Ezekiel 21-24

Complete Jewish Bible

21 ^(20:45)The word of Adonai came to me: ²^(20:46)“Human being, turn your face southward, preach to the south and prophesy to the scrublands of the Negev; ³^(20:47)say to the Negev forest: ‘Hear the word of Adonai. Adonai Elohim says, “I will light a fire in you; it will devour every tree in you, green and dry alike; a blazing, unquenchable flame that will scorch every face from the Negev to the north. ⁴^(20:48)All humanity will see that I, Adonai, lit it; it will not be put out.”’” ⁵^(20:49)I said, “Oh, Adonai Elohim! They complain that I speak only in parables.”

⁶⁽¹⁾Then the word of Adonai came to me: ⁷⁽²⁾“Human being, turn your face toward Yerushalayim, preach to the sanctuaries and prophesy to the land of Isra’el; ⁸⁽³⁾tell the land of Isra’el that Adonai Elohim says, ‘I am against you. I will draw my sword from its scabbard and cut off from you the righteous and the wicked. ⁹⁽⁴⁾Since I am going to rid you of both righteous and evildoers, my sword will also go out of its scabbard against everyone, from the Negev to the north. ¹⁰⁽⁵⁾Everyone alive will know that I, Adonai, drew my sword from its scabbard; it will not be sheathed again.’

¹¹⁽⁶⁾“Therefore, human being, groan! Groan bitterly, as if your heart would break, as they watch. ¹²⁽⁷⁾Then, when they ask you, ‘Why are you groaning?’ you will answer, ‘Because of the news, because it’s coming. All hearts will melt, all hands hang limp, all spirits faint and all knees turn to water; here, it’s coming, it will happen,’ says Adonai Elohim.”

¹³⁽⁸⁾The word of Adonai came to me: ¹⁴⁽⁹⁾“Human being, prophesy. Say that Adonai Elohim says to say this:

‘A sword, a sword has been sharpened and polished,
¹⁵⁽¹⁰⁾sharpened in order to slaughter and slaughter,
polished to flash like lightning.
But how can we rejoice?
My son rejects the rod
and every other stick.
¹⁶⁽¹¹⁾The sword was given to be polished,
so that it could be wielded;
it was sharpened and polished
to be placed in the slaughterer’s hand.’

¹⁷⁽¹²⁾“Shout and wail, human being, because it’s coming upon my people, upon all the leaders of Isra’el — they will be victims of the sword along with my people. Strike your thigh in remorse! ¹⁸⁽¹³⁾For a test is coming, and what if he rejects the rod again then? He will cease to exist,” says Adonai Elohim.

¹⁹⁽¹⁴⁾“Therefore, human being, prophesy and clap your hands together. Then the sword will strike twice, three times, the sword for victims, the sword for a great slaughter, coming from every direction. ²⁰⁽¹⁵⁾So that their hearts will melt, and many will stumble and fall, I have posted the point of the sword at every one of their gates. See how it flashes, sharpened for the kill!

²¹⁽¹⁶⁾“Sword!
Slash to the right; destroy to the left,
whichever way your edge is aimed!
²²⁽¹⁷⁾I too will clap my hands together
and satisfy my fury.

I, Adonai, have spoken.”

²³⁽¹⁸⁾The word of Adonai came to me: ²⁴⁽¹⁹⁾“Now, human being, designate two roads for the sword of the king of Bavel to follow, both coming out of one country. Put up a signpost at the start of the road leading to the city. ²⁵⁽²⁰⁾Make a road, so that the sword can come to Rabbah of the people of ‘Amon and to Y’hudah in fortified Yerushalayim. ²⁶⁽²¹⁾For the king of Bavel is standing at the fork in the road, where the two roads separate, about to use divination — he is shaking the arrows, consulting the household gods, examining the liver. ²⁷⁽²²⁾Into his right hand comes the lot for Yerushalayim, to set up battering rams, give the order for slaughter, raise a shout, set battering rams against the gates, build siege ramps and erect watchtowers. ²⁸⁽²³⁾The inhabitants will believe this is a false divination because of the oaths upon oaths [that their false prophets have sworn to the contrary]. But it will cause [God] to remember their guilt and thus insure their capture.

²⁹⁽²⁴⁾“Therefore this is what Adonai Elohim says: ‘Because you have caused your guilt to be remembered, with your misdeeds revealed and the sins in all your actions evident — since you have been remembered, you will be captured.’ ³⁰⁽²⁵⁾As for you, you wicked prince of Isra’el, due to be killed, whose day has come, at the time of final punishment, ³¹⁽²⁶⁾here is what Adonai Elohim says:

‘Remove the turban, take off the crown!
Everything is being changed.
What was low will be raised up,
and what was high will be brought down.
³²⁽²⁷⁾Ruin! Ruin!
I will leave it a ruin
such as there has never been,
and it will stay that way
until the rightful ruler comes,
and I give it to him.’

³³⁽²⁸⁾“You, human being, prophesy! Say that Adonai Elohim says this about the people of ‘Amon and their insults:

‘A sword, a sword, is drawn for slaughter,
polished to the utmost, to flash like lightning —
³⁴⁽²⁹⁾while [your prophets] produce false visions for you,
while they divine lies for you —
to lay you out upon the necks
of the wicked who are to be killed,
whose day has come,
at the time of final punishment.
³⁵⁽³⁰⁾Cause it to return to its scabbard!
I will judge you in the place
where you were created,
in the land of your origin.
³⁶⁽³¹⁾I will pour my fury out on you,
breathe on you with the fire of my rage,
and hand you over to barbarous men
highly skilled in destruction.
³⁷⁽³²⁾You will be fuel for the fire,
your blood will flow through the land,
you will be remembered no more;
for I, Adonai, have spoken.’”

22 The word of Adonai came to me: ²“Now, human being, are you prepared to judge? Are you prepared to judge the city drenched in blood? Then make her realize how disgusting all her practices are! ³Say that Adonai Elohim says, ‘City that sheds blood within yourself, thus speeding your own doom, and that makes idols for yourself that defile you: ⁴you are guilty because of the blood you have shed, you are defiled by your idols that you have made. You have shortened your days, you have completed your years; therefore I have made you an object of scorn for the nations and a laughingstock for every country. ⁵Those close by and those far off will taunt you, you who have such a defiled reputation and such great disorder.

⁶“‘The leaders of Isra’el in you all use their power in order to shed blood. ⁷In you, they make light of fathers and mothers, they oppress foreigners, they wrong orphans and widows. ⁸You treat my holy things with contempt, you profane my shabbats. ⁹In you, people gossip to the point of inciting bloodshed; in you are those who go to eat on the mountains; in you, they commit lewd acts; ¹⁰in you, they commit incest; in you, they force themselves on women during their menstrual impurity. ¹¹In you, one commits an abomination with his neighbor’s wife; another commits some lewd act defiling his daughter-in-law; still another humbles his sister, his own father’s daughter. ¹²In you, people take bribes to shed blood; you demand and accept interest on loans; in greed you make profits off your neighbors by extorting them; and you have forgotten me,’ says Adonai Elohim.

¹³“‘Therefore, I am clapping my hands together because of your ill-gotten gains and the blood shed in you. ¹⁴Can your courage last, can your strength continue during the days when I deal with you? I, Adonai, have spoken it; and I will do it. ¹⁵I will scatter you among the Goyim and disperse you throughout the countries; thus I will remove your defilement from you, ¹⁶and you will cause yourselves to be profaned in full view of the Goyim. Then you will know that I am Adonai.’”

¹⁷The word of Adonai came to me: ¹⁸“Human being, the house of Isra’el has become an alloy of base metals for me; they are all copper, tin, iron and lead mixed together in the crucible, the dross left over from the silver. ¹⁹Therefore Adonai Elohim says this: ‘Because you have all become dross, I will collect all of you inside Yerushalayim. ²⁰Then, just as they collect silver, copper, iron, lead and tin into a crucible and blow fire on it to melt it down; so likewise I will collect you in my anger and fury, throw you in there, and melt you down. ²¹Yes, I will collect you and blow on you with the fire of my rage, and you will be melted down in it. ²²As silver is melted down in a crucible, so will you be melted down in [Yerushalayim]. Then you will know that it is I, Adonai, who have poured out my fury on you.’”

²³The word of Adonai came to me: ²⁴“Human being, tell her this: ‘You are a land that is neither cleansed nor rained on in the day of fury. ²⁵There is a conspiracy of prophets in it like a roaring lion tearing up the prey; they have devoured people, seized wealth and valuables, and widowed many in it. ²⁶Her cohanim have done violence to my Torah, profaned my holy things, made no difference between the holy and the common, not distinguished between unclean and clean, hidden their eyes from my shabbats, and profaned me among themselves. ²⁷Her leaders in it are like wolves tearing up the prey to shed blood and destroy people, in order to benefit unjustly. ²⁸Her prophets have “plastered” for them with whitewash, seeing false visions and divining lies for them, saying, “Thus says Adonai Elohim,” when Adonai has not spoken. ²⁹The people of the land have extorted, robbed, wronged the poor and needy and unjustly oppressed foreigners.

³⁰“‘I sought for a man among them who could build a barricade or stand in the break to oppose me on behalf of the land, so that I would not destroy it; but I found no one. ³¹Therefore I am pouring out my fury on them, consuming them with the fire of my rage, bringing their own ways on their own heads,’ says Adonai Elohim.”

23 The word of Adonai came to me: ²“Human being! There were two women, daughters of the same mother, ³who were whores in Egypt — even as young girls they were whores. There they let their breasts be caressed, and there their virgin nipples were fondled. ⁴Their names were Oholah, the older one, and Oholivah, her sister. They belonged to me, and they gave birth to sons and daughters. As for their names, Shomron is Oholah, and Yerushalayim is Oholivah.

⁵“Even when she belonged to me, Oholah prostituted herself; she lusted after her lovers from Ashur — warriors ⁶dressed in blue, governors, rulers, all of them good-looking young men riding on horseback. ⁷She gave herself as a whore to them, all of them the elite of Ashur; and she defiled herself with all the idols of everyone she lusted after. ⁸She did not give up the whoring she had begun in Egypt, where men had sex with her, fondled her virgin nipples and flooded her with their fornication.

⁹“So I handed her over to her lovers, the men of Ashur she lusted after. ¹⁰They exposed her private parts, took her sons and daughters, and put her to death with the sword; so that she became notorious among women for the judgments executed against her.

¹¹“Her sister Oholivah saw this; nevertheless she was worse than her sister in lusting and likewise in whoring. ¹²She lusted after the men from Ashur, governors and rulers, warriors dressed to perfection, skilled horsemen, all of them good-looking young men. ¹³I saw that she had defiled herself; both sisters had gone down the same path. ¹⁴She prostituted herself more than ever; because she saw wall-carvings of men, depicting the Kasdim in vermilion, ¹⁵with sashes wrapped around their waists and flowing turbans on their heads, all of them looking like military men, the very image of men of Bavel born in the land of the Kasdim. ¹⁶The moment she saw them, she lusted after them and sent messengers to them in the land of the Kasdim; ¹⁷and the men of Bavel climbed into her “love bed” and defiled her with their lust. She was defiled by them, and then filled with revulsion at them. ¹⁸Thus did she reveal her fornication and expose her private parts. When this happened, I was filled with revulsion at her, just as I had been filled with revulsion at her sister. ¹⁹Still she kept increasing her whoring, remembering the days when she was young, fornicating in the land of Egypt. ²⁰Yes, she lusted after their male prostitutes, whose members are like those of donkeys and who ejaculate like stallions. ²¹You yearned for the lewdness of your girlhood, when the Egyptians used to fondle your nipples and caress your young breasts.

²²“Therefore, Oholivah, here is what Adonai Elohim says: ‘I will raise up your lovers against you, the ones who fill you with revulsion, and bring them against you from every side — ²³the men of Bavel and all the Kasdim, P’kod, Shoa and Koa, and with them all the men of Ashur, good-looking young men, all of them governors and rulers, commanders and officers, all on horseback. ²⁴They will advance on you armed with chariots, wagons and with an army drawn from many peoples; they will array themselves against you from every side with breastplates, shields and helmets. I will give them the authority to judge, and they will judge you as they see fit. ²⁵I will direct my jealousy against you, so that they will deal with you in fury — they will cut off your nose and ears, and what is left of you will die by the sword; they will seize your sons and daughters, and those who remain of you will be consumed by the fire. ²⁶They will strip you of your clothes and seize your fine jewels. ²⁷Thus I will put an end to your lewdness and your fornication brought from the land of Egypt, so that you will no longer raise your eyes toward them or remember Egypt any more.’ ²⁸For this is what Adonai Elohim says: ‘I am about to hand you over to those you hate, to those who fill you with revulsion; ²⁹and they will deal with you in hatred, seize everything you have worked for, and leave you naked and exposed — the full shame of your whoring will be exposed, your lewdness and your fornicating. ³⁰These things will be done to you because you have gone fornicating with the Goyim, and because you are defiled with their idols. ³¹You walked down your sister’s path, so I will put her cup in your hand.’ ³²Adonai Elohim says:

‘You will drink from your sister’s cup,
a cup both deep and wide,
full right up to the brim
with scorn and derision,
³³filling you with drunkenness and sorrow,
a cup of horror and devastation —
the cup of your sister Shomron.
³⁴You will drink it, you will drain it,
and then you will gnaw it to shreds
and tear out your own breasts!
For I have spoken it’

says Adonai Elohim.

³⁵“Therefore this is what Adonai Elohim says: ‘Because you forgot me and flung me behind your back, you will bear the guilt of your lewdness and whoring.’”

³⁶Then Adonai said to me, “Human being, are you ready to judge Oholah and Oholivah? Then confront them with their disgusting practices. ³⁷For they committed adultery, and their hands are dripping with blood. They committed adultery with their idols; and they offered their sons, whom they bore to me, for these idols to eat. ³⁸Moreover, they have done this to me as well: they defiled my sanctuary on the same day, and they profaned my shabbats. ³⁹For after killing their children for their idols, they came the same day into my sanctuary to profane it; this they did in my house.

⁴⁰“Worse still, you sent a messenger summoning men to come from a distance; and they came. For them you washed yourself, painted your eyes, decked yourself with your finery, ⁴¹and sat on a sumptuous bed, with a table arranged before it, on which you put my incense and my olive oil. ⁴²The noise of a carefree crowd could be heard there; many of the men were brought in drunk from the desert. They put bracelets on their hands and magnificent crowns on their heads. ⁴³I thought, ‘That woman! She’s worn out from all her adulteries, but they still go to fornicate with her!’ ⁴⁴For every one went in to her; just as men go in to a prostitute, so they went in to Oholah and Oholivah, those debauched women. ⁴⁵Nevertheless, there are righteous men who will judge them as adulterers and murderers are supposed to be judged; because they are adulterers, and blood is dripping from their hands. ⁴⁶For here is what Adonai Elohim says:

‘Summon an assembly to punish them;
give them over to terror and plunder.
⁴⁷Let the assembly stone them to death,
dispatch them with their swords,
kill their sons and daughters
and burn their houses to the ground.

⁴⁸“‘Thus I will put an end to lewdness in the land, so that all women may be taught not to imitate your lewdness. ⁴⁹You will receive the punishment your lewdness deserves, and you will pay the penalty for your idolatries. Then you will know that I am Adonai Elohim.’”

24 The word of Adonai came to me on the tenth day of the tenth month of the ninth year: ²“Human being, write down today’s date; because on this very day the king of Bavel has begun his attack on Yerushalayim. ³And tell this allegory to these rebels; say that Adonai Elohim says:

‘Put a pot on the fire;
put it there, pour water in it;
⁴Put in it pieces of meat,
all the best parts — the thigh, the shoulder;
fill it with the choicest cuts,
⁵taken from the pick of the flock,
and pile the bones underneath.
Bring it to a rolling boil,
till it’s all cooked, even the bones.’

⁶“Therefore Adonai Elohim says:

‘Woe to the city drenched with blood,
to the pot whose scum is in it,
and whose scum has not been removed.
Empty it piece by piece,
without troubling to draw lots.
⁷For her blood is still in her;
she poured it on bare rock;
she did not pour it on the ground,
to cover it with dust.
⁸So in order to rouse my fury
and excite my vengeance,
I have fixed her blood there on the bare rock,
where it will not be covered.’

⁹“Therefore Adonai Elohim says this:

‘Woe to the city drenched with blood!
I myself will make a huge bonfire,
¹⁰heap on the wood, light it,
cook the meat and add the spices —
the bones can just be burned.
¹¹Put the empty pot on the coals,
heat it till its copper bottom glows,
till its impurity melts inside it,
and its scum is burned away.
¹²But the effort is in vain:
its layers of scum will not leave it;
so into the fire with its scum!
¹³Because of your filthy lewdness,
because you refused to be purified
when I wanted to purify you;
now you will not be purified from your filth
until I have satisfied my fury on you.

¹⁴“‘I, Adonai, have spoken it, and it will happen. I will do it, I will not turn back, I will not refrain or spare or relent. They will judge you as your ways and deeds deserve,’ says Adonai Elohim.”

¹⁵The word of Adonai came to me: ¹⁶“Human being, with a single blow I am about to deprive you of the delight of your eyes. But you are not to lament, weep or let your tears run down. ¹⁷Sigh silently, don’t observe mourning for the dead, bind your turban on your head, put your sandals on your feet, don’t cover your upper lip, and don’t eat the food people prepare for mourners.” ¹⁸I spoke to the people in the morning, and that evening my wife died. So I did the following morning as I had been ordered. ¹⁹The people asked me, “Won’t you tell us what these actions of yours mean for us?” ²⁰I answered them, “The word of Adonai came to me, telling me ²¹to speak to the house of Isra’el and say that this is what Adonai Elohim says: ‘I am about to profane my sanctuary, the pride of your strength, the delight of your eyes and your heart’s desire. Your sons and daughters whom you have left behind will die by the sword. ²²But you are to do as I have done — not cover your upper lips, not eat the food people prepare for mourners, ²³put your turbans on your heads and your sandals on your feet, and neither observe mourning nor cry. Rather, because of your crimes you will pine away and groan to one another. ²⁴Thus Yechezk’el will be a sign for you; you will do just what he has done; and when this happens, you will know that I am Adonai Elohim.’

²⁵“As for you, human being, on the day when I take away from them their stronghold, their crowning joy, the delight of their eyes, their heart’s desire, their sons and daughters — ²⁶on that day a fugitive will come and bring you the news; ²⁷and on that day your mouth will be opened for you to speak to the survivor and no longer be silent. In this way you will be a sign to them, and they will know that I am Adonai.”