September 12
Ezekiel 20:1 — 21:17

20 Now it came about in the seventh year, in the fifth [month], on the tenth [day] of the month, [that] men from the elderly ones of Israel came in to inquire of Jehovah, and they proceeded to sit down before me. 2 Then the word of Jehovah occurred to me, saying: 3 “Son of man, speak with the elderly men of Israel, and you must say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord Jehovah has said: “Is it in order to inquire of me that YOU men are coming? ‘As I am alive, I will not be inquired of by YOU,’ is the utterance of the Sovereign Lord Jehovah.”’

4 “Will you judge them? Will you judge [them], O son of man? Cause them to know the detestable things of their forefathers. 5 And you must say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord Jehovah has said: “In the day of my choosing Israel, I also proceeded to lift up my hand [in an oath] to the seed of the house of Jacob and to make myself known to them in the land of Egypt. Yes, I proceeded to lift up my hand [in an oath] to them, saying, ‘I am Jehovah YOUR God.’ 6 In that day I lifted up my hand [in an oath] to them to bring them forth from the land of Egypt to a land that I had spied out for them, one flowing with milk and honey. It was the decoration of all the lands. 7 And I went on to say to them, ‘Throw away, each one of YOU, the disgusting things of his eyes, and with the dungy idols of Egypt do not defile yourselves. I am Jehovah YOUR God.’

8 “‘“And they began to rebel against me, and they did not consent to listen to me. The disgusting things of their eyes they did not individually throw away, and the dungy idols of Egypt they did not leave, so that I promised to pour out my rage upon them, in order to bring my anger to its finish upon them in the midst of the land of Egypt. 9 And I went acting for the sake of my own name that [it] might not be profaned before the eyes of the nations in among whom they were, because I had made myself known to them before their eyes on bringing them forth from the land of Egypt. 10 So I brought them forth from the land of Egypt and brought them into the wilderness.

11 “‘“And I proceeded to give them my statutes; and my judicial decisions I made known to them, in order that the man who keeps doing them might also keep living by them. 12 And my sabbaths I also gave to them, to become a sign between me and them, in order [for them] to know that I am Jehovah who is sanctifying them.

13 “‘“But they, the house of Israel, rebelled against me in the wilderness. In my statutes they did not walk, and my judicial decisions they rejected, which, should the man keep doing, he will also keep living by them. And my sabbaths they profaned very much, so that I promised to pour out my fury upon them in the wilderness, in order to exterminate them. 14 But I acted for the sake of my own name that [it] might not be profaned before the eyes of the nations, before whose eyes I had brought them forth. 15 And I myself also lifted up my hand [in an oath] to them in the wilderness, not to bring them into the land that I had given, one flowing with milk and honey, (it is the decoration of all the lands,) 16 for the reason that they rejected my own judicial decisions; and as regards my statutes, they did not walk in them, and my sabbaths they profaned, because it was after their dungy idols that their heart was going.

17 “‘“And my eye began to feel sorry for them [to keep me] from bringing them to ruin, and I did not make an extermination of them in the wilderness. 18 And I proceeded to say to their sons in the wilderness, ‘In the regulations of your forefathers do not YOU walk, and their judgments do not YOU keep, and with their dungy idols do not YOU defile yourselves. 19 I am Jehovah YOUR God. Walk in my own statutes, and keep my own judicial decisions and do them. 20 And sanctify my own sabbaths, and they must serve as a sign between me and YOU, [for YOU] to know that I am Jehovah YOUR God.’

21 “‘“And the sons began to rebel against me. In my statutes they did not walk, and my judicial decisions they did not keep by doing them, which, should the man keep doing, he will also keep living by them. My sabbaths they profaned. So I promised to pour out my rage upon them, in order to bring my anger to its finish upon them in the wilderness. 22 And I drew back my hand and went acting for the sake of my own name, that [it] should not be profaned before the eyes of the nations, before whose eyes I had brought them out. 23 Also, I myself lifted up my hand [in an oath] to them in the wilderness, to scatter them among the nations and to disperse them among the lands, 24 for the reason that they did not carry out my own judicial decisions and they rejected my own statutes and they profaned my own sabbaths, and it was after the dungy idols of their forefathers that their eyes proved to be. 25 And I myself also let them have regulations that were not good and judicial decisions by which they could not keep living. 26 And I would let them become defiled by their gifts when [they] made every child opening the womb pass through [the fire], in order that I might make them desolate, in order that they might know that I am Jehovah.”’

27 “Therefore speak to the house of Israel, O son of man, and you must say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord Jehovah has said: “Yet in this respect, YOUR forefathers spoke abusively of me, in their acting against me with unfaithfulness. 28 And I proceeded to bring them into the land that I had lifted up my hand [in an oath] to give them. When they got to see every exalted hill and every branchy tree, then they began sacrificing there their sacrifices and giving there their offensive offering, and presenting there their restful odors and pouring out there their drink offerings. 29 So I said to them, ‘What does the high place mean to which YOU are coming, that its name should be called a High Place down to this day?’”’

30 “Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord Jehovah has said: “In the way of YOUR forefathers are YOU people defiling yourselves, and after their disgusting things are YOU going in immoral intercourse? 31 And in lifting up YOUR gifts by making YOUR sons pass through the fire, are YOU defiling yourselves for all YOUR dungy idols down till today? At the same time shall I myself be inquired of by YOU people, O house of Israel?”’

“‘As I am alive,’ is the utterance of the Sovereign Lord Jehovah, ‘I will not be inquired of by YOU. 32 And that which is coming up into YOUR spirit will itself positively not happen, in that YOU are saying: “Let us become like the nations, like the families of the lands, in ministering to wood and stone.”’”

33 “‘As I am alive,’ is the utterance of the Sovereign Lord Jehovah, ‘it will be with a strong hand and with a stretched-out arm and with outpoured rage that I will rule as king over YOU people. 34 And I will bring YOU forth from the peoples, and I will collect YOU together out of the lands to which YOU have been scattered with a strong hand and with a stretched-out arm and with outpoured rage. 35 And I will bring YOU into the wilderness of the peoples and put myself on judgment with YOU there face to face.

36 “‘Just as I put myself on judgment with YOUR forefathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so I shall put myself on judgment with YOU,’ is the utterance of the Sovereign Lord Jehovah. 37 ‘And I will make YOU pass under the rod and bring YOU into the bond of the covenant. 38 And I will clean out from YOU the revolters and the transgressors against me, for out of the land of their alien residence I shall bring them forth, but onto the soil of Israel they will not come; and YOU people will have to know that I am Jehovah.’

39 “And YOU, O house of Israel, this is what the Sovereign Lord Jehovah has said, ‘Go serve each one of YOU his own dungy idols. And afterward if YOU are not listening to me, then my holy name YOU will no more profane by YOUR gifts and by YOUR dungy idols.’

40 “‘For in my holy mountain, in the mountain of the height of Israel,’ is the utterance of the Sovereign Lord Jehovah, ‘there is where they, the whole house of Israel in its entirety, will serve me, in the land. There I shall take pleasure in them, and there I shall require YOUR contributions and the firstfruits of YOUR presentations in all YOUR holy things. 41 Because of the restful odor I shall take pleasure in YOU, when I bring YOU forth from the peoples and I actually collect YOU together from the lands to which YOU have been scattered, and I will be sanctified in YOU before the eyes of the nations.’

42 “‘And YOU people will have to know that I am Jehovah, when I bring YOU onto the soil of Israel, into the land that I lifted up my hand [in an oath] to give to YOUR forefathers. 43 And YOU will certainly remember there YOUR ways and all YOUR dealings by which YOU defiled yourselves, and YOU will actually feel a loathing at YOUR own faces because of all YOUR bad things that YOU did. 44 And YOU will have to know that I am Jehovah when I take action with YOU for the sake of my name, not according to YOUR bad ways or according to YOUR corrupted dealings, O house of Israel,’ is the utterance of the Sovereign Lord Jehovah.”

45 And the word of Jehovah continued to occur to me, saying: 46 “Son of man, set your face in the direction of the southern quarter and drip [words] to the south, and prophesy to the forest of the field of [the] south. 47 And you must say to the forest of the south, ‘Hear the word of Jehovah. This is what the Sovereign Lord Jehovah has said: “Here I am setting a fire ablaze against you, and it must devour in you every still-moist tree and every dry tree. The kindling flame will not be extinguished, and by it all faces must be scorched from [the] south to the north. 48 And all those of flesh must see that I myself, Jehovah, have set it afire, so that it will not be extinguished.”’”

49 And I proceeded to say: “Alas, O Sovereign Lord Jehovah! They are saying respecting me, ‘Is he not composing proverbial sayings?’”

21 And the word of Jehovah continued to occur to me, saying: 2 “Son of man, set your face toward Jerusalem and drip [words] toward the holy places, and prophesy against the soil of Israel. 3 And you must say to the soil of Israel, ‘This is what Jehovah has said: “Here I am against you, and I will bring forth my sword out of its sheath and cut off from you righteous one and wicked one. 4 In order that I may actually cut off from you righteous one and wicked one, therefore my sword will go forth from its sheath against all flesh from south to north. 5 And all those of flesh will have to know that I myself, Jehovah, have brought forth my sword from its sheath. No more will it go back.”’

6 “And as for you, O son of man, sigh with shaking hips. Even with bitterness you should sigh before their eyes. 7 And it must occur that, in case they say to you, ‘On account of what are you sighing?’ you must say, ‘At a report.’ For it will certainly come, and every heart must melt and all hands must drop down and every spirit must become dejected and all knees themselves will drip with water. ‘Look! It will certainly come and be brought to occur,’ is the utterance of the Sovereign Lord Jehovah.”

8 And the word of Jehovah continued to occur to me, saying: 9 “Son of man, prophesy, and you must say, ‘This is what Jehovah has said: “Say, ‘A sword, a sword! It has been sharpened, and it is also polished. 10 For the purpose of organizing a slaughter it has been sharpened; for the purpose of its getting a glitter it has been polished.’”’”

“Or shall we exult?”

“‘Is it rejecting the scepter of my own son, as [it does] every tree?

11 “‘And one gives it to be polished, in order to wield [it] with the hand. It—a sword has been sharpened, and it—it has been polished, in order to give it into the hand of a killer.

12 “‘Cry out and howl, O son of man, for it itself has come to be against my people; it is against all the chieftains of Israel. The very ones hurled to the sword have come to be with my people. Therefore make a slap on [the] thigh. 13 For an extermination has been made, and what [of it] if it is rejecting also the scepter? This will not continue existing,’ is the utterance of the Sovereign Lord Jehovah.

14 “And you, O son of man—prophesy, and strike palm against palm, and ‘A sword!’ should be repeated for three times. The sword of the slain ones it is. It is the sword of someone slain who is great, which is making an encirclement of them. 15 In order for the heart to melt and [in order] to multiply those who are overthrown at all their gates, I will make a slaughter by the sword. Alas, it is made for a glittering, polished for a slaughter! 16 Show yourself sharp; go to the right! Set your position; go to the left! To wherever your face is directed! 17 And I myself also shall strike my one palm against my other palm, and I will bring my rage to its rest. I myself, Jehovah, have spoken.”