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Ezekiel 11

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.

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