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Ezekiel 22

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.’ ”

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