Bible in Basic English

Contents  Books  Chapter 1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10  11  12  13  14  15  16  17  18  19  20  21  22  23  24  25  26  27  28  29  30  31  32  33  34  35  36  37  38  39  40  41  42  43  44  45  46  47  48

Ezekiel

1:1 Now it came about in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, on the fifth day of the month, while I was by the river Chebar among those who had been made prisoners, that the heavens were made open and I saw visions of God.

1:2 On the fifth day of the month, in the fifth year after King Jehoiachin had been made a prisoner,

1:3 The word of the Lord came to me, Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldaeans by the river Chebar; and the hand of the Lord was on me there.

1:4 And, looking, I saw a storm-wind coming out of the north, a great cloud with flames of fire coming after one another, and a bright light shining round about it and in the heart of it was something coloured like electrum.

1:5 And in the heart of it were the forms of four living beings. And this was what they were like; they had the form of a man.

1:6 And every one had four faces, and every one of them had four wings.

1:7 And their feet were straight feet; and the under sides of their feet were like the feet of oxen; and they were shining like polished brass.

1:8 And they had the hands of a man under their wings; the four of them had faces on their four sides.

1:9 They went without turning, every one went straight forward.

1:10 As for the form of their faces, they had the face of a man, and the four of them had the face of a lion on the right side, and the four of them had the face of an ox on the left side, and the four of them had the face of an eagle.

1:11 And their wings were separate at the top; two of the wings of every one were joined one to another, and two were covering their bodies.

1:12 Every one of them went straight forward; wherever the spirit was to go they went; they went on without turning.

1:13 And between the living beings it was like burning coals of fire, as if flames were going one after the other between the living beings; and the fire was bright, and out of the fire went thunder-flames.

1:14 And the living beings went out and came back as quickly as a thunder-flame.

1:15 Now while I was looking at the four living beings, I saw one wheel on the earth, by the side of the living beings, for the four of them.

1:16 The form of the wheels and their work was like a beryl; the four of them had the same form and design, and they were like a wheel inside a wheel.

1:17 The four of them went straight forward without turning to one side.

1:18 And I saw that they had edges, and their edges, even of the four, were full of eyes round about.

1:19 And when the living beings went on, the wheels went by their side; and when the living beings were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up.

1:20 Wherever the spirit was to go they went; and the wheels were lifted up by their side: for the spirit of the living beings was in the wheels.

1:21 When these went on, the others went; and when these came to rest, the others came to rest; and when these were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up by their side: for the spirit of the living beings was in the wheels.

1:22 And over the heads of the living beings there was the form of an arch, looking like ice, stretched out over their heads on high.

1:23 Under the arch their wings were straight, one stretched out to another: every one had two wings covering their bodies on this side and two covering their bodies on that side.

1:24 And when they went, the sound of their wings was like the sound of great waters to my ears, like the voice of the Ruler of all, a sound like the rushing of an army: when they came to rest they let down their wings.

1:25 And there was a voice from the top of the arch which was over their heads: when they came to rest they let down their wings.

1:26 And on the top of the arch which was over their heads was the form of a king's seat, like a sapphire stone; and on the form of the seat was the form of a man seated on it on high.

1:27 And I saw it coloured like electrum, with the look of fire in it and round it, going up from what seemed to be the middle of his body; and going down from what seemed to be the middle of his body I saw what was like fire, and there was a bright light shining round him.

1:28 Like the bow in the cloud on a day of rain, so was the light shining round him. And this is what the glory of the Lord was like. And when I saw it I went down on my face, and the voice of one talking came to my ears.

2:1 And he said to me, Son of man, get up on your feet, so that I may say words to you.

2:2 And at his words the spirit came into me and put me on my feet; and his voice came to my ears.

2:3 And he said to me, Son of man, I am sending you to the children of Israel, to an uncontrolled nation which has gone against me: they and their fathers have been sinners against me even to this very day.

2:4 And the children are hard and stiff-hearted; I am sending you to them: and you are to say to them, These are the words of the Lord.

2:5 And they, if they give ear to you or if they do not give ear (for they are an uncontrolled people), will see that there has been a prophet among them.

2:6 And you, son of man, have no fear of them or of their words, even if sharp thorns are round you and you are living among scorpions: have no fear of their words and do not be overcome by their looks, for they are an uncontrolled people.

2:7 And you are to give them my words, if they give ear to you or if they do not: for they are uncontrolled.

2:8 But you, son of man, give ear to what I say to you, and do not be uncontrolled like that uncontrolled people: let your mouth be open and take what I give you.

2:9 And looking, I saw a hand stretched out to me, and I saw the roll of a book in it;

2:10 And he put it open before me, and it had writing on the front and on the back; words of grief and sorrow and trouble were recorded in it.

3:1 And he said to me, Son of man, take this roll for your food, and go and say my words to the children of Israel.

3:2 And, on my opening my mouth, he made me take the roll as food.

3:3 And he said to me, Son of man, let your stomach make a meal of it and let your inside be full of this roll which I am giving you. Then I took it, and it was sweet as honey in my mouth.

3:4 And he said to me, Son of man, go now to the children of Israel, and say my words to them.

3:5 For you are not sent to a people whose talk is strange and whose language is hard, but to the children of Israel;

3:6 Not to a number of peoples whose talk is strange and whose language is hard and whose words are not clear to you. Truly, if I sent you to them they would give ear to you.

3:7 But the children of Israel will not give ear to you; for they have no mind to give ear to me: for all the children of Israel have a hard brow and a stiff heart.

3:8 See, I have made your face hard against their faces, and your brow hard against their brows.

3:9 Like a diamond harder than rock I have made your brow: have no fear of them and do not be overcome by their looks, for they are an uncontrolled people.

3:10 Then he said to me, Son of man, take into your heart all my words which I am about to say to you, and let your ears be open to them.

3:11 And go now to those who have been taken away as prisoners, to the children of your people, and say to them, This is what the Lord has said; if they give ear or if they do not.

3:12 Then I was lifted up by the wind, and at my back the sound of a great rushing came to my ears when the glory of the Lord was lifted up from his place.

3:13 And there was the sound of the wings of the living beings touching one another, and the sound of the wheels at their side, the sound of a great rushing.

3:14 And the wind, lifting me up, took me away: and I went in the heat of my spirit, and the hand of the Lord was strong on me.

3:15 Then I came to those who had been taken away as prisoners, who were at Telabib by the river Chebar, and I was seated among them full of wonder for seven days.

3:16 And at the end of seven days, the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

3:17 Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the children of Israel: so give ear to the word of my mouth, and give them word from me of their danger.

3:18 When I say to the evil-doer, Death will certainly be your fate; and you give him no word of it and say nothing to make clear to the evil-doer the danger of his evil way, so that he may be safe; that same evil man will come to death in his evil-doing; but I will make you responsible for his blood.

3:19 But if you give the evil-doer word of his danger, and he is not turned from his sin or from his evil way, death will overtake him in his evil-doing; but your life will be safe.

3:20 Again, when an upright man, turning away from his righteousness, does evil, and I put a cause of falling in his way, death will overtake him: because you have given him no word of his danger, death will overtake him in his evil-doing, and there will be no memory of the upright acts which he has done; but I will make you responsible for his blood.

3:21 But if you say to the upright man that he is not to do evil, he will certainly keep his life because he took note of your word; and your life will be safe.

3:22 And the hand of the Lord was on me there; and he said, Get up and go out into the valley and there I will have talk with you.

3:23 Then I got up and went out into the valley; and I saw the glory of the Lord resting there as I had seen it by the river Chebar; and I went down on my face.

3:24 Then the spirit came into me and put me on my feet; and he had talk with me and said to me, Go and keep yourself shut up inside your house.

3:25 But see, O son of man, I will put bands on you, prisoning you in them, and you will not go out among them:

3:26 And I will make your tongue fixed to the roof of your mouth, so that you have no voice and may not make protests to them: for they are an uncontrolled people.

3:27 But when I have talk with you I will make your mouth open, and you are to say to them, This is what the Lord has said: Let the hearer give ear; and as for him who will not, let him keep his ears shut: for they are an uncontrolled people.

4:1 And you, son of man, take a back and put it before you and on it make a picture of a town, even Jerusalem.

4:2 And make an attack on it, shutting it in, building strong places against it, and making high an earthwork against it; and put up tents against it, placing engines all round it for smashing down its walls.

4:3 And take a flat iron plate, and put it for a wall of iron between you and the town: and let your face be turned to it, and it will be shut in and you will make an attack on it. This will be a sign to the children of Israel.

4:4 Then, stretching yourself out on your left side, take the sin of the children of Israel on yourself: for as long as you are stretched out, so long will the sin of the children of Israel be on you.

4:5 For I have had the years of their sin measured for you by a number of days, even three hundred and ninety days: and you will take on yourself the sin of the children of Israel.

4:6 And when these days are ended, turning on your right side, you are to take on yourself the sin of the children of Judah: forty days, a day for a year, I have had it fixed for you.

4:7 And let your face be turned to where Jerusalem is shut in, with your arm uncovered, and be a prophet against it.

4:8 And see, I will put bands on you; and you will be stretched out without turning from one side to the other till the days of your attack are ended.

4:9 And take for yourself wheat and barley and different sorts of grain, and put them in one vessel and make bread for yourself from them; all the days when you are stretched on your side it will be your food.

4:10 And you are to take your food by weight, twenty shekels a day: you are to take it at regular times.

4:11 And you are to take water by measure, the sixth part of a hin: you are to take it at regular times.

4:12 And let your food be barley cakes, cooking it before their eyes with the waste which comes out of a man.

4:13 And the Lord said, Even so the children of Israel will have unclean bread for their food among the nations where I am driving them.

4:14 Then I said, Ah, Lord! see, my soul has never been unclean, and I have never taken as my food anything which has come to a natural death or has been broken by beasts, from the time when I was young even till now; no disgusting flesh has ever come into my mouth.

4:15 Then he said to me, See, I have given you cow's waste in place of man's waste, and you will make your bread ready on it.

4:16 And he said to me, Son of man, see, I will take away from Jerusalem her necessary bread: they will take their bread by weight and with care, measuring out their drinking-water with fear and wonder:

4:17 So that they may be in need of bread and water and be wondering at one another, wasting away in their sin.

5:1 And you, son of man, take a sharp sword, using it like a haircutter's blade, and making it go over your head and the hair of your chin: and take scales for separating the hair by weight.

5:2 You are to have a third part burned with fire inside the town, when the days of the attack are ended; and a third part you are to take and give blows with the sword round about it; and give a third part for the wind to take away, and let loose a sword after them.

5:3 And take from them a small number of hairs, folding them in your skirts.

5:4 And again take some of these and put them in the fire, burning them up in the fire; and say to all the children of Israel,

5:5 This is what the Lord has said: This is Jerusalem: I have put her among the nations, and countries are round her on every side;

5:6 And she has gone against my orders by doing evil more than the nations, and against my rules more than the countries round her: for they have given up my orders, and as for my rules, they have not gone in the way of them.

5:7 For this cause the Lord has said: Because you have been more uncontrolled than the nations round about you, and have not been guided by my rules or kept my orders, but have kept the orders of the nations round about you;

5:8 For this cause the Lord has said: See, I, even I, am against you; and I will be judging among you before the eyes of the nations.

5:9 And I will do in you what I have not done and will not do again, because of all your disgusting ways.

5:10 For this cause fathers will take their sons for food among you, and sons will make a meal of their fathers; and I will be judge among you, and all the rest of you I will send away to every wind.

5:11 For this cause, by my life, says the Lord, because you have made my holy place unclean with all your hated things and all your disgusting ways, you will become disgusting to me; my eye will have no mercy and I will have no pity.

5:12 A third of you will come to death from disease, wasting away among you through need of food; a third will be put to the sword round about you; and a third I will send away to every wind, letting loose a sword after them.

5:13 So my wrath will be complete and my passion will come to rest on them; and they will be certain that I the Lord have given the word of decision, when my wrath against them is complete.

5:14 And I will make you a waste and a name of shame among the nations round about you, in the eyes of everyone who goes by.

5:15 And you will be a name of shame and a cause of bitter words, an example and a wonder to the nations round about you, when I give effect to my judging among you in wrath and in passion and in burning protests: I the Lord have said it:

5:16 When I send on you the evil arrows of disease, causing destruction, which I will send to put an end to you; and, further, I will take away your necessary food.

5:17 And I will send on you need of food and evil beasts, and they will be a cause of loss to you; and disease and violent death will go through you; and I will send the sword on you: I the Lord have said it.

6:1 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

6:2 Son of man, let your face be turned to the mountains of Israel, and be a prophet to them, and say,

6:3 You mountains of Israel, give ear to the words of the Lord: this is what the Lord has said to the mountains and the hills, to the waterways and the valleys: See, I, even I, am sending on you a sword for the destruction of your high places.

6:4 And your altars will be made waste, and your sun-images will be broken: and I will have your dead men placed before your images.

6:5 And I will put the dead bodies of the children of Israel in front of their images, sending your bones in all directions about your altars.

6:6 In all your living-places the towns will become broken walls, and the high places made waste; so that your altars may be broken down and made waste, and your images broken and ended, and so that your sun-images may be cut down and your works rubbed out.

6:7 And the dead will be falling down among you, and you will be certain that I am the Lord.

6:8 But still, I will keep a small band safe from the sword among the nations, when you are sent wandering among the countries.

6:9 And those of you who are kept safe will have me in mind among the nations where they have been taken away as prisoners, how I sent punishment on their hearts which were untrue to me, and on their eyes which were turned to their false gods: and they will be full of hate for themselves because of the evil things which they have done in all their disgusting ways.

6:10 And they will be certain that I am the Lord: not for nothing did I say that I would do this evil to them.

6:11 This is what the Lord has said: Give blows with your hand, stamping with your foot, and say, O sorrow! because of all the evil and disgusting ways of the children of Israel: for death will overtake them by the sword and through need of food and by disease.

6:12 He who is far away will come to his death by disease; he who is near will be put to the sword; he who is shut up will come to his death through need of food; and I will give full effect to my passion against them.

6:13 And you will be certain that I am the Lord, when their dead men are stretched among their images round about their altars on every high hill, on all the tops of the mountains, and under every branching tree, and under every thick oak-tree, the places where they made sweet smells to all their images.

6:14 And my hand will be stretched out against them, making the land waste and unpeopled, from the waste land to Riblah, through all their living-places: and they will be certain that I am the Lord.

7:1 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

7:2 And you, son of man, say, This is what the Lord has said to the land of Israel: An end has come, the end has come on the four quarters of the land.

7:3 Now the end has come on you, and I will send my wrath on you, judging you for your ways, I will send punishment on you for all your disgusting acts.

7:4 My eye will not have mercy on you, and I will have no pity: but I will send the punishment of your ways on you, and your disgusting works will be among you: and you will be certain that I am the Lord.

7:5 This is what the Lord has said: An evil, even one evil; see, it is coming.

7:6 An end has come, the end has come; see, it is coming on you.

7:7 The crowning time has come on you, O people of the land: the time has come, the day is near; the day will not be slow in coming, it will not keep back.

7:8 Now, in a little time, I will let loose my passion on you, and give full effect to my wrath against you, judging you for your ways, and sending punishment on you for all your disgusting works.

7:9 My eye will not have mercy, and I will have no pity: I will send on you the punishment of your ways, and your disgusting works will be among you; and you will see that I am the Lord who gives punishment.

7:10 See, the day; see, it is coming: the crowning time has gone out; the twisted way is flowering, pride has put out buds.

7:11 Violent behaviour has been lifted up into a rod of evil; it will not be slow in coming, it will not keep back.

7:12 The time has come, the day is near: let not him who gives a price for goods be glad, or him who gets the price have sorrow:

7:13 For the trader will not go back to the things for which he had his price, even while he is still living:

7:14 And he who has given a price for goods will not get them, for my wrath is on all of them.

7:15 Outside is the sword, and inside disease and need of food: he who is in the open country will be put to the sword; he who is in the town will come to his end through need of food and disease.

7:16 And those of them who get away safely will go and be in the secret places like the doves of the valleys, all of them will come to death, every one in his sin.

7:17 All hands will be feeble and all knees without strength, like water.

7:18 And they will put haircloth round them, and deep fear will be covering them; and shame will be on all faces, and the hair gone from all their heads.

7:19 They will put out their silver into the streets, and their gold will be as an unclean thing; their silver and their gold will not be able to keep them safe in the day of the wrath of the Lord; they will not get their desire or have food for their need: because it has been the cause of their falling into sin.

7:20 As for their beautiful ornament, they had put it on high, and had made the images of their disgusting and hated things in it: for this cause I have made it an unclean thing to them.

7:21 And I will give it into the hands of men from strange lands who will take it by force, and to the evil-doers of the earth to have for themselves; and they will make it unholy.

7:22 And my face will be turned away from them, and they will make my secret place unholy: violent men will go into it and make it unholy.

7:23 Make the chain: for the land is full of crimes of blood, and the town is full of violent acts.

7:24 For this reason I will send the worst of the nations and they will take their houses for themselves: I will make the pride of their strength come to an end; and their holy places will be made unclean.

7:25 Shaking fear is coming; and they will be looking for peace, and there will be no peace.

7:26 Destruction will come on destruction, and one story after another; and the vision of the prophet will be shamed, and knowledge of the law will come to an end among the priests, and wisdom among the old.

7:27 The king will give himself up to sorrow, and the ruler will be clothed with wonder, and the hands of the people of the land will be troubled: I will give them punishment for their ways, judging them as it is right for them to be judged; and they will be certain that I am the Lord.

8:1 Now in the sixth year, in the sixth month, on the fifth day of the month, when I was in my house and the responsible men of Judah were seated before me, the hand of the Lord came on me there.

8:2 And looking, I saw a form like fire; from the middle of his body and down there was fire: and up from the middle of his body a sort of shining, like electrum.

8:3 And he put out the form of a hand and took me by the hair of my head; and the wind, lifting me up between the earth and the heaven, took me in the visions of God to Jerusalem, to the way into the inner door facing to the north; where was the seat of the image of envy.

8:4 And I saw the glory of the Lord there, as in the vision which I saw in the valley.

8:5 Then he said to me, Son of man, now let your eyes be lifted up in the direction of the north; and on looking in the direction of the north, to the north of the doorway of the altar, I saw this image of envy by the way in.

8:6 And he said to me, Son of man, do you see what they are doing? even the very disgusting things which the children of Israel are doing here, causing me to go far away from my holy place? but you will see other most disgusting things.

8:7 And he took me to the door of the open place; and looking, I saw a hole in the wall.

8:8 And he said to me, Son of man, make a hole in the wall: and after making a hole in the wall I saw a door.

8:9 And he said to me, Go in and see the evil and disgusting things which they are doing here.

8:10 So I went in and saw; and there every sort of living thing which goes flat on the earth, and unclean beasts, and all the images of the children of Israel, were pictured round about on the wall.

8:11 And before them seventy of the responsible men of the children of Israel had taken their places, every man with a vessel for burning perfumes in his hand, and in the middle of them was Jaazaniah, the son of Shaphan; and a cloud of smoke went up from the burning perfume.

8:12 And he said to me, Son of man, have you seen what the responsible men of the children of Israel do in the dark, every man in his room of pictured images? for they say, The Lord does not see us; the Lord has gone away from the land.

8:13 Then he said to me, You will see even more disgusting things which they do.

8:14 Then he took me to the door of the way into the Lord's house looking to the north; and there women were seated weeping for Tammuz.

8:15 Then he said to me, Have you seen this, O son of man? you will see even more disgusting things than these.

8:16 And he took me into the inner square of the Lord's house, and at the door of the Temple of the Lord, between the covered way and the altar, there were about twenty-five men with their backs turned to the Temple of the Lord and their faces turned to the east; and they were worshipping the sun, turning to the east.

8:17 Then he said to me, Have you seen this, O son of man? is it a small thing to the children of Judah that they do the disgusting things which they are doing here? for they have made the land full of violent behaviour, making me angry again and again: and see, they put the branch to my nose.

8:18 For this reason I will let loose my wrath: my eye will not have mercy, and I will have no pity.

9:1 Then crying out in my hearing in a loud voice, he said, Let the overseers of the town come near, every man armed.

9:2 And six men came from the way of the higher doorway looking to the north, every man with his axe in his hand: and one man among them was clothed in linen, with a writer's inkpot at his side. And they went in and took their places by the brass altar.

9:3 And the glory of the God of Israel had gone up from the winged ones on which it was resting, to the doorstep of the house. And crying out to the man clothed in linen who had the writer's inkpot at his side,

9:4 The Lord said to him, Go through the town, through the middle of Jerusalem, and put a mark on the brows of the men who are sorrowing and crying for all the disgusting things which are done in it.

9:5 And to these he said in my hearing, Go through the town after him using your axes: do not let your eyes have mercy, and have no pity:

9:6 Give up to destruction old men and young men and virgins, little children and women: but do not come near any man who has the mark on him: and make a start at my holy place. So they made a start with the old men who were before the house.

9:7 And he said to them, Make the house unclean, make the open places full of dead: go forward and send destruction on the town.

9:8 Now while they were doing so, and I was untouched, I went down on my face, and crying out, I said, Ah, Lord! will you give all the rest of Israel to destruction in letting loose your wrath on Jerusalem?

9:9 Then he said to me, The sin of the children of Israel and Judah is very, very great, and the land is full of blood and the town full of evil ways: for they say, The Lord has gone away from the land, and the Lord does not see.

9:10 And as for me, my eye will not have mercy, and I will have no pity, but I will send the punishment of their ways on their heads.

9:11 Then the man clothed in linen, who had the inkpot at his side, came back and said, I have done what you gave me orders to do.

10:1 Then looking, I saw that on the arch which was over the head of the winged ones there was seen over them what seemed like a sapphire stone, having the form of a king's seat.

10:2 And he said to the man clothed in linen, Go in between the wheels, under the winged ones, and get your two hands full of burning coals from between the winged ones and send them in a shower over the town. And he went in before my eyes.

10:3 Now the winged ones were stationed on the right side of the house when the man went in; and the inner square was full of the cloud.

10:4 And the glory of the Lord went up from the winged ones and came to rest over the doorstep of the house; and the house was full of the cloud and the open square was full of the shining of the Lord's glory.

10:5 And the sound of the wings of the winged ones was clear even in the outer square, like the voice of the Ruler of all.

10:6 And when he gave orders to the man clothed in linen, saying, Take fire from between the wheels, from between the winged ones, then he went in and took his place at the side of a wheel.

10:7 And stretching out his hand to the fire which was between the winged ones, he took some of it and went out.

10:8 And I saw the form of a man's hands among the winged ones under their wings.

10:9 And looking, I saw four wheels by the side of the winged ones, one wheel by the side of a winged one and another wheel by the side of another: and the wheels were like the colour of a beryl stone to the eye.

10:10 In form the four of them were all the same, they seemed like a wheel inside a wheel.

10:11 When they were moving, they went on their four sides without turning; they went after the head in the direction in which it was looking; they went without turning.

10:12 And the edges of the four wheels were full of eyes round about.

10:13 As for the wheels, they were named in my hearing, the circling wheels.

10:14 And every one had four faces: the first face was the face of a winged one, and the second was the face of a man, and the third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle.

10:15 And the winged ones went up on high: this is the living being which I saw by the river Chebar.

10:16 And when the winged ones went, the wheels went by their side: and when their wings were lifted to take them up from the earth, the wheels were not turned from their side.

10:17 When they were at rest in their place, these were at rest; when they were lifted up, these went up with them: for the spirit of life was in them.

10:18 Then the glory of the Lord went out from the doorstep of the house, and came to rest over the winged ones.

10:19 And the winged ones, lifting up their wings, went up from the earth before my eyes, with the wheels by their side: and they came to rest at the east doorway of the Lord's house; and the glory of the God of Israel was over them on high.

10:20 This is the living being which I saw under the God of Israel by the river Chebar; and it was clear to me that they were the winged ones.

10:21 Every one had four faces and every one had four wings; and hands like a man's hands were under their wings.

10:22 As for the form of their faces, they were the faces whose form I saw by the river Chebar; when they went, every one of them went straight forward.

11:1 And the wind, lifting me up, took me to the east doorway of the Lord's house, looking to the east: and at the door I saw twenty-five men; and among them I saw Jaazaniah, the son of Azzur, and Pelatiah, the son of Benaiah, rulers of the people.

11:2 Then he said to me, Son of man, these are the men who are designing evil, who are teaching evil ways in this town:

11:3 Who say, This is not the time for building houses: this town is the cooking-pot and we are the flesh.

11:4 For this cause be a prophet against them, be a prophet, O son of man.

11:5 And the spirit of the Lord came on me, and he said to me, Say, These are the words of the Lord: This is what you have said, O children of Israel; what comes into your mind is clear to me.

11:6 You have made great the number of your dead in this town, you have made its streets full of dead men.

11:7 For this reason the Lord has said: Your dead whom you have put down in its streets, they are the flesh, and this town is the cooking-pot: but I will make you come out from inside it.

11:8 You have been fearing the sword, and I will send the sword on you, says the Lord.

11:9 I will make you come out from inside the town and will give you up into the hands of men from other lands, and will be judge among you.

11:10 You will come to your death by the sword; and I will be your judge in the land of Israel; and you will be certain that I am the Lord.

11:11 This town will not be your cooking-pot, and you will not be the flesh inside it; I will be your judge at the limit of the land of Israel;

11:12 And you will be certain that I am the Lord: for you have not been guided by my rules or given effect to my orders, but you have been living by the orders of the nations round about you.

11:13 Now while I was saying these things, death came to Pelatiah, the son of Benaiah. Then falling down on my face and crying out with a loud voice, I said, Ah, Lord! will you put an end to all the rest of Israel?

11:14 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

11:15 Son of man, your countrymen, your relations, and all the children of Israel, all of them, are those to whom the people of Jerusalem have said, Go far from the Lord; this land is given to us for a heritage:

11:16 For this reason say, This is what the Lord has said: Though I have had them moved far off among the nations, and though I have sent them wandering among the countries, still I have been a safe place for them for a little time in the countries where they have come.

11:17 Then say, This is what the Lord has said: I will get you together from the peoples, and make you come out of the countries where you have been sent in flight, and I will give you the land of Israel.

11:18 And they will come there, and take away all the hated and disgusting things from it.

11:19 And I will give them a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in them; and I will take the heart of stone out of their flesh and give them a heart of flesh:

11:20 So that they may be guided by my rules and keep my orders and do them: and they will be to me a people, and I will be to them a God.

11:21 But as for those whose heart goes after their hated and disgusting things, I will send on their heads the punishment of their ways, says the Lord.

11:22 Then the wings of the winged ones were lifted up, and the wheels were by their side; and the glory of the God of Israel was over them on high.

11:23 And the glory of the Lord went up from inside the town, and came to rest on the mountain on the east side of the town.

11:24 And the wind, lifting me up, took me in the visions of God into Chaldaea, to those who had been taken away as prisoners. So the vision which I had seen went away from me.

11:25 Then I gave an account to those who had been taken prisoners of all the things which the Lord had made me see.

12:1 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

12:2 Son of man, you are living among an uncontrolled people, who have eyes to see but see not, and ears for hearing but they do not give ear; for they are an uncontrolled people.

12:3 And you, O son of man, by day, before their eyes, get ready the vessels of one who is taken away, and go away from your place to another place before their eyes: it may be that they will see, though they are an uncontrolled people.

12:4 By day, before their eyes, take out your vessels like those of one who is taken away: and go out in the evening before their eyes, like those who are taken away as prisoners.

12:5 Make a hole in the wall, before their eyes, and go out through it.

12:6 And before their eyes, take your goods on your back and go out in the dark; go with your face covered: for I have made you a sign to the children of Israel.

12:7 And I did as I was ordered: I took out my vessels by day, like those of one who is taken away, and in the evening I made a hole through the wall with a tent-pin; and in the dark I went out, taking my things on my back before their eyes.

12:8 And in the morning the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

12:9 Son of man, has not Israel, the uncontrolled people, said to you, What are you doing?

12:10 You are to say to them, This is what the Lord has said: This word has to do with the ruler in Jerusalem and all the children of Israel in it.

12:11 Say, I am your sign: as I have done, so will it be done to them: they will go away as prisoners.

12:12 And the ruler who is among them will take his goods on his back in the dark and go out: he will make a hole in the wall through which to go out: he will have his face covered so that he may not be seen.

12:13 And my net will be stretched out on him, and he will be taken in my cords: and I will take him to Babylon to the land of the Chaldaeans; but he will not see it, and there death will come to him.

12:14 And all his helpers round about him and all his armies I will send in flight to every wind; and I will let loose a sword after them.

12:15 And they will be certain that I am the Lord, when I send them in flight among the nations, driving them out through the countries.

12:16 But a small number of them I will keep from the sword, from the need of food, and from disease, so that they may make clear all their disgusting ways among the nations where they come; and they will be certain that I am the Lord.

12:17 Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

12:18 Son of man, take your food with shaking fear, and your water with trouble and care;

12:19 And say to the people of the land, This is what the Lord has said about the people of Jerusalem and the land of Israel: They will take their food with care and their drink with wonder, so that all the wealth of their land may be taken from it because of the violent ways of the people living in it.

12:20 And the peopled towns will be made waste, and the land will become a wonder; and you will be certain that I am the Lord.

12:21 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

12:22 Son of man, what is this saying which you have about the land of Israel, The time is long and every vision comes to nothing?

12:23 For this cause say to them, This is what the Lord has said: I have made this saying come to an end, and it will no longer be used as a common saying in Israel; but say to them, The days are near, and the effect of every vision.

12:24 For there will be no more false visions or smooth use of secret arts in Israel.

12:25 For I am the Lord; I will say the word and what I say I will do; it will not be put off: for in your days, O uncontrolled people, I will say the word and do it, says the Lord.

12:26 Again the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

12:27 Son of man, see, the children of Israel say, The vision which he sees is for the days which are a long way off, and his words are of times still far away.

12:28 Say to them then, This is what the Lord has said: Not one of my words will be put off any longer, but what I say I will do, says the Lord.

13:1 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

13:2 Son of man, be a prophet against the prophets of Israel, and say to those prophets whose words are the invention of their hearts, Give ear to the word of the Lord;

13:3 This is what the Lord has said: A curse on the foolish prophets who go after the spirit which is in them and have seen nothing!

13:4 O Israel, your prophets have been like jackals in the waste places.

13:5 You have not gone up into the broken places or made up the wall for the children of Israel to take your place in the fight in the day of the Lord.

13:6 They have seen visions without substance and made use of secret arts, who say, The Lord has said; and the Lord has not sent them: hoping that the word would have effect.

13:7 Have you not seen a vision without substance and have you not falsely made use of secret arts, when you say, The Lord has said; though I have said nothing?

13:8 So this is what the Lord has said: Because your words are without substance and your visions are false, see, I am against you, says the Lord.

13:9 And my hand will be against the prophets who see visions without substance and who make false use of secret arts: they will not be in the secret of my people, and they will not be recorded in the list of the children of Israel, and they will not come into the land of Israel; and it will be clear to you that I am the Lord.

13:10 Because, even because they have been guiding my people into error, saying, Peace; when there is no peace; and in the building of a division wall they put whitewash on it:

13:11 Say to those who put whitewash on it, There will be an overflowing shower; and you, O ice-drops, will come raining down; and it will be broken in two by the storm-wind.

13:12 And when the wall has come down, will they not say to you, Where is the whitewash which you put on it?

13:13 For this reason, the Lord has said: I will have it broken in two by a storm-wind in my passion; and there will be an overflowing shower in my wrath, and you, O ice-drops, will come raining angrily down.

13:14 So I will let the wall, which you were covering with whitewash, be broken down; I will have it levelled to the earth so that its base is uncovered: it will come down, and destruction will come on you with it; and it will be clear to you that I am the Lord.

13:15 So I will let loose my passion on the wall in full measure, and on those who put whitewash on it; and I will say to you, Where is the wall, and where are those who put whitewash on it?

13:16 Even the prophets of Israel who say words to Jerusalem, who see visions of peace for her when there is no peace, says the Lord.

13:17 And you, son of man, let your face be turned against the daughters of your people, who are acting the part of prophets at their pleasure; be a prophet against them, and say,

13:18 This is what the Lord has said: A curse is on the women who are stitching bands on all arms and putting veils on the heads of those of every size, so that they may go after souls! Will you go after the souls of my people and keep yourselves safe from death?

13:19 And you have put me to shame among my people for a little barley and some bits of bread, sending death on souls for whom there is no cause of death, and keeping those souls living who have no right to life, by the false words you say to my people who give ear to what is false.

13:20 For this cause the Lord has said: See, I am against your bands with which you go after souls, and I will violently take them off their arms; and I will let loose the souls, even the souls whom you go after freely.

13:21 And I will have your veils violently parted in two, and will make my people free from your hands, and they will no longer be in your power for you to go after them; and you will be certain that I am the Lord.

13:22 Because with your false words you have given pain to the heart of the upright man when I had not made him sad; in order to make strong the hands of the evil-doer so that he may not be turned from his evil way and get life:

13:23 For this cause you will see no more foolish visions or make false use of secret arts: and I will make my people free from your power; and you will be certain that I am the Lord.

14:1 Then certain of the responsible men of Israel came to me and took their seats before me.

14:2 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

14:3 Son of man, these men have taken their false gods into their hearts and put before their faces the sin which is the cause of their fall: am I to give ear when they come to me for directions?

14:4 For this cause say to them, These are the words of the Lord: Every man of Israel who has taken his false god into his heart, and put before his face the sin which is the cause of his fall, and comes to the prophet; I the Lord will give him an answer by myself in agreement with the number of his false gods;

14:5 So as to take the children of Israel in the thoughts of their hearts, because they have become strange to me through their false gods.

14:6 For this cause say to the children of Israel, These are the words of the Lord: Come back and give up your false gods and let your faces be turned from your disgusting things.

14:7 When any one of the men of Israel, or of those from other lands who are living in Israel, who has become strange to me, and takes his false gods into his heart, and puts before his face the sin which is the cause of his fall, comes to the prophet to get directions from me; I the Lord will give him an answer by myself:

14:8 And my face will be turned against that man, and I will make him a sign and a common saying, cutting him off from among my people; and you will be certain that I am the Lord.

14:9 And if the prophet, tricked by deceit, says anything, it is I the Lord by whom he has been tricked, and I will put out my hand against him, and he will be cut off from among my people Israel.

14:10 And the punishment of their sin will be on them: the sin of the prophet will be the same as the sin of him who goes to him for directions;

14:11 So that the children of Israel may no longer go wandering away from me, or make themselves unclean with all their wrongdoing; but they will be my people, and I will be their God, says the Lord.

14:12 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

14:13 Son of man, when a land, sinning against me, does wrong, and my hand is stretched out against it, and the support of its bread is broken, and I make it short of food, cutting off man and beast from it:

14:14 Even if these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, only themselves would they keep safe by their righteousness, says the Lord.

14:15 Or if I send evil beasts through the land causing destruction and making it waste, so that no man may go through because of the beasts:

14:16 Even if these three men were in it, by my life, says the Lord, they would not keep safe their sons or daughters, but only themselves, and the land would be made waste.

14:17 Or if I send a sword against that land, and say, Sword, go through the land, cutting off from it man and beast:

14:18 Even if these three men were in it, by my life, says the Lord, they would not keep safe their sons or daughters, but only themselves.

14:19 Or if I send disease into that land, letting loose my wrath on it in blood, cutting off from it man and beast:

14:20 Even if Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, by my life, says the Lord, they would not keep son or daughter safe; only themselves would they keep safe through their righteousness.

14:21 For this is what the Lord has said: How much more when I send my four bitter punishments on Jerusalem, the sword and need of food and evil beasts and disease, cutting off from it man and beast?

14:22 But truly, there will still be a small band who will be safe, even sons and daughters: and they will come out to you, and you will see their ways and their doings: and you will be comforted about the evil which I have sent on Jerusalem, even about everything I have sent on it.

14:23 They will give you comfort when you see their ways and their doings: and you will be certain that not for nothing have I done all the things I have done in it, says the Lord.

15:1 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

15:2 Son of man, what is the vine-tree more than any branching tree which is among the trees of the woods?

15:3 Will its wood be used for any work? do men make of it a pin for hanging any vessel on?

15:4 See, it is put into the fire for burning: the fire has made a meal of its two ends and the middle part of it is burned; is it good for any work?

15:5 Truly, before it was cut down, it was not used for any purpose: how much less, when the fire has made a meal of it and it is burned, will it be made into anything?

15:6 For this cause the Lord has said: Like the vine-tree among the trees of the woods which I have given to the fire for burning, so will I give the people of Jerusalem.

15:7 And my face will be turned against them; and though they have come out of the fire they will be burned up by it; and it will be clear to you that I am the Lord when my face is turned against them.

15:8 And I will make the land a waste because they have done evil, says the Lord.

16:1 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

16:2 Son of man, make clear to Jerusalem her disgusting ways,

16:3 And say, This is what the Lord has said to Jerusalem: Your start and your birth was from the land of the Canaanite; an Amorite was your father and your mother was a Hittite.

16:4 As for your birth, on the day of your birth your cord was not cut and you were not washed in water to make you clean; you were not salted or folded in linen bands.

16:5 No eye had pity on you to do any of these things to you or to be kind to you; but you were put out into the open country, because your life was hated at the time of your birth.

16:6 And when I went past you and saw you stretched out in your blood, I said to you, Though you are stretched out in your blood, have life;

16:7 And be increased in number like the buds of the field; and you were increased and became great, and you came to the time of love: your breasts were formed and your hair was long; but you were uncovered and without clothing.

16:8 Now when I went past you, looking at you, I saw that your time was the time of love; and I put my skirts over you, covering your unclothed body: and I gave you my oath and made an agreement with you, says the Lord, and you became mine.

16:9 Then I had you washed with water, washing away all your blood and rubbing you with oil.

16:10 And I had you clothed with needlework, and put leather shoes on your feet, folding fair linen about you and covering you with silk.

16:11 And I made you fair with ornaments and put jewels on your hands and a chain on your neck.

16:12 And I put a ring in your nose and ear-rings in your ears and a beautiful crown on your head.

16:13 So you were made beautiful with gold and silver; and your clothing was of the best linen and silk and needlework; your food was the best meal and honey and oil: and you were very beautiful.

16:14 You were so beautiful that the story of you went out into all nations; you were completely beautiful because of my glory which I had put on you, says the Lord.

16:15 But you put your faith in the fact that you were beautiful, acting like a loose woman because you were widely talked of, and offering your cheap love to everyone who went by, whoever it might be.

16:16 And you took your robes and made high places for yourself ornamented with every colour, acting like a loose woman on them, without shame or fear.

16:17 And you took the fair jewels, my silver and gold which I had given to you, and made for yourself male images, acting like a loose woman with them;

16:18 And you took your robes of needlework for their clothing, and put my oil and my perfume before them.

16:19 And my bread which I gave you, the best meal and oil and honey which I gave you for your food, you put it before them for a sweet smell, says the Lord.

16:20 And you took your sons and your daughters whom I had by you, offering even these to them to be their food. Was your loose behaviour so small a thing,

16:21 That you put my children to death and gave them up to go through the fire to them?

16:22 And in all your disgusting and false behaviour you had no memory of your early days, when you were uncovered and without clothing, stretched out in your blood.

16:23 And it came about, after all your evil-doing, says the Lord,

16:24 That you made for yourself an arched room in every open place.

16:25 You put up your high places at the top of every street, and made the grace of your form a disgusting thing, opening your feet to everyone who went by, increasing your loose ways.

16:26 And you went with the Egyptians, your neighbours, great of flesh; increasing your loose ways, moving me to wrath.

16:27 Now, then, my hand is stretched out against you, cutting down your fixed amount, and I have given you up to the desire of your haters, the daughters of the Philistines who are shamed by your loose ways.

16:28 And you went with the Assyrians, because of your desire which was without measure; you were acting like a loose woman with them, and still you had not enough.

16:29 And you went on in your loose ways, even as far as the land of Chaldaea, and still you had not enough.

16:30 How feeble is your heart, says the Lord, seeing that you do all these things, the work of a loose and overruling woman;

16:31 For you have made your arched room at the top of every street, and your high place in every open place; though you were not like a loose woman in getting together your payment.

16:32 The untrue wife who takes strange lovers in place of her husband!

16:33 They give payment to all loose women: but you give rewards to your lovers, offering them payment so that they may come to you on every side for your cheap love.

16:34 And in your loose behaviour you are different from other women, for no one goes after you to make love to you: and because you give payment and no payment is given to you, in this you are different from them.

16:35 For this cause, O loose woman, give ear to the voice of the Lord:

16:36 This is what the Lord has said: Because your unclean behaviour was let loose and your body uncovered in your loose ways with your lovers and with your disgusting images, and for the blood of your children which you gave to them;

16:37 For this cause I will get together all your lovers with whom you have taken your pleasure, and all those to whom you have given your love, with all those who were hated by you; I will even make them come together against you on every side, and I will have you uncovered before them so that they may see your shame.

16:38 And you will be judged by me as women are judged who have been untrue to their husbands and have taken life; and I will let loose against you passion and bitter feeling.

16:39 I will give you into their hands, and your arched room will be overturned and your high places broken down; they will take your clothing off you and take away your fair jewels: and when they have done, you will be uncovered and shamed.

16:40 And they will get together a meeting against you, stoning you with stones and wounding you with their swords.

16:41 And they will have you burned with fire, sending punishments on you before the eyes of great numbers of women; and I will put an end to your loose ways, and you will no longer give payment.

16:42 And the heat of my wrath against you will have an end, and my bitter feeling will be turned away from you, and I will be quiet and will be angry no longer.

16:43 Because you have not kept in mind the days when you were young, but have been troubling me with all these things; for this reason I will make the punishment of your ways come on your head, says the Lord, because you have done this evil thing in addition to all your disgusting acts.

16:44 See, in every common saying about you it will be said, As the mother is, so is her daughter.

16:45 You are the daughter of your mother whose soul is turned in disgust from her husband and her children; and you are the sister of your sisters who were turned in disgust from their husbands and their children: your mother was a Hittite and your father an Amorite.

16:46 Your older sister is Samaria, living at your left hand, she and her daughters: and your younger sister, living at your right hand, is Sodom and her daughters.

16:47 Still you have not gone in their ways or done the disgusting things which they have done; but, as if that was only a little thing, you have gone deeper in evil than they in all your ways.

16:48 By my life, says the Lord, Sodom your sister never did, she or her daughters, what you and your daughters have done.

16:49 Truly, this was the sin of your sister Sodom: pride, a full measure of food, and the comforts of wealth in peace, were seen in her and her daughters, and she gave no help to the poor or to those in need.

16:50 They were full of pride and did what was disgusting to me: and so I took them away as you have seen.

16:51 And Samaria has not done half your sins; but you have made the number of your disgusting acts greater than theirs, making your sisters seem more upright than you by all the disgusting things which you have done.

16:52 And you yourself will be put to shame, in that you have given the decision for your sisters; through your sins, which are more disgusting than theirs, they are more upright than you: truly, you will be shamed and made low, for you have made your sisters seem upright.

16:53 And I will let their fate be changed, the fate of Sodom and her daughters, and the fate of Samaria and her daughters, and your fate with theirs.

16:54 So that you will be shamed and made low because of all you have done, when I have mercy on you.

16:55 And your sisters, Sodom and her daughters, will go back to their first condition, and Samaria and her daughters will go back to their first condition, and you and your daughters will go back to your first condition.

16:56 Was not your sister Sodom an oath in your mouth in the day of your pride,

16:57 Before your shame was uncovered? Now you have become like her a word of shame to the daughters of Edom and all who are round about you, the daughters of the Philistines who put shame on you round about.

16:58 The reward of your evil designs and your disgusting ways has come on you, says the Lord.

16:59 For this is what the Lord has said: I will do to you as you have done, you who, putting the oath on one side, have let the agreement be broken.

16:60 But still I will keep in mind the agreement made with you in the days when you were young, and I will make with you an eternal agreement.

16:61 Then at the memory of your ways you will be overcome with shame, when I take your sisters, the older and the younger, and give them to you for daughters, but not by your agreement.

16:62 And I will make my agreement with you; and you will be certain that I am the Lord:

16:63 So that, at the memory of these things, you may be at a loss, never opening your mouth because of your shame; when you have my forgiveness for all you have done, says the Lord.

17:1 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

17:2 Son of man, give out a dark saying, and make a comparison for the children of Israel,

17:3 And say, This is what the Lord has said: A great eagle with great wings, full of long feathers of different colours, came to Lebanon, and took the top of the cedar:

17:4 Biting off the highest of its young branches, he took it to the land of Canaan, and put it in a town of traders.

17:5 And he took some of the seed of the land, planting it in fertile earth, placing it by great waters; he put it in like a willow-tree.

17:6 And its growth went on and it became a vine, low and widely stretching, whose branches were turned to him and its roots were under him: so it became a vine, putting out branches and young leaves.

17:7 And there was another eagle with great wings and thick feathers: and now this vine, pushing out its roots to him, sent out its branches in his direction from the bed where it was planted, so that he might give it water.

17:8 He had it planted in a good field by great waters so that it might put out branches and have fruit and be a strong vine.

17:9 Say, This is what the Lord has said: Will it do well? will he not have its roots pulled up and its branches cut off, so that all its young leaves may become dry and it may be pulled up by its roots?

17:10 And if it is planted will it do well? will it not become quite dry at the touch of the east wind, drying up in the bed where it was planted?

17:11 Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

17:12 Say now to this uncontrolled people, Are these things not clear to you? Say to them, See, the king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and took its king and its rulers away with him to Babylon;

17:13 And he took one of the sons of the king and made an agreement with him; and he put him under an oath, and took away the great men of the land:

17:14 So that the kingdom might be made low with no power of lifting itself up, but might keep his agreement to be his servants.

17:15 But he went against his authority in sending representatives to Egypt to get from them horses and a great army. Will he do well? will he be safe who does such things? if the agreement is broken will he be safe?

17:16 By my life, says the Lord, truly in the place of the king who made him king, whose oath he put on one side and let his agreement with him be broken, even in Babylon he will come to his death.

17:17 And Pharaoh with his strong army and great forces will be no help to him in the war, when they put up earthworks and make strong walls for the cutting off of lives:

17:18 For he put his oath on one side in letting the agreement be broken; and though he had given his hand to it, he did all these things; he will not get away safe.

17:19 And so the Lord has said, By my life, truly, for my oath which he put on one side, and my agreement which has been broken, I will send punishment on his head.

17:20 My net will be stretched out over him, and he will be taken in my cords, and I will send him to Babylon, and there I will be his judge for the wrong which he has done against me.

17:21 All his best fighting-men will be put to the sword, and the rest will be sent away to every wind: and you will be certain that I the Lord have said it.

17:22 This is what the Lord has said: Further, I will take the highest top of the cedar and put it in the earth; cutting off from the highest of his young branches a soft one, I will have it planted on a high and great mountain;

17:23 It will be planted on the high mountain of Israel: it will put out branches and have fruit and be a fair cedar: under it all birds of every sort will make their living-place, resting in the shade of its branches.

17:24 And it will be clear to all the trees of the field that I the Lord have made low the high tree and made high the low tree, drying up the green tree and making the dry tree full of growth; I the Lord have said it and have done it.

18:1 The word of the Lord came to me again, saying,

18:2 Why do you make use of this saying about the land of Israel, The fathers have been tasting bitter grapes and the children's teeth are on edge?

18:3 By my life, says the Lord, you will no longer have this saying in Israel.

18:4 See, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so the soul of the son is mine: death will be the fate of the sinner's soul.

18:5 But if a man is upright, living rightly and doing righteousness,

18:6 And has not taken flesh with the blood for food, or given worship to the images of the children of Israel; if he has not had connection with his neighbour's wife, or come near to a woman at the time when she is unclean;

18:7 And has done no wrong to any, but has given back to the debtor what is his, and has taken no one's goods by force, and has given food to him who was in need of it, and clothing to him who was without it;

18:8 And has not given his money out at interest or taken great profits, and, turning his hand from evil-doing, has kept faith between man and man,

18:9 And has been guided by my rules and has kept my laws and done them: he is upright, life will certainly be his, says the Lord.

18:10 If he has a son who is a thief, a taker of life, who does any of these things,

18:11 Who has taken flesh with the blood as food, and has had connection with his neighbour's wife,

18:12 Has done wrong to the poor and to him who is in need, and taken property by force, and has not given back to one in his debt what is his, and has given worship to images and has done disgusting things,

18:13 And has given out his money at interest and taken great profits: he will certainly not go on living: he has done all these disgusting things: death will certainly be his fate; his blood will be on him.

18:14 Now if he has a son who sees all his father's sins which he has done, and in fear does not do the same:

18:15 Who has not taken the flesh with the blood for food, or given worship to the images of the children of Israel, and has not had connection with his neighbour's wife,

18:16 Or done wrong to any, or taken anything from one in his debt, or taken goods by force, but has given food to him who was in need of it, and clothing to him who was without it;

18:17 Who has kept his hand from evil-doing and has not taken interest or great profits, who has done my orders and been guided by my rules: he will certainly not be put to death for the evil-doing of his father; life will certainly be his.

18:18 As for his father, because he was cruel, took goods by force, and did what is not good among his people, truly, death will overtake him in his evil-doing.

18:19 But you say, Why does not the son undergo punishment for the evil-doing of the father? When the son has done what is ordered and right, and has kept my rules and done them, life will certainly be his.

18:20 The soul which does sin will be put to death: the son will not be made responsible for the evil-doing of the father, or the father for the evil-doing of the son; the righteousness of the upright will be on himself, and the evil-doing of the evil-doer on himself.

18:21 But if the evil-doer, turning away from all the sins which he has done, keeps my rules and does what is ordered and right, life will certainly be his; death will not be his fate.

18:22 Not one of the sins which he has done will be kept in memory against him: in the righteousness which he has done he will have life.

18:23 Have I any pleasure in the death of the evil-doer? says the Lord: am I not pleased if he is turned from his way so that he may have life?

18:24 But when the upright man, turning away from his righteousness, does evil, like all the disgusting things which the evil man does, will he have life? Not one of his upright acts will be kept in memory: in the wrong which he has done and in his sin death will overtake him.

18:25 But you say, The way of the Lord is not equal. Give ear, now, O children of Israel; is my way not equal? are not your ways unequal?

18:26 When the upright man, turning away from his righteousness, does evil, death will overtake him; in the evil which he has done death will overtake him.

18:27 Again, when the evil-doer, turning away from the evil he has done, does what is ordered and right, he will have life for his soul.

18:28 Because he had fear and was turned away from all the wrong which he had done, life will certainly be his, death will not be his fate.

18:29 But still the children of Israel say, The way of the Lord is not equal. O children of Israel, are my ways not equal? are not your ways unequal?

18:30 For this cause I will be your judge, O children of Israel, judging every man by his ways, says the Lord. Come back and be turned from all your sins; so that they may not be the cause of your falling into evil.

18:31 Put away all your evil-doing in which you have done sin; and make for yourselves a new heart and a new spirit: why are you desiring death, O children of Israel?

18:32 For I have no pleasure in the death of him on whom death comes, says the Lord: be turned back then, and have life.

19:1 Take up now a song of grief for the ruler of Israel, and say,

19:2 What was your mother? Like a she-lion among lions, stretched out among the young lions she gave food to her little ones.

19:3 And one of her little ones came to growth under her care, and became a young lion, learning to go after beasts for his food; and he took men for his meat.

19:4 And the nations had news of him; he was taken in the hole they had made: and, pulling him with hooks, they took him into the land of Egypt.

19:5 Now when she saw that her hope was made foolish and gone, she took another of her little ones and made him into a young lion.

19:6 And he went up and down among the lions and became a young lion, learning to go after beasts for his food; and he took men for his meat.

19:7 And he sent destruction on their widows and made waste their towns; and the land and everything in it became waste because of the loud sound of his voice.

19:8 Then the nations came against him from the kingdoms round about: their net was stretched over him and he was taken in the hole they had made.

19:9 They made him a prisoner with hooks, and took him to the king of Babylon; they put him in the strong place so that his voice might be sounding no longer on the mountains of Israel.

19:10 Your mother was in comparison like a vine, planted by the waters: she was fertile and full of branches because of the great waters.

19:11 And she had a strong rod for a rod of authority for the rulers, and it became tall among the clouds and it was seen lifted up among the number of its branches.

19:12 But she was uprooted in burning wrath, and made low on the earth; the east wind came, drying her up, and her branches were broken off; her strong rod became dry, the fire made a meal of it.

19:13 And now she is planted in the waste land, in a dry and unwatered country.

19:14 And fire has gone out from her rod, causing the destruction of her branches, so that there is no strong rod in her to be the ruler's rod of authority. This is a song of grief, and it was for a song of grief.

20:1 Now it came about in the seventh year, in the fifth month, on the tenth day of the month, that certain of the responsible men of Israel came to get directions from the Lord and were seated before me.

20:2 Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

20:3 Son of man, say to the responsible men of Israel, This is what the Lord has said: Have you come to get directions from me? By my life, says the Lord, you will get no directions from me.

20:4 Will you be their judge, O son of man, will you be their judge? make clear to them the disgusting ways of their fathers,

20:5 And say to them, This is what the Lord has said: In the day when I took Israel for myself, when I made an oath to the seed of the family of Jacob, and I gave them knowledge of myself in the land of Egypt, saying to them with an oath, I am the Lord your God;

20:6 In that day I gave my oath to take them out of the land of Egypt into a land which I had been searching out for them, a land flowing with milk and honey, the glory of all lands:

20:7 And I said to them, Let every man among you put away the disgusting things to which his eyes are turned, and do not make yourselves unclean with the images of Egypt; I am the Lord your God.

20:8 But they would not be controlled by me, and did not give ear to me; they did not put away the disgusting things to which their eyes were turned, or give up the images of Egypt: then I said I would let loose my passion on them to give full effect to my wrath against them in the land of Egypt.

20:9 And I was acting for the honour of my name, so that it might not be made unclean before the eyes of the nations among whom they were, and before whose eyes I gave them knowledge of myself, by taking them out of the land of Egypt.

20:10 So I made them go out of the land of Egypt and took them into the waste land.

20:11 And I gave them my rules and made clear to them my orders, which, if a man keeps them, will be life to him.

20:12 And further, I gave them my Sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, so that it might be clear that I, who make them holy, am the Lord.

20:13 But the children of Israel would not be controlled by me in the waste land: they were not guided by my rules, and they were turned away from my orders, which, if a man does them, will be life to him; and they had no respect for my Sabbaths: then I said that I would let loose my passion on them in the waste land, and put an end to them.

20:14 And I was acting for the honour of my name, so that it might not be made unclean in the eyes of the nations, before whose eyes I had taken them out.

20:15 And further, I gave my oath to them in the waste land, that I would not take them into the land which I had given them, a land flowing with milk and honey, the glory of all lands;

20:16 Because they were turned away from my orders, and were not guided by my rules, and had no respect for my Sabbaths: for their hearts went after their images.

20:17 But still my eye had pity on them and I kept them from destruction and did not put an end to them completely in the waste land.

20:18 And I said to their children in the waste land, Do not be guided by the rules of your fathers or keep their orders or make yourselves unclean with their images:

20:19 I am the Lord your God; be guided by my rules and keep my orders and do them:

20:20 And keep my Sabbaths holy; and they will be a sign between me and you so that it may be clear to you that I am the Lord your God.

20:21 But the children would not be controlled by me; they were not guided by my rules, and they did not keep and do my orders, which, if a man does them, will be life to him; and they had no respect for my Sabbaths: then I said I would let loose my passion on them to give full effect to my wrath against them in the waste land.

20:22 And I was acting for the honour of my name, so that it might not be made unclean in the eyes of the nations, before whose eyes I had taken them out.

20:23 Further, I gave my oath to them in the waste land that I would send them wandering among the nations, driving them out among the countries;

20:24 Because they had not done my orders, but had been turned away from my rules, and had not given respect to my Sabbaths, and their eyes were turned to the images of their fathers.

20:25 And further, I gave them rules which were not good and orders in which there was no life for them;

20:26 I made them unclean in the offerings they gave, causing them to make every first child go through the fire, so that I might put an end to them.

20:27 For this cause, son of man, say to the children of Israel, This is what the Lord has said: In this your fathers have further put shame on my name by doing wrong against me.

20:28 For when I had taken them into the land which I made an oath to give to them, then they saw every high hill and every branching tree and made their offerings there, moving me to wrath by their offerings; and there the sweet smell of their offerings went up and their drink offerings were drained out.

20:29 Then I said to them, What is this high place where you go to no purpose? And it is named Bamah to this day.

20:30 For this cause say to the children of Israel, This is what the Lord has said: Are you making yourselves unclean as your fathers did? are you being untrue to me by going after their disgusting works?

20:31 And when you give your offerings, causing your sons to go through the fire, you make yourselves unclean with all your images to this day; and will you come to me for directions, O children of Israel? By my life, says the Lord, you will get no direction from me.

20:32 And that which comes into your minds will never take place; when you say, We will be like the nations, like the families of the countries, servants of wood and stone;

20:33 By my life, says the Lord, truly, with a strong hand and with an outstretched arm and with burning wrath let loose, I will be King over you:

20:34 And I will take you out from the peoples and get you together out of the countries where you are wandering, with a strong hand and with an outstretched arm and with burning wrath let loose:

20:35 And I will take you into the waste land of the peoples, and there I will take up the cause with you face to face.

20:36 As I took up the cause with your fathers in the waste land of the land of Egypt, so will I take up the cause with you says the Lord.

20:37 And I will make you go under the rod and will make you small in number:

20:38 Clearing out from among you all those who are uncontrolled and who are sinning against me; I will take them out of the land where they are living, but they will not come into the land of Israel: and you will be certain that I am the Lord.

20:39 As for you, O children of Israel, the Lord has said: Let every man completely put away his images and give ear to me: and let my holy name no longer be shamed by your offerings and your images.

20:40 For in my holy mountain, in the high mountain of Israel, says the Lord, there all the children of Israel, all of them, will be my servants in the land; there I will take pleasure in them, and there I will be worshipped with your offerings and the first-fruits of the things you give, and with all your holy things.

20:41 I will take pleasure in you as in a sweet smell, when I take you out from the peoples and get you together from the countries where you have been sent in flight; and I will make myself holy in you before the eyes of the nations.

20:42 And you will be certain that I am the Lord, when I take you into the land of Israel, into the country which I made an oath to give to your fathers.

20:43 And there, at the memory of your ways and of all the things you did to make yourselves unclean, you will have bitter hate for yourselves because of all the evil things you have done.

20:44 And you will be certain that I am the Lord, when I take you in hand for the honour of my name, and not for your evil ways or your unclean doings, O children of Israel, says the Lord.

20:45 Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

20:46 Son of man, let your face be turned to the south, let your words be dropped to the south, and be a prophet against the woodland of the South;

20:47 And say to the woodland of the South, Give ear to the words of the Lord: this is what the Lord has said: See, I will have a fire lighted in you, for the destruction of every green tree in you and every dry tree: the flaming flame will not be put out, and all faces from the south to the north will be burned by it.

20:48 And all flesh will see that I the Lord have had it lighted: it will not be put out.

20:49 Then I said, Ah, Lord! they say of me, Is he not a maker of stories?

21:1 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

21:2 Son of man, let your face be turned to Jerusalem, let your words be dropped in the direction of her holy place, and be a prophet against the land of Israel;

21:3 And say to the land of Israel, These are the words of the Lord: See, I am against you, and I will take my sword out of its cover, cutting off from you the upright and the evil.

21:4 Because I am going to have the upright and the evil cut off from you, for this cause my sword will go out from its cover against all flesh from the south to the north:

21:5 And all flesh will see that I the Lord have taken my sword out of its cover: and it will never go back.

21:6 Make sounds of grief, son of man; with body bent and a bitter heart make sounds of grief before their eyes.

21:7 And when they say to you, Why are you making sounds of grief? then say, Because of the news, for it is coming: and every heart will become soft, and all hands will be feeble, and every spirit will be burning low, and all knees will be turned to water: see, it is coming and it will be done, says the Lord.

21:8 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

21:9 Son of man, say as a prophet, These are the words of the Lord: Say, A sword, a sword which has been made sharp and polished:

21:10 It has been made sharp to give death; it is polished so that it may be like a thunder-flame: ...

21:11 And I have given it to the polisher so that it may be taken in the hand: he has made the sword sharp, he has had it polished, to put it into the hand of him who gives death.

21:12 Give loud cries and make sounds of grief, O son of man: for it has come on my people, it has come on all the rulers of Israel: fear of the sword has come on my people: for this cause give signs of grief.

21:13 ...

21:14 So then, son of man, be a prophet, and put your hands together with a loud sound, and give two blows with the sword, and even three; it is the sword of those who are wounded, even the sword of the wounded; the great sword which goes round about them.

21:15 In order that hearts may become soft, and the number of those who are falling may be increased, I have sent death by the sword against all their doors: you are made like a flame, you are polished for death.

21:16 Be pointed to the right, to the left, wherever your edge is ordered.

21:17 And I will put my hands together with a loud sound, and I will let my wrath have rest: I the Lord have said it.

21:18 And the word of the Lord came to me again, saying,

21:19 And you, son of man, have two ways marked out, so that the sword of the king of Babylon may come; let the two of them come out of one land: and let there be a pillar at the top of the road:

21:20 Put a pillar at the top of the road for the sword to come to Rabbah in the land of the children of Ammon, and to Judah and to Jerusalem in the middle of her.

21:21 For the king of Babylon took his place at the parting of the ways, at the top of the two roads, to make use of secret arts: shaking the arrows this way and that, he put questions to the images of his gods, he took note of the inner parts of dead beasts.

21:22 At his right hand was the fate of Jerusalem, to give orders for destruction, to send up the war-cry, to put engines of war against the doors, lifting up earthworks, building walls.

21:23 And this answer given by secret arts will seem false to those who have given their oaths and have let them be broken: but he will keep the memory of evil-doing so that they may be taken.

21:24 For this cause the Lord has said: Because you have made your evil-doing come to mind by the uncovering of your wrongdoing, causing your sins to be seen in all your evil-doings; because you have come to mind, you will be taken in them.

21:25 And you, O evil one, wounded to death, O ruler of Israel, whose day has come in the time of the last punishment;

21:26 This is what the Lord has said: Take away the holy head-dress, take off the crown: this will not be again: let that which is low be lifted up, and that which is high be made low.

21:27 I will let it be overturned, overturned, overturned: this will not be again till he comes whose right it is; and I will give it to him.

21:28 And you, son of man, say as a prophet, This is what the Lord has said about the children of Ammon and about their shame: Say, A sword, even a sword let loose, polished for death, to make it shining so that it may be like a flame:

21:29 Your vision is to no purpose, your use of secret arts gives a false answer, to put it on the necks of evil-doers who are wounded to death, whose day has come, in the time of the last punishment.

21:30 Go back into your cover. In the place where you were made, in the land from which you were taken, I will be your judge.

21:31 And I will let loose my burning passion on you, breathing out on you the fire of my wrath: and I will give you up into the hands of men like beasts, trained to destruction.

21:32 You will be food for the fire; your blood will be drained out in the land; there will be no more memory of you: for I the Lord have said it.

22:1 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

22:2 And you, son of man, will you be a judge, will you be a judge of the town of blood? then make clear to her all her disgusting ways.

22:3 And you are to say, This is what the Lord has said: A town causing blood to be drained out in her streets so that her time may come, and making images in her to make her unclean!

22:4 You are responsible for the blood drained out by you, and you are unclean through the images which you have made; and you have made your day come near, and the time of your judging has come; for this cause I have made you a name of shame to the nations and a cause of laughing to all countries.

22:5 Those who are near and those who are far from you will make sport of you; your name is unclean, you are full of sounds of fear.

22:6 See, the rulers of Israel, every one in his family, have been causing death in you.

22:7 In you they have had no respect for father and mother; in you they have been cruel to the man from a strange land; in you they have done wrong to the child without a father and to the widow.

22:8 You have made little of my holy things, and have made my Sabbaths unclean.

22:9 In you there are men who say evil of others, causing death; in you they have taken the flesh with the blood for food; in your streets they have put evil designs into effect.

22:10 In you they have let the shame of their fathers be seen; in you they have done wrong to a woman at the time when she was unclean.

22:11 And in you one man has done what was disgusting with his neighbour's wife; and another has made his daughter-in-law unclean; and another has done wrong to his sister, his father's daughter.

22:12 In you they have taken rewards as the price of blood; you have taken interest and great profits, and you have taken away your neighbours' goods by force, and have not kept me in mind, says the Lord.

22:13 See, then, I have made my hands come together in wrath against your taking of goods by force and against the blood which has been flowing in you.

22:14 Will your heart be high or your hands strong in the days when I take you in hand? I the Lord have said it and will do it.

22:15 And I will send you in flight among the nations and wandering among the countries; and I will completely take away out of you everything which is unclean.

22:16 And you will be made low before the eyes of the nations; and it will be clear to you that I am the Lord.

22:17 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

22:18 Son of man, the children of Israel have become like the poorest sort of waste metal to me: they are all silver and brass and tin and iron and lead mixed with waste.

22:19 For this cause the Lord has said: Because you have all become waste metal, see, I will get you together inside Jerusalem.

22:20 As they put silver and brass and iron and lead and tin together inside the oven, heating up the fire on it to make it soft; so will I get you together in my wrath and in my passion, and, heating the fire with my breath, will make you soft.

22:21 Yes, I will take you, breathing on you the fire of my wrath, and you will become soft in it.

22:22 As silver becomes soft in the oven, so you will become soft in it; and you will be certain that I the Lord have let loose my passion on you.

22:23 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

22:24 Son of man, say to her, You are a land on which no rain or thunderstorm has come in the day of wrath.

22:25 Her rulers in her are like a loud-voiced lion violently taking his food; they have made a meal of souls; they have taken wealth and valued property; they have made great the number of widows in her.

22:26 Her priests have been acting violently against my law; they have made my holy things unclean: they have made no division between what is holy and what is common, and they have not made it clear that the unclean is different from the clean, and their eyes have been shut to my Sabbaths, and I am not honoured among them.

22:27 Her rulers in her are like wolves violently taking their food; putting men to death and causing the destruction of souls, so that they may get their profit.

22:28 And her prophets have been using whitewash, seeing foolish visions and making false use of secret arts, saying, This is what the Lord has said, when the Lord has said nothing.

22:29 The people of the land have been acting cruelly, taking men's goods by force; they have been hard on the poor and those in need, and have done wrong to the man from a strange land.

22:30 And I was looking for a man among them who would make up the wall and take his station in the broken place before me for the land, so that I might not send destruction on it: but there was no one.

22:31 And I let loose my passion on them, and have put an end to them in the fire of my wrath: I have made the punishment of their ways come on their heads, says the Lord.

23:1 The word of the Lord came to me again, saying,

23:2 Son of man, there were two women, daughters of one mother:

23:3 They were acting like loose women in Egypt; when they were young their behaviour was loose: there their breasts were crushed, even the points of their young breasts were crushed.

23:4 Their names were Oholah, the older, and Oholibah, her sister: and they became mine, and gave birth to sons and daughters. As for their names, Samaria is Oholah, and Jerusalem, Oholibah.

23:5 And Oholah was untrue to me when she was mine; she was full of desire for her lovers, even for the Assyrians, her neighbours,

23:6 Who were clothed in blue, captains and rulers, all of them young men to be desired, horsemen seated on horses.

23:7 And she gave her unclean love to them, all of them the noblest men of Assyria: and she made herself unclean with the images of all who were desired by her.

23:8 And she has not given up her loose ways from the time when she was in Egypt; for when she was young they were her lovers, and by them her young breasts were crushed, and they let loose on her their unclean desire.

23:9 For this cause I gave her up into the hands of her lovers, into the hands of the Assyrians on whom her desire was fixed.

23:10 By these her shame was uncovered: they took her sons and daughters and put her to death with the sword: and she became a cause of wonder to women; for they gave her the punishment which was right.

23:11 And her sister Oholibah saw this, but her desire was even more unmeasured, and her loose behaviour was worse than that of her sister.

23:12 She was full of desire for the Assyrians, captains and rulers, her neighbours, clothed in blue, horsemen going on horses, all of them young men to be desired.

23:13 And I saw that she had become unclean; the two of them went the same way.

23:14 And her loose behaviour became worse; for she saw men pictured on a wall, pictures of the Chaldaeans painted in bright red,

23:15 With bands round their bodies and with head-dresses hanging round their heads, all of them looking like rulers, like the Babylonians, the land of whose birth is Chaldaea.

23:16 And when she saw them she was full of desire for them, and sent servants to them in Chaldaea.

23:17 And the Babylonians came to her, into the bed of love, and made her unclean with their loose desire, and she became unclean with them, and her soul was turned from them.

23:18 So her loose behaviour was clearly seen and her shame uncovered: then my soul was turned from her as it had been turned from her sister.

23:19 But still she went on the more with her loose behaviour, keeping in mind the early days when she had been a loose woman in the land of Egypt.

23:20 And she was full of desire for her lovers, whose flesh is like the flesh of asses and whose seed is like the seed of horses.

23:21 And she made the memory of the loose ways of her early years come back to mind, when her young breasts were crushed by the Egyptians.

23:22 For this cause, O Oholibah, this is what the Lord has said: See, I will make your lovers come up against you, even those from whom your soul is turned away in disgust; and I will make them come up against you on every side;

23:23 The Babylonians and all the Chaldaeans, Pekod and Shoa and Koa, and all the Assyrians with them: young men to be desired, captains and rulers all of them, and chiefs, her neighbours, all of them on horseback.

23:24 And they will come against you from the north on horseback, with war-carriages and a great band of peoples; they will put themselves in order against you with breastplate and body-cover and metal head-dress round about you: and I will make them your judges, and they will give their decision against you as seems right to them.

23:25 And my bitter feeling will be working against you, and they will take you in hand with passion; they will take away your nose and your ears, and the rest of you will be put to the sword: they will take your sons and daughters, and the rest of you will be burned up in the fire.

23:26 And they will take all your clothing off you and take away your ornaments.

23:27 So I will put an end to your evil ways and your loose behaviour which came from the land of Egypt: and your eyes will never be lifted up to them again, and you will have no more memory of Egypt.

23:28 For this is what the Lord has said: See, I will give you up into the hands of those who are hated by you, into the hands of those from whom your soul is turned away in disgust:

23:29 And they will take you in hand with hate, and take away all the fruit of your work, and let you be unveiled and without clothing: and the shame of your loose behaviour will be uncovered, your evil designs and your loose ways.

23:30 They will do these things to you because you have been untrue to me, and have gone after the nations, and have become unclean with their images.

23:31 You have gone in the way of your sister; and I will give her cup into your hand.

23:32 This is what the Lord has said: You will take a drink from your sister's cup, which is deep and wide: you will be laughed at and looked down on, more than you are able to undergo.

23:33 You will be broken and full of sorrow, with the cup of wonder and destruction, with the cup of your sister Samaria.

23:34 And after drinking it and draining it out, you will take the last drops of it to the end, pulling off your breasts: for I have said it, says the Lord.

23:35 So this is what the Lord has said: Because you have not kept me in your memory, and because your back has been turned to me, you will even undergo the punishment of your evil designs and your loose ways.

23:36 Then the Lord said to me: Son of man, will you be the judge of Oholibah? then make clear to her the disgusting things she has done.

23:37 For she has been false to me, and blood is on her hands, and with her images she has been untrue; and more than this, she made her sons, whom she had by me, go through the fire to them to be burned up.

23:38 Further, this is what she has done to me: she has made my holy place unclean and has made my Sabbaths unclean.

23:39 For when she had made an offering of her children to her images, she came into my holy place to make it unclean; see, this is what she has done inside my house.

23:40 And she even sent for men to come from far away, to whom a servant was sent, and they came: for whom she was washing her body and painting her eyes and making herself fair with ornaments.

23:41 And she took her seat on a great bed, with a table put ready before it on which she put my perfume and my oil.

23:42 ... and they put jewels on her hands and beautiful crowns on her head.

23:43 Then I said ... now she will go on with her loose ways.

23:44 And they went in to her, as men go to a loose woman: so they went in to Oholibah, the loose woman.

23:45 And upright men will be her judges, judging her as false wives and women who take lives are judged; because she has been untrue to me and blood is on her hands.

23:46 For this is what the Lord has said: I will make a great meeting of the people come together against her, and will send on her shaking fear and take everything from her.

23:47 And the meeting, after stoning her with stones, will put an end to her with their swords; they will put her sons and daughters to death and have her house burned up with fire.

23:48 And I will put an end to evil in all the land, teaching all women not to do as you have done.

23:49 And I will send on you the punishment of your evil ways, and you will be rewarded for your sins with your images: and you will be certain that I am the Lord.

24:1 And the word of the Lord came to me in the ninth year, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, saying,

24:2 Son of man, put down in writing this very day: The king of Babylon let loose the weight of his attack against Jerusalem on this very day.

24:3 And make a comparison for this uncontrolled people, and say to them, This is what the Lord has said: Put on the cooking-pot, put it on the fire and put water in it:

24:4 And get the bits together, the fat tail, every good part, the leg and the top part of it: make it full of the best bones.

24:5 Take the best of the flock, put much wood under it: see that its bits are boiling well; let the bones be cooked inside it.

24:6 For this is what the Lord has said: A curse is on the town of blood, the cooking-pot which is unclean inside, which has never been made clean! take out its bits; its fate is still to come on it.

24:7 For her blood is in her; she has put it on the open rock not draining it on to the earth so that it might be covered with dust;

24:8 In order that it might make wrath come up to give punishment, she has put her blood on the open rock, so that it may not be covered.

24:9 For this cause the Lord has said: A curse is on the town of blood! and I will make great the burning mass.

24:10 Put on much wood, heating up the fire, boiling the flesh well, and making the soup thick, and let the bones be burned.

24:11 And I will put her on the coals so that she may be heated and her brass burned, so that what is unclean in her may become soft and her waste be completely taken away.

24:12 I have made myself tired to no purpose: still all the waste which is in her has not come out, it has an evil smell.

24:13 As for your unclean purpose: because I have been attempting to make you clean, but you have not been made clean from it, you will not be made clean till I have let loose my passion on you in full measure.

24:14 I the Lord have said the word and I will do it; I will not go back or have mercy, and my purpose will not be changed; in the measure of your ways and of your evil doings you will be judged, says the Lord.

24:15 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

24:16 Son of man, see, I am taking away the desire of your eyes by disease: but let there be no sorrow or weeping or drops running from your eyes.

24:17 Let there be no sound of sorrow; make no weeping for your dead, put on your head-dress and your shoes on your feet, let not your lips be covered, and do not take the food of those in grief.

24:18 So in the morning I was teaching the people and in the evening death took my wife; and in the morning I did what I had been ordered to do.

24:19 And the people said to me, Will you not make clear to us the sense of these things; is it for us you do them?

24:20 Then I said to them, The word of the Lord came to me, saying,

24:21 Say to the people of Israel, The Lord has said, See, I will make my holy place unclean, the pride of your strength, the pleasure of your eyes, and the desire of your soul; and your sons and daughters, who did not come with you here, will be put to the sword.

24:22 And you will do as I have done, not covering your lips or taking the food of those in grief.

24:23 And your head-dresses will be on your heads and your shoes on your feet: there will be no sorrow or weeping; but you will be wasting away in the punishment of your evil-doing, and you will be looking at one another in wonder.

24:24 And Ezekiel will be a sign to you; everything he has done you will do: when this takes place, you will be certain that I am the Lord.

24:25 And as for you, son of man, your mouth will be shut in the day when I take from them their strength, the joy of their glory, the desire of their eyes, and that on which their hearts are fixed, and their sons and daughters.

24:26 In that day, one who has got away safe will come to you to give you news of it.

24:27 In that day your mouth will be open to him who has got away safe, and you will say words to him and your lips will no longer be shut: so you will be a sign to them and they will be certain that I am the Lord.

25:1 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

25:2 Son of man, let your face be turned to the children of Ammon, and be a prophet against them:

25:3 And say to the children of Ammon, Give ear to the word of the Lord; this is what the Lord has said: Because you said, Aha! against my holy place when it was made unclean, and against the land of Israel when it was made waste, and against the people of Judah when they were taken away as prisoners;

25:4 For this cause I will give you up to the children of the east for their heritage, and they will put their tent-circles in you and make their houses in you; they will take your fruit for their food and your milk for their drink.

25:5 And I will make Rabbah a place for housing camels, and the children of Ammon a resting-place for flocks: and you will be certain that I am the Lord.

25:6 For the Lord has said, Because you have made sounds of joy with your hands, stamping your feet, and have been glad, putting shame with all your soul on the land of Israel;

25:7 For this cause my hand has been stretched out against you, and I will give up your goods to be taken by the nations; I will have you cut off from the peoples and will put an end to you among the countries: I will give you up to destruction; and you will be certain that I am the Lord.

25:8 This is what the Lord has said: Because Moab and Seir are saying, See, the people of Judah are like all the nations;

25:9 For this cause, I will let the side of Moab be uncovered, and his towns on every side, the glory of the land, Beth-jeshimoth, Baal-meon and as far as Kiriathaim.

25:10 To the children of the east I have given her for a heritage, as well as the children of Ammon, so that there may be no memory of her among the nations:

25:11 And I will be the judge of Moab; and they will see that I am the Lord.

25:12 This is what the Lord has said: Because Edom has taken his payment from the people of Judah, and has done great wrong in taking payment from them;

25:13 The Lord has said, My hand will be stretched out against Edom, cutting off from it man and beast: and I will make it waste, from Teman even as far as Dedan they will be put to the sword.

25:14 I will take payment from Edom because of my people Israel; and I will take Edom in hand in my wrath and in my passion: and they will have experience of my reward, says the Lord.

25:15 This is what the Lord has said: Because the Philistines have taken payment, with the purpose of causing shame and destruction with unending hate;

25:16 The Lord has said, See, my hand will be stretched out against the Philistines, cutting off the Cherethites and sending destruction on the rest of the sea-land.

25:17 And I will take great payment from them with acts of wrath; and they will be certain that I am the Lord when I send my punishment on them.

26:1 Now in the eleventh year, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

26:2 Son of man, because Tyre has said against Jerusalem, Aha, she who was the doorway of the peoples is broken; she is turned over to them; she who was full is made waste;

26:3 For this cause the Lord has said, See, I am against you, O Tyre, and will send up a number of nations against you as the sea sends up its waves.

26:4 And they will give the walls of Tyre to destruction and have its towers broken: and I will take even her dust away from her, and make her an uncovered rock

26:5 She will be a place for the stretching out of nets in the middle of the sea; for I have said it, says the Lord: and her goods will be given over to the nations.

26:6 And her daughters in the open country will be put to the sword: and they will be certain that I am the Lord.

26:7 For this is what the Lord has said: See, I will send up from the north Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, king of kings, against Tyre, with horses and war-carriages and with an army and great numbers of people.

26:8 He will put to the sword your daughters in the open country: he will make strong walls against you and put up an earthwork against you, arming himself for war against you.

26:9 He will put up his engines of war against your walls, and your towers will be broken down by his axes.

26:10 Because of the number of his horses you will be covered with their dust: your walls will be shaking at the noise of the horsemen and of the wheels and of the war-carriages, when he comes through your doorways, as into a town which has been broken open.

26:11 Your streets will be stamped down by the feet of his horses: he will put your people to the sword, and will send down the pillars of your strength to the earth.

26:12 They will take by force all your wealth and go off with the goods with which you do trade: they will have your walls broken down and all the houses of your desire given up to destruction: they will put your stones and your wood and your dust deep in the water.

26:13 I will put an end to the noise of your songs, and the sound of your instruments of music will be gone for ever.

26:14 I will make you an uncovered rock: you will be a place for the stretching out of nets; there will be no building you up again: for I the Lord have said it, says the Lord.

26:15 This is what the Lord has said to Tyre: Will not the sea-lands be shaking at the sound of your fall, when the wounded give cries of pain, when men are put to the sword in you?

26:16 Then all the rulers of the sea will come down from their high seats, and put away their robes and take off their clothing of needlework: they will put on the clothing of grief, they will take their seats on the earth, shaking with fear every minute and overcome with wonder at you.

26:17 And they will send up a song of grief for you, and say to you, What destruction has come on you, how are you cut off from the sea, the noted town, which was strong in the sea, she and her people, causing the fear of them to come on all the dry land!

26:18 Now the sea-lands will be shaking in the day of your fall; and all the ships on the sea will be overcome with fear at your going.

26:19 For this is what the Lord has said: I will make you a waste town, like the towns which are unpeopled; when I make the deep come upon you, covering you with great waters.

26:20 Then I will make you go down with those who go down into the underworld, to the people of the past, causing your living-place to be in the deepest parts of the earth, in places long unpeopled, with those who go down into the deep, so that there will be no one living in you; and you will have no glory in the land of the living.

26:21 I will make you a thing of fear, and you will come to an end: even if you are looked for, you will not be seen again for ever, says the Lord.

27:1 The word of the Lord came to me again, saying,

27:2 And you, son of man, make a song of grief for Tyre;

27:3 And say to Tyre, O you who are seated at the doorway of the sea, trading for the peoples with the great sea-lands, these are the words of the Lord: You, O Tyre, have said, I am a ship completely beautiful.

27:4 Your builders have made your outlines in the heart of the seas, they have made you completely beautiful.

27:5 They have made all your boards of fir-trees from Senir: they have taken cedars from Lebanon to make the supports for your sails.

27:6 Of oak-trees from Bashan they have made your driving blades; they have made your floors of ivory and boxwood from the sea-lands of Kittim.

27:7 The best linen with needlework from Egypt was your sail, stretched out to be a flag for you; blue and purple from the sea-lands of Elishah gave you shade.

27:8 The people of Zidon and Arvad were your boatmen; the wise men of Zemer were in you; they were guiding your ships;

27:9 The responsible men of Gebal and its wise men were in you, making your boards watertight: all the ships of the sea with their seamen were in you trading in your goods.

27:10 Cush and Lud and Put were in your army, your men of war, hanging up their body-covers and head-dresses of war in you: they gave you your glory.

27:11 The men of Arvad in your army were on your walls, and were watchmen in your towers, hanging up their arms on your walls round about; they made you completely beautiful.

27:12 Tarshish did business with you because of the great amount of your wealth; they gave silver, iron, tin, and lead for your goods.

27:13 Javan, Tubal, and Meshech were your traders; they gave living men and brass vessels for your goods.

27:14 The people of Togarmah gave horses and war-horses and transport beasts for your goods.

27:15 The men of Rodan were your traders: a great number of sea-lands did business with you: they gave you horns of ivory and ebony as an offering.

27:16 Edom did business with you because of the great number of things which you made; they gave emeralds, purple, and needlework, and the best linen and coral and rubies for your goods.

27:17 Judah and the land of Israel were your traders; they gave grain of Minnith and sweet cakes and honey and oil and perfume for your goods.

27:18 Damascus did business with you because of the great amount of your wealth, with wine of Helbon and white wool.

27:19 ... for your goods: they gave polished iron and spices for your goods.

27:20 Dedan did trade with you in cloths for the backs of horses.

27:21 Arabia and all the rulers of Kedar did business with you; in lambs and sheep and goats, in these they did business with you.

27:22 The traders of Sheba and Raamah did trade with you; they gave the best of all sorts of spices and all sorts of stones of great price and gold for your goods.

27:23 Haran and Canneh and Eden, the traders of Asshur and all the Medes:

27:24 These were your traders in beautiful robes, in rolls of blue and needlework, and in chests of coloured cloth, corded with cords and made of cedar-wood, in them they did trade with you.

27:25 Tarshish ships did business for you in your goods: and you were made full, and great was your glory in the heart of the seas.

27:26 Your boatmen have taken you into great waters: you have been broken by the east wind in the heart of the seas.

27:27 Your wealth and your goods, the things in which you do trade, your seamen and those guiding your ships, those who make your boards watertight, and those who do business with your goods, and all your men of war who are in you, with all who have come together in you, will go down into the heart of the seas in the day of your downfall.

27:28 At the sound of the cry of your ships' guides, the boards of the ship will be shaking.

27:29 And all the boatmen, the seamen and those who are expert at guiding a ship through the sea, will come down from their ships and take their places on the land;

27:30 And their voices will be sounding over you, and crying bitterly they will put dust on their heads, rolling themselves in the dust:

27:31 And they will have the hair of their heads cut off because of you, and will put haircloth on their bodies, weeping for you with bitter grief in their souls, even with bitter sorrow.

27:32 And in their weeping they will make a song of grief for you, sorrowing over you and saying, Who is like Tyre, who has come to an end in the deep sea?

27:33 When your goods went out over the seas, you made numbers of peoples full; the wealth of the kings of the earth was increased with your great wealth and all your goods.

27:34 Now that you are broken by the seas in the deep waters, your goods and all your people will go down with you.

27:35 All the people of the sea-lands are overcome with wonder at you, and their kings are full of fear, their faces are troubled.

27:36 Those who do business among the peoples make sounds of surprise at you; you have become a thing of fear, you have come to an end for ever.

28:1 The word of the Lord came to me again, saying,

28:2 Son of man, say to the ruler of Tyre, This is what the Lord has said: Because your heart has been lifted up, and you have said, I am a god, I am seated on the seat of God in the heart of the seas; but you are man and not God, though you have made your heart as the heart of God:

28:3 See, you are wiser than Daniel; there is no secret which is deeper than your knowledge:

28:4 By your wisdom and deep knowledge you have got power for yourself, and put silver and gold in your store-houses:

28:5 By your great wisdom and by your trade your power is increased, and your heart is lifted up because of your power:

28:6 For this cause the Lord has said: Because you have made your heart as the heart of God,

28:7 See, I am sending against you strange men, feared among the nations: they will let loose their swords against your bright wisdom, they will make your glory a common thing.

28:8 They will send you down to the underworld, and your death will be the death of those who are put to the sword in the heart of the seas.

28:9 Will you say, in the face of those who are taking your life, I am God? but you are man and not God in the hands of those who are wounding you.

28:10 Your death will be the death of those who are without circumcision, by the hands of men from strange lands: for I have said it, says the Lord.

28:11 Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

28:12 Son of man, make a song of grief for the king of Tyre, and say to him, This is what the Lord has said: You are all-wise and completely beautiful;

28:13 You were in Eden, the garden of God; every stone of great price was your clothing, the sardius, the topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the emerald and the carbuncle: your store-houses were full of gold, and things of great price were in you; in the day when you were made they were got ready.

28:14 I gave you your place with the winged one; I put you on the mountain of God; you went up and down among the stones of fire.

28:15 There has been no evil in your ways from the day when you were made, till sin was seen in you.

28:16 Through all your trading you have become full of violent ways, and have done evil: so I sent you out shamed from the mountain of God; the winged one put an end to you from among the stones of fire.

28:17 Your heart was lifted up because you were beautiful, you made your wisdom evil through your sin: I have sent you down, even to the earth; I have made you low before kings, so that they may see you.

28:18 By all your sin, even by your evil trading, you have made your holy places unclean; so I will make a fire come out from you, it will make a meal of you, and I will make you as dust on the earth before the eyes of all who see you.

28:19 All who have knowledge of you among the peoples will be overcome with wonder at you: you have become a thing of fear, and you will never be seen again.

28:20 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

28:21 Son of man, let your face be turned to Zidon, and be a prophet against it, and say,

28:22 These are the words of the Lord: See, I am against you, O Zidon; and I will get glory for myself in you: and they will be certain that I am the Lord, when I send my punishments on her, and I will be seen to be holy in her.

28:23 And I will send on her disease and blood in her streets; and the wounded will be falling in the middle of her, and the sword will be against her on every side; and they will be certain that I am the Lord.

28:24 And there will no longer be a plant with sharp points wounding the children of Israel, or a thorn troubling them among any who are round about them, who put shame on them; and they will be certain that I am the Lord.

28:25 This is what the Lord has said: When I have got together the children of Israel from the peoples among whom they are wandering, and have been made holy among them before the eyes of the nations, then they will have rest in the land which is theirs, which I gave to my servant Jacob

28:26 And they will be safe there, building houses and planting vine-gardens and living without fear; when I have sent my punishments on all those who put shame on them round about them; and they will be certain that I am the Lord their God.

29:1 In the tenth year, in the tenth month, on the twelfth day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

29:2 Son of man, let your face be turned against Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and be a prophet against him and against all Egypt:

29:3 Say to them, These are the words of the Lord: See, I am against you, Pharaoh, king of Egypt, the great river-beast stretched out among his Nile streams, who has said, The Nile is mine, and I have made it for myself.

29:4 And I will put hooks in your mouth, and the fish of your streams will be hanging from your skin; and I will make you come up out of your streams, with all the fish of your streams hanging from your skin.

29:5 And I will let you be in the waste land, you and all the fish of your streams: you will go down on the face of the land; you will not be taken up or put to rest in the earth; I have given you for food to the beasts of the field and the birds of the heaven.

29:6 And it will be clear to all the people of Egypt that I am the Lord, because you have been a false support to the children of Israel.

29:7 When they took a grip of you in their hands, you were crushed so that their arms were broken: and when they put their weight on you for support, you were broken and all their muscles gave way.

29:8 For this cause the Lord has said: See, I am sending a sword on you, cutting off from you man and beast.

29:9 And the land of Egypt will be an unpeopled waste; and they will be certain that I am the Lord: because he has said, The Nile is mine, and I made it.

29:10 See, then, I am against you and against your streams, and I will make the land of Egypt an unpeopled waste, from Migdol to Syene, even as far as the edge of Ethiopia.

29:11 No foot of man will go through it and no foot of beast, and it will be unpeopled for forty years.

29:12 I will make the land of Egypt a waste among the countries which are made waste, and her towns will be unpeopled among the towns which have been made waste, for forty years: and I will send the Egyptians in flight among the nations and wandering through the countries.

29:13 For this is what the Lord has said: At the end of forty years I will get the Egyptians together from the peoples where they have gone in flight:

29:14 I will let the fate of Egypt be changed, and will make them come back into the land of Pathros, into the land from which they came; and there they will be an unimportant kingdom.

29:15 It will be the lowest of the kingdoms, and never again will it be lifted up over the nations: I will make them small, so that they may not have rule over the nations.

29:16 And Egypt will no longer be the hope of the children of Israel, causing sin to come to mind when their eyes are turned to them: and they will be certain that I am the Lord.

29:17 Now in the twenty-seventh year, in the first month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

29:18 Son of man, Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, made his army do hard work against Tyre, and the hair came off every head and every arm was rubbed smooth: but he and his army got no payment out of Tyre for the hard work which he had done against it.

29:19 For this cause the Lord has said: See, I am giving the land of Egypt to Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon: he will take away her wealth, and take her goods by force and everything which is there; and this will be the payment for his army.

29:20 I have given him the land of Egypt as the reward for his hard work, because they were working for me, says the Lord.

29:21 In that day I will make a horn put out buds for the children of Israel, and I will let your words come freely among them, and they will be certain that I am the Lord.

30:1 The word of the Lord came to me again, saying,

30:2 Son of man, be a prophet, and say, These are the words of the Lord: Give a cry, Aha, for the day!

30:3 For the day is near, the day of the Lord is near, a day of cloud; it will be the time of the nations.

30:4 And a sword will come on Egypt, and cruel pain will be in Ethiopia, when they are falling by the sword in Egypt; and they will take away her wealth and her bases will be broken down.

30:5 Ethiopia and Put and Lud and all the mixed people and Libya and the children of the land of the Cherethites will all be put to death with them by the sword.

30:6 This is what the Lord has said: The supporters of Egypt will have a fall, and the pride of her power will come down: from Migdol to Syene they will be put to the sword in it, says the Lord.

30:7 And she will be made waste among the countries which have been made waste, and her towns will be among the towns which are unpeopled.

30:8 And they will be certain that I am the Lord, when I have put a fire in Egypt and all her helpers are broken.

30:9 In that day men will go out quickly to take the news, causing fear in untroubled Ethiopia; and bitter pain will come on them as in the day of Egypt; for see, it is coming.

30:10 This is what the Lord has said: I will put an end to great numbers of the people of Egypt by the hand of Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon.

30:11 He and the people with him, causing fear among the nations, will be sent for the destruction of the land; their swords will be let loose against Egypt and the land will be full of dead.

30:12 And I will make the Nile streams dry, and will give the land into the hands of evil men, causing the land and everything in it to be wasted by the hands of men from a strange country: I the Lord have said it.

30:13 This is what the Lord has said: In addition to this, I will give up the images to destruction and put an end to the false gods in Noph; never again will there be a ruler in the land of Egypt: and I will put a fear in the land of Egypt.

30:14 And I will make Pathros a waste, and put a fire in Zoan, and send my punishments on No.

30:15 I will let loose my wrath on Sin, the strong place of Egypt, cutting off the mass of the people of No.

30:16 And I will put a fire in Egypt; Syene will be twisting in pain, and No will be broken into, as by the onrush of waters.

30:17 The young men of On and Pi-beseth will be put to the sword: and these towns will be taken away prisoners.

30:18 And at Tehaphnehes the day will become dark, when the yoke of Egypt is broken there, and the pride of her power comes to an end: as for her, she will be covered with a cloud, and her daughters will be taken away prisoners.

30:19 And I will send my punishments on Egypt: and they will be certain that I am the Lord.

30:20 Now in the eleventh year, in the first month, on the seventh day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

30:21 Son of man, the arm of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, has been broken by me, and no band has been put round it to make it well, no band has been twisted round it to make it strong for gripping the sword.

30:22 For this cause the Lord has said: See, I am against Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and by me his strong arm will be broken; and I will make the sword go out of his hand.

30:23 And I will send the Egyptians in flight among the nations and wandering through the countries.

30:24 And I will make the arms of the king of Babylon strong, and will put my sword in his hand: but Pharaoh's arms will be broken, and he will give cries of pain before him like the cries of a man wounded to death.

30:25 And I will make the arms of the king of Babylon strong, and the arms of Pharaoh will be hanging down; and they will be certain that I am the Lord, when I put my sword into the hand of the king of Babylon and it is stretched out against the land of Egypt.

30:26 And I will send the Egyptians in flight among the nations and wandering through the countries; and they will be certain that I am the Lord.

31:1 Now in the eleventh year, in the third month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

31:2 Son of man, say to Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and to his people; Whom are you like in your great power?

31:3 See, a pine-tree with beautiful branches and thick growth, giving shade and very tall; and its top was among the clouds.

31:4 It got strength from the waters and the deep made it tall: its streams went round about its planted land and it sent out its waterways to all the trees of the field.

31:5 In this way it became taller than all the trees of the field; and its branches were increased and its arms became long because of the great waters.

31:6 In its branches all the birds of heaven came to rest, and under its arms all the beasts of the field gave birth to their young, and great nations were living in its shade.

31:7 So it was beautiful, being so tall and its branches so long, for its root was by great waters.

31:8 No cedars were equal