Ezekiel 22

1THEN a word of the Lord came to me, saying,

2Now, son of man, if thou will judge this bloody city, then point out to it all its iniquities

3and thou shalt say, Thus saith the Lord God: O city, which sheddest blood in the midst of thee to cause thy time to come; and which makest idols against thyself to pollute thyself.

4In the blood which thou hast shed, thou art fallen; and with thine idols which thou hast made, thou art defiled; and thou hast caused thy days to draw near, and hast brought on the term of thy years; therefore I have made thee a scoff to the nations, and a mocking stock to all the countries-

5to those near and to those far from thee; and they shall insult thee, thou impure, infamous and abandoned city.

6Behold in thee the princes of the house of Israel banded themselves, each one with his relations, that they might shed blood.

7In thee they reviled father and mother; and in thee practised injustice against the stranger. They oppressed the widow and orphan;

8and in thee they despised My holy things and profaned My sabbaths.

9In thee men became robbers, that in thee they might shed blood. And they ate upon the mountains near thee; and in the midst of thee committed abominable things.

10In thee they uncovered the nakedness of a father; and in thee humbled a woman in a state of menstruation.

11In tkee one debauched his neighbour’s wife; another wantonly defiled his daughter in law; and another humbled his sister, his father’s daughter.

12In thee they received bribes to shed blood. In thee they took interest and usury, and thou hast completed thy wickedness by oppression. And Me thou hast forgotten, saith the Lord.

13Now when I lay My hand on thee to destroy thee, for what thou hast done and for the blood which hath been shed in thee, -

14will thy heart endure? Will thy hands be strong in the day I deal with thee? I the Lord have spoken, and I will perform.

15I will scatter thee among the nations and disperse thee through the countries, and when thine impurity shall be consumed out of thee,

16I will take possession of thee in the sight of all the nations; and you shall know that I am the Lord.

18son of man, Behold to Me the house of Israel are all become mixed with brass and iron and tin and lead with a mixture of silver.

19Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord God: Because you are become one mass, I will therefore gather you into the midst of Jerusalem:

20as silver and brass and iron and tin and lead are put in a furnace, that the fire may be blown on it and that it may be melted; so will I take you in My wrath and gather you and melt you.

21And I will blow upon you with the fire of My wrath and you shall be melted in the midst of it.

22As silver is melted in the midst of a furnace; so shall you be melted in the midst of it; and you shall know that I the Lord have poured out My wrath on you.

23Again a word ot the Lord came to me, saying:

24Son of man, say to this land, Thou art a land which was not watered with showers; nor did rain fall upon thee in the day of indignation.

25Its princes in the midst of it were like roaring lions, ravening prey, devouring souls by oppression, yet receiving honours; and thy widows were multiplied in the midst of thee.

26Its priests also despised My law and profaned My holy things; between what was holy and what was profane they made no difference, nor did they distinguish between the unclean and the clean. And from My sabbaths they hid their eyes and I was profaned in the midst of them.

27Its chiefs in the midst of it were like wolves, ravening prey, to the shedding of innocent blood, that they may glut their greediness.

28They shall fall together with its prophets who anointed them, seeing vanities, prophesying lies, saying, Thus saith the Lord, though the Lord did not speak,

29crushing by usurped authority the people of the land, and ravening prey, oppressing the poor and needy, and paying no regard to strangers to the administration of justice.

30Though I sought among them for a man of integrity and for one who stood uprightly before Me in the time of indignation that I might not utterly destroy it, yet I found none:

31therefore I poured out My wrath upon it, to destroy it utterly with the fire of Mine indignation. Their ways I have requited on their heads, saith the Lord God