September 13
Ezekiel 21:18 — 23:27

      18 And the word of Jehovah continued to occur to me, saying: 19 “And as for you, O son of man, set for yourself two ways for the sword of the king of Babylon to enter. From the one land both of them should go forth, and an [index] hand should be cut out; at the head of the way to the city it should be cut out. 20 A way you should set for [the] sword to enter against Rabbah of the sons of Ammon, and [one] against Judah, against Jerusalem fortified. 21 For the king of Babylon stood still at the crossways, at the head of the two ways, in order to resort to divination. He has shaken the arrows. He has asked by means of the teraphim; he has looked into the liver. 22 In his right hand the divination proved to be for Jerusalem, to set battering rams, to open one’s mouth for a slaying, to raise the sound in an alarm signal, to set battering rams against gates, to throw up a siege rampart, to build a siege wall. 23 And it has become to them like an untrue divination in their eyes—those who are sworn with oaths to them; and he is calling error to remembrance, in order [for them] to be caught.

24 “Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord Jehovah has said, ‘By reason of YOUR causing YOUR error to be remembered by YOUR transgressions being uncovered, in order that YOUR sins may be seen according to all YOUR dealings, by reason of YOUR being called to remembrance YOU people will be seized even by the hand.’

25 “And as for you, O deadly wounded, wicked chieftain of Israel, whose day has come in the time of the error of [the] end, 26 this is what the Sovereign Lord Jehovah has said, ‘Remove the turban, and lift off the crown. This will not be the same. Put on high even what is low, and bring low even the high one. 27 A ruin, a ruin, a ruin I shall make it. As for this also, it will certainly become no [one’s] until he comes who has the legal right, and I must give [it] to him.’

28 “And you, O son of man, prophesy, and you must say, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord Jehovah has said concerning the sons of Ammon and concerning the reproach from them.’ And you must say, ‘A sword, a sword drawn for a slaughter, polished to cause [it] to devour, in order to glitter, 29 because of [their] beholding for you an unreality, because of [their] divining for you a lie, in order to put you on the necks of the slain ones, the wicked men whose day has come in the time of the error of [the] end. 30 Return [it] to its sheath. In the place that you were created, in the land of your origin, I shall judge you. 31 And I will pour out upon you my denunciation. With the fire of my fury I shall blow upon you, and I will give you into the hand of men who are unreasoning, the craftsmen of ruination. 32 For the fire you will become fuel. Your own blood will prove to be in the midst of the land. You will not be remembered, for I myself, Jehovah, have spoken.’”

22 And the word of Jehovah continued to occur to me, saying: 2 “And as for you, O son of man, will you judge, will you judge the bloodguilty city and certainly cause her to know all her detestable things? 3 And you must say, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord Jehovah has said: “O city that is shedding blood in her midst till her time comes, and that has made dungy idols within herself in order to become unclean, 4 by your blood that you have shed you have become guilty, and by your dungy idols that you have made you have become unclean. And you bring your days near, and you will come to your years. That is why I must make you an object of reproach to the nations and of jeering to all the lands. 5 The [lands] nearby and those far away from you will jeer you, O you unclean in name, abounding in confusion. 6 Look! The chieftains of Israel have proved to be in you, each one [given over] to his arm for the purpose of shedding blood. 7 Father and mother they have treated with contempt in you. Toward the alien resident they have acted with defrauding in the midst of you. Fatherless boy and widow they have maltreated in you.”’”

8 “‘My holy places you have despised, and my sabbaths you have profaned. 9 Outright slanderers have proved to be in you, for the purpose of shedding blood; and on the mountains they have eaten in you. Loose conduct they have carried on in the midst of you. 10 The nakedness of a father they have uncovered in you; a woman unclean in [her] menstruation they have humiliated in you. 11 And with the wife of his companion a man has done a detestable thing, and his own daughter-in-law a man has defiled with loose conduct; and his sister, the daughter of his own father, a man has humiliated in you. 12 A bribe they have taken in you for the purpose of shedding blood. Interest and usury you have taken, and you violently keep making gain of your companions with defrauding, and me you have forgotten,’ is the utterance of the Sovereign Lord Jehovah.

13 “‘And, look! I have struck my hand at your unjust gain that you have made, and over your acts of bloodshed that have proved to be in the midst of you. 14 Will your heart keep enduring or your hands furnish strength in the days when I am taking action toward you? I myself, Jehovah, have spoken and I will take action. 15 And I will scatter you among the nations and disperse you among the lands, and I will destroy your uncleanness out of you. 16 And you will certainly be profaned within yourself before the eyes of [the] nations, and you will have to know that I am Jehovah.’”

17 And the word of Jehovah continued to come to me, saying: 18 “Son of man, to me those of the house of Israel have become as scummy dross. All of them are copper and tin and iron and lead in the midst of a furnace. Much scummy dross, [that of] silver, they have become.

19 “Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord Jehovah has said, ‘For the reason that all of YOU have become as much scummy dross, therefore here I am collecting YOU together into the midst of Jerusalem. 20 As in collecting silver and copper and iron and lead and tin into the midst of a furnace, in order to blow upon it with fire to cause a liquefying, so I shall collect [them] together in my anger and in my rage, and I will blow and cause YOU people to liquefy. 21 And I will bring YOU together and blow upon YOU with the fire of my fury, and YOU must be liquefied in the midst of her. 22 As in the liquefying of silver in the midst of a furnace, so YOU people will be liquefied in the midst of her; and YOU will have to know that I myself, Jehovah, have poured out my rage upon YOU.’”

23 And the word of Jehovah continued to come to me, saying: 24 “Son of man, say to her, ‘You are a land not being cleansed, one not rained down upon in the day of denunciation. 25 There is a conspiracy of her prophets in the midst of her, like the roaring lion, tearing prey. A soul they actually devour. Treasure and precious things they keep taking. Her widows they have multiplied in the midst of her. 26 Her priests themselves have done violence to my law, and they keep profaning my holy places. Between the holy thing and the common they have made no distinction, and between the unclean thing and the clean they have made nothing known, and from my sabbaths they have hidden their eyes, and I am profaned in the midst of them. 27 Her princes in the midst of her are like wolves tearing prey in shedding blood, in destroying souls for the purpose of making unjust gain. 28 And her prophets have plastered for them with whitewash, visioning an unreality and divining for them a lie, saying: “This is what the Sovereign Lord Jehovah has said,” when Jehovah himself has not spoken. 29 The people of the land themselves have carried on a scheme of defrauding and have done a tearing away in robbery, and the afflicted one and the poor one they have maltreated, and the alien resident they have defrauded without justice.’

30 “‘And I kept looking for a man from among them who would be repairing the stone wall and standing in the gap before me in behalf of the land, in order [for me] not to bring it to ruin; and I found no one. 31 So I shall pour out my denunciation upon them. With the fire of my fury I will exterminate them. Their way I will bring upon their own head,’ is the utterance of the Sovereign Lord Jehovah.”

23 And the word of Jehovah proceeded to come to me, saying: 2 “Son of man, two women, the daughters of one mother, there happened to be. 3 And they began to prostitute themselves in Egypt. In their youth they committed prostitution. There their breasts were squeezed, and there they pressed the bosoms of their virginity. 4 And their names were Oholah the older one and Oholibah her sister, and they came to be mine and began to give birth to sons and daughters. And as for their names, Oholah is Samaria, and Oholibah is Jerusalem.

5 “And Oholah began to prostitute herself, while subject to me, and kept lusting after those passionately loving her, after the Assyrians, who were near, 6 governors clothed with blue material, and deputy rulers—desirable young men all of them, cavalrymen riding horses. 7 And she continued giving forth her prostitutions upon them, the choicest sons of Assyria all of them; and with all those after whom she lusted—with their dungy idols—she defiled herself. 8 And her prostitutions [carried] from Egypt she did not leave, for with her they had lain down in her youth, and they were the ones that pressed the bosoms of her virginity and they kept pouring out their immoral intercourse upon her. 9 Therefore I gave her into the hand of those passionately loving her, into the hand of the sons of Assyria, toward whom she had lusted. 10 They were the ones that uncovered her nakedness. Her sons and her daughters they took, and her they killed even with sword. And she came to be infamy to women, and acts of judgment were what they executed upon her.

11 “When her sister Oholibah got to see [it], then she exercised her sensual desire more ruinously than she, and her prostitution more than the fornication of her sister. 12 For the sons of Assyria she lusted, governors and deputy rulers who were near, clothed with perfect taste, cavalrymen riding horses—desirable young men all of them. 13 And I got to see that, because she had defiled herself, both of them had one way. 14 And she kept adding to her acts of prostitution when she got to see the men in carvings upon the wall, images of Chaldeans carved in vermilion, 15 girded with belts on their hips, with pendant turbans on their heads, having the appearance of warriors, all of them, the likeness of the sons of Babylon, Chaldeans as respects the land of their birth. 16 And she began to lust after them at the sight of her eyes and proceeded to send messengers to them in Chaldea. 17 And the sons of Babylon kept coming in to her, to the bed of expressions of love, and defiling her with their immoral intercourse; and she continued getting defiled by them, and her soul began to turn away disgusted from them.

18 “And she went on uncovering her acts of prostitution and uncovering her nakedness, so that my soul turned away disgusted from company with her, just as my soul had turned away disgusted from company with her sister. 19 And she kept multiplying her acts of prostitution to the point of calling to mind the days of her youth, when she prostituted herself in the land of Egypt. 20 And she kept lusting in the style of concubines belonging to those whose fleshly member is as the fleshly member of male asses and whose genital organ is as the genital organ of male horses. 21 And you continued calling attention to the loose conduct of your youth by the pressing of your bosoms from Egypt onward, for the sake of the breasts of your youth.

22 “Therefore, O Oholibah, this is what the Sovereign Lord Jehovah has said, ‘Here I am rousing up your passionate lovers against you, those from whom your soul has turned away in disgust, and I will bring them in against you on all sides, 23 the sons of Babylon and all the Chaldeans, Pekod and Shoa and Koa, all the sons of Assyria with them, desirable young men, governors and deputy rulers all of them, warriors and summoned ones, riding on horses, all of them. 24 And they must come in against you with rattling of war chariots and wheels, and with a congregation of peoples, with large shield and buckler and helmet. They will set themselves against you all around, and I will give judgment over to them, and they must judge you with their judgments. 25 And I will express my ardor against you, and they must take action against you in rage. Your nose and your ears they will remove, and the remainder of you will fall even by the sword. Your sons and your daughters they themselves will take, and the remainder of you will be devoured by the fire. 26 And they will certainly strip off you your garments and take away your beautiful articles. 27 And I shall actually cause your loose conduct to cease from you, and your prostitution [carried] from the land of Egypt; and you will not raise your eyes to them, and Egypt you will remember no more.’