Ezekiel 22

¹ Thus the word of the LORD came to me:

² You, son of man, would you judge, would you judge the bloody city? Then make known all her abominations,

³ and say: Thus says the Lord GOD: Woe to the city which sheds blood within herself so that her time has come, and which has made idols for her own defilement.

⁴ By the blood which you shed you have been made guilty, and with the idols you made you have become defiled; you have brought on your day, so that the end of your years has come. Therefore I make you an object of scorn to the nations and a laughingstock to all foreign lands.

⁵ Those near you and those far off shall deride you because of your foul reputation and your great perversity.

⁶ See! the princes of Israel, family by family, are in you only for bloodshed.

⁷ Within you, father and mother are despised; in your midst, they extort from the resident alien; within you, they oppress orphans and widows.

⁸ What is holy to me you have spurned, and my sabbaths you have desecrated.

⁹ There are those in you who slander to cause bloodshed; within you are those who feast on the mountains; in your midst are those who do lewd things.

¹⁰ In you are those who uncover the nakedness of their fathers, and in you those who coerce women in their menstrual period.

¹¹ There are those in you who do abominable things with the wives of their neighbors, men who defile their daughters-in-law by incest, men who coerce their sisters, the daughters of their own fathers.

¹² There are those in you who take bribes to shed blood. You exact interest and usury; you despoil your neighbors violently; and me you have forgotten, says the Lord GOD.

¹³ See, I am brushing one hand against the other because of the unjust profits you have made and because of the blood shed in your midst.

¹⁴ Can your heart remain firm, will your hands be strong, in the days when I deal with you? I, the LORD, have spoken, and I will act.

¹⁵ I will disperse you among the nations and scatter you over foreign lands, so that I may purge your uncleanness.

¹⁶ In you I will allow myself to be profaned in the eyes of the nations; thus you shall know that I am the LORD.

¹⁷ Thus the word of the LORD came to me:

¹⁸ Son of man, the house of Israel has become dross for me. All of them are bronze and tin, iron and lead (in the midst of a furnace): dross from silver have they become.

¹⁹ Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Because all of you have become dross, therefore I must gather you together within Jerusalem.

²⁰ Just as silver, bronze, iron, lead, and tin are gathered into a furnace and smelted in the roaring flames, so I will gather you together in my furious wrath, put you in, and smelt you.

²¹ When I have assembled you, I will blast you with the fire of my anger and smelt you with it.

²² You shall be smelted by it just as silver is smelted in a furnace. Thus you shall know that I, the LORD, have poured out my fury on you.

²³ Thus the word of the LORD came to me:

²⁴ Son of man, say to her: You are a land unrained on (that is, not rained on) at the time of my fury.

²⁵ Her princes are like roaring lions that tear prey; they devour people, seizing their wealth and precious things, and make widows of many within her.

²⁶ Her priests violate my law and profane what is holy to me; they do not distinguish between the sacred and the profane, nor teach the difference between the unclean and the clean; they pay no attention to my sabbaths, so that I have been profaned in their midst.

²⁷ Her nobles within her are like wolves that tear prey, shedding blood and destroying lives to get unjust gain.

²⁸ Her prophets cover them with whitewash, pretending to visions that are false and performing lying divinations, saying, "Thus says the Lord GOD," although the LORD has not spoken.

²⁹ The people of the land practice extortion and commit robbery; they afflict the poor and the needy, and oppress the resident alien without justice.

³⁰ Thus I have searched among them for someone who could build a wall or stand in the breach before me to keep me from destroying the land; but I found no one.

³¹ Therefore I have poured out my fury upon them; with my fiery wrath I have consumed them; I have brought down their conduct upon their heads, says the Lord GOD.