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were
lifted up over against them: for the spirit of the living
creature was in the wheels.
And the likeness of the firmament upon the heads of the living
creature was as the colour of the terrible crystal, stretched
forth over their heads above.
And under the firmament were their wings straight, the one
toward the other: every one had two, which covered on this
side, and every one had two, which covered on that side, their
bodies.
And when they went, I heard the noise of their wings, like the
noise of great waters, as the voice of the Almighty, the voice
of speech, as the noise of an host: when they stood, they let
down their wings.
And there was a voice from the firmament that was over their
heads, when they stood, and had let down their wings.
And above the firmament that was over their heads was the
likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone:
and upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness as the
appearance of a man above upon it.
And I saw as the colour of amber, as the appearance of fire
round about within it, from the appearance of his loins even
upward, and from the appearance of his loins even downward, I
saw as it were the appearance of fire, and it had brightness
round about.
As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of
rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about. This
was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD.
And when I saw it, I fell upon my face, and I heard a voice of
one that spake.
And he said unto me, Son of man, stand upon thy feet, and I
will speak unto thee.
And the spirit entered into me when he spake unto me, and set
me upon my feet, that I heard him that spake unto me.
And he said unto me, Son of man, I send thee to the children of
Israel, to a rebellious nation that hath rebelled against me:
they and their fathers have transgressed against me, even unto
this very day.
For they are impudent children and stiffhearted. I do send thee
unto them; and thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord
GOD.
And they, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear,
(for they are a rebellious house,) yet shall know that there
hath been a prophet among them.
And thou, son of man, be not afraid of them, neither be afraid
of their words, though briers and thorns be with thee, and thou
dost dwell among scorpions: be not afraid of their words, nor
be dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious house.
And thou shalt speak my words unto them, whether they will
hear, or whether they will forbear: for they are most
rebellious.
But thou, son of man, hear what I say unto thee; Be not thou
rebellious like that rebellious house: open thy mouth, and eat
that I give thee.
And when I looked, behold, an hand was sent unto me; and, lo, a
roll of a book was therein;
And he spread it before me; and it was written within and
without: and there was written therein lamentations, and
mourning, and woe.
Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, eat that thou findest;
eat this roll, and go speak unto the house of Israel.
So I opened my mouth, and he caused me to eat that roll.
And he said unto me, Son of man, cause thy belly to eat, and
fill thy bowels with this roll that I give thee. Then did I eat
it; and it was in my mouth as honey for sweetness.
And he said unto me, Son of man, go, get thee unto the house of
Israel, and speak with my words unto them.
For thou art not sent to a people of a strange speech and of an
hard language, but to the house of Israel;
Not to many people of a strange speech and of an hard language,
whose words thou canst not understand. Surely, had I sent thee
to them, they would have hearkened unto thee.
But the house of Israel will not hearken unto thee; for they
will not hearken unto me: for all the house of Israel are
impudent and hardhearted.
Behold, I have made thy face strong against their faces, and
thy forehead strong against their foreheads.
As an adamant harder than flint have I made thy forehead: fear
them not, neither be dismayed at their looks, though they be a
rebellious house.
Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, all my words that I shall
speak unto thee receive in thine heart, and hear with thine
ears.
And go, get thee to them of the captivity, unto the children of
thy people, and speak unto them, and tell them, Thus saith the
Lord GOD; whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear.
Then the spirit took me up, and I heard behind me a voice of a
great rushing, saying, Blessed be the glory of the LORD from
his place.
I heard also the noise of the wings of the living creatures
that touched one another, and the noise of the wheels over
against them, and a noise of a great rushing.
So the spirit lifted me up, and took me away, and I went in
bitterness, in the heat of my spirit; but the hand of the LORD
was strong upon me.
Then I came to them of the captivity at Telabib, that dwelt by
the river of Chebar, and I sat where they sat, and remained
there astonished among them seven days.
And it came to pass at the end of seven days, that the word of
the LORD came unto me, saying,
Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of
Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them
warning from me.
When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou
givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from
his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die
in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand.
Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his
wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his
iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul.
Again, When a righteous man doth turn from his righteousness,
and commit iniquity, and I lay a stumblingblock before him, he
shall die: because thou hast not given him warning, he shall
die in his sin, and his righteousness which he hath done shall
not be remembered; but his blood will I require at thine hand.
Nevertheless if thou warn the righteous man, that the righteous
sin not, and he doth not sin, he shall surely live, because he
is warned; also thou hast delivered thy soul.
And the hand of the LORD was there upon me; and he said unto
me, Arise, go forth into the plain, and I will there talk with
thee.
Then I arose, and went forth into the plain: and, behold, the
glory of the LORD stood there, as the glory which I saw by the
river of Chebar: and I fell on my face.
Then the spirit entered into me, and set me upon my feet, and
spake with me, and said unto me, Go, shut thyself within thine
house.
But thou, O son of man, behold, they shall put bands upon thee,
and shall bind thee with them, and thou shalt not go out among
them:
And I will make thy tongue cleave to the roof of thy mouth,
that thou shalt be dumb, and shalt not be to them a reprover:
for they are a rebellious house.
But when I speak with thee, I will open thy mouth, and thou
shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; He that heareth,
let him hear; and he that forbeareth, let him forbear: for they
are a rebellious house.
Thou also, son of man, take thee a tile, and lay it before
thee, and pourtray upon it the city, even Jerusalem:
And lay siege against it, and build a fort against it, and cast
a mount against it; set the camp also against it, and set
battering rams against it round about.
Moreover take thou unto thee an iron pan, and set it for a wall
of iron between thee and the city: and set thy face against it,
and it shall be besieged, and thou shalt lay siege against it.
This shall be a sign to the house of Israel.
Lie thou also upon thy left side, and lay the iniquity of the
house of Israel upon it: according to the number of the days
that thou shalt lie upon it thou shalt bear their iniquity.
For I have laid upon thee the years of their iniquity,
according to the number of the days, three hundred and ninety
days: so shalt thou bear the iniquity of the house of Israel.
And when thou hast accomplished them, lie again on thy right
side, and thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah
forty days: I have appointed thee each day for a year.
Therefore thou shalt set thy face toward the siege of
Jerusalem, and thine arm shall be uncovered, and thou shalt
prophesy against it.
And, behold, I will lay bands upon thee, and thou shalt not
turn thee from one side to another, till thou hast ended the
days of thy siege.
Take thou also unto thee wheat, and barley, and beans, and
lentiles, and millet, and fitches, and put them in one vessel,
and make thee bread thereof, according to the number of the
days that thou shalt lie upon thy side, three hundred and
ninety days shalt thou eat thereof.
And thy meat which thou shalt eat shall be by weight, twenty
shekels a day: from time to time shalt thou eat it.
Thou shalt drink also water by measure, the sixth part of an
hin: from time to time shalt thou drink.
And thou shalt eat it as barley cakes, and thou shalt bake it
with dung that cometh out of man, in their sight.
And the LORD said, Even thus shall the children of Israel eat
their defiled bread among the Gentiles, whither I will drive
them.
Then said I, Ah Lord GOD! behold, my soul hath not been
polluted: for from my youth up even till now have I not eaten
of that which dieth of itself, or is torn in pieces; neither
came there abominable flesh into my mouth.
Then he said unto me, Lo, I have given thee cow's dung for
man's dung, and thou shalt prepare thy bread therewith.
Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, behold, I will break the
staff of bread in Jerusalem: and they shall eat bread by
weight, and with care; and they shall drink water by measure,
and with astonishment:
That they may want bread and water, and be astonied one with
another, and consume away for their iniquity.
And thou, son of man, take thee a sharp knife, take thee a
barber's razor, and cause it to pass upon thine head and upon
thy beard: then take thee balances to weigh, and divide the
hair.
Thou shalt burn with fire a third part in the midst of the
city, when the days of the siege are fulfilled: and thou shalt
take a third part, and smite about it with a knife: and a third
part thou shalt scatter in the wind; and I will draw out a
sword after them.
Thou shalt also take thereof a few in number, and bind them in
thy skirts.
Then take of them again, and cast them into the midst of the
fire, and burn them in the fire; for thereof shall a fire come
forth into all the house of Israel.
Thus saith the Lord GOD; This is Jerusalem: I have set it in
the midst of the nations and countries that are round about
her.
And she hath changed my judgments into wickedness more than the
nations, and my statutes more than the countries that are round
about her: for they have refused my judgments and my statutes,
they have not walked in them.
Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because ye multiplied more
than the nations that are round about you, and have not walked
in my statutes, neither have kept my judgments, neither have
done according to the judgments of the nations that are round
about you;
Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I, even I, am
against thee, and will execute judgments in the midst of thee
in the sight of the nations.
And I will do in thee that which I have not done, and whereunto
I will not do any more the like, because of all thine
abominations.
Therefore the fathers shall eat the sons in the midst of thee,
and the sons shall eat their fathers; and I will execute
judgments in thee, and the whole remnant of thee will I scatter
into all the winds.
Wherefore, as I live, saith the Lord GOD; Surely, because thou
hast defiled my sanctuary with all thy detestable things, and
with all thine abominations, therefore will I also diminish
thee; neither shall mine eye spare, neither will I have any
pity.
A third part of thee shall die with the pestilence, and with
famine shall they be consumed in the midst of thee: and a third
part shall fall by the sword round about thee; and I will
scatter a third part into all the winds, and I will draw out a
sword after them.
Thus shall mine anger be accomplished, and I will cause my fury
to rest upon them, and I will be comforted: and they shall know
that I the LORD have spoken it in my zeal, when I have
accomplished my fury in them.
Moreover I will make thee waste, and a reproach among the
nations that are round about thee, in the sight of all that
pass by.
So it shall be a reproach and a taunt, an instruction and an
astonishment unto the nations that are round about thee, when I
shall execute judgments in thee in anger and in fury and in
furious rebukes. I the LORD have spoken it.
When I shall send upon them the evil arrows of famine, which
shall be for their destruction, and which I will send to
destroy you: and I will increase the famine upon you, and will
break your staff of bread:
So will I send upon you famine and evil beasts, and they shall
bereave thee; and pestilence and blood shall pass through thee;
and I will bring the sword upon thee. I the LORD have spoken
it.
And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Son of man, set thy face toward the mountains of Israel, and
prophesy against them,
And say, Ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord GOD;
Thus saith the Lord GOD to the mountains, and to the hills, to
the rivers, and to the valleys; Behold, I, even I, will bring a
sword upon you, and I will destroy your high places.
And your altars shall be desolate, and your images shall be
broken: and I will cast down your slain men before your idols.
And I will lay the dead carcases of the children of Israel
before their idols; and I will scatter your bones round about
your altars.
In all your dwellingplaces the cities shall be laid waste, and
the high places shall be desolate; that your altars may be laid
waste and made desolate, and your idols may be broken and
cease, and your images may be cut down, and your works may be
abolished.
And the slain shall fall in the midst of you, and ye shall know
that I am the LORD.
Yet will I leave a remnant, that ye may have some that shall
escape the sword among the nations, when ye shall be scattered
through the countries.
And they that escape of you shall remember me among the nations
whither they shall be carried captives, because I am broken
with their whorish heart, which hath departed from me, and with
their eyes, which go a whoring after their idols: and they
shall lothe themselves for the evils which they have committed
in all their abominations.
And they shall know that I am the LORD, and that I have not
said in vain that I would do this evil unto them.
Thus saith the Lord GOD; Smite with thine hand, and stamp with
thy foot, and say, Alas for all the evil abominations of the
house of Israel! for they shall fall by the sword, by the
famine, and by the pestilence.
He that is far off shall die of the pestilence; and he that is
near shall fall by the sword; and he that remaineth and is
besieged shall die by the famine: thus will I accomplish my
fury upon them.
Then shall ye know that I am the LORD, when their slain men
shall be among their idols round about their altars, upon every
high hill, in all the tops of the mountains, and under every
green tree, and under every thick oak, the place where they did
offer sweet savour to all their idols.
So will I stretch out my hand upon them, and make the land
desolate, yea, more desolate than the wilderness toward
Diblath, in all their habitations: and they shall know that I
am the LORD.
Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Also, thou son of man, thus saith the Lord GOD unto the land of
Israel; An end, the end is come upon the four corners of the
land.
Now is the end come upon thee, and I will send mine anger upon
thee, and will judge thee according to thy ways, and will
recompense upon thee all thine abominations.
And mine eye shall not spare thee, neither will I have pity:
but I will recompense thy ways upon thee, and thine
abominations shall be in the midst of thee: and ye shall know
that I am the LORD.
Thus saith the Lord GOD; An evil, an only evil, behold, is
come.
An end is come, the end is come: it watcheth for thee; behold,
it is come.
The morning is come unto thee, O thou that dwellest in the
land: the time is come, the day of trouble is near, and not the
sounding again of the mountains.
Now will I shortly pour out my fury upon thee, and accomplish
mine anger upon thee: and I will judge thee according to thy
ways, and will recompense thee for all thine abominations.
And mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity: I will
recompense thee according to thy ways and thine abominations
that are in the midst of thee; and ye shall know that I am the
LORD that smiteth.
Behold the day, behold, it is come: the morning is gone forth;
the rod hath blossomed, pride hath budded.
Violence is risen up into a rod of wickedness: none of them
shall remain, nor of their multitude, nor of any of theirs:
neither shall there be wailing for them.
The time is come, the day draweth near: let not the buyer
rejoice, nor the seller mourn: for wrath is upon all the
multitude thereof.
For the seller shall not return to that which is sold, although
they were yet alive: for the vision is touching the whole
multitude thereof, which shall not return; neither shall any
strengthen himself in the iniquity of his life.
They have blown the trumpet, even to make all ready; but none
goeth to the battle: for my wrath is upon all the multitude
thereof.
The sword is without, and the pestilence and the famine within:
he that is in the field shall die with the sword; and he that
is in the city, famine and pestilence shall devour him.
But they that escape of them shall escape, and shall be on the
mountains like doves of the valleys, all of them mourning,
every one for his iniquity.
All hands shall be feeble, and all knees shall be weak as
water.
They shall also gird themselves with sackcloth, and horror
shall cover them; and shame shall be upon all faces, and
baldness upon all their heads.
They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold
shall be removed: their silver and their gold shall not be able
to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD: they shall
not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels: because it
is the stumblingblock of their iniquity.
As for the beauty of his ornament, he set it in majesty: but
they made the images of their abominations and of their
detestable things therein: therefore have I set it far from
them.
And I will give it into the hands of the strangers for a prey,
and to the wicked of the earth for a spoil; and they shall
pollute it.
My face will I turn also from them, and they shall pollute my
secret place: for the robbers shall enter into it, and defile
it.
Make a chain: for the land is full of bloody crimes, and the
city is full of violence.
Wherefore I will bring the worst of the heathen, and they shall
possess their houses: I will also make the pomp of the strong
to cease; and their holy places shall be defiled.
Destruction cometh; and they shall seek peace, and there shall
be none.
mischief shall come upon mischief, and rumour shall be upon
rumour; then shall they seek a vision of the prophet; but the
law shall perish from the priest, and counsel from the
ancients.
The king shall mourn, and the prince shall be clothed with
desolation, and the hands of the people of the land shall be
troubled: I will do unto them after their way, and according to
their deserts will I judge them; and they shall know that I am
the LORD.
And it came to pass in the sixth year, in the sixth month, in
the fifth day of the month, as I sat in mine house, and the
elders of Judah sat before me, that the hand of the Lord GOD
fell there upon me.
Then I beheld, and lo a likeness as the appearance of fire:
from the appearance of his loins even downward, fire; and from
his loins even upward, as the appearance of brightness, as the
colour of amber.
And he put forth the form of an hand, and took me by a lock of
mine head; and the spirit lifted me up between the earth and
the heaven, and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem,
to the door of the inner gate that looketh toward the north;
where was the seat of the image of jealousy, which provoketh to
jealousy.
And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel was there,
according to the vision that I saw in the plain.
Then said he unto me, Son of man, lift up thine eyes now the
way toward the north. So I lifted up mine eyes the way toward
the north, and behold northward at the gate of the altar this
image of jealousy in the entry.
He said furthermore unto me, Son of man, seest thou what they
do? even the great abominations that the house of Israel
committeth here, that I should go far off from my sanctuary?
but turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater
abominations.
And he brought me to the door of the court; and when I looked,
behold a hole in the wall.
Then said he unto me, Son of man, dig now in the wall: and when
I had digged in the wall, behold a door.
And he said unto me, Go in, and behold the wicked abominations
that they do here.
So I went in and saw; and behold every form of creeping things,
and abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of
Israel, pourtrayed upon the wall round about.
And there stood before them seventy men of the ancients of the
house of Israel, and in the midst of them stood Jaazaniah the
son of Shaphan, with every man his censer in his hand; and a
thick cloud of incense went up.
Then said he unto me, Son of man, hast thou seen what the
ancients of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in
the chambers of his imagery? for they say, The LORD seeth us
not; the LORD hath forsaken the earth.
He said also unto me, Turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see
greater abominations that they do.
Then he brought me to the door of the gate of the LORD'S house
which was toward the north; and, behold, there sat women
weeping for Tammuz.
Then said he unto me, Hast thou seen this, O son of man? turn
thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations than
these.
And he brought me into the inner court of the LORD'S house,
and, behold, at the door of the temple of the LORD, between the
porch and the altar, were about five and twenty men, with their
backs toward the temple of the LORD, and their faces toward the
east; and they worshipped the sun toward the east.
Then he said unto me, Hast thou seen this, O 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 returned to provoke me to anger:
and, lo, they put the branch to their nose.
Therefore will I also deal in fury: mine eye shall not spare,
neither will I have pity: and though they cry in mine ears with
a loud voice, yet will I not hear them.
He cried also in mine ears with a loud voice, saying, Cause
them that have charge over the city to draw near, even every
man with his destroying weapon in his hand.
And, behold, six men came from the way of the higher gate,
which lieth toward the north, and every man a slaughter weapon
in his hand; and one man among them was clothed with linen,
with a writer's inkhorn by his side: and they went in, and
stood beside the brasen altar.
And the glory of the God of Israel was gone up from the cherub,
whereupon he was, to the threshold of the house. And he called
to the man clothed with linen, which had the writer's inkhorn
by his side;
And the LORD said unto him, Go through the midst of the city,
through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the
foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the
abominations that be done in the midst thereof.
And to the others he said in mine hearing, Go ye after him
through the city, and smite: let not your eye spare, neither
have ye pity:
Slay utterly old and young, both maids, and little children,
and women: but come not near any man upon whom is the mark; and
begin at my sanctuary. Then they began at the ancient men which
were before the house.
And he said unto them, Defile the house, and fill the courts
with the slain: go ye forth. And they went forth, and slew in
the city.
And it came to pass, while they were slaying them, and I was
left, that I fell upon my face, and cried, and said, Ah Lord
GOD! wilt thou destroy all the residue of Israel in thy pouring
out of thy fury upon Jerusalem?
Then said he unto me, The iniquity of the house of Israel and
Judah is exceeding great, and the land is full of blood, and
the city full of perverseness: for they say, The LORD hath
forsaken the earth, and the LORD seeth not.
And as for me also, mine eye shall not spare, neither will I
have pity, but I will recompense their way upon their head.
And, behold, the man clothed with linen, which had the inkhorn
by his side, reported the matter, saying, I have done as thou
hast commanded me.
Then I looked, and, behold, in the firmament that was above the
head of the cherubims there appeared over them as it were a
sapphire stone, as the appearance of the likeness of a throne.
And he spake unto the man clothed with linen, and said, Go in
between the wheels, even under the cherub, and fill thine hand
with coals of fire from between the cherubims, and scatter them
over the city. And he went in in my sight.
Now the cherubims stood on the right side of the house, when
the man went in; and the cloud filled the inner court.
Then the glory of the LORD went 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 the
LORD'S glory.
And the sound of the cherubims' wings was heard even to the
outer court, as the voice of the Almighty God when he speaketh.
And it came to pass, that when he had commanded the man clothed
with linen, saying, Take fire from between the wheels, from
between the cherubims; then he went in, and stood beside the
wheels.
And one cherub stretched forth his hand from between the
cherubims unto the fire that was between the cherubims, and
took thereof, and put it into the hands of him that was clothed
with linen: who took it, and went out.
And there appeared in the cherubims the form of a man's hand
under their wings.
And when I looked, behold the four wheels by the cherubims, one
wheel by one cherub, and another wheel by another cherub: and
the appearance of the wheels was as the colour of a beryl
stone.
And as for their appearances, they four had one likeness, as if
a wheel had been in the midst of a wheel.
When they went, they went upon their four sides; they turned
not as they went, but to the place whither the head looked they
followed it; they turned not as they went.
And their whole body, and their backs, and their hands, and
their wings, and the wheels, were full of eyes round about,
even the wheels that they four had.
As for the wheels, it was cried unto them in my hearing, O
wheel.
And every one had four faces: the first face was the face of a
cherub, and the second face was the face of a man, and the
third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle.
And the cherubims were lifted up. This is the living creature
that I saw by the river of Chebar.
And when the cherubims went, the wheels went by them: and when
the cherubims lifted up their wings to mount up from the earth,
the same wheels also turned not from beside them.
When they stood, these stood; and when they were lifted up,
these lifted up themselves also: for the spirit of the living
creature was in them.
Then the glory of the LORD departed from off the threshold of
the house, and stood over the cherubims.
And the cherubims lifted up their wings, and mounted up from
the earth in my sight: when they went out, the wheels also were
beside them, and every one stood at the door of the east gate
of the LORD'S house; and the glory of the God of Israel was
over them above.
This is the living creature that I saw under the God of Israel
by the river of Chebar; and I knew that they were the
cherubims.
Every one had four faces apiece, and every one four wings; and
the likeness of the hands of a man was under their wings.
And the likeness of their faces was the same faces which I saw
by the river of Chebar, their appearances and themselves: they
went every one straight forward.
Moreover the spirit lifted me up, and brought me unto the east
gate of the LORD'S house, which looketh eastward: and behold at
the door of the gate five and twenty men; among whom I saw
Jaazaniah the son of Azur, and Pelatiah the son of Benaiah,
princes of the people.
Then said he unto me, Son of man, these are the men that devise
mischief, and give wicked counsel in this city:
Which say, It is not near; let us build houses: this city is
the caldron, and we be the flesh.
Therefore prophesy against them, prophesy, O son of man.
And the Spirit of the LORD fell upon me, and said unto me,
Speak; Thus saith the LORD; Thus have ye said, O house of
Israel: for I know the things that come into your mind, every
one of them.
Ye have multiplied your slain in this city, and ye have filled
the streets thereof with the slain.
Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Your slain whom ye have laid
in the midst of it, they are the flesh, and this city is the
caldron: but I will bring you forth out of the midst of it.
Ye have feared the sword; and I will bring a sword upon you,
saith the Lord GOD.
And I will bring you out of the midst thereof, and deliver you
into the hands of strangers, and will execute judgments among
you.
Ye shall fall by the sword; I will judge you in the border of
Israel; and ye shall know that I am the LORD.
This city shall not be your caldron, neither shall ye be the
flesh in the midst thereof; but I will judge you in the border
of Israel:
And ye shall know that I am the LORD: for ye have not walked in
my statutes, neither executed my judgments, but have done after
the manners of the heathen that are round about you.
And it came to pass, when I prophesied, that Pelatiah the son
of Benaiah died. Then fell I down upon my face, and cried with
a loud voice, and said, Ah Lord GOD! wilt thou make a full end
of the remnant of Israel?
Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Son of man, thy brethren, even thy brethren, the men of thy
kindred, and all the house of Israel wholly, are they unto whom
the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, Get you far from the
LORD: unto us is this land given in possession.
Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Although I have cast
them far off among the heathen, and although I have scattered
them among the countries, yet will I be to them as a little
sanctuary in the countries where they shall come.
Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will even gather you
from the people, and assemble you out of the countries where ye
have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.
And they shall come thither, and they shall take away all the
detestable things thereof and all the abominations thereof from
thence.
And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit
within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh,
and will give them an heart of flesh:
That they may walk in my statutes, and keep mine ordinances,
and do them: and they shall be my people, and I will be their
God.
But as for them whose heart walketh after the heart of their
detestable things and their abominations, I will recompense
their way upon their own heads, saith the Lord GOD.
Then did the cherubims lift up their wings, and the wheels
beside them; and the glory of the God of Israel was over them
above.
And the glory of the LORD went up from the midst of the city,
and stood upon the mountain which is on the east side of the
city.
Afterwards the spirit took me up, and brought me in a vision by
the Spirit of God into Chaldea, to them of the captivity. So
the vision that I had seen went up from me.
Then I spake unto them of the captivity all the things that the
LORD had shewed me.
The word of the LORD also came unto me, saying,
Son of man, thou dwellest in the midst of a rebellious house,
which have eyes to see, and see not; they have ears to hear,
and hear not: for they are a rebellious house.
Therefore, thou son of man, prepare thee stuff for removing,
and remove by day in their sight; and thou shalt remove from
thy place to another place in their sight: it may be they will
consider, though they be a rebellious house.
Then shalt thou bring forth thy stuff by day in their sight, as
stuff for removing: and thou shalt go forth at even in their
sight, as they that go forth into captivity.
Dig thou through the wall in their sight, and carry out
thereby.
In their sight shalt thou bear it upon thy shoulders, and carry
it forth in the twilight: thou shalt cover thy face, that thou
see not the ground: for I have set thee for a sign unto the
house of Israel.
And I did so as I was commanded: I brought forth my stuff by
day, as stuff for captivity, and in the even I digged through
the wall with mine hand; I brought it forth in the twilight,
and I bare it upon my shoulder in their sight.
And in the morning came the word of the LORD unto me, saying,
Son of man, hath not the house of Israel, the rebellious house,
said unto thee, What doest thou?
Say thou unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; This burden
concerneth the prince in Jerusalem, and all the house of Israel
that are among them.
Say, I am your sign: like as I have done, so shall it be done
unto them: they shall remove and go into captivity.
And the prince that is among them shall bear upon his shoulder
in the twilight, and shall go forth: they shall dig through the
wall to carry out thereby: he shall cover his face, that he see
not the ground with his eyes.
My net also will I spread upon him, and he shall be taken in my
snare: and I will bring him to Babylon to the land of the
Chaldeans; yet shall he not see it, though he shall die there.
And I will scatter toward every wind all that are about him to
help him, and all his bands; and I will draw out the sword
after them.
And they shall know that I am the LORD, when I shall scatter
them among the nations, and disperse them in the countries.
But 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 heathen whither they come; and
they shall know that I am the LORD.
Moreover the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
Son of man, eat thy bread with quaking, and drink thy water
with trembling and with carefulness;
And say unto the people of the land, Thus saith the Lord GOD of
the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and of the land of Israel; They
shall eat their bread with carefulness, and drink their water
with astonishment, that her land may be desolate from all that
is therein, because of the violence of all them that dwell
therein.
And the cities that are inhabited shall be laid waste, and the
land shall be desolate; and ye shall know that I am the LORD.
And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Son of man, what is that proverb that ye have in the land of
Israel, saying, The days are prolonged, and every vision
faileth?
Tell them therefore, Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will make this
proverb to cease, and they shall no more use it as a proverb in
Israel; but say unto them, The days are at hand, and the effect
of every vision.
For there shall be no more any vain vision nor flattering
divination within the house of Israel.
For I am the LORD: I will speak, and the word that I shall
speak shall come to pass; it shall be no more prolonged: for in
your days, O rebellious house, will I say the word, and will
perform it, saith the Lord GOD.
Again the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
Son of man, behold, they of the house of Israel say, The vision
that he seeth is for many days to come, and he prophesieth of
the times that are far off.
Therefore say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; There shall
none of my words be prolonged any more, but the word which I
have spoken shall be done, saith the Lord GOD.
And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel that
prophesy, and say thou unto them that prophesy out of their own
hearts, Hear ye the word of the LORD;
Thus saith the Lord GOD; Woe unto the foolish prophets, that
follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing!
O Israel, thy prophets are like the foxes in the deserts.
Ye have not gone up into the gaps, neither made up the hedge
for the house of Israel to stand in the battle in the day of
the LORD.
They have seen vanity and lying divination, saying, The LORD
saith: and the LORD hath not sent them: and they have made
others to hope that they would confirm the word.
Have ye not seen a vain vision, and have ye not spoken a lying
divination, whereas ye say, The LORD saith it; albeit I have
not spoken?
Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because ye have spoken
vanity, and seen lies, therefore, behold, I am against you,
saith the Lord GOD.
And mine hand shall be upon the prophets that see vanity, and
that divine lies: they shall not be in the assembly of my
people, neither shall they be written in the writing of the
house of Israel, neither shall they enter into the land of
Israel; and ye shall know that I am the Lord GOD.
Because, even because they have seduced my people, saying,
Peace; and there was no peace; and one built up a wall, and,
lo, others daubed it with untempered morter:
Say unto them which daub it with untempered morter, that it
shall fall: there shall be an overflowing shower; and ye, O
great hailstones, shall fall; and a stormy wind shall rend it.
Lo, when the wall is fallen, shall it not be said unto you,
Where is the daubing wherewith ye have daubed it?
Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; I will even rend it with a
stormy wind in my fury; and there shall be an overflowing
shower in mine anger, and great hailstones in my fury to
consume it.
So will I break down the wall that ye have daubed with
untempered morter, and bring it down to the ground, so that the
foundation thereof shall be discovered, and it shall fall, and
ye shall be consumed in the midst thereof: and ye shall know
that I am the LORD.
Thus will I accomplish my wrath upon the wall, and upon them
that have daubed it with untempered morter, and will say unto
you, The wall is no more, neither they that daubed it;
To wit, the prophets of Israel which prophesy concerning
Jerusalem, and which see visions of peace for her, and there is
no peace, saith the Lord GOD.
Likewise, thou son of man, set thy face against the daughters
of thy people, which prophesy out of their own heart; and
prophesy thou against them,
And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Woe to the women that sew
pillows to all armholes, and make kerchiefs upon the head of
every stature to hunt souls! Will ye hunt the souls of my
people, and will ye save the souls alive that come unto you?
And will ye pollute me among my people for handfuls of barley
and for pieces of bread, to slay the souls that should not die,
and to save the souls alive that should not live, by your lying
to my people that hear your lies?
Wherefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against your
pillows, wherewith ye there hunt the souls to make them fly,
and I will tear them from your arms, and will let the souls go,
even the souls that ye hunt to make them fly.
Your kerchiefs also will I tear, and deliver my people out of
your hand, and they shall be no more in your hand to be hunted;
and ye shall know that I am the LORD.
Because with lies ye have made the heart of the righteous sad,
whom I have not made sad; and strengthened the hands of the
wicked, that he should not return from his wicked way, by
promising him life:
Therefore ye shall see no more vanity, nor divine divinations:
for I will deliver my people out of your hand: and ye shall
know that I am the LORD.
Then came certain of the elders of Israel unto me, and sat
before me.
And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their heart,
and put the stumblingblock of their iniquity before their face:
should I be enquired of at all by them?
Therefore speak unto them, and say unto them, Thus saith the
Lord GOD; Every man of the house of Israel that setteth up his
idols in his heart, and putteth the stumblingblock of his
iniquity before his face, and cometh to the prophet; I the LORD
will answer him that cometh according to the multitude of his
idols;
That I may take the house of Israel in their own heart, because
they are all estranged from me through their idols.
Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord
GOD; Repent, and turn yourselves from your idols; and turn away
your faces from all your abominations.
For every one of the house of Israel, or of the stranger that
sojourneth in Israel, which separateth himself from me, and
setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the
stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to a
prophet to enquire of him concerning me; I the LORD will answer
him by myself:
And I will set my face against that man, and will make him a
sign and a proverb, and I will cut him off from the midst of my
people; and ye shall know that I am the LORD.
And if the prophet be deceived when he hath spoken a thing, I
the LORD have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my
hand upon him, and will destroy him from the midst of my people
Israel.
And they shall bear the punishment of their iniquity: the
punishment of the prophet shall be even as the punishment of
him that seeketh unto him;
That the house of Israel may go no more astray from me, neither
be polluted any more with all their transgressions; but that
they may be my people, and I may be their God, saith the Lord
GOD.
The word of the LORD came again to me, saying,
Son of man, when the land sinneth against me by trespassing
grievously, then will I stretch out mine hand upon it, and will
break the staff of the bread thereof, and will send famine upon
it, and will cut off man and beast from it:
Though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they
should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness,
saith the Lord GOD.
If I cause noisome beasts to pass through the land, and they
spoil it, so that it be desolate, that no man may pass through
because of the beasts:
Though these three men were in it, as I live, saith the Lord
GOD, they shall deliver neither sons nor daughters; they only
shall be delivered, but the land shall be desolate.
Or if I bring a sword upon that land, and say, Sword, go
through the land; so that I cut off man and beast from it:
Though these three men were in it, as I live, saith the Lord
GOD, they shall deliver neither sons nor daughters, but they
only shall be delivered themselves.
Or if I send a pestilence into that land, and pour out my fury
upon it in blood, to cut off from it man and beast:
Though Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, as I live, saith the
Lord GOD, they shall deliver neither son nor daughter; they
shall but deliver their own souls by their righteousness.
For thus saith the Lord GOD; How much more when I send my four
sore judgments upon Jerusalem, the sword, and the famine, and
the noisome beast, and the pestilence, to cut off from it man
and beast?
Yet, behold, therein shall be left a remnant that shall be
brought forth, both sons and daughters: behold, they shall come
forth unto you, and ye shall see their way and their doings:
and ye shall be comforted concerning the evil that I have
brought upon Jerusalem, even concerning all that I have brought
upon it.
And they shall comfort you, when ye see their ways and their
doings: and ye shall know that I have not done without cause
all that I have done in it, saith the Lord GOD.
And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Son of man, What is the vine tree more than any tree, or than a
branch which is among the trees of the forest?
Shall wood be taken thereof to do any work? or will men take a
pin of it to hang any vessel thereon?
Behold, it is cast into the fire for fuel; the fire devoureth
both the ends of it, and the midst of it is burned. Is it meet
for any work?
Behold, when it was whole, it was meet for no work: how much
less shall it be meet yet for any work, when the fire hath
devoured it, and it is burned?
Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; As the vine tree among the
trees of the forest, which I have given to the fire for fuel,
so will I give the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
And I will set my face against them; they shall go out from one
fire, and another fire shall devour them; and ye shall know
that I am the LORD, when I set my face against them.
And I will make the land desolate, because they have committed
a trespass, saith the Lord GOD.
Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations,
And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD unto Jerusalem; Thy birth and
thy nativity is of the land of Canaan; thy father was an
Amorite, and thy mother an Hittite.
And as for thy nativity, in the day thou wast born thy navel
was not cut, neither wast thou washed in water to supple thee;
thou wast not salted at all, nor swaddled at all.
None eye pitied thee, to do any of these unto thee, to have
compassion upon thee; but thou wast cast out in the open field,
to the lothing of thy person, in the day that thou wast born.
And when I passed by thee, and saw thee polluted in thine own
blood, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, Live; yea,
I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, Live.
I have caused thee to multiply as the bud of the field, and
thou hast increased and waxen great, and thou art come to
excellent ornaments: thy breasts are fashioned, and thine hair
is grown, whereas thou wast naked and bare.
Now when I passed by thee, and looked upon thee, behold, thy
time was the time of love; and I spread my skirt over thee, and
covered thy nakedness: yea, I sware unto thee, and entered into
a covenant with thee, saith the Lord GOD, and thou becamest
mine.
Then washed I thee with water; yea, I throughly washed away thy
blood from thee, and I anointed thee with oil.
I clothed thee also with broidered work, and shod thee with
badgers' skin, and I girded thee about with fine linen, and I
covered thee with silk.
I decked thee also with ornaments, and I put bracelets upon thy
hands, and a chain on thy neck.
And I put a jewel on thy forehead, and earrings in thine ears,
and a beautiful crown upon thine head.
Thus wast thou decked with gold and silver; and thy raiment was
of fine linen, and silk, and broidered work; thou didst eat
fine flour, and honey, and oil: and thou wast exceeding
beautiful, and thou didst prosper into a kingdom.
And thy renown went forth among the heathen for thy beauty: for
it was perfect through my comeliness, which I had put upon
thee, saith the Lord GOD.
But thou didst trust in thine own beauty, and playedst the
harlot because of thy renown, and pouredst out thy fornications
on every one that passed by; his it was.
And of thy garments thou didst take, and deckedst thy high
places with divers colours, and playedst the harlot thereupon:
the like things shall not come, neither shall it be so.
Thou hast also taken thy fair jewels of my gold and of my
silver, which I had given thee, and madest to thyself images of
men, and didst commit whoredom with them,
And tookest thy broidered garments, and coveredst them: and
thou hast set mine oil and mine incense before them.
My meat also which I gave thee, fine flour, and oil, and honey,
wherewith I fed thee, thou hast even set it before them for a
sweet savour: and thus it was, saith the Lord GOD.
Moreover thou hast taken thy sons and thy daughters, whom thou
hast borne unto me, and these hast thou sacrificed unto them to
be devoured. Is this of thy whoredoms a small matter,
That thou hast slain my children, and delivered them to cause
them to pass through the fire for them?
And in all thine abominations and thy whoredoms thou hast not
remembered the days of thy youth, when thou wast naked and
bare, and wast polluted in thy blood.
And it came to pass after all thy wickedness, (woe, woe unto
thee! saith the Lord GOD;)
That thou hast also built unto thee an eminent place, and hast
made thee an high place in every street.
Thou hast built thy high place at every head of the way, and
hast made thy beauty to be abhorred, and hast opened thy feet
to every one that passed by, and multiplied thy whoredoms.
Thou hast also committed fornication with the Egyptians thy
neighbours, great of flesh; and hast increased thy whoredoms,
to provoke me to anger.
Behold, therefore I have stretched out my hand over thee, and
have diminished thine ordinary food, and delivered thee unto
the will of them that hate thee, the daughters of the
Philistines, which are ashamed of thy lewd way.
Thou hast played the whore also with the Assyrians, because
thou wast unsatiable; yea, thou hast played the harlot with
them, and yet couldest not be satisfied.
Thou hast moreover multiplied thy fornication in the land of
Canaan unto Chaldea; and yet thou wast not satisfied herewith.
How weak is thine heart, saith the Lord GOD, seeing thou doest
all these things, the work of an imperious whorish woman;
In that thou buildest thine eminent place in the head of every
way, and makest thine high place in every street; and hast not
been as an harlot, in that thou scornest hire;
But as a wife that committeth adultery, which taketh strangers
instead of her husband!
They give gifts to all whores: but thou givest thy gifts to all
thy lovers, and hirest them, that they may come unto thee on
every side for thy whoredom.
And the contrary is in thee from other women in thy whoredoms,
whereas none followeth thee to commit whoredoms: and in that
thou givest a reward, and no reward is given unto thee,
therefore thou art contrary.
Wherefore, O harlot, hear the word of the LORD:
Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thy filthiness was poured out,
and thy nakedness discovered through thy whoredoms with thy
lovers, and with all the idols of thy abominations, and by the
blood of thy children, which thou didst give unto them;
Behold, therefore I will gather all thy lovers, with whom thou
hast taken pleasure, and all them that thou hast loved, with
all them that thou hast hated; I will even gather them round
about against thee, and will discover thy nakedness unto them,
that they may see all thy nakedness.
And I will judge thee, as women that break wedlock and shed
blood are judged; and I will give thee blood in fury and
jealousy.
And I will also give thee into their hand, and they shall throw
down thine eminent place, and shall break down thy high places:
they shall strip thee also of thy clothes, and shall take thy
fair jewels, and leave thee naked and bare.
They shall also bring up a company against thee, and they shall
stone thee with stones, and thrust thee through with their
swords.
And they shall burn thine houses with fire, and execute
judgments upon thee in the sight of many women: and I will
cause thee to cease from playing the harlot, and thou also
shalt give no hire any more.
So will I make my fury toward thee to rest, and my jealousy
shall depart from thee, and I will be quiet, and will be no
more angry.
Because thou hast not remembered the days of thy youth, but
hast fretted me in all these things; behold, therefore I also
will recompense thy way upon thine head, saith the Lord GOD:
and thou shalt not commit this lewdness above all thine
abominations.
Behold, every one that useth proverbs shall use this proverb
against thee, saying, As is the mother, so is her daughter.
Thou art thy mother's daughter, that lotheth her husband and
her children; and thou art the sister of thy sisters, which
lothed their husbands and their children: your mother was an
Hittite, and your father an Amorite.
And thine elder sister is Samaria, she and her daughters that
dwell at thy left hand: and thy younger sister, that dwelleth
at thy right hand, is Sodom and her daughters.
Yet hast thou not walked after their ways, nor done after their
abominations: but, as if that were a very little thing, thou
wast corrupted more than they in all thy ways.
As I live, saith the Lord GOD, Sodom thy sister hath not done,
she nor her daughters, as thou hast done, thou and thy
daughters.
Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride,
fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in
her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor
and needy.
And they were haughty, and committed abomination before me:
therefore I took them away as I saw good.
Neither hath Samaria committed half of thy sins; but thou hast
multiplied thine abominations more than they, and hast
justified thy sisters in all thine abominations which thou hast
done.
Thou also, which hast judged thy sisters, bear thine own shame
for thy sins that thou hast committed more abominable than
they: they are more righteous than thou: yea, be thou
confounded also, and bear thy shame, in that thou hast
justified thy sisters.
When I shall bring again their captivity, the captivity of
Sodom and her daughters, and the captivity of Samaria and her
daughters, then will I bring again the captivity of thy
captives in the midst of them:
That thou mayest bear thine own shame, and mayest be confounded
in all that thou hast done, in that thou art a comfort unto
them.
When thy sisters, Sodom and her daughters, shall return to
their former estate, and Samaria and her daughters shall return
to their former estate, then thou and thy daughters shall
return to your former estate.
For thy sister Sodom was not mentioned by thy mouth in the day
of thy pride,
Before thy wickedness was discovered, as at the time of thy
reproach of the daughters of Syria, and all that are round
about her, the daughters of the Philistines, which despise thee
round about.
Thou hast borne thy lewdness and thine abominations, saith the
LORD.
For thus saith the Lord GOD; I will even deal with thee as thou
hast done, which hast despised the oath in breaking the
covenant.
Nevertheless I will remember my covenant with thee in the days
of thy youth, and I will establish unto thee an everlasting
covenant.
Then thou shalt remember thy ways, and be ashamed, when thou
shalt receive thy sisters, thine elder and thy younger: and I
will give them unto thee for daughters, but not by thy
covenant.
And I will establish my covenant with thee; and thou shalt know
that I am the LORD:
That thou mayest remember, and be confounded, and never open
thy mouth any more because of thy shame, when I am pacified
toward thee for all that thou hast done, saith the Lord GOD.
And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Son of man, put forth a riddle, and speak a parable unto the
house of Israel;
And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; A great eagle with great
wings, longwinged, full of feathers, which had divers colours,
came unto Lebanon, and took the highest branch of the cedar:
He cropped off the top of his young twigs, and carried it into
a land of traffick; he set it in a city of merchants.
He took also of the seed of the land, and planted it in a
fruitful field; he placed it by great waters, and set it as a
willow tree.
And it grew, and became a spreading vine of low stature, whose
branches turned toward him, and the roots thereof were under
him: so it became a vine, and brought forth branches, and shot
forth sprigs.
There was also another great eagle with great wings and many
feathers: and, behold, this vine did bend her roots toward him,
and shot forth her branches toward him, that he might water it
by the furrows of her plantation.
It was planted in a good soil by great waters, that it might
bring forth branches, and that it might bear fruit, that it
might be a goodly vine.
Say thou, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Shall it prosper? shall he
not pull up the roots thereof, and cut off the fruit thereof,
that it wither? it shall wither in all the leaves of her
spring, even without great power or many people to pluck it up
by the roots thereof.
Yea, behold, being planted, shall it prosper? shall it not
utterly wither, when the east wind toucheth it? it shall wither
in the furrows where it grew.
Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Say now to the rebellious house, Know ye not what these things
mean? tell them, Behold, the king of Babylon is come to
Jerusalem, and hath taken the king thereof, and the princes
thereof, and led them with him to Babylon;
And hath taken of the king's seed, and made a covenant with
him, and hath taken an oath of him: he hath also taken the
mighty of the land:
That the kingdom might be base, that it might not lift itself
up, but that by keeping of his covenant it might stand.
But he rebelled against him in sending his ambassadors into
Egypt, that they might give him horses and much people. Shall
he prosper? shall he escape that doeth such things? or shall he
break the covenant, and be delivered?
As I live, saith the Lord GOD, surely in the place where the
king dwelleth that made him king, whose oath he despised, and
whose covenant he brake, even with him in the midst of Babylon
he shall die.
Neither shall Pharaoh with his mighty army and great company
make for him in the war, by casting up mounts, and building
forts, to cut off many persons:
Seeing he despised the oath by breaking the covenant, when, lo,
he had given his hand, and hath done all these things, he shall
not escape.
Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; As I live, surely mine oath
that he hath despised, and my covenant that he hath broken,
even it will I recompense upon his own head.
And I will spread my net upon him, and he shall be taken in my
snare, and I will bring him to Babylon, and will plead with him
there for his trespass that he hath trespassed against me.
And all his fugitives with all his bands shall fall by the
sword, and they that remain shall be scattered toward all
winds: and ye shall know that I the LORD have spoken it.
Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will also take of the highest branch
of the high cedar, and will set it; I will crop off from the
top of his young twigs a tender one, and will plant it upon an
high mountain and eminent:
In the mountain of the height of Israel will I plant it: and it
shall bring forth boughs, and bear fruit, and be a goodly
cedar: and under it shall dwell all fowl of every wing; in the
shadow of the branches thereof shall they dwell.
And all the trees of the field shall know that I the LORD have
brought down the high tree, have exalted the low tree, have
dried up the green tree, and have made the dry tree to
flourish: I the LORD have spoken and have done it.
The word of the LORD came unto me again, saying,
What mean ye, that ye use this proverb concerning the land of
Israel, saying, The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the
children's teeth are set on edge?
As I live, saith the Lord GOD, ye shall not have occasion any
more to use this proverb in Israel.
Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also
the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall
die.
But if a man be just, and do that which is lawful and right,
And hath not eaten upon the mountains, neither hath lifted up
his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, neither hath
defiled his neighbour's wife, neither hath come near to a
menstruous woman,
And hath not oppressed any, but hath restored to the debtor his
pledge, hath spoiled none by violence, hath given his bread to
the hungry, and hath covered the naked with a garment;
He that hath not given forth upon usury, neither hath taken any
increase, that hath withdrawn his hand from iniquity, hath
executed true judgment between man and man,
Hath walked in my statutes, and hath kept my judgments, to deal
truly; he is just, he shall surely live, saith the Lord GOD.
If he beget a son that is a robber, a shedder of blood, and
that doeth the like to any one of these things,
And that doeth not any of those duties, but even hath eaten
upon the mountains, and defiled his neighbour's wife,
Hath oppressed the poor and needy, hath spoiled by violence,
hath not restored the pledge, and hath lifted up his eyes to
the idols, hath committed abomination,
Hath given forth upon usury, and hath taken increase: shall he
then live? he shall not live: he hath done all these
abominations; he shall surely die; his blood shall be upon him.
Now, lo, if he beget a son, that seeth all his father's sins
which he hath done, and considereth, and doeth not such like,
That hath not eaten upon the mountains, neither hath lifted up
his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, hath not defiled
his neighbour's wife,
Neither hath oppressed any, hath not withholden the pledge,
neither hath spoiled by violence, but hath given his bread to
the hungry, and hath covered the naked with a garment,
That hath taken off his hand from the poor, that hath not
received usury nor increase, hath executed my judgments, hath
walked in my statutes; he shall not die for the iniquity of his
father, he shall surely live.
As for his father, because he cruelly oppressed, spoiled his
brother by violence, and did that which is not good among his
people, lo, even he shall die in his iniquity.
Yet say ye, Why? doth not the son bear the iniquity of the
father? When the son hath done that which is lawful and right,
and hath kept all my statutes, and hath done them, he shall
surely live.
The soul that sinneth, it 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 upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon
him.
But if the wicked will turn from all his sins that he hath
committed, and keep all my statutes, and do that which is
lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die.
All his transgressions that he hath committed, they shall not
be mentioned unto him: in his righteousness that he hath done
he shall live.
Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? saith
the Lord GOD: and not that he should return from his ways, and
live?
But when the righteous turneth away from his righteousness, and
committeth iniquity, and doeth according to all the
abominations that the wicked man doeth, shall he live? All his
righteousness that he hath done shall not be mentioned: in his
trespass that he hath trespassed, and in his sin that he hath
sinned, in them shall he die.
Yet ye say, The way of the Lord is not equal. Hear now, O house
of Israel; Is not my way equal? are not your ways unequal?
When a righteous man turneth away from his righteousness, and
committeth iniquity, and dieth in them; for his iniquity that
he hath done shall he die.
Again, when the wicked man turneth away from his wickedness
that he hath committed, and doeth that which is lawful and
right, he shall save his soul alive.
Because he considereth, and turneth away from all his
transgressions that he hath committed, he shall surely live, he
shall not die.
Yet saith the house of Israel, The way of the Lord is not
equal. O house of Israel, are not my ways equal? are not your
ways unequal?
Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one
according to his ways, saith the Lord GOD. Repent, and turn
yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not
be your ruin.
Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby ye have
transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit: for
why will ye die, O house of Israel?
For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith
the Lord GOD: wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye.
Moreover take thou up a lamentation for the princes of Israel,
And say, What is thy mother? A lioness: she lay down among
lions, she nourished her whelps among young lions.
And she brought up one of her whelps: it became a young lion,
and it learned to catch the prey; it devoured men.
The nations also heard of him; he was taken in their pit, and
they brought him with chains unto the land of Egypt.
Now when she saw that she had waited, and her hope was lost,
then she took another of her whelps, and made him a young lion.
And he went up and down among the lions, he became a young
lion, and learned to catch the prey, and devoured men.
And he knew their desolate palaces, and he laid waste their
cities; and the land was desolate, and the fulness thereof, by
the noise of his roaring.
Then the nations set against him on every side from the
provinces, and spread their net over him: he was taken in their
pit.
And they put him in ward in chains, and brought him to the king
of Babylon: they brought him into holds, that his voice should
no more be heard upon the mountains of Israel.
Thy mother is like a vine in thy blood, planted by the waters:
she was fruitful and full of branches by reason of many waters.
And she had strong rods for the sceptres of them that bare
rule, and her stature was exalted among the thick branches, and
she appeared in her height with the multitude of her branches.
But she was plucked up in fury, she was cast down to the
ground, and the east wind dried up her fruit: her strong rods
were broken and withered; the fire consumed them.
And now she is planted in the wilderness, in a dry and thirsty
ground.
And fire is gone out of a rod of her branches, which hath
devoured her fruit, so that she hath no strong rod to be a
sceptre to rule. This is a lamentation, and shall be for a
lamentation.
And it came to pass in the seventh year, in the fifth month,
the tenth day of the month, that certain of the elders of
Israel came to enquire of the LORD, and sat before me.
Then came the word of the LORD unto me, saying,
Son of man, speak unto the elders of Israel, and say unto them,
Thus saith the Lord GOD; Are ye come to enquire of me? As I
live, saith the Lord GOD, I will not be enquired of by you.
Wilt thou judge them, son of man, wilt thou judge them? cause
them to know the abominations of their fathers:
And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; In the day when I
chose Israel, and lifted up mine hand unto the seed of the
house of Jacob, and made myself known unto them in the land of
Egypt, when I lifted up mine hand unto them, saying, I am the
LORD your God;
In the day that I lifted up mine hand unto them, to bring them
forth of the land of Egypt into a land that I had espied for
them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all
lands:
Then said I unto them, Cast ye away every man the abominations
of his eyes, and defile not yourselves with the idols of Egypt:
I am the LORD your God.
But they rebelled against me, and would not hearken unto me:
they did not every man cast away the abominations of their
eyes, neither did they forsake the idols of Egypt: then I said,
I will pour out my fury upon them, to accomplish my anger
against them in the midst of the land of Egypt.
But I wrought for my name's sake, that it should not be
polluted before the heathen, among whom they were, in whose
sight I made myself known unto them, in bringing them forth out
of the land of Egypt.
Wherefore I caused them to go forth out of the land of Egypt,
and brought them into the wilderness.
And I gave them my statutes, and shewed them my judgments,
which if a man do, he shall even live in them.
Moreover also I gave them my sabbaths, to be a sign between me
and them, that they might know that I am the LORD that sanctify
them.
But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness:
they walked not in my statutes, and they despised my judgments,
which if a man do, he shall even live in them; and my sabbaths
they greatly polluted: then I said, I would pour out my fury
upon them in the wilderness, to consume them.
But I wrought for my name's sake, that it should not be
polluted before the heathen, in whose sight I brought them out.
Yet also I lifted up my hand unto 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;
Because they despised my judgments, and walked not in my
statutes, but polluted my sabbaths: for their heart went after
their idols.
Nevertheless mine eye spared them from destroying them, neither
did I make an end of them in the wilderness.
But I said unto their children in the wilderness, Walk ye not
in the statutes of your fathers, neither observe their
judgments, nor defile yourselves with their idols:
I am the LORD your God; walk in my statutes, and keep my
judgments, and do them;
And hallow my sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between me and
you, that ye may know that I am the LORD your God.
Notwithstanding the children rebelled against me: they walked
not in my statutes, neither kept my judgments to do them, which
if a man do, he shall even live in them; they polluted my
sabbaths: then I said, I would pour out my fury upon them, to
accomplish my anger against them in the wilderness.
Nevertheless I withdrew mine hand, and wrought for my name's
sake, that it should not be polluted in the sight of the
heathen, in whose sight I brought them forth.
I lifted up mine hand unto them also in the wilderness, that I
would scatter them among the heathen, and disperse them through
the countries;
Because they had not executed my judgments, but had despised my
statutes, and had polluted my sabbaths, and their eyes were
after their fathers' idols.
Wherefore I gave them also statutes that were not good, and
judgments whereby they should not live;
And I polluted them in their own gifts, in that they caused to
pass through the fire all that openeth the womb, that I might
make them desolate, to the end that they might know that I am
the LORD.
Therefore, son of man, speak unto the house of Israel, and say
unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Yet in this your fathers
have blasphemed me, in that they have committed a trespass
against me.
For when I had brought them into the land, for the which I
lifted up mine hand to give it to them, then they saw every
high hill, and all the thick trees, and they offered there
their sacrifices, and there they presented the provocation of
their offering: there also they made their sweet savour, and
poured out there their drink offerings.
Then I said unto them, What is the high place whereunto ye go?
And the name thereof is called Bamah unto this day.
Wherefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord
GOD; Are ye polluted after the manner of your fathers? and
commit ye whoredom after their abominations?
For when ye offer your gifts, when ye make your sons to pass
through the fire, ye pollute yourselves with all your idols,
even unto this day: and shall I be enquired of by you, O house
of Israel? As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I will not be
enquired of by you.
And that which cometh into your mind shall not be at all, that
ye say, We will be as the heathen, as the families of the
countries, to serve wood and stone.
As I live, saith the Lord GOD, surely with a mighty hand, and
with a stretched out arm, and with fury poured out, will I rule
over you:
And I will bring you out from the people, and will gather you
out of the countries wherein ye are scattered, with a mighty
hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with fury poured out.
And I will bring you into the wilderness of the people, and
there will I plead with you face to face.
Like as I pleaded with your fathers in the wilderness of the
land of Egypt, so will I plead with you, saith the Lord GOD.
And I will cause you to pass under the rod, and I will bring
you into the bond of the covenant:
And I will purge out from among you the rebels, and them that
transgress against me: I will bring them forth out of the
country where they sojourn, and they shall not enter into the
land of Israel: and ye shall know that I am the LORD.
As for you, O house of Israel, thus saith the Lord GOD; Go ye,
serve ye every one his idols, and hereafter also, if ye will
not hearken unto me: but pollute ye my holy name no more with
your gifts, and with your idols.
For in mine holy mountain, in the mountain of the height of
Israel, saith the Lord GOD, there shall all the house of
Israel, all of them in the land, serve me: there will I accept
them, and there will I require your offerings, and the
firstfruits of your oblations, with all your holy things.
I will accept you with your sweet savour, when I bring you out
from the people, and gather you out of the countries wherein ye
have been scattered; and I will be sanctified in you before the
heathen.
And ye shall know that I am the LORD, when I shall bring you
into the land of Israel, into the country for the which I
lifted up mine hand to give it to your fathers.
And there shall ye remember your ways, and all your doings,
wherein ye have been defiled; and ye shall lothe yourselves in
your own sight for all your evils that ye have committed.
And ye shall know that I am the LORD, when I have wrought with
you for my name's sake, not according to your wicked ways, nor
according to your corrupt doings, O ye house of Israel, saith
the Lord GOD.
Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Son of man, set thy face toward the south, and drop thy word
toward the south, and prophesy against the forest of the south
field;
And say to the forest of the south, Hear the word of the LORD;
Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee,
and it shall devour every green tree in thee, and every dry
tree: the flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces
from the south to the north shall be burned therein.
And all flesh shall see that I the LORD have kindled it: it
shall not be quenched.
Then said I, Ah Lord GOD! they say of me, Doth he not speak
parables?
And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Son of man, set thy face toward Jerusalem, and drop thy word
toward the holy places, and prophesy against the land of
Israel,
And say to the land of Israel, Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I
am against thee, and will draw forth my sword out of his
sheath, and will cut off from thee the righteous and the
wicked.
Seeing then that I will cut off from thee the righteous and the
wicked, therefore shall my sword go forth out of his sheath
against all flesh from the south to the north:
That all flesh may know that I the LORD have drawn forth my
sword out of his sheath: it shall not return any more.
Sigh therefore, thou son of man, with the breaking of thy
loins; and with bitterness sigh before their eyes.
And it shall be, when they say unto thee, Wherefore sighest
thou? that thou shalt answer, For the tidings; because it
cometh: and every heart shall melt, and all hands shall be
feeble, and every spirit shall faint, and all knees shall be
weak as water: behold, it cometh, and shall be brought to pass,
saith the Lord GOD.
Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Son of man, prophesy, and say, Thus saith the LORD; Say, A
sword, a sword is sharpened, and also furbished:
It is sharpened to make a sore slaughter; it is furbished that
it may glitter: should we then make mirth? it contemneth the
rod of my son, as every tree.
And he hath given it to be furbished, that it may be handled:
this sword is sharpened, and it is furbished, to give it into
the hand of the slayer.
Cry and howl, son of man: for it shall be upon my people, it
shall be upon all the princes of Israel: terrors by reason of
the sword shall be upon my people: smite therefore upon thy
thigh.
Because it is a trial, and what if the sword contemn even the
rod? it shall be no more, saith the Lord GOD.
Thou therefore, son of man, prophesy, and smite thine hands
together, and let the sword be doubled the third time, the
sword of the slain: it is the sword of the great men that are
slain, which entereth into their privy chambers.
I have set the point of the sword against all their gates, that
their heart may faint, and their ruins be multiplied: ah! it is
made bright, it is wrapped up for the slaughter.
Go thee one way or other, either on the right hand, or on the
left, whithersoever thy face is set.
I will also smite mine hands together, and I will cause my fury
to rest: I the LORD have said it.
The word of the LORD came unto me again, saying,
Also, thou son of man, appoint thee two ways, that the sword of
the king of Babylon may come: both twain shall come forth out
of one land: and choose thou a place, choose it at the head of
the way to the city.
Appoint a way, that the sword may come to Rabbath of the
Ammonites, and to Judah in Jerusalem the defenced.
For the king of Babylon stood at the parting of the way, at the
head of the two ways, to use divination: he made his arrows
bright, he consulted with images, he looked in the liver.
At his right hand was the divination for Jerusalem, to appoint
captains, to open the mouth in the slaughter, to lift up the
voice with shouting, to appoint battering rams against the
gates, to cast a mount, and to build a fort.
And it shall be unto them as a false divination in their sight,
to them that have sworn oaths: but he will call to remembrance
the iniquity, that they may be taken.
Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because ye have made your
iniquity to be remembered, in that your transgressions are
discovered, so that in all your doings your sins do appear;
because, I say, that ye are come to remembrance, ye shall be
taken with the hand.
And thou, profane wicked prince of Israel, whose day is come,
when iniquity shall have an end,
Thus saith the Lord GOD; Remove the diadem, and take off the
crown: this shall not be the same: exalt him that is low, and
abase him that is high.
I will overturn, overturn, overturn, it: and it shall be no
more, until he come whose right it is; and I will give it him.
And thou, son of man, prophesy and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD
concerning the Ammonites, and concerning their reproach; even
say thou, The sword, the sword is drawn: for the slaughter it
is furbished, to consume because of the glittering:
Whiles they see vanity unto thee, whiles they divine a lie unto
thee, to bring thee upon the necks of them that are slain, of
the wicked, whose day is come, when their iniquity shall have
an end.
Shall I cause it to return into his sheath? I will judge thee
in the place where thou wast created, in the land of thy
nativity.
And I will pour out mine indignation upon thee, I will blow
against thee in the fire of my wrath, and deliver thee into the
hand of brutish men, and skilful to destroy.
Thou shalt be for fuel to the fire; thy blood shall be in the
midst of the land; thou shalt be no more remembered: for I the
LORD have spoken it.
Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Now, thou son of man, wilt thou judge, wilt thou judge the
bloody city? yea, thou shalt shew her all her abominations.
Then say thou, Thus saith the Lord GOD, The city sheddeth blood
in the midst of it, that her time may come, and maketh idols
against herself to defile herself.
Thou art become guilty in thy blood that thou hast shed; and
hast defiled thyself in thine idols which thou hast made; and
thou hast caused thy days to draw near, and art come even unto
thy years: therefore have I made thee a reproach unto the
heathen, and a mocking to all countries.
Those that be near, and those that be far from thee, shall mock
thee, which art infamous and much vexed.
Behold, the princes of Israel, every one were in thee to their
power to shed blood.
In thee have they set light by father and mother: in the midst
of thee have they dealt by oppression with the stranger: in
thee have they vexed the fatherless and the widow.
Thou hast despised mine holy things, and hast profaned my
sabbaths.
In thee are men that carry tales to shed blood: and in thee
they eat upon the mountains: in the midst of thee they commit
lewdness.
In thee have they discovered their fathers' nakedness: in thee
have they humbled her that was set apart for pollution.
And one hath committed abomination with his neighbour's wife;
and another hath lewdly defiled his daughter in law; and
another in thee hath humbled his sister, his father's daughter.
In thee have they taken gifts to shed blood; thou hast taken
usury and increase, and thou hast greedily gained of thy
neighbours by extortion, and hast forgotten me, saith the Lord
GOD.
Behold, therefore I have smitten mine hand at thy dishonest
gain which thou hast made, and at thy blood which hath been in
the midst of thee.
Can thine heart endure, or can thine hands be strong, in the
days that I shall deal with thee? I the LORD have spoken it,
and will do it.
And I will scatter thee among the heathen, and disperse thee in
the countries, and will consume thy filthiness out of thee.
And thou shalt take thine inheritance in thyself in the sight
of the heathen, and thou shalt know that I am the LORD.
And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Son of man, the house of Israel is to me become dross: all they
are brass, and tin, and iron, and lead, in the midst of the
furnace; they are even the dross of silver.
Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because ye are all become
dross, behold, therefore I will gather you into the midst of
Jerusalem.
As they gather silver, and brass, and iron, and lead, and tin,
into the midst of the furnace, to blow the fire upon it, to
melt it; so will I gather you in mine anger and in my fury, and
I will leave you there, and melt you.
Yea, I will gather you, and blow upon you in the fire of my
wrath, and ye shall be melted in the midst thereof.
As silver is melted in the midst of the furnace, so shall ye be
melted in the midst thereof; and ye shall know that I the LORD
have poured out my fury upon you.
And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Son of man, say unto her, Thou art the land that is not
cleansed, nor rained upon in the day of indignation.
There is a conspiracy of her prophets in the midst thereof,
like a roaring lion ravening the prey; they have devoured
souls; they have taken the treasure and precious things; they
have made her many widows in the midst thereof.
Her priests have violated my law, and have profaned mine holy
things: they have put no difference between the holy and
profane, neither have they shewed difference between the
unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes from my
sabbaths, and I am profaned among them.
Her princes in the midst thereof are like wolves ravening the
prey, to shed blood, and to destroy souls, to get dishonest
gain.
And her prophets have daubed them with untempered morter,
seeing vanity, and divining lies unto them, saying, Thus saith
the Lord GOD, when the LORD hath not spoken.
The people of the land have used oppression, and exercised
robbery, and have vexed the poor and needy: yea, they have
oppressed the stranger wrongfully.
And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the
hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I
should not destroy it: but I found none.
Therefore have I poured out mine indignation upon them; I have
consumed them with the fire of my wrath: their own way have I
recompensed upon their heads, saith the Lord GOD.
The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying,
Son of man, there were two women, the daughters of one mother:
And they committed whoredoms in Egypt; they committed whoredoms
in their youth: there were their breasts pressed, and there
they bruised the teats of their virginity.
And the names of them were Aholah the elder, and Aholibah her
sister: and they were mine, and they bare sons and daughters.
Thus were their names; Samaria is Aholah, and Jerusalem
Aholibah.
And Aholah played the harlot when she was mine; and she doted
on her lovers, on the Assyrians her neighbours,
Which were clothed with blue, captains and rulers, all of them
desirable young men, horsemen riding upon horses.
Thus she committed her whoredoms with them, with all them that
were the chosen men of Assyria, and with all on whom she doted:
with all their idols she defiled herself.
Neither left she her whoredoms brought from Egypt: for in her
youth they lay with her, and they bruised the breasts of her
virginity, and poured their whoredom upon her.
Wherefore I have delivered her into the hand of her lovers,
into the hand of the Assyrians, upon whom she doted.
These discovered her nakedness: they took her sons and her
daughters, and slew her with the sword: and she became famous
among women; for they had executed judgment upon her.
And when her sister Aholibah saw this, she was more corrupt in
her inordinate love than she, and in her whoredoms more than
her sister in her whoredoms.
She doted upon the Assyrians her neighbours, captains and
rulers clothed most gorgeously, horsemen riding upon horses,
all of them desirable young men.
Then I saw that she was defiled, that they took both one way,
And that she increased her whoredoms: for when she saw men
pourtrayed upon the wall, the images of the Chaldeans
pourtrayed with vermilion,
Girded with girdles upon their loins, exceeding in dyed attire
upon their heads, all of them princes to look to, after the
manner of the Babylonians of Chaldea, the land of their
nativity:
And as soon as she saw them with her eyes, she doted upon them,
and sent messengers unto them into Chaldea.
And the Babylonians came to her into the bed of love, and they
defiled her with their whoredom, and she was polluted with
them, and her mind was alienated from them.
So she discovered her whoredoms, and discovered her nakedness:
then my mind was alienated from her, like as my mind was
alienated from her sister.
Yet she multiplied her whoredoms, in calling to remembrance the
days of her youth, wherein she had played the harlot in the
land of Egypt.
For she doted upon their paramours, whose flesh is as the flesh
of asses, and whose issue is like the issue of horses.
Thus thou calledst to remembrance the lewdness of thy youth, in
bruising thy teats by the Egyptians for the paps of thy youth.
Therefore, O Aholibah, thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will
raise up thy lovers against thee, from whom thy mind is
alienated, and I will bring them against thee on every side;
The Babylonians, and all the Chaldeans, Pekod, and Shoa, and
Koa, and all the Assyrians with them: all of them desirable
young men, captains and rulers, great lords and renowned, all
of them riding upon horses.
And they shall come against thee with chariots, wagons, and
wheels, and with an assembly of people, which shall set against
thee buckler and shield and helmet round about: and I will set
judgment before them, and they shall judge thee according to
their judgments.
And I will set my jealousy against thee, and they shall deal
furiously with thee: they shall take away thy nose and thine
ears; and thy remnant shall fall by the sword: they shall take
thy sons and thy daughters; and thy residue shall be devoured
by the fire.
They shall also strip thee out of thy clothes, and take away
thy fair jewels.
Thus will I make thy lewdness to cease from thee, and thy
whoredom brought from the land of Egypt: so that thou shalt not
lift up thine eyes unto them, nor remember Egypt any more.
For thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will deliver thee into
the hand of them whom thou hatest, into the hand of them from
whom thy mind is alienated:
And they shall deal with thee hatefully, and shall take away
all thy labour, and shall leave thee naked and bare: and the
nakedness of thy whoredoms shall be discovered, both thy
lewdness and thy whoredoms.
I will do these things unto thee, because thou hast gone a
whoring after the heathen, and because thou art polluted with
their idols.
Thou hast walked in the way of thy sister; therefore will I
give her cup into thine hand.
Thus saith the Lord GOD; Thou shalt drink of thy sister's cup
deep and large: thou shalt be laughed to scorn and had in
derision; it containeth much.
Thou shalt be filled with drunkenness and sorrow, with the cup
of astonishment and desolation, with the cup of thy sister
Samaria.
Thou shalt even drink it and suck it out, and thou shalt break
the sherds thereof, and pluck off thine own breasts: for I have
spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.
Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thou hast forgotten
me, and cast me behind thy back, therefore bear thou also thy
lewdness and thy whoredoms.
The LORD said moreover unto me; Son of man, wilt thou judge
Aholah and Aholibah? yea, declare unto them their abominations;
That they have committed adultery, and blood is in their hands,
and with their idols have they committed adultery, and have
also caused their sons, whom they bare unto me, to pass for
them through the fire, to devour them.
Moreover this they have done unto me: they have defiled my
sanctuary in the same day, and have profaned my sabbaths.
For when they had slain their children to their idols, then
they came the same day into my sanctuary to profane it; and,
lo, thus have they done in the midst of mine house.
And furthermore, that ye have sent for men to come from far,
unto whom a messenger was sent; and, lo, they came: for whom
thou didst wash thyself, paintedst thy eyes, and deckedst
thyself with ornaments,
And satest upon a stately bed, and a table prepared before it,
whereupon thou hast set mine incense and mine oil.
And a voice of a multitude being at ease was with her: and with
the men of the common sort were brought Sabeans from the
wilderness, which put bracelets upon their hands, and beautiful
crowns upon their heads.
Then said I unto her that was old in adulteries, Will they now
commit whoredoms with her, and she with them?
Yet they went in unto her, as they go in unto a woman that
playeth the harlot: so went they in unto Aholah and unto
Aholibah, the lewd women.
And the righteous men, they shall judge them after the manner
of adulteresses, and after the manner of women that shed blood;
because they are adulteresses, and blood is in their hands.
For thus saith the Lord GOD; I will bring up a company upon
them, and will give them to be removed and spoiled.
And the company shall stone them with stones, and dispatch them
with their swords; they shall slay their sons and their
daughters, and burn up their houses with fire.
Thus will I cause lewdness to cease out of the land, that all
women may be taught not to do after your lewdness.
And they shall recompense your lewdness upon you, and ye shall
bear the sins of your idols: and ye shall know that I am the
Lord GOD.
Again in the ninth year, in the tenth month, in the tenth day
of the month, the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Son of man, write thee the name of the day, even of this same
day: the king of Babylon set himself against Jerusalem this
same day.
And utter a parable unto the rebellious house, and say unto
them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Set on a pot, set it on, and
also pour water into it:
Gather the pieces thereof into it, even every good piece, the
thigh, and the shoulder; fill it with the choice bones.
Take the choice of the flock, and burn also the bones under it,
and make it boil well, and let them seethe the bones of it
therein.
Wherefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Woe to the bloody city, to
the pot whose scum is therein, and whose scum is not gone out
of it! bring it out piece by piece; let no lot fall upon it.
For her blood is in the midst of her; she set it upon the top
of a rock; she poured it not upon the ground, to cover it with
dust;
That it might cause fury to come up to take vengeance; I have
set her blood upon the top of a rock, that it should not be
covered.
Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Woe to the bloody city! I
will even make the pile for fire great.
Heap on wood, kindle the fire, consume the flesh, and spice it
well, and let the bones be burned.
Then set it empty upon the coals thereof, that the brass of it
may be hot, and may burn, and that the filthiness of it may be
molten in it, that the scum of it may be consumed.
She hath wearied herself with lies, and her great scum went not
forth out of her: her scum shall be in the fire.
In thy filthiness is lewdness: because I have purged thee, and
thou wast not purged, thou shalt not be purged from thy
filthiness any more, till I have caused my fury to rest upon
thee.
I the LORD have spoken it: it shall come to pass, and I will do
it; I will not go back, neither will I spare, neither will I
repent; according to thy ways, and according to thy doings,
shall they judge thee, saith the Lord GOD.
Also the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Son of man, behold, I take away from thee the desire of thine
eyes with a stroke: yet neither shalt thou mourn nor weep,
neither shall thy tears run down.
Forbear to cry, make no mourning for the dead, bind the tire of
thine head upon thee, and put on thy shoes upon thy feet, and
cover not thy lips, and eat not the bread of men.
So I spake unto the people in the morning: and at even my wife
died; and I did in the morning as I was commanded.
And the people said unto me, Wilt thou not tell us what these
things are to us, that thou doest so?
Then I answered them, The word of the LORD came unto me,
saying,
Speak unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord GOD;
Behold, I will profane my sanctuary, the excellency of your
strength, the desire of your eyes, and that which your soul
pitieth; and your sons and your daughters whom ye have left
shall fall by the sword.
And ye shall do as I have done: ye shall not cover your lips,
nor eat the bread of men.
And your tires shall be upon your heads, and your shoes upon
your feet: ye shall not mourn nor weep; but ye shall pine away
for your iniquities, and mourn one toward another.
Thus Ezekiel is unto you a sign: according to all that he hath
done shall ye do: and when this cometh, ye shall know that I am
the Lord GOD.
Also, thou son of man, shall it not be in the day when I take
from them their strength, the joy of their glory, the desire of
their eyes, and that whereupon they set their minds, their sons
and their daughters,
That he that escapeth in that day shall come unto thee, to
cause thee to hear it with thine ears?
In that day shall thy mouth be opened to him which is escaped,
and thou shalt speak, and be no more dumb: and thou shalt be a
sign unto them; and they shall know that I am the LORD.
The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying,
Son of man, set thy face against the Ammonites, and prophesy
against them;
And say unto the Ammonites, Hear the word of the Lord GOD; Thus
saith the Lord GOD; Because thou saidst, Aha, against my
sanctuary, when it was profaned; and against the land of
Israel, when it was desolate; and against the house of Judah,
when they went into captivity;
Behold, therefore I will deliver thee to the men of the east
for a possession, and they shall set their palaces in thee, and
make their dwellings in thee: they shall eat thy fruit, and
they shall drink thy milk.
And I will make Rabbah a stable for camels, and the Ammonites a
couchingplace for flocks: and ye shall know that I am the LORD.
For thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thou hast clapped thine
hands, and stamped with the feet, and rejoiced in heart with
all thy despite against the land of Israel;
Behold, therefore I will stretch out mine hand upon thee, and
will deliver thee for a spoil to the heathen; and I will cut
thee off from the people, and I will cause thee to perish out
of the countries: I will destroy thee; and thou shalt know that
I am the LORD.
Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because that Moab and Seir do say,
Behold, the house of Judah is like unto all the heathen;
Therefore, behold, I will open the side of Moab from the
cities, from his cities which are on his frontiers, the glory
of the country, Bethjeshimoth, Baalmeon, and Kiriathaim,
Unto the men of the east with the Ammonites, and will give them
in possession, that the Ammonites may not be remembered among
the nations.
And I will execute judgments upon Moab; and they shall know
that I am the LORD.
Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because that Edom hath dealt against
the house of Judah by taking vengeance, and hath greatly
offended, and revenged himself upon them;
Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; I will also stretch out mine
hand upon Edom, and will cut off man and beast from it; and I
will make it desolate from Teman; and they of Dedan shall fall
by the sword.
And I will lay my vengeance upon Edom by the hand of my people
Israel: and they shall do in Edom according to mine anger and
according to my fury; and they shall know my vengeance, saith
the Lord GOD.
Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because the Philistines have dealt by
revenge, and have taken vengeance with a despiteful heart, to
destroy it for the old hatred;
Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will stretch out
mine hand upon the Philistines, and I will cut off the
Cherethims, and destroy the remnant of the sea coast.
And I will execute great vengeance upon them with furious
rebukes; and they shall know that I am the LORD, when I shall
lay my vengeance upon them.
And it came to pass in the eleventh year, in the first day of
the month, that the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Son of man, because that Tyrus hath said against Jerusalem,
Aha, she is broken that was the gates of the people: she is
turned unto me: I shall be replenished, now she is laid waste:
Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O
Tyrus, and will cause many nations to come up against thee, as
the sea causeth his waves to come up.
And they shall destroy the walls of Tyrus, and break down her
towers: I will also scrape her dust from her, and make her like
the top of a rock.
It shall be a place for the spreading of nets in the midst of
the sea: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD: and it shall
become a spoil to the nations.
And her daughters which are in the field shall be slain by the
sword; and they shall know that I am the LORD.
For thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will bring upon Tyrus
Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, a king of kings, from the
north, with horses, and with chariots, and with horsemen, and
companies, and much people.
He shall slay with the sword thy daughters in the field: and he
shall make a fort against thee, and cast a mount against thee,
and lift up the buckler against thee.
And he shall set engines of war against thy walls, and with his
axes he shall break down thy towers.
By reason of the abundance of his horses their dust shall cover
thee: thy walls shall shake at the noise of the horsemen, and
of the wheels, and of the chariots, when he shall enter into
thy gates, as men enter into a city wherein is made a breach.
With the hoofs of his horses shall he tread down all thy
streets: he shall slay thy people by the sword, and thy strong
garrisons shall go down to the ground.
And they shall make a spoil of thy riches, and make a prey of
thy merchandise: and they shall break down thy walls, and
destroy thy pleasant houses: and they shall lay thy stones and
thy timber and thy dust in the midst of the water.
And I will cause the noise of thy songs to cease; and the sound
of thy harps shall be no more heard.
And I will make thee like the top of a rock: thou shalt be a
place to spread nets upon; thou shalt be built no more: for I
the LORD have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.
Thus saith the Lord GOD to Tyrus; Shall not the isles shake at
the sound of thy fall, when the wounded cry, when the slaughter
is made in the midst of thee?
Then all the princes of the sea shall come down from their
thrones, and lay away their robes, and put off their broidered
garments: they shall clothe themselves with trembling; they
shall sit upon the ground, and shall tremble at every moment,
and be astonished at thee.
And they shall take up a lamentation for thee, and say to thee,
How art thou destroyed, that wast inhabited of seafaring men,
the renowned city, which wast strong in the sea, she and her
inhabitants, which cause their terror to be on all that haunt
it!
Now shall the isles tremble in the day of thy fall; yea, the
isles that are in the sea shall be troubled at thy departure.
For thus saith the Lord GOD; When I shall make thee a desolate
city, like the cities that are not inhabited; when I shall
bring up the deep upon thee, and great waters shall cover thee;
When I shall bring thee down with them that descend into the
pit, with the people of old time, and shall set thee in the low
parts of the earth, in places desolate of old, with them that
go down to the pit, that thou be not inhabited; and I shall set
glory in the land of the living;
I will make thee a terror, and thou shalt be no more: though
thou be sought for, yet shalt thou never be found again, saith
the Lord GOD.
The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying,
Now, thou son of man, take up a lamentation for Tyrus;
And say unto Tyrus, O thou that art situate at the entry of the
sea, which art a merchant of the people for many isles, Thus
saith the Lord GOD; O Tyrus, thou hast said, I am of perfect
beauty.
Thy borders are in the midst of the seas, thy builders have
perfected thy beauty.
They have made all thy ship boards of fir trees of Senir: they
have taken cedars from Lebanon to make masts for thee.
Of the oaks of Bashan have they made thine oars; the company of
the Ashurites have made thy benches of ivory, brought out of
the isles of Chittim.
Fine linen with broidered work from Egypt was that which thou
spreadest forth to be thy sail; blue and purple from the isles
of Elishah was that which covered thee.
The inhabitants of Zidon and Arvad were thy mariners: thy wise
men, O Tyrus, that were in thee, were thy pilots.
The ancients of Gebal and the wise men thereof were in thee thy
calkers: all the ships of the sea with their mariners were in
thee to occupy thy merchandise.
They of Persia and of Lud and of Phut were in thine army, thy
men of war: they hanged the shield and helmet in thee; they set
forth thy comeliness.
The men of Arvad with thine army were upon thy walls round
about, and the Gammadims were in thy towers: they hanged their
shields upon thy walls round about; they have made thy beauty
perfect.
Tarshish was thy merchant by reason of the multitude of all
kind of riches; with silver, iron, tin, and lead, they traded
in thy fairs.
Javan, Tubal, and Meshech, they were thy merchants: they traded
the persons of men and vessels of brass in thy market.
They of the house of Togarmah traded in thy fairs with horses
and horsemen and mules.
The men of Dedan were thy merchants; many isles were the
merchandise of thine hand: they brought thee for a present
horns of ivory and ebony.
Syria was thy merchant by reason of the multitude of the wares
of thy making: they occupied in thy fairs with emeralds,
purple, and broidered work, and fine linen, and coral, and
agate.
Judah, and the land of Israel, they were thy merchants: they
traded in thy market wheat of Minnith, and Pannag, and honey,
and oil, and balm.
Damascus was thy merchant in the multitude of the wares of thy
making, for the multitude of all riches; in the wine of Helbon,
and white wool.
Dan also and Javan going to and fro occupied in thy fairs:
bright iron, cassia, and calamus, were in thy market.
Dedan was thy merchant in precious clothes for chariots.
Arabia, and all the princes of Kedar, they occupied with thee
in lambs, and rams, and goats: in these were they thy
merchants.
The merchants of Sheba and Raamah, they were thy merchants:
they occupied in thy fairs with chief of all spices, and with
all precious stones, and gold.
Haran, and Canneh, and Eden, the merchants of Sheba, Asshur,
and Chilmad, were thy merchants.
These were thy merchants in all sorts of things, in blue
clothes, and broidered work, and in chests of rich apparel,
bound with cords, and made of cedar, among thy merchandise.
The ships of Tarshish did sing of thee in thy market: and thou
wast replenished, and made very glorious in the midst of the
seas.
Thy rowers have brought thee into great waters: the east wind
hath broken thee in the midst of the seas.
Thy riches, and thy fairs, thy merchandise, thy mariners, and
thy pilots, thy calkers, and the occupiers of thy merchandise,
and all thy men of war, that are in thee, and in all thy
company which is in the midst of thee, shall fall into the
midst of the seas in the day of thy ruin.
The suburbs shall shake at the sound of the cry of thy pilots.
And all that handle the oar, the mariners, and all the pilots
of the sea, shall come down from their ships, they shall stand
upon the land;
And shall cause their voice to be heard against thee, and shall
cry bitterly, and shall cast up dust upon their heads, they
shall wallow themselves in the ashes:
And they shall make themselves utterly bald for thee, and gird
them with sackcloth, and they shall weep for thee with
bitterness of heart and bitter wailing.
And in their wailing they shall take up a lamentation for thee,
and lament over thee, saying, What city is like Tyrus, like the
destroyed in the midst of the sea?
When thy wares went forth out of the seas, thou filledst many
people; thou didst enrich the kings of the earth with the
multitude of thy riches and of thy merchandise.
In the time when thou shalt be broken by the seas in the depths
of the waters thy merchandise and all thy company in the midst
of thee shall fall.
All the inhabitants of the isles shall be astonished at thee,
and their kings shall be sore afraid, they shall be troubled in
their countenance.
The merchants among the people shall hiss at thee; thou shalt
be a terror, and never shalt be any more.
The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying,
Son of man, say unto the prince of Tyrus, Thus saith the Lord
GOD; Because thine heart is lifted up, and thou hast said, I am
a God, I sit in the seat of God, in the midst of the seas; yet
thou art a man, and not God, though thou set thine heart as the
heart of God:
Behold, thou art wiser than Daniel; there is no secret that
they can hide from thee:
With thy wisdom and with thine understanding thou hast gotten
thee riches, and hast gotten gold and silver into thy
treasures:
By thy great wisdom and by thy traffick hast thou increased thy
riches, and thine heart is lifted up because of thy riches:
Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thou hast set thine
heart as the heart of God;
Behold, therefore I will bring strangers upon thee, the
terrible of the nations: and they shall draw their swords
against the beauty of thy wisdom, and they shall defile thy
brightness.
They shall bring thee down to the pit, and thou shalt die the
deaths of them that are slain in the midst of the seas.
Wilt thou yet say before him that slayeth thee, I am God? but
thou shalt be a man, and no God, in the hand of him that
slayeth thee.
Thou shalt die the deaths of the uncircumcised by the hand of
strangers: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.
Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, and
say unto him, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Thou sealest up the sum,
full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty.
Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone
was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the
beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and
the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of
thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast
created.
Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee
so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked
up and down in the midst of the stones of fire.
Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast
created, till iniquity was found in thee.
By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst
of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will
cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will
destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones
of fire.
Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast
corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast
thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may
behold thee.
Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine
iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffick; therefore will I
bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour
thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the
sight of all them that behold thee.
All they that know thee among the people shall be astonished at
thee: thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt thou be any more.
Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Son of man, set thy face against Zidon, and prophesy against
it,
And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O
Zidon; and I will be glorified in the midst of thee: and they
shall know that I am the LORD, when I shall have executed
judgments in her, and shall be sanctified in her.
For I will send into her pestilence, and blood into her
streets; and the wounded shall be judged in the midst of her by
the sword upon her on every side; and they shall know that I am
the LORD.
And there shall be no more a pricking brier unto the house of
Israel, nor any grieving thorn of all that are round about
them, that despised them; and they shall know that I am the
Lord GOD.
Thus saith the Lord GOD; When I shall have gathered the house
of Israel from the people among whom they are scattered, and
shall be sanctified in them in the sight of the heathen, then
shall they dwell in their land that I have given to my servant
Jacob.
And they shall dwell safely therein, and shall build houses,
and plant vineyards; yea, they shall dwell with confidence,
when I have executed judgments upon all those that despise them
round about them; and they shall know that I am the LORD their
God.
In the tenth year, in the tenth month, in the twelfth day of
the month, the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Son of man, set thy face against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and
prophesy against him, and against all Egypt:
Speak, and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against
thee, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great dragon that lieth in the
midst of his rivers, which hath said, My river is mine own, and
I have made it for myself.
But I will put hooks in thy jaws, and I will cause the fish of
thy rivers to stick unto thy scales, and I will bring thee up
out of the midst of thy rivers, and all the fish of thy rivers
shall stick unto thy scales.
And I will leave thee thrown into the wilderness, thee and all
the fish of thy rivers: thou shalt fall upon the open fields;
thou shalt not be brought together, nor gathered: I have given
thee for meat to the beasts of the field and to the fowls of
the heaven.
And all the inhabitants of Egypt shall know that I am the LORD,
because they have been a staff of reed to the house of Israel.
When they took hold of thee by thy hand, thou didst break, and
rend all their shoulder: and when they leaned upon thee, thou
brakest, and madest all their loins to be at a stand.
Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will bring a sword
upon thee, and cut off man and beast out of thee.
And the land of Egypt shall be desolate and waste; and they
shall know that I am the LORD: because he hath said, The river
is mine, and I have made it.
Behold, therefore I am against thee, and against thy rivers,
and I will make the land of Egypt utterly waste and desolate,
from the tower of Syene even unto the border of Ethiopia.
No foot of man shall pass through it, nor foot of beast shall
pass through it, neither shall it be inhabited forty years.
And I will make the land of Egypt desolate in the midst of the
countries that are desolate, and her cities among the cities
that are laid waste shall be desolate forty years: and I will
scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and will disperse them
through the countries.
Yet thus saith the Lord GOD; At the end of forty years will I
gather the Egyptians from the people whither they were
scattered:
And I will bring again the captivity of Egypt, and will cause
them to return into the land of Pathros, into the land of their
habitation; and they shall be there a base kingdom.
It shall be the basest of the kingdoms; neither shall it exalt
itself any more above the nations: for I will diminish them,
that they shall no more rule over the nations.
And it shall be no more the confidence of the house of Israel,
which bringeth their iniquity to remembrance, when they shall
look after them: but they shall know that I am the Lord GOD.
And it came to pass in the seven and twentieth year, in the
first month, in the first day of the month, the word of the
LORD came unto me, saying,
Son of man, Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon caused his army to
serve a great service against Tyrus: every head was made bald,
and every shoulder was peeled: yet had he no wages, nor his
army, for Tyrus, for the service that he had served against it:
Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will give the land
of Egypt unto Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon; and he shall take
her multitude, and take her spoil, and take her prey; and it
shall be the wages for his army.
I have given him the land of Egypt for his labour wherewith he
served against it, because they wrought for me, saith the Lord
GOD.
In that day will I cause the horn of the house of Israel to bud
forth, and I will give thee the opening of the mouth in the
midst of them; and they shall know that I am the LORD.
The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying,
Son of man, prophesy and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Howl ye,
Woe worth the day!
For the day is near, even the day of the LORD is near, a cloudy
day; it shall be the time of the heathen.
And the sword shall come upon Egypt, and great pain shall be in
Ethiopia, when the slain shall fall in Egypt, and they shall
take away her multitude, and her foundations shall be broken
down.
Ethiopia, and Libya, and Lydia, and all the mingled people, and
Chub, and the men of the land that is in league, shall fall
with them by the sword.
Thus saith the LORD; They also that uphold Egypt shall fall;
and the pride of her power shall come down: from the tower of
Syene shall they fall in it by the sword, saith the Lord GOD.
And they shall be desolate in the midst of the countries that
are desolate, and her cities shall be in the midst of the
cities that are wasted.
And they shall know that I am the LORD, when I have set a fire
in Egypt, and when all her helpers shall be destroyed.
In that day shall messengers go forth from me in ships to make
the careless Ethiopians afraid, and great pain shall come upon
them, as in the day of Egypt: for, lo, it cometh.
Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will also make the multitude of
Egypt to cease by the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon.
He and his people with him, the terrible of the nations, shall
be brought to destroy the land: and they shall draw their
swords against Egypt, and fill the land with the slain.
And I will make the rivers dry, and sell the land into the hand
of the wicked: and I will make the land waste, and all that is
therein, by the hand of strangers: I the LORD have spoken it.
Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will also destroy the idols, and I
will cause their images to cease out of Noph; and there shall
be no more a prince of the land of Egypt: and I will put a fear
in the land of Egypt.
And I will make Pathros desolate, and will set fire in Zoan,
and will execute judgments in No.
And I will pour my fury upon Sin, the strength of Egypt; and I
will cut off the multitude of No.
And I will set fire in Egypt: Sin shall have great pain, and No
shall be rent asunder, and Noph shall have distresses daily.
The young men of Aven and of Pibeseth shall fall by the sword:
and these cities shall go into captivity.
At Tehaphnehes also the day shall be darkened, when I shall
break there the yokes of Egypt: and the pomp of her strength
shall cease in her: as for her, a cloud shall cover her, and
her daughters shall go into captivity.
Thus will I execute judgments in Egypt: and they shall know
that I am the LORD.
And it came to pass in the eleventh year, in the first month,
in the seventh day of the month, that the word of the LORD came
unto me, saying,
Son of man, I have broken the arm of Pharaoh king of Egypt;
and, lo, it shall not be bound up to be healed, to put a roller
to bind it, to make it strong to hold the sword.
Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against Pharaoh
king of Egypt, and will break his arms, the strong, and that
which was broken; and I will cause the sword to fall out of his
hand.
And I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and will
disperse them through the countries.
And I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, and put
my sword in his hand: but I will break Pharaoh's arms, and he
shall groan before him with the groanings of a deadly wounded
man.
But I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, and the
arms of Pharaoh shall fall down; and they shall know that I am
the LORD, when I shall put my sword into the hand of the king
of Babylon, and he shall stretch it out upon the land of Egypt.
And I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and
disperse them among the countries; and they shall know that I
am the LORD.
And it came to pass in the eleventh year, in the third month,
in the first day of the month, that the word of the LORD came
unto me, saying,
Son of man, speak unto Pharaoh king of Egypt, and to his
multitude; Whom art thou like in thy greatness?
Behold, the Assyrian was a cedar in Lebanon with fair branches,
and with a shadowing shroud, and of an high stature; and his
top was among the thick boughs.
The waters made him great, the deep set him up on high with her
rivers running round about his plants, and sent out her little
rivers unto all the trees of the field.
Therefore his height was exalted above all the trees of the
field, and his boughs were multiplied, and his branches became
long because of the multitude of waters, when he shot forth.
All the fowls of heaven made their nests in his boughs, and
under his branches did all the beasts of the field bring forth
their young, and under his shadow dwelt all great nations.
Thus was he fair in his greatness, in the length of his
branches: for his root was by great waters.
The cedars in the garden of God could not hide him: the fir
trees were not like his boughs, and the chesnut trees were not
like his branches; nor any tree in the garden of God was like
unto him in his beauty.
I have made him fair by the multitude of his branches: so that
all the trees of Eden, that were in the garden of God, envied
him.
Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thou hast lifted up
thyself in height, and he hath shot up his top among the thick
boughs, and his heart is lifted up in his height;
I have therefore delivered him into the hand of the mighty one
of the heathen; he shall surely deal with him: I have driven
him out for his wickedness.
And strangers, the terrible of the nations, have cut him off,
and have left him: upon the mountains and in all the valleys
his branches are fallen, and his boughs are broken by all the
rivers of the land; and all the people of the earth are gone
down from his shadow, and have left him.
Upon his ruin shall all the fowls of the heaven remain, and all
the beasts of the field shall be upon his branches:
To the end that none of all the trees by the waters exalt
themselves for their height, neither shoot up their top among
the thick boughs, neither their trees stand up in their height,
all that drink water: for they are all delivered unto death, to
the nether parts of the earth, in the midst of the children of
men, with them that go down to the pit.
Thus saith the Lord GOD; In the day when he went down to the
grave I caused a mourning: I covered the deep for him, and I
restrained the floods thereof, and the great waters were
stayed: and I caused Lebanon to mourn for him, and all the
trees of the field fainted for him.
I made the nations to shake at the sound of his fall, when I
cast him down to hell with them that descend into the pit: and
all the trees of Eden, the choice and best of Lebanon, all that
drink water, shall be comforted in the nether parts of the
earth.
They also went down into hell with him unto them that be slain
with the sword; and they that were his arm, that dwelt under
his shadow in the midst of the heathen.
To whom art thou thus like in glory and in greatness among the
trees of Eden? yet shalt thou be brought down with the trees of
Eden unto the nether parts of the earth: thou shalt lie in the
midst of the uncircumcised with them that be slain by the
sword. This is Pharaoh and all his multitude, saith the Lord
GOD.
And it came to pass in the twelfth year, in the twelfth month,
in the first day of the month, that the word of the LORD came
unto me, saying,
Son of man, take up a lamentation for Pharaoh king of Egypt,
and say unto him, Thou art like a young lion of the nations,
and thou art as a whale in the seas: and thou camest forth with
thy rivers, and troubledst the waters with thy feet, and
fouledst their rivers.
Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will therefore spread out my net
over thee with a company of many people; and they shall bring
thee up in my net.
Then will I leave thee upon the land, I will cast thee forth
upon the open field, and will cause all the fowls of the heaven
to remain upon thee, and I will fill the beasts of the whole
earth with thee.
And I will lay thy flesh upon the mountains, and fill the
valleys with thy height.
I will also water with thy blood the land wherein thou
swimmest, even to the mountains; and the rivers shall be full
of thee.
And when I shall put thee out, I will cover the heaven, and
make the stars thereof dark; I will cover the sun with a cloud,
and the moon shall not give her light.
All the bright lights of heaven will I make dark over thee, and
set darkness upon thy land, saith the Lord GOD.
I will also vex the hearts of many people, when I shall bring
thy destruction among the nations, into the countries which
thou hast not known.
Yea, I will make many people amazed at thee, and their kings
shall be horribly afraid for thee, when I shall brandish my
sword before them; and they shall tremble at every moment,
every man for his own life, in the day of thy fall.
For thus saith the Lord GOD; The sword of the king of Babylon
shall come upon thee.
By the swords of the mighty will I cause thy multitude to fall,
the terrible of the nations, all of them: and they shall spoil
the pomp of Egypt, and all the multitude thereof shall be
destroyed.
I will destroy also all the beasts thereof from beside the
great waters; neither shall the foot of man trouble them any
more, nor the hoofs of beasts trouble them.
Then will I make their waters deep, and cause their rivers to
run like oil, saith the Lord GOD.
When I shall make the land of Egypt desolate, and the country
shall be destitute of that whereof it was full, when I shall
smite all them that dwell therein, then shall they know that I
am the LORD.
This is the lamentation wherewith they shall lament her: the
daughters of the nations shall lament her: they shall lament
for her, even for Egypt, and for all her multitude, saith the
Lord GOD.
It came to pass also in the twelfth year, in the fifteenth day
of the month, that the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Son of man, wail for the multitude of Egypt, and cast them
down, even her, and the daughters of the famous nations, unto
the nether parts of the earth, with them that go down into the
pit.
Whom dost thou pass in beauty? go down, and be thou laid with
the uncircumcised.
They shall fall in the midst of them that are slain by the
sword: she is delivered to the sword: draw her and all her
multitudes.
The strong among the mighty shall speak to him out of the midst
of hell with them that help him: they are gone down, they lie
uncircumcised, slain by the sword.
Asshur is there and all her company: his graves are about him:
all of them slain, fallen by the sword:
Whose graves are set in the sides of the pit, and her company
is round about her grave: all of them slain, fallen by the
sword, which caused terror in the land of the living.
There is Elam and all her multitude round about her grave, all
of them slain, fallen by the sword, which are gone down
uncircumcised into the nether parts of the earth, which caused
their terror in the land of the living; yet have they borne
their shame with them that go down to the pit.
They have set her a bed in the midst of the slain with all her
multitude: her graves are round about him: all of them
uncircumcised, slain by the sword: though their terror was
caused in the land of the living, yet have they borne their
shame with them that go down to the pit: he is put in the midst
of them that be slain.
There is Meshech, Tubal, and all her multitude: her graves are
round about him: all of them uncircumcised, slain by the sword,
though they caused their terror in the land of the living.
And they shall not lie with the mighty that are fallen of the
uncircumcised, which are gone down to hell with their weapons
of war: and they have laid their swords under their heads, but
their iniquities shall be upon their bones, though they were
the terror of the mighty in the land of the living.
Yea, thou shalt be broken in the midst of the uncircumcised,
and shalt lie with them that are slain with the sword.
There is Edom, her kings, and all her princes, which with their
might are laid by them that were slain by the sword: they shall
lie with the uncircumcised, and with them that go down to the
pit.
There be the princes of the north, all of them, and all the
Zidonians, which are gone down with the slain; with their
terror they are ashamed of their might; and they lie
uncircumcised with them that be slain by the sword, and bear
their shame with them that go down to the pit.
Pharaoh shall see them, and shall be comforted over all his
multitude, even Pharaoh and all his army slain by the sword,
saith the Lord GOD.
For I have caused my terror in the land of the living: and he
shall be laid in the midst of the uncircumcised with them that
are slain with the sword, even Pharaoh and all his multitude,
saith the Lord GOD.
Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Son of man, speak to the children of thy people, and say unto
them, When I bring the sword upon a land, if the people of the
land take a man of their coasts, and set him for their
watchman:
If when he seeth the sword come upon the land, he blow the
trumpet, and warn the people;
Then whosoever heareth the sound of the trumpet, and taketh not
warning; if the sword come, and take him away, his blood shall
be upon his own head.
He heard the sound of the trumpet, and took not warning; his
blood shall be upon him. But he that taketh warning shall
deliver his soul.
But if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the
trumpet, and the people be not warned; if the sword come, and
take any person from among them, he is taken away in his
iniquity; but his blood will I require at the watchman's hand.
So thou, O son of man, I have set thee a watchman unto the
house of Israel; therefore thou shalt hear the word at my
mouth, and warn them from me.
When I say unto the wicked, O wicked man, thou shalt surely
die; if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way,
that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I
require at thine hand.
Nevertheless, if thou warn the wicked of his way to turn from
it; if he do not turn from his way, he shall die in his
iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul.
Therefore, O thou son of man, speak unto the house of Israel;
Thus ye speak, saying, If our transgressions and our sins be
upon us, and we pine away in them, how should we then live?
Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no
pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn
from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways;
for why will ye die, O house of Israel?
Therefore, thou son of man, say unto the children of thy
people, The righteousness of the righteous shall not deliver
him in the day of his transgression: as for the wickedness of
the wicked, he shall not fall thereby in the day that he
turneth from his wickedness; neither shall the righteous be
able to live for his righteousness in the day that he sinneth.
When I shall say to the righteous, that he shall surely live;
if he trust to his own righteousness, and commit iniquity, all
his righteousnesses shall not be remembered; but for his
iniquity that he hath committed, he shall die for it.
Again, when I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; if he
turn from his sin, and do that which is lawful and right;
If the wicked restore the pledge, give again that he had
robbed, walk in the statutes of life, without committing
iniquity; he shall surely live, he shall not die.
None of his sins that he hath committed shall be mentioned unto
him: he hath done that which is lawful and right; he shall
surely live.
Yet the children of thy people say, The way of the Lord is not
equal: but as for them, their way is not equal.
When the righteous turneth from his righteousness, and
committeth iniquity, he shall even die thereby.
But if the wicked turn from his wickedness, and do that which
is lawful and right, he shall live thereby.
Yet ye say, The way of the Lord is not equal. O ye house of
Israel, I will judge you every one after his ways.
And it came to pass in the twelfth year of our captivity, in
the tenth month, in the fifth day of the month, that one that
had escaped out of Jerusalem came unto me, saying, The city is
smitten.
Now the hand of the LORD was upon me in the evening, afore he
that was escaped came; and had opened my mouth, until he came
to me in the morning; and my mouth was opened, and I was no
more dumb.
Then the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Son of man, they that inhabit those wastes of the land of
Israel speak, saying, Abraham was one, and he inherited the
land: but we are many; the land is given us for inheritance.
Wherefore say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Ye eat with
the blood, and lift up your eyes toward your idols, and shed
blood: and shall ye possess the land?
Ye stand upon your sword, ye work abomination, and ye defile
every one his neighbour's wife: and shall ye possess the land?
Say thou thus unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; As I live,
surely they that are in the wastes shall fall by the sword, and
him that is in the open field will I give to the beasts to be
devoured, and they that be in the forts and in the caves shall
die of the pestilence.
For I will lay the land most desolate, and the pomp of her
strength shall cease; and the mountains of Israel shall be
desolate, that none shall pass through.
Then shall they know that I am the LORD, when I have laid the
land most desolate because of all their abominations which they
have committed.
Also, thou son of man, the children of thy people still are
talking against thee by the walls and in the doors of the
houses, and speak one to another, every one to his brother,
saying, Come, I pray you, and hear what is the word that cometh
forth from the LORD.
And they come unto thee as the people cometh, and they sit
before thee as my people, and they hear thy words, but they
will not do them: for with their mouth they shew much love, but
their heart goeth after their covetousness.
And, lo, thou art unto them as a very lovely song of one that
hath a pleasant voice, and can play well on an instrument: for
they hear thy words, but they do them not.
And when this cometh to pass, (lo, it will come,) then shall
they know that a prophet hath been among them.
And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy,
and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD unto the shepherds;
Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves!
should not the shepherds feed the flocks?
Ye eat the fat, and ye clothe you with the wool, ye kill them
that are fed: but ye feed not the flock.
The diseased have ye not strengthened, neither have ye healed
that which was sick, neither have ye bound up that which was
broken, neither have ye brought again that which was driven
away, neither have ye sought that which was lost; but with
force and with cruelty have ye ruled them.
And they were scattered, because there is no shepherd: and they
became meat to all the beasts of the field, when they were
scattered.
My sheep wandered through all the mountains, and upon every
high hill: yea, my flock was scattered upon all the face of the
earth, and none did search or seek after them.
Therefore, ye shepherds, hear the word of the LORD;
As I live, saith the Lord GOD, surely because my flock became a
prey, and my flock became meat to every beast of the field,
because there was no shepherd, neither did my shepherds search
for my flock, but the shepherds fed themselves, and fed not my
flock;
Therefore, O ye shepherds, hear the word of the LORD;
Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against the shepherds;
and I will require my flock at their hand, and cause them to
cease from feeding the flock; neither shall the shepherds feed
themselves any more; for I will deliver my flock from their
mouth, that they may not be meat for them.
For thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I, even I, will both
search my sheep, and seek them out.
As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among
his sheep that are scattered; so will I seek out my sheep, and
will deliver them out of all places where they have been
scattered in the cloudy and dark day.
And I will bring them out from the people, and gather them from
the countries, and will bring them to their own land, and feed
them upon the mountains of Israel by the rivers, and in all the
inhabited places of the country.
I will feed them in a good pasture, and upon the high mountains
of Israel shall their fold be: there shall they lie in a good
fold, and in a fat pasture shall they feed upon the mountains
of Israel.
I will feed my flock, and I will cause them to lie down, saith
the Lord GOD.
I will seek that which was lost, and bring again 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 with judgment.
And as for you, O my flock, thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I
judge between cattle and cattle, between the rams and the he
goats.
Seemeth it a small thing unto you to have eaten up the good
pasture, but ye must tread down with your feet the residue of
your pastures? and to have drunk of the deep waters, but ye
must foul the residue with your feet?
And as for my flock, they eat that which ye have trodden with
your feet; and they drink that which ye have fouled with your
feet.
Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD unto them; Behold, I, even I,
will judge between the fat cattle and between the lean cattle.
Because ye have thrust with side and with shoulder, and pushed
all the diseased with your horns, till ye have scattered them
abroad;
Therefore will I save my flock, and they shall no more be a
prey; and I will judge between cattle and cattle.
And I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed
them, even my servant David; he shall feed them, and he shall
be their shepherd.
And I the LORD will be their God, and my servant David a prince
among them; I the LORD have spoken it.
And I will make with them a covenant of peace, and will cause
the evil beasts to cease out of the land: and they shall dwell
safely in the wilderness, and sleep in the woods.
And I will make them and the places round about my hill a
blessing; and I will cause the shower to come down in his
season; there shall be showers of blessing.
And the tree of the field shall yield her fruit, and the earth
shall yield her increase, and they shall be safe in their land,
and shall know that I am the LORD, when I have broken the bands
of their yoke, and delivered them out of the hand of those that
served themselves of them.
And they shall no more be a prey to the heathen, neither shall
the beast of the land devour them; but they shall dwell safely,
and none shall make them afraid.
And I will raise up for them a plant of renown, and they shall
be no more consumed with hunger in the land, neither bear the
shame of the heathen any more.
Thus shall they know that I the LORD their God am with them,
and that they, even the house of Israel, are my people, saith
the Lord GOD.
And ye my flock, the flock of my pasture, are men, and I am
your God, saith the Lord GOD.
Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Son of man, set thy face against mount Seir, and prophesy
against it,
And say unto it, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, O mount Seir,
I am against thee, and I will stretch out mine hand against
thee, and I will make thee most desolate.
I will lay thy cities waste, and thou shalt be desolate, and
thou shalt know that I am the LORD.
Because thou hast had a perpetual hatred, and hast shed the
blood of the children of Israel by the force of the sword in
the time of their calamity, in the time that their iniquity had
an end:
Therefore, as I live, saith the Lord GOD, I will prepare thee
unto blood, and blood shall pursue thee: sith thou hast not
hated blood, even blood shall pursue thee.
Thus will I make mount Seir most desolate, and cut off from it
him that passeth out and him that returneth.
And I will fill his mountains with his slain men: in thy hills,
and in thy valleys, and in all thy rivers, shall they fall that
are slain with the sword.
I will make thee perpetual desolations, and thy cities shall
not return: and ye shall know that I am the LORD.
Because thou hast said, These two nations and these two
countries shall be mine, and we will possess it; whereas the
LORD was there:
Therefore, as I live, saith the Lord GOD, I will even do
according to thine anger, and according to thine envy which
thou hast used out of thy hatred against them; and I will make
myself known among them, when I have judged thee.
And thou shalt know that I am the LORD, and that I have heard
all thy blasphemies which thou hast spoken against the
mountains of Israel, saying, They are laid desolate, they are
given us to consume.
Thus with your mouth ye have boasted against me, and have
multiplied your words against me: I have heard them.
Thus saith the Lord GOD; When the whole earth rejoiceth, I will
make thee desolate.
As thou didst rejoice at the inheritance of the house of
Israel, because it was desolate, so will I do unto thee: thou
shalt be desolate, O mount Seir, and all Idumea, even all of
it: and they shall know that I am the LORD.
Also, thou son of man, prophesy unto the mountains of Israel,
and say, Ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the LORD:
Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because the enemy hath said against
you, Aha, even the ancient high places are ours in possession:
Therefore prophesy and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because
they have made you desolate, and swallowed you up on every
side, that ye might be a possession unto the residue of the
heathen, and ye are taken up in the lips of talkers, and are an
infamy of the people:
Therefore, ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord
GOD; Thus saith the Lord GOD to the mountains, and to the
hills, to the rivers, and to the valleys, to the desolate
wastes, and to the cities that are forsaken, which became a
prey and derision to the residue of the heathen that are round
about;
Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Surely in the fire of my
jealousy have I spoken against the residue of the heathen, and
against all Idumea, which have appointed my land into their
possession with the joy of all their heart, with despiteful
minds, to cast it out for a prey.
Prophesy therefore concerning the land of Israel, and say unto
the mountains, and to the hills, to the rivers, and to the
valleys, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I have spoken in my
jealousy and in my fury, because ye have borne the shame of the
heathen:
Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; I have lifted up mine hand,
Surely the heathen that are about you, they shall bear their
shame.
But ye, O mountains of Israel, ye shall shoot forth your
branches, and yield your fruit to my people of Israel; for they
are at hand to come.
For, behold, I am for you, and I will turn unto you, and ye
shall be tilled and sown:
And I will multiply men upon you, all the house of Israel, even
all of it: and the cities shall be inhabited, and the wastes
shall be builded:
And I will multiply upon you man and beast; and they shall
increase and bring fruit: and I will settle you after your old
estates, and will do better unto you than at your beginnings:
and ye shall know that I am the LORD.
Yea, I will cause men to walk upon you, even my people Israel;
and they shall possess thee, and thou shalt be their
inheritance, and thou shalt no more henceforth bereave them of
men.
Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because they say unto you, Thou land
devourest up men, and hast bereaved thy nations;
Therefore thou shalt devour men no more, neither bereave thy
nations any more, saith the Lord GOD.
Neither will I cause men to hear in thee the shame of the
heathen any more, neither shalt thou bear the reproach of the
people any more, neither shalt thou cause thy nations to fall
any more, saith the Lord GOD.
Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Son of man, when the house of Israel dwelt in their own land,
they defiled it by their own way and by their doings: their way
was before me as the uncleanness of a removed woman.
Wherefore I poured my fury upon them for the blood that they
had shed upon the land, and for their idols wherewith they had
polluted it:
And I scattered them among the heathen, and they were dispersed
through the countries: according to their way and according to
their doings I judged them.
And when they entered unto the heathen, whither they went, they
profaned my holy name, when they said to them, These are the
people of the LORD, and are gone forth out of his land.
But I had pity for mine holy name, which the house of Israel
had profaned among the heathen, whither they went.
Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord
GOD; I do not this for your sakes, O house of Israel, but for
mine holy name's sake, which ye have profaned among the
heathen, whither ye went.
And I will sanctify my great name, which was profaned among the
heathen, which ye have profaned in the midst of them; and the
heathen shall know that I am the LORD, saith the Lord GOD, when
I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes.
For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out
of all countries, and will bring you into your own land.
Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be
clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will
I cleanse you.
A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put
within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your
flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.
And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in
my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.
And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and
ye shall be my people, and I will be your God.
I will also save you from all your uncleannesses: and I will
call for the corn, and will increase it, and lay no famine upon
you.
And I will multiply the fruit of the tree, and the increase of
the field, that ye shall receive no more reproach of famine
among the heathen.
Then shall ye remember your own evil ways, and your doings that
were not good, and shall lothe yourselves in your own sight for
your iniquities and for your abominations.
Not for your sakes do I this, saith the Lord GOD, be it known
unto you: be ashamed and confounded for your own ways, O house
of Israel.
Thus saith the Lord GOD; In the day that I shall have cleansed
you from all your iniquities I will also cause you to dwell in
the cities, and the wastes shall be builded.
And the desolate land shall be tilled, whereas it lay desolate
in the sight of all that passed by.
And they shall say, This land that was desolate is become like
the garden of Eden; and the waste and desolate and ruined
cities are become fenced, and are inhabited.
Then the heathen that are left round about you shall know that
I the LORD build the ruined places, and plant that that was
desolate: I the LORD have spoken it, and I will do it.
Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will yet for this be enquired of by
the house of Israel, to do it for them; I will increase them
with men like a flock.
As the holy flock, as the flock of Jerusalem in her solemn
feasts; so shall the waste cities be filled with flocks of men:
and they shall know that I am the LORD.
The hand of the LORD was upon me, and carried me out in the
spirit of the LORD, and set me down in the midst of the valley
which was full of bones,
And caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, there
were very many in the open valley; and, lo, they were very dry.
And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I
answered, O Lord GOD, thou knowest.
Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto
them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the LORD.
Thus saith the Lord GOD unto these bones; Behold, I will cause
breath to enter into you, and ye shall live:
And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon
you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye
shall live; and ye shall know that I am the LORD.
So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there
was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together,
bone to his bone.
And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon
them, and the skin covered them above: but there was no breath
in them.
Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of
man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Come from
the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that
they may live.
So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into
them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an
exceeding great army.
Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole
house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our
hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts.
Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD;
Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to
come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of
Israel.
And ye shall know that I am the LORD, when I have opened your
graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves,
And shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall
place you in your own land: then shall ye know that I the LORD
have spoken it, and performed it, saith the LORD.
The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying,
Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon
it, For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions:
then take another stick, and write upon it, For Joseph, the
stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his
companions:
And join them one to another into one stick; and they shall
become one in thine hand.
And when the children of thy people shall speak unto thee,
saying, Wilt thou not shew us what thou meanest by these?
Say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will take the
stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the
tribes of Israel his fellows, and will put them with him, even
with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they
shall be one in mine hand.
And the sticks whereon thou writest shall be in thine hand
before their eyes.
And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will take
the children of Israel from among the heathen, whither they be
gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into
their own land:
And I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains
of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all: and they
shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided
into two kingdoms any more at all:
Neither shall they 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
dwellingplaces, wherein they have sinned, and will cleanse
them: so shall they be my people, and I will be their God.
And David my servant shall be king over them; and they all
shall have one shepherd: they shall also walk in my judgments,
and observe my statutes, and do them.
And they shall dwell in the land that I have given unto Jacob
my servant, wherein your fathers have dwelt; and they shall
dwell therein, even they, and their children, and their
children's children for ever: and my servant David shall be
their prince for ever.
Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be
an everlasting covenant with them: and I will place them, and
multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them
for evermore.
My tabernacle also shall be with them: yea, I will be their
God, and they shall be my people.
And the heathen shall know that I the LORD do sanctify Israel,
when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for evermore.
And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Son of man, set thy face against Gog, the land of Magog, the
chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him,
And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O
Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal:
And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws, and I
will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen,
all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great
company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords:
Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield
and helmet:
Gomer, and all his bands; the house of Togarmah of the north
quarters, and all his bands: and many people with thee.
Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy
company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto
them.
After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou
shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword,
and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of
Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth
out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them.
Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a
cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many
people with thee.
Thus saith the Lord GOD; It shall also come to pass, that at
the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt
think an evil thought:
And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled
villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell
safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither
bars nor gates,
To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon
the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people
that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle
and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land.
Sheba, and Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish, with all the
young lions thereof, shall say unto thee, Art thou come to take
a spoil? hast thou gathered thy company to take a prey? to
carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to
take a great spoil?
Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say unto Gog, Thus saith
the Lord GOD; In that day when my people of Israel dwelleth
safely, shalt thou not know it?
And thou shalt come from thy place out of the north parts,
thou, and many people with thee, all of them riding upon
horses, a great company, and a mighty army:
And thou shalt come up against my people of Israel, as a cloud
to cover the land; it shall be in the latter days, and I will
bring thee against my land, that the heathen may know me, when
I shall be sanctified in thee, O Gog, before their eyes.
Thus saith the Lord GOD; Art thou he of whom I have spoken in
old time by my servants the prophets of Israel, which
prophesied in those days many years that I would bring thee
against them?
And it shall come to pass at the same time when Gog shall come
against the land of Israel, saith the Lord GOD, that my fury
shall come up in my face.
For in my jealousy and in the fire of my wrath have I spoken,
Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land
of Israel;
So that the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the heaven, and
the beasts of the field, and all creeping things that creep
upon the earth, and all the men that are upon the face of the
earth, shall shake at my presence, and the mountains shall be
thrown down, and the steep places shall fall, and every wall
shall fall to the ground.
And I will call for a sword against him throughout all my
mountains, saith the Lord GOD: every man's sword shall be
against his brother.
And I will plead against him with pestilence and with blood;
and I will rain upon him, and upon his bands, and upon the many
people that are with him, an overflowing rain, and great
hailstones, fire, and brimstone.
Thus will I magnify myself, and sanctify myself; and I will be
known in the eyes of many nations, and they shall know that I
am the LORD.
Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog, and say, Thus
saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief
prince of Meshech and Tubal:
And I will turn thee back, and leave but the sixth part of
thee, and will cause thee to come up from the north parts, and
will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel:
And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause
thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand.
Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy
bands, and the people that is with thee: I will give thee unto
the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the
field to be devoured.
Thou shalt fall upon the open field: for I have spoken it,
saith the Lord GOD.
And I will send a fire on Magog, and among them that dwell
carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am the
LORD.
So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people
Israel; and I will not let them pollute my holy name any more:
and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in
Israel.
Behold, it is come, and it is done, saith the Lord GOD; this is
the day whereof I have spoken.
And they that dwell in the cities of Israel shall go forth, and
shall set on fire and burn the weapons, both the shields and
the bucklers, the bows and the arrows, and the handstaves, and
the spears, and they shall burn them with fire seven years:
So that they shall take no wood out of the field, neither cut
down any out of the forests; for they shall burn the weapons
with fire: and they shall spoil those that spoiled them, and
rob those that robbed them, saith the Lord GOD.
And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will give unto
Gog a place there of graves in Israel, the valley of the
passengers on the east of the sea: and it shall stop the noses
of the passengers: and there shall they bury Gog and all his
multitude: and they shall call it The valley of Hamongog.
And seven months shall the house of Israel be burying of them,
that they may cleanse the land.
Yea, all the people of the land shall bury them; and it shall
be to them a renown the day that I shall be glorified, saith
the Lord GOD.
And they shall sever out men of continual employment, passing
through the land to bury with the passengers those that remain
upon the face of the earth, to cleanse it: after the end of
seven months shall they search.
And the passengers that pass through the land, when any seeth a
man's bone, then shall he set up a sign by it, till the buriers
have buried it in the valley of Hamongog.
And also the name of the city shall be Hamonah. Thus shall they
cleanse the land.
And, thou son of man, thus saith the Lord GOD; Speak unto every
feathered fowl, and to every beast of the field, Assemble
yourselves, and come; gather yourselves on every side to my
sacrifice that I do sacrifice for you, even a great sacrifice
upon the mountains of Israel, that ye may eat flesh, and drink
blood.
Ye 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
bullocks, all of them fatlings of Bashan.
And ye shall eat fat till ye be full, and drink blood till ye
be drunken, of my sacrifice which I have sacrificed for you.
Thus ye shall be filled at my table with horses and chariots,
with mighty men, and with all men of war, saith the Lord GOD.
And I will set my glory among the heathen, and all the heathen
shall see my judgment that I have executed, and my hand that I
have laid upon them.
So the house of Israel shall know that I am the LORD their God
from that day and forward.
And the heathen shall know that the house of Israel went into
captivity for their iniquity: because they trespassed against
me, therefore hid I my face from them, and gave them into the
hand of their enemies: so fell they all by the sword.
According to their uncleanness and according to their
transgressions have I done unto them, and hid my face from
them.
Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Now will I bring again the
captivity of Jacob, and have mercy upon the whole house of
Israel, and will be jealous for my holy name;
After that they have borne their shame, and all their
trespasses whereby they have trespassed against me, when they
dwelt safely in their land, and none made them afraid.
When I have brought them again from the people, and gathered
them out of their enemies' lands, and am sanctified in them in
the sight of many nations;
Then shall they know that I am the LORD their God, which caused
them to be led into captivity among the heathen: but I have
gathered them unto their own land, and have left none of them
any more there.
Neither will I hide my face any more from them: for I have
poured out my spirit upon the house of Israel, saith the Lord
GOD.
In the five and twentieth year of our captivity, in the
beginning of the year, in the tenth day of the month, in the
fourteenth year after that the city was smitten, in the
selfsame day the hand of the LORD was upon me, and brought me
thither.
In the visions of God brought he me into the land of Israel,
and set me upon a very high mountain, by which was as the frame
of a city on the south.
And he brought me thither, and, behold, there was a man, whose
appearance was like the appearance of brass, with a line of
flax in his hand, and a measuring reed; and he stood in the
gate.
And the man said unto me, Son of man, behold with thine eyes,
and hear with thine ears, and set thine heart upon all that I
shall shew thee; for to the intent that I might shew them unto
thee art thou brought hither: declare all that thou seest to
the house of Israel.
And behold a wall on the outside of the house round about, and
in the man's hand a measuring reed of six cubits long by the
cubit and an hand breadth: so he measured the breadth of the
building, one reed; and the height, one reed.
Then came he unto the gate which looketh toward the east, and
went up the stairs thereof, and measured the threshold of the
gate, which was one reed broad; and the other threshold of the
gate, which was one reed broad.
And every little chamber was one reed long, and one reed broad;
and between the little chambers were five cubits; and the
threshold of the gate by the porch of the gate within was one
reed.
He measured also the porch of the gate within, one reed.
Then measured he the porch of the gate, eight cubits; and the
posts thereof, two cubits; and the porch of the gate was
inward.
And the little chambers of the gate eastward were three on this
side, and three on that side; they three were of one measure:
and the posts had one measure on this side and on that side.
And he measured the breadth of the entry of the gate, ten
cubits; and the length of the gate, thirteen cubits.
The space also before the little chambers was one cubit on this
side, and the space was one cubit on that side: and the little
chambers were six cubits on this side, and six cubits on that
side.
He measured then the gate from the roof of one little chamber
to the roof of another: the breadth was five and twenty cubits,
door against door.
He made also posts of threescore cubits, even unto the post of
the court round about the gate.
And from the face of the gate of the entrance unto the face of
the porch of the inner gate were fifty cubits.
And there were narrow windows to the little chambers, and to
their posts within the gate round about, and likewise to the
arches: and windows were round about inward: and upon each post
were palm trees.
Then brought he me into the outward court, and, lo, there were
chambers, and a pavement made for the court round about: thirty
chambers were upon the pavement.
And the pavement by the side of the gates over against the
length of the gates was the lower pavement.
Then he measured the breadth from the forefront of the lower
gate unto the forefront of the inner court without, an hundred
cubits eastward and northward.
And the gate of the outward court that looked toward the north,
he measured the length thereof, and the breadth thereof.
And the little chambers thereof were three on this side and
three on that side; and the posts thereof and the arches
thereof were after the measure of the first gate: the length
thereof was fifty cubits, and the breadth five and twenty
cubits.
And their windows, and their arches, and their palm trees, were
after the measure of the gate that looketh toward the east; and
they went up unto it by seven steps; and the arches thereof
were before them.
And the gate of the inner court was over against the gate
toward the north, and toward the east; and he measured from
gate to gate an hundred cubits.
After that he brought me toward the south, and behold a gate
toward the south: and he measured the posts thereof and the
arches thereof according to these measures.
And there were windows in it and in the arches thereof round
about, like those windows: the length was fifty cubits, and the
breadth five and twenty cubits.
And there were seven steps to go up to it, and the arches
thereof were before them: and it had palm trees, one on this
side, and another on that side, upon the posts thereof.
And there was a gate in the inner court toward the south: and
he measured from gate to gate toward the south an hundred
cubits.
And he brought me to the inner court by the south gate: and he
measured the south gate according to these measures;
And the little chambers thereof, and the posts thereof, and the
arches thereof, according to these measures: and there were
windows in it and in the arches thereof round about: it was
fifty cubits long, and five and twenty cubits broad.
And the arches round about were five and twenty cubits long,
and five cubits broad.
And the arches thereof were toward the utter court; and palm
trees were upon the posts thereof: and the going up to it had
eight steps.
And he brought me into the inner court toward the east: and he
measured the gate according to these measures.
And the little chambers thereof, and the posts thereof, and the
arches thereof, were according to these measures: and there
were windows therein and in the arches thereof round about: it
was fifty cubits long, and five and twenty cubits broad.
And the arches thereof were toward the outward court; and palm
trees were upon the posts thereof, on this side, and on that
side: and the going up to it had eight steps.
And he brought me to the north gate, and measured it according
to these measures;
The little chambers thereof, the posts thereof, and the arches
thereof, and the windows to it round about: the length was
fifty cubits, and the breadth five and twenty cubits.
And the posts thereof were toward the utter court; and palm
trees were upon the posts thereof, on this side, and on that
side: and the going up to it had eight steps.
And the chambers and the entries thereof were by the posts of
the gates, where they washed the burnt offering.
And in the porch of the gate were two tables on this side, and
two tables on that side, to slay thereon the burnt offering and
the sin offering and the trespass offering.
And at the side without, as one goeth up to the entry of the
north gate, were two tables; and on the other side, which was
at the porch of the gate, were two tables.
Four tables were on this side, and four tables on that side, by
the side of the gate; eight tables, whereupon they slew their
sacrifices.
And the four tables were of hewn stone for the burnt offering,
of a cubit and an half long, and a cubit and an half broad, and
one cubit high: whereupon also they laid the instruments
wherewith they slew the burnt offering and the sacrifice.
And within were hooks, an hand broad, fastened round about: and
upon the tables was the flesh of the offering.
And without the inner gate were the chambers of the singers in
the inner court, which was at the side of the north gate; and
their prospect was toward the south: one at the side of the
east gate having the prospect toward the north.
And he said unto me, This chamber, whose prospect is toward the
south, is for the priests, the keepers of the charge of the
house.
And the chamber whose prospect is toward the north is for the
priests, the keepers of the charge of the altar: these are the
sons of Zadok among the sons of Levi, which come near to the
LORD to minister unto him.
So he measured the court, an hundred cubits long, and an
hundred cubits broad, foursquare; and the altar that was before
the house.
And he brought me to the porch of the house, and measured each
post of the porch, five cubits on this side, and five cubits on
that side: and the breadth of the gate was three cubits on this
side, and three cubits on that side.
The length of the porch was twenty cubits, and the breadth
eleven cubits; and he brought me by the steps whereby they went
up to it: and there were pillars by the posts, one on this
side, and another on that side.
Afterward he brought me to the temple, and measured the posts,
six cubits broad on the one side, and six cubits broad on the
other side, which was the breadth of the tabernacle.
And the breadth of the door was ten cubits; and the sides of
the door were five cubits on the one side, and five cubits on
the other side: and he measured the length thereof, forty
cubits: and the breadth, twenty cubits.
Then went he inward, and measured the post of the door, two
cubits; and the door, six cubits; and the breadth of the door,
seven cubits.
So he measured the length thereof, twenty cubits; and the
breadth, twenty cubits, before the temple: and he said unto me,
This is the most holy place.
After he measured the wall of the house, six cubits; and the
breadth of every side chamber, four cubits, round about the
house on every side.
And the side chambers were three, one over another, and thirty
in order; and they entered into the wall which was of the house
for the side chambers round about, that they might have hold,
but they had not hold in the wall of the house.
And there was an enlarging, and a winding about still upward to
the side chambers: for the winding about of the house went
still upward round about the house: therefore the breadth of
the house was still upward, and so increased from the lowest
chamber to the highest by the midst.
I saw also the height of the house round about: the foundations
of the side chambers were a full reed of six great cubits.
The thickness of the wall, which was for the side chamber
without, was five cubits: and that which was left was the place
of the side chambers that were within.
And between the chambers was the wideness of twenty cubits
round about the house on every side.
And the doors of the side chambers were toward the place that
was left, one door toward the north, and another door toward
the south: and the breadth of the place that was left was five
cubits round about.
Now the building that was before the separate place at the end
toward the west was seventy cubits broad; and the wall of the
building was five cubits thick round about, and the length
thereof ninety cubits.
So he measured the house, an hundred cubits long; and the
separate place, and the building, with the walls thereof, an
hundred cubits long;
Also the breadth of the face of the house, and of the separate
place toward the east, an hundred cubits.
And he measured the length of the building over against the
separate place which was behind it, and the galleries thereof
on the one side and on the other side, an hundred cubits, with
the inner temple, and the porches of the court;
The door posts, and the narrow windows, and the galleries round
about on their three stories, over against the door, cieled
with wood round about, and from the ground up to the windows,
and the windows were covered;
To that above the door, even unto the inner house, and without,
and by all the wall round about within and without, by measure.
And it was made with cherubims and palm trees, so that a palm
tree was between a cherub and a cherub; and every cherub had
two faces;
So that the face of a man was 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 through all the house round about.
From the ground unto above the door were cherubims and palm
trees made, and on the wall of the temple.
The posts of the temple were squared, and the face of the
sanctuary; the appearance of the one as the appearance of the
other.
The altar of wood was three cubits high, and the length thereof
two cubits; and the corners thereof, and the length thereof,
and the walls thereof, were of wood: and he said unto me, This
is the table that is before the LORD.
And the temple and the sanctuary had two doors.
And the doors had two leaves apiece, two turning leaves; two
leaves for the one door, and two leaves for the other door.
And there were made on them, on the doors of the temple,
cherubims and palm trees, like as were made upon the walls; and
there were thick planks upon the face of the porch without.
And there were narrow windows and palm trees on the one side
and on the other side, on the sides of the porch, and upon the
side chambers of the house, and thick planks.
Then he brought me forth into the utter court, the way toward
the north: and he brought me into the chamber that was over
against the separate place, and which was before the building
toward the north.
Before the length of an hundred cubits was the north door, and
the breadth was fifty cubits.
Over against the twenty cubits which were for the inner court,
and over against the pavement which was for the utter court,
was gallery against gallery in three stories.
And before the chambers was a walk of ten cubits breadth
inward, a way of one cubit; and their doors toward the north.
Now the upper chambers were shorter: for the galleries were
higher than these, than the lower, and than the middlemost of
the building.
For they were in three stories, but had not pillars as the
pillars of the courts: therefore the building was straitened
more than the lowest and the middlemost from the ground.
And the wall that was without over against the chambers, toward
the utter court on the forepart of the chambers, the length
thereof was fifty cubits.
For the length of the chambers that were in the utter court was
fifty cubits: and, lo, before the temple were an hundred
cubits.
And from under these chambers was the entry on the east side,
as one goeth into them from the utter court.
The chambers were in the thickness of the wall of the court
toward the east, over against the separate place, and over
against the building.
And the way before them was like the appearance of the chambers
which were toward the north, as long as they, and as broad as
they: and all their goings out were both according to their
fashions, and according to their doors.
And according to the doors of the chambers that were toward the
south was a door in the head of the way, even the way directly
before the wall toward the east, as one entereth into them.
Then said he unto me, The north chambers and the south
chambers, which are before the separate place, they be holy
chambers, where the priests that approach unto the LORD shall
eat the most holy things: there shall they lay the most holy
things, and the meat offering, and the sin offering, and the
trespass offering; for the place is holy.
When the priests enter therein, then shall they not go out of
the holy place into the utter court, but there they shall lay
their garments wherein they minister; for they are holy; and
shall put on other garments, and shall approach to those things
which are for the people.
Now when he had made an end of measuring the inner house, he
brought me forth toward the gate whose prospect is toward the
east, and measured it round about.
He measured the east side with the measuring reed, five hundred
reeds, with the measuring reed round about.
He measured the north side, five hundred reeds, with the
measuring reed round about.
He measured the south side, five hundred reeds, with the
measuring reed.
He turned about to the west side, and measured five hundred
reeds with the measuring reed.
He measured it by the four sides: it had a wall round about,
five hundred reeds long, and five hundred broad, to make a
separation between the sanctuary and the profane place.
Afterward he brought me to the gate, even the gate that looketh
toward the east:
And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way
of the east: and his voice was like a noise of many waters: and
the earth shined with his glory.
And it was according to 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 upon my face.
And the glory of the LORD came into the house by the way of the
gate whose prospect is toward the east.
So the spirit took me up, and brought me into the inner court;
and, behold, the glory of the LORD filled the house.
And I heard him speaking unto me out of the house; and the man
stood by me.
And he said unto me, Son of man, the place of my throne, and
the place of the soles of my feet, where I will dwell in the
midst of the children of Israel for ever, and my holy name,
shall the house of Israel no more defile, neither they, nor
their kings, by their whoredom, nor by the carcases of their
kings in their high places.
In their setting of their threshold by my thresholds, and their
post by my posts, and the wall between me and them, they have
even defiled my holy name by their abominations that they have
committed: wherefore I have consumed them in mine anger.
Now let them put away their whoredom, and the carcases of their
kings, far from me, and I will dwell in the midst of them for
ever.
Thou son of man, shew the house to the house of Israel, that
they may be ashamed of their iniquities: and let them measure
the pattern.
And if they be ashamed of all that they have done, shew them
the form of the house, and the fashion thereof, and the goings
out thereof, and the comings in thereof, and all the forms
thereof, and all the ordinances thereof, and all the forms
thereof, and all the laws thereof: and write it in their sight,
that they may keep the whole form thereof, and all the
ordinances thereof, and do them.
This is the law of the house; Upon the top of the mountain the
whole limit thereof round about shall be most holy. Behold,
this is the law of the house.
And these are the measures of the altar after the cubits: The
cubit is a cubit and an hand breadth; even the bottom shall be
a cubit, and the breadth a cubit, and the border thereof by the
edge thereof round about shall be a span: and this shall be the
higher place of the altar.
And from the bottom upon the ground even to the lower settle
shall be two cubits, and the breadth one cubit; and from the
lesser settle even to the greater settle shall be four cubits,
and the breadth one cubit.
So the altar shall be four cubits; and from the altar and
upward shall be four horns.
And the altar shall be twelve cubits long, twelve broad, square
in the four squares thereof.
And the settle shall be fourteen cubits long and fourteen broad
in the four squares thereof; and the border about it shall be
half a cubit; and the bottom thereof shall be a cubit about;
and his stairs shall look toward the east.
And he said unto me, Son of man, thus saith the Lord GOD; These
are the ordinances of the altar in the day when they shall make
it, to offer burnt offerings thereon, and to sprinkle blood
thereon.
And thou shalt give to the priests the Levites that be of the
seed of Zadok, which approach unto me, to minister unto me,
saith the Lord GOD, a young bullock for a sin offering.
And thou shalt take of the blood thereof, and put it on the
four horns of it, and on the four corners of the settle, and
upon the border round about: thus shalt thou cleanse and purge
it.
Thou shalt take the bullock also of the sin offering, and he
shall burn it in the appointed place of the house, without the
sanctuary.
And on the second day thou shalt offer a kid of the goats
without blemish for a sin offering; and they shall cleanse the
altar, as they did cleanse it with the bullock.
When thou hast made an end of cleansing it, thou shalt offer a
young bullock without blemish, and a ram out of the flock
without blemish.
And thou shalt offer them before the LORD, and the priests
shall cast salt upon them, and they shall offer them up for a
burnt offering unto the LORD.
Seven days shalt thou prepare every day a goat for a sin
offering: they shall also prepare a young bullock, and a ram
out of the flock, without blemish.
Seven days shall they purge the altar and purify it; and they
shall consecrate themselves.
And when these days are expired, it shall be, that upon the
eighth day, and so forward, the priests shall make your burnt
offerings upon the altar, and your peace offerings; and I will
accept you, saith the Lord GOD.
Then he brought me back the way of the gate of the outward
sanctuary which looketh toward the east; and it was shut.
Then said the LORD unto me; This gate shall be shut, it shall
not be opened, and no man shall enter in by it; because the
LORD, the God of Israel, hath entered in by it, therefore it
shall be shut.
It is for the prince; the prince, he shall sit in it to eat
bread before the LORD; he shall enter by the way of the porch
of that gate, and shall go out by the way of the same.
Then brought he me the way of the north gate before the house:
and I looked, and, behold, the glory of the LORD filled the
house of the LORD: and I fell upon my face.
And the LORD said unto me, Son of man, mark well, and behold
with thine eyes, and hear with thine ears all that I say unto
thee concerning all the ordinances of the house of the LORD,
and all the laws thereof; and mark well the entering in of the
house, with every going forth of the sanctuary.
And thou shalt say to the rebellious, even to the house of
Israel, Thus saith the Lord GOD; O ye house of Israel, let it
suffice you of all your abominations,
In that ye have brought into my sanctuary strangers,
uncircumcised in heart, and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in my
sanctuary, to pollute it, even my house, when ye offer my
bread, the fat and the blood, and they have broken my covenant
because of all your abominations.
And ye have not kept the charge of mine holy things: but ye
have set keepers of my charge in my sanctuary for yourselves.
Thus saith the Lord GOD; No stranger, uncircumcised in heart,
nor uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter into my sanctuary, of
any stranger that is among the children of Israel.
And the Levites that are gone away far from me, when Israel
went astray, which went astray away from me after their idols;
they shall even bear their iniquity.
Yet they shall be ministers in my sanctuary, having charge at
the gates of the house, and ministering to the house: they
shall slay the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people,
and they shall stand before them to minister unto them.
Because they ministered unto them before their idols, and
caused the house of Israel to fall into iniquity; therefore
have I lifted up mine hand against them, saith the Lord GOD,
and they shall bear their iniquity.
And they shall not come near unto me, to do the office of a
priest unto me, nor to come near to any of my holy things, in
the most holy place: but they shall bear their shame, and their
abominations which they have committed.
But I will make them keepers of the charge of the house, for
all the service thereof, and for all that shall be done
therein.
But the priests the Levites, the sons of Zadok, that kept the
charge of my sanctuary when the children of Israel went astray
from me, they shall come near to me to minister unto me, and
they shall stand before me to offer unto me the fat and the
blood, saith the Lord GOD:
They shall enter into my sanctuary, and they shall come near to
my table, to minister unto me, and they shall keep my charge.
And it shall come to pass, that when they enter in at the gates
of the inner court, they shall be clothed with linen garments;
and no wool shall come upon them, whiles they minister in the
gates of the inner court, and within.
They shall have linen bonnets upon their heads, and shall have
linen breeches upon their loins; they shall not gird themselves
with any thing that causeth sweat.
And when they go forth into the utter court, even into the
utter court to the people, they shall put off their garments
wherein they ministered, and lay them in the holy chambers, and
they shall put on other garments; and they shall not sanctify
the people with their garments.
Neither shall they shave their heads, nor suffer their locks to
grow long; they shall only poll their heads.
Neither shall any priest drink wine, when they enter into the
inner court.
Neither shall they take for their wives a widow, nor her that
is put away: but they shall take maidens of the seed of the
house of Israel, or a widow that had a priest before.
And they shall teach my people the difference between the holy
and profane, and cause them to discern between the unclean and
the clean.
And in controversy they shall stand in judgment; and they shall
judge it according to my judgments: and they shall keep my laws
and my statutes in all mine assemblies; and they shall hallow
my sabbaths.
And they shall come at no dead person to defile themselves: but
for father, or for mother, or for son, or for daughter, for
brother, or for sister that hath had no husband, they may
defile themselves.
And after he is cleansed, they shall reckon unto him seven
days.
And in the day that he goeth into the sanctuary, unto the inner
court, to minister in the sanctuary, he shall offer his sin
offering, saith the Lord GOD.
And it shall be unto them for an inheritance: I am their
inheritance: and ye shall give them no possession in Israel: I
am their possession.
They shall eat the meat offering, and the sin offering, and the
trespass offering; and every dedicated thing in Israel shall be
theirs.
And the first of all the firstfruits of all things, and every
oblation of all, of every sort of your oblations, shall be the
priest's: ye shall also give unto the priest the first of your
dough, that he may cause the blessing to rest in thine house.
The priests shall not eat of any thing that is dead of itself,
or torn, whether it be fowl or beast.
Moreover, when ye shall divide by lot the land for inheritance,
ye shall offer an oblation unto the LORD, an holy portion of
the land: the length shall be the length of five and twenty
thousand reeds, and the breadth shall be ten thousand. This
shall be holy in all the borders thereof round about.
Of this there shall be for the sanctuary five hundred in
length, with five hundred in breadth, square round about; and
fifty cubits round about for the suburbs thereof.
And of this measure shalt thou measure the length of five and
twenty thousand, and the breadth of ten thousand: and in it
shall be the sanctuary and the most holy place.
The holy portion of the land shall be for the priests the
ministers of the sanctuary, which shall come near to minister
unto the LORD: and it shall be a place for their houses, and an
holy place for the sanctuary.
And the five and twenty thousand of length, and the ten
thousand of breadth, shall also the Levites, the ministers of
the house, have for themselves, for a possession for twenty
chambers.
And ye shall appoint the possession of the city five thousand
broad, and five and twenty thousand long, over against the
oblation of the holy portion: it shall be for the whole house
of Israel.
And a portion shall be for the prince on the one side and on
the other side of the oblation of the holy portion, and of the
possession of the city, before the oblation of the holy
portion, and before the possession of the city, from the west
side westward, and from the east side eastward: and the length
shall be over against one of the portions, from the west border
unto the east border.
In the land shall be his possession in Israel: and my princes
shall no more oppress my people; and the rest of the land shall
they give to the house of Israel according to their tribes.
Thus saith the Lord GOD; Let it suffice you, O princes of
Israel: remove violence and spoil, and execute judgment and
justice, take away your exactions from my people, saith the
Lord GOD.
Ye shall have just balances, and a just ephah, and a just bath.
The ephah and the bath shall be of one measure, that the bath
may contain the tenth part of an homer, and the ephah the tenth
part of an homer: the measure thereof shall be after the homer.
And the shekel shall be twenty gerahs: twenty shekels, five and
twenty shekels, fifteen shekels, shall be your maneh.
This is the oblation that ye shall offer; the sixth part of an
ephah of an homer of wheat, and ye shall give the sixth part of
an ephah of an homer of barley:
Concerning the ordinance of oil, the bath of oil, ye shall
offer the tenth part of a bath out of the cor, which is an
homer of ten baths; for ten baths are an homer:
And one lamb out of the flock, out of two hundred, out of the
fat pastures of Israel; for a meat offering, and for a burnt
offering, and for peace offerings, to make reconciliation for
them, saith the Lord GOD.
All the people of the land shall give this oblation for the
prince in Israel.
And it shall be the prince's part to give burnt offerings, and
meat offerings, and drink offerings, in the feasts, and in the
new moons, and in the sabbaths, in all solemnities of the house
of Israel: he shall prepare the sin offering, and the meat
offering, and the burnt offering, and the peace offerings, to
make reconciliation for the house of Israel.
Thus saith the Lord GOD; In the first month, in the first day
of the month, thou shalt take a young bullock without blemish,
and cleanse the sanctuary:
And the priest shall take of the blood of the sin offering, and
put it upon the posts of the house, and upon the four corners
of the settle of the altar, and upon the posts of the gate of
the inner court.
And so thou shalt do the seventh day of the month for every one
that erreth, and for him that is simple: so shall ye reconcile
the house.
In the first month, in the fourteenth day of the month, ye
shall have the passover, a feast of seven days; unleavened
bread shall be eaten.
And upon that day shall the prince prepare for himself and for
all the people of the land a bullock for a sin offering.
And seven days of the feast he shall prepare a burnt offering
to the LORD, seven bullocks and seven rams without blemish
daily the seven days; and a kid of the goats daily for a sin
offering.
And he shall prepare a meat offering of an ephah for a bullock,
and an ephah for a ram, and an hin of oil for an ephah.
In the seventh month, in the fifteenth day of the month, shall
he do the like in the feast of the seven days, according to the
sin offering, according to the burnt offering, and according to
the meat offering, and according to the oil.
Thus saith the Lord GOD; The gate of the inner court that
looketh toward the east shall be shut the six working days; but
on the sabbath it shall be opened, and in the day of the new
moon it shall be opened.
And the prince shall enter by the way of the porch of that gate
without, 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 forth; but the gate shall not be shut until
the evening.
Likewise the people of the land shall worship at the door of
this gate before the LORD in the sabbaths and in the new moons.
And the burnt offering that the prince shall offer unto the
LORD in the sabbath day shall be six lambs without blemish, and
a ram without blemish.
And the meat offering shall be an ephah for a ram, and the meat
offering for the lambs as he shall be able to give, and an hin
of oil to an ephah.
And in the day of the new moon it shall be a young bullock
without blemish, and six lambs, and a ram: they shall be
without blemish.
And he shall prepare a meat offering, an ephah for a bullock,
and an ephah for a ram, and for the lambs according as his hand
shall attain unto, and an hin of oil to an ephah.
And when the prince shall enter, he shall go in by the way of
the porch of that gate, and he shall go forth by the way
thereof.
But when the people of the land shall come before the LORD in
the solemn feasts, he that entereth in by the way of the north
gate to worship shall go out by the way of the south gate; and
he that entereth by the way of the south gate shall go forth by
the way of the north gate: he shall not return by the way of
the gate whereby he came in, but shall go forth over against
it.
And the prince in the midst of them, when they go in, shall go
in; and when they go forth, shall go forth.
And in the feasts and in the solemnities the meat offering
shall be an ephah to a bullock, and an ephah to a ram, and to
the lambs as he is able to give, and an hin of oil to an ephah.
Now when the prince shall prepare a voluntary burnt offering or
peace offerings voluntarily unto the LORD, one shall then open
him the gate that looketh toward the east, and he shall prepare
his burnt offering and his peace offerings, as he did on the
sabbath day: then he shall go forth; and after his going forth
one shall shut the gate.
Thou shalt daily prepare a burnt offering unto the LORD of a
lamb of the first year without blemish: thou shalt prepare it
every morning.
And thou shalt prepare a meat offering for it every morning,
the sixth part of an ephah, and the third part of an hin of
oil, to temper with the fine flour; a meat offering continually
by a perpetual ordinance unto the LORD.
Thus shall they prepare the lamb, and the meat offering, and
the oil, every morning for a continual burnt offering.
Thus saith the Lord GOD; If the prince give a gift unto any of
his sons, the inheritance thereof shall be his sons'; it shall
be their possession by inheritance.
But if he give a gift of his inheritance to one of his
servants, then it shall be his to the year of liberty; after it
shall return to the prince: but his inheritance shall be his
sons' for them.
Moreover the prince shall not take of the people's inheritance
by oppression, to thrust them out of their possession; but he
shall give his sons inheritance out of his own possession: that
my people be not scattered every man from his possession.
After he brought me through the entry, which was at the side of
the gate, into the holy chambers of the priests, which looked
toward the north: and, behold, there was a place on the two
sides westward.
Then said he unto me, This is the place where the priests shall
boil the trespass offering and the sin offering, where they
shall bake the meat offering; that they bear them not out into
the utter court, to sanctify the people.
Then he brought me forth into the utter 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.
In the four corners of the court there were courts joined of
forty cubits long and thirty broad: these four corners were of
one measure.
And there was a row of building round about in them, round
about them four, and it was made with boiling places under the
rows round about.
Then said he unto me, These are the places of them that boil,
where the ministers of the house shall boil the sacrifice of
the people.
Afterward he brought me again unto the door of the house; and,
behold, waters issued out from under the threshold of the house
eastward: for the forefront of the house stood toward the east,
and the waters came down from under from the right side of the
house, at the south side of the altar.
Then brought he me out of the way of the gate northward, and
led me about the way without unto the utter gate by the way
that looketh eastward; and, behold, there ran out waters on the
right side.
And when the man that had the line in his hand went forth
eastward, he measured a thousand cubits, and he brought me
through the waters; the waters were to the ankles.
Again he measured a thousand, and brought me through the
waters; the waters were to the knees. Again he measured a
thousand, and brought me through; the waters were to the loins.
Afterward he measured a thousand; and it was a river that I
could not pass over: for the waters were risen, waters to swim
in, a river that could not be passed over.
And he said unto me, Son of man, hast thou seen this? Then he
brought me, and caused me to return to the brink of the river.
Now when I had returned, behold, at the bank of the river were
very many trees on the one side and on the other.
Then said he unto me, These waters issue out toward the east
country, and go down into the desert, and go into the sea:
which being brought forth into the sea, the waters shall be
healed.
And it shall come to pass, that every thing that liveth, which
moveth, whithersoever the rivers shall come, shall live: and
there shall be a very great multitude of fish, because these
waters shall come thither: for they shall be healed; and every
thing shall live whither the river cometh.
And it shall come to pass, that the fishers shall stand upon it
from Engedi even unto Eneglaim; they shall be a place to spread
forth nets; their fish shall be according to their kinds, as
the fish of the great sea, exceeding many.
But the miry places thereof and the marishes thereof shall not
be healed; they shall be given to salt.
And by the river upon the bank thereof, on this side and on
that side, shall grow all trees for meat, whose leaf shall not
fade, neither shall the fruit thereof be consumed: it shall
bring forth new fruit according to his months, because their
waters they issued out of the sanctuary: and the fruit thereof
shall be for meat, and the leaf thereof for medicine.
Thus saith the Lord GOD; This shall be the border, whereby ye
shall inherit the land according to the twelve tribes of
Israel: Joseph shall have two portions.
And ye shall inherit it, one as well as another: concerning the
which I lifted up mine hand to give it unto your fathers: and
this land shall fall unto you for inheritance.
And this shall be the border of the land toward the north side,
from the great sea, the way of Hethlon, as men go to Zedad;
Hamath, Berothah, Sibraim, which is between the border of
Damascus and the border of Hamath; Hazarhatticon, which is by
the coast of Hauran.
And the border from the sea shall be Hazarenan, the border of
Damascus, and the north northward, and the border of Hamath.
And this is the north side.
And the east side ye shall measure from Hauran, and from
Damascus, and from Gilead, and from the land of Israel by
Jordan, from the border unto the east sea. And this is the east
side.
And the south side southward, from Tamar even to the waters of
strife in Kadesh, the river to the great sea. And this is the
south side southward.
The west side also shall be the great sea from the border, till
a man come over against Hamath. This is the west side.
So shall ye divide this land unto you according to the tribes
of Israel.
And it shall come to pass, that ye shall divide it by lot for
an inheritance unto you, and to the strangers that sojourn
among you, which shall beget children among you: and they shall
be unto you as born in the country among the children of
Israel; they shall have inheritance with you among the tribes
of Israel.
And it shall come to pass, that in what tribe the stranger
sojourneth, there shall ye give him his inheritance, saith the
Lord GOD.
Now these are the names of the tribes. From the north end to
the coast of the way of Hethlon, as one goeth to Hamath,
Hazarenan, the border of Damascus northward, to the coast of
Hamath; for these are his sides east and west; a portion for
Dan.
And by the border of Dan, from the east side unto the west
side, a portion for Asher.
And by the border of Asher, from the east side even unto the
west side, a portion for Naphtali.
And by the border of Naphtali, from the east side unto the west
side, a portion for Manasseh.
And by the border of Manasseh, from the east side unto the west
side, a portion for Ephraim.
And by the border of Ephraim, from the east side even unto the
west side, a portion for Reuben.
And by the border of Reuben, from the east side unto the west
side, a portion for Judah.
And by the border of Judah, from the east side unto the west
side, shall be the offering which ye shall offer of five and
twenty thousand reeds in breadth, and in length as one of the
other parts, from the east side unto the west side: and the
sanctuary shall be in the midst of it.
The oblation that ye shall offer unto the LORD shall be of five
and twenty thousand in length, and of ten thousand in breadth.
And for them, even for the priests, shall be this holy
oblation; toward the north five and twenty thousand in length,
and toward the west ten thousand in breadth, and toward the
east ten thousand in breadth, and toward the south five and
twenty thousand in length: and the sanctuary of the LORD shall
be in the midst thereof.
It shall be for the priests that are sanctified of the sons of
Zadok; which have kept my charge, which went not astray when
the children of Israel went astray, as the Levites went astray.
And this oblation of the land that is offered shall be unto
them a thing most holy by the border of the Levites.
And over against the border of the priests the Levites shall
have five and twenty thousand in length, and ten thousand in
breadth: all the length shall be five and twenty thousand, and
the breadth ten thousand.
And they shall not sell of it, neither exchange, nor alienate
the firstfruits of the land: for it is holy unto the LORD.
And the five thousand, that are left in the breadth over
against the five and twenty thousand, shall be a profane place
for the city, for dwelling, and for suburbs: and the city shall
be in the midst thereof.
And these shall be the measures thereof; 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.
And the suburbs of the city shall be toward the north two
hundred and fifty, and toward the south two hundred and fifty,
and toward the east two hundred and fifty, and toward the west
two hundred and fifty.
And the residue in length over against the oblation of the holy
portion shall be ten thousand eastward, and ten thousand
westward: and it shall be over against the oblation of the holy
portion; and the increase thereof shall be for food unto them
that serve the city.
And they that serve the city shall serve it out of all the
tribes of Israel.
All the oblation shall be five and twenty thousand by five and
twenty thousand: ye shall offer the holy oblation foursquare,
with the possession of the city.
And the residue shall be for the prince, on the one side and on
the other of the holy oblation, and of the possession of the
city, over against the five and twenty thousand of the oblation
toward the east border, and westward over against the five and
twenty thousand toward the west border, over against the
portions for the prince: and it shall be the holy oblation; and
the sanctuary of the house shall be in the midst thereof.
Moreover from the possession of the Levites, and from the
possession of the city, being in the midst of that which is the
prince's, between the border of Judah and the border of
Benjamin, shall be for the prince.
As for the rest of the tribes, from the east side unto the west
side, Benjamin shall have a portion.
And by the border of Benjamin, from the east side unto the west
side, Simeon shall have a portion.
And by the border of Simeon, from the east side unto the west
side, Issachar a portion.
And by the border of Issachar, from the east side unto the west
side, Zebulun a portion.
And by the border of Zebulun, from the east side unto the west
side, Gad a portion.
And by the border of Gad, at the south side southward, the
border shall be even from Tamar unto the waters of strife in
Kadesh, and to the river toward the great sea.
This is the land which ye shall divide by lot unto the tribes
of Israel for inheritance, and these are their portions, saith
the Lord GOD.
And these are the goings out of the city on the north side,
four thousand and five hundred measures.
And the gates of the city shall be after the names of the
tribes of Israel: three gates northward; one gate of Reuben,
one gate of Judah, one gate of Levi.
And at the east side four thousand and five hundred: and three
gates; and one gate of Joseph, one gate of Benjamin, one gate
of Dan.
And at the south side four thousand and five hundred measures:
and three gates; one gate of Simeon, one gate of Issachar, one
gate of Zebulun.
At the west side four thousand and five hundred, with their
three gates; one gate of Gad, one gate of Asher, one gate of
Naphtali.
It was round about eighteen thousand measures: and the name of
the city from that day shall be, The LORD is there.
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