Ezekiel 22

VIN^{(i) 1} The word of the LORD came to me saying, ² You, son of man, will you judge, will you judge the city of blood? So now cause her to know all her abominations. ³ You shall say, 'The Sovereign LORD says: “A city that sheds blood within herself, that her time may come, and that makes idols against herself to defile her! ⁴ You have become guilty in your blood that you have shed, and are defiled in your idols which you have made! You have caused your days to draw near, and have come even to your years. Therefore I have made you a reproach to the nations, and a mocking to all the countries. ⁵ Those who are near, and those who are far from you, will mock you, you infamous one, full of tumult. ⁶ Behold, the princes of Israel, each one in you used his power to shed blood. ⁷ In you have they treated father and mother with contempt. Among you they have oppressed the foreigner. In you they have wronged the fatherless and the widow. ⁸ You have despised my holy things, and have profaned my Sabbaths. ⁹ In you are men of slander to shed blood; and in you they eat on the mountains; in your midst they do unchaste acts. 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. ¹¹ And one has committed abomination with his neighbor's wife; and another has lewdly defiled his daughter-in-law; and another in you has violated his sister, his father's daughter. ¹² They take a bribe among you in order to shed blood; and you take usury, and you make gain from your neighbors by extortion, and so you have forgotten me, declares the Sovereign LORD. ¹³ And behold, I have struck My palm against your unjust gain which you have made, and at your blood which has been in your midst. ¹⁴ Can your heart endure, or can your hands be strong, in the days that I will deal with you? I, the LORD, have spoken it and will do it. ¹⁵ And I will disperse thee in the nations, and will scatter thee among the countries, and I will put an end to thy uncleanness in thee. ¹⁶ And you will be profaned in you in the eyes of the nations. And you shall know that I am the LORD. ¹⁷ And 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 the copper, tin, iron and lead in the furnace. They are the dross of silver. ¹⁹ Therefore thus says the Sovereign LORD: Because you have all become dross, therefore, behold, I will gather you into the midst of Jerusalem. ²⁰ As they gather silver, bronze, iron, lead, and tin into the middle of the furnace, to blow the fire on it, to melt it; so I will gather you in my anger and in my wrath, and I will lay you there, and melt you. ²¹ Yes, I will gather you, and blow on you with the fire of my wrath, and you shall be melted in its midst. ²² '"As silver is melted in the furnace, you will be melted in the midst of her. You will know that I, the LORD, have poured out my wrath on you."' ²³ And the word of the LORD came to me, saying, ²⁴ Son of man, say to her: Thou art a land that is unclean, and not rained upon in the day of wrath. ²⁵ There is a conspiracy of her prophets within it, like a roaring lion ravening the prey. They have devoured souls. They take treasure and precious things. They have made many widows within it. ²⁶ her priests do violence to my law, and profane my holy things: they put no difference between the holy and profane, neither do they make known [the difference] between the unclean and the clean, and they hide their eyes from my sabbaths, and I am profaned among them. ²⁷ Her rulers in her midst are like wolves tearing the prey, to shed blood and to destroy souls, to get unjust gain. ²⁸ '"Her prophets have smeared whitewash for them. They see false visions and divine lies for them. They say: "This is what the Sovereign LORD says, when the LORD has not spoken." ²⁹ The people in the land useth wicked extortion and robbery. They vex the poor and needy and oppress the stranger against right. ³⁰ '"I searched for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand in the gap before me on behalf of the land, so that I would not destroy it; but I found no one. ³¹ I will pour out my wrath upon them; I consumed them in the fire of mine anger: I gave their way upon their head, says the Sovereign LORD.