Ezekiel

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

1Then the LORD spoke his word to me. He said:

2Also, thou son of man, thus saith the Lord GOD unto the land of Israel; An end, the end is come upon the four corners of the land.

2"Son of man, this is what the Lord GOD says to the land of Israel: The end! The end has come on all four corners of the land.

3Now is the end come upon thee, and I will send mine anger upon thee, and will judge thee according to thy ways, and will recompense upon thee all thine abominations.

3The end is now upon you. I will let my anger loose against you. I will judge you for the way you have lived, and pay you back for all the disgusting things you have done.

4And mine eye shall not spare thee, neither will I have pity: but I will recompense thy ways upon thee, and thine abominations shall be in the midst of thee: and ye shall know that I am the LORD.

4I will not look at you with pity. I will not spare you. I will punish you for your ways and for the disgusting things among you. Then you will know that I am the LORD."

5Thus saith the Lord GOD; An evil, an only evil, behold, is come.

5This is what the Lord GOD says: "Disaster! A disaster like no other before it. Look, it is coming!

6An end is come, the end is come: it watcheth for thee; behold, it is come.

6The end has come! The end has come! It has woken up and is after you. Look, it is here!

7The morning is come unto thee, O thou that dwellest in the land: the time is come, the day of trouble is near, and not the sounding again of the mountains.

7Doom has come to you who live in the land. The time has come. The day is near. On the mountains there is panic, not glad shouting.

NoteThe KJV says "the morning is come," but the Hebrew word here means doom or disaster, not sunrise. The line about the mountains means the sound coming from them is cries of panic, not the happy shouting of a festival.

8Now will I shortly pour out my fury upon thee, and accomplish mine anger upon thee: and I will judge thee according to thy ways, and will recompense thee for all thine abominations.

8Very soon I will pour out my fury on you and spend all my anger on you. I will judge you for the way you have lived, and pay you back for all your disgusting deeds.

9And mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity: I will recompense thee according to thy ways and thine abominations that are in the midst of thee; and ye shall know that I am the LORD that smiteth.

9I will not look with pity, and I will not spare you. I will punish you for your ways and for the disgusting things among you. Then you will know that I am the LORD, the one who strikes the blow.

10Behold the day, behold, it is come: the morning is gone forth; the rod hath blossomed, pride hath budded.

10Look, the day is here! It has come! Doom has gone out. The rod has budded; pride has bloomed.

11Violence is risen up into a rod of wickedness: none of them shall remain, nor of their multitude, nor of any of theirs: neither shall there be wailing for them.

11Their violence has grown into a rod that will punish their wickedness. None of them will be left: not the crowd, not their riches, nothing of value.

12The time is come, the day draweth near: let not the buyer rejoice, nor the seller mourn: for wrath is upon all the multitude thereof.

12The time has come; the day is here. Let the buyer not be glad and the seller not be sad. Anger is coming on the whole crowd.

13For the seller shall not return to that which is sold, although they were yet alive: for the vision is touching the whole multitude thereof, which shall not return; neither shall any strengthen himself in the iniquity of his life.

13The seller will never get back what he sold, even while both are still alive. What God showed in the vision will not be called off. Because of their sin, not one of them will keep his life.

14They have blown the trumpet, even to make all ready; but none goeth to the battle: for my wrath is upon all the multitude thereof.

14They have blown the trumpet and made everything ready, but no one goes out to fight. My anger is on the whole crowd.

15The sword is without, and the pestilence and the famine within: he that is in the field shall die with the sword; and he that is in the city, famine and pestilence shall devour him.

15The sword is outside the city. Disease and hunger are inside it. Whoever is out in the fields will die by the sword. Hunger and disease will eat up whoever is in the city.

16But they that escape of them shall escape, and shall be on the mountains like doves of the valleys, all of them mourning, every one for his iniquity.

16Those who get away will escape to the mountains. They will moan there like doves of the valleys, each one over his own sin.

17All hands shall be feeble, and all knees shall be weak as water.

17Every hand will hang limp, and every knee will turn as weak as water.

18They shall also gird themselves with sackcloth, and horror shall cover them; and shame shall be upon all faces, and baldness upon all their heads.

18They will put on rough cloth to show their grief, and terror will cover them. Shame will be on every face, and every head will be shaved bare.

19They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed: their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD: they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels: because it is the stumblingblock of their iniquity.

19They will throw their silver into the streets, and their gold will seem filthy to them. Silver and gold cannot save them on the day of the LORD's anger. Riches cannot fill their stomachs or feed their hunger. Their wealth is what tripped them into sin.

20As for the beauty of his ornament, he set it in majesty: but they made the images of their abominations and of their detestable things therein: therefore have I set it far from them.

20They took their beautiful jewelry and used it to show off. From it they made their vile images and their hateful idols. So I will turn it into something filthy to them.

21And I will give it into the hands of the strangers for a prey, and to the wicked of the earth for a spoil; and they shall pollute it.

21I will hand it over to foreigners as loot, and to the wicked of the earth as plunder. They will treat it as worthless and unclean.

22My face will I turn also from them, and they shall pollute my secret place: for the robbers shall enter into it, and defile it.

22I will turn my face away from them, and they will make my treasured place unclean. Violent men will break into it and dirty it.

Note"My secret place" is the temple in Jerusalem, the set-apart building where God was worshiped.

23Make a chain: for the land is full of bloody crimes, and the city is full of violence.

23Get the chain ready, because the land is full of bloody crimes and the city is full of violence.

NoteThe chain is the kind used to bind prisoners of war and lead them away.

24Wherefore I will bring the worst of the heathen, and they shall possess their houses: I will also make the pomp of the strong to cease; and their holy places shall be defiled.

24So I will bring the most wicked of the nations to take over their houses. I will put an end to the proud show of the strong, and their holy places will be dirtied.

25Destruction cometh; and they shall seek peace, and there shall be none.

25Terrible trouble is coming. They will look for peace, but there will be none.

26Mischief shall come upon mischief, and rumour shall be upon rumour; then shall they seek a vision of the prophet; but the law shall perish from the priest, and counsel from the ancients.

26Disaster will pile on disaster, and rumor will follow rumor. They will beg a prophet for a vision. But teaching from the priests will be gone, and so will advice from the elders.

27The king shall mourn, and the prince shall be clothed with desolation, and the hands of the people of the land shall be troubled: I will do unto them after their way, and according to their deserts will I judge them; and they shall know that I am the LORD.

27The king will mourn. The prince will be dressed in despair. The hands of the people of the land will shake with fear. I will deal with them as their conduct deserves, and judge them by their own standards. Then they will know that I am the LORD."