Ezekiel 22

NEW AMERICAN BIBLE	CATHOLIC PUBLIC DOMAIN
1 Thus the word of the LORD came to me:	1 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
2 You, son of man, would you judge, would you judge the bloody city? Then make known all her abominations,	2 “And you, son of man, should you not judge, should you not judge the city of blood?
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.	3 And you shall reveal to her all her abominations. And you shall say: Thus says the Lord God: This is the city which sheds blood in her midst, so that her time may come, and which has made idols against herself, so that she may be defiled.
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.	4 You have offended by your blood, which you shed from yourself. And you have been defiled by your idols which you yourself made. And you have caused your days to approach, and you have brought on the time of your years. Because of this, I have made you a disgrace to the Gentiles, and a derision to all the lands.
5 Those near you and those far off shall deride you because of your foul reputation and your great perversity.	5 Those that are near and those that are far from you will triumph over you. You are filthy, infamous, great in destruction.
6 See! the princes of Israel, family by family, are in you only for bloodshed.	6 Behold, the leaders of Israel have each used his arm to shed blood within you.
7 Within you, father and mother are despised; in your midst, they extort from the resident alien; within you, they oppress orphans and widows.	7 They have abused father and mother within you. The new arrival has been oppressed in your midst. They have grieved the orphan and the widow among you.
8 What is holy to me you have spurned, and my sabbaths you have desecrated.	8 You have spurned my sanctuaries, and you have defiled my Sabbaths.
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.	9 Maligning men were within you, in order to shed blood, and they have eaten upon the mountains within you. They have worked wickedness in your midst.
10 In you are those who uncover the nakedness of their fathers, and in you those who coerce women in their menstrual period.	10 They have uncovered the nakedness of their father within you. They have debased the uncleanness of the menstruous woman within you.
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.	11 And each one has committed abomination with the wife of his neighbor. And the father-in-law has heinously defiled his daughter-in-law. The brother has oppressed his sister, the daughter of his father, within you.
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.	12 They have accepted bribes among you to shed blood. You have received usury and superabundance, and in avarice you have oppressed your neighbors. And you have forgotten me, 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.	13 Behold, I have clapped my hands over your avarice, which you have worked, and over the blood that has been 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.	14 How can your heart endure, or your hands prevail, in the days that I will bring upon 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.	15 And I will disperse you among the nations, and I will scatter you among the lands, and I will cause your uncleanness to fade away from you.
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.	16 And I will possess you in the sight of the Gentiles. And you shall know that I am the Lord.”
17 Thus the word of the LORD came to me:	17 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
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.	18 “Son of man, the house of Israel has become like dross to me. All these are brass, and tin, and iron, and lead in the midst of the furnace; they have become like the dross of silver.
19 Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Because all of you have become dross, therefore I must gather you together within Jerusalem.	19 Because of this, thus says the Lord God: Since you have all turned into dross, therefore, behold, I will gather you together in the midst of 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.	20 just as they gather silver, and brass, and tin, and iron, and lead in the midst of the furnace, so that I may kindle in it a fire to melt it. So will I gather you together in my fury and in my wrath, and I will be quieted, and I will melt you down.
21 When I have assembled you, I will blast you with the fire of my anger and smelt you with it.	21 And I will gather you together, and I will burn you in the fire of my fury, and you will be melted in its midst.
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.	22 Just as silver is melted in the midst of the furnace, so will you be in its midst. And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I will have poured out my indignation upon you.”
23 Thus the word of the LORD came to me:	23 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
24 Son of man, say to her: You are a land unrained on (that is, not rained on) at the time of my fury.	24 “Son of man, say to her: You are a land unclean and not rained upon, in the day of 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.	25 There is a conspiracy of prophets in her midst. Like a lion, roaring and seizing the prey, they have devoured souls. They have taken riches and a price. They have multiplied widows in her midst.
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.	26 Her priests have despised my law, and they have defiled my sanctuaries. They have held no distinction between holy and profane. And they have not understood the difference between defiled and clean. And they have averted their eyes from my Sabbaths. And I was profaned in their midst.
27 Her nobles within her are like wolves that tear prey, shedding blood and destroying lives to get unjust gain.	27 Her leaders in her midst are like wolves seizing the prey: to shed blood, and to perish souls, and to continually pursue profit with avarice.
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.	28 And her prophets have covered them without tempering the mortar, seeing emptiness, and divining lies for them, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord God,’ when 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.	29 The people of the land have oppressed with slander and have seized with violence. They have afflicted the needy and the poor, and they have oppressed the new arrival by accusations without judgment.
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.	30 And I sought among them for a man who might set up a hedge, and stand in the gap before me on behalf of the land, so that I might not destroy it; and 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.	31 And so I poured out my indignation upon them; in the fire of my wrath I consumed them. I have rendered their own way upon their head, says the Lord God.”