UST by section EZE 12:1

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Ezekiel 12

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!’ ”

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