Ezekiel 22
1 The word of the LORD came to me:
2 “And you, son of man, will you judge? Will you judge the city of bloodshed? Then make known to her all her abominations.
3 And say: ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: «City that sheds blood within herself, so that her time may come, and makes idols for herself, defiling herself!
4 By the blood you have shed, you have become guilty; by the idols you have made, you have defiled yourself. You have brought your days near and reached your years; therefore I have made you a reproach to the nations and a mockery to all lands.
5 Those near and far from you will mock you, city of an unclean name, full of turmoil.
6 Look: the princes of Israel, each according to his power, have been in you to shed blood.
7 In you they have despised father and mother; in your midst they have oppressed the resident foreigner; in you they have mistreated the orphan and the widow.
8 You have despised my holy things and profaned my Sabbaths.
9 In you there have been slanderers bent on shedding blood; in you they have eaten on the mountains; in your midst they have practiced indecency.
10 In you they have uncovered their father's nakedness; in you they have violated a woman during her menstrual impurity.»’”
11 “‘«One man committed an abomination with his neighbor's wife; another defiled his daughter-in-law with indecency; and another, in you, violated his sister, his father's daughter.
12 In you they have taken bribes to shed blood; you have charged interest and made a profit, and you have exploited your neighbors by oppression; and you have forgotten me, declares the Lord GOD.
13 Look: I have clapped my hands at the dishonest gain you have made and at the bloodshed within you.
14 Will your heart endure, will your hands remain strong in the days when I act against you? I, the LORD, have spoken, and I will do it.
15 I will scatter you among the nations, disperse you through the lands, and put an end to your uncleanness within you.
16 You will be profaned by your own doing in the sight of the nations, and you will know that I am the LORD.»’”
17 The word of the LORD came to me:
18 “Son of man, the house of Israel has become dross to me; all of them are bronze, tin, iron, and lead in the furnace; they have become the dross of silver.
19 Therefore, thus says the Lord GOD: ‘Because all of you have become dross, I am going to gather you inside Jerusalem.
20 As silver, bronze, iron, lead, and tin are gathered into the furnace to fan the fire over them and melt them, so I will gather you in my anger and fury, leave you there, and melt you.
21 I will gather you and blow on you with the fire of my wrath, and you will be melted within it.’”
22 “‘As silver is melted in the furnace, so you will be melted within it; and you will know that I, the LORD, have poured out my fury on you.’”
23 The word of the LORD came to me:
24 “Son of man, say to her: ‘You are a land that has not been cleansed, that has received no rain on the day of indignation.’
25 Her prophets have conspired in her midst: like a roaring lion tearing its prey, they have devoured lives, seized wealth and precious things, and multiplied the widows in her midst.
26 Her priests have violated my law and profaned my holy things; they have made no distinction between the holy and the common, have not taught the difference between the unclean and the clean, and have hidden their eyes from my Sabbaths; and I have been profaned among them.
27 Her officials in her midst are like wolves tearing their prey: they shed blood and destroy lives to make dishonest gain.
28 Her prophets have spread weak plaster for them; they see false visions and divine lies for them, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD,’ when the LORD has not spoken.
29 The people of the land have practiced oppression and robbery; they have mistreated the poor and needy and oppressed the resident foreigner unjustly.
30 I searched among them for a man who would build up a wall and stand in the breach before me on behalf of the land, so that I would not destroy it, but I found no one.
31 So I poured out my indignation on them; with the fire of my wrath I consumed them, and I brought their way down upon their own heads, declares the Lord GOD.”
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