Ezekiel 13-18

Ezekiel 13

¹And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

²Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel that prophesy, and say thou unto them that prophesy out of their own heart, Hear ye the word of the LORD;

³Thus saith the Lord GOD: Woe unto the foolish prophets, that follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing!

⁴O Israel, thy prophets have been like foxes in the waste places.

⁵Ye have not gone up into the gaps, neither made up the fence for the house of Israel, to stand in the battle in the day of the LORD.

⁶They have seen vanity and lying divination, that say, The LORD saith; and the LORD hath not sent them: and they have made men to hope that the word should be confirmed.

⁷Have ye not seen a vain vision, and have ye not spoken a lying divination, whereas ye say, The LORD saith; albeit I have not spoken?

⁸Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD: Because ye have spoken vanity, and seen lies, therefore, behold, I am against you, saith the Lord GOD.

⁹And mine hand shall be against the prophets that see vanity, and that divine lies: they shall not be in the council of my people, neither shall they be written in the writing of the house of Israel, neither shall they enter into the land of Israel; and ye shall know that I am the Lord GOD.

¹⁰Because, even because they have seduced my people, saying, Peace; and there is no peace; and when one buildeth up a wall, behold, they daub it with untempered mortar:

¹¹say unto them which daub it with untempered mortar, that it shall fall: there shall be an overflowing shower; and ye, O great hailstones, shall fall; and a stormy wind shall rend it.

¹²Lo, when the wall is fallen, shall it not be said unto you, Where is the daubing wherewith ye have daubed it?

¹³Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; I will even rend it with a stormy wind in my fury; and there shall be an overflowing shower in mine anger, and great hailstones in fury to consume it.

¹⁴So will I break down the wall that ye have daubed with untempered mortar, and bring it down to the ground, so that the foundation thereof shall be discovered: and it shall fall, and ye shall be consumed in the midst thereof; and ye shall know that I am the LORD.

¹⁵Thus will I accomplish my fury upon the wall, and upon them that have daubed it with untempered mortar; and I will say unto you, The wall is no more, neither they that daubed it;

¹⁶to wit, the prophets of Israel which prophesy concerning Jerusalem, and which see visions of peace for her, and there is no peace, saith the Lord GOD.

¹⁷And thou, son of man, set thy face against the daughters of thy people, which prophesy out of their own heart; and prophesy thou against them,

¹⁸and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD: Woe to the women that sew pillows upon all elbows, and make kerchiefs for the head of persons of every stature to hunt souls! will ye hunt the souls of my people, and save souls alive for yourselves?

¹⁹And ye have profaned me among my people for handfuls of barley and for pieces of bread, to slay the souls that should not die, and to save the souls alive that should not live, by your lying to my people that hearken unto lies.

²⁰Wherefore thus saith the Lord GOD: Behold, I am against your pillows, wherewith ye there hunt the souls to make them fly, and I will tear them from your arms; and I will let the souls go, even the souls that ye hunt to make them fly.

²¹Your kerchiefs also will I tear, and deliver my people out of your hand, and they shall be no more in your hand to be hunted; and ye shall know that I am the LORD.

²²Because with lies ye have grieved the heart of the righteous, whom I have not made sad; and strengthened the hands of the wicked, that he should not return from his wicked way, and be saved alive:

²³therefore ye shall no more see vanity, nor divine divinations: and I will deliver my people out of your hand; and ye shall know that I am the LORD.

Ezekiel 14

¹Then came certain of the elders of Israel unto me, and sat before me.

²And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

³Son of man, these men have taken their idols into their heart, and put the stumblingblock of their iniquity before their face: should I be inquired of at all by them?

⁴Therefore speak unto them, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD: Every man of the house of Israel that taketh his idols into his heart, and putteth the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to the prophet; I the LORD will answer him therein according to the multitude of his idols;

⁵that I may take the house of Israel in their own heart, because they are all estranged from me through their idols.

⁶Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord GOD: Return ye, and turn yourselves from your idols; and turn away your faces from all your abominations.

⁷For every one of the house of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn in Israel, which separateth himself from me, and taketh his idols into his heart, and putteth the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to the prophet to inquire for himself of me; I the LORD will answer him by myself:

⁸and I will set my face against that man, and will make him an astonishment, for a sign and a proverb, and I will cut him off from the midst of my people; and ye shall know that I am the LORD.

⁹And if the prophet be deceived and speaketh a word, I the LORD have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand upon him, and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel.

¹⁰And they shall bear their iniquity: the iniquity of the prophet shall be even as the iniquity of him that seeketh unto him;

¹¹that the house of Israel may go no more astray from me, neither defile themselves any more with all their transgressions; but that they may be my people, and I may be their God, saith the Lord GOD.

¹²And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

¹³Son of man, when a land sinneth against me by committing a trespass, and I stretch out mine hand upon it, and break the staff of the bread thereof, and send famine upon it, and cut off from it man and beast;

¹⁴though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness, saith the Lord GOD.

¹⁵If I cause noisome beasts to pass through the land, and they spoil it, so that it be desolate, that no man may pass through because of the beasts;

¹⁶though these three men were in it, as I live, saith the Lord GOD, they shall deliver neither sons nor daughters; they only shall be delivered, but the land shall be desolate.

¹⁷Or if I bring a sword upon that land, and say, Sword, go through the land; so that I cut off from it man and beast;

¹⁸though these three men were in it, as I live, saith the Lord GOD; they shall deliver neither sons nor daughters, but they only shall be delivered themselves.

¹⁹Or if I send a pestilence into that land, and pour out my fury upon it in blood, to cut off from it man and beast:

²⁰though Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, as I live, saith the Lord GOD, they shall deliver neither son nor daughter; they shall but deliver their own souls by their righteousness.

²¹For thus saith the Lord GOD: How much more when I send my four sore judgments upon Jerusalem, the sword, and the famine, and the noisome beasts, and the pestilence, to cut off from it man and beast?

²²Yet, behold, therein shall be left a remnant that shall be carried forth, both sons and daughters: behold, they shall come forth unto you, and ye shall see their way and their doings: and ye shall be comforted concerning the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem, even concerning all that I have brought upon it.

²³And they shall comfort you, when ye see their way and their doings: and ye shall know that I have not done without cause all that I have done in it, saith the Lord GOD.

Ezekiel 15

¹And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

²Son of man, What is the vine tree more than any tree, the vine branch which is among the trees of the forest?

³Shall wood be taken thereof to make any work? or will men take a pin of it to hang any vessel thereon?

⁴Behold, it is cast into the fire for fuel: the fire hath devoured both the ends of it, and the midst of it is burned; is it profitable for any work?

⁵Behold, when it was whole, it was meet for no work: how much less, when the fire hath devoured it, and it is burned, shall it yet be meet for any work?

⁶Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD: As the vine tree among the trees of the forest, which I have given to the fire for fuel, so will I give the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

⁷And I will set my face against them; they shall go forth from the fire, but the fire shall devour them; and ye shall know that I am the LORD, when I set my face against them.

⁸And I will make the land desolate, because they have committed a trespass, saith the Lord GOD.

Ezekiel 16

¹Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

²Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations,

³and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD unto Jerusalem: Thy birth and thy nativity is of the land of the Canaanite; the Amorite was thy father, and thy mother was an Hittite.

⁴And as for thy nativity, in the day thou wast born thy navel was not cut, neither wast thou washed in water to cleanse thee; thou wast not salted at all, nor swaddled at all.

⁵None eye pitied thee, to do any of these unto thee, to have compassion upon thee; but thou wast cast out in the open field, for that thy person was abhorred, in the day that thou wast born.

⁶And when I passed by thee, and saw thee weltering in thy blood, I said unto thee, Though thou art in thy blood, live; yea, I said unto thee, Though thou art in thy blood, live.

⁷I caused thee to multiply as the bud of the field, and thou didst increase and wax great, and thou attainedst to excellent ornament; thy breasts were fashioned, and thine hair was grown; yet thou wast naked and bare.

⁸Now when I passed by thee, and looked upon thee, behold, thy time was the time of love; and I spread my skirt over thee, and covered thy nakedness: yea, I sware unto thee, and entered into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord GOD, and thou becamest mine.

⁹Then washed I thee with water; yea, I throughly washed away thy blood from thee, and I anointed thee with oil.

¹⁰I clothed thee also with broidered work, and shod thee with sealskin, and I girded thee about with fine linen, and covered thee with silk.

¹¹I decked thee also with ornaments, and I put bracelets upon thy hands, and a chain on thy neck.

¹²And I put a ring upon thy nose, and earrings in thine ears, and a beautiful crown upon thine head.

¹³Thus wast thou decked with gold and silver; and thy raiment was of fine linen, and silk, and broidered work; thou didst eat fine flour, and honey, and oil: and thou wast exceeding beautiful, and thou didst prosper unto royal estate.

¹⁴And thy renown went forth among the nations for thy beauty; for it was perfect through my majesty which I had put upon thee, saith the Lord GOD.

¹⁵But thou didst trust in thy beauty, and playedst the harlot because of thy renown, and pouredst out thy whoredoms on every one that passed by; his it was.

¹⁶And thou didst take of thy garments, and madest for thee high places decked with divers colours, and playedst the harlot upon them: the like things shall not come, neither shall it be so.

¹⁷Thou didst also take thy fair jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given thee, and madest for thee images of men, and didst play the harlot with them;

¹⁸and thou tookest thy broidered garments, and coveredst them, and didst set mine oil and mine incense before them.

¹⁹My bread also which I gave thee, fine flour, and oil, and honey, wherewith I fed thee, thou didst even set it before them for a sweet savour, and thus it was; saith the Lord GOD.

²⁰Moreover thou hast taken thy sons and thy daughters, whom thou hast borne unto me, and these hast thou sacrificed unto them to be devoured. Were thy whoredoms a small matter,

²¹that thou hast slain my children, and delivered them up, in causing them to pass through the fire unto them?

²²And in all thine abominations and thy whoredoms thou hast not remembered the days of thy youth, when thou wast naked and bare, and wast weltering in thy blood.

²³And it is come to pass after all thy wickedness, (woe, woe unto thee! saith the Lord GOD,)

²⁴that thou hast built unto thee an eminent place, and hast made thee a lofty place in every street.

²⁵Thou hast built thy lofty place at every head of the way, and hast made thy beauty an abomination, and hast opened thy feet to every one that passed by, and multiplied thy whoredom.

²⁶Thou hast also committed fornication with the Egyptians, thy neighbours, great of flesh; and hast multiplied thy whoredom, to provoke me to anger.

²⁷Behold therefore, I have stretched out my hand over thee, and have diminished thine ordinary food, and delivered thee unto the will of them that hate thee, the daughters of the Philistines, which are ashamed of thy lewd way.

²⁸Thou hast played the harlot also with the Assyrians, because thou wast unsatiable; yea, thou hast played the harlot with them, and yet thou wast not satisfied.

²⁹Thou hast moreover multiplied thy whoredom in the land of Canaan, unto Chaldea; and yet thou wast not satisfied herewith.

³⁰How weak is thine heart, saith the Lord GOD, seeing thou doest all these things, the work of an imperious whorish woman;

³¹in that thou buildest thine eminent place in the head of every way, and makest thy lofty place in every street; and hast not been as an harlot, in that thou scornest hire.

³²A wife that committeth adultery! that taketh strangers instead of her husband!

³³They give gifts to all harlots: but thou gavest thy gifts to all thy lovers, and bribest them, that they may come unto thee on every side for thy whoredoms.

³⁴And the contrary is in thee from other women in thy whoredoms, in that none followeth thee to commit whoredom: and whereas thou givest hire, and no hire is given unto thee, therefore thou art contrary.

³⁵Wherefore, O harlot, hear the word of the LORD:

³⁶Thus saith the Lord GOD, Because thy filthiness was poured out, and thy nakedness discovered through thy whoredoms with thy lovers; and because of all the idols of thy abominations, and for the blood of thy children, which thou didst give unto them;

³⁷therefore behold, I will gather all thy lovers, with whom thou hast taken pleasure, and all them that thou hast loved, with all them that thou hast hated; I will even gather them against thee on every side, and will discover thy nakedness unto them, that they may see all thy nakedness.

³⁸And I will judge thee, as women that break wedlock and shed blood are judged; and I will bring upon thee the blood of fury and jealousy.

³⁹I will also give thee into their hand, and they shall throw down thine eminent place, and break down thy lofty places; and they shall strip thee of thy clothes, and take thy fair jewels: and they shall leave thee naked and bare.

⁴⁰They shall also bring up an assembly against thee, and they shall stone thee with stones, and thrust thee through with their swords.

⁴¹And they shall burn thine houses with fire, and execute judgments upon thee in the sight of many women; and I will cause thee to cease from playing the harlot, and thou shalt also give no hire any more.

⁴²So will I satisfy my fury upon thee, and my jealousy shall depart from thee, and I will be quiet, and will be no more angry.

⁴³Because thou hast not remembered the days of thy youth, but hast fretted me in all these things; therefore behold, I also will bring thy way upon thine head, saith the Lord GOD: and thou shalt not commit this lewdness above all thine abominations.

⁴⁴Behold, every one that useth proverbs shall use this proverb against thee, saying, As is the mother, so is her daughter.

⁴⁵Thou art thy mother’s daughter, that loatheth her husband and her children; and thou art the sister of thy sisters, which loathed their husbands and their children: your mother was an Hittite, and your father an Amorite.

⁴⁶And thine elder sister is Samaria, that dwelleth at thy left hand, she and her daughters: and thy younger sister, that dwelleth at thy right hand, is Sodom and her daughters.

⁴⁷Yet hast thou not walked in their ways, nor done after their abominations; but, as if that were a very little thing, thou wast more corrupt than they in all thy ways.

⁴⁸As I live, saith the Lord GOD, Sodom thy sister hath not done, she nor her daughters, as thou hast done, thou and thy daughters.

⁴⁹Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom; pride, fulness of bread, and prosperous ease was in her and in her daughters; neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.

⁵⁰And they were haughty, and committed abomination before me: therefore I took them away as I saw good.

⁵¹Neither hath Samaria committed half of thy sins; but thou hast multiplied thine abominations more than they, and hast justified thy sisters by all thine abominations which thou hast done.

⁵²Thou also, bear thine own shame, in that thou hast given judgment for thy sisters; through thy sins that thou hast committed more abominable than they, they are more righteous than thou: yea, be thou also confounded, and bear thy shame, in that thou hast justified thy sisters.

⁵³And I will turn again their captivity, the captivity of Sodom and her daughters, and the captivity of Samaria and her daughters, and the captivity of thy captives in the midst of them:

⁵⁴that thou mayest bear thine own shame, and mayest be ashamed because of all that thou hast done, in that thou art a comfort unto them.

⁵⁵And thy sisters, Sodom and her daughters, shall return to their former estate, and Samaria and her daughters shall return to their former estate, and thou and thy daughters shall return to your former estate.

⁵⁶For thy sister Sodom was not mentioned by thy mouth in the day of thy pride;

⁵⁷before thy wickedness was discovered, as at the time of the reproach of the daughters of Syria, and of all that are round about her, the daughters of the Philistines, which do despite unto thee round about.

⁵⁸Thou hast borne thy lewdness and thine abominations, saith the LORD.

⁵⁹For thus saith the Lord GOD: I will even deal with thee as thou hast done, which hast despised the oath in breaking the covenant.

⁶⁰Nevertheless I will remember my covenant with thee in the days of thy youth, and I will establish unto thee an everlasting covenant.

⁶¹Then shalt thou remember thy ways, and be ashamed, when thou shalt receive thy sisters, thine elder sisters and thy younger: and I will give them unto thee for daughters, but not by thy covenant.

⁶²And I will establish my covenant with thee; and thou shalt know that I am the LORD:

⁶³that thou mayest remember, and be confounded, and never open thy mouth any more, because of thy shame; when I have forgiven thee all that thou hast done, saith the Lord GOD.

Ezekiel 17

¹And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

²Son of man, put forth a riddle, and speak a parable unto the house of Israel;

³and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD: A great eagle with great wings and long pinions, full of feathers, which had divers colours, came unto Lebanon, and took the top of the cedar:

⁴he cropped off the topmost of the young twigs thereof, and carried it into a land of traffic; he set it in a city of merchants.

⁵He took also of the seed of the land, and planted it in a fruitful soil; he placed it beside many waters; he set it as a willow tree.

⁶And it grew, and became a spreading vine of low stature, whose branches turned toward him, and the roots thereof were under him: so it became a vine, and brought forth branches, and shot forth sprigs.

⁷There was also another great eagle with great wings and many feathers: and, behold, this vine did bend its roots toward him, and shot forth its branches toward him, from the beds of its plantation, that he might water it.

⁸It was planted in a good soil by many waters, that it might bring forth branches, and that it might bear fruit, that it might be a goodly vine.

⁹Say thou, Thus saith the Lord GOD: Shall it prosper? shall he not pull up the roots thereof, and cut off the fruit thereof, that it may wither; that all its fresh springing leaves may wither; even without great power or much people to pluck it up by the roots thereof?

¹⁰Yea, behold, being planted, shall it prosper? shall it not utterly wither; when the east wind toucheth it? it shall wither in the beds where it grew.

¹¹Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

¹²Say now to the rebellious house, Know ye not what these things mean? tell them, Behold, the king of Babylon came to Jerusalem, and took the king thereof, and the princes thereof, and brought them to him to Babylon;

¹³and he took of the seed royal, and made a covenant with him; he also brought him under an oath, and took away the mighty of the land:

¹⁴that the kingdom might be base, that it might not lift itself up, but that by keeping of his covenant it might stand.

¹⁵But he rebelled against him in sending his ambassadors into Egypt, that they might give him horses and much people. Shall he prosper? shall he escape that doeth such things? shall he break the covenant, and yet escape?

¹⁶As I live, saith the Lord GOD, surely in the place where the king dwelleth that made him king, whose oath he despised, and whose covenant he brake, even with him in the midst of Babylon he shall die.

¹⁷Neither shall Pharaoh with his mighty army and great company make for him in the war, when they cast up mounts and build forts, to cut off many persons.

¹⁸For he hath despised the oath by breaking the covenant; and behold, he had given his hand, and yet hath done all these things; he shall not escape.

¹⁹Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD: As I live, surely mine oath that he hath despised, and my covenant that he hath broken, I will even bring it upon his own head.

²⁰And I will spread my net upon him, and he shall be taken in my snare, and I will bring him to Babylon, and will plead with him there for his trespass that he hath trespassed against me.

²¹And all his fugitives in all his bands shall fall by the sword, and they that remain shall be scattered toward every wind: and ye shall know that I the LORD have spoken it.

²²Thus saith the Lord GOD: I will also take of the lofty top of the cedar, and will set it; I will crop off from the topmost of his young twigs a tender one, and I will plant it upon an high mountain and eminent:

²³in the mountain of the height of Israel will I plant it: and it shall bring forth boughs, and bear fruit, and be a goodly cedar: and under it shall dwell all fowl of every wing; in the shadow of the branches thereof shall they dwell.

²⁴And all the trees of the field shall know that I the LORD have brought down the high tree, have exalted the low tree, have dried up the green tree, and have made the dry tree to flourish: I the LORD have spoken and have done it.

Ezekiel 18

¹The word of the Lord came unto me again, saying,

²What mean ye, that ye use this proverb concerning the land of Israel, saying, The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge?

³As I live, saith the Lord GOD, ye shall not have occasion any more to use this proverb in Israel.

⁴Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die.

⁵But if a man be just, and do that which is lawful and right,

⁶and hath not eaten upon the mountains, neither hath lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, neither hath defiled his neighbour’s wife, neither hath come near to a woman in her separation;

⁷and hath not wronged any, but hath restored to the debtor his pledge, hath spoiled none by violence, hath given his bread to the hungry, and hath covered the naked with a garment;

⁸he that hath not given forth upon usury, neither hath taken any increase, that hath withdrawn his hand from iniquity, hath executed true judgment between man and man,

⁹hath walked in my statutes, and hath kept my judgments, to deal truly; he is just, he shall surely live, saith the Lord GOD.

¹⁰If he beget a son that is a robber, a shedder of blood, and that doeth any one of these things,

¹¹and that doeth not any of those duties, but even hath eaten upon the mountains, and defiled his neighbour’s wife,

¹²hath wronged the poor and needy, hath spoiled by violence, hath not restored the pledge, and hath lifted up his eyes to the idols, hath committed abomination,

¹³hath given forth upon usury, and hath taken increase: shall he then live? he shall not live: he hath done all these abominations: he shall surely die; his blood shall be upon him.

¹⁴Now, lo, if he beget a son, that seeth all his father’s sins, which he hath done, and feareth, and doth not such like,

¹⁵that hath not eaten upon the mountains, neither hath lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, hath not defiled his neighbour’s wife,

¹⁶neither hath wronged any, hath not taken aught to pledge, neither hath spoiled by violence, but hath given his bread to the hungry, and hath covered the naked with a garment,

¹⁷that hath withdrawn his hand from the poor, that hath not received usury nor increase, hath executed my judgments, hath walked in my statutes; he shall not die for the iniquity of his father, he shall surely live.

¹⁸As for his father, because he cruelly oppressed, spoiled his brother by violence, and did that which is not good among his people, behold, he shall die in his iniquity.

¹⁹Yet say ye, Wherefore doth not the son bear the iniquity of the father? When the son hath done that which is lawful and right, and hath kept all my statutes, and hath done them, he shall surely live.

²⁰The soul that sinneth, it shall die: the son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son; the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.

²¹But if the wicked turn from all his sins that he hath committed, and keep all my statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die.

²²None of his transgressions that he hath committed shall be remembered against him: in his righteousness that he hath done he shall live.

²³Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked? saith the Lord GOD: and not rather that he should return from his way, and live?

²⁴But when the righteous turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and doeth according to all the abominations that the wicked man doeth, shall he live? None of his righteous deeds that he hath done shall be remembered: in his trespass that he hath trespassed, and in his sin that he hath sinned, in them shall he die.

²⁵Yet ye say, The way of the Lord is not equal. Hear now, O house of Israel: Is not my way equal? are not your ways unequal?

²⁶When the righteous man turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and dieth therein; in his iniquity that he hath done shall he die.

²⁷Again, when the wicked man turneth away from his wickedness that he hath committed, and doeth that which is lawful and right, he shall save his soul alive.

²⁸Because he considereth, and turneth away from all his transgressions that he hath committed, he shall surely live, he shall not die.

²⁹Yet saith the house of Israel, The way of the Lord is not equal. O house of Israel, are not my ways equal? are not your ways unequal?

³⁰Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, saith the Lord GOD. Return ye, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin.

³¹Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereto ye have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit: for why will ye die, O house of Israel?

³²For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord GOD: wherefore turn yourselves, and live.