Ezekiel 22:1-19

English Standard Version

Israel's Shedding of Blood

22 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ² “And you, ^(A)son of man, ^(B)will you judge, will you judge ^(C)the bloody city? ^(D)Then declare to her all her abominations. ³ You shall say, Thus says the Lord God: A city that sheds blood in her midst, so that ^(E)her time may come, and that makes idols to defile herself! ⁴ You have become guilty ^(F)by the blood that you have shed, and defiled by the idols that you have made, and you have brought ^(G)your days near, the appointed time of^[a] your years has come. ^(H)Therefore I have made you a reproach to the nations, and a mockery to all the countries. ⁵ Those who are near and those who are far from you will mock you; ^(I)your name is defiled; ^(J)you are full of tumult.

⁶ “Behold, ^(K)the princes of Israel in you, every one according to his power, have been bent on shedding blood. ⁷ Father and mother ^(L)are treated with contempt in you; the sojourner ^(M)suffers extortion in your midst; the fatherless and the widow ^(N)are wronged in you. ^8 (O)You have despised my holy things and ^(P)profaned my Sabbaths. ^9 (Q)There are men in you who slander to shed blood, and people in you ^(R)who eat on the mountains; ^(S)they commit lewdness in your midst. ¹⁰ In you ^(T)men uncover their fathers' nakedness; in you they violate women who are unclean in their menstrual impurity. ^11 (U)One commits abomination with his neighbor's wife; ^(V)another lewdly defiles his daughter-in-law; ^(W)another in you violates his sister, his father's daughter. ¹² In you ^(X)they take bribes to shed blood; ^(Y)you take interest and profit^[b] and make gain of your neighbors by extortion; but ^(Z)me you have forgotten, declares the Lord God.

¹³ “Behold, ^(AA)I strike my hand at ^(AB)the dishonest gain that you have made, and at ^(AC)the blood that has been in your midst. ^14 (AD)Can your courage endure, or can your hands be strong, in the days that I shall deal with you? ^(AE)I the Lord have spoken, and I will do it. ^15 (AF)I will scatter you among the nations and disperse you through the countries, and ^(AG)I will consume your uncleanness out of you. ¹⁶ And ^(AH)you shall be profaned by your own doing ^(AI)in the sight of the nations, ^(AJ)and you shall know that I am the Lord.”

¹⁷ And the word of the Lord came to me: ^18 (AK)“Son of man, the house of Israel has become ^(AL)dross to me; all of them are ^(AM)bronze and tin and iron and lead in the furnace; they are ^(AN)dross of silver. ¹⁹ Therefore thus says the Lord God: Because you have all become dross, therefore, behold, I will gather you into the midst of Jerusalem.