Jezekiel

Chapter 1

1:1 Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, on the fifth day of the month, that I was in the midst of the captivity by the river of Chobar; and the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God. 2 On the fifth day of the month; this was the fifth year of the captivity of king Joakim. 3 And the word of the Lord came to Jezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans, by the river of Chobar; and the hand of the Lord was upon me.

4 And I looked, and, behold, a sweeping wind came from the north, and a great cloud on it, and there was brightness round about it, and gleaming fire, and in the midst of it as it were the appearance of amber in the midst of the fire, and brightness in it.

5 And in the midst as it were the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance; the likeness of a man was upon them. 6 And each one had four faces, and each one had four wings. 7 And their legs were straight; and their feet were winged, and there were sparks, like gleaming brass, and their wings were light. 8 And the hand of a man was under their wings on their four sides. 9 And the faces of them four turned not when they went; they went everyone straight forward. 10 And the likeness of their faces was the face of a man, and the face of a lion on the right of the four; and the face of a calf on the left of the four; and the face of an eagle to the four. 11 And the four had their wings spread out above; each one had two joined to one another, and two covered their bodies. 12 And each one went straight forward: wherever the spirit was going they went, and turned not back.

13 And in the midst of the living creatures there was an appearance as of burning coals of fire, as an appearance of lamps turning among the living creatures; and the brightness of fire, and out of the fire came forth lightning. 14

15 And I looked, and, behold, the four had each one wheel on the ground near the living creatures. 16 And the appearance of the wheels was as the appearance of beryl: and the four had one likeness: and their work was as it were a wheel in a wheel. 17 They went on their four sides: they turned not as they went; 18 neither did their backs turn: and they were high: and I beheld them, and the backs of them four were full of eyes round about.

19 And when the living creatures went, the wheels went by them: and when the living creatures lifted themselves off the earth. the wheels were lifted off. 20 Wherever the cloud happened to be, there was the spirit ready to go: the wheels went and were lifted up with them; because the spirit of life was in the wheels. 21 When those went, the wheels went; and when those stood, the wheels stood; and when those lifted themselves off the earth, they were lifted off with them: for the spirit of life was in the wheels.

22 And the likeness over the heads of the living creatures was as a firmament, as the appearance of crystal, spread out over their wings above. 23 And their wings were spread out under the firmament, reaching one to the other; two wings to each, covering their bodies. 24 And I heard the sound of their wings when they went, as the sound of much water: and when they stood, their wings were let down.

25 And lo! a voice from above the firmament 26 that was over their head, there was as the appearance of a sapphire stone, and the likeness of a throne upon it: and upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness as an appearance of a man above. 27 And I saw as it were the resemblance of amber from the appearance of the loins and upwards, and from the appearance of the loins and under I saw an appearance of fire, and the brightness thereof round about. 28 As the appearance of the bow when it is in the cloud in days of rain, so was the form of brightness round about.

Chapter 2

2:1 This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. And I saw and fell upon my face, and heard the voice of one speaking: and he said to me, Son of man, stand upon thy feet, and I will speak to thee. 2 And the Spirit came upon me, and took me up, and raised me, and set me on my feet: and I heard him speaking to me. 3 And he said to me, Son of Man, I send thee forth to the house of Israel, them that provoke me; who have provoked me, they and their fathers to this day. 4 And thou shalt say to them, Thus saith the Lord. 5 Whether then indeed they shall hear or fear. (for it is a provoking house,)yet they shall know that thou art a prophet in the midst of them.

6 And thou, son of man, fear them not, nor be dismayed at their face; (for they will madden and will rise up against thee round about, and thou dwellest in the midst of scorpions): be not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their countenance, for it is a provoking house. 7 And thou shalt speak my words to them, whether they will hear or fear: for it is a provoking house.

8 And thou, son of man, hear him that speaks to thee; be not thou provoking, as the provoking house: open thy mouth, and eat what I give thee. 9 And I looked, and behold, a hand stretched out to me, and in it a volume of a book. 10 And he unrolled it before me: and in it the front and the back were written upon: and there was written in it Lamentation, and mournful song, and woe.

Chapter 3

3:1 And he said to me, Son of Man, eat this volume, and go and speak to the children of Israel. 2 So he opened my mouth, and caused me to eat the volume.

And he said to me, Son of man, 3 thy mouth shall eat, and thy belly shall be filled with this volume that is given to thee. So I ate it; and it was in my mouth as sweet as honey.

4 And he said to me, Son of man, go thy way, and go in to the house of Israel, and speak my words to them. 5 For thou art not sent to a people of hard speech, but to the house of Israel; 6 neither to many nations of other speech and other tongues, nor of harsh language, whose words thou wouldest not understand: although if I had sent thee to such, they would have hearkened to thee. 7 But the house of Israel will not be willing to hearken to thee; for they will not hearken to me: for all the house of Israel are stubborn and hard-hearted. 8 And, behold, I have made thy face strong against their faces, and I will strengthen thy power against their power. 9 And it shall be continually stronger than a rock: be not afraid of them, neither be dismayed at their faces, because it is a provoking house.

10 And he said to me, Son of man, receive into thine heart all the words that I have spoken to thee, and hear them with thine ears. 11 And go thy way, go in to the captivity, to the children of thy people, and thou shalt speak to them, and say to them, Thus saith the Lord; whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear.

12 Then the Spirit took me up, and I heard behind me the voice as of a great earthquake, saying, Blessed be the glory of the Lord from his place. 13 And I perceived the sound of the wings of the living creatures clapping one to the other, and the sound of the wheels was near them, and the sound of the earthquake. 14 And the Spirit lifted me, and took me up, and I went in the impulse of my spirit; and the hand of the Lord was mighty upon me.

15 Then I passed through the air and came into the captivity, and went round to them that dwelt by the river of Chobar who were there; and I sat there seven days, conversant in the midst of them.

16 And after the seven days the word of the Lord came to me, saying, Son of man, 17 I have made thee a watchman to the house of Israel; and thou shalt hear a word of my mouth, and shalt threaten them from me. 18 When I say to the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou hast not warned him, to give warning to the wicked, to turn from his ways, that he should live; that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thy hand. 19 But if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, and from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, and thou shalt deliver thy soul.

20 And when the righteous turns away from his righteousness, and commits a trespass, and I shall bring punishment before him, he shall die, because thou didst not warn him: he shall even die in his sins, because his righteousness shall not be remembered; but his blood will I require at thine hand. 21 But if thou warn the righteous not to sin, and he sin not, the righteous shall surely live, because thou hast warned him; and thou shalt deliver thine own soul.

22 And the hand of the Lord came upon me; and he said to me, Arise, and go forth into the plain, and there shalt thou be spoken to.

23 And I arose, and went forth to the plain: and, behold, the glory of the Lord stood there, according to the vision, and according to the glory of the Lord, which I saw by the river of Chobar: and I fell on my face. 24 Then the Spirit came upon me, and set me on my feet, and spoke to me, and said to me, Go in, and shut thyself up in the midst of thine house. 25 And thou, son of man, behold, bonds are prepared for thee, and they shall bind thee with them, and thou shalt not come forth of the midst of them. 26 Also I will bind thy tongue, and thou shalt be dumb, and shalt not be to them a reprover: because it is a provoking house. 27 But when I speak to thee, I will open thy mouth, and thou shalt say to them, Thus saith the Lord, He that hears, let him hear; and he that is disobedient, let him be disobedient: because it is a provoking house.

Chapter 4

4:1 And thou, son of man, take thee a brick, and thou shalt set it before thy face, and shalt portray on it the city, even Jerusalem. 2 And thou shalt besiege it, and build works against it, and throw up a mound round about it, and pitch camps against it, and set up engines round about. 3 And take thou to thyself an iron pan, and thou shalt set it for an iron wall between thee and the city: and thou shalt set thy face against it, and it shall be in a siege, and thou shalt besiege it. This is a sign to the children of Israel.

4 And thou shalt lie upon thy left side, and lay the iniquities of the house of Israel upon it, according to the number of the hundred and fifty days during which thou shalt lie upon it: and thou shalt bear their iniquities. 5 For I have appointed thee their iniquities for a number of days, for a hundred and ninety days: so thou shalt bear the iniquities of the house of Israel. 6 And thou shalt accomplish this, and then shalt lie on thy right side, and shalt bear the iniquities of the house of Juda forty days: I have appointed thee a day for a year.

7 So thou shalt set thy face to the siege of Jerusalem, and shalt strengthen thine arm, and shalt prophesy against it. 8 And, behold, I have prepared bonds for thee, land thou mayest not turn from thy one side to the other, until the days of thy siege shall be accomplished.

9 Take thou also to thee wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentils, and millet, and bread-corn; and thou shalt cast them into one earthen vessel, and shalt make them into loaves for thyself; and thou shalt eat them a hundred and ninety days, according to the number of the days during which thou sleepest on thy side. 10 And thou shalt eat thy food by weight, twenty shekels a day: from time to time shalt thou eat them. 11 And thou shalt drink water by measure, even from time to time thou shalt drink the sixth part of a hin. 12 And thou shalt eat them as a barley cake: thou shalt bake them before their eyes in man’s dung.

13 And thou shalt say, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel; Thus shall the children of Israel eat unclean things among the Gentiles. 14 Then I said, Not so, Lord God of Israel: surely my soul has not been defiled with uncleanness; nor have I eaten, that which died of itself or was torn of beasts from my birth until now; neither has any corrupt flesh entered into my mouth.

15 And he said to me, Behold, I have given thee dung of oxen instead of man’s dung, and thou shalt prepare thy loaves upon it.

16 And he said to me, Son of man, behold, I break the support of bread in Jerusalem: and they shall eat bread by weight and in want; and shall drink water by measure, and in a state of ruin: 17 that they may want bread and water; and a man and his brother shall be brought to ruin, and they shall pine away in their iniquities.

Chapter 5

5:1 And thou, son of man, take thee a sword sharper than a barber’s razor; thou shalt procure it for thyself, and shalt bring it upon thine head, and upon thy beard: and thou shalt take a pair of scales, and shalt separate the hair. 2 A fourth part thou shalt burn in the fire in the midst of the city, at the fulfillment of the days of the siege: and thou shalt take a fourth part, and burn it up in the midst of it: and a fourth part thou shalt cut with a sword round about it: and a fourth part thou shalt scatter to the wind; and I will draw out a sword after them.

3 And thou shalt take thence a few in number, and shalt wrap them in the fold of thy garment. 4 And thou shalt take of these again, and cast them into the midst of the fire, and burn them up with fire: from thence shall come forth fire; and thou shalt say to the whole house of Israel,

5 Thus saith the Lord; This is Jerusalem: I have set her and the countries round about her in the midst of the nations. 6 And thou shalt declare mine ordinances to the lawless one from out of the nations; and my statutes to the sinful one of the countries round about her: because they have rejected mine ordinances, and have not walked in my statutes.

7 Therefore thus saith the Lord, Because your occasion for sin has been taken from the nations round about you, and ye have not walked in my statutes, nor kept mine ordinances, nay, ye have not even done according to the ordinances of the nations round about you; therefore thus saith the Lord; 8 Behold, I am against thee, and I will execute judgement in the midst of thee in the sight of the nations. 9 And I will do in thee things which I have not done, and the like of which I will not do again, for all thine abominations. 10 Therefore the fathers shall eat their children in the midst of thee, and children shall eat their fathers; and I will execute judgements in thee, and I will scatter all that are left of thee to every wind.

11 Therefore, as I live, saith the Lord; surely, because thou hast defiled my holy things with all thine abominations, I also will reject thee; mine eye shall not spare, land I will have no mercy. 12 A fourth part of thee shall be cut off by pestilence, and a fourth part of thee shall be consumed in the midst of thee with famine: and as for another fourth part of thee, I will scatter them to every wind; and a fourth part of thee shall fall by sword round about thee, and I will draw out a sword after them.

13 And my wrath and mine anger shall be accomplished upon them: and thou shalt know that I the Lord have spoken in my jealousy, when I have accomplished mine anger upon them.

14 And I will make thee desolate, and thy daughters round about thee, in the sight of every one that passes through. 15 And thou shalt be mourned over and miserable among the nations round about thee, when I have executed judgements in thee in the vengeance of my wrath. I the Lord have spoken. 16 And when I have sent against them shafts of famine, then they shall be consumed, and I will break the strength of thy bread. 17 So I will send forth against thee famine and evil beasts, and I will take vengeance upon thee; and pestilence and blood shall pass through upon thee; and I will bring a sword upon thee round about. I the Lord have spoken.

Chapter 6

6:1 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 2 Son of man, set thy face against the mountains of Israel, and prophesy against them; 3 and thou shalt say,

Ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord; thus saith the Lord to the mountains, and to the hills, and to the valleys, and to the forests; Behold, I bring a sword upon you, and your high places shall be utterly destroyed. 4 And your altars shall be broken to pieces, and your consecrated plats; and I will cast down your slain men before your idols. 5 And I will scatter your bones round about your altars, 6 and in all your habitations: the cities shall be made desolate, and the high places utterly laid waste; that your altars may be destroyed, and your idols be broken to pieces, and your consecrated plats be abolished. 7 And slain men shall fall in the midst of you, and ye shall know that I am the Lord.

8 When there are some of you escaping from the sword among the Gentiles, and when ye are scattered in the countries; 9 then they of you that escape among the nations whither they were carried captive shall remember me; (I have sworn an oath against their heart that goes a-whoring from me, and their eyes that go a-whoring after their practices;)and they shall mourn over themselves for all their abominations. 10 And they shall know that I the Lord have spoken.

11 Thus saith the Lord; Clap with thy hand, and stamp with thy foot and say, Aha, aha! for all the abominations of the house of Israel: they shall fall by the sword, and by pestilence, and by famine. 12 He that is near shall fall by the sword; and he that is far off shall die by the pestilence; and he that is in the siege shall be consumed with famine: and I will accomplish mine anger upon them.

13 Then ye shall know that I am the Lord, when your slain are in the midst of your idols round about your altars, on every high hill, and under every shady tree, where they offered a sweet savour to all their idols. 14 And I will stretch out my hand against them, and I will make the land desolate and ruined from the wilderness of Deblatha, in all their habitations: and ye shall know that I am the Lord.

Chapter 7

7:1 Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying, Also, thou, son of man, say, 2 Thus saith the Lord;

An end is come to the land of Israel, the end is come on the four corners of the land. 3 The end is come on thee, 7 the inhabitant of the land: the time is come, the day has drawn nigh, not with tumult, nor with pangs. 8 Now I will pour out my anger upon thee near at hand, and I will accomplish my wrath on thee: and I will judge thee for thy ways, and recompense upon thee all thine abominations. 9 Mine eye shall not spare, nor will I have any mercy: for I will recompense thy ways upon thee, and thine abominations shall be in the midst of thee; and thou shalt know that I am the Lord that smite thee. 7 Now the end is come to thee, and I will send judgment upon thee: and I will take vengeance on thy ways, and will recompense all thine abominations upon thee. 4 Mine eye shall not spare, nor will I have any mercy: for I will recompense thy way upon thee, and thine abominations shall be in the midst of thee; and thou shalt know that I am the Lord.

5 For thus saith the Lord; Behold, the end is come.

10 Behold, the day of the Lord! although the rod has blossomed, 11 pride has sprung up, and will break the staff of the wicked one, and that not with tumult, nor with haste. 12 The time is come, behold the day: let not the buyer rejoice, and let not the seller mourn. 13 For the buyer shall never again return to the seller, neither shall a man cleave with the eye of hope to his life. 14 Sound ye the trumpet, and pass sentence on all together. 15 There shall be war with the sword without, and famine and pestilence within: he that is in the field shall die by the sword; and famine and pestilence shall destroy them that are in the city.

16 But they that escape of them shall be delivered, and shall be upon the mountains: and I will slay all the rest, every one for his iniquities. 17 All hands shall be completely weakened, and all thighs shall be defiled with moisture. 18 And they shall gird themselves with sackcloth, and amazement shall cover them; and shame shall be upon them, even upon every face, and baldness upon every head. 19 Their silver shall be cast forth in the streets, and their gold shall be despised: their souls shall not be satisfied, and their bellies shall not be filled: for it was the punishment of their iniquities. 20 As for their choice ornaments, they employed them for pride, and they made of them images of their abominations: therefore have I made them uncleanness to them.

21 And I will deliver them into the hands of strangers to make them a prey, and to the pests of the earth for a spoil; and they shall profane them. 22 And I will turn away my face from them, and they shall defile my charge, and shall go in to them unguardedly, and profane them. 23 And they shall work uncleanness: because the land is full of strange nations, and the city is full of iniquity. 24 And I will turn back the boasting of their strength; and their holy things shall be defiled. 25 And though propitiation shall come, and one shall seek peace, yet there shall be none. 26 There shall be woe upon woe, and there shall be message upon message; and a vision shall be sought from a prophet; but the law shall perish from the priest, and counsel from the elders. 27 The prince shall clothe himself with desolation, and the hands of the people of the land shall be made feeble: I will do to them according to their ways, and according to their judgements will I punish them; and they shall know that I am the Lord.

Chapter 8

8:1 And it came to pass in the sixth year, in the fifth month, on the fifth day of the month, I was sitting in the house, and the elders of Juda were sitting before me: and the hand of the Lord came upon me. 2 And I looked, and, behold, the likeness of a man: from his loins and downwards there was fire, and from his loins upwards there was as the appearance of amber. 3 And he stretched forth the likeness of a hand, and took me by the crown of my head; and the Spirit lifted me up between the earth and sky, and brought me to Jerusalem in a vision of God, to the porch of the gate that looks to the north, where was the pillar of the Purchaser. 4 And, behold, the glory of the Lord God of Israel was there, according to the vision which I saw in the plain.

5 And he said to me, Son of man, lift up thine eyes toward the north. So I lifted up mine eyes toward the north, and, behold, I looked from the north toward the eastern gate. 6 And he said to me, Son of man, hast thou seen what these do? They commit great abominations here so that I should keep away from my sanctuary: and thou shalt see yet greater iniquities.

7 And he brought me to the porch of the court. 8 And he said to me, Son of man, dig: so I dug, and behold a door. 9 And he said to me, Go in, and behold the iniquities which they practise here. 10 So I went in and looked; and beheld vain abominations, and all the idols of the house of Israel, portrayed upon them round about. 11 And seventy men of the elders of the house of Israel, and Jechonias the son of Saphan stood in their presence in the midst of them, and each one held his censer in his hand; and the smoke of the incense went up. 12 And he said to me, Thou hast seen, son of man, what the elders of the house of Israel do, each one of them in their secret chamber: because they have said, The Lord see not; The Lord has forsaken the earth.

13 And he said to me, Thou shalt see yet greater iniquities which these do. 14 And he brought me in to the porch of the house of the Lord that looks to the north; and, behold there were women sitting there lamenting for Thammuz. 15 And he said to me, Son of man, thou hast seen; but thou shalt yet see evil practices greater then these.

16 And he brought me into the inner court of the house of the Lord, and at the entrance of the temple of the Lord, between the porch and the altar, were about twenty men, with their back parts toward the temple of the Lord, and their faces turned the opposite way; and these were worshipping the sun. 17 And he said to me, Son of man, thou hast seen this. Is it a little thing to the house of Juda to practise the iniquities which they have practised here? for they have filled the land with iniquity: and, behold, these are as scorners. 18 Therefore will I deal with them in wrath: mine eye shall not spare, nor will I have any mercy.

Chapter 9

9:1 And he cried in mine ears with a loud voice, saying, The judgement of the city has drawn nigh; and each had the weapons of destruction in his hand. 2 And, behold, six men came from the way of the high gate that looks toward the north, and each one’s axe was in his hand; and there was one man in the midst of them clothed with a long robe down to the feet, and a sapphire girdle was on his loins: and they came in and stood near the brazen altar. 3 And the glory of the God of Israel, that was upon them, went up from the cherubs to the porch of the house.

And he called the man that was clothed with the long robe, who had the girdle on his loins; 4 And said to him, Go through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark on the foreheads of the men that groan and that grieve for all the iniquities that are done in the midst of them. 5 And he said to the first in my hearing, Go after him into the city, and smite: and let not your eyes spare, and have no mercy. 6 Slay utterly old man and youth, and virgin, and infants, and women: but go ye not nigh any on whom is the mark: begin at my sanctuary.

So they began with the elder men who were within in the house. 7 And he said to them, Defile the house, and go out and fill the ways with dead bodies, and smite.

8 And it came to pass as they were smiting, that I fell upon my face, and cried out, and said, Alas, O Lord! wilt thou destroy the remnant of Israel, in pouring out thy wrath upon Jerusalem? 9 Then said he to me, The iniquity of the house of Israel and Juda is become very exceedingly great: for the land is filled with many nations, and the city is filled with iniquity and uncleanness: because they have said, The Lord has forsaken the earth, The Lord looks not upon it. 10 Therefore mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have any mercy: I have recompensed their ways upon their heads.

11 And, behold, the man clothed with the long robe, and girt with the girdle about his loins, answered and said, I have done as thou didst command me.

Chapter 10

10:1 Then I looked, and, behold, over the firmament that was above the head of the cherubs there was a likeness of a throne over them, as a sapphire stone. 2 And he said to the man clothed with the long robe, Go in between the wheels that are under the cherubs, and fill thine hands with coals of fire from between the cherubs, and scatter them over the city. And he went in my sight.

3 And the cherubs stood on the right hand of the house, as the man went in; and the cloud filled the inner court. 4 Then the glory of the Lord departed from the cherubs to the porch of the house; and the cloud filled the house, and the court was filled with the brightness of the glory of the Lord. 5 And the sound of the cherubs’ wings was heard as far as the outer court, as the voice of the Almighty God speaking.

6 And it came to pass, when he gave a charge to the man clothed with the sacred robe, saying, Take fire from between the wheels from between the cherubs, that he went in, and stood near the wheels. 7 And he stretched forth his hand into the midst of the fire that was between the cherubs, and took thereof, and put it into the hands of the man clothed with the sacred robe: and he took it, and went out.

8 And I saw the cherubs having the likeness of men’s hands under their wings. 9 And I saw, and behold, four wheels stood by the cherubs, one wheel by each cherub: and the appearance of the wheels was as the appearance of a carbuncle stone. 10 And as for their appearance, there was one likeness to the four, as if there should be a wheel in the midst of a wheel. 11 When they went, they went on their four sides; they turned not when they went, for whichever way the first head looked, they went; and they turned not as they went. 12 And their backs, and their hands, and their wings, and the wheels, were full of eyes round about the four wheels. 13 And these wheels were called Gelgel in my hearing. 14 15 And the cherubs were the same living creature which I saw by the river of Chobar.

16 And when the cherubs went, the wheels went, and they were close to them: and when the cherubs lifted up their wings to mount up from the earth, their wheels turned not. 17 When they stood, the wheels stood; and when they mounted up, the wheels mounted up with them: because the spirit of life was in them.

18 Then the glory of the Lord departed from the house, and went up on the cherubs. 19 And the cherubs lifted up their wings, and mounted up from the earth in my sight: when they went forth, the wheels were also beside them, and they stood at the entrance of the front gate of the house of the Lord; and the glory of the God of Israel was upon them above.

20 This is the living creature which I saw under the God of Israel by the river of Chobar; and I knew that they were cherubs. 21 Each one had four faces, and each one had eight wings; and under their wings was the likeness of men’s hands. 22 And as for the likeness of their faces, these are the same faces which I saw under the glory of the God of Israel by the river of Chobar: and they went each straight forward.

Chapter 11

11:1 Moreover the Spirit took me up, and brought me to the front gate of the house of the Lord, that looks eastward: and behold at the entrance of the gate were about five and twenty men; and I saw in the midst of them Jechonias the son of Ezer, and Phaltias the son of Banaeas, the leaders of the people.

2 And the Lord said to me, Son of man, these are the men that devise vanities, and take evil counsel in this city: 3 who say, Have not the houses been newly built? This is the caldron, and we are the flesh. 4 Therefore prophesy against them, prophesy, son of man. 5 And the Spirit of the Lord fell upon me, and said to me, say;

Thus saith the Lord; Thus have ye said, O house of Israel: and I know the devices of your spirit. 6 Ye have multiplied your dead in this city, and ye have filled your ways with slain men. 7 Therefore thus saith the Lord; Your dead whom ye have smitten in the midst of it, these are the flesh, and city this is the caldron: but I will bring you forth out of the midst of it. 8 Ye fear the sword; and I will bring a sword upon you, saith the Lord. 9 And I will bring you forth out of the midst of it, and will deliver you into the hands of strangers, and will execute judgements among you. 10 Ye shall fall by the sword; I will judge you on the mountains of Israel; and ye shall know that I am the Lord.

11 12 13 And it came to pass, while I was prophesying, that Phaltias the son of Banaeas died. And I fell upon my face, and cried with a loud voice, and said, Alas, alas, O Lord! wilt thou utterly destroy the remnant of Israel? 14 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 15 Son of man, thy brethren, and the men of thy captivity, and all the house of Israel are come to the full, to whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem said, Keep ye far away from the Lord: the land is given to us for an inheritance. 16 Therefore say thou,

Thus saith the Lord; I will cast them off among the nations, and will disperse them into every land, yet will I be to them for a little sanctuary in the countries which they shall enter. 17 Therefore say thou, Thus saith the Lord; I will also take them from the heathen, and gather them out of the lands wherein I have scattered them, and will give them the land of Israel.

18 And they shall enter in there, and shall remove all the abominations of it, and all its iniquities from it. 19 And I will give them another heart, and will put a new spirit within them; and will extract the heart of stone from their flesh, and give them a heart of flesh: 20 that they may walk in my commandments, and keep mine ordinances, and do them: and they shall be to me a people, and I will be to them a God.

21 And as for the heart set upon their abominations and their iniquities, as their heart went after them, I have recompensed their ways on their heads, saith the Lord.

22 Then the cherubs lifted up their wings, and the wheels beside them; and the glory of the God of Israel was over them above. 23 And the glory of the Lord went up from the midst of the city, and stood on the mountain which was in front of the city.

24 And the Spirit took me up, and brought me to the land of the Chaldeans, to the captivity, in a vision by the Spirit of God: and I went up after the vision which I saw. 25 And I spoke to the captivity all the words of the Lord which he had shewed me.

Chapter 12

12:1 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 2 Son of man, thou dwellest in the midst of the iniquities of those, who have eyes to see, and see not; and have ears to hear, and hear not: because it is a provoking house.

3 Thou therefore, son of man, prepare thyself baggage for going into captivity by day in their sight; and thou shalt be led into captivity from thy place into another place in their sight; that they may see that it is a provoking house. 4 And thou shalt carry forth thy baggage, baggage for captivity, by day before their eyes: and thou shalt go forth at even, as a captive goes forth, in their sight. 5 Dig for thyself into the wall of the house, and thou shalt pass through it in their sight: 6 thou shalt be lifted up on men’s shoulders, and shalt go forth in secret: thou shalt cover thy face, and shalt not see the ground: because I have made thee a sign to the house of Israel.

7 And I did thus according to all that he commanded me; and I carried forth my baggage for captivity by day, and in the evening I dug through the wall for myself, and went out secretly; I was taken up on men’s shoulders before them. 8 And the word of the Lord came to me in the morning, saying, 9 Son of man, have not the house of Israel, the provoking house, said to thee, What doest thou? 10 Say to them,

Thus saith the Lord God, the Prince and the Ruler in Israel, even to all the house of Israel who are in the midst of them: 11 say, I am performing signs: as I have done, so shall it be to him: they shall go into banishment and captivity. 12 And the prince in the midst of them shall be borne upon shoulders, and shall go forth in secret through the wall, and shall dig so that he may go forth thereby: he shall cover his face, that he may not be seen by any eye, and he himself shall not see the ground. 13 And I will spread out my net upon him, and he shall be caught in my toils: and I will bring him to Babylon to the land of the Chaldeans; but he shall not see it, though he shall die there. 14 And I will scatter to every wind all his assistants round about him, and all that help him; and I will draw out a sword after them;

15 And they shall know that I am the Lord, when I have scattered them among the nations; and I will disperse them in the countries.

16 And I will leave of them a few men in number spared from the sword, and from famine, and pestilence; that they may declare all their iniquities among the nations whither they have gone; and they shall know that I am the Lord.

17 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 18 Son of man, eat thy bread with sorrow, and drink thy water with torment and affliction. 19 And thou shalt say to the people of the land, Thus saith the Lord to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, on the land of Israel; They shall eat their bread in scarcity, and shall drink their water in desolation, that the land may be desolate with all that it contains: for all that dwell in it are ungodly. 20 And their inhabited cities shall be laid utterly waste, and the land shall be desolate; and ye shall know that I am the Lord.

21 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 22 Son of man, what is your parable on the land of Israel, that ye say, The days are long, the vision has perished? 23 Therefore say to them,

Thus saith the Lord; I will even set aside this parable, and the house of Israel shall no more at all use this parable: for thou shalt say to them, The days are at hand, and the import of every vision. 24 For there shall no more be any false vision, nor any one prophesying flatteries in the midst of the children of Israel. 25 For I the Lord will speak my words; I will speak and perform them, and will no more delay, for in your days, O provoking house, I will speak the word, and will perform it, saith the Lord.

26 Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 27 Son of man, behold, the provoking house of Israel boldly say, The vision which this man sees is for many days, and he prophesy for times afar off. 28 Therefore say to them,

Thus saith the Lord; Henceforth none of my words shall linger, which I shall speak: I will speak and do, saith the Lord.

Chapter 13

13:1 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 2 Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel, and thou shalt prophesy, and shalt say to them, Hear ye the word of the Lord:

3 Thus saith the Lord, Woe to them that prophesy out of their own heart, and who see nothing at all. 4 Thy prophets, O Israel, are like foxes in the deserts. 5 They have not continued steadfast, and they have gathered flocks against the house of Israel, they that say, 6 In the day of the Lord, have not stood, seeing false visions, prophesying vanities, who say, The Lord saith, and the Lord has not sent them, and they began to try to confirm the word. 7 Have ye not seen a false vision? and spoken vain prophecies? 8 And therefore say,

Thus saith the Lord; Because your words are false, and your prophecies are vain, therefore, behold, I am against you, saith the Lord. 9 And I will stretch forth my hand against the prophets that see false visions, and those that utter vanities: they shall not partake of the instruction of my people, neither shall they be written in the roll of the house of Israel, and they shall not enter into the land of Israel; and they shall know that I am the Lord. 10 Because they have caused my people to err, saying, Peace; and there is no peace; and one builds a wall, and they plaster it, —it shall fall.

11 Say to them that plaster it, It shall fall; and there shall be a flooding rain; and I will send great stones upon their joinings, and they shall fall; and there shall be a sweeping wind, and it shall be broken. 12 And lo! the wall has fallen; and will they not say to you, Where is your plaster wherewith ye plastered it? 13 Therefore thus saith the Lord; I will even cause to burst forth a sweeping blast with fury, and there shall be a flooding rain in my wrath; and in my fury I will bring on great stones for complete destruction. 14 And I will break down the wall which ye have plastered, and it shall fall; and I will lay it on the ground, and its foundations shall be discovered, and it shall fall; and ye shall be consumed with rebukes: and ye shall know that I am the Lord.

15 And I will accomplish my wrath upon the wall, and upon them that plaster it; it shall fall: and I said to you, The wall is not, nor they that plaster it, 16 even the prophets of Israel, who prophesy concerning Jerusalem, and who see visions of peace for her, and there is no peace, saith the Lord. 17 And thou, son of man, set thy face firmly against the daughters of thy people, that prophesy out of their own heart; and prophesy against them. 18 And thou shalt say, Thus saith the Lord, Woe to the women that sew pillows under every elbow, and make kerchiefs on the head of every stature to pervert souls! The souls of my people are perverted, and they have saved souls alive. 19 And they have dishonoured me before my people for a handful of barley, and for pieces of bread, to slay the souls which should not die, and to save alive the souls which should not live, while ye speak to a people hearing vain speeches.

20 Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I am against your pillows, whereby ye there confound souls, and I will tear them away from your arms, and will set at liberty their souls which ye pervert to scatter them. 21 And I will tear your Kerchiefs, and will rescue my people out of your hands, and they shall no longer be in your hands to be confounded; and ye shall know that I am the Lord.

22 Because ye have perverted the heart of the righteous, whereas I perverted him not, and that in order to strengthen the hands of the wicked, that he should not at all turn from his evil way and live: 23 therefore ye shall not see false visions, and ye shall no more utter prophecies: but I will deliver my people out of your hand; and ye shall know that I am the Lord.

Chapter 14

14:1 And there came to me men of the people of Israel, of the elders, and sat before me. 2 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 3 Son of man, these men have conceived their devices in their hearts, and have set before their faces the punishment of their iniquities: shall I indeed answer them? 4 Therefore speak to them, and thou shalt say to them, Thus saith the Lord; Any man of the house of Israel, who shall conceive his devices in his heart, and shall set the punishment of his iniquity before his face, and shall come to the prophet; I the Lord will answer him according to the things in which his mind is entangled, 5 that he should turn aside the house of Israel, according to their hearts that are estranged from me in their thoughts.

6 Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord God, Be converted, and turn from your evil practices, and from all your sins, and turn your faces back again. 7 For any man of the house of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn in Israel, who shall separate himself from me, and conceive his imaginations in his heart, and set before his face the punishment of his iniquity, and come to the prophet to enquire of him concerning me; I the Lord will answer him, according to the things wherein he is entangled. 8 And I will set my face against that man, and will make him desolate and ruined, and will cut him off from the midst of my people; and ye shall know that I am the Lord.

9 And if a prophet should cause to err and should speak, I the Lord have caused that prophet to err, and will stretch out my hand upon him, and will utterly destroy him from the midst of my people Israel. 10 And they shall bear their iniquity according to the trespass of him that asks; and it shall be in like manner to the prophet according to the trespass: 11 that the house of Israel may no go astray from me, and that they may no more defile themselves with any of their transgressions: so shall they be my people, and I will be their God, saith the Lord.

12 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 13 Son of man, if a land shall sin against me by committing a trespass, then will I stretch out my hand upon it, and will break its staff of bread, and will send forth famine upon it, and cut off from it man and beast. 14 And though these three men should be in the midst of it, Noe, and Daniel, and Job, they alone should be delivered by their righteousness, saith the Lord.

15 If again I bring evil beasts upon the land, and take vengeance upon it, and it be ruined, and there be no one to pass through for fear of the wild beasts: 16 and if these three men should be in the midst of it, as I live, saith the Lord, neither sons nor daughters shall be saved, but these only shall be saved, and the land shall be destroyed. 17 Or again if I bring a sword upon that land, and say, Let the sword go through the land; and I cut off from them man and beast: 18 though these three men were in the midst of it, as I live, saith the Lord, they shall not deliver sons or daughters, but they only shall be saved themselves.

19 Or if again I send pestilence upon that land, and pour out my wrath upon it in blood, to destroy from off it man and beast: 20 and should Noe, and Daniel, and Job, be in the midst of it, as I live, saith the Lord, there shall be left them neither sons nor daughters; only they by their righteousness shall deliver their souls.

21 Thus saith the Lord, And if I even send upon Jerusalem my four sore judgements, sword, and famine, and evil beasts, and pestilence, to destroy from out of it man and beast; 22 yet, behold, there shall be men left in it, the escaped thereof, who shall lead forth of it sons and daughters: behold, they shall go forth to you, land ye shall see their ways and their thoughts: and ye shall mourn over the evils which I have brought upon Jerusalem, even all the evils which I have brought upon it. 23 And they shall comfort you, because ye shall see their ways and their thoughts: and ye shall know that I have not done in vain all that I have done in it, saith the Lord.

Chapter 15

15:1 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

2 And thou, son of man—of all the wood, of the branches that are among the trees of the forest, what shall be made of the wood of the vine? 3 Will they take wood of it to make it fit for work? will they take of it a peg to hang any vessel upon it? 4 It is only given to the fire to be consumed; the fire consumes that which is yearly pruned of it, and it is utterly gone. Will it be useful for any work? 5 Not even while it is yet whole will it be useful for any work: if the fire shall have utterly consumed it, will it still be fit for work? 6 Therefore say,

Thus saith the Lord, As the vine-tree among the trees of the forest, which I have given up to the fire to be consumed, so have I given up the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 7 And I will set my face against them; they shall go forth of the fire, and yet fire shall devour them; and they shall know that I am the Lord, when I have set my face against them. 8 And I will give up the land to ruin, because they have utterly transgressed, saith the Lord.

Chapter 16

16:1 Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 2 Son of man, testify to Jerusalem of her iniquities; 3 and thou shalt say,

Thus saith the Lord to Jerusalem; Thy root and thy birth are of the land of Chanaan: thy father was an Amorite, and thy mother a Chettite. 4 And as for thy birth in the day wherein thou wast born, thou didst not bind thy breasts, and thou wast not washed in water, neither wast thou salted with salt, neither wast thou swathed in swaddling-bands. 5 Nor did mine eye pity thee, to do for thee one of all these things, to feel at all for thee; but thou wast cast out on the face of the field, because of the deformity of thy person, in the day wherein thou wast born.

6 And I passed by to thee, and saw thee polluted in thy blood; and I said to thee, Let there be life out of thy blood: 7 increase; I have made thee as the springing grass of the field. So thou didst increase and grow, and didst enter into great cities: thy breasts were set, and thy hair grew, whereas thou wast naked and bare.

8 And I passed by thee and saw thee, and, behold, it was thy time and a time of resting; and I spread my wings over thee, and covered thy shame, and swear to thee: and I entered into covenant with thee, saith the Lord, and thou becamest mine. 9 And I washed thee in water, and washed thy blood from thee, and anointed thee with oil. 10 And I clothed thee with embroidered garments, and clothed thee beneath with purple, and girded thee with fine linen, and clothed thee with silk, 11 and decked thee also with ornaments, and put bracelets on thine hands, and a necklace on thy neck. 12 And I put a pendant on thy nostril, and rings in thine ears, and a crown of glory on thine head. 13 So thou wast adorned with gold and silver; and thy raiment was of fine linen, and silk, and variegated work: thou didst eat fine flour, and oil, and honey, and didst become extremely beautiful. 14 And thy name went forth among the nations for thy beauty: because it was perfected with elegance, and in the comeliness which I put upon thee, saith the Lord.

15 Thou didst trust in thy beauty, and didst go a-whoring because of thy renown, and didst pour out thy fornication on every passer by. 16 and thou didst take of thy garments, and madest to thyself idols of needlework, and didst go a-whoring after them; therefore thou shalt never come in, nor shall the like take place. 17 And thou tookest thy fair ornaments of my gold and of my silver, of what I gave thee, and thou madest to thyself male images, and thou didst commit whoredom with them. 18 And thou didst take thy variegated apparel and didst clothe them, and thou didst set before them mine oil and mine incense. 19 And thou tookest my bread which I gave thee, (yea I fed thee with fine flour and oil and honey) and didst set them before them for a sweet-smelling savour: yea, it was so, saith the Lord.

20 And thou tookest thy sons and thy daughters, whom thou borest, land didst sacrifice these to them to be destroyed. Thou didst go a-whoring as if that were little, 21 and didst slay thy children, and gavest them up in offering them to them for an expiation. 22 This is beyond all thy fornication, and thou didst not remember thine infancy, when thou wast naked and bare, and didst live though defiled in thy blood.

23 And it came to pass after all thy wickedness, saith the Lord, 24 that thou didst build thyself a house of fornication, and didst make thyself a public place in every street; 25 and on the head of every way thou didst set up thy fornications, and didst defile thy beauty, and didst open thy feet to every passer by, and didst multiply thy fornication. 26 And thou didst go a-whoring after the children of Egypt thy neighbors, great of flesh; and didst go a-whoring, often to provoke me to anger.

27 And if I stretch out my hand against thee, then will I abolish thy statutes, and deliver thee up to the wills of them that hate thee, even to the daughters of the Philistines that turned thee aside from the way wherein thou sinned.

28 And thou didst go a-whoring to the daughters of Assur, and not even thus wast thou satisfied; yea, thou didst go a-whoring, and wast not satisfied. 29 And thou didst multiply thy covenants with the land of the Chaldeans; and not even with these wast thou satisfied.

30 Why should I make a covenant with thy daughter, saith the Lord, while thou doest all these things, the works of a harlot? and thou hast gone a-whoring in a threefold degree with thy daughters. 31 Thou hast built a house of harlotry in every top of a way, and hast set up thine high place in every street; and thou didst become as a harlot gathering hires. 32 An adulteress resembles thee, taking rewards of her husband. 33 She has even given rewards to all that went a-whoring after her, and thou hast given rewards to all thy lovers, yea, thou didst load them with rewards, that they should come to thee from every side for thy fornication.

34 And there has happened in thee perverseness in thy fornication beyond other women, and they have committed fornication with thee, in that thou givest hires over and above, and hires were not given to thee; and thus perverseness happened in thee.

35 Therefore, harlot, hear the word of the Lord: 36 Thus saith the Lord, Because thou hast poured forth thy money, therefore thy shame shall be discovered in thy harlotry with thy lovers, and with regard to all the imaginations of thine iniquities, and for the blood of thy children which thou hast given to them. 37 Therefore, behold, I will gather all thy lovers with whom thou hast consorted, and all whom thou hast loved, with all whom thou didst hate; and I will gather them against thee round about, and will expose thy wickedness to them, and they shall see all thy shame. 38 And I will be avenged on thee with the vengeance of an adulteress, and I will bring upon thee blood of fury and jealousy. 39 And I will deliver thee into their hands, and they shall break down thy house of harlotry, and destroy thine high place; and they shall strip thee of thy garments, and shall take thy proud ornaments, and leave thee naked and bare. 40 and they shall bring multitudes upon thee, and they shall stone thee with stones, and pierce thee with their swords. 41 And they shall burn thine houses with fire, and shall execute vengeance on thee in the sight of many women: and I will turn thee back from harlotry, and I will no more give thee rewards.

42 So will I slacken my fury against thee, and my jealousy shall be removed from thee, and I will rest, and be no more careful for thee. 43 Because thou didst not remember thine infancy, and thou didst grieve me in all these things; therefore, behold, I have recompensed thy ways upon thine head, saith the Lord: for thus hast thou wrought ungodliness above all thine other iniquities.

44 These are all the things they have spoken against thee in a proverb, saying, 45 As is the mother, so is thy mother’s daughter: thou art she that has rejected her husband and her children; and the sisters of thy sisters have rejected their husbands and their children: your mother was a Chettite, and your father an Amorite. 46 Your elder sister who dwells on thy left hand is Samaria, she and her daughters: and thy younger sister, that dwells on the right hand, is Sodom and her daughters. 47 Yet notwithstanding thou hast not walked in their ways, neither hast thou done according to their iniquities within a little, but thou hast exceeded them in all thy ways.

48 As I live, saith the Lord, this Sodom and her daughters have not done as thou and thy daughters have done. 49 Moreover this was the sin of thy sister Sodom, pride: she and her daughters lived in pleasure, in fullness of bread and in abundance: this belonged to her and her daughters, and they helped not the hand of the poor and needy. 50 And they boasted, and wrought iniquities before me: so I cut them off as I saw fit.

51 Also Samaria has not sinned according to half of thy sins; but thou hast multiplied thine iniquities beyond them, and thou hast justified thy sisters in all thine iniquities which thou hast committed. 52 Thou therefore bear thy punishment, for that thou hast corrupted thy sisters by thy sins which thou hast committed beyond them; and thou hast made them appear more righteous than thyself: thou therefore be ashamed, and bear thy dishonour, in that thou hast justified thy sisters. 53 And I will turn their captivity, even the captivity of Sodom and her daughters; and I will turn the captivity of Samaria and her daughters; and I will turn thy captivity in the midst of them: 54 that thou mayest bear thy punishment, and be dishonoured for all that thou hast done in provoking me to anger.

55 And thy sister Sodom and her daughters shall be restored as they were at the beginning, and thou and thy daughters shall be restored as ye were at the beginning.

56 And surely thy sister Sodom was not mentioned by thy mouth in the days of thy pride: 57 before thy wickedness was discovered, even now thou art the reproach of the daughters of Syria, and of all that are round about her, even of the daughters of the Philistines that compass thee round about. 58 As for thine ungodliness and thine iniquities, thou hast borne them, saith the Lord.

59 Thus saith the Lord; I will even do to thee as thou hast done, as thou hast dealt shamefully in these things to transgress my covenant. 60 And I will remember my covenant made with thee in the days of thine infancy, and I will establish to thee an everlasting covenant. 61 Then thou shalt remember thy way, and shalt be utterly dishonoured when thou receivest thine elder sisters with thy younger ones: and I will give them to thee for building up, but not by thy covenant. 62 And I will establish my covenant with thee; and thou shalt know that I am the Lord: 63 that thou mayest remember, and be ashamed, and mayest no more be able to open thy mouth for thy shame, when I am reconciled to thee for all that thou hast done, saith the Lord.

Chapter 17

17:1 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 2 Son of man, relate a tale, and speak a parable to the house of Israel: 3 and thou shalt say, Thus saith the Lord; A great eagle with large wings, spreading them out very far, with many claws, which has the design of entering into Libanus—and he took the choice branches of the cedar: 4 he cropped off the ends of the tender twigs, and brought them into the land of Chanaan; he laid them up in a walled city. 5 And he took of the seed of the land, and sowed it in a field planted by much water; he set it in a conspicuous place. 6 And it sprang up, and became a weak and little vine, so that the branches thereof appeared upon it, and its roots were under it: and it became a vine, and put forth shoots, and sent forth its tendrils.

7 And there was another great eagle, with great wings and many claws: and, behold, this vine bent itself round toward him, and her roots were turned towards him, and she sent forth her branches towards him, that he might water her together with the growth of her plantation. 8 She thrives in a fair field by much water, to produce shoots and bear fruit, that she might become a great vine.

9 Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord; Shall it prosper? shall not the roots of her tender stem and her fruit be blighted? yea, all her early shoots shall be dried up, and that not by a mighty arm, nor by many people, to tear her up from her roots. 10 And, behold, it thrives: shall it prosper? shall it not wither as soon as the east wind touches it? it shall be withered together with the growth of its shoots.

11 Moreover the word of the Lord came to me saying, 12 Son of man, say now to the provoking house, Know ye not what these things were? say to them, Whenever the king of Babylon shall come against Jerusalem, then he shall take her king and her princes, and shall take them home to Babylon. 13 And he shall take of the seed royal, and shall make a covenant with him, and shall bind him with an oath: and he shall take the princes of the land: 14 that it may become a weak kingdom, so as never to lift itself up, that he may keep his covenant, and establish it. 15 And if he shall revolt from him, to send his messengers into Egypt, that they may give him horses and much people; shall he prosper? shall he that acts as an adversary be preserved? and shall he that transgresses the covenant be preserved?

16 As I live, saith the Lord, verily in the place where the king is that made him king, who dishonoured my oath, and who broke my covenant, shall he die with him in the midst of Babylon. 17 And Pharaoh shall make war upon him not with a large force or great multitude, in throwing up a mound, and in building of forts, to cut off souls. 18 Whereas he has profaned the oath so as to break the covenant, when, behold, I engage his hand, and he has done all these things to him, he shall not escape.

19 Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord; As I live, surely mine oath which he has profaned, and my covenant which he has transgressed, I will even recompense it upon his head. 20 And I will spread a net upon him, and he shall be caught in its snare. 21 In every battle of his they shall fall by the sword, and I will scatter his remnant to every wind: and ye shall know that I the Lord have spoken it.

22 For thus saith the Lord; I will even take of the choice branches of the cedar from the top thereof, I will crop off their hearts, and I will plant it on a high mountain: 23 and I will hang it on a lofty mountain of Israel: yea, I will plant it, and it shall put forth shoots, and shall bear fruit, and it shall be a great cedar: and every bird shall rest beneath it, even every fowl shall rest under its shadow: its branches shall be restored. 24 And all the trees of the field shall know that I am the Lord that bring low the high tree, and exalt the low tree, and wither the green tree, and cause the dry tree to flourish: I the Lord have spoken, and will do it.

Chapter 18

18:1 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 2 Son of man, what mean ye by this parable among the children of Israel, saying, The fathers have eaten unripe grapes, and the children’s teeth have been set on edge?

3 As I live, saith the Lord, surely this parable shall no more be spoken in Israel. 4 For all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son, they are mine: the soul that sins, it shall die.

5 But the man who shall be just, who executes judgment and righteousness, 6 who shall not eat upon the mountains, and shall not at all lift up his eyes to the devices of the house of Israel, and shall not defile his neighbor’s wife, and shall not draw nigh to her that is removed, 7 and shall not oppress any man, but shall return the pledge of the debtor, and shall be guilty of no plunder, shall give his bread to the hungry, and clothe the naked; 8 and shall not lend his money upon usury, and shall not receive usurious increase, and shall turn back his hand from injustice, shall execute righteous judgement between a man and his neighbor, 9 and has walked in my commandments and kept mine ordinances, to do them; he is righteous, he shall surely live, saith the Lord.

10 And if he beget a mischievous son, shedding blood and committing sins, 11 who has not walked in the way of his righteous father, but has even eaten upon the mountains, and has defiled his neighbor’s wife, 12 and has oppressed the poor and needy, and has committed robbery, and not restored a pledge, and has set his eyes upon idols, has wrought iniquities, 13 has lent upon usury, and taken usurious increase; he shall by no means live: he has wrought all these iniquities; he shall surely die; his blood shall be upon him.

14 And if he beget a son, and the son see all his father’s sins which he has wrought, and fear, and not do according to them, 15 and if he has not eaten on the mountains, and has not set his eyes on the devices of the house of Israel, and has not defiled his neighbor’s wife, 16 and has not oppressed a man, and has not retained the pledge, nor committed robbery, has given his bread to the hungry, and has clothed the naked, 17 and has turned back his hand from unrighteousness, has not received interest or usurious increase, has wrought righteousness, and walked in mine ordinances; he shall not die for the iniquities of his father, he shall surely live. 18 But if his father grievously afflict, or plunder, he has wrought enmity in the midst of my people, and shall die in his iniquity.

19 But ye will say, Why has not the son borne the iniquity of the father? Because the son has wrought judgement and mercy, has kept all my statues, and done them, he shall surely live. 20 But the soul that sins shall die: and the son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, nor shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the iniquity of the transgressor shall be upon him.

21 And if the transgressor turn away from all his iniquities which he has committed, and keep all my commandments, and do justice and mercy, he shall surely live, and shall no means die. 22 None of his trespasses which he has committed shall be remembers: in his righteousness which he has done he shall live. 23 Shall I at all desire death of the sinner, saith the Lord, as I desire that he should turn from his evil way, and live?

24 But when the righteous man turns away from his righteousness, and commits iniquity, according to all the transgressions which the transgressor has wrought, none of his righteousness which he has wrought shall be at all remembered: in his trespass wherein he has trespassed, and in his sins wherein he has sinned, in them shall he die.

25 Yet ye have said, The way of the Lord is not straight. Hear now, all the house of Israel; will not my way be straight? Is your way straight? 26 When the righteous turns away from his righteousness and commits a trespass, and dies in the trespass he has committed, he shall even die in it. 27 And when the wicked man turns away from his wickedness that he has committed, and shall do judgement and justice, he has kept his soul, 28 and has turned away from all his ungodliness which he has committed: he shall surely live, he shall not die.

29 Yet the house of Israel say, The way of the Lord is not right. Is not my way right, O house of Israel? is not your way wrong? 30 I will judge you, O house of Israel, saith the Lord, each one according to his way: be converted, and turn from all your ungodliness, and it shall not become to you the punishment of iniquity. 31 Cast away from yourselves all your ungodliness wherein ye have sinned against me; and make to yourselves a new heart and a new spirit: for why should ye die, O house of Israel? 32 For I desire not the death of him that dies, saith the Lord.

Chapter 19

19:1 Moreover do thou take up a lamentation for the prince of Israel, 2 and say, Why is thy mother become a whelp in the midst of lions? in the midst of lions she has multiplied her whelps. 3 And one of her whelps sprang forth; he became a lion, and learned to take prey, he devoured men. 4 And the nations heard a report of him; he was caught in their pit, and they brought him into the land of Egypt in chains.

5 And she saw that he was driven away from her, and her hope of him perished, and she took another of her whelps; she made him a lion. 6 And he went up and down in the midst of lions, he became a lion, and learned to take prey, he devoured men. 7 And he prowled in his boldness and laid waste their cities, and made the land desolate, and the fullness of it, by the voice of his roaring.

8 Then the nations set upon him from the countries round about, and they spread their nets upon him: he was taken in their pit. 9 And they put him in chains and in a cage, and he came to the king of Babylon; and he cast him into prison, that his voice should not be heard on the mountains of Israel. 10 Thy mother was as a vine and as a blossom on a pomegranate tree, planted by water: her fruit and her shoot abounded by reason of much water. 11 And she became a rod for a tribe of princes, and was elevated in her bulk in the midst of other trees, and she saw her bulk in the multitude of her branches.

12 But she was broken down in wrath, she was cast upon the ground, and the east wind dried up her choice branches: vengeance came upon them, and the rod of her strength was withered; fire consumed it. 13 And now they have planted her in the wilderness, in a dry land. 14 And fire is gone out of a rod of her choice boughs, and has devoured her; and there was no rod of strength in her. Her race is become a parable of lamentation, and it shall be for a lamentation.

Chapter 20

20:1 And it came to pass in the seventh year, on the fifteenth day of the month, there came men of the elders of the house of Israel to enquire of the Lord, and they sat before me. 2 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 3 Son of man, speak to the elders of the house of Israel, and thou shalt say to them, Thus saith the Lord; Are ye come to enquire of me? As I live, I will not be enquired of by you, saith the Lord. 4 Shall I utterly take vengeance on them, son of man? testify to them of the iniquities of their fathers: 5 and thou shalt say to them, Thus saith the Lord;

From the day that I chose the house of Israel, and became known to the seed of the house of Jacob, and was known to them in the land of Egypt, and helped them with my hand, saying, I am the Lord your God; 6 in that day I helped them with my hand, to bring them out of the land of Egypt into the land which I prepared for them, a land flowing with milk and honey, it is abundant beyond every land. 7 And I said to them, Let every one cast away the abominations of his eyes, and defile not yourselves with the devices of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.

8 But they revolted from me, and would not hearken to me: they cast not away the abominations of their eyes, and forsook not the devices of Egypt: then I said that I would pour out my wrath upon them, to accomplish my wrath upon them in the midst of Egypt. 9 But I wrought so that my name should not be at all profaned in the sight of the Gentiles, in the midst of whom they are, among whom I was made known to them in their sight, to bring them out of the land of Egypt.

10 And I brought them into the wilderness. 11 And I gave them my commandments, and made known to them mine ordinances, all which if a man shall do, he shall even live in them. 12 And I gave them my sabbaths, that they should be for a sign between me and them, that they should know that I am the Lord that sanctify them.

13 And I said to the house of Israel in the wilderness, Walk ye in my commandments: but they walked not in them, and they rejected mine ordinances, which if a man shall do, he shall even live in them; and they grievously profaned my sabbaths: and I said that I would pour out my wrath upon them in the wilderness, to consume them. 14 But I wrought so that my name should not be at all profaned before the Gentiles, before whose eyes I brought them out.

15 But I lifted up my hand against them in the wilderness once for all, that I would not bring them into the land which I gave them, a land flowing with milk and honey, it is sweeter than all lands: 16 because they rejected mine ordinances, and walked not in my commandments, but profaned my sabbaths, and went after the imaginations of their hearts.

17 Yet mine eyes spared them, so as not to destroy them utterly, and I did not make an end of them in the wilderness. 18 And I said to their children in the wilderness, Walk not ye in the customs of your fathers, and keep not their ordinances, and have no fellowship with their practices, nor defile yourselves with them. 19 I am the Lord your God; walk in my commandments, and keep mine ordinances, and do them; 20 and hallow my sabbaths, and let them be a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I am the Lord your God.

21 But they provoked me, and their children walked not in my commandments, and they took no heed to mine ordinances to do them, which if a man shall do, he shall even live in them, and they profaned my sabbaths: then I said that I would pour out my wrath upon them in the wilderness, to accomplish mine anger upon them. 22 But I wrought so that my name might not be at all profaned before the Gentiles; and I brought them out in their sight.

23 I lifted up my hand against them in the wilderness, that I would scatter them among the Gentiles, and disperse them in the countries; 24 because they kept not mine ordinances, and rejected my commandments, and profaned my sabbaths, and their eyes went after the imaginations of their fathers.

25 So I gave them commandments that were not good, and ordinances in which they should not live. 26 And I will defile them by their own decrees, when I pass through upon every one that opens the womb, that I may destroy them.

27 Therefore, son of man, speak to the house of Israel, and thou shalt say to them, Thus saith the Lord: Hitherto have your fathers provoke me in their trespasses in which they transgressed against me. 28 Whereas I brought them into the land concerning which I lifted up mine hand to give it them; and they looked upon every high hill, and every shady tree, and they sacrificed there to their gods, and offered there sweet-smelling savour, and there they poured out their drink-offerings. 29 And I said to them, What is Abama, that ye go in thither? and they called its mane Abama, until this day.

30 Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord, Do ye pollute yourselves with the iniquities of your fathers, and do ye go a-whoring after their abominations, 31 and do ye pollute yourselves with the first-fruits of your gifts, in the offerings wherewith ye pollute yourselves in all your imaginations, until this day; and shall I answer you, O house of Israel? As I live, saith the Lord, I will not answer you, neither shall this thing come upon your spirit. 32 And it shall not be as ye say, We will be as the nations, and as the tribes of the earth, to worship stocks and stones.

33 Therefore, as I live, saith the Lord, I will reign over you with a strong hand, and with a high arm, and with outpoured wrath: 34 I will bring you out from the nations, and will take you out of the lands wherein ye were dispersed, with a strong hand, and with a high arm, and with outpoured wrath. 35 And I will bring you into the wilderness of the nations, and will plead with you there face to face.

36 As I pleaded with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so will I judge you, saith the Lord. 37 And I will cause you to pass under my rod, and I will bring you in by number. 38 And I will separate from among you the ungodly and the revolters; for I will lead them forth out of their place of sojourning, and they shall not enter into the land of Israel: and ye shall know that I am the Lord, even the Lord.

39 And as to you, O house of Israel, thus saith the Lord, even the Lord; Put away each one his evil practices, and hereafter if ye hearken to me, then shall ye no more profane my holy name by your gifts and by devices. 40 For upon my holy mountain, on the high mountain, saith the Lord, even the Lord, there shall all the house of Israel serve me for ever: and there will I accept you, and there will I have respect to your first-fruits, and the first-fruits of your offerings, in all your holy things.

41 I will accept you with a sweet-smelling savour, when I bring you out from the nations, and take you out of the countries wherein ye have been dispersed; and I will be sanctified among you in the sight of the nations. 42 And ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I have brought you into the land of Israel, into the land concerning which I lifted up my hand to give it to your fathers. 43 And ye shall there remember your ways, and your devices wherewith ye defiled yourselves; and ye shall bewail yourselves for all your wickedness. 44 And ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I have done thus to you, that my name may not be profaned in your evil ways, and in your corrupt devices, saith the Lord.

45 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 46 Son of man, set thy face against Thaeman, and look toward Darom, and prophesy against the chief forest of Nageb, 47 and thou shalt say to the forest of Nageb, Hear the word of the Lord; thus saith the Lord, even the Lord; Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour in thee every green tree, and every dry tree: the flame that is kindled shall not be quenched, and every face shall be scorched with it from the south to the north. 48 And all flesh shall know that I the Lord have kindled it: it shall not be quenched.

49 And I said, Not so, O Lord God! they say to me, Is not this that is spoken a parable?

Chapter 21

21:1 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

2 Therefore prophesy, son of man, set thy face steadfastly toward Jerusalem, and look toward their holy places, and thou shalt prophesy against the land of Israel, 3 and thou shalt say to the land of Israel, Thus saith the Lord; Behold, I am against thee, and I will draw forth my sword out of its sheath, and I will destroy out of thee the transgressor and unrighteous. 4 Because I will destroy out of thee the unrighteous and the transgressor, therefore so shall my sword come forth out of its sheath against all flesh from the south to the north: 5 and all flesh shall know that I the Lord have drawn forth my sword out of its sheath: it shall not return any more.

6 And thou, son of man, groan with the breaking of thy loins; thou shalt even groan heavily in their sight. 7 And it shall come to pass, if they shall say to thee, Wherefore dost thou groan? that thou shalt say, For the report; because it comes: and every heart shall break, and all hands shall become feeble, and all flesh and every spirit shall faint, and all thighs shall be defiled with moisture: behold, it comes, saith the Lord.

8 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 9 Son of man, prophesy, and thou shalt say, Thus saith the Lord; Say, Sword, sword, be sharpened and rage, 10 that thou mayest slay victims; be sharpened that thou mayest be bright, ready for slaughter, slay, set at nought, despise every tree. 11 And he made it ready for his hand to hold: the sword is sharpened, it is ready to put into the hand of the slayer.

12 Cry out and howl, son of man: for this sword is come upon my people, this sword is come upon all the princes of Israel: they shall be as strangers: judgment with the sword is come upon my people: therefore clap thine hands, for sentence has been passed: 13 and what if even the tribe be rejected? it shall not be, saith the Lord God.

14 And thou, son of man, prophesy, and clap thine hands, and take a second sword: the third sword is the sword of the slain, the great sword of the slain: and thou shalt strike them with amazement, lest the heart should faint 15 and the weak ones be multiplied at every gate—they are given up to the slaughter of the sword: it is well fitted for slaughter, it is well fitted for glittering. 16 And do thou go on, sharpen thyself on the right and on the left whithersoever thy face may set itself.

17 And I also will clap my hands, and let loose my fury: I the Lord have spoken it.

18 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 19 and thou, son of man, appoint thee two ways, that the sword of the king of Babylon may enter in: the two shall go forth of one country; and there shall be a force at the top of the way of the city, thou shalt set it at the top of the way, 20 that the sword may enter in upon Rabbath of the children of Ammon, and upon Judea, and upon Jerusalem in the midst thereof.

21 For the king of Babylon shall stand on the old way, at the head of the two ways, to use divination, to make bright the arrow, and to enquire of the graven images, and to examine the victims. 22 On his right was the divination against Jerusalem, to cast a mound, to open the mouth in shouting, to lift up the voice with crying, to cast a mound against her gates, to cast up a heap, and to build forts. 23 And he was to them as one using divination before them, and he himself recounting his iniquities, that they might be borne in mind.

24 Therefore thus saith the Lord, Because ye have caused your iniquities to be remembered, in the discovery of your wickedness, so that your sins should be seen, in all your wickedness and in your evil practices; because ye have caused remembrance of them, in these shall ye be taken. 25 And thou profane wicked prince of Israel, whose day, even and end, is come in a sea of iniquity, thus saith the Lord; 26 Thou hast taken off the mitre and put on the crown, it shall not have such another after it: thou hast abased that which was high, and exalted that which was low. 27 Injustice, injustice, injustice, will I make it: woe to it: such shall it be until he comes to whom it belongs; and I will deliver it to him.

28 And thou, son of man, prophesy, and thou shalt say, Thus saith the Lord, concerning the children of Ammon, and concerning their reproach; and thou shalt say, O sword, sword, drawn for slaughter, and drawn for destruction, awake, that thou mayest gleam. 29 While thou art seeing vain visions, and while thou art prophesying falsehoods, to bring thyself upon the necks of ungodly transgressors, the day is come, even an end, in a season of iniquity.

30 Turn, rest not in this place wherein thou wert born: in thine own land will I judge thee. 31 And I will pour out my wrath upon thee, I will blow upon thee with the fire of my wrath, and I will deliver thee into the hands of barbarians skilled in working destruction. 32 Thou shalt be fuel for fire; thy blood shall be in the midst of thy land; there shall be no remembrance at all of thee: for I the Lord have spoken it.

Chapter 22

22:1 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 2 And thou, son of man, wilt thou judge the bloody city? yea, declare thou to her all her iniquities. 3 And thou shalt say, Thus saith the Lord God: O city that sheds blood in the midst of her, so that her time should come, and that forms devices against herself, to defile herself; 4 in their blood which thou hast shed, thou hast transgressed; and in thy devices which thou hast formed, thou hast polluted thyself; and thou hast brought nigh thy days, and hast brought on the time of thy years: therefore have I made thee a reproach to the Gentiles, and a mockery to all the countries, 5 to those near thee, and to those far distant from thee; and they shall mock thee, thou that art notoriously unclean, and abundant in iniquities.

6 Behold, the princes of the house of Israel have conspired in thee each one with his kindred, that they might shed blood. 7 In thee they have reviled father and mother; and in thee they have behaved unjustly toward the stranger: they have oppressed the orphan and widow. 8 And they have set at nought my holy things, and in thee they have profaned my sabbaths. 9 There are robbers in thee, to shed blood in thee; and in thee they have eaten upon the mountains: they have wrought ungodliness in the midst of thee. 10 In thee they have uncovered the father’s shame; and in thee they have humbled her that was set apart for uncleanness. 11 They have dealt unlawfully each one with his neighbor’s wife; and each one in ungodliness has defiled his daughter-in-law: and in thee they have humbled each one his sister, the daughter of his father.

12 In thee they have received gifts to shed blood; they have received in thee interest and usurious increase; and by oppression thou hast brought thy wickedness to the full, and hast forgotten me, saith the Lord.

13 And if I shall smite my hand at thine iniquities which thou hast accomplished, which thou hast wrought, and at thy blood that has been shed in the midst of thee, 14 shall thy heart endure? shall thine hands be strong in the days which I bring upon thee? I the Lord have spoken, and will do it. 15 And I will scatter thee among the nations, and disperse thee in the countries, and thy uncleanness shall be removed out of thee. 16 And I will give heritages in thee in the sight of the nations, and ye shall know that I am the Lord.

17 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 18 Son of man, behold, the house of Israel are all become to me as it were mixed with brass, and iron, and tin, and lead; they are mixed up in the midst of the silver.

19 Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord God; Because ye have become one mixture, therefore I will gather you into the midst of Jerusalem. 20 As silver, and brass, and iron, and tin, and lead, are gathered into the midst of the furnace, to blow fire into it, that they may be melted: so will I take you in my wrath, and I will gather and melt you. 21 And I will blow upon you in the fire of my wrath, and ye shall be melted in the midst thereof. 22 As silver is melted in the midst of a furnace, so shall ye be melted in the midst thereof; and ye shall know that I the Lord have poured out my wrath upon you.

23 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 24 Son of man, say to her, Thou art the land that is not rained upon, neither has rain come upon thee in the day of wrath; 25 whose princes in the midst of her are as roaring lions seizing prey, devouring souls by oppression, and taking bribes; and thy widows are multiplied in the midst of thee. 26 Her priests also have set at nought my law, and profaned my holy things: they have not distinguished between the holy and profane, nor have they distinguished between the unclean and the clean, and have his their eyes from my sabbaths, and I was profaned in the midst of them. 27 Her princes in the midst of her are as wolves ravening to shed blood, that they may get dishonest gain. 28 And her prophets that daub them shall fall, that see vanities, that prophesy falsehoods, saying, Thus saith the Lord, when the Lord has not spoken. 29 That sorely oppress the people of the land with injustice, and commit robbery; oppressing the poor and needy, and not dealing justly with the stranger.

30 And I sought from among them a man behaving uprightly, and standing before me perfectly in the time of wrath, so that I should not utterly destroy her: but I found him not. 31 So I have poured out my wrath upon her in the fury of mine anger, to accomplish it. I have recompensed their ways on their own heads, saith the Lord God.

Chapter 23

23:1 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 2 Son of man, there were two women, daughters of one mother: 3 and they went a-whoring in Egypt in their youth: there their breasts fell, there they lost their virginity. 4 And their names were Oola the elder, and Ooliba her sister: and they were mine, and bore sons and daughters: and as for their names, Samaria was Oola, and Jerusalem was Ooliba.

5 And Oola went a-whoring from me, and doted on her lovers, on the Assyrians that were her neighbors, 6 clothed with purple, princes and captains; they were young men and choice, all horseman riding on horses. 7 And she bestowed her fornication upon them; all were choice sons of the Assyrians: and on whomsoever she doted herself, with them she defiled herself in all their devices. 8 And she forsook not her fornication with the Egyptians: for in her youth they committed fornication with her, and they deflowered her, and poured out their fornication upon her. 9 Therefore I delivered her into the hands of her lovers, into the hands of the children of the Assyrians, on whom she doted. 10 They uncovered her shame: they took her sons and daughters, and slew her with the sword: and she became a byword among women: and they wrought vengeance in her for the sake of the daughters.

11 And her sister Ooliba saw it, and she indulged in her fondness more corruptly than she, and in her fornication more than the fornication of her sister. 12 She doted upon the sons of the Assyrian, princes and captains, her neighbours, clothed with fine linen, horsemen riding on horses; they were all choice young men. 13 And I saw that they were defiled, that the two had one way.

14 And she increased her fornication, and she saw men painted on the wall, likenesses of the Chaldeans painted with a pencil, 15 having variegated girdles on their loins, having also richly dyed attire upon their heads; all had a princely appearance, the likeness of the children of the Chaldeans, of their native land. 16 And she doted upon them as soon as she saw them, and sent forth messengers to them into the land of the Chaldeans. 17 And the sons of Babylon came to her, into the bed of rest, and they defiled her in her fornication, and she was defiled by them, and her soul was alienated from them. 18 And she exposed her fornication, and exposed her shame: and my soul was alienated from her, even as my soul was alienated from her sister.

19 And thou didst multiply thy fornication, so as to call to remembrance the days of thy youth, wherein thou didst commit whoredom in Egypt, 20 and thou didst dote upon the Chaldeans, whose flesh is as the flesh of the asses, and their members as the members of horses. 21 And thou didst look upon the iniquity of thy youth, the things which thou wroughtest in Egypt in thy lodgings, where were the breasts of thy youth.

22 Therefore, Ooliba, thus saith the Lord; Behold, I will stir up thy lovers against thee, from whom thy soul is alienated, and I will bring them upon thee round about, 23 the children of Babylon, and all the Chaldeans, Phacuc, and Sue, and Hychue, and all the sons of the Assyrians with them; choice young men, governors and captains, all princes and renowned, riding on horses. 24 And they all shall come upon thee from the north, chariots and wheels, with a multitude of nations, shields and targets; and the enemy shall set a watch against thee round about: and I will set judgement before them, and they shall take vengeance on thee with their judgements. 25 And I will bring upon thee my jealousy, and they shall deal with thee in great wrath: they shall take away thy nose and thine ears; and shall cast down thy remnant with the sword: they shall take thy sons and thy daughters; and thy remnant fire shall devour. 26 And they shall strip thee of thy raiment, and take away thine ornaments. 27 So I will turn back thine ungodliness from thee, and thy fornication from the land of Egypt: and thou shalt not lift up thine eyes upon them, and shalt no more remember Egypt.

28 Wherefore thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will deliver thee into the hands of those whom thou hatest, from whom thy soul is alienated. 29 And they shall deal with thee in hatred, and shall take all the fruits of thy labours and thy toils, and thou shalt be naked and bare: and the shame of thy fornication shall be exposed: and thy ungodliness and thy fornication 30 brought this upon thee, in that thou wentest a-whoring after the nations, and didst defile thyself with their devices.

31 Thou didst walk in the way of thy sister; and I will put her cup into thine hands. 32 Thus saith the Lord; Drink thy sister’s cup, deep and large, and full, to cause complete drunkenness. 33 And thou shalt be thoroughly weakened; and the cup of destruction, the cup of thy sister Samaria, 34 drink thou it, and I will take away her feasts and her new moons: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord. 35 Therefore thus saith the Lord; Because thou has forgotten me, and cast me behind thy back, therefore receive thou the reward of thine ungodliness and thy fornication.

36 And the Lord said to me, Son of man wilt thou not judge Oola and Ooliba? and declare to them their iniquities? 37 For they have committed adultery, and blood was in their hands, they committed adultery with their devices, and they passed through the fire to them their children which they bore to me. 38 So long too as they did these things to me, they defiled my sanctuary, and profaned my sabbaths. 39 And when they sacrificed their children to their idols, they also went into my sanctuary to profane it: and whereas they did thus in the midst of my house; 40 and whereas they did thus to the men that came from afar, to whom they sent messengers, and as soon as they came, immediately thou didst wash thyself, and didst paint thine eyes and adorn thyself with ornaments, 41 and satest on a prepared bed, and before it there was a table set out, and as for mine incense and mine oil, they rejoiced in them, 42 and they raised a sound of music, and that with men coming from the wilderness out of a multitude of men, and they put bracelets on their hands, and a crown of glory on their heads;

43 Therefore I said, Do they not commit adultery with these? and has she also gone a-whoring after the manner of a harlot? 44 And they went in to her, as men go in to a harlot; so they went in to Oola and to Ooliba to work iniquity. 45 And they are just men, and shall take vengeance on them with the judgement of an adulteress and the judgement of blood: for they are adulteresses, land blood is in their hands.

46 Thus saith the Lord God, Bring up a multitude upon them, and send trouble and plunder into the midst of them. 47 And stone them with the stones of a multitude, and pierce them with their swords: they shall slay their sons and their daughters, and shall burn up their houses. 48 And I will remove ungodliness out of the land, and all the women shall be instructed, and shall not do according to their ungodliness. 49 And your ungodliness shall be recompensed upon you, and ye shall bear the guilt of your devices: and ye shall know that I am the Lord.

Chapter 24

24:1 And the word of the Lord came to me, in the ninth year, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, saying, 2 Son of man, write for thyself daily from this day, on which the king of Babylon set himself against Jerusalem, even from this day. 3 And speak a parable to the provoking house, and thou shalt say to them,

Thus saith the Lord; Set on the caldron, and pour water into it: 4 and put the pieces into it, every prime piece, the leg and shoulder taken off from the bones, 5 which are taken from choice cattle, and burn the bones under them: her bones are boiled and cooked in the midst of her.

6 Therefore thus saith the Lord; O bloody city, the caldron in which there is scum, and the scum has not gone out of, she has brought it forth piece by piece, no lot has fallen upon it. 7 For her blood is in the midst of her; I have set it upon a smooth rock: I have not poured it out upon the earth, so that the earth should cover it; 8 that my wrath should come up for complete vengeance to be taken: I set her blood upon a smooth rock, so as not to cover it.

9 Therefore thus saith the Lord, I will also make the firebrand great, 10 and I will multiply the wood, and kindle the fire, that the flesh may be consumed, and the liquor boiled away; 11 and that it may stand upon the coals, that her brass may be thoroughly heated, and be melted in the midst of her filthiness, and her scum may be consumed, 12 and her abundant scum may not come forth of her. 13 Her scum shall become shameful, because thou didst defile thyself: and what if thou shalt be purged no more until I have accomplished my wrath?

14 I the Lord have spoken; and it shall come, and I will do it; I will not delay, neither will I have any mercy: I will judge thee, saith the Lord, according to thy ways, and according to thy devices: therefore will I judge thee according to thy bloodshed, and according to thy devices will I judge thee, thou unclean, notorious, and abundantly provoking one.

15 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 16 Son of man, behold I take from thee the desire of thine eyes by violence: thou shalt not lament, neither shalt thou weep. 17 Thou shalt groan for blood, and have mourning upon thy loins; thy hair shall not be braided upon thee, and thy sandals shall be on thy feet; thou shalt in no wise be comforted by their lips, and thou shalt not eat the bread of men.

18 And I spoke to the people in the morning, as he commanded me in the evening, and I did in the morning as it was commanded me. 19 And the people said to me, Wilt thou not tell us what these things are that thou doest? 20 Then I said to them, The word of the Lord came to me, saying, 21 Say to the house of Israel,

Thus saith the Lord; Behold, I will profane my sanctuary, the boast of your strength, the desire of your eyes, and for which your souls are concerned; and your sons and your daughters, whom ye have left, shall fall by the sword. 22 And ye shall do as I have done: ye shall not be comforted at their mouth, and ye shall not eat the bread of men. 23 And your hair shall be upon your head, and your shoes on your feet: neither shall ye at all lament or weep; but ye shall pine away in your iniquities, and shall comfort every one his brother. 24 And Jezekiel shall be for a sign to you: according to all that I have done shall ye do, when these things shall come; and ye shall know that I am the Lord.

25 And thou, son of man, shall it not be in the day when I take their strength from them, the pride of their boasting, the desires of their eyes, and the pride of their soul, their sons and their daughters, 26 that in that day he that escapes shall come to thee, to tell it thee in thine ears? 27 In that say thy mouth shall be opened to him that escapes; thou shalt speak, and shalt be no longer dumb: and thou shalt be for a sign to them, and they shall know that I am the Lord.

Chapter 25

25:1 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 2 Son of man, set thy face steadfastly against the children of Ammon, and prophesy against them; 3 and thou shalt say to the children of Ammon,

Hear ye the word of the Lord; thus saith the Lord; Forasmuch as ye have rejoiced against my sanctuary, because it was profaned; and against the land of Israel, because it was laid waste; and against the house of Juda, because they went into captivity; 4 therefore, behold, I will deliver you to the children of Kedem for an inheritance, and they shall lodge in thee with their stuff, and they shall pitch their tents in thee: they shall eat thy fruits, and they shall drink thy milk. 5 And I will give up the city of Ammon for camels’ pastures, and the children of Ammon for a pasture of sheep: and ye shall know that I am the Lord.

6 For thus saith the Lord; Because thou hast clapped thine hands, and stamped with thy foot, and heartily rejoiced against the land of Israel; 7 therefore I will stretch out my hand against thee, and I will make thee a spoil to the nations; and I will utterly destroy thee from among the peoples, and I will completely cut thee off from out of the countries: and thou shalt know that I am the Lord.

8 Thus saith the Lord; Because Moab has said, Behold, are not the house of Israel and Juda like all the other nations? 9 Therefore, behold, I will weaken the shoulder of Moab from his frontier cities, even the choice land, the house of Bethasimuth above the fountain of the city, by the sea-side. 10 I have given him the children of Kedem in addition to the children of Ammon for an inheritance, that there may be no remembrance of the children of Ammon. 11 And I will execute vengeance on Moab; and they shall know that I am the Lord.

12 Thus saith the Lord; Because of what the Idumeans have done in taking vengeance on the house of Juda, and because they have remembered injuries, and have exacted full recompense; 13 therefore thus saith the Lord; I will also stretch out my hand upon Idumea, and will utterly destroy out of it man and beast; and will make it desolate; and they that are pursued out of Thaeman shall fall by the sword. 14 And I will execute my vengeance on Idumea by the hand of my people Israel: and they shall deal in Idumea according to mine anger and according to my wrath, and they shall know my vengeance, saith the Lord.

15 Therefore thus saith the Lord, Because the Philistines have wrought revengefully, and raised up vengeance rejoicing from their heart to destroy the Israelites to a man; 16 therefore thus saith the Lord; Behold, I will stretch out my hand upon the Philistines, and will utterly destroy the Cretans, and will cut off the remnant that dwell by the sea-coast. 17 And I will execute great vengeance upon them; and they shall know that I am the Lord, when I have brought my vengeance upon them.

Chapter 26

26:1 And it came to pass in the eleventh year, on the first day of the month, that the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

2 Son of man, because Sor has said against Jerusalem, Aha, she is crushed: the nations are destroyed: she is turned to me: she that was full is made desolate: 3 therefore thus saith the Lord; Behold, I am against thee, O Sor, and I will bring up many nations against thee, as the sea comes up with its waves. 4 And they shall cast down the walls of Sor, and shall cast down thy towers: and I will scrape her dust from off her, and make her a bare rock. 5 She shall be in the midst of the sea a place for repairing nets: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord: and it shall be a spoil for the nations. 6 And her daughters which are in the field shall be slain with the sword, and they shall know that I am the Lord.

7 For thus saith the Lord; Behold, I will bring up against thee, O Sor, Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon from the north: he is a king of kings, with horses, and chariots, and horsemen, and a concourse of very many nations. 8 He shall slay thy daughters that are in the field with the sword, and shall set a watch against thee, and build forts around thee, and carry a rampart round against thee, and set up warlike works, and array his spears against thee. 9 He shall cast down with his swords thy walls and thy towers. 10 By reason of thy multitude of his horses their dust shall cover thee, and by reason of the sound of his horsemen and the wheels of his chariots thy walls shall be shaken, when he enters into thy gates, as one entering into a city from the plain. 11 With the hoofs of his horses they shall trample all thy streets: he shall slay thy people with the sword, and shall bring down to the ground the support of thy strength.

12 And he shall prey upon thy power, and plunder thy substance, and shall cast down thy walls, and break down thy pleasant houses: and he shall cast thy stones and thy timber and thy dust into the midst of thy sea. 13 And he shall destroy the multitude of thy musicians, and the sound of thy psalteries shall be heard no more. 14 And I will make thee a bare rock: thou shalt be a place to spread nets upon; thou shalt be built no more: for I the Lord have spoken it, saith the Lord.

15 For thus saith the Lord God to Sor; Shall not the isles shake at the sound of thy fall, while the wounded are groaning, while they have drawn a sword in the midst of thee? 16 And all the princes of the nations of the sea shall come down from their thrones, and shall take off their crowns from their heads, and shall take off their embroidered raiment: they shall be utterly amazed; they shall sit upon the ground, and fear their own destruction, and shall groan over thee. 17 And they shall take up a lamentation for thee, and shall say to thee, How art thou destroyed from out of the sea, the renowned city, that brought her terror upon all her inhabitants. 18 And the isles shall be alarmed at the day of thy fall.

19 For thus saith the Lord God; When I shall make the city desolate, as the cities that shall not be inhabited, when I have brought the deep up upon thee, 20 and great waters shall cover thee; and I shall bring thee down to them that go down to the pit, to the people of old time, and shall cause thee to dwell in the depths of the earth, as in everlasting desolation, with them that go down to the pit, that thou mayest not be inhabited, nor stand upon the land of life; 21 I will make thee a destruction, and thou shalt be no more for ever, saith the Lord God.

Chapter 27

27:1 And the word of the Lord came to me saying,

2 And thou, son of man, take up a lamentation against Sor; 3 and thou shalt say to Sor that dwells at the entrance of the sea, to the mart of the nations coming from many islands, Thus saith the Lord to Sor;

Thou hast said, I have clothed myself with my beauty. 4 In the heart of the sea thy sons have put beauty upon thee for Beelim. 5 Cedar in Senir was employed for thee in building: boards of cypress timber were taken out of Libanus, and wood to make thee masts of fir. 6 They made thine oars of wood out of the land of Basan; thy sacred utensils they made of ivory, thy shady houses of wood from the isles of Chetiim. 7 Fine linen with embroidery from Egypt supplied the couch, to put honour upon thee, and to clothe thee with blue and purple from the isles of Elisai; and they became thy coverings.

8 And thy princes were the dwellers in Sidon, and the Aradians were thy rowers: thy wise men, O Sor, who were in thee, these were thy pilots. 9 The elders of the Biblians, and their wise men, who were in thee, these helped thy counsel: and all the ships of the sea and their rowers traded for thee to the utmost west.

10 Persians and Lydians and Libyans were in thine army: thy warriors hung in thee shields and helmets; these gave thee thy glory. 11 The sons of the Aradians and thine army were upon the walls; there were guards in thy towers: they hung their quivers on thy battlements round about; these completed thy beauty.

12 The Carthaginians were thy merchants because of the abundance of all thy strength; they furnished thy market with silver, and gold, and iron, and tin, and lead. 13 Greece, both the whole world, and the adjacent coasts, these traded with thee in the persons of men, and they gave as thy merchandise vessels of brass.

14 Out of the house of Thogarma horses and horsemen furnished the market. 15 The sons of the Rhodians were thy merchants; from the islands they multiplied thy merchandise, even elephants’ teeth: and to them that came in thou didst return thy prices, 16 even men as thy merchandise, from the multitude of thy trading population, myrrh and embroidered works from Tharsis: Ramoth also and Chorchor furnished thy market. 17 Juda and the children of Israel, these were thy merchants; in the sale of corn and ointments and cassia: and they gave the best honey, and oil, and resin, to thy trading population. 18 The people of Damascus were thy merchants by reason of the abundance of all thy power; wine out of Chelbon, and wool from Miletus; and they brought wine into thy market.

19 Out of Asel came wrought iron, and there is the sound of wheels among thy trading population. 20 The people of Daedan were thy merchants, with choice cattle for chariots. 21 Arabia and all the princes of Kedar, these were thy traders with thee, bringing camels, and lambs, and rams, in which they trade with thee. 22 The merchants of Sabba and Ramma, these were thy merchants, with choice spices, and precious stones: and they brought gold to thy market. 23 Charra, and Chanaa, these were thy merchants: Assur, and Charman, were thy merchants: 24 bringing for merchandise blue, and choice stores bound with cords, and cypress wood. 25 Ships were thy merchants, in abundance, with thy trading population: and thou wast filled and very heavily loaded in the heart of the sea.

26 Thy rowers have brought thee into great waters: the south wind has broken thee in the heart of the sea. 27 Thy forces, and thy gain, and that of thy traders, and thy rowers, and thy pilots, and thy counselors, and they that traffic with thee, and all thy warriors that are in thee: and all thy company in the midst of thee shall perish in the heart of the sea, in the day of thy fall. 28 At the cry of thy voice thy pilots shall be greatly terrified.

29 And all the rowers and the mariners shall come down from the ships, and the pilots of the sea shall stand on the land. 30 And they shall wail over thee with their voice, and cry bitterly, and put earth on their heads, and spread ashes under them.

31 32 And their sons shall take up a lament for thee, even a lamentation for Sor, saying, 33 How large a reward hast thou gained from the sea? thou hast filled nations out of thine abundance; and out of thy mixed merchandise thou hast enriched all the kings of the earth. 34 Now art thou broken in the sea, thy traders are in the deep water, and all thy company in the midst of thee: all thy rowers have fallen. 35 All the dwellers in the islands have mourned over thee, and their kings have been utterly amazed, and their countenance has wept. 36 Merchants from the nations have hissed at thee; thou art utterly destroyed, and shalt not be any more for ever.

Chapter 28

28:1 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

2 And thou, son of man, say to the prince of Tyrus, Thus saith the Lord; Because thine heart has been exalted, and thou hast said, I am God, I have inhabited the dwelling of God in the heart of the sea; yet thou art man and not God, though thou hast set thine heart as the heart of God: 3 art thou wiser than Daniel? or have not the wise instructed thee with their knowledge? 4 Hast thou gained power for thyself by thine own knowledge or thine own prudence, and gotten gold and silver in thy treasures? 5 By thy abundant knowledge and thy traffic thou hast multiplied thy power; thy heart has been lifted up by thy power.

6 Therefore thus saith the Lord; Since thou hast set thine heart as the hart of God; 7 because of this, behold, I will bring on thee strange plagues from the nations; and they shall draw their swords against thee, and against the beauty of thy knowledge, 8 and they shall bring down thy beauty to destruction. And they shall bring thee down; and thou shalt die the death of the slain in the heart of the sea. 9 Wilt thou indeed say, I am God, before them that slay thee? whereas thou art man, and not God. 10 Thou shalt perish by the hands of strangers among the multitude of the uncircumcised: for I have spoken it, saith he Lord.

11 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 12 Son of man, take up a lamentation for the prince of Tyre, and say to him, Thus saith the Lord God; Thou art a seal of resemblance, and crown of beauty. 13 Thou wast in the delight of the paradise of God; thou hast bound upon thee every precious stone, the sardius, and topaz, and emerald, and carbuncle, and sapphire, and jasper, and silver, and gold, and ligure, and agate, and amethyst, and chrysolite, and beryl, and onyx: and thou hast filled thy treasures and thy stores in thee with gold. 14 From the day that thou wast created thou wast with the cherub: I set thee on the holy mount of God; thou wast in the midst of the stones of fire. 15 Thou wast faultless in thy days, from the day that thou wast created, until iniquity was found in thee.

16 Of the abundance of thy merchandise thou hast filled thy storehouses with iniquity, and hast sinned: therefore thou hast been cast down wounded from the mount of God, and the cherub has brought thee out of the midst of the stones of fire. 17 Thy heart has been lifted up because of thy beauty; thy knowledge has been corrupted with thy beauty: because of the multitude of thy sins I have cast thee to the ground, I have caused thee to be put to open shame before kings. 18 Because of the multitude of thy sins and the iniquities of thy merchandise, I have profaned thy sacred things; and I will bring fire out of the midst of thee, this shall devour thee; and I will make thee to be ashes upon thy land before all that see thee. 19 And all that know thee among the nations shall groan over thee: thou art gone to destruction, and thou shalt not exist any more.

20 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 21 Son of man, set thy face against Sidon, and prophesy against it, 22 and say, Thus saith the Lord; Behold, I am against thee, O Sidon; and I will be glorified in thee; and thou shalt know that I am the Lord, when I have wrought judgments in thee, and I will be sanctified in thee. 23 Blood and death shall be in thy streets; and men wounded with swords shall fall in thee and on every side of thee; and they shall know that I am the Lord. 24 And there shall no more be in the house of Israel a thorn of bitterness and a pricking briar proceeding from them that are round about them, who dishonoured them; and they shall know that I am the Lord.

25 Thus saith the Lord God; I will also gather Israel from the nations, among whom they have been scattered, and I will be sanctified among them, and before the peoples and nations: and they shall dwell upon their land, which I gave to my servant Jacob. 26 Yea, they shall dwell upon it safely, and they shall build houses, and plant vineyards, and dwell securely, when I shall execute judgment on all that have dishonoured them, even on those that are round about them; and they shall know that I am the Lord their God, and the God of their fathers.

Chapter 29

29:1 In the twelfth year, in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 2 Son of man, set thy face against Pharao king of Egypt, and prophesy against him, and against the whole of Egypt: 3 and say,

Thus saith the Lord; Behold, I am against Pharao, the great dragon that lies in the midst of his rivers, that says, The rivers are mine, and I made them. 4 And I will put hooks in thy jaws, and I will cause the fish of thy river to stick to thy sides, and I will bring thee up out of the midst of thy river: 5 and I will quickly cast down thee and all the fish of thy river: thou shalt fall on the face of the plain, and shalt by no means be gathered, and shalt not be brought together: I have given thee for food to the wild beasts of the earth and to the fowls of the sky. 6 And all the dwellers in Egypt shall know that I am the Lord, because thou hast been a staff of reed to the house of Israel. 7 When they took hold of thee with their hand, thou didst break: and when every hand was clapped against them, and when they leaned on thee, thou wast utterly broken, and didst crush the loins of them all.

8 Therefore thus saith the Lord; Behold, I will bring a sword upon thee, and will cut off from thee man and beast; 9 and the land of Egypt shall be ruined and desert; and they shall know that I am the Lord; because thou sayest, The rivers are mine, and I made them.

10 Therefore, behold, I am against thee, and against all thy rivers, and I will give up the land of Egypt to desolation, and the sword, and destruction, from Magdol and Syene even to the borders of the Ethiopians. 11 No foot of man shall pass through it, and no foot of beast shall pass through it, and it shall not be inhabited for forty years.

12 And I will cause her land to be utterly destroyed in the midst of a land that is desolate, and her cities shall be desolate forty years in the midst of cities that are desolate: and I will disperse Egypt among the nations, and will utterly scatter them into the countries.

13 Thus saith the Lord; After forty years I will gather the Egyptians from the nations among whom they have been scattered; 14 and I will turn the captivity of the Egyptians, and will cause them to dwell in the land of Phathore, in the land whence they were taken; 15 and it shall be a base kingdom beyond all other kingdoms; it shall not any more be exalted over the nations; and I will make them few in number, that they may not be great among the nations. 16 And they shall no more be to the house of Israel a confidence bringing iniquity to remembrance, when they follow after them; and they shall know that I am the Lord.

17 And it came to pass in the twenty-seventh year, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

18 Son of man, Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon caused his army to serve a great service against Tyre; every head was bald, and every shoulder peeled; yet there was no reward to him or to his army serving against Tyre, nor for the service wherewith they served against it.

19 Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will give to Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon the land of Egypt, and he shall take the plunder thereof, and seize the spoils thereof; and it shall be a reward for his army. 20 In return for his service wherewith he served against Tyre, I have given him the land of Egypt; thus saith the Lord God:

21 In that day shall a horn spring forth for all the house of Israel, and I will give thee an open mouth in the midst of them; and they shall know that I am the Lord.

Chapter 30

30:1 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 2 Son of man, prophesy, and say, Thus saith the Lord; Woe, woe worth the day! 3 For the day of the Lord is nigh, a day of cloud; it shall be the end of the nations.

4 And the sword shall come upon the Egyptians, and there shall be tumult in Ethiopia, and in Egypt men shall fall down slain together, and her foundations shall fall. 5 Persians, and Cretans, and Lydians, and Libyans, and all the mixed multitude, and they of the children of my covenant, shall fall by the sword therein. 6 And the supports of Egypt shall fall; and the pride of her strength shall come down from Magdol to Syene: they shall fall by the sword in it, saith the Lord. 7 And it shall be made desolate in the midst of desolate countries, and their cities shall be desolate in the midst of desolate cities: 8 and they shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall send fire upon Egypt, and when all that help her shall be broken. 9 In that day shall messengers go forth hasting to destroy Ethiopia utterly, and there shall be tumult among them in the day of Egypt: for, behold it comes.

10 Thus saith he Lord God; I will also destroy the multitude of the Egyptians by the hand of Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon, 11 his hand and his people’s; they are plagues sent forth from the nations to destroy the land: and they all shall unsheath their swords against Egypt, and the land shall be filled with slain. 12 And I will make their rivers desolate, and will destroy the land and the fulness of it by the hands of strangers: I the Lord have spoken.

13 For thus saith the Lord God; I will also destroy the nobles from Memphis, and the princes of Memphis out of the land of Egypt; and they shall be no more. 14 And I will destroy the land of Phathore, and will send fire upon Tanis, and will execute vengeance on Diospolis. 15 And I will pour out my wrath upon Sais the strength of Egypt, and will destroy the multitude of Memphis. 16 And I will send fire upon Egypt; and Syene shall be sorely troubled; and there shall be a breaking in Diospolis, and waters shall be poured out. 17 The youths of Heliopolis and Bubastum shall fall by the sword, and the women shall go into captivity. 18 And the day shall be darkened in Taphnae, when I have broken there the scepters of Egypt: and the pride of her strength shall perish there: and a cloud shall cover her, and her daughters shall be taken prisoners. 19 And I will execute judgment on Egypt; and they shall know that I am the Lord.

20 And it came to pass in the eleventh year, in the first month, on the seventh day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 21 Son of man, I have broken the arms of Pharao, king of Egypt; and, behold, it has not been bound up to be healed, to have a plaster put upon it, or to be strengthened to lay hold of the sword. 22 Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am against Pharao king of Egypt, and I will break his strong and outstretched arms, and will smite down his sword out of his hand. 23 And I will disperse the Egyptians among the nations, and will utterly scatter them among the countries.

24 And I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, and put my sword into his hand: and he shall bring it upon Egypt, and shall take her plunder and seize her spoils. 25 Yea, I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, and the arms of Pharao shall fail: and they shall know that I am the Lord, when I have put my sword into the hands of the king of Babylon, and he shall stretch it out over the land of Egypt. 26 And I will disperse the Egyptians among the nations, and utterly scatter them among the countries; and they all shall know that I am the Lord.

Chapter 31

31:1 And it came to pass in the eleventh year, in the third month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 2 Son of man, say to Pharao king of Egypt, and to his multitude;

To whom hast thou compared thyself in thy haughtiness? 3 Behold, the Assyrian was a cypress in Libanus, and was fair in shoots, and high in stature: his top reached to the midst of the clouds. 4 The water nourished him, the depth made him grow tall; she led her rivers round about his plants, and she sent forth her streams to all the trees of the field. 5 Therefore, was his stature exalted above all the trees of the field, and his branches spread far by the help of much water. 6 All the birds of the sky made their nests in his boughs, and under his branches all the wild beasts of the field bred; the whole multitude of nations dwelt under his shadow. 7 And he was fair in his height by reason of the multitude of his branches: for his roots were amidst much water. 8 And such cypresses as this were in the paradise of God; and there were no pines like his shoots, and there were no firs like his branches: no tree in the paradise of God was like him in his beauty, 9 because of the multitude of his branches: and the trees of God’s paradise of delight envied him.

10 Therefore thus saith the Lord; Because thou art grown great, and hast set thy top in the midst of the clouds, and I saw when he was exalted; 11 therefore I delivered him into the hands of the prince of the nations, and he wrought his destruction. 12 And ravaging strangers from the nations have destroyed him, and have cast him down upon the mountains: his branches fell in all the valleys, and his boughs were broken in every field of the land; and all the people of the nations are gone down from their shelter, and have laid him low.

13 All the birds of the sky have settled on his fallen trunk, and all the wild beasts of the field came upon his boughs: 14 in order that none of the trees by the water should exalt themselves by reason of their size: whereas they set their top in the midst of the clouds, yet they continued not in their high state in their place, all that drank water, all were consigned to death, to the depth of the earth, in the midst of the children of men, with them that go down to the pit.

15 Thus saith the Lord God; In the day wherein he went down to Hades, the deep mourned for him: and I stayed her floods, and restrained her abundance of water: and Libanus saddened for him, all the trees of the field fainted for him. 16 At the sound of his fall the nations quaked, when I brought him down to Hades with them that go down to the pit: and all the trees of Delight comforted him in the heart, and the choice of plants of Libanus, all that drink water. 17 For they went down to hell with him among the slain with the sword; and his seed, even they that dwelt under his shadow, perished in the midst of their life.

18 To whom art thou compared? descend, and be thou debased with the trees of paradise to the depth of the earth: thou shalt lie in the midst of the uncircumcised with them that are slain by the sword. Thus shall Pharao be, and the multitude of his host, saith the Lord God.

Chapter 32

32:1 And it came to pass in the twelfth year, in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, that the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 2 Son of man, take up a lamentation for Pharao king of Egypt, and say to him,

Thou art become like a lion of the nations, and as a serpent that is in the sea: and thou didst make assaults with thy rivers, and didst disturb the water with thy feet, and didst trample thy rivers.

3 Thus saith the Lord; I will also cast over thee the nets of many nations, and will bring thee up with my hook: 4 and I will stretch thee upon the earth: the fields shall be covered with thee, and I will cause all the birds of the sky to settle upon thee, and I will fill with thee all the wild beasts of the earth. 5 And I will cast thy flesh upon the mountains, and will saturate them with thy blood. 6 And the land shall be drenched with thy dung, because of thy multitude upon the mountains: I will fill the valleys with thee. 7 And I will veil the heavens when thou art extinguished, and will darken the stars thereof; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not give her light. 8 All the bodies that give light in the sky, shall be darkened over thee, and I will bring darkness upon the earth, saith the Lord God.

9 And I will provoke to anger the heart of many people, when I shall lead thee captive among the nations, to a land which thou hast not know. 10 And many nations shall mourn over thee, and their kings shall be utterly amazed, when my sword flies in their faces, as they wait for their own fall from the day of thy fall.

11 For thus saith the Lord God; The sword of the king of Babylon shall come upon thee, 12 with the swords of mighty men; and I will cast down thy strength: they are all destroying ones from the nations, and they shall destroy the pride of Egypt, and all her strength shall be crushed. 13 And I will destroy all her cattle from beside the great water; and the foot of man shall not trouble it any more, and the step of cattle shall no more trample it. 14 Thus shall their waters then be at rest, and their rivers shall flow like oil, saith the Lord, 15 when I shall give up Egypt to destruction, and the land shall be made desolate with the fullness thereof; when I shall scatter all that dwell in it, and they shall know that I am the Lord. 16 There is a lamentation, and thou shalt utter it; and the daughters of the nations shall utter it, even for Egypt, and they shall mourn for it over all the strength thereof, saith the Lord God.

17 And it came to pass in the twelfth year, in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

18 Son of man, lament over the strength of Egypt, for the nations shall bring down her daughters dead to the depth of the earth, to them that go down to the pit. 19 20 They shall fall with him in the midst of them that are slain with the sword, and all his strength shall perish: the giants also shall say to thee, 21 Be thou in the depth of the pit: to whom art thou superior? yea, go down, and lie with the uncircumcised, in the midst of them that are slain with the sword.

22 There are Assur and all his company: all his slain have been laid there: 23 and their burial is in the depth of the pit, and his company are set around about his tomb: all the slain that fell by the sword, who had caused the fear of them to be upon the land of the living.

24 There is Ælam and all his host round about his tom: all the slain that fell by the sword, and the uncircumcised that go down to the deep of the earth, who caused their fear to be upon the land of the living: and they have received their punishment with them that go down to the pit, 25 in the midst of the slain.

26 There were laid Mosoch, and Thobel, and all his strength round about his tomb: all his slain men, all the uncircumcised, slain with the sword, who caused their fear to be in the land of the living. 27 And they are laid with the giants that fell of old, who went down to Hades with their weapons of war: and they laid their swords under their heads, but their iniquities were upon their bones, because they terrified all men during their life. 28 And thou shalt lie in the midst of the uncircumcised, with them that have been slain by the sword.

29 There are laid the princes of Assur, who yielded their strength to a wound of the sword: these are laid with the slain, with them that go down to the pit.

30 There are the princes of the north, even all the captains of Assur, who go down slain to Hades: they lie uncircumcised among the slain with the sword together with their terror and their strength, and they have received their punishment with them that go down to the pit.

31 King Pharao shall see them, and shall be comforted over all their force, saith the Lord God. 32 For I have caused his fear to be upon the land of the living yet he shall lie in the midst of the uncircumcised with them that are slain with the sword, even Pharao, and all his multitude with him, saith the Lord God.

Chapter 33

33:1 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 2 Son of man, speak to the children of thy people, and thou shalt say to them,

On whatsoever land I shall bring a sword, and the people of the land take one man of them, and set him for their watchman: 3 and he shall see the sword coming upon the land, and blow the trumpet, and sound an alarm to the people; 4 and he that hears the sound of the trumpet shall hear indeed, and yet not take heed, and the sword shall come upon him, and overtake him, his blood shall be upon his own head. 5 Because he heard the sound of the trumpet, and took no heed, his blood shall be upon him: but the other, because he took heed, has delivered his soul.

6 But if the watchman see the sword coming, and do not sound the trumpet, and the people do not watch; and the sword come, and take a soul from among them, that soul is taken because of its iniquity; but the blood thereof will I require at the watchman’s hand.

7 And thou, son of man, I have set thee as a watchman to the house of Israel, and thou shalt hear a word from my mouth. 8 When I say to the sinner, Thou shalt surely die; if thou speak not to warn the wicked from his way, the wicked himself shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand. 9 But if thou forewarn the wicked of his way to turn from it, and he turn not from his way, he shall die in his ungodliness; but thou hast delivered thine own soul.

10 And thou, son of man, say to the house of Israel; Thus have ye spoken, saying, Our errors, and our iniquities weigh upon us, and we pine away in them, and how then shall we live? 11 Say to them, Thus saith the Lord; As I live, I desire not the death of the ungodly, as that the ungodly should turn from his way and live: turn ye heartily from your way; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?

12 Say to the children of thy people, The righteousness of the righteous shall not deliver him, in the day wherein he errs: and the iniquity of the ungodly shall not harm him, in the day wherein he turns from his iniquity, but the righteous erring shall not be able to deliver himself.

13 When I say to the righteous, Thou shalt live; and he trusts in his righteousness, and shall commit iniquity, none of his righteousnesses shall be remembered; in his unrighteousness which he has wrought, in it shall he die.

14 And when I say to the ungodly, Thou shalt surely die; and he shall turn from his sin, and do judgment and justice, 15 and return the pledge, and repay that which he has robbed, and walk in the ordinances of life, so as to do no wrong; he shall surely live, and shall not die. 16 None of his sins which he has committed shall be remembered: because he has wrought judgment and righteousness; by them shall he live.

17 Yet the children of thy people will say, The way of the Lord is not straight: whereas this their way is not straight. 18 When the righteous turns away from his righteousness, and shall commit iniquities, then shall he die in them. 19 And when the sinner turns from his iniquity, and shall do judgment and righteousness, he shall live by them. 20 And this is that which ye said, The way of the Lord is not straight. I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one for his ways.

21 And it came to pass in the tenth year of our captivity, in the twelfth month, on the fifth day of the month, that one that had escaped from Jerusalem came to me, saying, The city is taken. 22 Now the hand of the Lord had come upon me in the evening, before he came; and he opened my mouth, when he came to me in the morning: and my mouth was open, it was no longer kept closed.

23 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 24 Son of man, they that inhabit the desolate places on the land of Israel say, Abram was one, and he possessed the land: and we are more numerous; to us the land is given for a possession.

25 26 27 Therefore say to them, Thus saith the Lord God, As I live, surely they that are in the desolate places shall fall by swords and they that are in the open plain shall be given for food to the wild beasts of the field, and them that are in the fortified cities and them that are in the caves I will slay with pestilence. 28 And I will make the land desert, and the pride of her strength shall perish; and the mountains of Israel shall be made desolate by reason of no man passing through. 29 And they shall know that I am the Lord; and I will make their land desert, and it shall be made desolate because of all their abominations which they have wrought.

30 And as for thee, son of man, the children of thy people are they that speak concerning thee by the walls, and in the porches of the houses, and they talk one to another, saying, Let us come together, and let us hear the words that proceed from the Lord. 31 They approach thee as a people comes together, and sit before thee, and hear thy words, but they will not do them: for there is falsehood in their mouth, and their heart goes after their pollutions. 32 And thou art to them as a sound of a sweet, well-tuned psaltery, and they will hear thy words, but they will not do them. 33 But whenever it shall come to pass, they will say, Behold, it is come: and they shall know that there was a prophet in the midst of them.

Chapter 34

34:1 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 2 Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy, and say to the shepherds,

Thus saith the Lord God; O shepherds of Israel, do shepherds feed themselves? do not the shepherds feed the sheep? 3 Behold, ye feed on the milk, and clothe yourselves with the wool, and slay the fat: but ye feed not my sheep. 4 The weak one ye have not strengthened, and the sick ye have not cherished, and the bruised ye have not bound up, and the stray one ye have not turned back, and the lost ye have not sought; and the strong ye have wearied with labour. 5 And my sheep were scattered, because there were no shepherds: and they became meat to all the wild beasts of the field. 6 And my sheep were scattered on every mountain, and on every high hill: yea, they were scattered on the face of the earth, and there was none to seek them out, nor to bring them back.

7 Therefore, ye shepherds, hear the word of the Lord. 8 As I live, saith the Lord God, surely because my sheep became a prey, and my sheep became meat to all the wild beasts of the field, because there were no shepherds, and the shepherds sought not out my sheep, and the shepherds fed themselves, but fed not my sheep. 9 For this cause, O shepherds, 10 thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I am against the shepherds; and I will require my sheep at their hands, and will turn them back that they shall not feed my sheep, and the shepherds shall no longer feed them; and I will deliver my sheep out of their mouth, and they shall no longer be meat for them.

11 For thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I will seek out my sheep, and will visit them. 12 As the shepherd seeks his flock, in the day when there is darkness and cloud, in the midst of the sheep that are separated: so will I seek out my sheep, and will bring them back from every place where they were scattered in the day of cloud and darkness. 13 And I will bring them out from the Gentiles, and will gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land, and will feed them upon the mountains of Israel, and in the valleys, and in every inhabited place of the land. 14 I will feed them in a good pasture, on a high mountain of Israel: and their folds shall be there, and they shall lie down, and there shall they rest in perfect prosperity, and they shall feed in a fat pasture on the mountains of Israel. 15 I will feed my sheep, and I will cause them to rest; and they shall know that I am the Lord: thus saith the Lord God. 16 I will seek that which is lost, and I will recover the stray one, and will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen the fainting, and will guard the strong, and will feed them with judgment.

17 And as for you, ye sheep, thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I will distinguish between sheep and sheep, between rams and he-goats. 18 And is it not enough for you that ye fed on the good pasture, that ye trampled with your feet the remnant of your pasture? and that ye drank the standing water, that ye disturbed the residue with your feet? 19 So my sheep fed on that which ye had trampled with your feet; and they drank the water that had been disturbed by your feet.

20 Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will separate between the strong sheep and the weak sheep. 21 Ye did thrust with your sides and shoulders, and pushed with your horns, and ye cruelly treated all the sick. 22 Therefore I will save my sheep, and they shall not be any more for a prey; and will judge between ram and ram.

23 And I will raise up one shepherd over them, and he shall tend them, even my servant David, and he shall be their shepherd; 24 and I the Lord will be to them a God, and David a prince in the midst of them; I the Lord have spoken it. 25 And I will make with David a covenant of peace and I will utterly destroy evil beasts from off the land; and they shall dwell in the wilderness, and sleep in the forests. 26 And I will settle them round about my mountain; and I will give you the rain, the rain of blessing. 27 And the trees that are in the field shall yield their fruit, and the earth shall yield her strength, and they shall dwell in the confidence of peace on their land, and they shall know that I am the Lord, when I have broken their yoke; and I will deliver them out of the hand of those that enslaved them. 28 And they shall no more be a spoil to the nations, and the wild beasts of the land shall no more at all devour them; and they shall dwell safely, and there shall be none to make them afraid. 29 And I will raise up for them a plant of peace, and they shall no more perish with hunger upon the land, and they shall no more bear the reproach off the nations.

30 And they shall know that I am the Lord their God, and they my people. O house of Israel, saith the Lord God, 31 ye are my sheep, even the sheep of my flock, and I am the Lord your God, saith the Lord God.

Chapter 35

35:1 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 2 Son of man, set thy face against mount Seir, and prophesy against it, 3 and say to it,

Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am against thee, O mount Seir, and I will stretch out my hand against thee, and will make thee a waste, and thou shalt be made desolate. 4 And I will cause desolation in thy cities, and thou shalt be desolate, and thou shalt know that I am the Lord. 5 Because thou hast been a perpetual enemy, and hast laid wait craftily for the house of Israel, with the hand of enemies with a sword, in the time of injustice, at the last:

6 Therefore, as I live, saith the Lord God, verily thou hast sinned even to blood, therefore blood shall pursue thee. 7 And I will make mount Seir a waste, and desolate, and I will destroy from off it men and cattle: 8 and I will fill thy hills and thy valleys with slain men, and in all thy plains there shall fall in thee men slain with the sword. 9 I will make thee a perpetual desolation, and thy cities shall not be inhabited any more: and thou shalt know that I am the Lord.

10 Because thou saidst, The two nations and the two countries shall be mine, and I shall inherit them; whereas the Lord is there: 11 therefore, as I live, saith the Lord, I will even deal with thee according to thine enmity, and I will be made known to thee when I shall judge thee: 12 and thou shalt know that I am the Lord. I have heard the voice of thy blasphemies, whereas thou hast said, The desert mountains of Israel are given to us for food; 13 and thou hast spoken swelling words against me with thy mouth: I have heard them.

14 Thus saith the Lord; When all the earth is rejoicing, I will make thee desert. 15 Thou shalt be desert, O mount Seir, and all Idumea; and it shall be utterly consumed: and thou shalt know that I am the Lord their God.

Chapter 36

36:1 And thou, son of man, prophesy to the mountains of Israel, and say to the mountains of Israel, Hear ye the word of the Lord:

2 Thus saith the Lord God; Because the enemy has said against you, Aha, the old waste places are become a possession for us: 3 therefore prophesy, and say, Thus saith the Lord God; Because ye have been dishonoured, and hated by those round about you, that ye might be a possession to the remainder of the nations, and ye became a by-word, and a reproach to the nations: 4 therefore, ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord; Thus saith the Lord to the mountains, and to the hills, and to the streams, and to the valleys, and to the places that have been made desolate and destroyed, and to the cities that have been deserted, and have become a spoil and a trampling to the nations that were left round about; 5 therefore, thus saith the Lord; Verily in the fire of my wrath have I spoken against the rest of the nations, and against all Idumea, because they have appropriated my land to themselves for a possession with joy, disregarding the lives of the inhabitants, to destroy it by plunder: 6 therefore prophesy concerning the land of Israel, and say to the mountains, and to the hills, and to the valleys, and to the forests, Thus saith the Lord; Behold, I have spoken in my jealousy and in my wrath, because ye have borne the reproaches of the heathen: 7 therefore I will lift up my hand against the nations that are round about you; they shall bear their reproach.

8 But your grapes and your fruits, O mountains of Israel, shall my people eat; for they are hoping to come. 9 For, behold, I am toward you, and I will have respect to you, and ye shall be tilled and sown: 10 and I will multiply men upon you, even all the house of Israel to the end: and the cities shall be inhabited, and the desolate land shall be built upon. 11 And I will multiply men and cattle upon you; and I will cause you to dwell as at the beginning, and will treat you well, as in your former times: and ye shall know that I am the Lord. 12 And I will increase men upon you, even my people Israel; and they shall inherit you, and ye shall be to them for a possession; and ye shall no more be bereaved of them.

13 Thus saith the Lord God: Because they said to thee, Thou land devourest men, and hast been bereaved of thy nation; 14 therefore thou shalt no more devour men, and thou shalt no more bereave thy nation, saith the Lord God. 15 And there shall no more be heard against you the reproach of the nations, and ye shall no more bear the revilings of the peoples, saith the Lord God.

16 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 17 Son of man, the house of Israel dwelt upon their land, and defiled it by their way, and with their idols, and with their uncleannesses; and their way was before me like the uncleanness of a removed woman. 18 So I poured out my wrath upon them: 19 and I dispersed them among the nations, and utterly scattered them through the countries: I judged them according to their way and according to their sin. 20 And they went in among the nations, among which they went, and they profaned my holy name, while it was said of them, These are the people of the Lord, and they came forth out of his land. 21 but I spared them for the sake of my holy name, which the house of Israel profaned among the nations, among whom they went.

22 Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord; I do not this, O house of Israel, for your sakes, but because of my holy name, which ye have profaned among the nations, among whom ye went. 23 And I will sanctify my great name, which was profaned among the nations, which ye profaned in the midst of them; and the nations shall know that I am the Lord, when I am sanctified among you before their eyes.

24 And I will take you out from the nations, and will gather you out of all the lands, and will bring you into your own land: 25 and I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be purged from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols, and I will cleanse you. 26 And I will give you a new heart, and will put a new spirit in you: and I will take away the heart of stone out of your flesh, and will give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit in you, and will cause you to walk in mine ordinances, and to keep my judgments, and do them. 28 And ye shall dwell upon the land which I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be to me a people, and I will be to you a God. 29 And I will save you from all your uncleannesses: and I will call for the corn, and multiply it, and will not bring famine upon you. 30 And I will multiply the fruit of the trees, and the produce of the field, that ye may not bear the reproach of famine among the nations.

31 And ye shall remember your evil ways and your practices that were not good, and ye shall be hateful in your own sight for your transgressions and for your abominations. 32 Not for your sakes do I this, saith the Lord God, as it is known to you: be ye ashamed and confounded for your ways, O house of Israel.

33 Thus saith the Lord God; In the day wherein I shall cleanse you from all your iniquities I will also cause the cities to be inhabited, and the waste places shall be built upon: 34 and the desolate land shall be cultivated, whereas it was desolate in the eyes of every one that passed by. 35 And they shall say, That desolate land is become like a garden of delight; and the waste and desolate and ruined cities are inhabited. 36 And the nations, as many as shall have been left round about you, shall know that I the Lord have built the ruined cities and planted the waste lands: I the Lord have spoken, and will do it.

37 Thus saith the Lord God; Yet for this will I be sought by the house of Israel, to establish them; I will multiply them even men as sheep; 38 as holy sheep, as the sheep of Jerusalem in her feasts; thus shall the desert cities be full of flocks of men: and they shall know that I am the Lord.

Chapter 37

37:1 And the hand of the Lord came upon me, and the Lord brought me forth by the Spirit, and set me in the midst of the plain, and it was full of human bones. 2 And he led me round about them every way: and, behold, there were very many on the face of the plain, very dry.

3 And he said to me, Son of man, will these bones live? and I said, O Lord God, thou knowest this. 4 And he said to me, Prophesy upon these bones, and thou shalt say to them, Ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. 5 Thus saith the Lord to these bones; Behold, I will bring upon you the breath of life: 6 and I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and will spread skin upon you, and will put my Spirit into you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am the Lord.

7 So I prophesied as the Lord commanded me: and it came to pass while I was prophesying, that, behold, there was a shaking, and the bones approached each one to his joint. 8 And I looked, and behold, sinews and flesh grew upon them, and skin came upon them above: but there was not breath in them. 9 And he said to me, Prophesy to the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord; Come from the four winds, and breathe upon these dead men, and let them live. 10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath entered into them, and they lived, and stood upon their feet, a very great congregation.

11 And the Lord spoke to me, saying, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: and they say, Our bones are become dry, our hope has perished, we are quite spent. 12 therefore prophesy and say,

Thus saith the Lord; Behold, I will open your tombs, and will bring you up out of your tombs, and will bring you into the land of Israel. 13 And ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves, that I may bring up my people from their graves. 14 And I will put my Spirit within you, and ye shall live, and I will place you upon your own land: and ye shall know that I am the Lord; I have spoken, and will do it, saith the Lord.

15 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 16 Son of man, take for thyself a rod, and write upon it, Juda, and the children of Israel his adherents; and thou shalt take for thyself another rod, and thou shalt inscribe it for Joseph, the rod of Ephraim, and all the children of Israel that belong to him. 17 And thou shalt joint them together for thyself, so as that they should bind themselves into one stick; and they shall be in thine hand.

18 And it shall come to pass, when the children of thy people shall say to thee, Wilt thou not tell us what thou meanest by these things? 19 Then shalt thou say to them, Thus saith the Lord; behold, I will take the tribe of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel that belong to him, and I will add them to the tribe of Juda, and they shall become one rod in the hand of Juda. 20 And the rods on which thou didst write shall be in thine hand in their presence. 21 And thou shalt say to them,

Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will take the whole house of Israel out of the midst of the nations, among whom they have gone, and I will gather them from all that are round about them, and I will bring them into the land of Israel. 22 And I will make them a nation in my land, even on the mountains of Israel; and they shall have one prince: and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided any more at all into two kingdoms: 23 that they may no more defile themselves with their idols; and I will deliver them from all their transgressions whereby they have sinned, and will cleanse them; and they shall be to me a people, and I the Lord will be to them a God.

24 And my servant David shall be a prince in the midst of them: there shall be one shepherd of them all; for they shall walk in mine ordinances, and keep my judgments, and do them. 25 And they shall dwell in their land, which I have given to my servant Jacob, where their fathers dwelt; and they shall dwell upon it: and David my servant shall be their prince forever.

26 And I will make with them a covenant of peace; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them; and I will establish my sanctuary in the midst of them for ever. 27 And my tabernacle shall be among them; and I will be to them a God, and they shall be my people. 28 And the nations shall know that I am the Lord that sanctifies them, when my sanctuary is in the midst of them for ever.

Chapter 38

38:1 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 2 Son of man, set thy face against Gog, and the land of Magog, Rhos, prince of Mesoch and Thobel, and prophesy against him, 3 and say to him, Thus saith the Lord God;

Behold, I am against thee, Rhos prince of Mesoch and Thobel: 4 and I will gather thee, and all thine host, horses and horsemen, all wearing breast-plates, with a great multitude, shields and helmets and swords: 5 Persians, and Ethiopians, and Libyans; all with helmets and shields. 6 Gomer, and all belonging to him; the house of Thorgama, from the end of the north, and all belonging to him; and many nations with thee.

7 Be thou prepared, prepare thyself, thou, and all thy multitude that is assembled with thee, and thou shalt be to me for a guard. 8 He shall be prepared after many days, and he shall come at the end of years, and shall come to a land that is brought back from the sword, when the people are gathered from many nations against the land of Israel, which was entirely desolate: and he is come forth out of the nations, and they shall all dwell securely. 9 And thou shalt go up as rain, and shalt arrive as a cloud to cover the land, and there shall be thou, and all that are about thee, and many nations with thee.

10 Thus saith the Lord God; It shall also come to pass in that day, that thoughts shall come up into thine heart, and thou shalt devise evil devices. 11 And thou shalt say, I will go up to the rejected land; I will come upon them that are at ease in tranquility, and dwelling in peace, all inhabiting a land in which there is no wall, nor bars, nor have they doors; 12 to seize plunder, and to take their spoil; to turn my hands against the desolate land that is now inhabited, and against a nation that is gathered from many nations, that have acquired property, dwelling in the midst of the land. 13 Sabba, and Daedan, and Carthaginian merchants, and all their villages shall say to thee, Thou art come for plunder to take a prey, and to get spoils: thou hast gathered thy multitude to take silver and gold, to carry off property, to take spoils.

14 Therefore prophesy, son of man, and say to Gog, Thus saith the Lord; Wilt thou not arise in that day, when my people Israel are dwelling securely, 15 and come out of thy place from the farthest north, and many nations with thee? all of them mounted on horses, a great gathering, and a large force? 16 And thou shalt come up upon my people Israel as a cloud to cover the land; it shall come to pass in the last days, that I will bring thee up upon my land, that all the nations may know me, when I am sanctified in thee before them.

17 Thus saith the Lord God, to Gog; Thou art he concerning whom I spoke in former times, by the hand of my servants the prophets of Israel, in those days and years, that I would bring thee up against them. 18 And it shall come to pass in that day, in the day when Gog shall come against the Land of Israel, saith the Lord God, 19 that my wrath and my jealousy shall arise, I have spoken in the fire of mine anger, verily in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel; 20 and the fish of the sea shall quake at the presence of the Lord, and the birds of the sky and the wild beasts of the field, and all the reptiles that creep upon the earth, and all the men that are on the face of the earth; and the mountains shall be rent, and the valleys shall fall, and every wall on the land shall fall. 21 And I will summon against it even every fear, saith the Lord: the sword of every man shall be against his brother. 22 And I will judge him with pestilence, and blood, and sweeping rain, and hailstones; and I will rain upon him fire and brimstone, and upon all that are with him, and upon many nations with him.

23 And I will be magnified, and sanctified, and glorified; and I will be known in the presence of many nations, and they shall know that I am the Lord.

Chapter 39

39:1 And thou, son of man, prophesy against Gog, and say, Thus saith the Lord; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, Rhos prince of Mesoch and Thobel: 2 and I will assemble thee, and guide thee, and raise thee up on the extremity of the north, and I will bring thee up upon the mountains of Israel. 3 And I will destroy the bow out of thy left hand, and thine arrows out of thy right hand, and I will cast thee down on the mountains of Israel; 4 and thou and all that belong to thee shall fall, and the nations that are with thee shall be given to multitudes of birds, even to every fowl, and I have given thee to all the wild beasts of the field to be devoured. 5 Thou shalt fall on the face of the field: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord.

6 And I will send a fire upon Gog, and the islands shall be securely inhabited: and they shall know that I am the Lord. 7 And my holy name shall be known in the midst of my people Israel; and my holy name shall no more be profaned: and the nations shall know that I am the Lord, the Holy One in Israel. 8 Behold it is come, and thou shalt know that it shall be, saith the Lord God; this is the day concerning which I have spoken.

9 And they that inhabit the cities of Israel shall come forth, and make a fire with the arms, the shields and the spears, and bows and arrows, and hand-staves, and lances, and they shall keep fire burning with them for seven years: 10 and they shall not take any wood out of the field, neither shall they cut any out of the forests, but they shall burn the weapons with fire: and they shall plunder those that plundered them, and spoil those that spoiled them, saith the Lord.

11 And it shall come to pass that in that day I will give to Gog a place of renown, a tomb in Israel, the burial-place of them that approach the sea: and they shall build round about the outlet of the valley, and there they shall bury Gog and all his multitude: and the place shall then be called the burial-place of Gog. 12 And the house of Israel shall bury them, that the land may be cleansed in the space of seven months. 13 Yea, all the people of the land shall bury them; and it shall be to them a place of renown in the day wherein it was glorified, saith the Lord. 14 And they shall appoint men continually to go over the land, to bury them that have been left on the face of the earth, to cleanse it after the space of seven months, and they shall seek them out. 15 And every one that goes through the land, and sees a man’s bone, shall set up a mark by it, until the buriers shall have buried it in the valley, the burial place of Gog. 16 For the name of the city shall be Burial-place: so shall the land be cleansed.

17 And thou, son of man, say, Thus saith the Lord; Say to every winged bird, and to all the wild beasts of the field, Gather yourselves, and come; gather yourselves from all places round about to my sacrifice, which I have made for you, even a great sacrifice on the mountains of Israel, and ye shall eat flesh, and drink blood. 18 Ye shall eat the flesh of mighty men, and ye shall drink the blood of princes of the earth, rams, and calves and goats, and they are all fatted calves. 19 And ye shall eat fat till ye are full, and shall drink wine till ye are drunken, of my sacrifice which I have prepared for you. 20 And ye shall be filled at my table, eating horse, and rider, and mighty man, and every warrior, saith the Lord.

21 And I will set my glory among you, and all the nations shall see my judgment which I have wrought, and my hand which I have brought upon them. 22 And the house of Israel shall know that I am the Lord their God, from this day and onwards.

23 And all the nations shall know that the house of Israel were led captive because of their sins, because they rebelled against me, and I turned away my face from them, and delivered them into the hands of their enemies, and they all fell by the sword. 24 According to their uncleannesses and according to their transgressions did I deal with them, and I turned away my face from them.

25 Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Now will I turn back captivity in Jacob, and will have mercy on the house of Israel, and will be jealous for the sake of my holy name. 26 And they shall bear their reproach, and the iniquity which they committed when they dwelt upon their land in peace. Yet there shall be none to terrify them 27 when I have brought them back from the nations, and gathered them out of the countries of the nations: and I will be sanctified among them in the presence of the nations. 28 And they shall know that I am the Lord their God, when I have been manifested to them among the nations. 29 And I will no more turn away my face from them, because I have poured out my wrath upon the house of Israel, saith the Lord God.

Chapter 40

40:1 And it came to pass in the twenty-fifth year of our captivity, in the first month, on the tenth day of the month, in the fourteenth year after the taking of the city, in that day the hand of the Lord was upon me, and brought me 2 in a vision of God into the land of Israel, and set me on a very high mountain, and upon it there was as it were the frame of a city before me.

3 And he brought me in thither, and, behold, there was a man, and the appearance of him was as the appearance of shining brass, and in his hand was a builder’s line, and a measuring reed; and he stood at the gate. 4 And the man said to me,

Look with thine eyes at him whom thou hast seen, son of man, and hear with thine ears, and lay up in thine heart all things that I show thee; for thou hast come in hither that I might show thee, and thou shalt show all things that thou seest to the house of Israel.

5 And behold a wall round about the house without, and in the man’s hand a reed, the measure of it was six cubits by the cubit, and a span: and he measured across the front wall; the breadth was equal to the reed, and the length of it equal to the reed.

6 And he entered by seven steps into the gate that looks eastward, and he measured across the porch of the gate equal to the reed. 7 And the chamber was equal in length to the reed, and equal in breadth to the reed; and the porch between the chambers six cubits; and the second chamber equal in breadth to the reed, and equal in length to the reed, and the porch five cubits. 8 And the third chamber equal in length to the reed, and equal in breadth to the reed. 9 And the porch of the gateway (near the porch of the gate) eight cubits; and the posts there of two cubits; and the porch of the gate was inward: 10 and the chambers of the gate of the chamber in front were three on one side and three on the other, and there was one measure to the three: there was one measure to the porches on this side and on that. 11 And he measured the breadth of the door of the gateway, ten cubits; and the breadth of the gateway thirteen cubits. 12 And the space before the chambers was narrowed to a cubit in front of the chambers on this side and on that side: and the chamber was six cubits this way, and six cubits that way.

13 And he measured the gate from the wall of one chamber to the wall of the other chamber: the breadth was twenty-five cubits, the one gate over against the other gate. 14 And the open space of the porch of the gate without, was twenty cubits to the chambers round about the gate. 15 And the open space of the gate without to the open space of the porch of the gate within was fifty cubits.

16 And there were secret windows to the chambers, and to the porches within the gate of the court round about, and in the same manner windows to the porches round about within: and on the porch there were palm-trees on this side and on that side.

17 And he brought me into the inner court, and, behold, there were chambers, and peristyles round about the court; thirty chambers within the ranges of columns. 18 And the porticos were behind the gates; according to the length of the gates, was the lower peristyle. 19 And he measured the breadth of the court, from the open space of the outer gate inwards to the open space of the gate looking outwards: a hundred cubits was the distance to the place of the gate looking eastward: and he brought me to the north; 20 and behold a gate looking northwards belonging to the outer court, and he measured it, both the length of it and the breadth; 21 and the chambers, three on this side and three on that; and the posts, and the porches, and the palm-trees thereof: and they were according to the measures of the gate that looks eastward: the length thereof was fifty cubits, and the breadth thereof was twenty-five cubits. 22 And its windows, and its porches, and its palm-trees, were according to the dimensions of the gate looking eastward; and they went up to it by seven steps; and the porches were within. 23 And there was a gate to the inner court looking toward the north gate, after the manner of the gate looking toward the east; and he measured the court from gate to gate, a hundred cubits.

24 And he brought me to the south side, and behold a gate looking southwards: and he measured it, and its chambers, and its posts, and its porches, according to these dimensions. 25 And its windows and its porches round about were according to the windows of the porch: the length thereof was fifty cubits, and the breadth thereof was five and twenty cubits. 26 And it had seven steps, and porches within: and it had palm-trees on the posts, one on one side, and one on the other side. 27 And there was a gate opposite the gate of the inner court southward: and he measured the court from gate to gate, a hundred cubits in breadth southward.

28 And he brought me into the inner court of the south gate: and he measured the gate according to these measures; 29 and the chambers, and the posts, (40:30) and the porches, according to these measures: and there were windows to it and to the porches round about: its length was fifty cubits, and its breadth twenty-five cubits, 30 31 from the porch to the outer court: and there were palm-trees to the post thereof, and eight steps.

32 And he brought me in at the gate that looks eastward: and he measured it according to these measures: 33 and the chambers, and the posts, and the porches according to these measures: and there were windows to it, and porches round about: the length of it was fifty cubits, and the breadth of it twenty-five cubits. 34 And there were porches opening into the inner court, and palm-trees on the posts on this side and on that side: and it had eight steps.

35 And he brought me in at the northern gate, and measured it according to these measures; 36 and the chambers, and the posts, and the porches: and it had windows round about, and it had its porches: the length of it was fifty cubits, and the breadth twenty-five cubits. 37 And its porches were toward the inner court; and there were palm-trees to the posts on this side and on that side: and it had eight steps.

38 Its chambers and its door-ways, and its porches at the second gate served as a drain, 39 that they might slay in it the sin-offerings, and the trespass-offerings. 40 And behind the drain for the whole-burnt-offerings at the north gate, two tables eastward behind the second gate; and behind the porch of the gate two tables eastward. 41 Four on one side and four on the other side behind the gate; upon them they kill the victims, in front of the eight tables of sacrifices. 42 And there were four tables of hewn stone for whole-burnt-offerings, the breadth of them was a cubit and a half, and the length of them two cubits and a half, and their height was a cubit: on them they shall place the instruments with which they slay there the whole-burnt-offerings and the victims. 43 And they shall have within a border of hewn stone round about of a span broad, and over the tables above screens for covering them from the wet and from the heat.

44 And he brought me into the inner court, and behold there were two chambers in the inner court, one behind the gate looking to the north, turning southward, and one behind the southern gate, but which looks to the north. 45 And he said to me, This chamber that looks to the south, is for the priests that keep the charge of the house. 46 And the chamber that looks to the north is for the priests that keep the charge of the altar: they are the sons of Sadduc, those of the tribe of Levi who draw near to the Lord to serve him.

47 And he measured the court, the length whereof was a hundred cubits, and the breadth a hundred cubits, on its four sides; and the altar in front of the house. 48 And he brought me into the porch of the house; and he measured the post of the porch, the breadth was five cubits on one side and five cubits on the other side; and the breadth of the door was fourteen cubits, and the side-pieces of the door of the porch were three cubits on one side, and three cubits on the other side. 49 And the length of the porch was twenty cubits, and the breadth twelve cubits; and they went up to it by ten steps; and there were pillars to the porch, one on this side and one on that side.

Chapter 41

41:1 And he brought me into the temple, the porch of which he measured, six cubits the breadth on one side, and six cubits the breadth of the porch on the other side. 2 And the breadth of the gateway was ten cubits, and the side-pieces of the gateway were five cubits on this side, and five cubits on that side: and he measured the length of it, forth cubits, and the breadth, twenty cubits.

3 And he went into the inner court, and measured the post of the door, two cubits; and the door, six cubits; and the side-pieces of the door, seven cubits on one side, and seven cubits on the other side. 4 And he measured the length of the doors, forty cubits; and the breadth, twenty cubits, in front of the temple: and he said, This is the holy of holies.

5 And he measured the wall of the house, six cubits: and the breadth of each side, four cubits round about. 6 And the sides were twice ninety, side against side; and there was a space in the wall of the house at the sides round about, that they should be for them that take hold of them to see, that they should not at all touch the walls of the house. 7 And the breadth of the upper side was made according to the projection out of the wall, against the upper one round about the house, that it might be enlarged above, and that men might go up to the upper chambers from those below, and from the ground-sills to the third story.

8 And as for the height of the house round about, each space between the sides was equal to a reed of six cubits; 9 and the breadth of the wall of each side without was five cubits; and the spaces that were left between the sides of the house, 10 and between the chambers, were a width of twenty cubits, the circumference of the house.

11 And the doors of the chambers were toward the space left by the one door that looked northward, and there was one door southward; and the breadth of the remaining open space was five cubits in extent round about.

12 And the partition wall in front of the remaining space, toward the west, was seventy cubits in breadth; the breadth of the partition wall was five cubits round about, and the length of it ninety cubits. 13 And he measured in front of the house a length of a hundred cubits, and the remaining spaces and the partitions; and the walls thereof were in length a hundred cubits. 14 And the breadth in front of the house, and the remaining spaces before it were a hundred cubits.

15 And he measured the length of the partition in front of the space left by the back parts of that house; and the spaces left on this side and on that side were in length a hundred cubits: and the temple and the corners and the outer porch were ceiled. 16 And the windows were latticed, giving light round about to the three stories, so as to look through: and the house and the parts adjoining were planked round about, and so was the floor, and from the floor up to the windows, and the window shutters folded back in three parts for one to look through. 17 And almost all the way to the inner, and close to the outer side, and upon all the wall round about within and without, 18 were carved cherubs and palm-trees between the cherubs, and each cherub had two faces. 19 The face of a man was toward one palm-tree on this side and on that side, and the face of a lion toward another palm-tree on this side and on that side: the house was carved all round. 20 From the floor to the ceiling were cherubs and palm-trees carved.

21 And the holy place and the temple opened on four sides; in front of the holy places the appearance was as the look of 22 a wooden altar, the height of it three cubits, and the length two cubits, and the breadth two cubits; and it had horns, and the base of it and the sides of it were of wood: and he said to me, This is the table, which is before the face of the Lord.

23 And the temple had two doors, and the sanctuary had two doors, with two turning leaves apiece; 24 two leaves to the one, and two leaves to the other door. 25 And there was carved work upon them, and cherubs on the doors of the temple, and palm-trees according to the carving of the sanctuary; and there were stout planks in front of the porch without.

26 And there were secret windows; and he measured from side to side, to the roofing of the porch; and the sides of the house were closely planked.

Chapter 42

42:1 And he brought me into the inner court eastward, opposite the northern gate: and he brought me in, and behold five chambers near the vacant space, and near the northern partition, 2 a hundred cubits in length toward the north, and in breadth fifty, 3 ornamented accordingly as the gates of the inner court, and arranged accordingly as the peristyles of the outer court, with triple porticos fronting one another. 4 And in front of the chambers was a walk ten cubits in breadth, the length reaching to a hundred cubits; and their doors were northward. 5 And the upper walks were in like manner: for the peristyle projected from it, even from the range of columns below, and there was a space between; so were there a peristyle and a space between, and so were there two porticos. 6 For they were triple, and they had not pillars like the pillars of the outer ones: therefore they projected from the lower ones and the middle ones from the ground.

7 And there was light without, corresponding to the chambers of the outer court looking toward the front of the northern chambers; the length of them was fifty cubits. 8 For the length of the chambers looking toward the inner court was fifty cubits, and these are the ones that front the others; the whole was a hundred cubits.

9 And there were doors of these chambers for an outlet toward the east, so that one should go through them out of the outer court, 10 by the opening of the walk at the corner; and the south parts were toward the south, toward the remaining space, and toward the partition, and so were the chambers. 11 And the walk was in front of them, according to the measures of the chambers toward the north, both according to the length of them, and according to the breadth of them, and according to all their openings, an according to all their turnings, and according to their lights, and according to their doors. 12 So were the measures of the chambers toward the south, and according to the doors at the entrance of the walk, as it were the distance of a reed for light, and eastward as one went in by them.

13 And he said to me, The chambers toward the north, and the chambers toward the south, in front of the void spaces, these are the chambers of the sanctuary, wherein the priests the sons of Sadduc, who draw night to the Lord, shall eat the most holy things: and there shall they lay the most holy things, and the meat-offering, and the sin-offerings, and the trespass-offerings; because the place is holy. 14 None shall go in thither except the priests, and they shall not go forth of the holy place into the outer court, that they that draw nigh to me may be continually holy, and may not touch their garments in which they minister, with defilement, for they are holy; and they shall put on other garments whenever they come in contact with the people.

15 So the measurement of the house within was accomplished: and he brought me forth by the way of the gate that looks eastward, and measured the plan of the house round about in order.

16 And he stood behind the gate looking eastward, and measured five hundred cubits with the measuring reed. 17 And he turned to the north and measured in front of the north side five hundred cubits with the measuring reed. 18 And he turned to the west, and measured in front of the west side, five hundred cubits with the measuring reed. 19 And he turned to the south, and measured in front of the south side, five hundred cubits by the measuring reed. 20 The four sides he measured by the same reed, and he marked out the house and the circumference of the parts round about, a space of five hundred cubits eastward, and a breadth of five hundred cubits, to make a division between the sanctuary and the outer wall, that belonged to the design of the house.

Chapter 43

43:1 Moreover he brought me to the gate looking eastward, and led me forth. 2 And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel came by the eastern way; and there was a voice of an army, as the sound of many redoubling their shouts, and the earth shone like light from the glory round about. 3 And the vision which I saw was like the vision which I saw when I went in to anoint the city: and the vision of the chariot which I saw was like the vision which I saw at the river Chobar; and I fell upon my face.

4 And the glory of the Lord came into the house, by the way of the gate looking eastward. 5 And the Spirit took me up, and brought me into the inner court; and, behold, the house of the Lord was full of glory. 6 And I stood, and behold there was a voice out of the house of one speaking to me, and a man stood near me, 7 and he said to me,

Son of man, thou hast seen the place of my throne, and the place of the soles of my feet, in which my name shall dwell in the midst of the house of Israel for ever; and the house of Israel shall no more profane my holy name, they and their princes, by their fornication, or by the murders of their princes in the midst of them; 8 when they set my door-way by their door-way, and my thresholds near to their thresholds: and they made my wall as it were joining myself and them, and they profaned my holy name with their iniquities which they wrought: and I destroyed them in my wrath and with slaughter. 9 And now let them put away from me their fornication, and the murders of their princes, and I will dwell in the midst of them forever.

10 And thou, son of man, shew the house to the house of Israel, that they may cease from their sins; and shew its aspect and the arrangement of it. 11 And they shall bear their punishment for all the things that they have done: and thou shalt describe the house, and its entrances, and the plan thereof, and all its ordinances, and thou shalt make known to them all the regulations of it, and describe them before them: and they shall keep all my commandments, and all my ordinances, and do them.

12 And thou shalt shew the plan of the house on the top of the mountain: all its limits round about shall be most holy.

13 And these are the measures of the altar by the cubit of a cubit and a span, the cavity shall be a cubit deep, and a cubit shall be the breadth, and the border on the rim of it round about shall be a span: and this shall be the height of the altar 14 from the bottom at the commencement of the hollow part to this great mercy-seat, from beneath was two cubits, and the breadth was a cubit; and from the little mercy-seat to the great mercy-seat, four cubits, and the breadth was a cubit. 15 And the altar shall be four cubits; and from the altar and above the horns a cubit. 16 And the altar shall be of the length of twelve cubits, by twelve cubits in breadth, square upon its four sides.

17 And the mercy-seat shall be fourteen cubits in length, by fourteen cubits in breadth on its four sides; and there shall be a border to it carried round about it of half a cubit; and the rim of it shall be a cubit round about; and the steps thereof looking eastward.

18 And he said to me, Son of man, thus saith the Lord God of Israel; These are the ordinances of the altar in the day of its being made, to offer upon it whole-burnt-offerings, and to pour blood upon it. 19 And thou shalt appoint to the priests the Levites of the seed of Sadduc, that draw nigh to me, saith the Lord God, to minister to me, a calf of the heard for a sin-offering. 20 And they shall take of its blood, and shall put it on the four horns of the altar, and upon the four corners of the propitiatory, and upon the base round about, and they shall make atonement for it. 21 And they shall take the calf of the sin-offering, and it shall be consumed by fire in the separate place of the house, outside the sanctuary. 22 And on the second day they shall take two kids of the goats without blemish for a sin-offering; and they shall make atonement for the altar, as they made atonement with the calf. 23 And after they have finished the atonement, they shall bring an unblemished calf of the herd, and an unblemished ram of the flock. 24 And ye shall offer them before the Lord, and the priests shall sprinkle salt upon them, and shall offer them up as whole-burnt-offerings to the Lord.

25 Seven day shalt thou offer a kid daily for a sin-offering, and a calf of the herd, and a ram out of the flock: they shall sacrifice them unblemished for seven days: 26 and they shall make atonement for the altar, and shall purge it; and they shall consecrate themselves. 27 And it shall come to pass from the eighth day and onward, that the priests shall offer your whole-burnt-offerings on the altar, and your peace-offerings; and I will accept you, saith the Lord.

Chapter 44

44:1 Then he brought me back by the way of the outer gate of the sanctuary that looks eastward; and it was shut. 2 And the Lord said to me, This gate shall be shut, it shall not be opened, and no one shall pass through it; for the Lord God of Israel shall enter by it, and it shall be shut. 3 For the prince, he shall sit in it, to eat bread before the Lord; he shall go in by the way of the porch of the gate, and shall go forth by the way of the same.

4 And he brought me in by the way of the gate that looks northward, in front of the house: and I looked, and, behold, the house was full of the glory of the Lord: and I fell upon my face. 5 And the Lord said to me, Son of man, attend with thine heart, and see with thine eyes, and hear with thine ears all that I say to thee, according to all the ordinances of the house of the Lord, and all the regulations thereof; and thou shalt attend well to the entrance of the house, according to all its outlets, in all the holy things. 6 And thou shalt say to the provoking house, even to the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord God; Let it suffice you to have committed all your iniquities, O house of Israel! 7 that ye have brought in aliens, uncircumcised in heart, and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in my sanctuary, and to profane it, when ye offered bread, flesh, and blood; and ye transgressed my covenant by all your iniquities; 8 and ye appointed others to keep the charges in my sanctuary.

9 Therefore thus saith the Lord God; No alien, uncircumcised in heart or uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter into my sanctuary, of all the children of strangers that are in the midst of the house of Israel.

10 But as for the Levites who departed far from me when Israel went astray from me after their imaginations, they shall even bear their iniquity. 11 yet they shall minister in my sanctuary, being porters at the gates of the house, and serving the house: they shall slay the victims and the whole-burnt-offerings for the people, and they shall stand before the people to minister to them. 12 Because they ministered to them before their idols, and it became to the house of Israel a punishment of iniquity; therefore have I lifted up my hand against them, saith the Lord God. 13 And they shall not draw nigh to me to minister to me in the priests’ office, nor to approach the holy things of the children of Israel, nor to approach my holy of holies: but they shall bear their reproach for the error wherein they erred. 14 They shall bring them to keep the charges of the house, for all the service of it, and for all that they shall do.

15 The priests the Levites, the sons of Sadduc, who kept the charges of my sanctuary when the house of Israel when astray from me, these shall draw night to me to minister to me, and shall stand before my face, to offer sacrifice to me, the fat and the blood, saith the Lord God. 16 These shall enter into my sanctuary, and these shall approach my table, to minister to me, and they shall keep my charges.

17 And it shall come to pass when they enter the gates of the inner court, that they shall put on linen robes; and they shall not put on woollen garments when they minister at the gate of the inner court. 18 And they shall have linen mitres upon their heads, and shall have linen drawers upon their loins; and they shall not tightly gird themselves. 19 And when they go out into the outer court to the people, they shall put off their robes, in which they minister; and they shall lay them up in the chambers of the sanctuary, and shall put on other robes, and they shall not sanctify the people with their robes. 20 And they shall not shave their heads, nor shall they pluck off their hair; they shall carefully cover their heads. 21 And no priest shall drink any wine, when they go into the inner court. 22 Neither shall they take to themselves to wife a widow, or one that is put away, but a virgin of the seed of Israel: but if there should happen to be a priest’s widow, they shall take her.

23 And they shall teach my people to distinguish between holy and profane, and they shall make known to them the difference between unclean and clean. 24 And these shall attend at a judgment of blood to decide it: they shall rightly observe my ordinances, and judge my judgments, and keep my statutes and my commandments in all my feasts; and they shall hallow my sabbaths.

25 And they shall not go in to the dead body of a man to defile themselves: only a priest may defile himself for a father, or for a mother, or for a son, or for a daughter, or for a brother, or for his sister, who has not been married. 26 And after he has been cleansed, let him number to himself seven days. 27 And on whatsoever day they shall enter into the inner court to minister in the holy place, they shall bring a propitiation, saith the Lord God.

28 And it shall be to them for an inheritance: I am their inheritance: and no possession shall be given them among the children of Israel; for I am their possession. 29 And these shall eat the meat-offerings, and the sin-offerings, and the trespass-offerings; and every special offering in Israel shall be theirs. 30 And the first-fruits of all things, and the first-born of all animals and all offerings, of all your first-fruits there shall be a share for the priests; and ye shall give your earliest produce to the priest, to bring your blessings upon your houses. 31 And the priests shall eat no bird or beast that dies of itself, or is taken of wild beasts.

Chapter 45

45:1 And when ye measure thee land for inheritance, ye shall set apart first-fruits to the Lord, a holy space of the land, in length twenty and five thousand reeds, and in breadth twenty thousand; it shall be holy in all the borders thereof round about. 2 And there shall be a sanctuary out of this, five hundred reeds in length by five hundred in breadth, a square round about; and there shall be a vacant space beyond this of fifty cubits round about. 3 And out of this measurement shalt thou measure the length five and twenty thousand, and the breadth twenty thousand: and in it shall be the holy of holies. 4 Of the land shall be a portion for the priests that minister in the holy place, and it shall be for them that draw nigh to minister to the Lord: and it shall be to them a place for houses set apart for their sacred office; 5 the length shall be twenty-five thousand, and the breadth twenty thousand: and the Levites that attend the house, they shall have cities to dwell in for a possession.

6 And ye shall appoint for the possession of the city five thousand in breadth, and in length twenty-five thousand: after the manner of the first-fruits of the holy portion, they shall be for all the house of Israel.

7 And the prince shall have a portion out of this, and out of this there shall be a portion for the first-fruits of the sanctuary, and for the possession of the city, in front of the first-fruits of the sanctuary, and in front of the possession of the city westward, and from the western parts eastward: and the length shall be equal to one of the parts of the western borders, and the length shall be to the eastern borders of the land. 8 And he shall have it for a possession in Israel: and the princes of Israel shall no more oppress my people; but the house of Israel shall inherit the land according to their tribes.

9 Thus saith the Lord God; Let it suffice you, ye princes of Israel: remove injustice and misery, execute judgment and justice; take away oppression from my people, saith the Lord God. 10 Ye shall have a just balance, and a just measure, and a just choenix for measure. 11 And in like manner there shall be one choenix as a measure of capacity; the tenth of the gomor shall be the choenix, and the tenth of the gomor shall be in fair proportion to the gomor. 12 And the weights shall be twenty oboli, your pound shall be five shekels, fifteen shekels and fifty shekels.

13 And these are the first-fruits which ye shall offer; a sixth part of a gomor of wheat, and the sixth part of it shall consist of an ephah of a core of barley. 14 And ye shall give as the appointed measure of oil one bath of oil out of ten baths; for ten baths are a gomor. 15 And one sheep from the flock out of ten, as an oblation from all the tribes of Israel, for sacrifices, and for whole-burnt-offerings, and for peace-offerings, to make atonement for you, saith the Lord God. 16 And all the people shall give these first-fruits to the prince of Israel.

17 And through the prince shall be offered the whole-burnt-offerings and the meat-offerings, and the drink-offerings in the feasts, and at the new moons, and on the sabbaths; and in all the feasts of the house of Israel: he shall offer the sin-offerings, and the meat-offering, and the whole-burnt-offerings, and the peace-offerings, to make atonement for the house of Israel.

18 Thus saith the Lord God; In the first month, on the first day of the month, ye shall take a calf without blemish out of the herd, to make atonement for the holy place. 19 And the priest shall take of the blood of the atonement, and put it on the thresholds of the house, and upon the four corners of the temple, and upon the altar, and upon the thresholds of the gate of the inner court. 20 And thus shalt thou do in the seventh month; on the first day of the month thou shalt take a rate from each one; and ye shall make atonement for the house.

21 And in the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, ye shall have the feast of the passover; seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread. 22 And the prince shall offer it that day a calf for a sin-offering for himself, and the house, and for all the people of the land. 23 And for the seven days of the feast he shall offer as whole-burnt-offerings to the Lord seven calves and seven rams without blemish daily for the seven days; and a kid of the goats daily for a sin-offering, and a meat-offering. 24 And thou shalt prepare a cake for the calf, and cakes for the ram, and a hin of oil for the cake. 25 And in the seventh month, on the fifteenth day of the month, thou shalt sacrifice in the feast in the same way seven days, as they sacrificed the sin-offerings, and the whole-burnt-offerings, and the freewill-offering, and the oil.

Chapter 46

46:1 Thus saith the Lord God; The gate that is in the inner court, that looks eastward, shall be shut the six working days; but let it be opened on the sabbath-day, and it shall be opened on the day of the new moon. 2 And the prince shall enter by the way of the porch of the inner gate, and shall stand at the entrance of the gate, and the priests shall prepare his whole-burnt-offerings and his peace-offerings, and he shall worship at the entrance of the gate: then shall he come forth; but the gate shall not be shut till evening. 3 And the people of the land shall worship at the entrance of that gate, both on the sabbaths and at the new moons, before the Lord.

4 And the prince shall offer whole-burnt-offerings to the Lord on the sabbath-day, six lambs without blemish, and a ram without blemish; 5 and a freewill-offering, a meat-offering for the ram, and a meat-offering for the lambs, the gift of his hand, and a hin of oil for the meat-offering. 6 And on the day of the new moon a calf without blemish, and six lambs, and there shall be a ram without blemish; 7 and a meat-offering for the ram, and there shall be a meat-offering for the calf as a freewill-offering, and for the lambs, according as his hand can furnish, and there shall be a hin of oil for the cake.

8 And when the prince goes in, he shall go in by the way of the porch of the gate, and he shall go forth by the way of the gate. 9 And whenever the people of the land shall go in before the Lord at the feasts, he that goes in by the way of the north gate to worship shall go forth by the way of the south gate; and he that goes in by the way of the south gate shall go forth by the way of the north gate: he shall not return by the gate by which he entered, but he shall go forth opposite it. 10 And the prince shall enter with them in the midst of them when they go in; and when they go forth, he shall go forth.

11 And in the feasts and in the general assemblies the freewill oblation shall be a meat-offering for the calf, and a meat-offering for the ram, and for the lambs, as his hand can furnish, and a hin of oil for the meat-offering. 12 And if the prince should prepare as a thanksgiving a whole-burnt-peace-offering to the Lord, and should open for himself the gate looking eastward, and offer his whole-burnt-offering, and his peace-offerings, as he does on the sabbath-day; then shall he go out, and shall shut the doors after he has gone out.

13 And he shall prepare daily as a whole-burnt-offering to the Lord a lamb of a year old without blemish: in the morning shall he prepare it. 14 And he shall prepare a freewill-offering for it in the morning, the sixth part of a measure of flour, and a third part of a hin of oil to mix therewith the fine flour, as a freewill-offering to the Lord, a perpetual ordinance. 15 Ye shall prepare the lamb, and the freewill-offering, and the oil in the morning, for a perpetual whole-burnt-sacrifice.

16 Thus saith the Lord God; If the prince shall give a gift to one of his sons out of his inheritance, this shall be to his sons a possession as an inheritance. 17 But if he give a gift to one of his servants, then it shall belong to him until the year of release; and then he shall restore it to the prince: but of the inheritance of his sons the possession shall continue to them. 18 And the prince shall by no means take of the inheritance of the people, to oppress them: he shall give an inheritance to his sons out of his own possession: that my people be not scattered, every one from his possession.

19 And he brought me into the entrance of the place behind the gate, into the chamber of the sanctuary belonging to the priests, that looks toward the north: and, behold, there was a place set apart. 20 And he said to me, This is the place where the priests shall boil the trespass-offerings and the sin-offerings, and there shall they bake the meat-offering always; so as not to carry them out into the outer court, to sanctify the people.

21 And he brought me into the outer court, and led me round upon the four sides of the court; and, behold, there was a court on each of the sides of the court, 22 on every side a court, even a court for all the four sides, and each little court belonging to the court was in length forty cubits, and in breadth thirty cubits, there was one measure to the four. 23 And there were chambers in them round about, round about the four, and cooking-places formed under the chambers round about. 24 And he said to me, These are the cooks’ houses, where they that serve the house shall boil the sacrifices of the people.

Chapter 47

47:1 And he brought me to the entrance of the house; and, behold, water issued from under the porch eastward, for the front of the house looked eastward; and the water came down from the right side, from the south to the altar. 2 And he brought me out by the way of the northern gate, and he led me round by the way outside to the gate of the court that looks eastward; and, behold, water came down from the right side, 3 in the direction in which a man went forth opposite; and there was a measuring line in his hand, and he measured a thousand cubits with the measure; 4 and he passed through the water; it was water of a fountain: and again he measured a thousand, and passed through the water; and the water was up to the thighs: and again he measured a thousand; and he passed through water up to the loins. 5 and again he measured a thousand; and he could not pass through: for the water rose as of a torrent which men cannot pass over.

6 And he said to me, Hast thou seen this, son of man? Then he brought me, and led me back to the brink of the river 7 as I returned; and, behold, on the brink of the river there were very many trees on this side and on that side. 8 And he said to me, This is the water that goes forth to Galilee that lies eastward, and it is gone down to Arabia, and has reached as far as to the sea to the outlet of the water: and it shall heal the waters. 9 And it shall come to pass, that every animal of living and moving creatures, all on which the river shall come, shall live: and there shall be there very many fish; for this water shall go thither, and it shall heal them, and they shall live: everything on which the river shall come shall live.

10 And fishers shall stand there from Ingadin to Enagallim; it shall be a place to spread out nets upon; it shall be distinct; and the fishes thereof shall be as the fishes of the great sea, a very great multitude. 11 But at the outlet of the water, and the turn of it, and where it overflows its banks, they shall not heal at all; they are given to salt. 12 And every fruit tree shall grow by the river, even on the bank of it on this side and on that side: they shall not decay upon it, neither shall their fruit fail: they shall bring forth the first-fruit of their early crop, for these their waters come forth of the sanctuary: and their fruit shall be for meat, and their foliage for health.

13 Thus saith the Lord God; Ye shall inherit these borders of the land; they are given by lot to the twelve tribes of the children of Israel. 14 And ye shall inherit it, each according to his brother’s portion, even the land concerning which I lifted up my hand to give it to your fathers: and this land shall fall to you by lot.

15 And these are the borders of the land that lies northward, from the great sea that comes down, and divides the entrance of Emaseldam; 16 Maabthera, Ebrameliam, between the coasts of Damascus and the coasts of Emathi, the habitation of Saunan, which places are above the coasts of Auranitis. 17 These are the borders from the sea, from the habitations of Ænan, the coasts of Damascus, and the northern coasts. 18 And the eastern coasts between Loranitis, and Damascus, and the land of Galaad, and the land of Israel, the Jordan divides to the sea that is east of the city of palm-trees. These are the eastern coasts. 19 And the southern and south-western coasts are from Thaeman and the city of palm-trees, to the water of Marimoth Cadem, reaching forth to the great sea. This part is the south and south-west. 20 This part of the great sea forms a border, till one comes opposite the entrance of Emath, even as far as the entrance thereof. These are the parts west of Emath.

21 So ye shall divide this land to them, even to the tribes of Israel. 22 Ye shall cast the lot upon it, for yourselves and the strangers that sojourn in the midst of you, who have begotten children in the midst of you: and they shall be to you as natives among the children of Israel; they shall eat with you in their inheritance in the midst of the tribes of Israel. 23 And they shall be in the tribe of proselytes among the proselytes that are with them: there shall ye give them an inheritance, saith the Lord God.

Chapter 48

48:1 And these are the names of the tribes from the northern corner, on the side of the decent that draws a line to the entrance of Emath the palace of Ælam, the border of Damascus northward on the side of Emath the palace; and they shall have the eastern parts as far as the sea, for Dan, one portion. 2 And from the borders of Dan eastward as far as the west sea-coast, for Asser, one. 3 And from the borders of Asser, from the eastern parts as far as the west coasts, for Nephthalim, one. 4 And from the borders of Nephthalim, from the east as far as the west coasts, for Manasse, one. 5 And from the borders of Manasse, from the eastern parts as far as the west coasts, for Ephraim, one. 6 And from the borders of Ephraim, from the eastern parts to the west coasts, for Ruben, one. 7 And from the borders of Ruben, from the eastern parts as far as the west coasts, for Juda, one. 8 And from the borders of Juda, from the eastern parts shall be the offering of first-fruits, in the breadth twenty-five thousand reeds, and in length as one of the portions measured from the east even to the western parts: and the sanctuary shall be in the midst of them. 9 As for the first-fruits which they shall offer to the Lord, it shall be in length twenty-five thousand, and in breadth twenty-five thousand. 10 Out of this shall be the first-fruits of the holy things to the priests, northward, five and twenty-thousand, and towards the west, ten thousand, and southward, five and twenty thousand: and the mountain of the sanctuary, shall be in the midst of it, 11 for the priests, for the consecrated sons of Sadduc, who keep the charges of the house, who erred not in the error of the children of Israel, as the Levites erred. 12 And the first-fruits shall be given to them out of the first-fruits of the land, even a most holy portion from the borders of the Levites.

13 And the Levites shall have the part, next to the borders of the priests, in length twenty-five thousand, and in breadth ten thousand: the whole length shall be five and twenty thousand, and the breadth twenty thousand. 14 No part of it shall be sold, nor measured as for sale, neither shall the first-fruits of the land be taken away: for they are holy to the Lord.

15 But concerning the five thousand that remain in the breadth in the five and twenty thousand, they shall be a suburb to the city for dwelling, and for a space before it: and the city shall be in the midst thereof. 16 And these shall be its dimensions; from the northern side four thousand and five hundred, and from the southern side four thousand and five hundred, and from the eastern side four thousand and five hundred, and from the western side they shall measure four thousand five hundred. 17 And there shall be a space to the city northward two hundred and fifty, and southward two hundred and fifty, and eastward two hundred and fifty, and westward two hundred and fifty.

18 And the remainder of the length that is next to the first-fruits of the holy portion shall be ten thousand eastward, and ten thousand westward: and they shall be the first-fruits of the sanctuary; and the fruits thereof shall be for bread to them that labour for the city. 19 And they that labour for the city shall labour for it out of all the tribes of Israel.

20 The whole offering shall be a square of twenty-five thousand by twenty-five thousand: ye shall separate again part of it, the first-fruits of the sanctuary, from the possession of the city.

21 And the prince shall have the remainder on this side and on that side from the first-fruits of the sanctuary, and there shall be a possession of the city, for five and twenty thousand cubits in length, to the eastern and western borders, for five and twenty thousand to the western borders, next to the portions of the prince; and the first-fruits of the holy things and the sanctuary of the house shall be in the midst of it. 22 And there shall be a portion taken from the Levites, from the possession of the city in the midst of the princes between the borders of Juda and the borders of Benjamin, and it shall be the portion of the princes.

23 And as for the rest of the tribes, from the eastern parts as far as the western, Benjamin shall have one portion. 24 And from the borders of Benjamin, from the eastern parts to the western, Symeon, one. 25 And from the borders of Symeon, from the eastern parts to the western, Issachar, one. 26 And from the borders of Issachar, from the eastern parts to the western, Zabulon, one. 27 And from the borders of Zabulon, from the east to the western parts, Gad, one. 28 And from the borders of Gad, from the eastern parts to the south-western parts; his coasts shall even be from Thaeman, and the water of Barimoth Cades, for an inheritance, unto the great sea. 29 This is the land, which ye shall divide by lot to the tribes of Israel, and these are their portions, saith the Lord God.

30 And these are the goings out of the city northward, four thousand and five hundred by measure. 31 And the gates of the city shall be after the names of the tribes of Israel: three gates northward; the gate of Ruben, one, and the gate of Juda, one, and the gate of Levi, one. 32 And eastward four thousand and five hundred: and three gates; the gate of Joseph, one, and the gate of Benjamin, one, and the gate of Dan, one. 33 And southward, four thousand and five hundred by measure: and three gates; the gave of Symeon, one, and the gate of Issachar, one, and the gate of Zabulon, one. 34 And westward, four thousand and five hundred by measure: and three gates; the gate of Gad, one, and the gate of Asser, one, and the gate of Nephthalim, one.

35 The circumference, eighteen thousand measures: and the name of the city, from the day that it shall be finished, shall be the name thereof.

Septuagint translated from Greek by Sir Lancelot C. L. Brenton
originally published by Samuel Bagster & Sons, Ltd., London, 1851