Ezekiel

Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

1Then the LORD's word came to me. He said:

2Now, thou son of man, wilt thou judge, wilt thou judge the bloody city? yea, thou shalt shew her all her abominations.

2"Son of man, will you judge her? Will you judge the city full of killing? Show her all the disgusting things she has done.

3Then say thou, Thus saith the Lord GOD, The city sheddeth blood in the midst of it, that her time may come, and maketh idols against herself to defile herself.

3Tell her that the Lord GOD says this: 'You are a city that brings your own end closer. You kill inside your own walls, and you make idols that make you filthy.

4Thou art become guilty in thy blood that thou hast shed; and hast defiled thyself in thine idols which thou hast made; and thou hast caused thy days to draw near, and art come even unto thy years: therefore have I made thee a reproach unto the heathen, and a mocking to all countries.

4You are guilty because of the blood you spilled. You are dirty from the idols you made. You have brought your days to an end. So I have made other nations look down on you and laugh at you.

5Those that be near, and those that be far from thee, shall mock thee, which art infamous and much vexed.

5Nations near and far will laugh at you. Your name is known for evil, and you are full of trouble.

6Behold, the princes of Israel, every one were in thee to their power to shed blood.

6Look how every leader of Israel inside you has used his power to kill.

7In thee have they set light by father and mother: in the midst of thee have they dealt by oppression with the stranger: in thee have they vexed the fatherless and the widow.

7Inside you, fathers and mothers are treated as worthless. Foreigners living among you are cheated. Orphans and widows are pushed around.

8Thou hast despised mine holy things, and hast profaned my sabbaths.

8You have treated My holy things as worthless, and you have ruined My Sabbath days.

9In thee are men that carry tales to shed blood: and in thee they eat upon the mountains: in the midst of thee they commit lewdness.

9Inside you are men who tell lies about others to get them killed. Some eat at the idol shrines on the hills. Others do shameful sexual things.

10In thee have they discovered their fathers’ nakedness: in thee have they humbled her that was set apart for pollution.

10Inside you, men have sex with their own fathers' wives. They force themselves on women during their monthly bleeding, when the law says to keep apart.

11And one hath committed abomination with his neighbour’s wife; and another hath lewdly defiled his daughter in law; and another in thee hath humbled his sister, his father’s daughter.

11One man sleeps with his neighbor's wife, which is disgusting. Another shames his son's wife. Another forces himself on his sister, his own father's daughter.

12In thee have they taken gifts to shed blood; thou hast taken usury and increase, and thou hast greedily gained of thy neighbours by extortion, and hast forgotten me, saith the Lord GOD.

12Inside you, men take money to kill someone. You lend money and charge unfair interest. You squeeze your neighbors for more than they owe. And you have forgotten Me, says the Lord GOD.

13Behold, therefore I have smitten mine hand at thy dishonest gain which thou hast made, and at thy blood which hath been in the midst of thee.

13Look, I clap My hands hard at the crooked money you have made, and at the blood spilled inside you.

NoteClapping or striking the hands together was a way of showing strong anger or disgust, not applause.

14Can thine heart endure, or can thine hands be strong, in the days that I shall deal with thee? I the LORD have spoken it, and will do it.

14Will your courage hold up? Will your hands stay strong on the day I deal with you? I, the LORD, have said it, and I will do it.

15And I will scatter thee among the heathen, and disperse thee in the countries, and will consume thy filthiness out of thee.

15I will scatter you among the nations and spread you across many lands. I will burn your filth out of you.

16And thou shalt take thine inheritance in thyself in the sight of the heathen, and thou shalt know that I am the LORD.

16When you have made yourself filthy where all the nations can see, then you will know that I am the LORD.'"

17And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

17Then the LORD's word came to me. He said:

18Son of man, the house of Israel is to me become dross: all they are brass, and tin, and iron, and lead, in the midst of the furnace; they are even the dross of silver.

18"Son of man, the people of Israel have turned into scrap for Me. They are all copper, tin, iron, and lead inside the furnace. They are the waste left over from silver.

NoteDross is the worthless scum that rises to the top when metal is melted to purify it. Workers skim it off and throw it away.

19Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because ye are all become dross, behold, therefore I will gather you into the midst of Jerusalem.

19So the Lord GOD says this: 'Because you have all become worthless scrap, I am going to gather you into Jerusalem.

20As they gather silver, and brass, and iron, and lead, and tin, into the midst of the furnace, to blow the fire upon it, to melt it; so will I gather you in mine anger and in my fury, and I will leave you there, and melt you.

20A worker piles silver, copper, iron, lead, and tin into a furnace. He blasts the fire to melt it. In the same way I will gather you in My anger. I will leave you there and melt you.

21Yea, I will gather you, and blow upon you in the fire of my wrath, and ye shall be melted in the midst thereof.

21Yes, I will pile you together and blow on you with the fire of My anger. You will melt inside the city.

22As silver is melted in the midst of the furnace, so shall ye be melted in the midst thereof; and ye shall know that I the LORD have poured out my fury upon you.

22Silver melts inside the furnace, and you will melt inside the city. Then you will know that I, the LORD, have poured out My anger on you.'"

23And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

23Then the LORD's word came to me. He said:

24Son of man, say unto her, Thou art the land that is not cleansed, nor rained upon in the day of indignation.

24"Son of man, say to her, 'On the day of My anger, you are a land that has not been washed clean and has had no rain.'

25There is a conspiracy of her prophets in the midst thereof, like a roaring lion ravening the prey; they have devoured souls; they have taken the treasure and precious things; they have made her many widows in the midst thereof.

25Her prophets have joined together in a secret plan. They are like a roaring lion tearing up what it caught. They have destroyed lives. They have grabbed treasure and valuable things. They have made many women widows.

26Her priests have violated my law, and have profaned mine holy things: they have put no difference between the holy and profane, neither have they shewed difference between the unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes from my sabbaths, and I am profaned among them.

26Her priests break My law and treat My holy things as common. They make no difference between what is holy and what is ordinary. They do not teach the difference between clean and unclean. They close their eyes to My Sabbath days, so I am treated as nothing among them.

27Her princes in the midst thereof are like wolves ravening the prey, to shed blood, and to destroy souls, to get dishonest gain.

27Her officials are like wolves tearing up what they caught. They spill blood and destroy lives to get money dishonestly.

28And her prophets have daubed them with untempered morter, seeing vanity, and divining lies unto them, saying, Thus saith the Lord GOD, when the LORD hath not spoken.

28Her prophets cover all this up with whitewash. They see fake visions and tell lying fortunes. They say, 'This is what the Lord GOD says,' when the LORD has not spoken.

NoteWhitewash is a thin white coating brushed over a wall. It makes a cracked, failing wall look solid without fixing anything.

29The people of the land have used oppression, and exercised robbery, and have vexed the poor and needy: yea, they have oppressed the stranger wrongfully.

29The ordinary people cheat and steal. They push the poor and needy around. They treat foreigners living among them unfairly.

30And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none.

30I looked for a man among them who would repair the wall and stand in the broken gap in front of Me, so I would not destroy the land. But I found no one.

31Therefore have I poured out mine indignation upon them; I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath: their own way have I recompensed upon their heads, saith the Lord GOD.

31So I have poured out My anger on them. I have burned them up with the fire of My fury. I have brought their own actions down on their heads, says the Lord GOD."