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EZK EN_UST en_English_ltr Wed Sep 09 2020 11:03:22 GMT-0500 (Central Daylight Time) tc

Ezekiel

1-2 1-2When I, Ezekiel, was thirty years old, I was living alongside the Kebar Canal, south of Babylon, among the Israelite people whom the Babylonians had forcibly removed from the land of Judah. It was the fifth day of the month of Tammuz, according to Israelite calendars. On that day, the sky looked as though it was opening, and I beheld God’s very presence. (That day was almost five years after the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar forcibly removed King Jehoiachin from Jerusalem.) 3 God spoke his messages directly to Ezekiel the priest, Buzi’s son, at that time. He lived in the Babylonian Empire, along the Kebar Canal. Yahweh empowered Ezekiel to receive what God wanted him to see and hear.)

4 As I watched, I suddenly saw a windstorm coming out of the north. It took the shape of a massive cloud with lightning-like fire continuously flashing. A brilliant light radiated all around the storm, and its center glowed like the gleam of molten, white-hot metal. 5 In the very center of the windstorm appeared what seemed to be four animate creatures. Here is what they looked like: They resembled humans, 6 but every one of them had four different faces and four wings. 7 Their legs were straight, like human legs, but their feet resembled the hooves of calves, and they glowed like the glimmer of polished bronze. 8 Each being had human hands, which rested underneath the wing that was on each of their four sides. As for their four faces and four wings—9 each creature’s wing touched the wing of another, so that, together, the four animate creatures formed a square. Whenever they moved, they did not turn, but instead moved forward in the direction of one of their four faces—either north, south, east, or west.
10 Now, their faces looked like this: In front, each creature had a face that resembled a human face. The face on the right side resembled a lion’s face. The face on the left side resembled an ox’s face, and the face in the back resembled an eagle’s face. 11 That was what their faces looked like. As for their wings, each creature’s four wings were raised and spread out above them. Two of each creature’s wings touched two of the wings of the other creatures that were on either side of it. The other two wings were folded so as to cover the creature’s bodily form. 12 Without rotating as they went, these animate creatures always moved in the direction of one of their faces. They advanced in whichever cardinal direction their life-breath went. 13 The form of the four animate creatures resembled glowing charcoal in the middle of a blazing fire or like flaming torches. Their fire flashed back and forth among the four creatures. It gave off a brilliant, fiery light, and streaks of lightning darted out of the fire. 14 Yes, the creatures were moving back and forth so rapidly that they resembled lightning strikes!
15 As I watched them I suddenly noticed a, single wheel on the ground beside each of the four-faced creatures. 16 Each wheel was identical, and they all glistened like the gleam of a fine topaz. In terms of their construction, each wheel was a gyroscope, made of a single wheel intersecting another wheel at a right angle. 17 Without rotating as they went, the gyroscopic wheels likewise always moved in one of the four cardinal directions corresponding to one of the faces of the four-faced creatures. 18 As for the outer rims of the gyroscopic wheels—they were towering and terrifying, and each one of the four creatures’ wheels was completely covered with eyes!
19 Whenever the animate creatures advanced, their wheels advanced alongside them. Likewise, whenever the creatures ascended above the ground, so too did their wheels. 20 The four creatures’ wheels advanced in whichever cardinal direction their life-breath went. Likewise, the wheels ascended alongside their creature, because the wheels contained the creature’s breath that gave them life. 21 Whenever the four creatures advanced, their wheels also advanced. Whenever the creatures stopped moving, their wheels also stopped. And whenever the creatures ascended above the ground, their wheels also ascended alongside. This was because the wheels contained the creatures’ breath that gave them life.
22 Above the heads of the animate creatures, there was something that resembled a vaulted dome. It was terrifying and glistened like crystalline ice, arching high over their many heads. 23 Under the vaulted dome, each creature’s four wings were stretched out—two, touching two of the wings of the other creatures that were on either side of it, and two, folded to cover the creature’s bodily form. 24 Then I heard the noise that their wings made when the four animate creatures advanced. The noise of their wings sounded like the crashing of ocean waves, or like the voice of the all-powerful God. It sounded like the din of a massive crowd of people, or like the uproar of an army marching to war. Whenever the creatures stopped, they lowered their outstretched wings.
25 Then the animate creatures stopped and lowered their outstretched wings. A voice emanating from space above the vaulted dome that was over their heads began to speak. 26 Then, above the vaulted, crystalline dome that arched high over the heads of the four beings, there was something that resembled a king’s royal chair. It looked like someone had hewn it from sapphire stones. And something sat high above on that sapphire throne—a being that looked human. 27 I noticed that, above what seemed like his waist, the bodily form of this humanoid figure resembled the gleaming glow of molten, white-hot metal, completely enclosed by fire. Then, I noticed that the bodily form below what seemed like his waist resembled a blazing fire. Radiating all around, brilliant light 28 shone like a rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day. This is what the brilliant radiance that glowed all around looked like. This light displayed how powerful and wondrous Yahweh is while he appeared to me. When I saw all of this, I prostrated myself flat onto the ground. Then, I heard the humanoid figure who was sitting on that sapphire throne begin to speak.

2 The one sitting on the throne said to me, “Mortal human, stand up! Then I will speak to you.” 2 As he said this, the wind of God’s Spirit came upon me and enabled me to stand up. Then I heard the one sitting on the throne speak to me.

3 He said, “Mortal human, I am about to dispatch you to the Israelite people. Every one of the family clans of Israel has rejected my authority and refused to obey me as my people, like they promised to do. They, like their ancestors, have never stopped openly defying me—even to this very day! 4 My children, the people of Israel, are obstinate and hard-hearted. So, I am dispatching you to talk to them on my behalf. You must declare to them what I, the Sovereign Yahweh, am speaking to them directly. 5 As for them, when you declare my messages, the Israelite people may indeed heed what you tell them, or they may yet refuse to listen. After all, these people reject my authority and openly defy me! Nevertheless, they will eventually admit that a prophet has been among them, and that Yahweh himself is speaking to them!

6 But as for you, mortal human, you must not be afraid of them, nor afraid of what they say. These people will be as hurtful and grievous to you as thorns and thistles are to your skin! Living among them as Yahweh’s prophet will be sitting on a pile of scorpions! Still, you must not allow what they say about you to make you afraid, or let the looks that they give you terrify you. After all, these people reject my authority and openly defy me! 7 Nonetheless, declare my message to them. The Israelite people may indeed heed what you tell them, or they may yet refuse to listen. After all, they openly defy me!

8 So, mortal human, you must heed whatever I say to you. You must not openly defy me like these people frequently do! Now, open your mouth! Eat what I am about to give you.”

9 Then, as I watched, I saw him stretch out his hand to me, and I saw that he was holding a scroll that contained writing. 10 He unfurled the scroll so that I could see it. On both sides of it, someone had written the words of poems that expressed despair, grief, and warning.

3 He said to me, “Mortal human, eat it. Yes, eat this scroll! Then, go! Declare my message to the Israelite people.” 2 I opened my mouth wide, and he fed the scroll to me.

3 Then he said to me, “Mortal human, chew and swallow the scroll that I have given to you. Fill your stomach with it.” I did so, and it tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth.

4 Then the one sitting on the throne said to me, “Mortal human, it is time for you to go to the Israelite people, so that you might declare my message to them. 5 The people to whom I am dispatching you do not speak a language that is so complex that it is difficult to speak or understand. I am dispatching you to your own Israelite people. 6 Again, I am not dispatching you to many different people who speak languages that are too complex, whose language you cannot understand. If I were to dispatch you to those people, they would heed your message! 7 Yet the Israelite people will never want to heed what you say. After all, they do not even want to heed what I, Yahweh, say! This is because all of them are obstinate and hardhearted. 8 But, pay attention! I have enabled you to be as calloused to them as they are to me, and as stubbornly opposed to them as they are to me! 9 I have enabled you to be more resolute and dangerous to the Israelite people than a diamond-hard thorn! Still, you must not allow them to make you afraid, or let the looks that they give you terrify you. After all, these people reject my authority and openly defy me!

10 Then he said to me, “Mortal human, think very carefully about everything I say to you, and listen to it attentively.” 11 So now, go to your own people, your fellow Israelites, whom the Babylonians have forcibly removed from the land of Judah, so that you can talk to them. You must declare to them what I, the Sovereign Yahweh, am speaking to them directly. You must do this whether the Israelite people heed what you tell them or whether they refuse to listen.”

12 Then, the wind of God’s Spirit lifted me up. Behind me, I heard something that sounded like a massive earthquake. The sound sounded like someone shouting the words, “Praise our glorious Yahweh in his house in the Temple of Jerusalem!” 13 I also heard the noise of the wings of the four creatures as they began to flap and brush against the other creatures’ wings, along with the noise of the wheels advancing alongside them. All of this sounded as if it were a massive earthquake. 14 Then, the wind of God’s spirit carried me up and took me away from the Kebar Canal. Yet, as I went, I was resentful and angry, and Yahweh was powerfully authorizing me to declare his message. 15 So, I went to the people whom the Babylonians had forcibly removed from Judah and resettled in the town of Tel Aviv near the Kebar Canal in Babylon. There, where they were living, I sat down and did not move for seven days. I sat there among them, completely dumbfounded and overwhelmed.

16 After those seven days had ended, Yahweh spoke this message to me: 17 “Mortal human, I am appointing you to shout warnings of imminent threats and disasters to your fellow Israelite people, just like the watchman at the gate of a city. So, when you hear the messages that I speak to you directly, you must declare them to the Israelite people to warn them. 18 Now, I might declare that a sinful person is assuredly going to die in my just judgment. And you might choose to not warn him or inform him that, if he desires to save his life, he must cease his sinful and unjust lifestyle. If you do this, the wicked person will die nevertheless because of his sinful and unjust behavior. However, I will maintain that you are responsible for his death, since you did not act to prevent it. 19 However, you might choose to warn that sinful person, and yet he might not cease his sinful and unjust lifestyle. If this happens, I will still justly judge that sinful person so that he dies because of his sinful and unjust behavior. Yet, as for you, you will have protected yourself from my just punishment.

20 Alternatively, a virtuous and just person might cease his honest behavior and begin acting unjustly. When that happens, I may cause his life to become so unduly difficult and painful. That now-sinful person will assuredly die in my just judgment. However, you might choose not to warn him about my judgment against him and his imminent death. If you do this, the once-just person will die nevertheless because of his recent unjust behavior. I will choose not to remember the just and honest things that he once did. However, I will maintain that you are responsible for his death, since you did not act to prevent it. 21 However, you might choose to warn that once-honest and just person, so that he ceases his sinful and unjust behavior and returns to his honest and just lifestyle. If this happens, that individual will continue to live because you warned him of my just judgment and his imminent. death Furthermore, as for you, you will have protected yourself from my just punishment.”

22 Then, Yahweh was powerfully present with me there. He spoke to me: “Stand up, and travel to the valley outside of town. At that place, I will talk to you.” 23 So, I stood up and went out to the valley. There, I suddenly beheld Yahweh’s glorious presence. It was just like the glorious presence that I had beheld when I was standing beside the Kebar Canal. When I saw it, I prostrated myself flat onto the ground.

24 Then, the wind of God’s Spirit came upon me and enabled me to stand up. Yahweh said to me, “Go into your house and lock yourself inside it. 25 As for you, mortal human—pay attention! The Israelite people who live along the Kebar Canal will tie you up with ropes, so that you will be unable to go out among them. 26 And I will make you unable to speak, as if you were mute and your tongue was stuck to the top of your mouth. So, I will make it impossible for you to pronounce my reprimands against these people. After all, every one of the Israelite people continuously refuses to listen to me or obey me! 27 However, whenever I tell you my messages, I will empower you to declare them to the Israelite people. You must declare to the people what I, the Sovereign Yahweh, am speaking to them directly. The one who is willing to listen to me will listen, but the one who refuses to accept my message will continue to refuse me. After all, they are all people who continuously reject me and disobey me!”

4 Yahweh continued to speak to me: “As for you, mortal human, find yourself a large clay brick. Then, you should place it in front of you and draw a picture of the city of Jerusalem on it.” 2 Then, pretend to lay siege to your drawing of Jerusalem! Draw a wall of siegeworks around it that enables soldiers to shoot arrows above the wall! Construct a siege ramp that allows soldiers to climb over the outer walls! Post enemy soldiers outside of the city! Assemble battering rams in your drawing that surround Jerusalem to knock down its outer gates! 3 Then, find yourself an iron frying pan, and set it so that it resembles a vast iron wall. It should separate you and your drawing of Jerusalem on the clay brick. Then, firmly resolve within yourself to besiege the city until your army destroys and captures it. This symbolic action will warn the Israelite people of the coming judgment against them.

4-5 4-5Next, you should lie down on your left side and pretend to bear the entirety of the sins of the people of the northern kingdom of Israel on your right side, as if they were a heavy burden. You must continue to lie down and symbolically endure the weight of the sins of the northern kingdom of the Israelite people for a symbolic number of days. Now, I myself have determined the exact length of time during which you should do this: One day for each of the years that the northern kingdom of Israel has sinned against me. So you must perform this symbolic act for 390 days, and bear the sins of the northern kingdom of the Israelite people.

6 When you have finished lying on your left side for 390 days, you should lie down a second time. This time, lie on your right side, and symbolically bear the sins of the Israelite people—this time, the southern kingdom of Judah. I have determined that you should, once again, lie down one day for each of the years that I will punish the people of Judah for their sins against me: 40 days. 7 So, you should firmly resolve within yourself with regard to your drawing of the siege of Jerusalem, and stretch out your bare arm against it. As you do this, you must proclaim my prophetic messages against the city. 8 Now, pay attention! I am going to fix you in place as you lie down. You will not be able to turn from one side to the other, as though I have tied you down with ropes. You will remain this way until you have finished lying down for the number of days that I have determined for your symbolic act.

9 As for you, you should acquire portions of wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and rye. You should store these together in a single container and use the mixed grains, seeds, and legumes to bake bread for yourself. You will eat this bread throughout the 390 days during which you lie on your left side. 10 Your meals must be weighed to be eight ounces a day. You must eat it at fixed times throughout the day. 11 Likewise, any water that you drink must be measured to be a pint and a half. You must also drink at fixed times throughout the day. 12 You should eat your meals like you would eat a loaf of barley bread. However, you must bake your food while the Israelite people are watching, using human excrement for fuel.” 13 Yahweh continued to talk to me. He said, “Your carefully weighed and measured meals that you cook over human excrement will symbolize to the Israelite people that they too will resort to eating food that is unacceptable to me when I force them out of their land to live among the people nations that surround them.”

14 But I declared, “Oh, Sovereign Yahweh! Please, do not force me to eat my meals in this ritually impure manner! I have never done anything that caused a priest to declare that I was not able to worship in your presence. As long as I have been alive, I have never once eaten the disgusting meat of roadkill or carrion, nor have I ever eaten any desecrated meat from a spoiled sacrifice!”

15 Yahweh replied, “Very well. I will allow you to bake your bread using dried cow manure instead of human excrement for fuel.”

16 Then he said to me, “Mortal human, pay attention to what I am about to do! I am going to remove Jerusalem’s supply of bread, on which they rely like a walking stick. When I do this, the people who live in Jerusalem will resort to anxiously rationing their meager meals and drinking their carefully allocated portions of water in increasing panic. 17 This will happen because I will make food and water scarce for the people who live in Jerusalem. Every individual will feel a horrified shock of terror. Because I am punishing them, the wrongs that they have committed will cause them to experience life as if they were something that someone has left out to rot.”

5 “As for you, mortal human, you must acquire a sharp sword and use it like a barber’s razor to shave your head and your beard. Then, you must acquire a scale and weigh the hair that you removed. 2 After your siege of the drawing of the city of Jerusalem is completed, you must take a third of the hair that you have weighed and burn it in a fire in the middle of your drawing of the city of Jerusalem that you have besieged. Then, you must take another third of the hair and slash at it with your sword so that it falls all around the city. Then throw the final third of the hair so that it disperses in the wind. I myself will cut up the hair that flies away in the wind, as if I unleashed a sword against it. 3 But you must first reserve a few of the hairs from the final third and tie them to your sleeves. 4 Then, you must take a few of those hairs that you have tied to your sleeves and throw them into the fire, so that they burn up. After all, a fire in Jerusalem will soon spread and extend to the entirety of the Israelite people.

5 This is what I, the Sovereign Yahweh, say: This drawing on the clay brick represents the city of Jerusalem. I have positioned this city in the middle of all the nations, surrounded by other empires. 6 However, by doing wicked acts, the citizens of Jerusalem have rejected the norms by which I have commanded and decreed that they should live. They have done this to a greater degree than any of the people who live in nations and empires outside of Israel! After all, in their lifestyles, they have refused the norms by which I have commanded and decreed that they should live.

7 For this reason, here is what I, the Sovereign Yahweh, have to say: You citizens of Jerusalem have been more conceited and disobedient than any of the people of the nations around you. Because of this, you have not lived by the norms that I have commanded and decreed for you. You have not even lived by the norms of the other nations around you!

8 For this reason, here is what I, the Sovereign Yahweh, have to say! Pay attention! Even I, your own God, have become an enemy to you, citizens of Jerusalem. So, I will carry out my norms among you by punishing you in the full view of the nations and empires around you. 9 Yes, I am about to do something to you that is unlike anything I have ever done before or ever will do again. It will all happen because of your detestable and disgusting actions. 10 As a result, parents among you will resort to consuming their own children, and children will resort to consuming their own parents. So I will execute the verdict of my just judgments against you. I will forcibly remove anyone who survives from the city and disperse them in every direction.

11 Therefore, I, the Sovereign Yahweh, make this declaration! This I swear by myself: You have defiled the holy place in which I live among you with all your disgusting idols and with the other abominable practices that you do. Because of this, I will withdraw my presence from you. I will neither regard you with pity nor will I save you from my imminent judgments against you. 12 The actions you took with the hair that you weighed out symbolize what will happen to the people of Jerusalem. Like the third of the hair that you burned, one-third of the citizens of Jerusalem will die inside the city because of the fatal infectious diseases they will experience or because of a lack of food. Like the third that you slashed with your sword, one-third of the people will die outside the city because of the fatal wounds inflicted on them by their enemies’ swords. Finally, like the third that you threw into the wind, I will forcibly disperse the remaining third of the people of Jerusalem in every direction, but I will cause your enemies to pursue them so that they kill them with their swords.

13 Then I will have fully expressed my anger. I will calm myself from my rage against them, and, since I exacted my just judgments against them, I will console myself. When my wrath against them has subsided, the people who live in Jerusalem will recognize that I, Yahweh, have said everything that I have declared to them because I will never stop loving them as my own people. 14 So, I will destroy Jerusalem until it is nothing but a ruin. I will turn it into such a place that the people of other nations that are around you will mock it as they walk past. 15 Yes, my destruction of the city of Jerusalem will make it known as something people mock and tease. But when I execute the verdict of my just judgments against the citizens of Jerusalem, my furious discipline of my people will also serve as a terrifying warning to the other nations that surround you. This will assuredly happen because I, Yahweh, have said it! 16 Yes, the citizens of Jerusalem will suffer fatal infectious diseases, as if I were shooting deadly arrows against them like a besieging army. I intend these diseases to utterly annihilate the people. When this happens, I will also intensify the severity of the conditions that have resulted in a lethal lack of food. In so doing, I will entirely remove Jerusalem’s supply of bread on which they rely like a walking stick. 17 Yes, I will cause the citizens of Jerusalem to suffer a lack of food. But I will also release wild and deadly animals against them. They will attack them and murder all of their children. I will make these people suffer fatal infectious diseases and the bloodshed of war, and I will enable their enemies to kill them with their swords. This will all assuredly happen because I, Yahweh, have spoken!”

6 Yahweh gave me another message. He said, 2 “Mortal human, turn toward the mountains of Israel and speak against them what I tell you to say. 3 You must proclaim, ‘Mountains of Israel, attend to what the Sovereign Yahweh declares! Here is what the Sovereign Yahweh has to say to the high mountains and hilltops, and to the bottoms of the river streams and the low valleys: Pay attention to what I am about to do! I will soon dispatch enemy soldiers with swords against you. They will destroy all the elevated ritual places at which you worship other gods. 4 These warring soldiers will smash and defile all your altars—both those you use for offering meat to the idols of other gods and those you use to offer incense. The soldiers I send against you will kill many Israelite people, and their dead bodies will collapse on the ground in front of the ritual statues they used to worship. 5 I will ensure that the defiling dead bodies of Israelite people lie in the presence of their ritual statues, and I will strew their ritually impure bones all about the altars on which they used to offer meat sacrifices to their false gods. 6 Wherever you live, your towns will lie in ruins. The destruction of the coming war will cause you to abandon the elevated places where you used to worship ritual statues, so that they become deserted wastes. The invading armies will obliterate the altars on which you offered meat to other gods. They will crush your ritual statues and hack the altars on which you offered incense to other gods into splinters. In the end, every way that you once devised to honor other gods will become nothing but a useless pile of ruins. 7 This coming destruction will kill many people, and their dead bodies will drop right in front of you. When all of this occurs, you will finally understand exactly who I am and what I am like—I am Yahweh!

8 However, I will allow a portion of you to remain alive. You who survive the coming destruction will live in other nations like fugitives attempting to escape your armed enemies. Your enemies will forcibly disperse you and relocate you to live among many other empires. 9 When this happens, in the very places in which the other nations forcibly deported you, those of you who remain alive will consider me once again and remember who I am. You will finally realize how much deep sorrow and emotional pain you caused me. Your deepest desires were like an adulterating spouse, and you yearned to leave your relationship with me and belong to other gods! These other gods dominated your attention and devotion, like a woman lusting after a man other than her husband! As a result, you will one day feel shameful disgust toward yourselves when you think about all of the evil things you once did with your disgusting and unacceptable behavior. 10 In the end, you will finally understand exactly who I am and what I am like—I am Yahweh! You will realize that when I said that I would cause these disastrous calamities to happen to you, I would undoubtedly do them!

11 So, here is what I, the Sovereign Yahweh, have to say: Ezekiel, clap your hands together and stamp your feet! Exclaim a wail of lament over every disgustingly wicked thing that the Israelite people do! After all, they are all going to die soon—whether by their enemies’ swords, extreme hunger, or rampant infectious diseases. 12 Those who are far from Jerusalem will fatally suffer rampant infectious diseases, and the swords of Israel’s enemies will murder those who are close to Jerusalem. And those who remain alive after all of that will starve to death in extreme hunger. In this way, I will completely vent my furious anger against them. 13 The dead bodies of those who die from this disaster will lie intermingled with the ritual statues that they used to worship. They will lie together on every side of the altars on which they used to offer meat sacrifices to other gods, and on every elevated hilltop and on every mountain peak, under every verdant tree and sacred oak—at every place at which the Israelite people once burned pleasing aromatic incense to ritual statues to garner the favor of other gods. When you see this, you will finally understand exactly who I am and what I am like—I am Yahweh! 14 Yes, I will powerfully confront the Israelite people by causing the entire region of Israel to become a ruined, deserted wasteland—everywhere they have ever lived, from the desert in the most southern parts of Israel as far as the town of Diblah in the remote north. When they see this, they will finally understand exactly who I am and what I am like—I am Yahweh!”

7 Yahweh gave me another message. He said, 2 “Now, as for you, mortal human, here is what I, the Sovereign Yahweh, have to say to the inhabitants of the land of Israel:

The end is here! Yes, the end is imminent

for every single portion of the region. 3 You people of Israel, your demise is now imminent.

I will soon vent my anger against you.

I will execute the just sentence that befits your lifestyle

and hold you responsible for your disgusting and unacceptable behavior.

4 I will not have such compassion for you

that I relent from my judgments against you.

Instead, I will hold you responsible for your lifestyles,

and you will experience the just consequences that your disgusting and unacceptable behavior deserves.

Then, you will finally understand exactly who I am and what I am like—I am Yahweh!

5 Here is something else that I, the Sovereign Yahweh, have to say:

A calamity—an unparalleled calamity!

Pay attention! It is imminent.

6 Your demise is impending.

Yes, your final demise is impending!

It will soon happen to you, as if you woke it up!

Pay attention! It is imminent!

7 Catastrophe is looming upon you,

you who inhabit the territories of Israel.

The predetermined moment has arrived! It is nearly Yahweh’s chosen time for judgment!

At that time, the sound you hear on the mountains will not be the shouts of joyful celebration

—rather, it will be the panicked shouts of anguish!

8 Very soon, I will fully express my rage against you

and vent the anger I feel toward you.

I will execute the just sentence that befits your lifestyle

and hold you responsible for your disgusting and unacceptable behavior.

9 I will not have such compassion for you

that I relent from my judgments against you.

I will hold you responsible for your lifestyles,

and you will experience the just consequences that your disgusting and unacceptable behavior deserves.

Then, you will finally understand exactly who I am and what I am like. I am Yahweh—the one who is injuring you!

Pay attention! It is nearly Yahweh’s chosen time for judgment!

Pay attention! It is about to happen!

Catastrophe is looming, as if it is about to burst forth!

Just like the branch of a tree that has begun to blossom in the spring,

your proud behavior is coming into fruition—it is budding!

11 Just like a burgeoning tree that produces a new branch,

their violent choices have matured into fully formed wicked lifestyles!

In the end, none of it will survive the coming destruction—

not their large population,

nor their excessive wealth,

nor their international renown!

12 Now is the moment!

Yahweh’s chosen time for judgment has arrived!

Customers should not rejoice,

nor should vendor grieve.

After all, Yahweh is furiously angry with the entire Israelite people!

13 This is because, as long as he remains alive,

the vendor will never return to the place where he used to sell his wares.

After all, Yahweh’s immutable proclamation pertains to everyone in Israel!

No one who commits injustices will be unable to succeed in staying alive.

14 Israel’s commanders will blow trumpets

to ready the army to fight in the war,

but no one will respond,

because Yahweh is furiously angry with the entire Israelite people!

15 The armed army of Israel’s enemies will station itself outside Jerusalem,

while infectious diseases and a fatal lack of food ravage the city from within.

So, Israel’s enemies will murder whoever happens to be outside the city in the fields,

and whoever happens to be inside the city will succumb to the fatal infectious diseases

as they starve to death in extreme hunger.

16 Those few who survive the destruction of Jerusalem

will flee to the mountains.

Their evil behavior will cause each of them to make wailing noises

that sound like the cries of pigeons who live in the mountain valleys.

17 Each survivor will be so afraid

that their hands will hang limp at their sides

and they will lose control of their bladders.

18 They will publicly mourn by wearing clothes made from rough cloth,

and they will feel such horror, as if it covered them like clothing.

The expression on every face will show that they feel ashamed,

and everyone will shave his head in his grief.

19 They will discard their silver coins into the streets

and regard their gold coins as if they were made ritually impure with menstrual blood.

None of their money will be able to deliver them

when Yahweh unleashes his raging anger against them.

No longer will they use their money to buy food to satisfy their appetites.

After all, having a lot of gold and silver has led them to do evil things!

20 The beautiful treasures that the priest stored in Yahweh’s temple

caused the people of Israel to become arrogant and proud.

They used the beautiful things that belonged to Yahweh

to craft disgusting and abhorrent ritual statues of their false gods.

So I, Yahweh, will cause them to regard my sacred treasure

as if it had become ritually impure with menstrual blood.

21 Yes, I will endow the treasures of my temple to strangers

as a reward for their military victory against the Israelite people.

I will give it to evil, wicked people who live in the nations surrounding Israel as the profit of their war.

As a result, these wicked strangers will pollute and ruin it by using it for purposes other than worshiping me.

22 Then, I, Yahweh, will no longer be present with the Israelite people.

I will look away as the warring soldiers of Israel’s enemies pollute and destroy my beloved temple.

Yes, bloodthirsty people will enter that sacred place in which I lived among my people,

and, as they do so, they will ruin and pollute it.

23 Forge a set of chains!

Israel’s enemies will require them

when they capture and indict the murderous Israelite people who occupy the region

and the homicidal people who live in Jerusalem!

24 So I will summon the armies of the most morally repulsive nations

to capture the houses of the Israelite people forcibly and live in them themselves.

I will humble those arrogant Israelite people who consider themselves strong,

as they watch their warring enemies ruin and pollute the sacred places in which they worshiped other gods.

25 Very soon, when Israel’s enemies terrify them,

they will desperately attempt to stop the violence,

but will be utterly unable to do so.

26 The people will suffer ceaseless catastrophes,

and rumors about other catastrophes will proliferate endlessly.

The Israelite people will beg Yahweh’s prophets to inform them of Yahweh’s desires and decisions,

but the priests will no longer teach people what Yahweh told his people in his instructions to Moses,

nor will the elderly give wise advice anymore.

27 Israel’s king will grieve,

and his son will feel such despair, as if he wore it like clothing;

everywhere in Israel, people will feel incapacitated by their horror.

I will do to the Israelite people what their lifestyles deserve;

I will legally evaluate and condemn them by their own legal standards.

Then, they will finally understand exactly who I am and what I am like—I am Yahweh!”

8 Sometime later, on the fifth day of the sixth month of the year—six years after the Babylonian army forcibly removed me from the land of Judah, along with King Jehoiachin and many others—I was sitting inside my house, and the elders of Judah were sitting in front of me. Right there, at that moment, the Sovereign Yahweh powerfully enabled me to see and proclaim his messages. 2 As I watched, I suddenly saw a humanoid figure resembling a blazing fire. I noticed that what seemed like his waist and below looked as if it were on fire. Above what seemed like his waist, the bodily form of this humanoid figure resembled the radiating glow of molten, white-hot metal. 3 Then, the blazing figure reached out what looked like a hand and grabbed me by a strand of hair at the top of my head. Then the wind of Yahweh’s Spirit lifted me up into the sky, so that I hovered between the earth and the sky. Then, in this vision from God, the wind carried me along to Jerusalem. I arrived at the gated entrance to the inner court of the temple—that is, the entrance that faces north. There, I saw a sculpted ritual statue of a god other than Yahweh. This seated idol incited impassioned jealousy within Yahweh. 4 Then, suddenly, in front of me, I saw the glorious brilliance that showed me that the God of Israel was there with me. It looked just like what I had seen several months before, when I was in the valley along the Kebar Canal.

5 Then Yahweh said to me, “Mortal human, look up now and gaze northwards.” So I looked up and gazed northwards. Then I could see that sculpted ritual image that incited impassioned jealousy within Yahweh, sitting in an area to the north of the gated entrance to the inner courtyard, through which one could see the altar on which priests entirely burned up meat sacrifices to Yahweh.

6 Then Yahweh said to me, “Mortal human, just look at what they are doing! The entire Israelite people are doing extraordinarily disgusting and inappropriate things here! They are alienating me from my own sacred temple! Still, you will soon witness things that are even more extraordinarily disgusting and inappropriate.”

7 Then Yahweh brought me to the entrance of the temple courtyard. When I looked, I noticed a hole in the north wall of the temple. 8 Yahweh said to me, “Mortal human, dig into the wall here.” So I started to dig into the wall, and suddenly an entrance appeared.

9 Then Yahweh said to me, “Go in through the entrance and witness the morally repulsive, disgusting things that people are doing inside my temple.” 10 So I went in and looked around. There, I saw that on every part of each wall of the room, someone had engraved depictions of every sort of ritually impure crawling animal imaginable, along with all kinds of disgusting animals, and depictions of every other god that the people of Israel worshiped by honoring ritual statues. 11 In front of all these engravings stood 70 of the elders of the Israelite people. Even Jaazaniah, the son of Shaphan, one of the military commanders of King Zedekiah, was standing among them! Each person was holding his own metal pan for ritually wafting the smoke of burning incense. As they stood, a thick aromatic cloud of incense smoke was rising up. 12 Then Yahweh said to me, “Mortal human, just look at what the elders of the Israelite people are doing in the dark—each one of them standing in an interior room full of engravings of his gods! They reason with themselves: ‘Surely, Yahweh cannot see us; he has left his home in the temple and vacated the land of Israel.’ ” 13 He continued, “Soon, you will witness again these people doing things that are even more extraordinarily disgusting and inappropriate.”

14 Then he brought me to the opening of the northern gated entrance of Yahweh’s temple. I suddenly noticed a group of women sitting there. They were weeping, performing a ritual lament that grieved for Tammuz, the deceased Mesopotamian god-king! 15 Then Yahweh said to me, “Mortal human, just look at this! Yet still, you will again witness things that are even more extraordinarily disgusting and inappropriate than this.”

16 He brought me into the interior courtyard of Yahweh’s temple. Suddenly, I noticed that there, at the very entrance of Yahweh’s temple, between the entrance’s porch and the altar in the middle of the interior courtyard, stood about 25 men. They had turned their backs to Yahweh’s temple and were instead facing east. I noticed that they were bowing low in an act of reverential worship to the sun, the manifestation of the god Shamash.

17 Then Yahweh said to me, “Mortal human, just look at this! Yet, these disgusting and inappropriate practices that the people of Judah are doing here, in my temple, are the least serious offense they have committed. Everywhere they live, these people behave violently, never ceasing to anger and grieve me. Yes, look! Their arrogant, violent crimes against one another openly insult and disrespect me, as if they were mockingly waving a stick in my face! 18 Therefore, I myself will behave angrily. I will not feel such tender sympathy for these people that I restrain my anger against them. Even when they desperately invoke me and shout my name, I will simply ignore them.”

9 Then I heard Yahweh shout, “You who perform public executions within the city of Jerusalem, approach! Arm yourselves with your lethal weapons.” 2 Suddenly, I noticed that six men were arriving from the direction of the upper gated entrance to the temple courtyard—that is, the one that faces north. Each one of them had armed himself with a deadly and destructive weapon. Among them stood one man who wore linen clothing, and he had strapped a writing kit to his waist, such as a scribe carries. They entered the temple courtyard and positioned themselves beside the bronze altar.

3 Then the glorious brilliance that showed that the God of Israel was with me ascended above the winged beings over which it had previously rested, and it moved to the very doorstep of Yahweh’s temple. Then Yahweh addressed the man who wore the linen clothing, who also had strapped the scribal writing kit to his waist. 4 Yahweh said to him, “Proceed throughout the city of Jerusalem. As you do, mark the foreheads of every person who laments and grieves all the disgusting and inappropriate things that the people are doing inside the city with the letter ‘X.’ ”

5 While I was listening, Yahweh said to the five other men, “Follow that man through the city and kill everyone he does not mark. Do not allow yourself to feel such compassion toward them that you restrain yourself from harming them. 6 Anyone you come across—old people, young people, or children—kill them all! But remember! You must not harm anyone whose forehead has the letter ‘X’ on it. Now, begin at my temple.” So they began with the elders who were prostrating themselves in worship of the sun in front of Yahweh’s temple.

7 Then Yahweh said to the five men, “Ritually desecrate my temple by filling its two courtyards with the dead bodies of the people you kill! Now, move out!” So they went out and started killing people in the city. 8 And so, as the six men went out killing, I remained there alone. I threw myself face down on the ground and exclaimed, “Oh, Sovereign Yahweh! Are you going to completely eradicate the Israelite people as you vent your anger against the people of Jerusalem? Those living in this city are all that remain of the Israelite people!”

9 He answered me, “The people of Israel and Judah have committed innumerable heinous injustices. Everywhere they live, these people behave violently, and this very city is brimming with corrupt and perverse people! After all, they speculate by saying, ‘Yahweh has left his home in the temple and vacated the land of Israel.’ They also reason with themselves, ‘Surely, Yahweh cannot see us.’ ” 10 Therefore, I myself also will not have such compassion for them that I restrain myself from justly punishing them. Instead, I will hold them accountable for their lifestyles.”

11 At that moment, the man who wore the linen clothing, who also had strapped the scribal kit to his waist, returned. He reported, “I have done exactly as you commanded.”

10 Then, as I continued to look on, I suddenly noticed that a shape appeared above the vaulted, crystalline dome that arched high over the heads of the four cherubim. It looked like a throne made of a very valuable blue stone. 2 Yahweh then spoke to the man who wore the linen clothing. He said, “Go to the spaces in between the whirling array of gyroscopic wheels that are under the cherubim. Take two handfuls of the live coals from the cherubim, and scatter them over the city of Jerusalem.” Then, as I watched, the man went.

3 Now, when the man went in to collect the live coals, the four winged cherubim were standing at attention on the south side of the temple, and a thick cloud suffused the temple’s inner courtyard. 4 Then, Yahweh’s glorious presence ascended over the four cherubim and repositioned itself to the doorway of Yahweh’s temple. The thick cloud suffused the temple, and the brilliant light that came from Yahweh’s glorious presence saturated the temple’s interior courtyard. 5 The noise that the cherubim’s wings generated when they advanced was so loud that people in the outer courtyard of the temple could hear it! It sounded like the speaking voice of the all-powerful God.

6 So, when Yahweh commanded the man who wore the linen clothing to procure live coals from among the whirling array of gyroscopic wheels, from among the winged cherubim, the man went and stood at attention beside one of the four wheels. 7 Then the winged cherubim beside whose wheel the man stood reached out his hand, moving it toward the fire that burned among the four cherubim. He picked up some of the live coals and put them into the two open hands of the man who wore the linen clothing. The man took them and left. 8 Now, it appeared that each cherubim possessed what resembled human hands underneath its four wings.

9 So I continued to watch. Once again, I noticed the four gyroscopic wheels that moved beside the winged cherubim. Each cherubim possessed a single gyroscopic wheel beside it. The wheels themselves appeared to glisten like the gleam of a fine topaz. 10 As for their appearance, all four wheels were identical: Each one resembled a gyroscope, made of a single wheel intersecting another wheel at a right angle. 11 Whenever they advanced, the gyroscopic wheels never moved in a circuitous manner. Instead, they always advanced straight forward in one of the four cardinal directions, corresponding to the direction that each of the faces of the four-faced cherubim looked. 12 The entirety of each cherubim—their bodies, their backs, their hands, their wings, and all four gyroscopic wheels—was completely covered with eyes. 13 I heard someone name the cherubim’s wheels “the whirling array of gyroscopic wheels.” 14 Now, each winged creature possessed four faces—first, a cherub’s face; then a human face; third, a lion’s face; and fourth, an eagle’s face.

15 Then the four cherubim ascended. (These were the same animate creatures that I had previously seen beside the Kebar Canal.) 16 When the winged cherubim advanced, their gyroscopic wheels advanced beside them. Similarly, when the winged cherubim extended their four wings in order to ascend from the ground—never turning about as they went—so also did their gyroscopic wheels remain beside them. 17 Whenever the cherubim stopped moving, their wheels also stopped. And whenever the creatures ascended, so too did their wheels ascend alongside them. This was because the gyroscopic wheels contained the creatures’ breath that gave them life.

18 Then, the brilliant light of Yahweh’s glorious presence advanced away from the doorway of Yahweh’s temple and halted above the winged cherubim. 19 Before my very eyes, the winged cherubim extended their four wings and ascended from the ground—their wheels ascending beside them as they advanced. Then the procession of Yahweh and the four cherubim paused at the doorway of the eastern gated entrance to Yahweh’s temple, and the brilliant and glorious presence of the very God of Israel hovered above the winged cherubim.

20 (Now, these were the same animate creatures that I had seen advancing underneath the God of Israel beside the Kebar Canal. I recognized them as the angelic beings that people call cherubim. 21 Yes, four—each of the cherubim possessed four faces and four wings, and underneath each of their wings, they possessed what resembled human hands. 22 As for the appearance of their faces—they looked as they did when I saw them alongside the Kebar Canal. Each of them advanced forward in the direction of one of their four faces—either north, south, east, or west.)

11 Then the wind of Yahweh’s spirit lifted me up and carried me to the eastern gated entrance of Yahweh’s temple. There, standing at the gate, I suddenly noticed 25 men. Among them, I recognized two public officials: Jaazaniah, the son of Azzur, and Pelatiah, the son of Benaiah.

2 Yahweh said to me, “Mortal human, these are the men who have made thinking about doing corrupt things a habit and consistently give the citizens of Jerusalem immoral and disastrous advice. 3 These men tell the people in their jurisdiction, ‘It is not the right moment to think about building houses. This city keeps us, its most honorable and divinely-favored officials, safe, just as a cooking pot conserves the choice meat that is inside it.’ 4 So, declare my prophetic pronouncements against them! Yes, prophesy, mortal human!”

5 Then Yahweh’s Spirit empowered me, and Yahweh told me to declare these words: “Here is what Yahweh has to say: Israelite people, you have been talking like this in public, but I, Yahweh, know exactly what you are thinking! 6 You have killed innumerable people in this city. Dead bodies lie everywhere on every street in Jerusalem!

7 Consequently, here is what the Sovereign Yahweh has to say: The corpses that you have strewn throughout this city are like the meat, and this city is like the cooking pot. But as for you—I will forcibly remove you from Jerusalem. 8 You are afraid of dying in the violent conflict of war. So I will dispatch the violent conflict of war against you. That is what I, the Sovereign Yahweh, declare. 9 I will forcibly remove you from this city, Jerusalem, and consign you to the authority of foreign empires. So I will execute my legal judgments against you. 10 Your armed enemies will kill you with their weapons. I will enforce my legal rulings against you within the tribal territories of the Israelite people. At that time, you will finally understand exactly who I am and what I am like—I am Yahweh! 11 This city, Jerusalem, will not preserve you the way a cooking pot conserves meat within it. To the contrary, I will execute my just verdicts against you within the tribal territories of the Israelite people. 12 At that time, you will finally understand exactly who I am and what I am like—I am Yahweh! It is my instructions and my norms that you have ignored and refused to live by. Instead, you have chosen to live by the norms of the other nations around you!’ ”

13 Then, as I was prophesying, Pelatiah son of Benaiah suddenly died. I threw myself down with my face to the ground and exclaimed with a shout, “O Sovereign Yahweh! You are going to completely eradicate the only Israelite people who remain alive!”

14 Then Yahweh gave me another message. He said, 15 “Mortal human, the people who yet live in the city of Jerusalem are making claims about you and your relatives—your closest family—and about all the rest of the Israelite people whom the Babylonians forcibly removed from Israel. Those left in Jerusalem claim, ‘Let those exiles remain far away from Yahweh. After all, Yahweh has conferred this land to us as our property.’

16 Consequently, inform them, ‘Here is what the Sovereign Yahweh has to say: Yes, I resettled the exiles among the nations far away and strewed them among the neighboring empires. Nonetheless, wherever they now live, I have been with them. I will lovingly protect them, as if I were a sacred refuge for them.’

17 Also inform them: ‘Here is what the Sovereign Yahweh has to say: When I bring all of you back from your exile among the non-Israelite peoples, and I regather you from the empires among which I scattered you, I will give you back the Israelite territory.’

18 Then those whom the Babylonians forcibly removed from Israel will return to their homelands. They will deface and destroy every detestable ritual statue and every disgusting and indecent idol, entirely removing them from the Israelite territory. 19 At that time, I will unify the entire Israelite people so that they feel, think, and live together in harmony. It will be as if they all have one mind! I will also revive and empower the Israelite people with a new desire to live as I want them to. It will be as if I have given them a new life! I will change the arrogant, stubborn, and ineffective ways they used to feel, think, and live. In their place, I will enable the Israelite people to deeply desire to feel, think, and live as I want them to. It will be as if I removed a dead, rocky heart from them and put a living, responsive heart in its place. 20 This unified mind and renewed life that I will give to the Israelite people will enable them to carefully live their lives by practicing the norms and instructions that I disclosed to them. When this happens, you, Israelite people, will finally and truly live as my special people, and I myself will belong to you as the only God that you worship, love, and trust. 21 Yet, those Israelite people who devote themselves to worshiping other gods by honoring their detestable ritual images and their disgusting and indecent idols—I will hold them accountable for their life choices. That is what I, the Sovereign Yahweh, declare.”

22 Then the winged cherubim raised their four wings, with their gyroscopic wheels beside them, while the brilliant light of the glorious presence of Israel’s God hovered above them. 23 Then, Yahweh’s glorious presence rose from where it had been hovering in the middle of Jerusalem. It halted above the mountain on the eastern side of the city. 24 At that moment, as the Spirit of God showed me what he wanted me to see, the wind of Yahweh’s Spirit raised me up and brought me back to the domains of the Babylonian empire, where the Israelite exiles were currently living.

25 Then I began to tell the Israelite exiles everything that Yahweh had shown me.

12 Then Yahweh spoke another message to me. He said, 2 “Mortal human, you live amidst the Israelite people, who reject my authority and openly defy me! They may have eyes that can see, but the people refuse to perceive their actions the way I do. They may have ears that can hear, but the people refuse to heed my messages to them. After all, these people reject my authority and openly defy me!

3 As for you, mortal human—you must prepare a bag in which you would pack your belongings should an enemy army capture you and forcibly remove you from your homeland. During the daytime, you should act as though enemy armies were forcibly removing you from your home, and, as these people watch, you should travel to another place. Even though these people reject my authority and openly defy me, perhaps your symbolic actions will help them to finally see their actions the way that I do. 4 When it is daytime, you should bring the bag you prepared out of your house while they watch, like an exile would if an enemy army forcibly removed him from his home. But then, as the people continue to watch, you should leave your home in the evening, just as an exile would. 5 Next, as they watch, you must begin to dig a hole through the wall of your house and carry the bag you prepared out through the hole. 6 While they continue to watch, you should hoist your bag onto your shoulder. Then, when it becomes twilight, carry it out through the hole you dug. As you come out of the hole in your wall, you must cover your face so that you are unable to see the land. I want you to perform these symbolic actions because I have made you into an object lesson that will teach the Israelite people.”

7 So I did exactly what Yahweh commanded me to do. In the daytime, I brought the bag that I prepared out of my house, just as an exile might do. Then, in the evening, I used my hands to dig myself a hole in the wall of my house. When it became twilight, I hoisted my bag onto my shoulder and, as the Israelite exiles watched, I carried it back out of my house through the hole in the wall.

8 The next morning, Yahweh spoke this message to me: 9 “Mortal human, as you performed those symbolic actions, the Israelite people—those who reject my authority and openly defy me—have inquired about what you are doing.

10 So, tell them, ‘Here is what the Sovereign Yahweh has to say: This heavy bag that I carry on my shoulder represents Zedekiah, the current illegitimate ruler of Jerusalem, and all the Israelite people who live in Jerusalem. They are a weighty burden.’ 11 Tell them, ‘Let my symbolic actions teach you something that Yahweh wants you to understand. Notice what I have done. The same thing will happen to the citizens of Jerusalem: Their enemies will march them out of Jerusalem as exiles and prisoners.’

12 Yes, Zedekiah, the illegitimate ruler of the citizens of Jerusalem, will hoist a bag onto his shoulder when it becomes twilight, and he will leave the city. This will happen as the armies of Israel’s enemies dig a hole through the walls of Jerusalem, which they will create to carry Zedekiah out through it. As he departs, the false king will cover his face so that he does not see the place that he is leaving. 13 However, I will trap and capture Zedekiah, as if I caught him in a hunting trap. Then, I will bring him to the city of Babylon, where the Babylonian people live (but he will never see that place, because the Babylonians will blind him). In that place, Zedekiah will die. 14 I will disperse his entire retinue in every direction—his advisors and all his military troops. I will dispatch enemy soldiers with swords to hunt them.

15 Then, when I forcibly relocated them among the many nations and empires, they will all finally understand exactly who I am and what I am like—I am Yahweh! 16 Yet, I will allow a few of them to survive the violence of war, the fatal lack of food, and the wasting infectious diseases. As a result, when they settle among the nations where their enemies relocate them, they will report all the disgusting and indecent things that they once did. When this happens, the people who hear these reports will finally understand exactly who I am and what I am like—I am Yahweh!”

17 Yahweh spoke another message to me. He said, 18 Mortal human, you should tremble with fear while you eat your food, and shudder anxiously while you drink your water. 19 Tell the people of the regions of Israel: ‘Here is what the Sovereign Yahweh has to say to those who still live in Jerusalem about the land in Israel: They will be anxious while they eat their food, and they will tremble in devastated horror while they drink their water. After all, Israel’s enemies will devastate the land by destroying every kind of crop that grows in Israel. This will happen because everyone who lives in the Israelite regions continues to harm one another violently. 20 Israel’s enemies will raze Israel’s cities in which people live until they are nothing but ruins, and the land itself will become an empty, devastated wasteland. Then, those who remain alive in the Israelite regions will finally understand exactly who I am and what I am like—I am Yahweh!.’ ”

21 Yahweh spoke another message to me. He said, 22 Mortal human, the people who remain alive in Israel keep repeating this saying about the Israelite regions: ‘The days go by, but nothing that the prophets declared in their divine visions ever happens.’ 23 So tell them, ‘Here is what the Sovereign Yahweh has to say: I am making this colloquial saying irrelevant and no longer true. The Israelite people will never again speak it.’ However, also inform them, ‘Soon, everything that the prophets have declared in their divine visions will happen! 24 From now on, no prophet among the Israelite people will declare deceitful visions that they fabricated, nor will they read divine messages from nature only to flatter people with positive messages. 25 Surely I, Yahweh, still speak! And I will accomplish what I have spoken! It will happen exactly when I declare that it will. Yes, while you—you Israelite people who reject my authority and revolt against me—are still alive, I will accomplish what I have spoken. That is what I, the Sovereign Yahweh, declare.’ ”

26 Then Yahweh spoke another message to me. He said, 27 Mortal human, pay attention! Notice how the Israelite people keep remarking, ‘The prophetic messages that this man, Ezekiel, sees in his divine visions concern events far into the future. Surely, he is proclaiming prophetic messages that only pertain to generations who live after us!’

28 So, tell them, ‘Here is what the Sovereign Yahweh has to say about that: The things that I have spoken about will happen now, exactly when I declared that they will! Yes, I am about to accomplish what I have spoken. This is what I, the Sovereign Yahweh, declare!’ ”

13 Yahweh gave me another message. He said, 2 “Mortal human, speak my prophetic messages against those Israelite prophets who speak authoritatively to the people. Some of them tell people things that they have contrived as if I said them! Tell them: ‘Listen to what Yahweh really says! 3 Here is what the Sovereign Yahweh has to say to you: How terrible it will be for those senseless prophets who authoritatively speak like my prophet but only heed their own ideas without having received any messages from me! 4 Israelite people, the prophets who advise you and speak to you have become useless and predatory—like ravenous jackals that scavenge among the ruins of a city. 5 Like masons who fail to repair the cracks in deteriorating defensive walls, you prophets have done nothing to protect your people! You have not prepared the Israelite people to survive the coming destruction that will occur when I, Yahweh, besiege and destroy Jerusalem! 6 The messages that these prophets purport to have received from me are deceitful and fraudulent! Every divine insight they provide is nothing but a lie! Sure, they claim, “This is what Yahweh has declared.” Yet, I did not send them to you! Nevertheless, they fully expect that their contrived prophetic declarations will happen! 7 Isn’t this true? You prophets purport to have received prophetic messages from me, but they are deceitful and fraudulent! You prophets claim to provide divine insight, but it is all lies! You prophets claim, “This is what Yahweh has declared,” but I never spoke to you!

8 So, here is what the Lord Yahweh has to say: You prophets have only spoken deceitfully and fraudulently! You have lied when you reported messages that you said came from me! Consequently, pay attention! I am now your enemy. That is what I, the Sovereign Yahweh, declare. 9 I will work against you prophets who deceitfully and fraudulently claim to receive messages from me and who falsely claim to provide divine insight.

You will no longer be a part of the community of my people, Israel.

No one will record your names in the civil register of the Israelite people,

nor will you ever return to the territories of Israel.

When all this happens, you false prophets will finally understand

exactly who I am and what I am like—I am the Sovereign Yahweh!

10 I am the enemy of these false prophets principally because they intentionally deceive my people, Israel, by proclaiming, “Everything is well!” when nothing is well! It is as though the Israelite officials have built a rickety wall without the proper mortar. Then, rather than expose the faults in the walls that the officials have poorly constructed, these false prophets daub the rickety wall with white plaster to make it look stable. 11 Tell those prophets—the ones who, by falsely declaring that all is well, daub the Israelite official’s rickety wall with white plaster—that their wall will soon collapse! It will fall apart under the strain of the flooding rainstorms, the falling hailstones, and the violent windstorms that I, Yahweh, am about to unleash! 12 When your wall collapses, people will surely ask you, false prophets, “What happened to the white plaster that you daubed on it?”

13 So here is what the Sovereign Yahweh has to say to you, false prophets: I am angrily unleashing violent windstorms, furiously unloading flooding rainstorms, and irately dispatching falling hailstones to obliterate that rickety wall. 14 I will raze the wall that you daubed with plaster. I will level it to the ground so that everyone can see its foundation. It will collapse, and you will die alongside it. When all this happens, you false prophets will finally understand exactly who I am and what I am like—I am Yahweh! 15 That is how I will vent my anger against the Israelite officials’ wall and against those false prophets who daubed it with white plaster. At that time, I will say to you, “Your wall is gone, and so are those who daubed it with plaster—16 those false Israelite prophets who proclaim authoritative prophetic messages about the citizens of Jerusalem and claim to receive divine declarations from me that all would be well for the city, when nothing will be well!” That is what I, the Sovereign Yahweh, declare.’

17 Now, mortal human, turn toward the Israelite women who feign to speak authoritatively to the people. Some of these women tell people things that they have contrived as if I said them! Declare my prophetic messages against them. 18 Tell them, ‘Here is what the Lord Yahweh has to say: How terrible it will be for you women who manufacture magic bands to fasten on people’s wrists, who craft magic talismans that you encourage people of all sizes to wear over their heads! You do these things not to help people but to ensnare and harm them! Yes, you attempt to ensnare my people, Israel, and harm them. But I will ensnare and harm you! 19 You have debased me in my people’s perceptions—and all in exchange for a few handfuls of barley and a few scraps of bread! By lying to my people, who heed your lies, you have murdered people who should not have died, and you have rescued people who should not have lived.

20 So, here is what the Sovereign Yahweh has to say: Witness me! I am now an enemy to your magic bands, which you use to ensnare people as though they were birds. I will rip those magic bands off your forearms, and I will release the people whom you attempt to ensnare and harm like birds. 21 I will also rip off your magic talismans and thereby deliver my people, Israel, from your control. No longer will you dominate and harm them, as though they were birds that you hunted for sport. Then, you false prophetesses will finally understand exactly who I am and what I am like—I am the Sovereign Yahweh! 22 You have demoralized honest and integrous people by lying to them—even though I myself did nothing to cause them emotional pain! You have also encouraged dishonest and immoral people! As a result, these people did not stop their corrupt behavior—or else they would have stayed alive. Because of these actions, 23 you will no longer claim to receive deceitful and fraudulent messages from me or provide divine insight to people! Instead, I will deliver my people, Israel, from your control. Then, when all this happens, you false prophetesses will finally understand exactly who I am and what I am like—I am Yahweh!.’ ”

14 One day, some of the elders of the Israelite people came to me and sat down in front of me. 2 Then Yahweh gave me this message: 3 Mortal human, these elderly men have devotedly committed themselves to their ritual statues. They have fixed their attention on those idols, which has caused them to behave immorally! Why are these men asking me what to do? They certainly have no right to ask me for advice! 4 So, tell them: ‘Here is what the Sovereign Yahweh has to say: Any Israelite could devotedly commit himself to his ritual statues and fix his attention on those idols that cause him to behave immorally. But whenever such a person then comes to one of Yahweh’s prophets to request advice from me, I, Yahweh, will answer him myself—in such a way that his extensive worship of innumerable idols deserves! 5 I will answer them in this way so that I may capture the devoted attention and affection of the Israelite people—all of whom have alienated themselves from me by worshiping other gods through their ritual statues.’

6 Consequently, tell the Israelite people, ‘Here is what the Sovereign Yahweh has to say: Repent! Stop worshiping your idols, and stop all your other disgusting and indecent practices!’ 7 Any Israelite, or any foreigner living among the Israelite people, could ritually dedicate himself to another god and disavow me and then begin to commit himself devotedly to his ritual statues and fix his attention on those idols that cause him to behave immorally. But whenever such a person then comes to one of Yahweh’s prophets and asks him for my insight, I, Yahweh, will answer him personally. 8 I will become that man’s enemy and oppose him. I will make what happens to him a warning to others and something that people talk about in their proverbs. I will make that person an outcast from the Israelite people. Then, when all this happens, my people, Israel, will finally understand exactly who I am and what I am like—I am Yahweh!.

9 But a prophet may foolishly allow the deceitful idol-worshiper to lure him to speak authoritatively on my behalf. If this happens, then I, Yahweh, have lured that prophet into behaving foolishly. I will use my power to obliterate him and ostracize him from my people, the Israelites. 10 I will hold accountable both the prophet and the person who asks him for my insight. Yes, I will consider them equally guilty. 11 I will do this so that the Israelite people will remain devoted to me, no longer straying away from me. They will no longer rebel against me in such a way that makes them ritually unfit to worship me. They will be my people, and I will be their God. That is what I, the Sovereign Yahweh, declare.’ ”

12 Then Yahweh gave me another message. He said, 13 “Mortal human, suppose a group of people disloyally betray their promises to me and so act sinfully. Suppose I used my power against them, and I crippled their food supply on which they rely, and so caused the conditions for a fatal lack of food among them. Suppose I caused the deaths of many people and animals there 14 If that were to happen, even if the most virtuous and honest people imaginable lived among those people—men like Noah, Daniel, and Job—those men’s virtuous actions could not abate my destruction against the people. Their virtuous actions would only save themselves. That is what I, the Sovereign Yahweh, declare.

15 Or suppose I sent rampaging animals throughout the homeland of those people. Suppose the wild animals attacked and killed so many people that those who survived deserted the region, and no one traveled through it because of those animals. 16 I, Yahweh, swear by myself that even if those three men lived in that region—even though they are the most virtuous and honest people you can imagine—they would not be able to prevent the deaths of even their own sons or daughters. Only those three men would remain alive, while the entire region would become ruinous and desolate. That is what I, the Sovereign Yahweh, declare.

17 Or suppose I dispatched the armed forces of an enemy empire against that region. Suppose I proclaimed, ‘May enemy soldiers bring their swords and wage war throughout the region!’ and then that they murdered both people and animals there. 18 I, Yahweh, swear by myself that even if those three men lived in that region, they would not be able to prevent the deaths of even their own sons or daughters. Yes, those three men alone would remain alive. That is what I, the Sovereign Yahweh, declare.

19 Or suppose I discharged a fatal infectious disease throughout that region and vented my anger against those people, so as to cause the deaths of many people and animals there. 20 I, Yahweh, swear by myself that even if the most virtuous people imaginable lived in that region—men like Noah, Daniel, and Job—they would not be able to prevent the deaths of even their own sons or daughters. Their virtuous actions would only save themselves. That is what I, the Sovereign Yahweh, declare.

21 So this is what I, the Sovereign Yahweh, say: It will be far worse for the citizens of Jerusalem! I will cause the deaths of both people and animals in Jerusalem when I unleash all four of my calamitous punishments: Armed soldiers will murder some with their swords, a fatal lack of food in the city will kill some, raging wild animals will kill others, and lethal infectious diseases will kill still others. 22 But pay attention! Some of the citizens of Jerusalem will survive these disasters. Watch for them! I will take the survivors out of the city, both sons and daughters, and they will travel to you in exile in the Babylonian Empire. When you observe their lifestyles and how they have conducted themselves, you will feel relief about all the calamities that I unleashed against the city of Jerusalem. 23 When you observe the lifestyles of those survivors and how they have conducted themselves, you will feel relieved. You will understand that everything that I did to Jerusalem was well-motivated. That is what I, the Sovereign Yahweh, declare.”

15 Yahweh gave me another message. He said, 2 “Mortal human, what do people do with the woody stock of grapevines—that is, with the vine branches that people find growing among forested trees? 3 No one uses the woody stock from a grapevine to make anything useful. No one even makes a peg with it on which to hang things!. 4 Pay attention! They simply burn it as fuel for fires. The fire burns both ends and eventually destroys even its middle. It is good for nothing else! 5 Think about it! Even when the grapevine branch was still in one piece, no one made anything useful with it. So, now that the fire has burned it up, certainly no one will use it to make anything useful!

6 So this is what I, the Sovereign Yahweh, say: The citizens of Jerusalem will suffer the same fate as the woody stock of the grapevine—the ones that people find growing among the forested trees, which they use as fuel for fires. 7 I have become their enemy. Even though the people who currently live in Jerusalem have escaped destruction before, the coming disasters will annihilate them. When I act as their enemy, you who live in exile in the Babylonian Empire will finally understand exactly who I am and what I am like—I am Yahweh! 8 I will transform the land into a desolate and ruinous wasteland—all because these people disloyally betrayed their promises to me. That is what I, the Sovereign Yahweh, declare.”

16 Yahweh gave me another message. He said, 2 “Mortal human, inform the citizens of Jerusalem of the disgusting and illicit things that they have done. 3 Tell them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Yahweh has to say to you citizens of Jerusalem: Imagine that this city and those who live in it were a woman. Her ancestry was Canaanite, from the regions where the Canaanites lived. Your father was ethnically Amorite, and your mother was ethnically Hittite. 4 Imagine your birth story: On the day your mother gave birth to you, no one cut your umbilical cord; no one bathed you to ritually cleanse you, and no one rubbed you with salt or swaddled you in cloths. 5 No one who saw you felt enough empathy for you to do any of those things for you or to spare you from your condition. Instead, on the day she gave birth to you, your mother despised you so much that she threw you out into an open field.

6 Then I came across you and witnessed you floundering in your own spilt blood. As you lay there, helpless in your blood, I said to you, ‘Live! Yes, live!’ 7 I caused you to flourish like a sprouting plant growing in a field. You grew tall and came to a marriageable age, wearing the finest jewelry. Your body matured, and your hair grew long. However, you were still completely naked.

8 Later, when I came across you, I looked at you again. I noticed that you were now old enough to marry. So I covered your naked body with the edge of my clothing to demonstrate that I would marry you and protect you. I made a solemn promise to you and entered into a marriage covenant with you, and you became my wife. That is what I, the Sovereign Yahweh, declare.

9 Then I bathed you, washed the blood off you, and rubbed olive oil onto your skin. 10 Then I dressed you in colorful embroidered clothing and strapped leather sandals to your feet. I outfitted you in fine linen and clad you in silken cloth. 11 I adorned you with fine jewelry: I fastened bracelets on your wrists and a chain necklace around your neck. 12 I gave you a nose ring and earrings and placed a beautiful crown on your head. 13 So you wore gold and silver jewelry, and you dressed in the finest linen clothing, silken cloth, and colorful embroidery. Your food comprised the finest flour, honey, and olive oil. So, you became exceedingly beautiful, and you became a queen. 14 You gained a reputation for being so exceedingly beautiful that people in other nations heard about you. After all, the magnificent radiance that I, your husband, had given you made you perfectly beautiful. That is what I, the Sovereign Yahweh, declare.

15 Yet, your beauty made you self-assured. You used your international renown to act like a prostitute. You freely offered illicit sexual favors to every man you came across, and they enjoyed your beautiful body. 16 You used some of your beautiful clothing to make yourself gaudy, decorated shrines. On them, you behaved like a prostitute. Yes, you had illicit sex with men, and they enjoyed your beautiful body. 17 You also used the beautiful gold and silver jewelry that I had given you to fashion ritual statues with male anatomy, and you had illicit sexual relations with them. 18 You took your embroidered clothes and clothed your ritual statues with them, and you placed my oil and my incense as votive offerings in their presence. 19 You also took the food that I gave you— the fine flour, olive oil, and honey that I fed you—and you presented it in the presence of those ritual statues as pleasingly aromatic votive offerings. That is exactly what happened. That is what I, the Sovereign Yahweh, declare.

20 You even took your sons and your daughters, the children that you had borne to me, and you sacrificed them as food to those idols. Was your prostitution such a small matter to you, 21 that you also butchered my children and burned them alive as offerings to those ritual statues? 22 All the while, when you were committing these disgusting, heinous actions and prostituting yourself, you never once remembered your birth story, when you were completely naked, floundering in your own blood!

23 How terrible it will be for you! That is what I, the Sovereign Yahweh, declare! So, after you did all those heinous acts, 24 you constructed a domed building for yourself and erected lofty shrines in every public square. 25 At every street intersection, you constructed your lofty shrine. So you made your once-beautiful body abominable, offering yourself to every man you came across. So, more and more, you behaved like a prostitute. 26 Then you even had illicit sex with the Egyptians, your well-endowed neighbors, and so you acted more and more like a prostitute, never ceasing to anger and grieve me. 27 So I acted powerfully against you and reduced your apportioned rations. So I let the Philistine people do what they wanted with you. They despised you, and yet your obscene behavior embarrassed them! 28 You also had illicit sexual relations with the Assyrian people because you were insatiable. You behaved like a prostitute with them, and yet even then you could not satisfy your desires! 29 So, you behaved more and more like a prostitute, reaching all the way to the territories of the Babylonian Empire! Yet even that did not satisfy your desires!

30 How weak-willed you are! You love the wrong things! That is what I, the Sovereign Yahweh, declare. You did all these things, acting like an impudent prostitute who does whatever she wants. 31 When you constructed your domed brothel at every street intersection and erected your lofty shrines in every public square, you were not even like an ordinary prostitute, because you refused to accept payment.

32 You are an unfaithful wife, who prefers strangers to her own husband! 33 Prostitutes usually receive gifts from men, but you gave your gifts to all your lovers; you bribed them to come to you from all around to have illicit sexual relations with you! 34 So as you behaved like a prostitute, you were the opposite of other women. No man solicited you; instead, you paid them, and they did not pay you. In this way, you were the exact opposite of a normal prostitute!

35 So then, you prostitute, heed Yahweh’s message! 36 This is what the Sovereign Yahweh says: You lustfully offered yourself and exposed your naked body in your illicit sexual relations with your lovers. Furthermore, you crafted your disgusting and indecent ritual statues, and you offered those idols the blood of your own children! 37 Because of this, I am summoning all your lovers, the ones you found so attractive—everyone you loved, along with everyone you hated. I will assemble them against you from all around, and I will strip you naked in front of them so that they will see you completely naked. 38 I will execute against you the legal sentence reserved for women who commit adultery and women who murder. I will sentence you to an angry and impassioned, bloody death. 39 I will let your enemies dominate you: They will demolish your brothels and smash your lofty places. They will strip off your clothes and take your beautiful jewelry, and they will leave you completely naked. 40 They will bring a mob against you. Then, they will stone you to death and cut your body into pieces with their swords. 41 They will burn down your houses and execute their judgments against you while many women watch. I will put an end to your prostituting behavior, and you will no longer pay your lovers. 42 Then I will vent my fury against you, and my jealous passion will leave you alone. I will calm myself down and cease being angry.

43 Because you did not remember your birth story, but instead you infuriated me with all these deeds, I hereby declare that I will hold you accountable for your behavior. That is what I, the Sovereign Yahweh, declare! You have added this obscene behavior to all your other disgusting and indecent practices!

44 Now, pay attention! Everyone who quotes proverbs will quote this proverb about you: ‘The daughter is just like her mother.’ 45 You are truly your mother’s daughter. She abhorred her husband and her children. You are also just like your sisters. They abhorred their husbands and their children. After all, your mother was ethnically Hittite, and your father was ethnically Amorite! 46 Now, your older sister is named Samaria. She resides with her daughters to the north of you, citizens of Jerusalem. Your younger sister is named Sodom. She resides with her daughters to the south of you. 47 You did not merely practice their lifestyles or do the disgusting things they did. Instead, in a surprisingly short while, in all your habits and practices, you became even more corrupt than they ever were! 48 I swear by myself that is what I, the Sovereign Yahweh, declare: Your sister Sodom and her daughters never did what you, Jerusalem, and your daughters have done.

49 Take note! This is how corrupt your sister Sodom was: She and her daughters were arrogant; they had plenty of food and lived comfortably at ease, but they never helped those who were poor or needy. 50 They were arrogant and did disgusting and illicit things in my presence. So, when I saw what they were doing, I forcibly removed them from my presence. 51 As for Samaria, she did not commit even half the sins that you committed. You have done so many more disgusting and illicit things than either Samaria or Sodom did, so that your abominable acts have made your sisters appear righteous! 52 So now you must feel the emotional disgrace of having interceded for your sisters. Your sins, which were far more disgusting and illicit than theirs, have made your sisters appear more righteous than you! So you also must be ashamed and feel the disgrace of having made your sisters, Sodom and Samaria, appear righteous.

53 Nevertheless, I will restore the well-being of your sisters—that of Sodom and her daughters, and of Samaria and her daughters—and I will restore your well-bring along with theirs, 54 so that you will feel humiliated and ashamed of all that you did when your disgusting behavior consoled your sisters. 55 I will restore all of you—your sisters, Sodom and her daughters, Samaria and her daughters, and you and your daughters as well—to the kind of life you enjoyed before you suffered my punishments. 56 When you were arrogant, you would not even mention your sister Sodom. 57 But that was before I exposed your own corrupt and depraved behavior. Now, you are just like your sister Sodom! The people of Aram and all her neighbors, and the Philistines all around you, mock you and despise you! 58 You yourself have suffered the consequences of your obscene behavior and your disgusting, illicit practices. That is what I, Yahweh, declare.

59 So, this is what the Sovereign Yahweh says: When you abrogated the covenant you made with me, you showed no respect for your solemn promises. I will deal with you as these actions deserve. 60 Yet I myself will uphold and fulfill the solemn promise that I made with you when you were young. Yes, I will make a promise with you that will never end. 61 Then you will recall what you once did and feel humiliating shame when you reconcile with your sisters, both those older than you and those younger than you. I will present them to you as your daughters, but not because of my covenant with you. 62 So I myself will make my solemn promise with you. When this happens, you will finally understand exactly who I am and what I am like—I am Yahweh! 63 I will do this so that you will recognize all that you have done and feel ashamed. When I forgive you for all that you have done and restore our relationship, your disgrace will cause you to never again open your mouth to speak. This is what I, the Sovereign Yahweh, declare.’ ”

17 Yahweh gave me another message. He said, 2 Mortal human, tell this ambiguous story to the Israelite people. 3 Tell them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Yahweh says:

There once was a huge eagle with powerful wings and long feathers of many colors.

It flew to Lebanon and grasped the top of a cedar tree.

4 It broke off the topmost of its young branches

and carried it away to the Canaanite territories.

The eagle set it down in a city of vendors.

5 Then it took some of the seed of that land

and planted it in a fertile field,

in a slip beside abundant water.

He planted it there like one plants a willow tree.

6 That seed sprouted

and became a low, spreading vine.

Its tendrils grew toward the eagle,

and its roots extended down beneath it.

So it became a vine that produced woody branches

and put out canes.

7 There was another huge eagle with powerful wings and many feathers.

Now, the spreading vine bent its roots toward this second eagle.

From the garden bed where it grew,

the vine stretched out its tendrils toward the eagle,

hoping that it would give the vine more water.

8 The first eagle had planted the vine-plant in a fertile field

that ran along flowing water

so that it could grow woody canes

and produce fruit

and become a splendid vine.’

9 Then say, ‘This is what the Sovereign Yahweh says:

This vine will clearly not flourish!

Someone will rip up its roots

and strip off its fruit,

so that it wilts and dies.

All its fresh new leaves will wilt and die.

(And it will not take a strong arm

or many people to pull it up by its roots!)

10 Now, consider this:

Even though the eagle planted it,

it will clearly not flourish!

When the hot east wind blows on it,

it will entirely wither and die.

Yes, it will wither away,

right in the garden bed where it once grew.’ ”

11 Then Yahweh gave me this message: 12 “Ask those Israelite people who continually revolt against me, ‘You do not understand what this ambiguous story means, do you?’ Tell them, ‘Remember: The Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar came to Jerusalem, captured the Judahite king Jehoiachin and his public officials, and brought them back to himself in Babylon. 13 Then he took one of the royal family—Jehoiachin’s uncle, Zedekiah—and made a royal treaty with him, coercing him to swear a solemn oath. He also forcibly removed the most powerful local rulers of Jerusalem, 14 so that the Judahite kingdom would remain weak and unable to revolt against him. Instead, it could survive only by honoring its treaty with the Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar. 15 However, the man whom the Babylonian king set up, Zedekiah, revolted against Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian Empire. Zedekiah dispatched his messengers to Egypt, to Pharoah Hophra, so that the Egyptian Empire would equip him with horses and many soldiers. Clearly, Zedekiah will not flourish! He who does such things will certainly not survive! Zedekiah disregarded the treaty he made with the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar, so he will clearly not survive!

16 I swear by myself that Zedekiah will die in Babylon, in the city of the king who made him king, whose oath he disregarded and whose treaty he violated. This is what I, the Sovereign Yahweh, declare! 17 Hophra, the king of Egypt, will not employ his massive army to fight alongside Zedekiah in the battle when the Babylonian Empire constructs a siege ramp and erects siege walls to kill many people. 18 Zedekiah, the so-called king of Judah, showed no respect for his oath to Nebuchadnezzar and broke the treaty he had made. Make note: He made a solemn promise, yet he did all these things. So, he will clearly not survive!

19 So, this is what the Sovereign Yahweh says: I swear by myself that the oath to Nebuchadnezzar that Zedekiah disregarded, he swore in my name! And the covenant he violated was with me! I will repay him for these actions! 20 I will ensnare Zedekiah and capture him, like an animal that a hunter traps with a net. I will forcibly bring him to Babylon, and there I will execute my legal sentence against him for disloyally betraying his promises to me. 21 With their swords, Babylonian soldiers will murder every one of Zedekiah’s soldiers who flees in the battle, and those who survive will disperse in every direction. When all this happens, you will recognize that I, Yahweh, have spoken!’

22 This is what the Sovereign Yahweh says: ‘I myself will remove a shoot from the top of a tall cedar tree, and I will plant it. I will break off a newly grown, green twig from the topmost of its young shoots, and I myself will plant it on a towering mountain. 23 I will plant that newly grown green twig on the highest mountain of Israel, where it will grow woody branches and bear fruit and become a magnificent, wide cedar tree. Birds of every kind will nest under it; every kind of winged animal will live in the shade of its branches. 24 Then every tree in the field will finally understand exactly who I am and what I am like—I am Yahweh! I fell tall trees and cause small trees to grow tall; I dry up green trees and make dry trees flourish. I am Yahweh—I have spoken, and I will certainly do it!’ ”

18 Then Yahweh gave me another message. He said, 2 “What do you people mean when you quote this proverb about the land of Israel? You say,

‘The parents ate sour grapes,

but it was their children who got the sour taste in their mouths.’

3 I swear by myself that you, Israelite people, will no longer quote that proverb in Israel. That is what I, the Sovereign Yahweh, declare! 4 Pay attention! All lives are mine—parents and their children alike. It is the person who sins who will die.

5 Suppose there is a virtuous, honest person

who does what is just and honest.

6 He does not eat meat that people have sacrificed to ritual statues at the shrines on Israel’s hilltops,

nor does he pray to the idols that the Israelite people worship.

He does not defile another man

’s wife, nor does he have sexual relations with a woman during her monthly period of menstruation.

7 He does not extort anyone.

When he borrows money from someone and the person gives him something as collateral for repayment,

he gives that item back to the lender.

He does not steal from anyone.

Instead, he gives his food to hungry people

and gives his clothing to people who have no clothes.

8 When he lends someone money,

he does not charge interest

or engage in usury.

He refuses to do what is immoral or corrupt.

Instead, he judges honestly between one person and another.

9 He carefully acts according to my regulations

and lives faithfully by heeding my norms.

In this case, people should consider this person righteous.

He will surely continue to live!

That is what I, the Sovereign Yahweh, declare.

10 But suppose that such a virtuous and honest man has a violent son, who murders people. Then that son does any of these evil things to other people—11 all the things that his father never did:

He eats meat that people have sacrificed to ritual statues at the shrines on Israel’s hilltops;

he defiles another man’s wife.

12 He extorts people who are poor and helpless.

He steals from people,

and, when he borrows money from someone and the person gives him something as collateral for repayment,

he refuses to return that item to the lender.

He prays to the idols that the Israelite people worship

and commits other disgusting and illicit things.

13 When he lends someone money, he charges

interest and engages in usury.

Such a person will surely not go on living!

Because he has done all these disgusting and illicit things,

people must execute him

and hold him responsible for his own death.

14 But pay attention! Suppose that such a violent man has a son who witnesses all the sins that his father commits, considers them, but does not do such things.

15 He does not eat meat that people have sacrificed to ritual statues at the shrines on Israel’s hilltops,

nor does he pray to the idols that the Israelite people worship.

He does not defile another man’s wife;

16 He does not extort anyone.

When he borrows money from someone and the person gives him something as collateral for repayment

, he gives that item back to the lender.

He does not steal from anyone.

Instead, he gives his food to hungry people

and gives his clothing to people who have no clothes.

17 He refuses to do what is immoral or corrupt.

When he lends someone money, he does

not charge interest or engage in usury.

He lives in a way that heeds my norms

and carefully acts according to my regulations.

In this case, such a person will not die because of his father’s sins;

he will surely go on living!

18 But as for his father, pay attention! He will die because of his own depraved behavior. After all, he extorted people, stole from his relatives, and generally did what is wrong among his people.

19 But you retort, ‘Why would the virtuous son not suffer for the wrong that his father did?’ I answer: The son has done what is just and honest and has carefully lived his life according to all my regulations. For this reason, he will surely go on living! 20 The person who sins is the one who will die. A son will not suffer what his father’s corrupt actions deserve, nor will a father suffer what his son’s corrupt actions deserve. Righteous people will enjoy the consequences of their righteous behavior, and wicked people will suffer the inevitable outcomes of their wicked behavior.

21 But suppose that a wicked person stops doing all the sinful things that he once did and begins to carefully live his life according to all my regulations and do what is just and honest. If this happens, this once-wicked person will surely go on living! I will not put him to death. 22 I, Yahweh, will not treat him according to any of the rebellious things that he once did. Instead, he will go on living because of the virtuous and honest things that he now does. 23 Indeed, I do not enjoy it when wicked people die. I do not want them to die! That is what I, the Sovereign Yahweh, declare. So, when they stop behaving wickedly, they will go on living. 24 But suppose a righteous person stops doing what is virtuous and honest and begins to behave corruptly and to do the same disgusting, illicit things that wicked people do. That once-righteous person will certainly not go on living! I will not treat him according to any of the righteous things that he once did. Instead, he will die because he has disloyally betrayed his promises to me and has committed many sins.

25 But you retort, ‘The Lord’s conduct is not fair!’ Listen to this, you Israelite people: It is not what I do that is unfair; rather, it is what you do that is unfair! 26 If a righteous person stops doing what is right and honest and commits sins, he will die because of the sins that he committed. 27 But if a wicked person stops doing wicked things and does what is just and honest, he will save his own life. 28 Because he witnessed all his sinful actions and stopped revolting against me, he will surely go on living; he will not die. 29 But you people of Israel say, ‘The Lord does not act fairly.’ You people of Israel, it is not my ways that are unfair; rather, it is your ways that are unfair.

30 Therefore, Israelite people, I, Yahweh, will judge each one of you according to what you have done. Repent, and stop all your rebellious behavior, so that your sins will not cause you to die! This is what I, the Sovereign Yahweh, declare! 31 Stop revolting against me. Remove your rebellious behavior as if it were garbage to throw away! Change the way you think and the way you live. Israelite people, there is no reason for you to die! 32 I do not enjoy it when any person must die! So repent so that you might live! This is what I, the Sovereign Yahweh, declare!”

19 Yahweh said to me, “Lament over the ruling officials of Israel. 2 Say this to the Israelite people:

‘Imagine—your mother was such a lioness;

she lay herself among male lions

and bore more and more cubs surrounded by young, virile lions.

3 She reared one of her cubs until he was a virile lion,

teaching him to hunt and kill wild animals;

he even learned to kill and eat people!

4 When people from other nations learned about him,

they captured him in a pit.

They put hooks on him

and dragged him away to Egypt.

5 The young lion’s mother waited for him to return,

but she was utterly disappointed when he never came back.

So she reared another one of her cubs,

and made him into another virile lion.

6 He prowled among the other lions,

and he too became a virile lion.

He learned to hunt and kill wild animals,

and he even killed and ate people!

7 He consorted with his widows,

and he razed cities into ruins.

When he roared,

everyone who lived in the land ran away.

8 But then people from the surrounding nations

arrayed themselves against from every province.

They spread their net over him;

they trapped him in a pit.

9 They shut him in a cage,

They put hooks on him

and dragged him away to the king of Babylon.

They locked him in a prison

so that the people on the mountains of Israel

would never again hear him roar.

10 Imagine—your mother was like a flourishing, verdant vine

that somebody planted beside flowing water.

Because there was plenty of water,

she had many canes and produced many grapes.

11 It had strong, woody branches,

suitable to become a ruler’s scepter.

It towered high overhead,

into the very clouds,

and people could see how tall it was

and how full it had become.

12 However, Yahweh became so angry that he pulled the vine up by its roots

and flung it down to the ground.

A hot east wind dried up its fruit,

The vine’s strong branches broke off;

they dried up,

and a fire burned them up.

13 Now, Yahweh has transplanted that vine—your mother—

in a desert, in a dry and arid region.

14 A fire has spread out from the stem of its shoot,

which has burned up all its fruit.

So now, no strong branch remains on it—

no branch that could become a ruler’s scepter.’

This is a lament, and people will indeed sing it to grieve for the Israelite people.”

20 In the seventh year after the Babylonians took King Jehoiachin and the rest of us away to Babylonia, on the tenth day of the fifth month, some of the elders of Israel came to ask Yahweh what they should do, and they sat down in front of me. 2 Then Yahweh gave me this message. He said, 3 “Mortal, speak to the elders of Israel and tell them that this is what I, the Lord Yahweh, say: ‘So you have come to ask me what you should do! As surely as I am alive, I refuse to let you ask me anything. That is what I, the Lord Yahweh, declare.’

4 Mortal, you must judge those elders! Yes, you must condemn them. Make them realize how detestable the things were that their ancestors did. 5 Tell them that this is what I, the Lord Yahweh, say: ‘When I chose Israel to be my people, I solemnly swore to the descendants of Jacob that I would help them, and I revealed myself to them while they were in the land of Egypt. I solemnly swore to them, “I am Yahweh your God.” 6 At that same time I solemnly promised them that I would bring them out of the land of Egypt into a land that I had searched out for them, a very productive land. That land was the most beautiful of all lands. 7 I said to them, “Every one of you must throw away the disgusting idols that you look at and desire, and you must not make yourselves unclean by worshiping the idols of Egypt. I am Yahweh your God.” 8 But they rebelled against me and refused to obey me. Not one of them threw away the disgusting idols that they desired, and they did not abandon the idols of Egypt. So I said that I would punish them severely there in the land of Egypt until I was no longer angry with them. 9 But I did not do that, because I wanted to protect my reputation. I did not want the nations among whom my people were living to despise me, since those nations had watched me reveal myself to my people when I brought them out of the land of Egypt.

10 So I brought them out of the land of Egypt and led them into the wilderness. 11 I told them what I commanded them to do, and I taught them how I had decided they should live; anyone who obeys these things will live by them. 12 I also gave them my Sabbath days as a sign between me and them, so that they would know that I, Yahweh, am the one who sets them apart to belong to me. 13 But the people of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness. They did not obey my laws, and they rejected my rules, even though anyone who obeys them will live by them; and they completely dishonored my Sabbath days. So I said that I would punish them severely in the wilderness and destroy them there. 14 But I did not do that, because I wanted to protect my reputation. I did not want the nations who had watched me bring my people out of Egypt to despise me. 15 I also solemnly swore to them in the wilderness that I would not bring them into the land that I had given them, that very productive land, the most beautiful of all lands. 16 I swore that because they rejected my rules and did not obey my laws and dishonored my Sabbath days. They did all this because they wanted more than anything to worship their idols. 17 But I pitied them and did not destroy them; I did not wipe them out completely in the wilderness.

18 I said to their children in the wilderness, “Do not follow the laws that your parents followed, and do not obey their rules, and do not make yourselves unclean by worshiping their idols. 19 I am Yahweh your God. Obey my laws, and carefully keep my rules and do what they say. 20 Honor my Sabbath days as holy, and they will serve as a sign between me and you, so that you will know that I am Yahweh your God.” 21 But their children also rebelled against me. They did not obey my laws, and they did not carefully keep my rules and do what they say, even though anyone who obeys them will live by them; they dishonored my Sabbath days. So I said that I would punish them severely in the wilderness until I was no longer angry with them. 22 But I held back from punishing them, because I wanted to protect my reputation. I did not want the nations who had watched me bring my people out of Egypt to despise me. 23 I also solemnly swore to them in the wilderness that I would scatter them everywhere among the nations of many lands, 24 because they did not obey my rules and they rejected my laws and dishonored my Sabbath days, and because they longed to worship the idols that their ancestors had worshiped. 25 So I let them follow practices that were not good and rules by which they could not live. 26 I let them make themselves unclean by the gifts they offered, when they sacrificed their firstborn children in the fire. I did that in order to horrify them, so that they would know that I am Yahweh.’

27 Therefore, Mortal, speak to the people of Israel and tell them that this is what I, the Lord Yahweh, say: ‘Here is yet another way that your ancestors insulted me: they acted unfaithfully toward me. 28 I brought them into the land that I had solemnly promised to give to them. But whenever they saw a high hill or a leafy tree, they offered their sacrifices there. They presented offerings there that made me angry, they burned offerings there that gave off a pleasing smell, and they poured out their wine offerings there. 29 So I asked them, “What is this high place that you keep going to?” To this day people call such places Bamah, a name that means “high place.” ’

30 Therefore, tell the people of Israel that this is what I, the Lord Yahweh, say: ‘You are making yourselves unclean in the same way that your ancestors did, and you are being unfaithful to me by worshiping their detestable idols. 31 When you present your gifts and sacrifice your children in the fire, you make yourselves unclean by worshiping all your idols; you are still doing this today. So I will certainly not let you ask me anything, you people of Israel. As surely as I am alive, I refuse to let you ask me anything. That is what I, the Lord Yahweh, declare. 32 What you are thinking will never happen. You are saying, “We want to be like the other nations, like the peoples of other lands, who worship idols of wood and stone.”

33 As surely as I am alive— this is what I, the Lord Yahweh, declare— I will rule over you with my great power, and I will show you how angry I am. 34 With my great power I will bring you out from the peoples and gather you from the lands where I scattered you, and I will show you how angry I am. 35 I will bring you into a desert that lies among the other nations, and there I will judge you in person. 36 I will judge you just as I judged your ancestors in the desert near the land of Egypt. That is what I, the Lord Yahweh, declare. 37 I will count each of you as you pass by, and I will require you to obey the covenant that I made with you. 38 I will remove from among you those who rebel and sin against me. I will bring them out of the lands where they have been living as foreigners, but they will never enter the land of Israel. Then you will know that I am Yahweh. 39 As for you, people of Israel, this is what I, the Lord Yahweh, say: If you refuse to listen to me, then go ahead and worship your idols, every one of you! But afterward you will surely listen to me, and you will never again dishonor my holy name by offering your gifts to your idols.

40 For on my holy mountain, Zion, the high mountain of Israel— this is what I, the Lord Yahweh, declare— all the people of Israel, every one of them, will worship me there in the land. There I will accept them, and there I will require you to bring me your contributions and the best of your gifts, along with all your holy offerings. 41 I will be pleased with you and accept you when I bring you out from the peoples and gather you from the lands where I scattered you. Then the nations will watch what I do among you and will recognize that I am holy. 42 You will know that I am Yahweh when I bring you into the land of Israel, the land that I solemnly swore to give to your ancestors. 43 There you will remember how you behaved and all the deeds by which you made yourselves unclean, and you will hate yourselves for all the evil things that you did. 44 You will know that I am Yahweh when I act toward you in order to protect my reputation, and not according to how evil and corrupt your behavior has been, you people of Israel. That is what I, the Lord Yahweh, declare.’ ”

45 Yahweh gave me another message. He said, 46 “Mortal, turn and face toward the south. Speak out against the southern region, and prophesy against the forest land in the Negev. 47 Say to that forest in the Negev, ‘Listen to the message that Yahweh is sending you! I, the Lord Yahweh, am about to start a fire in you, and it will burn up every tree in you, both the green trees and the dry ones. No one will put out that blazing fire, and it will scorch everyone from the south to the north. 48 Then everyone will see that I, Yahweh, started that fire, and no one will put it out.’ ” 49 Then I said, “Oh, Lord Yahweh! People are saying about me, ‘He is only telling us parables!’ ”

21 Yahweh gave me another message. He said, 2 “Mortal, turn and face toward Jerusalem. Speak out against the temple there, and prophesy against the people who live in the land of Israel. 3 Say to the land of Israel that this is what I, Yahweh, say: ‘I am your enemy! I am about to send an army against you, and it will kill both righteous people and wicked people among you. 4 Because I am going to kill both righteous people and wicked people among you, I will send that army against everyone who lives in your land, from the south of it to the north. 5 Then everyone will know that I, Yahweh, sent that army, and I will not call it back until it has finished.’

6 So then, Mortal, groan out loud! Groan with deep anguish and bitter grief while the people of Israel are watching you. 7 When they ask you, ‘Why are you groaning?’ you must answer, ‘I am groaning because of the news that is coming. When people hear it, all of them will lose their courage; they will grow weak and terrified, and they will no longer have the strength to do anything. That disaster is surely coming, and it will certainly happen.’ That is what I, the Lord Yahweh, declare.”

8 Yahweh gave me another message. He said, 9 “Mortal, prophesy and tell the people that this is what I, the Lord, say:

‘Someone has sharpened a sword;

yes, he has sharpened it and polished it until it shines.

10 He sharpened it in order to slaughter many people;

he polished it so that it gleams brightly.

We have no reason to celebrate!

This sword despises every wooden rod, even the royal scepter of my son Judah.

11 Someone polished this sword

so that a warrior could grip it in his hand.

Someone sharpened it and polished it,

in order to hand it over to the man who will do the killing.

12 Mortal, cry out and wail loudly,

because this sword will attack my people and all the leaders of Israel!

I have handed my people and their leaders over to die by that sword.

So slap your hand against your thigh to show how horrified you are.

13 I am putting my people to the test,

and the royal power of Judah, which despises my warnings, will surely come to an end.

That is what I, the Lord Yahweh, declare.’

14 So then, Mortal, prophesy, and clap your hands together to show that I have decided to punish them.

Let that sword strike them again and again, a third time.

It is the sword that kills people; it is the sword that slaughters great numbers of them, closing in on them from every side.

15 I am doing this so that they will lose their courage and so that many of them will stumble and fall.

At the gates of all their cities I have stationed men who hold gleaming swords.

How terrible this is! Someone made that sword to gleam brightly; someone made it ready to slaughter people.

16 That sword will slash to the right and then to the left,

wherever the men who hold it point its blade.

17 I myself will clap my hands to show that I have finished judging them,

and then I will no longer be angry.

I, Yahweh, have spoken.”

18 Yahweh gave me another message. He said, 19 “Mortal, draw a map that shows two roads for the army of the king of Babylon to march along. Both roads must start out from the same country. Then, at the place where the road divides, carve a signpost shaped like a hand that points toward each city. 20 Mark one road for that army to travel to the city of Rabbah, where the people of Ammon live, and mark the other road for it to travel to Judah, to the city of Jerusalem, which has strong walls around it. 21 The king of Babylon will stop where the road divides, at the place where the two roads begin, and there he will try to learn what will happen by using magic. He will shake marked arrows and see which one falls out; he will ask his household idols what to do; and he will examine the liver of an animal that he has killed. 22 His fortune-telling will point to Jerusalem, so he will attack that city. He will set up battering rams, which are huge logs for smashing down walls; he will give the order to kill the people; his soldiers will shout the battle cry. They will set up battering rams against the city gates, they will pile up a ramp of dirt against the walls, and they will build siege walls around the city. 23 The people in Jerusalem will think that his fortune-telling means nothing, because they had sworn oaths of loyalty to him. But he will remind them of the sins they committed when they broke those oaths, and his soldiers will capture them.

24 So then, tell the people of Israel that this is what I, the Lord Yahweh, say: ‘You have reminded everyone how guilty you are, because you have openly rebelled, and everything that you do shows how sinful you are. Since you have reminded everyone of your guilt, your enemies will seize you with their own hands and take you away.’

25 As for you, wicked and ungodly king of Israel, your time has come; the time has arrived for me to punish you and to put an end to your sinning. 26 This is what I, the Lord Yahweh, say: ‘Take off the turban and remove the crown! Nothing will remain as it is now. I will make important those who are unimportant, and I will make unimportant those who are important. 27 I will completely ruin the city of Jerusalem! No one will rebuild it until the one comes who has the right to rule it; then I will hand the city over to him.’

28 Mortal, prophesy and say that this is what I, the Lord Yahweh, say about the people of Ammon and about how they insulted my people. Say to them, ‘Soldiers have drawn out their swords to slaughter people; they have polished those swords in order to destroy people, and the blades gleam brightly. 29 Your fortune-tellers saw false visions about you and told you lies when they practiced their magic. But those swords will cut off the heads of you wicked and ungodly people. Your time has come; the time has arrived for me to punish you and to put an end to your sinning. 30 Soldiers of Ammon, put your swords back into their sheaths! I will judge you in the very place where I created you, in the land you came from. 31 I will show you how furious I am with you. Because I am extremely angry, I will punish you severely, and I will hand you over to brutal men who are experts at destroying people. 32 Fire will completely destroy you. You will die violently there in your own land. No one will ever remember you again, for I, Yahweh, have spoken.’ ”

22 Yahweh gave me another message. He said, 2 “Mortal, you must condemn the city of Jerusalem, the city where people murder one another. Tell the people who live there about all the detestable things that they have done. 3 Say to them that this is what I, the Lord Yahweh, say: ‘You people of this city murder one another, and by doing that you have brought closer the time when I will punish you. You have also made idols for yourselves, and by doing that you have made yourselves unacceptable to me. 4 You have become guilty because you have murdered people, and you have made yourselves unacceptable to me because you have made idols. You have caused the time of your punishment to come very soon; the years that I appointed for you have now arrived. That is why I have caused the people of other nations to insult you and people in every land to laugh at you. 5 People who live near you and people who live far away from you will all mock you, because your reputation is disgraceful and because your city is full of turmoil.

6 Think about how every one of the leaders of Israel who lives in your city has used his own power to murder people. 7 The people in your city treat their fathers and mothers with contempt. They oppress the foreigners who live among them, and they mistreat orphans and widows. 8 You despise the things that belong to me, and you dishonor my Sabbath days. 9 Some men in your city tell lies about others so that judges will sentence those people to death. Some of your people eat food that they have offered to idols at the shrines on the hilltops. Others among you commit shameful sexual sins. 10 Some men in your city have sexual relations with their fathers’ wives. Others force women to have sexual relations with them during their monthly periods. 11 One man commits adultery with his neighbor’s wife. Another man disgracefully has sexual relations with his daughter-in-law. Another man forces his own half sister, his father’s daughter, to have sexual relations with him. 12 Some men in your city accept bribes so that judges will sentence innocent people to death. You charge excessive interest when you lend money, and you make yourselves rich by forcing your neighbors to pay you. Worst of all, you have forgotten me. That is what I, the Lord Yahweh, declare.

13 So I have struck my hands together to show how angry I am about the money that you have gained dishonestly and about the people whom you have murdered in your city. 14 You will not stay brave, and you will not have the strength to resist, when the time comes for me to punish you. I, Yahweh, have said this, and I will certainly do it. 15 I will scatter you among many nations and send you away into many countries, and I will put an end to the sinful things that you do. 16 You will bring disgrace on yourselves while the people of other nations watch. Then you will know that I am Yahweh.’ ”

17 Yahweh gave me another message. He said, 18 “Mortal, the people of Israel have become worthless to me. All of them are like the bronze and tin and iron and lead that people throw into a furnace. They have become like the worthless slag that remains after metalworkers purify silver. 19 So this is what I, the Lord Yahweh, say: ‘Because all of you have become as worthless as that slag, I am going to gather all of you together inside Jerusalem. 20 People gather silver and bronze and iron and lead and tin into a furnace and blow on the fire in order to melt them. In the same way, because I am extremely angry with you, I will gather you together inside that city and leave you there, and it will be as though I am melting you. 21 Yes, I will gather you together, and because I am furious with you, it will be as though I blow a hot fire on you, and you will melt inside that city. 22 Just as silver melts inside a furnace, so you will melt inside that city. Then you will know that I, Yahweh, have punished you severely because I was furious with you.’ ”

23 Yahweh gave me another message. He said, 24 “Mortal, say to the people of Israel, ‘You live in a land whose guilt I have not yet taken away. No rain falls on it during the time when I show how angry I am. 25 Your prophets have plotted together against you. They savagely destroy people’s lives. They seize treasures and other valuable things, and they murder many men, so that their wives become widows. 26 Your priests twist what my law says, and they treat the things that belong to me as though those things were ordinary. They do not distinguish between what is holy and what is ordinary, and they do not teach people the difference between what is clean and what is unclean. They deliberately ignore my rules about the Sabbath days. By doing all these things, they dishonor me among the people. 27 Your officials viciously attack the people who live among them. They murder people in order to make a profit for themselves. 28 Your prophets try to cover up what those officials do. They claim to see visions, but what they see means nothing, and they lie when they predict what will happen. They say, “This is what the Lord Yahweh says,” but I have not spoken to them. 29 The ordinary people in the land oppress others and rob them. They mistreat people who are poor and needy, and they treat the foreigners who live among them unjustly. 30 I searched among all those people for someone who would defend the land and plead with me on its behalf, so that I would not destroy it. However, I did not find anyone. 31 So I have shown them how angry I am with them, and because I was furious I have completely destroyed them. I have made them suffer the punishment that their own behavior deserves. That is what I, the Lord Yahweh, declare.’ ”

23 Yahweh gave me another message. He said, 2 “Mortal, listen to this story There were two women who were daughters of the same mother. 3 While they lived in Egypt, they were unfaithful to me; even while they were young, they worshiped other gods. It was as though, while they were young women there, men fondled their breasts and caressed their young bodies. 4 The older woman’s name was Oholah, and her sister’s name was Oholibah. It was as though they both became my wives, and they gave birth to sons and daughters. Oholah represents the city of Samaria, and Oholibah represents the city of Jerusalem. 5 However, Oholah was unfaithful to me while she was still my wife. She lusted after her lovers, the Assyrians who lived near her, 6 men who wore expensive blue clothing. They were governors and commanders, all of them handsome young men who rode on horses. 7 She offered herself to all of them, the finest men of Assyria. She lusted after every one of them, and she made herself unacceptable to me by worshiping all their idols. 8 She never gave up the promiscuous ways that she had begun in Egypt, where men had had sexual relations with her when she was young. They caressed her young body and freely satisfied their lust with her. 9 So I handed her over to the power of her lovers, the Assyrians, whom she had desired so much. 10 Those men themselves stripped her naked and shamed her publicly. They took away her sons and her daughters, and they killed her with a sword. Women everywhere talked about her, because those men had punished her severely.

11 Her sister Oholibah saw all this, yet she desired men even more shamefully than her sister had, and she behaved even more promiscuously than her sister. 12 She lusted after the Assyrians— governors and commanders who lived near her, men who wore splendid uniforms and rode on horses, all of them handsome young men. 13 I saw that she had made herself unacceptable to me; both sisters behaved the same way. 14 Oholibah behaved even more promiscuously. She saw pictures of men that artists had carved on a wall— images of Babylonians that they had painted bright red. 15 Those men wore belts around their waists and turbans with long ends hanging from their heads. They all looked like the chariot officers of Babylonia, their homeland. 16 As soon as she saw them, she lusted after them, and she sent messengers to them in Babylonia. 17 So the Babylonians came to her and had sexual relations with her, and by their promiscuity they made her unclean. After she had made herself unacceptable to me in that way, she became disgusted with them and turned away from them. 18 She openly flaunted her promiscuous behavior and shamelessly displayed her naked body. So I became disgusted with her and turned away from her, just as I had turned away from her sister. 19 Yet she became even more promiscuous, remembering the days when she was young, when she was unfaithful to me and worshiped the gods of Egypt. 20 There she lusted after her Egyptian lovers, men whose sexual organs were like those of donkeys and whose emission of semen was like that of horses. 21 So you, Oholibah, longed to behave as lewdly as you did when you were young, when the Egyptians caressed your young body and fondled your breasts.

22 So then, Oholibah, this is what I, the Lord Yahweh, say: ‘I am about to stir up your lovers to attack you— the very men you became disgusted with and turned away from. I will bring them against you from every direction. 23 They are the Babylonians and all the people of Babylonia, along with the men of Pekod and Shoa and Koa, and all the Assyrians with them. They are all handsome young men— governors and commanders, chariot officers and men of high rank, all of them riding on horses. 24 They will attack you with weapons, with chariots and wagons, and with a great army from many nations. They will surround you, carrying large shields and small shields and wearing helmets. I will let them decide how to punish you, and they will punish you according to their own customs. 25 Because you betrayed me and I am furious, I will let them treat you cruelly. They will cut off your noses and your ears, and those of you who survive will die by the sword. They will take away your sons and your daughters, and fire will destroy those of you who remain. 26 They will strip off your clothes and take away your beautiful jewelry. 27 In this way I will put an end to your lewd behavior and to the promiscuous ways that you began in Egypt. You will no longer look longingly at those things, and you will not think about Egypt anymore.’

28 This is what I, the Lord Yahweh, say: ‘I am about to hand you over to the people you hate, the ones you became disgusted with and turned away from. 29 They will treat you hatefully and take away everything that you worked hard to gain. They will leave you completely naked, so that everyone will see plainly how promiscuous and lewd you have been. 30 They will do these things to you because you were unfaithful to me and chased after other nations, and because you made yourself unacceptable to me by worshiping their idols. 31 You have behaved just as your sister behaved, so I will make you suffer the same punishment that she suffered.’

32 This is what I, the Lord Yahweh, say: ‘You will suffer the punishment that your sister suffered. It will be as though you drink from a cup that is deep and wide and holds a great amount. People will laugh at you and mock you. 33 I will make you as helpless as a drunk person, and I will fill you with sorrow, because the punishment that your sister Samaria suffered horrified people and left her land empty. 34 You will endure that punishment completely, down to the very last of it, and you will suffer such agony that you will tear at your own body. I, Yahweh, have said this. That is what I, the Lord Yahweh, declare.’

35 So this is what I, the Lord Yahweh, say: ‘Because you have forgotten me and completely rejected me, you yourself must suffer the consequences of your lewd and promiscuous behavior.’ ”

36 Yahweh gave me another message. He said, “Mortal, you must judge Oholah and Oholibah. Tell them about the detestable things that they have done. 37 They have committed adultery, and they are guilty of murdering people. They have been unfaithful to me by worshiping idols, and they have even sacrificed in the fire the sons that they bore for me, giving those children to their idols as food. 38 They have also done this to me: on that same day they made my temple unclean, and they dishonored my Sabbath days. 39 On the very day when they slaughtered their children as sacrifices to their idols, they came into my temple, and by doing that they dishonored it. That is what they did right inside my temple.

40 They even sent messengers to invite men who lived far away, and those men came. For them you bathed yourself, painted your eyes, and put on your jewelry. 41 You sat on a splendid couch, and in front of it someone had set a table on which you placed the incense and the olive oil that belonged to me. 42 A noisy, carefree crowd surrounded her. Along with the ordinary men in that crowd, people brought in drunken men from the wilderness, and those men put bracelets on the two women’s wrists and beautiful crowns on their heads. 43 Then I said about that woman, who had worn herself out with her many adulteries, ‘Now they will treat her as a prostitute, and she will go on being unfaithful.’ 44 Men went to her and had sexual relations with her as men do with a prostitute. That is how they treated both Oholah and Oholibah, those shameless women. 45 However, righteous men will condemn them and sentence them the way people sentence women who commit adultery and women who murder others, because these women have committed adultery and are guilty of murder.

46 This is what I, the Lord Yahweh, say: ‘I will bring a mob against them, and I will let that mob terrify them and plunder their possessions. 47 That mob will throw stones at them and cut them to pieces with their swords. They will kill their sons and their daughters and burn down their houses. 48 In this way I will put an end to lewd behavior in the land, and I will warn all other women, so that they will not behave as lewdly as you have behaved. 49 You people will suffer the consequences of your lewd behavior, and you will bear the guilt of the sins that you committed by worshiping idols. Then you will know that I am the Lord Yahweh.’ ”

24 In the ninth year after the Babylonians took us people of Israel away to Babylonia, on the tenth day of the tenth month, Yahweh gave me a message. He said, 2 “Mortal, write down today’s date, this very day, because on this very day the king of Babylon has surrounded Jerusalem with his army in order to attack it. 3 Tell a parable to these people who continually rebel against me. Say to them, ‘This is what the Lord Yahweh says: Put a cooking pot on the fire, and pour water into it. 4 Put pieces of meat into the pot, all the best pieces— the thigh and the shoulder. Fill the pot with the finest bones. 5 Take the best sheep from the flock, and pile bones under the pot for fuel. Boil the meat thoroughly until the bones inside the pot have cooked as well.

6 So then, this is what the Lord Yahweh says: How terrible it will be for Jerusalem, the city where people murder one another! That city is like that pot, whose thick rust stays inside it and never comes off. Take the pieces of meat out of the pot one piece at a time; do not cast lots to decide which pieces to take out, because none of them will remain. 7 The people of that city murdered others, and the blood of the people whom they killed is still there. They spilled that blood on bare rock; they did not pour it out on the ground, where dust would have covered it. 8 I am the one who caused the blood of those murdered people to remain on the bare rock, where no one could cover it, so that I would become very angry and pay those people back for what they did.

9 So this is what the Lord Yahweh says: How terrible it will be for that city where people murder one another! I myself will pile the firewood high under that pot. 10 Pile on more wood and light the fire! Cook the meat until it is done, and boil the broth well, and let the fire burn up the bones. 11 Then set the empty pot on the coals until it becomes very hot and its bronze glows red. Then the fire will melt away everything that is filthy inside it and destroy all its rust. 12 That city has worn itself out with all its efforts, but its thick rust still would not come off, not even when the fire burned it. 13 Jerusalem, the rust in that pot represents the shameful things that you have done. I tried to make you stop sinning, but you refused to stop. So you will remain sinful until I have finished punishing you in my anger. 14 I, Yahweh, have spoken. The time when I will punish you is coming, and I will certainly do what I have said. I will not hold back, I will not pity you, and I will not change my mind. I will punish you as you deserve for the way you have lived and for the things that you have done. That is what I, the Lord Yahweh, declare.’ ”

15 Yahweh gave me another message. He said, 16 “Mortal, listen! I am about to take away from you your wife, the one whom you love to look at. She will die suddenly. However, you must not mourn for her or weep, and you must not let your tears flow. 17 Groan quietly; do not mourn out loud for your dead wife. Keep your turban wrapped on your head and your sandals on your feet, and do not cover the lower part of your face, as mourners do. Do not eat the food that friends bring to those who are mourning.” 18 So one morning I spoke to the people, and that evening my wife died. The next morning I did what Yahweh had commanded me to do. 19 Then the people said to me, “Tell us what these things mean for us, the things that you are doing.” 20 So I said to them, “Yahweh gave me this message. 21 He told me to say to you people of Israel that this is what he, the Lord Yahweh, says: ‘I am about to allow enemies to destroy my temple and make it unholy, the building that you are so proud of, the building that you love to look at and that you cherish deeply. Also, the sons and daughters whom you left behind in Jerusalem will die in battle. 22 Then you will do what Ezekiel has done: you will not cover the lower part of your faces, and you will not eat the food that friends bring to those who are mourning. 23 You will keep your turbans on your heads and your sandals on your feet. You will not mourn or weep, but you will slowly weaken and die because of the sins that you have committed, and you will groan to one another. 24 Ezekiel is a warning to you; you will do everything that he has done. When all this happens, you will know that I am the Lord Yahweh.’ ”

25 Yahweh also said to me, “Mortal, on the day when I take away from those people the temple that made them feel safe and strong, the beautiful building that made them rejoice, the building that they delighted to look at and longed for, I will also take away their sons and their daughters. 26 On that day, someone who escapes from Jerusalem will come to you and tell you what has happened there. 27 At that time I will enable you to speak again; you will talk with that man, and you will no longer remain silent. In this way you will be a warning to your people, and they will know that I am Yahweh.”

25 Yahweh gave me another message. He said, 2 “Mortal, turn toward the land where the people of Ammon live to show that you oppose them, and prophesy against them. 3 Tell them that they must listen to my message. This is what I, the Lord Yahweh, say: ‘You shouted in triumph when the Babylonians defiled my temple, when they ruined the land of Israel, and when they took the people of Judah away to Babylonia. 4 So I am about to hand you over to the peoples who live in the desert east of you, and they will take your land as their own. They will set up their camps in your territory and pitch their tents there. They themselves will eat the fruit that grows in your land, and they will drink the milk from your herds. 5 I will turn your capital city, Rabbah, into a pasture for camels, and I will turn the rest of the land of Ammon into a resting place for sheep. Then you will know that I am Yahweh.

6 This is what I, the Lord Yahweh, say: You clapped your hands and stamped your feet to celebrate, and you gloated because you utterly despised the land of Israel and everyone who lived there. 7 So I am about to use my power to punish you. I will let other nations carry you off as plunder. I will destroy you completely, so that you no longer exist as a people in any land. Then you will know that I am Yahweh.’

8 This is what I, the Lord Yahweh, say: ‘The people of Moab and the people of Seir said that the people of Judah were no different from all the other nations. 9 So I am about to leave Moab’s frontier defenseless. I will destroy the cities that guard its border, the finest cities in that land: Beth Jeshimoth, Baal Meon, and Kiriathaim. 10 Along with the land of the people of Ammon, I will give Moab’s territory to the peoples who live in the desert to the east, and they will possess it. I will do this so that the nations will no longer remember that the people of Ammon ever existed. 11 I will also punish the people of Moab. Then they will know that I am Yahweh.’

12 This is what I, the Lord Yahweh, say: ‘The people of Edom took revenge on the people of Judah. By taking such cruel revenge on them, the people of Edom became deeply guilty. 13 So this is what I, the Lord Yahweh, say: I will use my power to punish the people of Edom. I will destroy both the people and the animals that live there. I will ruin their land completely, from Teman all the way to Dedan, and their enemies will kill them with swords. 14 I will take revenge on the people of Edom by using my people Israel to do it. They will punish the people of Edom, and in doing so they will show how furiously angry I am with them. Then the people of Edom will know that I have taken revenge on them.’ That is what I, the Lord Yahweh, declare.

15 This is what I, the Lord Yahweh, say: ‘The Philistines took revenge on the people of Judah. Because they utterly despised my people, they took revenge in order to destroy them, for they had hated my people for a very long time. 16 So this is what I, the Lord Yahweh, say: I am about to use my power to punish the Philistines. I will destroy the Cherethites, and I will wipe out everyone who still lives along the seacoast. 17 I will take terrible revenge on them by punishing them in my fury. Then, when I take revenge on them, they will know that I am Yahweh.’ ”

26 It was almost eleven years after the Babylonians had taken the Israelites to their land, on the first day of the month, Yahweh gave me another message. He said to me, 2 “Son of man, the people of the city of Tyre shouted joyfully and they said about Jerusalem, ‘Jerusalem, the city from which traders went to many nations, is now destroyed. Now people from all over the world will come to us to buy and sell things. We will prosper because Jerusalem has now been ruined!’ 3 Therefore, this is what I, Yahweh the Lord, say: ‘I am now your enemy, you people of Tyre. I will cause the armies of many nations to come and attack your city, as the waves of the sea beat against the shores. 4 Their soldiers will destroy the walls around Tyre and tear down your towers. The city will be completely destroyed. Then they will scrape away the rubble and cause the city to become a bare rock. 5 Out in the sea, the part of your city that is on an island will become a place where men spread their fishing nets to dry them. That will surely happen because I, Yahweh the Lord, have predicted it: People from many nations will carry off everything of value in your city. 6 The people in small villages on the coast near Tyre—your enemies will kill them with their swords. Then people will know that I, Yahweh, have the power to do what I say that I will do.’

7 This is what I, Yahweh the Lord, say is going to happen: From the north, I am going to bring the most powerful king in the world, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, with his army to attack Tyre. They will bring horses and chariots, and men who ride the horses and men who drive the chariots; it will be a huge army. 8 In the battles in the small villages on the coast, their soldiers will kill many people with their swords. Then they will build up walls outside the city of Tyre. They will build a dirt ramp up to the top of the wall, and they will all hold up shields to protect themselves from arrows being shot from the ground. 9 The king will direct the soldiers who operate the rams to batter the wall, and those who will use iron bars to tear down the towers in the wall. 10 The king will have a huge number of horses, and the stamping of their hooves will raise dust to cover the whole city. It will be as though the walls tremble because of the noise made by the horses, the supply wagons, and the chariots when they enter the city where the enemy has broken down the walls. 11 The horses will trample all of the streets of the city with their hooves. The soldiers will kill the people with their swords; they will cause the monuments that celebrated their strength to collapse. 12 They will take away all the people’s valuable possessions and steal the things that the merchants sell. They will tear down the walls of the houses and destroy their fine houses. Then they will throw into the sea the stones from the walls of those houses and the timber and the rubble. 13 No longer will the people sing noisy songs or play their harps. 14 They will cause the city to become a bare rock and only a place where men spread their fishing nets. And the city will never be rebuilt.’ ” Those things will certainly happen because the Lord Yahweh has declared that they will happen.

15 This is also what the Lord Yahweh says about the people of Tyre: When the people in Tyre groan because the enemy has wounded them, when many people die, and when the enemy destroys the city, the people living along the coast will tremble because they are afraid. 16 Then all the kings in the cities along the coast will step down from their thrones and lay aside their robes and their embroidered clothes. They will be terrified, and they will sit on the ground, trembling. They will be shocked because of what has happened to the city of Tyre. 17 Then they will sing a sad song about the city, like this:

‘The famous city, in which many men who sailed on the seas lived,

is now no more!

The people of that city had great power as they sailed, but now they are at the bottom of the sea;

they terrified all the people living near them.

18 But now everyone living along the coast is terrified because the enemy has destroyed the great city.

It is as though the land along the coast itself were trembling;

the people on the islands in the sea are terrified because that city exists no more.’

19 This is also what the Lord Yahweh says: ‘When I cause everyone to leave the city of Tyre, like people have left other cities in which no one lives any longer, and when I cause the huge waves of the sea to cover the city, 20 then I will bring the people of that city down to be with everyone else who is dead, those who died long ago. I will cause them to live in the place below the earth that is like old ruins, with those who have gone down to that pit previously, and they will never return to the earth, to where people are alive. 21 I will cause them to die in a horrible way, and that will be the end of them. People will search for that city, but it will no longer exist.’ ” This is what the Lord Yahweh declares will happen.

27 Yahweh said this to me: 2 “Son of man, sing a funeral song about Tyre. 3 The city of Tyre is on an island at the edge of the sea, and their merchants traded with people groups who live along many seacoasts. This is what Yahweh the Lord says that you should tell them:

You people of Tyre said that your city was very beautiful.

4 You controlled what people bought and sold—the people who lived along the sea.

Those who built your city made it very beautiful.

5 You and your city were like a huge ship

that you built from fir trees on Mount Hermon.

Then you took cedar wood from Lebanon to make a mast for the ship.

6 You carved oars from oak trees from the region of Bashan.

You made the deck from cypress wood from the island of Cyprus,

and you covered the decks with ivory.

7 You made the sails from fine embroidered linen from Egypt;

those sails were like flags that people could see far away.

8 Men from the cities of Sidon and Arvad pulled your oars;

the men who steered the ship were experienced sailors from Tyre.

9 Experienced craftsmen from Gebal were on board. They caulked the seams of your ships.

Sailors from many countries came in their ships to buy and sell goods with you.

10 Men who came from the far away lands of Persia, Lud, and Put were soldiers in your army.

They hung their shields and helmets on the walls of your city;

this caused many people to admire your city.

11 Men from the cities of Arvad and Helek were watchmen on your city walls;

men from the city of Gammad were in your towers.

They also hung their shields on your walls;

they also made your city very beautiful.

12 Because of the many things that you had to trade, men from Tarshish sent merchants who brought silver, iron, tin, and lead to trade for things that you had.

13 Merchants from the regions of Greece, Tubal, and Meshech brought slaves and things made from bronze to trade for things that you had.

14 Men from Beth Togarmah brought work horses, war horses, and mules to trade for things that you had.

15 Merchants came to you from the island of Rhodes.

People from many nations by the sea traded with you;

they brought ivory and valuable black ebony wood to trade for things that you had.

16 Because you had very many things to trade, people from the land of Aram brought to you valuable turquoise stones, purple cloth, embroidered cloth, fine linen cloth, and jewelry made from coral and rubies to you.

17 Men from Judah and Israel brought wheat from the city of Minnith in Ammon, and cakes, honey, olive oil, and ointment to trade for your things.

18 Because you had very many things to sell, men from the city of Damascus brought wine from the town of Helbon and white wool from the area of Zahar to trade for many things that you had.

19 Men from the tribe of Dan and Greek men from the area of Izal brought things made of iron, cassia spice, and fragrant calamus seeds to trade for things that you had.

20 Merchants came from Dedan in southern Edom bringing saddle blankets to trade for things that you had.

21 Men from Arabia and all the rulers of the region of Kedar sent merchants to trade lambs and rams and male goats for things that you had.

22 Merchants from Sheba and Raamah in Arabia brought many kinds of very good spices and jewels and gold to exchange for things that you had.

23 Men came from Haran, Kanneh, Eden, Sheba, Ashur and Kilmad in Mesopotamia with their goods. 24 They brought beautiful things to trade with you: Blue cloth, embroidered cloth, and rugs of many colors that were rolled up and tied with ropes.

25 Cargo ships from Tarshish carried all those things that you sold;

the warehouses on your island were full of all those things and brought you great honor.

26 The men who row your ships took the ships full of cargo out onto the large seas.

But now the strong east wind has wrecked those ships.

27 Everything in the ships has been lost—

all the valuable cargo and many of the sailors and ship pilots,

the ship workers and merchants and soldiers.

On the day that the ships were wrecked,

all their crews sank to the bottom of the sea.

28 The people in cities along the coast trembled

when they heard your ship pilots cry out.

29 All the men who pulled the oars will leave the ships;

the sailors and pilots will come to the shore and stand on the beach.

30 They will cry aloud because of what has happened to you,

and they weep bitterly.

They will throw earth on their heads

and roll around in ashes.

31 They shave their heads to show that they are very sad because of what has happened to you,

and they put on rough sackcloth to mourn.

They weep for you very bitterly

and mourn for you.

32 While they wail and mourn because of what has happened to you

they sing this sad funeral song:

‘There was certainly never a city like Tyre,

which now is silent,

covered by the waves of the sea.’

33 The goods that your merchants traded

were things that pleased the people of many countries.

Kings in very distant places became rich

from the money they made by buying and selling with you.

34 But now your city is like a ship wrecked in the sea;

and everything in it is broken, and it is now at the bottom of the sea.

All of your cargo and your sailors have sunk to the bottom of the sea.

35 All the people who live along the seacoast are appalled

because of what has happened to you.

Their kings are very horrified;

they shake with fear as they watch.

36 The merchants of the other nations shake their heads

because it is difficult for them to believe what has happened;

now your city has disappeared,

and it will not exist anymore.”

28 Then Yahweh gave me another message. He said: 2 “Son of man, give to the king of Tyre this message from me, Yahweh the Lord:

‘You have very proudly claimed that you are a god,

and that you are untouchable, since you sit on a throne in a city on an island in the sea!

You boast that you are a god,

but you are in reality only a man, not a god.

3 You think that you are wiser than Daniel was,

and you think that you can understand every secret.

4 Because you were wise and shrewd in business, you have become very rich;

you have acquired much gold and silver for your treasuries.

5 Yes, it is true that by buying and selling wisely, you have become very rich;

and because you are rich, you have become very proud.

6 Therefore, Yahweh the Lord says that

because you think that you are as wise as a god,

7 he will bring a foreign army to attack your country,

an army that causes other nations to be terrified.

They will pull out their swords to strike you,

you who think that you have marvelous wisdom,

and they will ruin all your beautiful things and make them ugly.

8 They will bring you down to your grave;

you will die violently

like those who died in the sea.

9 Then you will certainly not tell those who are killing you

that you are a god,

because they will know that you are not a god;

you are only a man.

10 You will die like other people die, those who are unacceptable to God,

those whom foreigners kill. That will surely happen because Yahweh has said it.’ ”

11 Yahweh also gave me this message: 12 “Son of man, sing a sad song about the king of Tyre. Tell him that Yahweh the Lord says this to him:

‘You were completely perfect,

extremely wise and handsome.

13 You had a wonderful life, because you were in my beautiful garden in Eden.

Your clothes were decorated with many kinds of very valuable stones—

ruby, topaz, emerald, chrysolite, onyx, jasper, sapphire, turquoise, and beryl stones.

Those stones were set in gold mountings

which I prepared for you on the day that I created you.

14 I appointed you to be a strong angel to guard the people.

I placed you on my holy mountain,

and you walked among fiery stones.

15 You were completely good in all that you did

from the day that you were created,

until you started to do wicked things.

16 Then you became busy buying and selling things,

you started to act violently,

and you sinned.

So I disgraced you.

You, the angel who was supposed to guard the people—I forced you to leave my own mountain;

I forced you to leave those fiery stones.

17 You were extremely proud

because you were very handsome.

Because you loved beautiful things,

you did things that wise people do not do.

So I threw you to the ground,

and allowed other kings who saw you to laugh at you.

18 By committing many sins

and by buying and selling things dishonestly,

you caused the places where people worshiped me to become unacceptable to me.

So I will make a fire that will burn your city down.

Your city will be burned completely,

and the people who watch it will see

that what is left of the city will only be ashes.

19 All the people who knew what your city was like previously

will be appalled.

Now your city will disappear,

and it will not exist anymore.’ ”

20 Then Yahweh gave me another message. He said, 21 “Son of man, turn toward the city of Sidon, and announce the terrible things that will happen to it. 22 Give the people of Sidon this message from Yahweh the Lord. Tell them:

‘I am your enemy, you people of Sidon.

By what I do to you,

I will show you how great I am,

and you will know that it is Yahweh who punishes you and judges you with justice.

You will know that I am different from you, and that I will be honored by what I do to you!

23 I will send a plague on you,

and I will send enemies to come and kill you in your streets.

They will attack you from every direction,

and they will slaughter your people inside the walls of your city.

Then everyone will know that I, Yahweh, have the power to do what I say that I will do.’

24 No longer will people who live near the people of Israel hurt them as painful briers and sharp thorns hurt people. And then the Israelites will know that I, Yahweh, have the power to do what I say that I will do.”

25 And this is also what Yahweh the Lord says: “I will gather them from distant countries where I have scattered them. And the other people groups will see that I am set apart and honored, when the house of Israel makes their homes in the land I gave my servant Jacob! 26 My people will live safely in Israel; they will build houses and plant vineyards. And when I punish the nearby people groups that despised them, my people will know that it is I, Yahweh their God, who has done this.”

29 Almost ten years after the Babylonians had taken us Israelites to their land, on the twelfth day of the tenth month of that year, Yahweh gave me another message. He said to me, 2 “Son of man, turn toward Egypt and proclaim the terrible things that will happen to the king of Egypt and all his people. 3 Give the king this message from me, for I am Yahweh the Lord:

‘Know this, Pharaoh, king of Egypt that I, Yahweh, am your enemy.

You are like a great monster that lies in the streams of the Nile River.

You are so bold to say that the Nile River is yours,

and that you made it for yourself.

4 But it will be as though I will put hooks in your jaws

and drag you out onto the land,

with fish sticking to your scales.

5 I will leave you and all those fish to die in the desert;

you will fall to the ground,

and no one will pick up your corpse to bury you,

because I declare that your body will be food for the wild animals and birds.

6 When that happens, all the people of Egypt will know that it is I, Yahweh, who have the power to do what I say that I will do.

The Israelite people have trusted that you would help them. But you have been like a reed pole in their hands. 7 And when they leaned on that pole, it broke and tore open their shoulders. When they leaned on you, you were like a pole that broke in their hand, and as a result you caused their legs to be wrenched and that made it impossible for them to stand.’

8 Therefore Yahweh the Lord says, ‘I will bring Egypt’s enemies to attack them with their swords; they will kill Egypt’s people and animals. 9 Egypt will become an empty desert. Then the people of Egypt will know that it is I, Yahweh, who has the power to do what he says he will do, and that he will punish the people of Egypt for saying that the Nile River is theirs because they made it. 10 I am against you and your streams, and I will ruin Egypt and make it into an empty desert, from the city of Migdol in the north to Syene in the south, as far south as the border of Cush. 11 For forty years no one will walk through that area, and no one will live there. 12 Egypt will be barren, and it will be surrounded by other abandoned nations. The cities of Egypt will be empty and without people for forty years, and the surrounding lands will be the same. I will scatter the people of Egypt to countries far away.’

13 But Yahweh the Lord also says this: ‘At the end of forty years, I will enable the people of Egypt to return home again. 14 I will bring back the people of Egypt whom their enemies had captured, and I will allow them to live again in the region of Pathros in the south, where they lived previously. But Egypt will continue to be a very unimportant kingdom. 15 It will be the least important of all the nations; it will never again be greater than the nearby countries. I will cause Egypt to be very weak, and they will never again rule over other nations. 16 When that happens, the leaders of Israel will no longer think of asking Egypt to help them. When I punish Egypt, the Israelites will be reminded that they previously sinned by trusting that Egypt could help them. And the people of Israel will know that Yahweh the Lord has the power to do what he says he will do.’ ”

17 Almost twenty-seven years after we Israelites prisoners had been taken to Babylonia, on the first day of the new year, Yahweh gave me this message: 18 “Son of man, the army of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon fought very hard against Tyre, with the result that their heads were rubbed bare under their helmets, and their shoulders became raw. But Nebuchadnezzar and his army did not get any valuable things from Tyre to reward them for their hard work in that campaign. 19 Therefore, Yahweh the Lord says that he will enable King Nebuchadnezzar’s army to conquer Egypt. They will carry away from there all the valuable things, in order that the king can give them to his soldiers. 20 Yahweh says that he will enable them to conquer Egypt as payment for what they did to Tyre, because Nebuchadnezzar and his army were working for him, doing what he wanted them to do, which was to destroy Tyre.”

21 Yahweh said to me, “Some day I will make Israel become a mighty nation. When that happens, I will make them listen to what you tell them. Then they will know that all this has happened because I, Yahweh, will have done this.”

30 Yahweh gave me another message. He said, 2 “Son of man, prophesy about what will happen to Egypt. Say that this is what I, the Lord Yahweh, say:

‘Weep and wail,

because terrible things will happen one day that is coming.

3 That day is near,

the day when I, Yahweh, will punish people;

it will be like a day of full of storm clouds and disaster for many nations.

4 An enemy army will come to attack Egypt with their swords,

and there will be great distress for the people in Cush.

The enemy army will kill many people in Egypt;

they will take away everything of value,

and they will even tear the buildings down to their foundations.

5 Soldiers of Cush, Libya, Lydia, and all the foreigners in the land of Egypt, together with the Jews living in Egypt—they will all die because of war.’

6 This is what Yahweh says:

‘This army will defeat Egypt’s allies,

and the power that the people of Egypt are so proud of will end.

From the city of Migdol in the north to the city of Syene in the south, they will kill the soldiers of Egypt’s allies.

This is what Yahweh the Lord declares.

7 Egypt’s allies’ soldiers will be shocked, and her allies’ cities will be destroyed, surrounded by ruined cities in nearby nations.

8 Then, when I cause everything in Egypt to be burned down,

and when I cause their enemies to defeat all their allies,

people will know that I, Yahweh, have the power to do what I say that I will do.

9 At that time, I will send messengers to go swiftly up the Nile River in boats to terrify the people of Cush, who still think they are safe. They will be horrified when they hear that Egypt has been destroyed. This will soon happen!

10 This is what I, Yahweh the Lord, say:

By the power of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon

I will destroy very many people in Egypt.

11 Nebuchadnezzar and his army, whose soldiers have no pity on anyone,

will come to destroy Egypt.

They will pull out their swords

and fill Egypt with the corpses of those whom they have killed.

12 I will cause the streams of the Nile River to become dry,

and I will sell the nation of Egypt to evil men.

By the power of foreigners

I will ruin the land and everything that is in it.

That will surely happen because I, Yahweh, have said it will happen.

13 This is also what I, Yahweh the Lord, say:

I will cause the enemy to destroy the idols

in the city of Memphis.

No longer will there be a king in Egypt,

and I will terrify everyone in the land of Egypt.

14 I will cause all people to leave the region of Pathros in southern Egypt.

I will start fires in the city of Zoan in northeast Egypt

and punish the people in the city of Thebes in southern Egypt.

15 I will punish the soldiers in the fortress of Pelusium in northern Egypt,

and I will destroy the people in Thebes.

16 I will burn Egypt with fire;

the people in Pelusium will suffer severe pain.

Enemies will conquer Thebes,

and the enemies of Memphis will attack the people who live there every day.

17 The enemy will kill many young men in the cities of Heliopolis and Bubastis in northern Egypt,

and the people who are left will have to go to Babylon.

18 It will be a dark day of destruction at the city of Tahpanhes in northeast Egypt

when I cause the power of Egypt to end;

that country will no longer be strong.

It will be as though a dark cloud will cover Egypt,

because the people of its villages will go to Babylon as prisoners.

19 That is how I will punish Egypt,

and people will know that I, Yahweh, have the power to do what I say that I will do.’ ”

20 Almost eleven years after the Babylonians took us Israelites to their country, Yahweh gave me another message on the seventh day of the first month of that year. He said, 21 “Son of man, I have enabled the army of Nebuchadnezzar to defeat the army of the king of Egypt. It is as though I have broken one of the arms of the king of Egypt, and it has not been bandaged in order that it could be healed, and it has not been put in splints in order that after it heals the arm will be strong enough to hold a sword. 22 Therefore, this is what I, Yahweh the Lord, say: I am the enemy of the king of Egypt. I will completely destroy Egypt’s power; it is as though now I will break both of the king’s arms, the good one and the broken one, and cause the sword to fall from his hand. 23 I will scatter the people of Egypt among the nations. 24 It is as though I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon and put a sword in his hand, and as though I will break the arms of the king of Egypt, and he will groan in front of the king of Babylon like a soldier who is wounded and about to die. 25 I will cause the king of Babylon to become stronger and stronger, and the king of Egypt to become completely weak. When that happens, when I make the Babylonian army strong, they will use that power to attack Egypt. 26 I will scatter the people of Egypt among the nations. And when that happens, people will know that I, Yahweh, have the power to do what I say that I will do.

31 Almost eleven years after the Babylonians had taken us Israelites to their land, Yahweh gave me another message, on the first day of the third month of that year. He said, 2 “Son of man, say to the king of Egypt and to the immense numbers of his people,

‘You think that there is no country whose power is as great as the power of your country.

3 You think that your country is as great as Assyria was.

Well, Assyria was like a tall cedar tree in Lebanon;

it had big beautiful branches

that provided shade for other trees in the forest.

It was very tall;

and the branches of the tallest trees made a treetop that was a roof over the forest.

4 Water came to it from deep springs,

and as a result that cedar tree grew tall and very green.

Then water flowed around the base of the tree

into channels that took water to other nearby trees in the open countryside.

5 That huge tree grew very tall,

higher than all the other trees around it.

Its branches grew very thick and long

because of the abundant water at the base of the tree.

6 Birds built their nests in the branches,

and wild animals gave birth to their young under those branches.

And it was as though people of all the great nations lived in the shade of that tree.

7 It was majestic and beautiful;

its branches spread out widely

because the roots of the tree grew down into the ground where there was a plentiful supply of water.

8 The cedar trees in my garden in Eden were not as great as that tree,

and the branches of the fir trees were not as long and thick as the branches of that cedar tree.

And the branches of the plane trees were not as long and thick, either.

No tree in my garden was as beautiful as that cedar tree.

9 Because I caused that tree to become very beautiful

because of its magnificent green branches,

all the leaders of other countries represented by those other trees in Eden envied the country represented by that tree.’

10 Therefore, this is what I, Yahweh the Lord, say: ‘That tree, which represents Assyria, grew very tall; its top was higher than the other trees, and it became very proud because it was so tall. 11 Therefore, I enabled another mighty nation to conquer it, to destroy it as it deserved to be destroyed. I have already discarded it. 12 A foreign army, one that has caused people of other nations to be terrified, cut it down and left it. Its branches fell on the mountains and in the valleys. Some of its branches lay broken in all the ravines in the land. All the people of other nations came out from being under its shade and left it. 13 Birds of the sky settled on the fallen tree, and wild animals lived among its branches. 14 As a result, no other tree, even if the tree has plenty of water, will ever grow to such great height, or lift its top above the branches higher than other trees. They will all certainly die and decay; they will go to the place of the dead; they will go to the grave.’ ”

15 This is what Yahweh the Lord says: “When that great tree was cut down, it was as though the springs that watered it mourned for it, because I caused the plentiful water from the springs to dry up. It was as if I had caused the mountains in Lebanon to mourn for it, and all the trees there to weep. 16 I caused the people of other nations to tremble when they heard that tree fall to the ground—when they heard that Assyria had been destroyed. All the other people groups had also been like beautiful, well-watered trees in Lebanon, but they were comforted when the king represented by that cedar tree arrived among them in the place where they were as dead people. 17 The people represented by the trees that grew in the shade of that huge tree, the allies of the great nation that the cedar tree represents, had also died and gone down to where the dead people are.

18 This parable is a warning to you people of Egypt. You think that there is no other nation that is as great and glorious as yours is. But your nation will also be destroyed, along with those other nations. Your people will be there among the other people who are not fit to worship me, people who have been killed by their enemies’ swords. That is what will happen to the king of Egypt and all his many people.” This is what the Lord Yahweh has declared will happen.

32 Almost twelve years after the Babylonians had taken us Israelites to their land, Yahweh gave me another message, on the first day of the twelfth month of that year. He told me, 2 “Son of man, sing a sad song about Pharaoh the king of Egypt. Sing this to him:

‘People think that you are like a lion among the nations;

but you are like a sea monster in the river

thrashing around in the water,

churning up the water with your feet

and making all the water muddy.

3 But I, the Lord Yahweh, say to you

that I will send many people to throw my net over you,

and that they will haul you up onto the land.

4 They will throw you into a field, where I will leave you to your fate.

I will allow the birds to sit on you,

and all the wild animals will eat the flesh of your corpse until their stomachs are full.

5 I will cause them to scatter your flesh on the hills

and fill the valleys with the parts of your rotting body.

6 I will cause them to fill the land with your blood,

and also the mountains;

they will fill the ravines with your blood.

7 When I kill you,

I will cover the sky and not allow the stars to shine.

I will put a dark cloud in front of the sun,

and the moon will not shine.

8 I will cause the stars in the sky to be dark,

and there will be darkness over your entire land;

this will surely happen because I, Yahweh the Lord, have said it.

9 And I will terrify the people of many nations when they hear how I destroy you,

there where I will send you,

in countries that you have never known about.

10 I will cause many people to be shocked because of what has happened to you;

their kings will be horrified and shudder because I destroyed you,

when I swung my sword in front of them to kill you.

At the time that you die,

all of them will tremble,

fearing that I will kill them, too.

11 I, the Lord Yahweh tell you, Egypt,

that the swords of the army of the king of Babylon will strike you.

12 I will cause the mighty soldiers of Babylonia

to kill your best soldiers—

the soldiers of Babylonia, who are more ruthless than those of any other nation.

They will cause the people of Egypt to quit being proud,

because they will kill very many of your people.

13 I will destroy all the cattle in Egypt,

which graze alongside the streams.

As a result, the water in those streams will never again become muddy

because of people and cattle walking in them.

14 Then I will allow the streams in Egypt to become calm again

and to flow as smoothly as olive oil flows.’ ” This is what the Lord Yahweh announces.

15 He also says this: “When I cause Egypt to become empty,

when I strip off everything that grows on the land,

and when I get rid of all the people who live there,

people will know that it is I, Yahweh, who have the power to do what I say that I will do.

16 There will be a sad song that people will sing about Egypt.

Women of many nations will sing it;

they will chant it about Egypt and all its many people.”

This will surely happen because Yahweh has said that it would happen.

17 On the fifteenth day of that same month, Yahweh gave me another message. He said,

18 “Son of man, wail about the many people of Egypt, because I will send them to the place under the earth, where they and people of other mighty nations will be. I will send them there, along with others, down to the place where the dead are. 19 Say to them, ‘You people of Egypt, you think that you are more beautiful than the people of other nations. But you also will descend to the place where the godless dead people are. 20 You will die along with many others whom their enemies have killed. Their enemies have begun to attack, and they will drag away a huge number people of Egypt. 21 In the place where the dead people are, mighty leaders of other countries will make fun of you people of Egypt and your allies. They will say that you have come to lie dead with them, those godless people whom their enemies killed.

22 The dead of the people of Assyria and their army will also be there. They will be surrounded by the dead of others whom their enemies killed. 23 Their graves will be there in the deep pit, and the dead soldiers of their army will lie around their graves. The dead of all those who had terrified so many others will also be there, for their enemies will have killed them, too.

24 Many, many people from the country of Elam will be there, too, and Elam’s servants, because their enemies will have killed them. These were soldiers who had terrified people in many places. At that time they will lie there in that deep pit below the earth, and they, along with the others who have gone there, will be disgraced.

25 The people of Elam in their huge numbers will lie there among others who were slaughtered, surrounded by the graves of a huge crowd of other people. While they were alive, they caused people of other nations to be terrified; but they were godless, and now, because their enemies will have killed them, they will lie with others in that deep pit, disgraced.

26 The dead of all the soldiers of the lands of Meshech and Tubal will be there, surrounded by the graves of a huge crowd. While they were alive, they also caused people in many places to be terrified. They are uncircumcised people whom their enemies will have killed. 27 They will not lie there beside the uncircumcised warriors who have gone to the grave highly honored with their shields over their bodies and their swords under their heads. While they were alive, they terrified many people on the earth.

28 You king of Egypt, I will kill you also, and you will lie there with other godless people whom their enemies will have killed.

29 People of Edom will be there, along with their kings and leaders. They were powerful, but I will kill them. They will lie there in the place where the other godless people lie.

30 All the rulers of countries north of Israel, including people from the city of Sidon, will be there. Because of their power, they terrified other people, but they will lie there. They were godless, and they will lie there along with others whom their enemies will have killed. They, along with everyone else who goes down into that deep pit, will be disgraced.

31 The king of Egypt and all his army will see them, and they will be comforted about the death of their many people, because they know that there were other huge groups of people whom their enemies killed. 32 While that king was living, I allowed him to terrify others in many countries, but he and his huge army will be there among other godless people whom their enemies have killed.” This will certainly surely happen because the Lord Yahweh has said that it would happen.

33 Yahweh gave me another message. He said, 2 “Son of man, speak to your fellow Israelites and say this to them: ‘Suppose that I bring an enemy army to attack a country, and the people of that country choose one of their own people to be a watchman. 3 And suppose that he sees the enemy army come into view, and that he blows a trumpet to warn everyone. 4 If anyone hears the trumpet but pays no attention, and if that person then dies because of the enemy, that person is responsible for his own death. 5 If he had paid attention, he would have saved his own life. But as it is, he will die, and it will be his own fault.

6 Now suppose that the watchman sees the enemy army coming and does not blow the trumpet to warn the people. Then suppose that one of his people dies because of the enemy. That person will die because of his own mistake, but I will hold the watchman responsible for it.

7 Son of man, this parable has a meaning for you. I have appointed you to be a watchman for the Israelites. So always listen to what I say, and warn the people for me. 8 When I say to some wicked person, ‘You wicked person, you will surely die because of your sins,’ you must tell him what I said. If you do not speak to that person to warn him to turn away from his sins, that wicked person will die because of his sins, but I will make you responsible for his death. 9 But if you warn that wicked person that he should turn away from his sins, but if he does not do so, then he will die because of his sins, but you will have saved your own life.

10 Son of man, say to the Israelite people, ‘This is what you all are saying: “The guilt that we feel for disobeying God’s laws and sinning is like a heavy weight on us, and our sins are hurting us, and we are slowly dying. So what can we do to continue to remain alive?” ’ 11 Say to them, ‘Yahweh the Lord says, “As surely as I am alive, I am not happy when wicked people die; I would prefer that they turn away from their wicked behavior and continue to live. So repent! Turn away from your evil behavior! You Israelite people, do you really want to die?” ’

12 Therefore, Son of man, say to your fellow Israelites that if good people start to disobey me, the fact that they were previously righteous will not keep me from punishing them. Similarly, if wicked people turn away from their wicked behavior, they will not die because of those sins. And if good people start to sin, I will not allow the fact that they had been good to keep me from punishing them now. 13 If I tell those who do what is right that they will surely remain alive because of all the good they do, but then if they turn away and become proud of all their good deeds, then I will ignore all the good things that they had done before. I will make sure that they will die because of the evil things that they have done. 14 Continue to tell the people these things: If I say to some wicked person, ‘You will surely die because of your sins,’ perhaps that person will stop doing evil and start doing what is just and right. 15 For example, he might return what he took from another person to guarantee that that person would pay back what he owes, or he might return things that he has stolen, or he might obey the laws that will enable those who obey them to remain alive. If this happens, he will surely remain alive; he will not die because of the sins that he committed previously. 16 I will ignore the sins that he previously committed; he will surely remain alive.

17 Tell the people this: That they say that what I do is not fair, but that it is really what they do that is not fair. Then tell them these things, also: 18 If a good person stops doing what is good and starts to do what is evil, it is fair that he should die because of his sins. 19 And if a wicked person turns away from his wicked behavior and does what is right and fair, it is fair for him to remain alive because of doing that. 20 Remind the people that they are still saying that what I do is not fair. They can talk all they want, but I will punish each of them for what they do. Tell them this.”

21 Almost twelve years after the Babylonians had taken us Israelites to their land, on the fifth day of the tenth month of that year, a man who had escaped from Jerusalem came to me in Babylon and said, “Jerusalem has been captured!” 22 The evening before that man arrived, Yahweh took control of me. So when that man arrived, Yahweh enabled me to speak again; I was no longer forced to be silent.

23 Then Yahweh gave a message to me. He said, 24 “Son of man, the people who are living in the ruins in Israel are saying, ‘Abraham was only one person, but Yahweh promised him that he and his descendants would possess this land. But we are many; so surely Yahweh has given us this land to possess.’ 25 So send a message to them. Say, ‘This is what Yahweh the Lord says: “You eat meat that still has the animal’s blood in it. You still worship idols. And you still murder others. So should this land belong to you? 26 You rely on using your swords to obtain things that you want. You do many detestable things. Each of you sleeps with other men’s wives. So should you really possess the land of Israel?” ’

27 Send this message to them and tell them that this is what I, the Lord Yahweh, say to them: ‘As surely as I am alive, those who are left in the ruins in Jerusalem—their enemies will also kill them. And those who are living in the countryside—wild animals will kill them. Those who are living in forts and caves will die from disease. 28 I will cause your country to become a desolate wasteland. You will no longer be proud of being a strong country. The mountains of Israel will become very desolate, with the result that no one will walk across them.’ 29 Then, when I have caused their country to become a desolate wasteland because of all the disgusting things that you have done, they will know that I, Yahweh, have the power to do what I say that I will do.”

30 As for you, Son of man, your fellow Israelites here in Babylon stand beside the city wall or at the doors of their houses and are talking with each other. They are saying, ‘Come and listen to the message that has come from Yahweh.’ 31 My people come to you as they often have done, and they sit in front of you to listen to what you say. But they do not do what you tell them that they must do. With their mouths they say that they love me, but in their inner beings they are eager to acquire things by doing what is unjust. 32 To them, you are only a man who sings them beautiful songs and plays a musical instrument well. They hear what you say, but they do not do what you tell them to do.

33 The terrible things that I have said will happen to them will surely happen. And then they will know that a prophet has been among them, and that you are that prophet.”

34 Yahweh gave me another message. He said, 2 “Mortal man, prophesy against the leaders of Israel, the men who should be caring for my people the way that shepherds care for their sheep. Say to these men who should be like shepherds that this is what I, the Lord Yahweh, say: ‘Terrible things will happen to you leaders of Israel, because you have been taking care of only yourselves! You should be like shepherds who take care of their flocks. 3 Instead, you use my people to enrich yourselves. It is as though you eat the fat of the sheep and make your clothes from their wool and slaughter the healthiest animals, but you do not take care of the flock at all. 4 It is as though you have not strengthened the weak sheep. You have not healed the sick ones. You have not bandaged the injured ones. You have not brought back the ones that became scattered. You have not searched for the ones that got lost. Instead, you have ruled my people harshly and cruelly. 5 So my people scattered, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. Then their enemies attacked them and plundered them, as wild animals devour sheep that have no shepherd. So they scattered more. 6 My people wander like sheep over every mountain and on every high hill. They scatter all across the land, and no one at all searches for them.

7 Therefore, you leaders who should be shepherding my people, listen to what I, Yahweh, say: 8 I swear by my own life—this is what I, the Lord Yahweh, declare—that enemies have carried my people away as plunder and destroyed them as wild animals devour sheep because they had no shepherd. You who should have shepherded my people did not search for them. Instead, you fed only yourselves and did not take care of my people.

9 Therefore, you leaders who should be shepherding my people, listen to what I, Yahweh, say: 10 This is what I, the Lord Yahweh, say: I am now the enemy of you leaders! I will demand that you give my people back to me. I will remove you from taking care of them, so that you can no longer feed only yourselves. I will rescue my people from you, and you will never again plunder and destroy them as wild animals devour sheep.

11 This is what I, the Lord Yahweh, say: Watch what I am about to do! I myself will search for my people, and I myself will take care of them. 12 Just as a shepherd takes care of his sheep when he is among his sheep that have scattered, so I will take care of my people. I will rescue them from every place where enemies scattered them during that terrible time. 13 I will bring my people out from the other peoples and gather them from the other lands, and I will bring them back to their own land. I will care for them like a shepherd on the mountains of Israel, alongside the streams, and in every place in the land where people live. 14 I will take care of them as a shepherd takes care of his sheep by giving them good pastures, and giving them a home on the high mountains of Israel. I will give them a good home in which to rest, and it will be as though they are feeding in rich pastures among the mountains of Israel. 15 I myself will take care of my people, and I myself will enable them to rest. That is what I, the Lord Yahweh, declare. 16 I will search for the ones that got lost, and I will bring back the ones that enemies chased away. I will bandage the injured ones and strengthen the sick ones. However, I will destroy the fat and strong ones. Those, I will take care of justly.

17 As for you who are like my flock of sheep, this is what I, the Lord Yahweh, say: I am about to judge between each of you who are like sheep, and between each of you who are like rams and male goats. 18 You powerful ones are like strong animals that should be satisfied with feeding on the good pasture; and yet you also trample down the rest of the pasture with your feet. You should be satisfied with drinking the clear water; and yet you also muddy the rest of the water with your feet. 19 So it is as though the rest of my people are like the flock that must feed on the grass that you trampled and drink the water that you muddied.

20 Therefore, this is what I, the Lord Yahweh, say to my flock: I myself am the one who is about to judge between those of you who are strong like fat sheep and those of you who are weak like thin sheep. 21 It is as though you are the powerful sheep who shove the weak sheep aside with your sides and your shoulders and gore all of them with your horns, until you have driven them away from the pasture. 22 I will rescue my people, and no one will ever plunder them again. I will judge between each one of my people. 23 I will appoint over them one leader who will care for them the way that a shepherd cares for his flock. He will be a descendant of my servant David. He himself will take care of my people, and he himself will be as their shepherd. 24 I, Yahweh, will be their God, and that descendant of my servant David will be the ruler among them. This will surely happen because I, Yahweh, have said this.

25 I will promise my people that they will live peacefully. I will remove every kind of dangerous animal from the land, so that my people can live safely even in the wilderness and sleep safely even in the forests. 26 I will bless my people and all of the land around my sacred hill. I will send rain at the proper times, and by that rain I will bless them. 27 The trees in the fields will produce their fruit, and the ground will produce its crops, and my people will live safely in their land. When I rescue them from the people who have caused them to be slaves, they will know that I, Yahweh, have done this for them. 28 The people of other nations will never plunder them again, and wild animals will no longer devour them. They will live safely, and there will be no one to frighten them. 29 I will make them famous for how securely I establish them in the land. They will never again need to leave the land because they lack food, and people of other nations will never again humiliate them. 30 Then they will know that I, Yahweh their God, am with them, and that they, the people of Israel, are my people. This is what I, the Lord Yahweh, declare. 31 You are my people, like a flock of sheep that I take care of in my own pasture. You are human beings, and I am your God. This is what I, the Lord Yahweh, declare.’ ”

35 Yahweh gave me another message. He said, 2 “Mortal man, turn toward Mount Seir in the land of Edom and prophesy against the people there. 3 Tell them, ‘This is what I, the Lord Yahweh, say: Listen, you people who live around Mount Seir! I am your enemy! I will punish you by turning your land into an empty wasteland where no one lives. 4 I will turn your cities into heaps of rubble, and as for your land, it will become empty. Then you will know that I am Yahweh.

5 You have always hated the Israelites, and you delivered them over to soldiers who killed them with swords. You did that when terrible things were happening to them, at the time when I finally punished them for their sins. 6 Therefore, I swear by my own life— this is what I, the Lord Yahweh, declare—that I will deliver you over to people who will kill you, and killers will pursue you. I swear that because you hated the life of your kinsmen, killers will pursue you. 7 I will make the region of Mount Seir a completely desolate area. I will even destroy anyone who travels back and forth through it. 8 I will cover your mountains with the corpses of people whom your enemies will kill. Those whom soldiers kill with their swords will lie dead on your hills, in your valleys, and in all your stream beds. 9 I will make your land empty forever; no one will ever live in your cities again. Then you will know that I am Yahweh.

10 You said that the two nations, Israel and Judah, and their two lands would belong to you, and that you would take possession of them. You said that even though I, Yahweh, was present there. 11 Therefore, I swear by my own life— this is what I, the Lord Yahweh, declare—that I will treat you as harshly as you treated my people when you were angry at them and envied them because you hated them. The Israelites will know who I am by how I judge you. 12 Then you will also know that I am Yahweh. I have heard all of the insulting things that you said about the land of Israel. You said that no one lived there anymore and that you could now take it and everything in it for yourselves. 13 You Edomites boasted arrogantly against me and said many things to insult me, and I myself heard all of it.

14 This is what I, the Lord Yahweh, say: When I devastate your land, people all over the world will rejoice. 15 Just as you rejoiced when the land that I gave to the Israelites became desolate, I will do the same thing to you. Mount Seir and all the rest of Edom will become completely empty. Then people will know that I am Yahweh.’ ”

36 “Mortal, prophesy to the mountains in the land of Israel. Say to them, ‘You mountains of Israel, listen to this message from Yahweh! 2 This is what I, the Lord Yahweh, say: Your enemies gloated over you and claimed that these age-old mountains now belong to them.’ 3 So prophesy to those mountains and tell them that this is what I, the Lord Yahweh, say: ‘Enemies ruined you and crushed you from every direction, so the nations that survived took possession of you. People everywhere gossiped about you and spread malicious reports about you. 4 Therefore, you mountains of Israel, listen to what I, the Lord Yahweh, say. I am speaking to the mountains and the hills, to the ravines and the valleys, to the ruins where no one lives any longer, and to the cities that people abandoned, cities that the surrounding nations plundered and ridiculed. 5 I, the Lord Yahweh, say this: Because I am fiercely angry, I have declared that I will punish the nations that survived, and especially all the people of Edom. They joyfully and scornfully seized my land for themselves so that they could plunder its pastures.’ 6 Therefore prophesy about the land of Israel. Say to the mountains and the hills, to the ravines and the valleys, that this is what I, the Lord Yahweh, say: ‘Listen! I have spoken because I am jealous and very angry, since the other nations have humiliated you. 7 Therefore, I, the Lord Yahweh, say this: I solemnly swear that the nations around you will themselves suffer disgrace.

8 You mountains of Israel will grow trees that produce plenty of fruit for my people Israel, because my people will soon come home. 9 I am going to help you; I will treat you kindly. People will plow your soil and plant seed in it. 10 I will greatly increase the number of people who live on you— all the people of Israel, every one of them. People will live in the cities again, and they will rebuild the ruined places. 11 I will increase the number of people and animals on you, and they will have many children and become very numerous. I will cause people to live on you as they did long ago, and I will make you more prosperous than you were at the beginning. Then you will know that I am Yahweh. 12 I will cause my people Israel to live on you. They will possess you, and you will belong to them permanently. Never again will their children die there. 13 I, the Lord Yahweh, say this: People have said about you, land of Israel, that those who live on you die there and that your nation loses its children. 14 Therefore, from now on, people who live on you will not die there, and your nation will not lose its children. That is what I, the Lord Yahweh, declare. 15 Never again will I let the nations humiliate you or the peoples insult you, and never again will your nation fall into ruin because of you. That is what I, the Lord Yahweh, declare.’ ”

16 Yahweh gave me another message. He said, 17 “Mortal, when the Israelite people were living in their own land, they made it unclean by the way they lived and by the things they did. I considered the way they behaved to be filthy and repulsive, so they could not come into my presence. 18 So I punished them severely, because they had murdered many people in the land and because they had made the land unclean by worshiping idols there. 19 I scattered them among many nations and lands. I judged them for the way they had lived and for the things they had done. 20 Yet wherever they went among those nations, they ruined my holy reputation, because the people there said that these were my people but that I had not been able to keep them in my land. 21 So I cared about my holy reputation, which the Israelite people had ruined among the nations wherever they went.

22 Therefore, tell the Israelite people that this is what I, the Lord Yahweh, say: ‘You Israelite people, I am not going to restore you because you deserve it. I will act in order to restore my own holy reputation, which you ruined among the nations wherever you went. 23 I will show that my great reputation is holy— the reputation that you ruined among those nations. Then, when they see me show that I am holy by what I do for you, those nations will know that I am Yahweh. That is what I, the Lord Yahweh, declare. 24 I will take you out of those nations. I will gather you from all those lands and bring you back to your own land. 25 I will make you completely clean. I will remove everything that made you unacceptable to me, and I will cause you to stop worshiping your idols. 26 I will give you a completely new way of thinking and a completely new attitude. I will cause you to stop being stubborn, and I will cause you to want to obey me. 27 I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to live the way I have commanded and to obey my laws carefully. 28 Then you will live in the land that I gave to your ancestors. You will be my people, and I will be your God. 29 I will rescue you from everything that made you unacceptable to me. I will make your grain grow plentifully, and I will never again cause you to suffer from hunger. 30 I will cause your fruit trees and your fields to produce plenty of food, so that the other nations will never again insult you because you do not have enough to eat. 31 Then you will remember how evil your behavior was and how wicked the things were that you did, and you will hate yourselves because you sinned and did detestable things.

32 I want you to know that I am not doing this because you deserve it. That is what I, the Lord Yahweh, declare. You Israelite people should feel deep shame and disgrace because of the way you have behaved. 33 I, the Lord Yahweh, say this: On the day when I cleanse you from all your sins, I will cause people to live in your cities again, and they will rebuild the ruined places. 34 People will farm the land that was empty, instead of leaving it desolate for everyone who passes by to see. 35 Then people will say that this land which was once empty has become as fertile as the garden of Eden, and that the cities which enemies had ruined and torn down and left empty are now strong and full of people. 36 Then the nations that I have allowed to remain around you will know that I, Yahweh, have caused people to rebuild what enemies tore down and to plant crops again where the land was empty. I, Yahweh, have promised this, and I will do it.

37 I, the Lord Yahweh, say this: Once again I will respond when the Israelite people ask me to do this for them: I will make their people as numerous as a flock of sheep. 38 Just as huge flocks of sheep fill Jerusalem when people bring them there to sacrifice during the yearly festivals, so the cities that are now in ruins will be full of people. Then they will know that I am Yahweh.’ ”

37 The power of Yahweh came over me, and by his Spirit he brought me out and set me down in the middle of a valley. In the vision I saw that the valley was full of bones. 2 He led me all around among the bones. I saw that there were a huge number of bones lying on the ground all through the valley, and they were completely dry. 3 He said to me, “Mortal, can these bones become alive again?” I answered, “Lord Yahweh, only you know that.” 4 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones. Tell those dry bones to listen to the message that I, Yahweh, am giving them. 5 Tell them that this is what I, the Lord Yahweh, say to them: ‘I am going to cause breath to enter you, and you will become alive again. 6 I will attach tendons to you, and I will cause flesh to grow on you, and I will cover you with skin. I will put breath in you, and you will become alive again. Then you will know that I am Yahweh.’ ” 7 So I prophesied just as Yahweh had commanded me. While I was prophesying, I heard a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, each bone joining to the bone that belonged next to it. 8 As I watched, tendons appeared on the bones, and flesh grew on them, and then skin covered them. However, they were not breathing. 9 Then he said to me, “Mortal, prophesy to the breath. Say that I, the Lord Yahweh, am bringing breath from every direction to enter these people whom enemies killed, so that they will become alive again.” 10 So I prophesied just as he commanded me, and breath entered them. They became alive and stood up on their feet, an enormous army of people.

11 Then he said to me, “Mortal, these bones represent all the people of Israel. They keep saying that they have lost all their strength, that they have nothing left to hope for, and that they have no future at all. 12 So prophesy and tell them that this is what I, the Lord Yahweh, say: ‘My people, I am going to restore you to life, as though I were opening your graves and bringing you up out of them, and I will bring you back to the land of Israel. 13 Then, when I open your graves and bring you up out of them, you my people will know that I am Yahweh. 14 I will put my Spirit in you, and you will live again, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I, Yahweh, have promised this and that I will certainly do it. That is what I, Yahweh, declare.’ ”

15 Yahweh gave me another message. He said, 16 “Mortal, take a piece of wood and write on it, ‘This one represents Judah and the Israelite tribes that belong with it.’ Then take another piece of wood and write on it, ‘This one represents Joseph, that is, the tribe of Ephraim, and all the Israelite tribes that belong with it.’ 17 Then join the two pieces together so that they become one piece of wood in your hand. 18 When your fellow Israelites ask you to explain to them what you mean by doing this, 19 tell them that this is what I, the Lord Yahweh, say: ‘I am going to take the piece of wood that represents Joseph, the one that the tribe of Ephraim controls, along with the Israelite tribes that belong with it, and I will join them to the piece of wood that represents Judah. I will make them one piece of wood, and they will be one in my hand.’ 20 Hold in your hand the pieces of wood on which you wrote, where your fellow Israelites can see them. 21 Then tell them that this is what I, the Lord Yahweh, say: ‘I am going to take the Israelite people out of the nations where they have gone. I will gather them from every direction and bring them back to their own land. 22 I will make them one nation in that land, on the mountains of Israel. One king will rule over all of them. They will never again be two nations, and they will never again separate into two kingdoms. 23 They will no longer make themselves unacceptable to me by worshiping their idols and their disgusting images, or by rebelling against me in any way. I will rescue them from all the places where they lived and sinned, and I will make them completely clean. They will be my people, and I will be their God.

24 A descendant of my servant David will be their king, and he alone will rule over all of them, taking care of them as a shepherd takes care of his flock. They will live the way I have said is right, and they will carefully obey all my laws. 25 They will live in the land that I gave to my servant Jacob, the land where their ancestors lived. They and their children and their grandchildren will live there forever, and that descendant of my servant David will be their ruler forever. 26 I will make a covenant with them that will bring them peace; it will be a covenant that lasts forever. I will establish them in that land and cause them to become very numerous, and I will put my temple among them forever. 27 I will live among them; I will be their God, and they will be my people. 28 Then, when my temple is among the Israelite people forever, the other nations will know that I, Yahweh, am the one who sets Israel apart to belong to me.’ ”

38 Yahweh gave me another message. He said to me, 2 “Son of man, turn and face Magog, the country where Gog is the king. He is also the ruler of the nations of Meshech and Tubal. Announce my message about the terrible things that will happen to him. 3 Say this: ‘This is what the Lord Yahweh says: Gog, you who rule Meshech and Tubal, I am your enemy. 4 It will be as though I will turn you around and put hooks in your jaws and bring you to Israel—you and all of your army, including your horses and the men carrying weapons who ride those horses, and many other soldiers carrying large shields and small shields, all of them carrying swords. 5 Your soldiers also include armies from Persia, Ethiopia, and Put, all of them with shields and helmets—6 also all the soldiers from Gomer and an army from Beth Togarmah—both of these lands that are far north of Israel. Armies of many nations will come with you.’

7 Tell Gog this: ‘Get ready, and be prepared to be the commander of all those soldiers. 8 At some future time, Yahweh will command you to lead those armies to attack Israel, a country whose buildings have been rebuilt after they were destroyed in wars. Their people will have been brought back from many nations to live again on the hills of Israel, where no one had been living for a long time. Yahweh will bring the Israelites back from other lands, and they will be living peacefully. 9 You and all those armies from many nations will go up to Israel, advancing like a great storm. Your army will be like a huge cloud that covers the land.

10 But this is what I, Yahweh the Lord, say: On that day, you will plan to do something very evil. 11 You will say this to yourself: “My army will invade a country where the villages do not have walls around them. We will attack people who are peaceful and think that no one will harm them. Their towns and villages do not have walls with gates and bars. 12 So it will be easy for us to attack these people. They are people who come back together from many countries where they had lived for many years, people who now live safely in their land with all their livestock and other possessions. They are living in the country that is in the middle of the most important countries in the world. Our soldiers will take away all their valuable possessions.” 13 Then people of Sheba and Dedan and the merchants of Tarshish will come and say to you, “Are you gathering all your soldiers in order to attack Israel and take away all their silver and gold? Do you plan to take away their livestock and all their other valuable possessions?” ’

14 Therefore, Son of man, take my message about Gog and say to him, ‘This is what the Lord Yahweh says: At that time, when my people of Israel are living safely, you will certainly think about them. 15 You will come from your place far north of Israel, with the armies of many other nations, all riding horses, a huge army. 16 You will march toward my Israelite people, and your soldiers will cover the land like a huge cloud. Gog, I will bring your army to attack the country that belongs to me, but what I will do to you will show the people of other nations that I am holy.

17 This is what I, Yahweh the Lord, say to Gog: In past years, when I gave messages to my servants, the prophets in Israel, there were messages about you. At that time, they said for many years that I would bring your armies to attack my people. 18 So this is what I, Yahweh the Lord, say will happen: When your army attacks Israel, I will be very angry with you. 19 I will be furious, and to show that I am angry, there will be a great earthquake in Israel, where your armies will be. 20 The fish in the sea, the birds, the wild animals, and the animals that crawl on the ground, and all the people on the earth will tremble because of what I will do. Mountains will fall down, cliffs will crumble, and walls everywhere will fall to the ground. 21 Gog, on all the mountains in the country that belongs to me I will cause your soldiers to fight against each other. 22 I will punish you and your soldiers with plagues, and I will kill them. I will send down from the sky, on you and your troops who have come from many lands, huge amounts of rain, hail, and burning sulfur. 23 In this way, I will cause the people of many nations to know that I am very great, and I will show them my holiness. And they will see who I am and they will know that I am Yahweh.’ ”

39 Yahweh said to me, “Son of man, speak for me about the terrible things that will happen to Gog. Say this to him: ‘Gog, I am your enemy, you who rule Meshech and Tubal. 2 I will turn you around and drag you and your armies from far north of Israel and send you to fight on the mountains of Israel. 3 When you are there, I will snatch your bows from your left hands and cause your arrows to fall from your right hands. 4 You and all the soldiers that are with you will die on the mountains of Israel. I will give your corpses to be food for the birds that eat dead flesh, and to the wild animals. 5 You will die in the open fields. This will certainly happen because I, Yahweh the Lord, have said that it will happen. 6 I will cause many fires to burn in Magog and to all those who live safely in the areas along their coasts, and they will know that it is I, Yahweh, who have the power to do what I say that I will do.

7 I will enable my Israelite people to know that I am holy. I will no longer allow them to mock me, and the people groups in the other lands will know that I am Yahweh, the God whom Israel worships and honors. 8 That day is fast approaching. I, Yahweh the Lord, declare that those things will happen soon.

9 At that time, the people who live in the cities of Israel will go out and gather the weapons from the dead soldiers, and will use them to make fires to cook their food. They will burn the small and large shields, the bows and arrows, the war clubs, and spears. There will be enough weapons to use as firewood for seven years. 10 They will not need to gather firewood in the fields or cut wood from trees in the forests, because those weapons will be all the firewood that they will need. And they will take valuable things from those who took valuable things from them, and steal things from people who stole things from them. That is what I, Yahweh the Lord, declare will happen.

11 At that time I will create a graveyard for you, Gog, and your soldiers, in the valley east of the Dead Sea. That graveyard will block the road that travelers usually walk on, because you, Gog and all the soldiers of your huge army will be buried there. So it will be named the Valley of Hamon Gog.

12 For seven months the people of Israel will be burying your corpses. It will be necessary to bury all of them, in order that the land will not be defiled because of any unburied corpses. 13 All the people of Israel will do the work of burying them. The day when I win that victory they will honor me, and they will remember that day forever.

14 After those seven months are ended, the Israelite people will designate men to go throughout the land to bury any remaining corpses, in order that the land might not remain defiled. 15 When they go through the land, whenever one of them sees a human bone, he will set up a marker beside it. When the gravediggers see the markers, they will pick up the bones and bury them in the Valley of Hamon Gog. 16 There will be a city there named Hamonah. And by doing this work of burying the corpses, they will cleanse the land.’ ”

17 Yahweh said to me, “Son of man, this is what I, the Lord Yahweh, say: Summon every kind of bird and wild animal. Say to them, ‘Gather together from everywhere and come to the feast that Yahweh is preparing for you. It will be a great feast on the mountains of Israel. There you will eat men’s flesh and drink their blood. 18 You will eat the flesh of strong soldiers and drink the blood of kings as if they were fat animals from the region of Bashan—as if they were male sheep, lambs, goats, and bulls. 19 At the feast that Yahweh is preparing for you, you will eat fat until your stomachs are full, and you will drink blood until it is as though you are drunk. 20 It will be as though you are eating at a table that I have set up for you. You will eat all you want of the flesh of horses and their riders, strong soldiers of every kind.’ That is what I, Yahweh the Lord, declare.

21 ‘I will show people of the nations that I am powerful, and all the nations will see how I punish them. 22 At that time, the Israelite people will learn that I, Yahweh their God, have the power to do what I say that I will do. 23 And the people of the other lands will know that the Israelites had been forced to go to other countries because they sinned by not being faithful to me. I turned away from them, and I allowed their enemies to capture them and kill many of them. 24 I punished them as they deserved because of their disgusting behavior and sins, and I turned away from them.

25 Therefore, this is now what I, the Lord Yahweh say: I will now bring back from exile the descendants of Jacob; I will have mercy on all the Israelite people, and I will also make sure that they honor me. 26 When the Israelite people are back in their own country, they will live safely in their land, with no one to cause them to be afraid. They will forget about the disgraceful and unfaithful things that they did previously. 27 When I have brought them back from their enemies’ countries and gathered them together in Israel, the people of many nations will know how holy I am because of what I did for my people. 28 The Israelite people will know that I, Yahweh, have done this. They will know that because I forced them to go to other countries, and then I gathered them together in their own country. I will not leave any of them in those countries. 29 I will no longer turn away from them; I will give my Spirit to the Israelite people. This will certainly happen because I, Yahweh the Lord, have said it.”

40 It was 24 years after the Babylonians forcibly removed us Israelites from our land. It was 13 years after the Babylonians conquered the city of Jerusalem. It was the tenth day of the first month. On that day, Yahweh acted powerfully toward me and took me somewhere. 2 God did this in something like a dream. He took me to the area where the Israelites lived and had me stand on a very tall mountain. On the south side of the mountain were buildings that together looked like a city. 3 Then Yahweh took me to those buildings. There, I saw a man! He was standing at an entrance, and he shone like bronze. He was holding a linen rope and a stick for measuring things. 4 The man told me, “Mortal human, God took you to this place so that you would learn things. So, you must look at, listen to, and think carefully about everything that I will show you. Later, you must tell the Israelites everything that you learned.”

5 Now the stick that the man was holding was for measuring things using longer measurements than normal. It was about 3.2 meters long. Then I saw a wall that went all the way around the area where the building was. The man used the stick to measure the wall. It was 3.2 meters thick and 3.2 meters tall. 6 Then the man went to the gatehouse on the east side of the wall and climbed up its stairs. He measured the threshold. It was 3.2 meters deep. 7 Inside the gatehouse, there were small side rooms. They were 2.7 meters apart. Each side room was 3.2 meters deep and 3.2 meters wide. Where the gatehouse opened toward the building, there was an entryway. Inside the entryway, there was a threshold. It was 3.2 meters deep. 8 The man measured the entryway where the gatehouse opened toward the building. 9 It was 4.3 meters deep. The walls around its opening were 1.1 meters deep. That was what the man measured for the entryway where the gatehouse opened toward the building. 10 Inside the gatehouse on the east side, there were three small side rooms on each side of the hallway. Each of them was the same size. The walls around each of their openings were the same size. 11 The man measured the open space for the gatehouse’s door. It was 5.4 meters wide. The gatehouse’s hallway was seven meters wide. 12 In front of each small side room, there was a half wall. Each half wall was 54 centimeters wide, and each small side room was 3.2 meters on each side. 13 Then the man measured along the top of the gatehouse from the back of one small side room to the back of the small side room on the other side of the hallway. It was 13.5 meters wide. 14 He measured all the walls around the gatehouse’s openings, ending at the walls around the opening to the courtyard. They were 32.4 meters high. 15 He measured from the front of the gatehouse, where people entered, to the end of the entryway on the inside. It was 27 meters. 16 There were niches on the inside of the small side rooms, on the walls around their openings, and in the entryway all around the inside of the gatehouse. Carvings of palm trees were on the walls around the gatehouse’s openings.

17 Then the man had me walk into the courtyard that was between the outer wall and the inner wall. I saw stone flooring all the way around the inside of the outer wall. I also saw 30 rooms. Their back walls were the outer wall, and they opened to the inside onto the stone flooring. 18 The stone flooring stretched out into the courtyard as far as each of the gatehouses did. This flooring was lower than the courtyard inside the inner wall. 19 The man measured from the inner side of the gatehouse in the outer wall that was lower than the courtyard inside the inner wall. He measured to the outside of the courtyard inside the inner wall. It was 54 meters long. That was what the man measured for the gatehouse on the east side. Then, we went to the gatehouse on the north side.

20 He measured the gatehouse on the north side of the outer wall. He measured how deep and how long it was. 21 It had three small side rooms on each side of the hallway, walls around its openings, and entryway. They were all exactly the same size as the ones in the gatehouse on the eastern side. The gatehouse was 27 meters long and 13.5 meters wide. 22 It had niches, an entryway, and carvings of palm trees. They were all exactly the same size as the ones in the gatehouse on the eastern side. People had to walk up seven steps to enter the gatehouse. When they did, the entryway was directly in front of them. 23 Just as there was on the east side, on the north side there was a gatehouse through the inner wall in line with the outer gatehouse. The man measured from this inner gate to the gate through the outer wall on the north side. It was 54 meters.

24 Then, the man had me walk to the south side of the courtyard. There, I saw the gatehouse on the south side of the wall. He measured the walls around its openings and its entryway. They were the same size as the ones in the other gatehouses. 25 There were niches all around the inside of the gatehouse and its entryway. They were the same as the niches in the other gatehouses. This gatehouse was 27 meters long and 13.5 meters wide. 26 People had to walk up seven steps to enter the gatehouse. When they did, the entryway was directly in front of them. On each of the walls around its openings there were carvings of palm trees. 27 On the south side there was a gatehouse through the inner wall. The man measured from this inner gate to the gate through the outer wall on the south side. It was 54 meters.

28 Then he brought me into the inner courtyard through the south gateway, and he measured that gateway. It had the same measurements as the other gateways. 29 Its alcoves, its gateposts, and its side rooms had the same measurements as the others. This gateway and its side rooms had windows all the way around. The gateway was 27 meters long and 13.5 meters wide. 30 The side rooms all the way around were 13.5 meters long and 2.7 meters wide. 31 Its side rooms faced the outer courtyard, and carvings of palm trees decorated its gateposts. Eight steps led up to it.

32 Then he brought me into the inner courtyard on the east side, and he measured that gateway. It had the same measurements as the others. 33 Its alcoves, its gateposts, and its side rooms had the same measurements as the others. This gateway and its side rooms had windows all the way around. It was 27 meters long and 13.5 meters wide. 34 Its side rooms faced the outer courtyard, and carvings of palm trees decorated its gateposts on each side. Eight steps led up to it.

35 Then he brought me to the north gateway and measured it. It had the same measurements as the others—36 its alcoves, its gateposts, and its side rooms all matched. This gateway had windows all the way around, and it was 27 meters long and 13.5 meters wide. 37 Its gateposts faced the outer courtyard, and carvings of palm trees decorated its gateposts on each side. Eight steps led up to it.

38 There was a room with a doorway beside the gateposts of the gateways. There the priests would rinse the animals that they would burn completely on the altar. 39 In the porch of that gateway there were two tables on each side. On those tables the priests would slaughter the animals for the offerings that they burned completely, for the offerings that took away people’s sin, and for the offerings that removed people’s guilt. 40 Outside the porch, beside the steps that anyone would climb to reach the entrance of the north gateway, there were two tables. On the other side of the porch of the gateway there were two more tables. 41 So there were four tables on one side and four tables on the other side beside the gateway, eight tables in all, and on them the priests slaughtered the animals. 42 There were also four tables of cut stone for the offerings that the priests burned completely. Each of these tables was 80 centimeters long, 80 centimeters wide, and 54 centimeters high. On those tables the priests would lay the tools that they used to slaughter the animals for the offerings that they burned completely and for the other sacrifices. 43 Workers had fastened hooks eight centimeters long to the walls all the way around the room. The priests would put the meat of the offerings on the tables.

44 Outside the inner gateway, in the inner courtyard, there were rooms for the singers. One room stood beside the north gateway and faced south, and another room stood beside the east gateway and faced north. 45 The man said to me, “This room that faces south is for the priests who are in charge of the work in the temple. 46 The room that faces north is for the priests who are in charge of the work at the altar. These priests are the descendants of Zadok. Among all the descendants of Levi, they are the only ones whom Yahweh permits to come near to him in order to serve him.” 47 Then he measured the courtyard. It formed a square, 54 meters long and 54 meters wide. The altar stood in front of the temple.

48 Then he brought me to the porch of the temple, and he measured the gateposts of the porch; each one was 2.7 meters thick. The walls on each side of the entrance were 1.6 meters wide. 49 The porch was 11 meters long and 5.9 meters wide. People would climb steps to reach it. Pillars stood beside the gateposts, one pillar on each side.

41 Then the man brought me into the main room of the temple. He measured the walls on each side of the doorway of that room; each one was 3.2 meters thick, which was also the width of the sacred tent that the Israelites had used long ago. 2 The entrance itself was 5.4 meters wide, and the side walls of the entrance were 2.7 meters wide on each side. The man measured the main room; it was 22 meters long and 11 meters wide. 3 Then he went farther in, to the inner room, and he measured the doorposts of its entrance; each one was 1.1 meters thick. The entrance itself was 3.2 meters wide, and the walls on each side of the entrance were 3.8 meters wide. 4 He measured that inner room, which lay at the far end of the main room; it was 11 meters long and 11 meters wide. Then he said to me, “This is the Most Holy Place.”

5 Next the man measured the wall of the temple; it was 3.2 meters thick. A row of side rooms surrounded the temple completely, and each of those rooms was 2.2 meters wide. 6 The side rooms stood in three stories, one above another, with thirty rooms in each story. All the way around the temple the builders had made ledges on the outside of the temple wall to support these side rooms, so that the beams of the rooms rested on those ledges and did not cut into the wall of the temple itself. 7 The side rooms grew wider at each higher story, because the passage that wound around the temple rose higher and higher all the way around it. So the whole structure widened as it went up, and a person could climb from the lowest story to the top story by way of the middle story. 8 I also saw that the temple stood on a raised platform that surrounded it completely. That platform served as the foundation for the side rooms, and it rose one full measuring stick, that is, 3.2 meters. 9 The outer wall of those side rooms was 2.7 meters thick. Beside those rooms an open space remained free, and it belonged to the temple. 10 Between the temple and the rooms where the priests stayed, an open space 11 meters wide went all the way around the temple. 11 The entrances of the side rooms opened onto that free space; one entrance faced north and the other faced south. That free space was 2.7 meters wide all the way around.

12 On the west side of the temple, facing the restricted yard behind the temple, there stood another building. It was 38 meters wide, its wall was 2.7 meters thick all the way around, and it was 49 meters long. 13 Then the man measured the temple; it was 54 meters long. He measured the restricted yard together with that building and the walls of that building; they too were 54 meters long. 14 Across the east front of the temple, the temple and the yard beside it measured 54 meters wide.

15 The man also measured that building at the west end of the restricted yard, including the balconies on each side of it; it was 54 meters long. He measured as well the main room of the temple, the inner room, and the porch that faced the courtyard. 16 Workers had covered the thresholds, the recessed windows, and the balconies that surrounded all three of these parts with panels of wood. They had paneled the walls from the floor up to the windows, and they had also covered the windows themselves. 17 This paneling reached over the entrance, into the inner room of the temple, and out to the outside. The workers had measured out every part of the walls, inside and outside, all the way around. 18 They had carved winged creatures and palm trees on the panels. One palm tree stood between each pair of winged creatures, and each winged creature had two faces. 19 The face of a man looked toward the palm tree on one side, and the face of a young lion looked toward the palm tree on the other side. The workers had carved these figures all the way around the whole temple. 20 They had carved the winged creatures and the palm trees from the floor up to the space above the entrance, and on the wall of the main room as well.

21 The doorposts of the main room were square, and the front of the Most Holy Place looked just like the front of the main room. 22 In front of the Most Holy Place stood an altar made of wood. It was 1.6 meters high and 1.1 meters long, and the workers had made its corners, its whole length, and its sides out of wood. The man said to me, “This is the table that stands in the presence of Yahweh.” 23 The main room and the Most Holy Place each had a double door. 24 Each of those doors had two leaves that swung on hinges, two leaves for the one door and two leaves for the other. 25 The workers had carved winged creatures and palm trees on the doors of the main room, just as they had carved them on the walls, and they had built a canopy of wood over the front of the porch on the outside. 26 On the side walls of the porch there stood narrow windows with recessed frames, and carvings of palm trees decorated each side of them. The side rooms of the temple had canopies over them as well.

42 Then in the vision the man led me out of the inner courtyard, through the gate on the north side. We entered the outer courtyard and came to rooms that were facing the northern outer wall. 2 The building with those rooms was fifty-four meters long and twenty-seven meters wide. 3 In that building there was one group of rooms that faced the inner courtyard. The distance between those rooms and the sanctuary, the main temple building, was eleven meters. These rooms were built on three stories. Each set of rooms had a walkway over the set of rooms below it. There were rooms that overlooked the open area of the outer courtyard. 4 To one side of the rooms was a walkway that was five and two-fifths meters wide and fifty-four meters long. All the doors of the rooms were on their north side. 5 Each set of rooms was narrower than the set of rooms below them, because each upper set had a walkway in front. 6 The rooms on the upper levels had no pillars to support them as there were in the courtyard, because those rooms were supported by the walls of the rooms below. 7 The outer wall ran parallel to the rooms that faced the outer courtyard; this part of the outer wall was twenty-seven meters long. 8 The row of rooms that was along the outer courtyard was twenty-seven meters long, and the row of rooms that faced the temple was fifty-four meters long. 9 The bottom story had an entrance on its east side, coming from the outer courtyard.

10 On the eastern side, along the outer wall of the outer courtyard, next to the temple courtyard, there was also a set of rooms. 11 There was a walkway in front of them. These rooms were like the rooms on the north side. They had the same length and width, and also the same kind of entrances. 12 There were also doorways into rooms on the south side that were similar to what was on the north side. There was an inside passage with an outer door; the passage had doors into all the rooms. At the east end of the passage was an outside door leading into it.

13 Then the man said to me, “The rooms on the northern and southern sides that overlook the temple sanctuary are only for Yahweh’s special purposes. Here the priests who offer sacrifices to Yahweh will eat their portions of those offerings. Because these rooms are special, they will be used to store the offerings for Yahweh: The flour for the flour offerings, for the offerings for the sins that people have committed, and for the offerings that people make for their sins. 14 When the priests leave the temple, they will not be allowed to immediately enter the outer courtyard. First they must remove the clothes that they had been wearing inside the holy place, because those clothes are special, reserved for their work. They must put on other clothes before they enter the parts of the temple area where the other people gather.”

15 When the man had finished measuring the inside of the temple area, he led me out through the east entrance and measured all the surrounding area.16-19 16-19He measured the four sides of the area. There was a wall around the area that was two-hundred and seventy meters long on each side. 20 He measured the wall that separated what was sacred from the areas that were not sacred on four sides. The wall was five hundred cubits long and five hundred cubits wide.

43 Then the man brought me to the entrance on the east side. 2 Suddenly I saw the glory of the God of Israel coming from the east. The sound of his coming was like the roar of a rushing river, and all that area shone with his glory. 3 What I saw in this vision was like what I had seen in my earlier visions, first by the Kebar Canal and later when God came to destroy Jerusalem. I prostrated myself on the ground. 4 The glory of Yahweh entered the temple through the east entrance, 5 and then the Spirit lifted me up and brought me into the inner courtyard, while the glory of Yahweh filled the temple.

6 Then, while the man was standing beside me, I heard someone speak to me from inside the temple. 7 He said, “Son of man, this is my temple, the place where I sit on my throne and where I rest my feet. This is where I will live with the Israelite people forever. The Israelite people and their kings will never again disgrace me by worshiping other gods at their hilltop places of idol worship, or by building lifeless idols of their past kings. 8 Your people placed their altars near mine, and the doorposts of their temples were next to the doorposts of my temple. There was only a wall between them. And they disgraced me by the detestable things that they did. So I was angry and destroyed them. 9 Now they must stop this disgusting worship of idols and these rituals to honor kings’ idols. If they stop doing those things, I will live among them forever.

10 Son of man, describe to the Israelite people what this temple that I have shown you in a vision is like, in order that they will be ashamed of the sins. 11 If they are ashamed of all the evil things that they have done, tell them all about the temple that I showed you: Its design, the exits and entrances, and everything else about it. And tell them all my laws and regulations about worshiping me there. Write all these things down while they watch you, in order that they will be able to faithfully obey them.

12 And this is the supreme law about the temple: All of the area on top of the hill where the temple will be built must be kept sacred and holy.

13 These are the measurements of the altar, using the same kind of measuring stick that was used for the temple area: There is a gutter around the altar that is one-half meter deep and one-half meter wide. There is a rim around it that is twenty-three centimeters wide. This will compose the base for the rest of the altar. 14 The lower part of the gutter is one meter high to the lower ledge that surrounds the altar. The lower ledge is one-half meter wide. From that ledge to the upper ledge, it is two meters. That ledge is also one-half meter wide. 15 The hearth at the top of the altar is another two meters high, and there is a hornlike projection that juts up from each of the four corners. 16 That place at the top of the altar is square, six and one-half meters long on each side. 17 The upper ledge that borders the hearth is also a square, seven and three-fifths meters long on each side, and has a rim all around that is twenty-seven centimeters wide. There is a gutter measuring one-half meter at the bottom of the altar. There are steps leading up to the east side of the altar.”

18 Then the man said to me, “Son of man, this is what Yahweh the Lord says: These are the regulations for sacrificing offerings that will be completely burned and for sprinkling the blood against the sides of the altar when it is built: 19 You must present to the priests a young bull to be an offering for the sins of the priests, the descendants of Levi, from the clan of Zadok, who come near to the altar to serve me. 20 You must take some of the blood from the bull and smear it on the four projections of the altar and on the four corners of the upper ledge, and all around the rim, so I will accept the altar, and to make the altar belong only to me. 21 You must burn that bull outside the temple in the part of the temple area designated for that purpose.

22 The next day you must offer a male goat that has no defects, to be an offering, so I will accept the altar. Then you must purify the altar again, as you did with the bull that was sacrificed. 23 When you have finished doing all that, you must offer a young bull and a ram, both of them without any defects. 24 You must offer them to me, Yahweh. The priests must sprinkle salt on them and burn them completely on the altar as a sacrifice to me.

25 Then, each day for seven days you must bring to the priest a male goat to be sacrificed for an offering, so I will accept the altar. You must also sacrifice a young bull and a ram, each without any defect, that the priests will provide. 26 For seven days the priests will consecrate the altar, so I will accept the altar. By doing that they will set it apart for my honor. 27 At the end of those seven days, starting on the following day, the priests will continue to put on the altar offerings to be completely burned and offerings to promise friendship with me. Then I will accept you. That is what I, Yahweh the Lord, declare.”

44 Then the man brought me back to the outer entrance to the temple area, the one on the east side, but the gate was shut. 2 Yahweh said to me, “This gate must remain shut. It must not be opened by anyone; no one will be permitted to enter it. It must remain shut because I, Yahweh, the God of Israel, made it to be special to me when I came in through it. 3 Only the ruler of Israel will be permitted to sit inside this entrance to eat food in my presence. He must enter and leave the temple area through this gate.”

4 Then the man brought me through the north entrance to the front of the temple. I looked and saw that the glory of Yahweh filled his temple, and I prostrated myself on the ground.

5 Yahweh said to me, “Son of man, look carefully, and listen carefully to everything that I tell you about all the regulations concerning the temple. Note carefully the temple entrance and all the exits. 6 Say this to the rebellious Israelite people: ‘This is what I, Yahweh the Lord, say: You Israelite people, I will no longer endure the detestable things that you do! 7 In addition to all the other detestable things that you do, you brought into my temple foreign men who had not been circumcised and who knew nothing about how to honor me. By doing that, you caused my temple to be an unacceptable place to worship me, while you offered food and fat and blood, and you disobeyed my covenant with you. 8 Instead of doing what I commanded you to do in regard to my holy things, you appointed foreigners to be in charge of my temple. 9 But this is what I, Yahweh, have said: No foreigners, no men who are not circumcised, no godless people are permitted to enter my temple, not even foreigners who live among you Israelites permanently.

10 Many of the descendants of Levi deserted me along with most of the Israelite people, and started to worship idols. I will punish them for their sin. 11 I will permit them to work in my temple and to be in charge of the temple gates. They will be able to slaughter the animals that will be completely burned on the altar, and to burn other sacrifices for the people, and they will be able to help the people. 12 But because they helped the people to worship idols and caused many of the people of Israel to sin by worshiping idols, I swear that I will punish them for their sin. 13 They must not come near me to serve as priests. They must not come near any sacred things or the holy offerings. They will be ashamed of the things that they did, of which they are guilty. 14 But I will still put them in charge of the work in the temple, and allow them to do all the work that needs to be done there.

15 But the priests who are descended from Levi and from the clan of Zadok faithfully worked in my temple when the other Israelites deserted me. So they must come near to me to work for me. They will stand in my presence to offer sacrifices of animals’ fat and blood. 16 They are the only ones who are permitted to enter my temple. They are the only ones who are permitted to come near my altar to serve me and do what I tell them to do.

17 When they enter the gateway into the inner courtyard, they must wear white linen clothes. They must not wear any clothes made of wool while they do their work at the gates of the inner courtyard or inside the temple. 18 They must wear white linen turbans on their heads and linen undergarments around their waists. They must not wear anything that would cause them to perspire. 19 Before they go out into the courtyard where other people are, they must take off the clothes that they have been wearing and leave them in the sacred rooms, and put on other clothes, in order that the people are not consecrated by touching the sacred clothes.

20 The priests must not shave their heads or let their hair become long; but they must keep their hair trimmed. 21 Priests must not drink wine before they enter the inner courtyard. 22 Also, priests must not marry widows of men who were not priests or women who have been divorced. They are permitted to marry only virgins or widows of other priests. 23 They must teach the people the difference between things that are holy and things that are not, and teach them how to know what things are acceptable to me and what things are not.

24 If there is a dispute between people, the priests are the ones who must serve as judges and decide matters according to my laws. They must obey all my laws and decrees concerning the sacred festivals, and they must treat my Sabbath days as special for me.

25 Priests are permitted to go near the corpse of a father or mother or son or daughter or brother or unmarried sister. But they must not defile themselves by going near a corpse of anyone else. 26 If a priest touches the corpse of a close relative, he must perform the rituals to become acceptable to serve me again. After he performs those rituals, he must wait seven days. 27 Then, on the day that he enters the inner courtyard again to serve me in the temple, he must give an offering to remove his guilt for having sinned. That is what I, Yahweh the Lord, declare.

28 The priests will not own any land. They will have only what I provide for them. 29 They will eat the offerings made from flour, offerings to remove people’s guilt for having sinned, and offerings made when people fail to give to me the things that they are required to give. Everything else in Israel that is dedicated to me will belong to the priests. 30 The best fruits of the first part of each harvest and all the other special gifts will belong to the priests. You must give them the first part of your ground flour, in order that I will bless the people who live in your house. 31 Priests must not eat the flesh of any bird or animal that is found dead or that has been killed by wild animals.

45 When the land of Israel is divided among the twelve tribes, you must present to Yahweh one part of the land to be a sacred district. It will be thirteen and one-half kilometers long and five and two-fifths kilometers wide. This entire area will be reserved for Yahweh. 2 Part of that area, a square about 270 meters long on each side will be left empty all around the temple area. An additional strip of ground, about twenty-seven meters wide, will be left empty all around the temple area. 3 Inside the sacred district, measure a section thirteen and one-half kilometers long and five and two-fifths kilometers wide. It will be where the sanctuary is, and that is the most holy place. 4 It will be the sacred portion of the land for the priests who work in the temple, those who come near to Yahweh to serve him. It will be a place very special for Yahweh, for the priests’ houses, as well as for the temple. 5 An area thirteen and one-half kilometers long and five and two-fifths kilometers wide will be for the descendants of Levi who work in the temple. That area will belong to them, and they can build towns there to live in.

6 Alongside this sacred area will be a section of land that is thirteen and one-half kilometers long and two and three-quarters kilometers wide. It will be for a city where anyone in Israel may live.

7 The ruler of Israel will have the land that is on each side of the area formed by the temple district and the city. It will extend to the west from the western end of those areas, and to the east from the eastern end of those areas. The far eastern and far western borders of the king’s land will measure the same as the parallel borders of those other tracts. 8 This portion of land will belong to the ruler. So the rulers will no longer have any excuse for oppressing my people and stealing their land. They will assign the remaining parts of the land in Israel to each tribe, to be divided up among the people.

9 This is what Yahweh the Lord says: You rulers of Israel must stop acting violently and oppressing the people! You must do what is fair and right. Stop taking land from the people; stop forcing them off their land! 10 Also, you must use accurate scales and accurate containers for measuring things. 11 The baskets for measuring dry things and containers for measuring liquids must be the same size; each must hold twenty-two liters—called an ephah (for dry measure) and a bath (for liquid measure). 12 When you weigh things, you must use weights that everyone accepts as being correct. The shekel is to be divided into twenty gerahs, and a mina will be worth sixty shekels.

13 You must present to the ruler one measure of wheat or barley for every sixty measures that you harvest. 14 You must give him one measure of olive oil for every one hundred measures that you produce. 15 Also, Yahweh declares that you must take one sheep or goat from every two hundred in your flocks in the lush pastures of Israel. You must offer a sheep or a goat for various offerings: Burnt offerings and offerings to promise friendship with Yahweh, offerings to atone for the people’s sins. “This is the Lord Yahweh’s command.” 16 All the people in the land must join in bringing these offerings to the ruler of Israel. 17 The ruler must provide the animals to be completely burned on the altar, flour for the offerings made from grain, and wine for the sacred festivals that Yahweh has appointed for the people Israel—including the festivals to celebrate the new moons, and the offerings for the Sabbath days. He must provide the animals for the offerings for the people to become acceptable to God, offerings of flour made from grain, offerings to be completely burned, and offerings to promise friendship with Yahweh, to atone for the sins of the people of Israel.”

18 This is also what the Lord Yahweh declares: “On the first day of the first month of each year you must take one young bull that has no defects and sacrifice it to purify the temple. 19 The priest must take some of the blood of the offering to atone for the people’s sins, and he must smear it on the temple doorposts, on the four corners of the upper ledge surrounding the altar, and on the gateposts of the inner courtyard. 20 You must do the same thing on the seventh day of the month for any people who sin accidentally or without knowing that they sinned. By doing that you will purify the temple.

21 In the first month of each year, on the fourteenth day of the month, you must start to celebrate the Passover festival. The festival will last for seven days. During that time you must not eat any bread made with yeast. 22 On the first day, the ruler must provide a bull as an offering for himself and for the other people of the country. 23 And every day during those seven days he must provide seven bulls and seven rams that have no defects, to be an offering to make it possible for Yahweh to accept the people. 24 He must also provide twenty-two liters of flour as an offering with each bull, and the same amount of flour with each ram, and also four liters of olive oil with each offering of flour.

25 During the seven days of the festival celebrating when the Israelites lived in tents during the exodus from Egypt, which starts on the fifteenth day of the seventh month of each year, the ruler must provide the same things for offerings to make it possible for God to accept the people, for offerings to be completely burned, for offerings of things made from grain, and for offerings of olive oil.

46 This is also what Yahweh the Lord declares: ‘The east gateway of the inner courtyard must be shut during the six days you work each week, but on the Sabbath days and on the days when there is a new moon, the gateway must be open. 2 The ruler must enter the courtyard through the entry room of the gateway, and stand alongside the gateposts of the inner courtyard. Then the priests must sacrifice the animal that will be completely burned on the altar, and also his offering to promise friendship with me. The ruler must worship me at the entrance of the inner gateway, and then he must leave. But the gate will not be shut until that evening. 3 On the Sabbath days and on the days when there is a new moon, the people also must worship me at the entrance of this gate. 4 The offering that the ruler brings to be completely burned on the Sabbath day must be six male lambs and one ram, all with no defects. 5 The offering that he gives with the ram is twenty-two liters of flour, and the flour that he offers with the lambs should be as much as he pleases, along with one liter of olive oil for every twenty-two liters of flour. 6 Then each day that there is a new moon, he must offer a young bull, six lambs and a ram, all with no defects. 7 He must also provide twenty-two liters of flour with the bull, the same amount of flour with the ram, and as much flour as he wants with the lambs, along with one liter of olive oil with every twenty-two liters of flour. 8 When the ruler enters the temple area, he must enter through gate and its entry room, and he must go out by the same way.

9 When the people come to worship me at the festivals that I, Yahweh, have commanded, those who enter the temple area through the north gateway must go out through the south gateway. And those who enter through the south gateway must go out through the north gateway. People must not go out through the gateway through which they entered; they must go out through the opposite gateway. 10 The ruler must go in when the other people go in, and go out when the people go out.

11 During the festivals that you hold for me, the king must present twenty-two liters of flour along with a bull or a ram, and as much flour as he wants to with the lambs, along with one liter of olive oil with every twenty-two liters of flour. 12 When the ruler gives an offering that is not required, either one to be completely burned or an offering to celebrate fellowship with me, the gate on the east side must be opened for him. He must then present his offerings like he does on the Sabbath days. Then he will go out, and after he goes out, they must shut the gateway.

13 In the morning of every day, someone must provide a one year old lamb with no defects to be an offering to me, one that the priests will completely burn. 14 Someone must also provide each morning an offering of flour. It must be three and one-half liters of flour mixed with one liter of olive oil. You must never stop presenting these offerings of flour and olive oil to me, Yahweh, each day. 15 The lamb and the offering of flour and olive oil must be presented to me every morning, to be completely burned on the altar.

16 This is what Yahweh the Lord declares: If the ruler gives some of his land to one of his sons, to belong to him permanently, it will then eventually belong to his son’s descendants. 17 However, if he gives some of his land to one of his servants, the servant is allowed to keep that land until the year of the celebration of Jubilee. Then the ruler must take possession of it again. But if the ruler gives land to his sons, that land will belong to them permanently. 18 The ruler must not take any land that the people own and force them to live somewhere else. The land that he gives to his sons must be from his own property, not from anyone else’s property, in order that none of my people will be separated from his own property.’ ”

19 Then, in the vision, the man brought me through the entrance alongside the gateway to the sacred rooms on the north side, the rooms that belonged to the priests, and he showed me a place at the western end. 20 He said to me, “This is the place where the priests will cook the meat of the offerings that people make because they failed to do what they promised Yahweh that they would do, and offerings to cause people to become acceptable to God, and where they will bake bread made with the flour brought as offerings. They will cook those things in their rooms in order to avoid bringing them into the outer courtyard to cook them there, lest someone might be consecrated by touching them.”

21 Then the man brought me to the outer courtyard and led me around to its four corners. In each corner I saw an enclosed area; 22 each was twenty-two meters long and sixteen meters wide. 23 Around the inside of each of these enclosed areas was a stone ledge, with places to make fires all around under the ledge. 24 The man said to me, “These are the kitchens where the descendants of Levi who work in the temple will cook the sacrifices that the people bring.”

47 Then in the vision, the man brought me back to the entrance of the temple. There I saw water coming out from under the entrance and flowing toward the east. The water was flowing down the south side of the entrance, to the right of the altar. 2 Then he brought me out through the north gate and led me around to the eastern gate at its exterior side.

3 As the man continued walking toward the east, I saw that he had a measuring line in his hand. He measured off 540 meters and then led me through water that covered my ankles. 4 Then he measured off another 540 meters and led me through water that was up to my knees. Then he measured off another 540 meters and led me through water that was up to my waist. 5 Then he measured off another 540 meters and led me through water that was now a river that I could not cross, because the water was so deep; to continue farther would have required me to swim. 6 Then he asked me, “Son of man, think about this carefully.” Then he led me onto the bank of the river

7 and back along it toward in the direction from where we had come. There I saw many trees growing on each side of the river. 8 He said to me, “This water flows east and goes down into the Dead Sea. And when the water enters the Dead Sea, it stays fresh and restores the water of the Sea and makes it fresh again. 9 Swarms of fish will live in the water wherever the river flows. There will be many fish in the Dead Sea, because the water that flows into it will cause the salt water to become fresh water. Wherever the river flows, everything alongside it will flourish. 10 Fishermen will stand along the riverbank to catch fish. From En Gedi on the western side to En Eglaim there will be places to spread fishing nets. There will be many kinds of fish, as there are in the Great Sea. 11 But the swamps and marshes along the shore will not become fresh; they will be left to make salt. 12 Many kinds of fruit trees will grow on both sides of the river. Their leaves will not wither, and they will always have fruit. They will bear new fruit every month, because the water that comes from the temple flows continually to the trees. Their fruit will be good to eat and their leaves will be good for healing.”

13 In the vision, Yahweh also said this to me: “Here is a list of the twelve tribes of Israel and the territory that each tribe is to receive. The descendants of Joseph will receive two portions. 14 Divide the land equally among all of the tribes. I lifted up my hand to swear to your ancestors that I would give them this land to own permanently.

15 These will be the boundaries of the land:

On the north side, it will extend from the Mediterranean Sea east along the road to Hethlon, and then on to Zedad,

16 to Berothah, and then on to Sibraim, which is on the border between Damascus and Hamath. The boundary will run as far as Hazer Hattikon, which is on the border of the region of Hauran. 17 So the boundary will extend from the Mediterranean Sea to Hazar Enan on the border between Hamath to the north and Damascus to the south. That will be the northern boundary.

18 On the east side, the boundary will extend between Hauran and Damascus, south along the Jordan River between the region of Gilead and the territory of Israel, along the Dead Sea as far as Tamar. That will be the eastern boundary.

19 On the south side, the boundary will extend from Tamar to the springs near Meribah Kadesh. Then it will extend west along the brook of Egypt to the Great Sea. That will be the southern boundary.

20 On the west side, the boundary will be the Mediterranean Sea, north to a point near Lebo Hamath.

21 You must distribute this land among yourselves, among the tribes of Israel. 22 You must assign the land as a permanent possession for yourselves and also for any foreigners who are living and raising their children among you. You must consider them to be like native born Israelites, and they must be assigned land among the tribes of Israel. 23 Wherever foreigners are living, you must give them some land to belong to them permanently.’ That is what the Lord Yahweh declares.”

48 Here is a list of the tribes of Israel and the territory that each tribe is to receive. The northern boundary of Israel will start at the Mediterranean Sea and go east to the city of Hethlon, then to Lebo Hamath, and farther on to Hazar Enan, which is south of Damascus, and it will continue to Hamath. Each tribe will receive land that will extend from the eastern boundary of Israel west to the Great Sea.

The tribe of Dan will receive land alongside the northern border of Israel.

2 South of their area will be the territory for the tribe of Asher.

3 South of Asher’s land will be territory for the tribe of Naphtali.

4 South of Naphtali’s land will be territory for the tribe of Manasseh.

5 South of Manasseh’s land will be territory for the tribe of Ephraim.

6 South of Ephraim’s land will be territory for the tribe of Reuben.

7 South of their land will be territory for the tribe of Judah.

8 South of Judah’s land will be an area that the entire nation will give to me; you will set it apart for special use. The temple will be in the center of this area. It will be as long as any of the portions of land assigned a tribe of Israel.

9 This special area will be thirteen and one-half kilometers long and five and two-fifths kilometers wide. This is what you will give to Yahweh. 10 Within this special area, these will what you will assign to the priests: you will assign them an area of land measuring thirteen and one-half kilometers on the northern and southern side; and five and two-fifths kilometers on the western and eastern sides. The temple of Yahweh will be in the middle of this special area. 11 The temple area will be for the priests, those set apart for my honor, who are descendants of Zadok. They are ones who served me faithfully and did not turn away from Yahweh as the descendants of Levi did. 12 When the land is distributed, you will offer that special area to me, for it to be the priests’ special portion; it is land that you will treat as very special to me. Next to the priests’ territory will be where the other descendants of Levi will live.

13 The land that you will assign to the descendants of Levi will be the same size as the land that the priests will receive. So together, these two portions of land will be thirteen and one-half kilometers long and about eleven kilometers wide. 14 None of this special land, this best land, may ever be sold or traded or used by other people, because it belongs to Yahweh. It is set apart for him.

15 Another strip of land thirteen and one-half kilometers long and about two and three-quarters kilometers wide will be allotted for other people living in the special area to use. There they may build homes and have pasturelands, and there will be a city in the middle of this area. 16 The city will be square, two and two-fifths kilometers long on each side. 17 There will be an open area around the city, within the special area, that will be about 135 meters deep in each direction. 18 Outside the city there will be a farming area that will extend five and two-fifths kilometers on the east side and five and two-fifths kilometers on the west side. Men who work there will produce food for the people who work in the city. 19 Those who come from the various tribes to work in the city may also work in this farmland. 20 This entire special area, including the land given for Yahweh’s use and the city, will be a square that is thirteen and one-half kilometers long on each side.

21 The tracts of land to the east and to the west of Yahweh’s area and the city will belong to the ruler. One area will extend east to the eastern boundary of Israel, and the other will extend west to the Great Sea. Yahweh’s area, which contains the temple, will be in the middle. 22 The area that belongs to the ruler will be between the tribe of Judah to the north and the tribe of Benjamin to the south.

23 South of Yahweh’s area, each of the other tribes will receive one portion of land that extends from the eastern boundary of Israel west to the Great Sea.

Just south of Yahweh’s area will be territory for the tribe of Benjamin.

24 South of Benjamin’s land will be the land for the tribe of Simeon.

25 South of Simeon’s land will be the land for the tribe of Issachar.

26 South of Issachar’s land will be the land for the tribe of Zebulun.

27 South of Zebulun’s land will be the land for the tribe of Gad.

28 The southern boundary of Gad’s land will extend south from En Gedi to the springs at Meribah Kadesh, and then to the west along the brook of Egypt to the Great Sea.

29 This is a description of the land that you must assign to the tribes of Israel, for it to belong to them permanently.’ That is what I, Yahweh the Lord, declare.

30 Here are the city gates: On the north side, which is two and two-fifths kilometers long, 31 there will be three gates. Each gate will have the name of one of the tribes of Israel. The first one will be named for Reuben, the next for Judah, the next for Levi.

32 On the east side, also two and two-fifths kilometers long, will be gates named for Joseph, Benjamin, and Dan.

33 On the south side, also two-fifths of a kilometer long, will be gates named for Simeon, Issachar, and Zebulun.

34 On the west side, also two-fifths of a kilometer long, will be gates named for Gad, Asher, and Naphtali.

35 The distance around the city would be nine and three-quarters kilometers.

From that time on, the name of the city will be “Yahweh is there.”