Ezekiel 13-16

Common English Bible

Against the prophets

13 The Lord’s word came to me: ² Human one, prophesy to Israel’s prophets who prophesy from their own imaginations. Say, Hear the Lord’s word! ³ The Lord God proclaims: Doom to the foolish prophets who follow their own whims but see nothing. ⁴ Israel, your prophets have been like jackals among ruins. ⁵ You haven’t gone up into the breach or reinforced the wall of the house of Israel, so that it might withstand the battle on the day of the Lord. ⁶ They saw worthless visions and performed deceptive divinations. Even though the Lord didn’t send them, they said, “This is what the Lord says” and expected their word to stand. ⁷ Didn’t you see worthless visions? And didn’t you report deceptive divinations and say, “This is what the Lord says,” even though I didn’t speak?

⁸ Therefore, the Lord God proclaims: Because you spoke worthless things and had false visions, I’m against you. This is what the Lord God says! ⁹ I’ll wield my power against the prophets, those seers of nothingness and diviners of lies. They won’t be included in my people’s council, or recorded in the house of Israel’s official records, or enter Israel’s fertile land. Then you will know that I am the Lord.

¹⁰ Without a doubt, they led my people astray, saying “Peace” when there was no peace, and “He is building a wall” when they were the ones who laid on the plaster. ¹¹ Say to those who laid on the plaster that it will fall. When the flooding rains appear and I send hailstones, it will collapse, and the storm winds will break it apart. ¹² The wall will certainly fall. Won’t it be said about you, “Where is your plaster now?”

¹³ Therefore, the Lord God proclaims: In my fury I will make a storm wind break out, and in my anger there will be flooding rains and hailstones in consuming wrath. ¹⁴ I will tear down the wall on which you laid plaster. I will raze it to the ground and expose its foundation. When it falls, you will be destroyed with it, and you will know that I am the Lord. ¹⁵ I will exhaust my fury on the wall and on those who laid plaster on it. Then I will say to you, “Where is the wall?”^[a] and “Where are those who plastered it, ¹⁶ those prophets of Israel who prophesied to Jerusalem and envisioned peace when there was no peace?” This is what the Lord God says!

¹⁷ You, human one, face the daughters of your people, those women who prophesy from their imaginations. Prophesy against them ¹⁸ and say, The Lord God proclaims: Doom to the women who sew bands on every wrist and make veils for heads of all sizes to entrap human lives. Will you ensnare my people’s lives but preserve your own? ¹⁹ When you degrade me to my people for handfuls of barley and bread crumbs, you mislead my gullible people, and you bring about the death of those who shouldn’t die and keep alive those who shouldn’t live.

²⁰ Therefore, the Lord God proclaims: I’m against the bands that you use to trap human lives.^[b] I will tear them from your arms, and I will set free the lives that you’ve trapped like birds. ²¹ I will tear off your veils and snatch my people out of your clutches. They will be prey in your clutches no longer. Then you will know that I am the Lord. ²² You hurt the righteous with slander—I didn’t wound them!—and you strengthened the hands of the wicked so that they survived without changing their evil ways! ²³ Therefore, you will no longer see empty visions or perform divinations. I will rescue my people from your clutches, and you will know that I am the Lord.

False devotion

14 When some of the elders of the house of Israel came to sit in my presence, ² the Lord’s word came to me: ³ Human one, these men decide on their own to set up their idols, so the cause of their downfall is right in front of them. Why should I allow them to ask me anything? ⁴ Therefore, speak to them and tell them, The Lord God proclaims: If anyone from the house of Israel decides on his own to set up his idols and puts the cause of his downfall right in front of him, but then comes to the prophet, I, the Lord, will require an answer from him through his many idols. ⁵ So I’ll seize the hearts of the house of Israel, whose idols have made them all strangers to me.

⁶ Therefore, say to the house of Israel, The Lord God proclaims: Come back! Turn away from your idols and from all your detestable practices. Turn away! ⁷ Or anyone of the house of Israel or any immigrant in Israel who becomes estranged from me by deciding on their own to set up their idols and puts the cause of their downfall right in front of them, but then comes to the prophet to ask me something through him, I, the Lord, will require an answer. ⁸ I will confront that one. I will set them up as a sign and an object lesson, and I will cut them off from my people. Then you will know that I am the Lord.

⁹ As for the prophet who was seduced into speaking a word, even though it was I, the Lord, who seduced that prophet, I will use my power against him and cut him off completely from my people Israel. ¹⁰ The prophet and the inquirer alike will bear their guilt, ¹¹ so that the house of Israel won’t stray away from me again or make themselves impure with any of their sins. They will be my people, and I will be their God. This is what the Lord God says!

Failed request

¹² The Lord’s word came to me: ¹³ Human one, suppose a land sins against me by acting faithlessly, so that I use my power against it, break off its food supply, let famine run rampant, and eliminate both humans and animals. ¹⁴ If these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, lived there, their lives alone would be saved because they were righteous. This is what the Lord God says. ¹⁵ Or suppose I allow wild animals to roam through the land, and it becomes so wild that no one can live there or even travel through it on account of the wild animals. ¹⁶ If these three men lived there, as surely as I live, proclaims the Lord God, they wouldn’t be able to rescue even their sons or daughters. They alone would be rescued, but the land would become a ruin. ¹⁷ Or suppose I bring a sword against that land and command the sword to pass through and eliminate both humans and animals. ¹⁸ If these three men lived there, as surely as I live, proclaims the Lord God, they wouldn’t be able to rescue even their sons or daughters. They alone would be rescued. ¹⁹ Or suppose I send a plague against that land and pour out my fury on it. With great bloodshed I would eliminate both humans and animals. ²⁰ If Noah, Daniel, and Job lived there, as surely as I live, proclaims the Lord God, they wouldn’t be able to rescue either sons or daughters. But they would save their lives because they were righteous.

²¹ The Lord God proclaims: How much more if I send all four of these terrible acts of judgment—sword, famine, wild animals, and plague—against Jerusalem, to eliminate both humans and animals? ²² Yet a few survivors will be left. Sons and daughters will be brought out to you. When you see their ways and their deeds, you will be consoled for the evil that I inflicted on Jerusalem, for all that I brought against it. ²³ Seeing their ways and their deeds will bring you some consolation, because then you will understand what I’ve done, and that I didn’t do any of these things without cause. This is what the Lord God says.

The vine’s wood

15 The Lord’s word came to me: ² Human one, how is the vine’s wood better than the wood of all the trees in the forest? ³ Can you make anything useful from its wood? Can you make a peg from it and hang objects on it? ⁴ If not, can it be used as firewood? Fire would consume its two ends, but its middle part would only get charred. So is it useful for anything? ⁵ Look, even when it was whole, it was worthless. Now that the fire has consumed it, and it is charred, it’s even more useless.

⁶ Therefore, the Lord God proclaims: Of all the trees in the forest, I have decreed that the vine’s wood is destined to be consumed by fire. So also have I decreed for those who live in Jerusalem, ⁷ and I have confronted them. They may try to go out from the fire, but the fire will consume them. You will know that I am the Lord, because I confronted them. ⁸ I will turn the land into a ruin because they acted faithlessly, proclaims the Lord God.

Jerusalem’s unfaithfulness

16 The Lord’s word came to me: ² Human one, show Jerusalem her detestable practices. ³ Say, The Lord God proclaims to Jerusalem: By origin and birth you are from the land of Canaan. Your father was an Amorite, your mother a Hittite. ⁴ This is how you were treated on the day you were born: Your umbilical cord wasn’t cut, you weren’t washed clean with water or rubbed with salt, and you weren’t wrapped in blankets. ⁵ No one took pity or cared enough to do any of these things for you. You were despised on the day of your birth and thrown out on the open field. ⁶ When I happened to come by, I saw you flailing about in your blood. I said to you while you were still bloody, “Live!” ⁷ I helped you to flourish like a young plant in the field, and you grew tall and became wonderfully endowed. Your breasts were firm, your hair beautifully thick. And you were completely naked.

⁸ When I passed by you, I realized that you were ready for love. So I spread my cloak over you and covered your nakedness. I made a solemn promise and entered into a covenant with you, and you became mine. This is what the Lord God says. ⁹ Then I washed you with water, rinsed off your blood, and poured oil on you. ¹⁰ I clothed you with colorful garments, put fine sandals on you, wrapped your head in linen, and covered you with jewels. ¹¹ I adorned you with fine jewelry, and put bracelets on your wrists and a necklace around your neck. ¹² I put a ring in your nose, earrings in your ears, and a beautiful crown on your head. ¹³ I adorned you with gold and silver, and your garments were made of the finest linen and brocade. You ate the finest flour, honey, and oil. You became very beautiful, fit for royalty. ¹⁴ Among the nations you were famous for your beauty. It was perfect because of the splendor that I had given you. This is what the Lord God says.

¹⁵ But you trusted in your beauty and traded on your fame. At every opportunity, you seduced all who came by. ¹⁶ You took some of your clothing to make colorful shrines and prostituted yourself in them. ¹⁷ You took the beautiful gold and silver jewelry that I had given to you, and you made male images for yourself and prostituted yourself with them. ¹⁸ You took your fine garments and clothed them. You set my oil and incense before them. ¹⁹ You set my food that I had given you to eat—fine wheat, oil, and honey—before them as a pleasing aroma. This is what the Lord God says. ²⁰ You took your sons and daughters, which you had borne to me, and you sacrificed these to them so they could consume them. Was this promiscuity of yours a small thing? ²¹ You slaughtered my sons and placed them in the fire for them! ²² In all your detestable practices and promiscuities, you didn’t remember the days of your infancy when you lay completely naked, flailing about in your blood.

²³ After all your wickedness—doom, doom to you, proclaims the Lord God— ²⁴ you built a pavilion for yourself and set up platforms in every square. ²⁵ At every crossroad you built your platform and degraded your beauty by spreading your legs to all comers. And so you encouraged even more promiscuity. ²⁶ You prostituted yourself with the Egyptians, your neighbors with the large sexual organs, and as you added to your seductions, you provoked me to anger. ²⁷ So I used my power against you, cut off your allowance, and gave you up to the passions of the Philistine women who had been confounded by your infamous ways and had rejected you. ²⁸ Still not satisfied, you prostituted yourself to the Assyrians, but they weren’t enough for you either. ²⁹ So you prostituted yourself with the Babylonians, the land of traders, but again you weren’t satisfied. ³⁰ How sick was your heart—the Lord God proclaims—that you could do all these things, the deeds of a hardened prostitute. ³¹ But you weren’t like an ordinary prostitute! When you built your pavilion at the head of every street and made your platform in every square, you refused to be paid. ³² You are like an adulterous wife: you take in strangers instead of your husband. ³³ Ordinary prostitutes are given gifts, but you gave your gifts to all your lovers. From every direction you even bribed them to come to you for your sexual favors. ³⁴ As a prostitute, you were more perverse than other women. No one approached you for sexual favors, but you yourself gave gifts instead of receiving them. You are perversion itself! ³⁵ Therefore, you prostitute, hear the Lord’s word!

³⁶ The Lord God proclaims: You were in a constant state of arousal^[c] and exposed yourself when you acted like a prostitute with your lovers and with the idols to which you gave your children’s blood. ³⁷ Therefore, I will now gather all of your lovers whom you pleased, the ones you loved and the ones you rejected. I will gather them against you from all around, and I will expose you to them. They will see it all. ³⁸ I will convict you of adultery and murder, and I will hand you over in bloody fury and zeal. ³⁹ I will hand you over to them, and they will tear down your pavilion and destroy your platforms. They will strip you of your garments, take your beautiful jewels, and they will leave you completely naked. ⁴⁰ They will bring an army against you, pelt you with stones, and slaughter you with their swords. ⁴¹ They will burn down your houses and execute judgments against you in the sight of many women. I will bring an end to your prostitution; indeed, you will never again give payment. ⁴² When I’ve satisfied my anger, and my rage has turned away from you, I will be calm and no longer angry. ⁴³ Because you didn’t remember your youthful days, and infuriated me with all these things, I will hold you accountable for what you’ve done. This is what the Lord God says.

Have you not added bad reputation to all your detestable acts? ⁴⁴ Now everyone who speaks in proverbs will say this about you: “Like mother, like daughter.” ⁴⁵ You are your mother’s daughter! She loathed her husband and also her children. You are just like your sisters too! They also loathed their husbands and children. Your mother was a Hittite, and your father was an Amorite. ⁴⁶ Your older sister is Samaria, who lives with her daughters in the north. Your younger sister is Sodom, who lives with her daughters in the south. ⁴⁷ You didn’t follow in their ways or engage in their detestable practices in any small way. You were far more destructive. ⁴⁸ As surely as I live, says the Lord God, not even your sister Sodom and her daughters did what you and your daughters have done! ⁴⁹ This is the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were proud, had plenty to eat, and enjoyed peace and prosperity; but she didn’t help the poor and the needy. ⁵⁰ They became haughty and did detestable things in front of me, and I turned away from them as soon as I saw it.

⁵¹ Samaria didn’t sin even half as much as you did. You’ve so outstripped her in multiplying your detestable practices, with all the detestable things you’ve done, that you’ve even made your sisters seem innocent. ⁵² Bear your disgrace, which has actually improved your sisters’ position. Because your sins and detestable acts were greater than theirs, they are now more righteous than you. Be ashamed, and bear the disgrace of making your sisters righteous! ⁵³ I will improve the circumstances of Sodom and her daughters and the circumstances of Samaria and her daughters. And what’s left of your fortune will go to them, ⁵⁴ so that you will bear your disgrace and be humiliated by all that you’ve done to make them feel better. ⁵⁵ Then your sister Sodom and her daughters will return to their former state, and your sister Samaria and her daughters will return to their former state. You and your daughters will return to your former state, ⁵⁶ but you will no longer talk about your sister Sodom as in your haughty days ⁵⁷ before your wickedness was exposed. You are now the reproach of all the daughters of Edom^[d] and all those around her, including the daughters of the Philistines. They mock you on every side. ⁵⁸ You alone must bear your bad reputation and your detestable ways. This is what the Lord says.

⁵⁹ The Lord God proclaims: I will do to you just as you have done, despising solemn pledges and breaking covenants. ⁶⁰ Nevertheless, I will remember my covenant with you when you were young, and I will establish an everlasting covenant with you. ⁶¹ And you will remember your ways and be ashamed, when in spite of your covenant I^[e] take your big sisters and little sisters from you and give them back to you as daughters. ⁶² I myself will establish my covenant with you, and you will know that I am the Lord. ⁶³ Then you will remember and be ashamed, and you won’t even open your mouth because of your shame, after I’ve forgiven you for all that you’ve done. This is what the Lord God says.