September 14
Ezekiel 23:28 — 25:17
 

28 “For this is what the Sovereign Lord Jehovah has said, ‘Here I am giving you into the hand of those whom you have hated, into the hand of those from whom your soul has turned away disgusted. 29 And they must take action against you in hatred and take away all your product of toil and leave you naked and nude; and the nudeness of your acts of fornication and your loose conduct and your acts of prostitution must be uncovered. 30 There will be a doing of these things to you because of your going like a prostitute after [the] nations, on account of the fact that you defiled yourself with their dungy idols. 31 In the way of your sister you have walked; and I shall have to give her cup into your hand.’

32 “This is what the Sovereign Lord Jehovah has said, ‘The cup of your sister you will drink, the deep and wide one. You will become an object of laughter and derision, [the cup] containing much. 33 With drunkenness and grief you will be filled, with the cup of astonishment and of desolation, the cup of your sister Samaria. 34 And you will have to drink it and drain [it] out, and its earthenware fragments you will gnaw, and your breasts you will tear out. “For I myself have spoken,” is the utterance of the Sovereign Lord Jehovah.’

35 “Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord Jehovah has said, ‘For the reason that you have forgotten me and you proceeded to cast me behind your back, then you yourself also bear your loose conduct and your acts of prostitution.’”

36 And Jehovah went on to say to me: “Son of man, will you judge Oholah and Oholibah and tell them their detestable things? 37 For they have committed adultery and there is blood on their hands, and with their dungy idols they have committed adultery. And, besides that, their sons whom they had borne to me they made pass through [the fire] to them as food. 38 What is more, this is what they have done to me: They have defiled my sanctuary in that day, and my sabbaths they have profaned. 39 And when they had slaughtered their sons to their dungy idols they even proceeded to come into my sanctuary on that day to profane it, and, look! that is what they have done in the midst of my house. 40 And in addition to that, when they began to send to the men coming from far away, to whom there was sent a messenger, then, look! they came, for whom you had washed yourself, painted your eyes and decked yourself with ornaments. 41 And you sat down upon a glorious couch, with a table set in order before it, and my incense and my oil you put upon it. 42 And the sound of a crowd at ease was in her, and to the men out of the mass of mankind there were drunkards being brought in from the wilderness, and they proceeded to put bracelets on the hands of the women and beautiful crowns upon their heads.

43 “Then I said respecting her who was worn out with adultery, ‘Now she will keep on committing her prostitution, even she herself.’ 44 And they kept on coming in to her, just as one comes in to a woman that is a prostitute; in that manner they came in to Oholah and to Oholibah as women of loose conduct. 45 But as regards righteous men, they are the ones that will judge her with the judgment for adulteresses and with the judgment for female shedders of blood; for adulteresses are what they are, and there is blood on their hands.

46 “For this is what the Sovereign Lord Jehovah has said, ‘There will be the bringing up of a congregation against them and a making of them a frightful object and something to plunder. 47 And the congregation must pelt them with stones, and there will be a cutting of them down with their swords. Their sons and their daughters they will kill, and with fire their houses they will burn. 48 And I shall certainly cause loose conduct to cease out of the land, and all the women will have to let themselves be corrected, so that they will not do according to YOUR loose conduct. 49 And they must bring YOUR loose conduct upon YOU, and the sins of YOUR dungy idols YOU will bear; and YOU people will have to know that I am the Sovereign Lord Jehovah.’”

24 And the word of Jehovah continued to occur to me in the ninth year, in the tenth month, on the tenth [day] of the month, saying: 2 “Son of man, write down for yourself the name of the day, this selfsame day. The king of Babylon has thrown himself against Jerusalem on this selfsame day. 3 And compose a proverbial saying concerning the rebellious house, and you must say concerning them,

“‘This is what the Sovereign Lord Jehovah has said: “Put the widemouthed cooking pot on; put [it] on, and also pour water into it. 4 Gather pieces in it, every good piece, thigh and shoulder; fill [it] even with the choicest bones. 5 Let there be a taking of the choicest sheep, and also stack the logs in a circle under it. Boil its pieces, also cook its bones in the midst of it.”’”

6 “Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord Jehovah has said, ‘Woe to the city of deeds of bloodshed, the widemouthed cooking pot, the rust of which is in it, and the very rust of which has not gone forth from it! Piece by piece of it, bring it out; no lot must be cast over it. 7 For its very blood has come to be right in the midst of it. Upon the shining, bare surface of a crag she placed it. She did not pour it out upon the earth, in order to cover it over with dust. 8 In order to bring up rage for the executing of vengeance, I have put her blood upon the shining, bare surface of a crag, in order that it may not be covered over.’

9 “Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord Jehovah has said, ‘Woe to the city of deeds of bloodshed! I myself also shall make the pile great. 10 Make the logs many. Kindle the fire. Boil the flesh thoroughly. And empty out the broth, and let the bones themselves become piping hot. 11 Stand it empty upon its coals in order that it may get hot; and its copper must become heated up, and its uncleanness must be liquefied in the midst of it. Let its rust get consumed. 12 Troubles! It has made [one] tired, but the great amount of its rust does not go forth from it. Into [the] fire with its rust!’

13 “‘There was loose conduct in your uncleanness. For that reason I had to cleanse you, but you did not become clean from your uncleanness. You will become clean no more until I cause my rage to come to its rest in your case. 14 I myself, Jehovah, have spoken. It must come, and I will act. I shall not neglect, neither shall I feel sorry nor feel regret. According to your ways and according to your dealings they will certainly judge you,’ is the utterance of the Sovereign Lord Jehovah.”

15 And the word of Jehovah continued to occur to me, saying: 16 “Son of man, here I am taking away from you the thing desirable to your eyes by a blow, and you should not beat your breast, neither should you weep nor should your tears come on. 17 Sigh without words. For the dead ones no mourning should you make. Your headdress bind on yourself, and your sandals you should put upon your feet. And you should not cover over [the] mustache, and the bread of men you should not eat.”

18 And I proceeded to speak to the people in the morning, and my wife gradually died in the evening. So I did in the morning just as I had been commanded. 19 And the people kept saying to me: “Will you not tell us what these things have to do with us, that you are doing?” 20 Then I said to them: “The very word of Jehovah has occurred to me, saying, 21 ‘Say to the house of Israel: “This is what the Sovereign Lord Jehovah has said, ‘Here I am profaning my sanctuary, the pride of YOUR strength, the thing desirable to YOUR eyes and the object of YOUR soul’s compassion, and YOUR sons and YOUR daughters whom YOU people have left behind—by the sword they will fall. 22 And YOU will have to do just as I have done. Mustaches YOU will not cover over, and the bread of men YOU will not eat. 23 And YOUR headdress will be on YOUR heads, and YOUR sandals be upon YOUR feet. YOU will not beat yourselves nor will YOU weep, and YOU will have to rot away in YOUR errors, and YOU will actually groan over one another. 24 And Ezekiel has become for YOU a portent. In accord with all that he has done, YOU will do. When it comes, YOU will also have to know that I am the Sovereign Lord Jehovah.’”’”

25 “And as for you, O son of man, will it not be in the day of my taking away from them their fortress, the beautiful object of their exultation, the thing desirable to their eyes and the longing of their soul, their sons and their daughters, that 26 in that day there will come to you the escaped one for making the ears hear? 27 In that day your mouth will be opened to the escaped one, and you will speak and be mute no longer; and you will certainly become to them a portent, and they will have to know that I am Jehovah.”

25 And the word of Jehovah continued to occur to me, saying: 2 “Son of man, set your face toward the sons of Ammon and prophesy against them. 3 And you must say concerning the sons of Ammon, ‘Hear the word of the Sovereign Lord Jehovah. This is what the Sovereign Lord Jehovah has said: “For the reason that you have said Aha! against my sanctuary, because it has been profaned, and against the soil of Israel, because it has been laid desolate, and against the house of Judah, because they have gone into exile, 4 therefore here I am giving you to the Orientals as something to possess, and they will set up their walled camps in you and will certainly put in you their tabernacles. They themselves will eat your fruitage, and they themselves will drink your milk. 5 And I will make Rabbah a pasture ground of camels and the sons of Ammon a resting-place of a flock; and YOU people will have to know that I am Jehovah.”’”

6 “For this is what the Sovereign Lord Jehovah has said, ‘For the reason that you clapped the hands and you stamped with the feet and you kept rejoicing with all scorn on your part in [your] soul against the soil of Israel, 7 therefore here I am; I have stretched out my hand against you, and I will give you as something to plunder to the nations; and I will cut you off from the peoples and destroy you from the lands. I shall annihilate you, and you will have to know that I am Jehovah.’

8 “This is what the Sovereign Lord Jehovah has said, ‘For the reason that Moab and Seir have said: “Look! The house of Judah is like all the other nations,” 9 therefore here I am opening the slope of Moab at the cities, at his cities to his frontier, the decoration of [the] land, Beth-jeshimoth, Baal-meon, even to Kiriathaim, 10 to the Orientals, alongside the sons of Ammon; and I will make it something to possess, in order that it may not be remembered, [that is,] the sons of Ammon, among the nations. 11 And in Moab I shall execute acts of judgment; and they will have to know that I am Jehovah.’

12 “This is what the Sovereign Lord Jehovah has said, ‘For the reason that Edom has acted in taking vengeance upon the house of Judah and they kept doing wrong extensively and avenged themselves on them, 13 therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord Jehovah has said: “I will also stretch out my hand against Edom and cut off from it man and domestic animal, and I will make it a devastated place from Teman, even to Dedan. By the sword they will fall. 14 ‘And I will bring my vengeance on Edom by the hand of my people Israel; and they must do in Edom according to my anger and according to my rage; and they will have to know what my vengeance is,’ is the utterance of the Sovereign Lord Jehovah.”’

15 “This is what the Sovereign Lord Jehovah has said, ‘For the reason that the Philistines have acted with vengeance and they kept avenging themselves with a vengeance with scorn in [the] soul, in order to cause ruin, with an indefinitely lasting enmity, 16 therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord Jehovah has said: “Here I am stretching out my hand against the Philistines, and I will cut off the Cherethites and destroy the rest of the seacoast. 17 And I will execute in them great acts of vengeance, with raging reproofs; and they will have to know that I am Jehovah when I bring my vengeance on them.”’”