Ezekiel 11-13

Common English Bible

11 A wind lifted me up and brought me to the east gate of the Lord’s temple. There at the entrance to the gate were twenty-five men, and I saw that two officials of the people, Jaazaniah, Azzur’s son, and Pelatiah, Benaiah’s son, were with them.

²He said to me: Human one, these men devise evil plans and give wicked advice in this city. ³They are the ones who say, “The nearest relatives aren’t building houses.^[a] The city is the cooking pot, and we are the meat.” ⁴Therefore, prophesy against them, human one, prophesy! ⁵The Lord’s spirit took hold of me, and he said to me: Say, This is what the Lord God proclaims: So you have said, house of Israel! But I know what you really mean. ⁶You continue to commit murder in this city, and you fill its streets with the slain.

⁷Therefore, the Lord God proclaims: The city is the cooking pot, and the ones you have slain in it are the meat. But you will be taken out of it. ⁸You fear the sword, so I will bring the sword against you. This is what the Lord God says! ⁹I will lead you out of the city, hand you over to foreigners, and execute judgments against you. ¹⁰You will fall by the sword! At Israel’s borders I will judge you, and you will know that I am the Lord. ¹¹The city won’t be your cooking pot, and you won’t be the meat in it. At Israel’s borders, I will judge you. ¹²You will know that I am the Lord, whose regulations you didn’t observe and whose case laws you didn’t follow. Instead, you followed the case laws of the nations around you.

¹³While I was prophesying, Benaiah’s son Pelatiah dropped dead. I fell on my face, and I wailed and said, “Oh, Lord God! Are you finishing off even the Israelites who are left?”

¹⁴The Lord’s word came to me: ¹⁵Human one, when the people living in Jerusalem said, “They’ve gone far from the Lord, and we’ve been given the land as an inheritance,” they were talking about your family, your nearest relatives, the whole house of Israel, all of it.

¹⁶Therefore, say, The Lord God proclaims: Even though I made them go far away among the nations and caused them to scatter throughout the earth, I’ve provided some sanctuary for them in the countries to which they’ve gone.

¹⁷Therefore, say, The Lord God proclaims: I will gather you from the nations, assemble you from the countries where you were scattered, and I will give you Israel’s fertile land. ¹⁸They will enter the land, and they will remove from it all its disgusting and detestable things. ¹⁹I will give them a single heart, and I will put a new spirit in them. I will remove the stony hearts from their bodies and give them hearts of flesh ²⁰so that they may follow my regulations and carefully observe my case laws. They will be my people, and I will be their God. ²¹As for those whose hearts continue to go after their disgusting and detestable things, I will hold them accountable for their ways. This is what the Lord God says!

²²Then the winged creatures raised their wings. The wheels were next to them, and the glory of Israel’s God was above them. ²³The Lord’s glory ascended from the middle of the city, and it stopped at the mountain east of the city. ²⁴And a wind lifted me up and brought me to the exiles in Chaldea, through a vision with a divine wind.^[b] When the vision I had seen left me, ²⁵I spoke to the exiles about everything the Lord had shown to me.

Baggage for exile

12 The Lord’s word came to me: ²Human one, you live in a household of rebels. They have eyes to see but they don’t see, ears to hear but they don’t hear, because they are a household of rebels. ³But you, human one, prepare a backpack for going into exile. In the daytime while they watch, go into exile; while they watch, go out from your place to another. Even though they are a household of rebels, perhaps they will understand. ⁴In the daytime while they watch, carry your backpack as if for exile. At twilight while they watch, go out like those who are led out to exile. ⁵While they watch, dig a hole through the wall and take your backpack out through it. ⁶While they watch, shoulder your backpack and carry it out in the dark. Cover your face so that you can’t see the land, because I’m making you a sign for the house of Israel. ⁷So I did as I was commanded. I carried out my backpack like an exile’s backpack in the daytime. At night I dug a hole through the wall with my hands. In the darkness, I shouldered my backpack and carried it out while they watched.

⁸In the morning, the Lord’s word came to me: ⁹Human one, has the house of Israel, that household of rebels, asked you, “What are you doing?” ¹⁰Say to them, The Lord God proclaims: This concerns the prince in Jerusalem, along with the entire house of Israel in it.^[c] ¹¹Say: I’m your sign. Just as I have done, so it will be done to them. They will go into captivity in exile. ¹²Their prince will shoulder his backpack at night and go out. They will dig through the wall to lead him out through it, and he will cover his face so that his eyes won’t see the land. ¹³But I will spread my net over him, catch him in my trap, and bring him to Babylon, to the land of the Chaldeans. He won’t see it, but he will die there. ¹⁴As for all those who are in league with him, I will scatter his helpers and all his troops to the winds and let the sword loose after them. ¹⁵They will know that I am the Lord when I disperse them among the nations and scatter them throughout the lands. ¹⁶But I will preserve a few of their number from the sword, famine, and plague, so that they may confess all their detestable practices among the nations where they go. Then they will know that I am the Lord.

¹⁷The Lord’s word came to me: ¹⁸Human one, eat your bread in trembling, and drink your water in anxious agitation. ¹⁹Say to the land’s people, The Lord God proclaims to those living in Jerusalem regarding Israel’s fertile land: As they anxiously eat up their bread and drink up their water in dismay, the land will be emptied of everything in it because of the violence of all who live there. ²⁰The inhabited cities will be laid waste, the land left desolate, and you will know that I am the Lord.

Fulfillment of prophecy

²¹The Lord’s word came to me: ²²Human one, what is this proverb of your people concerning Israel’s fertile land? They say, “The days go by, and every vision vanishes.” ²³Therefore, say to them, The Lord God proclaims: I’ll put an end to this proverb! It will never again be uttered in Israel. Tell them instead: The days are coming soon for the fulfillment of every vision. ²⁴Never again will there be any worthless vision or deceptive divination in the house of Israel. ²⁵I am the Lord! The word that I speak is the word that I will speak! It will happen and be delayed no longer. In your own days, household of rebels, I speak a word and make it happen. This is what the Lord God says!

²⁶The Lord’s word came to me: ²⁷Human one, the house of Israel is now saying, “The vision that he sees is for distant days; he prophesies about future times.” ²⁸Therefore, say to them, The Lord God proclaims: It will be delayed no longer. Every word of mine that I’ve spoken is certain, and it will happen. This is what the Lord God says.

Against the prophets

13 The Lord’s word came to me: ²Human one, prophesy to Israel’s prophets who prophesy from their own imaginations. Say, Hear the Lord’s word! ³The Lord God proclaims: Doom to the foolish prophets who follow their own whims but see nothing. ⁴Israel, your prophets have been like jackals among ruins. ⁵You 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. ⁶They 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. ⁷Didn’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?

⁸Therefore, the Lord God proclaims: Because you spoke worthless things and had false visions, I’m against you. This is what the Lord God says! ⁹I’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.

¹⁰Without 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. ¹¹Say 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. ¹²The wall will certainly fall. Won’t it be said about you, “Where is your plaster now?”

¹³Therefore, 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. ¹⁴I 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. ¹⁵I 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?”^[d] and “Where are those who plastered it, ¹⁶those prophets of Israel who prophesied to Jerusalem and envisioned peace when there was no peace?” This is what the Lord God says!

¹⁷You, human one, face the daughters of your people, those women who prophesy from their imaginations. Prophesy against them ¹⁸and 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? ¹⁹When 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.

²⁰Therefore, the Lord God proclaims: I’m against the bands that you use to trap human lives.^[e] I will tear them from your arms, and I will set free the lives that you’ve trapped like birds. ²¹I 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. ²²You 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! ²³Therefore, 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.