Highlighting the Sins and the Judgments of Israel

22 And the word of Yahweh came[fn] to me, saying,[fn] 2 “And you, son of man,[fn] will you judge? Will you judge the bloody city?[fn] Then you must make known to her all of her detestable things! 3 And you must say, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “A city pouring out blood in the midst of her; its time has come,[fn] and it made idols for itself, becoming unclean. 4 By your blood that you poured out you have become guilty, and by your idols that you made you have become unclean, and you have brought your days near, and your appointed years have come.[fn] Therefore I have made you a disgrace for the nations and a laughingstock to all of the countries. 5 The people near and the people far from you will make fun of you, the unclean and the terrified.[fn] 6 Look! The princes of Israel, each one according to his strength,[fn] they are in you for the shedding of blood.[fn] 7 They have treated father and mother with contempt in you; they violated[fn] the alien with[fn] extortion; in the midst of you they mistreated the orphan and widow. 8 You despised my holy objects; my Sabbaths you profaned. 9 Slanderous men are among you[fn] to shed blood, and they, among you,[fn] eat upon the mountains; they do wickedness in the midst of you. 10 They uncover the nakedness of a father among[fn] you; they violate a woman unclean of menstruation among[fn] you. 11 And a man does a detestable thing with the wife of his neighbor, and a man defiles his daughter-in-law in wickedness, and a man sexually violates among[fn] you his sister, the daughter of his father. 12 They take a bribe among[fn] you in order to shed blood; and you take usury, and you make gain from your neighbors by extortion, and so you have forgotten me, declares[fn] the Lord Yahweh. 13 And look! I strike my hand for your ill-gotten gain that you have made and at your blood that was in the midst of you. 14 Can your heart endure,[fn] or can your hands be strong at the days in which I am dealing with you? I, Yahweh, I have spoken, and I will act! 15 I will scatter you among the nations, and I will disperse you through the countries, and I will purge your uncleanness from you. 16 And I will be profaned by you before the eyes of the nations, and you will know that I am Yahweh.” ’ ”

17 And the word of Yahweh came[fn] to me, saying,[fn] 18 “Son of man,[fn] the house of Israel has become as silver dross to me; all of them are as bronze and tin and iron and lead in the midst of a furnace, even as silver dross, silver dross they became! 19 Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: ‘Because all of you have become as silver dross, therefore look! I am gathering you to the midst of Jerusalem, 20 like the gathering of silver and bronze and iron and lead and tin to the middle of a furnace to blow fire on it for melting. Thus I will gather in my anger and in my rage, and I will deposit[fn] you, and I will melt you. 21 And I will gather you, and I will blow on you with the fire of my wrath, and so I will melt you in the midst of her. 22 Thus you will be melted like the melting of silver in the midst of a furnace, and you will know that I, Yahweh, I have poured out my rage on you.’ ” 23 And the word of Yahweh came[fn] to me, saying,[fn] 24 “Son of man,[fn] say to her, ‘You are a land not cleansed; it is not rained upon in the day of indignation.’ 25 The conspiracy of its prophets in the midst of her is like a roaring lion that is tearing prey. They devour people, and they take wealth and treasure; they make its widows numerous in the midst of her. 26 Its priests treat my law violently, and they profane my holy objects; they do not distinguish between a holy object and what is unholy, or between the clean and the unclean. They do not teach the difference, and they hide their eyes from my Sabbaths, and so I am profaned in the midst of them. 27 Its officials are like wolves tearing prey in its midst, to pour out blood, to destroy people, to make dishonest gain. 28 And for them its prophets plaster whitewash; they are seeing falseness and are practicing divination for them by lying, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh,’ and Yahweh has not spoken. 29 They severely oppress the people of the land, and they committed robbery,[fn] and they mistreated the needy and the poor, and they oppressed the alien without[fn] justice. 30 And so I sought for them somebody, one repairing the wall and standing in the breach before me[fn] on behalf of the land not to destroy it, but I did not find anyone, 31 and so I poured out my indignation on them. With the fire of my wrath I destroyed them; I returned their way upon their head,” declares[fn] the Lord Yahweh.