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“Now you, human being, take a sharp sword; and use it like a barber’s razor to shave your head and beard. Then weigh the hair on a balance-scale, and divide it up. A third of it you are to burn in the city when the days of the siege are over. Take another third, and hit it with your sword all around the city. Scatter the last third to the wind, and I will pursue them with drawn sword. Also take a few hairs and tie them up in the folds of your garment. Again, of these take some; throw them in the fire, and burn them up; from there a fire will come out against the entire house of Isra’el.

“Here is what Adonai Elohim, says:

‘This is Yerushalayim!
I have placed her in the middle of the nations;
countries can be found all around her.
But she has rebelled against my rulings
and committed wickedness more than the nations,
against my laws more than the countries around her;
because they have rejected my rulings
and not lived according to my laws.’

“Therefore here is what Adonai Elohim, says: ‘Because you have outdone the nations around you by not living according to my laws or following my rulings or even following the rules of the nations around you,’ therefore here is what Adonai Elohim, says: ‘I too am against you, yes, I; and I will execute judgments among you while all the nations look on. Moreover, because of all your disgusting practices, I will do things to you that I have never done before; and I will never do such things again. 10 Parents among you will eat their children, and children will eat their parents! I will execute judgments among you and scatter to all the winds those of you who remain. 11 For, as I live,’ says Adonai Elohim, ‘because you defiled my sanctuary with all your detestable things and disgusting practices, therefore I swear that I will cut you off — my eye will not spare, I will have no pity. 12 A third of you will die from plague or be consumed by famine inside [Yerushalayim]; a third will fall by the sword all around [Yerushalayim]; and a third I will scatter to all the winds and pursue with the sword.’ 13 In this way my anger will spend itself, my fury against them will die down, and I will be satisfied. Then, when I have spent my fury on them, they will know that I, Adonai, have spoken out of my zeal. 14 ‘I will make you a ruin and an object of reproach among the nations around you, in the sight of all passing by. 15 When I execute judgments and furious punishments among you in anger and fury, [Yerushalayim] will be an object of reproach, derision and horror, and a lesson to warn the nations around you. I, Adonai, have announced it. 16 I will send upon them the deadly, destructive arrows of famine, which I will send to destroy you. I will make the famine worse for you by cutting off your food supply. 17 Yes, I will send famine and savage beasts upon you to leave you without children; plague and bloodshed will sweep through you; and I will bring the sword upon you. I, Adonai, have spoken it.’”

The word of Adonai came to me: “Human being, face toward the mountains of Isra’el, and prophesy against them: ‘Mountains of Isra’el, hear the word of Adonai Elohim: here is what Adonai Elohim says about the mountains, hills, ravines and valleys: “I myself will bring a sword against you and destroy your high places. Your altars will be wrecked and your pillars for sun-worship broken, and I will throw down your slain ones in front of your idols. I will lay the corpses of the people of Isra’el in front of their idols and scatter your bones all around your altars. Everywhere you live, the cities will be destroyed and the high places wrecked; so that your altars can be destroyed and wrecked, your idols broken and abolished, your pillars for sun-worship cut down and the things you have made wiped out. The slain will fall among you; then you will know that I am Adonai.

“‘“Nevertheless, I will leave a remnant, some who will escape the sword among the nations, when you have been scattered throughout the countries. Those of you who escape will remember me among the nations where they have been exiled. How broken I have been over their whoring hearts that left me, and over their eyes that went whoring after their idols! They are going to loathe themselves for all the evils they committed in their disgusting practices. 10 Then they will know that I am Adonai; it isn’t for nothing that I said I would bring this calamity upon them.”’

11 “Here is what Adonai Elohim says: ‘Strike with your hand, and stamp with your foot, and bemoan all the terrible disgusting practices of the house of Isra’el. For they will fall by sword, famine and plague. 12 Those far away will die from the plague, those nearby will fall by the sword, and whoever stays and is besieged will die from famine. This is how I will spend my fury on them. 13 You will know that I am Adonai when their slain men are lying among their idols around their altars on every high hill, on every mountaintop, under every green tree, under every thick pistachio tree, wherever they offered sweet-smelling sacrifices to appease their idols. 14 I will stretch out my hand over them and make the land wherever they live into a desolate waste worse than the Divlah Desert. Then they will know that I am Adonai.’”

The word of Adonai came to me: “As for you, human being, here is what Adonai Elohim says about the land of Isra’el:

‘The end! The end is coming
to the four corners of the land!
Now the end is upon you!
I will send my anger upon you,
I will judge you according to your ways.
I will bring on you all your disgusting practices.
My eye will not spare you, I will have no pity,
but I will bring your ways upon you,
and your disgusting practices will be done among you.
Then you will know that I am Adonai.’

“Here is what Adonai Elohim says:

‘Disaster, unique disaster — here it comes!
The end is coming! The end is coming!
It rouses itself against you — here it comes!
Doom has come to you,
you who live in the land!
The time has come, the day is near,
for tumult, not joyful shouts on the mountains.
Now, soon, I will pour out my fury on you,
I will spend my anger on you;
I will judge you according to your ways
I will bring on you all your disgusting practices.
My eye will not spare you, I will have no pity;
but will bring upon you what your ways deserve;
and your disgusting practices will be among you.
Then you will know it is I, Adonai, striking you.

10 “‘Here is the day! Here it comes!
Doom has gone out, the rod has blossomed,
arrogance has budded. 11 Violence has grown
into a rod of wickedness.
Nothing is left of them,
nothing of their crowds,
nothing of their wealth —
there is nothing of importance in them.
12 The time has come, the day has arrived;
let neither buyer rejoice nor seller regret;
for wrath is coming to all her many people.
13 For the seller will not return to what he sold,
even if he is still alive;
for though the vision was brought to all her many people,
nobody repented.
Each kept living his own wicked life;
they weren’t strong enough [to repent].
14 The shofar has sounded, everything is ready,
but no one goes out to the battle,
for my wrath is coming to all her many people.

15 “‘Outside is the sword, inside plague and famine.
Those in the country will die by the sword.
And as for those in the city,
plague and famine will eat them up.
16 But if any of them manage to escape,
they will head for the mountains
like doves from the valleys,
all of them moaning, each for his sin.
17 All hands will droop, all knees turn to water.
18 They will put on sackcloth;
horror will cover them;
every face will be ashamed,
every head shaved bald.
19 They will throw their silver into the streets;
their gold will be like something unclean.
On the day of Adonai’s wrath their silver and gold
won’t be able to rescue them.
These things won’t satisfy their hunger,
these things won’t fill their stomachs,
because these are what caused them to sin.
20 From their beautiful jewellery,
in which they took such pride,
they made their abominable idols
and their other detestable things;
therefore, for them I have caused it
to be like something unclean.
21 I will hand it over to foreigners as booty,
to the wicked of the earth as spoil,
and they will profane it.
22 I will turn my face away from them;
then [Bavel] will profane my secret place,
robbers will enter and profane it.

23 “‘Forge a chain,
for the land is full of capital crimes
and the city full of violence.
24 Therefore I will bring the worst of the nations
to take possession of their homes;
I will end the arrogance of the strong;
and their holy places will be profaned.
25 When horror comes, they will seek peace;
but there will be none.
26 Calamity will follow calamity,
rumor will follow rumor;
they will seek a vision from the prophet,
but Torah will perish from the cohen
and advice from the leaders.
27 The king will go into mourning,
the prince will be clothed with fright,
and the hands of the people of the land
will tremble in terror.
I will treat them as their way of life deserves
and judge them as they have judged others.
Then they will know
that I am Adonai.’”

On the fifth day of the sixth month of the sixth year, as I was sitting in my house, and the leaders of Y’hudah were sitting there with me, the hand of Adonai Elohim fell on me. I looked and saw what seemed like a man made of fire. From what appeared to be his waist downward was fire, and from his waist upward was what appeared to be a gleaming amber-colored brilliance. The form of a hand was put out, which took me by a lock of my hair; and a spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven and brought me, in these visions from God, to Yerushalayim, to the entrance of the inner [courtyard] gate that faces north. There stood the idol that [arouses God’s] jealousy and provokes [his] zealous indignation. There before me was the glory of the God of Isra’el, as in the vision I had seen in the valley.

Then he said to me, “Human being, raise your eyes toward the north.” I raised my eyes toward the north and saw, north of the Altar Gate, this image that [arouses God’s] jealousy in the entryway. He asked me, “Human being, do you see what they are doing, the horribly disgusting practices that the house of Isra’el is committing here, so that I must distance myself from my own sanctuary? But you will see even worse abominations.”

He brought me to the entrance of the courtyard; and when I looked, I saw a hole in the wall. He said to me, “Human being, dig into the wall.” After digging in the wall, I saw a door. “Go in,” he said, “and see the wicked practices they are engaged in here.” 10 So I went in and looked, and there, carved on the walls all around, were every kind of reptile and repulsive animal, along with all the idols of the house of Isra’el. 11 Standing in front of them were seventy of the leading men of the house of Isra’el — in the center stood Ya’azanyahu the son of Shafan. Each man had his incense-burner in his hand, and a thick cloud of incense went up. 12 Then he said to me, “Human being, did you see what the leaders of the house of Isra’el are doing in the dark, each one in the room of his own carved image, because they say, ‘Adonai can’t see us; Adonai has left the land.’?” 13 He also said to me, “You will see even worse abominations that they are doing.”

14 He brought me to the entrance of the north gate to Adonai’s house; and there before me were women weeping for Tammuz. 15 “Human being,” he asked me, “have you seen this? You will see practices even more disgusting than these.” 16 He brought me into the inner courtyard of Adonai’s house; and there, at the entrance to the temple of Adonai, between the porch and the altar, were about twenty-five men with their backs toward the temple of Adonai and their faces toward the east; and they were worshipping the sun toward the east. 17 He asked me, “Human being, have you seen this? Does the house of Y’hudah consider it a casual matter that they commit the disgusting practices they are committing here, thus filling the land with violence, provoking me still more? Look! They are even putting the branch to their nose! 18 Therefore I will act in fury, my eye will not spare, I will have no pity. Even if they cry loudly right in my ears, I will not listen to them.”

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