Ezekiel 22

The Sins of Jerusalem

1 The word of the LORD came to me, saying,

2 “Now you, son of man, will you judge the city of bloodshed, Judge her and make her know all her disgusting acts.

3 Say, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says: A city that sheds blood in her midst so her time may come, and makes idols for herself to defile herself.

4 You have become guilty by the blood you shed and defiled by the idols you made. You brought your days near and came to the end of your years. So I have made you a disgrace to the nations and an object of mocking to all the lands.

5 Those near and far will mock you, you with a bad name, full of chaos.

6 Look, every prince of Israel in you uses his power to shed blood.

7 Father and mother are treated with contempt in you. The foreigner is mistreated among you. The orphan and widow are oppressed in you.

8 You despise My holy things and profane My Sabbaths.

9 Slanderers are in you to shed blood. In you they eat at the mountain shrines and commit disgusting acts.

10 In you men uncover their fathers’ nakedness. In you they violate women during their impurity.

11 One man commits a disgusting act with his neighbor’s wife. Another defiles his daughter-in-law with lewdness. Another violates his sister, his own father’s daughter.

12 In you they take bribes to shed blood. You take interest and profit and make unjust gain from your neighbors by extortion. And you have forgotten Me,” declares the Lord GOD.

13 “So look, I strike My hands together over your dishonest gain that you made and over the bloodshed that has been in your midst.

14 Will your heart endure or your hands be strong in the days when I deal with you, I, the LORD, have spoken, and I will do it.

15 I will scatter you among the nations and disperse you through the lands. I will consume your filthiness out of you.

16 You will be defiled in yourself in the sight of the nations. Then you will know that I am the LORD.”

Like Dross in the Furnace

17 The word of the LORD came to me, saying,

18 “Son of man, the house of Israel has become dross to Me. All of them are bronze, tin, iron, and lead inside the furnace, they are the dross of silver.

19 Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: Because all of you have become dross, I am about to gather you into Jerusalem.

20 Just as people gather silver, bronze, iron, lead, and tin into a furnace to blow fire on it to melt it, so I will gather you in My anger and wrath, and I will put you in and melt you.

21 I will gather you and blow on you with the fire of My wrath, and you will be melted in the city.

22 Just as silver is melted in the furnace, so you will be melted in it. Then you will know that I, the LORD, have poured out My wrath on you.”

Corruption of Every Class

23 The word of the LORD came to me, saying,

24 “Son of man, say to her, ‘You are a land not cleansed, not rained on in the day of indignation.’

25 The conspiracy of her prophets in her midst is like a roaring lion tearing prey. They devour lives, seize treasure and precious things, and make many widows in her midst.

26 Her priests do violence to My law and profane My holy things. They make no distinction between the holy and the common, and they do not teach the difference between the clean and the unclean. They shut their eyes to My Sabbaths, and I am profaned among them.

27 Her officials in her midst are like wolves tearing prey, shedding blood, and destroying lives to make dishonest gain.

28 Her prophets coat everything with whitewash. They see false visions and give lying divinations, saying, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says,’ when the LORD has not spoken.

29 The people of the land practice extortion and commit robbery. They oppress the poor and needy and mistreat the foreigner without justice.

30 I searched for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand in the gap before Me for the land, so I would not destroy it, but I found no one.

31 So I poured out My indignation on them. I consumed them with the fire of My wrath. I brought their conduct down on their own heads,” declares the Lord GOD.