'House of Israel' in the Bible

And he said to me, "Son of man, what you find, eat! Eat this scroll, and go, speak to the house of Israel."

And he said to me, "Son of man, come! Go to the house of Israel, and you must speak to them with my words.

For you are sent to the house of Israel, not to a people {of obscure speech} and {of a difficult language},

And the house of Israel, they are not willing to listen to you, for they [are] not willing to listen to me, for all of the house of Israel is hard of forehead, and they [are] hard of heart.

"Son of man, I have appointed you [as] a watchman for the house of Israel. When you hear a word from my mouth, then you must warn them from me.

And take for yourself a plate of iron, and you must place it [as] a wall of iron between you and the city, and you must set your face against it, and it must be {under siege}, and you must lay the siege against it; it is a sign for the house of Israel.

And you, lie down on your left side, and you must put the guilt of the house of Israel on it. You will carry their guilt the number of days that you will lie on it.

And I will give to you the years of their guilt according to [the] number of [the] days, three hundred and ninety days, and you must bear the guilt of the house of Israel.

And from them again you shall take [some], and you must throw them in the middle of the fire, and you must burn them with fire; from it a fire will go out to all of the house of Israel.

Thus says the Lord Yahweh: 'Clap your hand and stamp with your foot, and say, "Alas, for all of the detestable things of the evil of the house of Israel, {because of which} they will fall with the sword, with the famine, and with the plague.

And he said to me, "Son of man, "{Do you see} what they [are] doing--great detestable things that the house of Israel [is] committing here [so as] to drive [me] from my sanctuary, and yet {you will see again} greater detestable things."

And I came, and I saw, and look, all kinds of creatures and detestable beasts; [and] all of the idols of the house of Israel [were] carved on the wall {all around}.

And seventy men from the elders of the house of Israel, and Jaazaniah, the son of Shaphan, [was] standing in the midst of them, [and] [they were] standing {before them}. Each [one] [had] his censer in his hand, and the fragrance of the cloud of the incense [was] going up.

And he said to me, "Have you seen, son of man, what the elders of the house of Israel [are] doing in the dark, each in the inner rooms of his idol, for [they are] saying, 'Yahweh [is] not seeing us; Yahweh has abandoned the land.'"

And he said to me, "The guilt of the house of Israel and Judah [is] {exceedingly} great, and the land is filled with bloodguilt, and the city is full of injustice. For they say Yahweh abandoned the land, and {Yahweh does not see}.

And the Spirit of Yahweh fell on me, and he said to me, "Say, 'thus says Yahweh: "This is what you think, house of Israel, and I myself know them, the thoughts of your spirit.

"Son of man, your brothers, your brothers, the men of your redemption, and all of the house of Israel, all of it, {who said concerning the inhabitants of Jerusalem}, 'They are far from Yahweh, [therefore] to us this land was given as a possession.'

Before their eyes, on your shoulder, you must lift up [the baggage] in the dusk, [and] your face you must cover, so that you may not see the land, for I make you [as] a sign to the house of Israel."

"Son of man, did not they, the house of Israel, the house of rebellion, say to you, 'What [are] you doing?'

Say to them, 'Thus says the Lord Yahweh: "This oracle [is about] the prince in Jerusalem and {the entire} house of Israel {who are among them}." '

For [there] will not be any longer {any false vision} or flattering divination in the midst of the house of Israel.

"Son of man, look! The house of Israel [is] saying, 'The vision that he [is] seeing [is] for many days [from now], and for distant times he [is] prophesying.'

You did not go up into the breaches and repair a wall for the house of Israel to stand [firm] in the battle on the day of Yahweh.

"And it will be my hand against the prophets who [are] seeing falseness and who [are] practicing lying divination. They will not be in the council of my people, and they will not be written [down] in the record [book] of the house of Israel, and into the land of Israel they will not come, and [then] you will know that I [am] the Lord Yahweh.

Therefore speak with them, and you must say to them, 'Thus says the Lord Yahweh: "Every person from the house of Israel who brings up his idols into his heart and {places before himself} a stumbling block of his guilt and [yet] he comes to the prophet, I Yahweh, I will respond to him through this act with [respect to] the multitude of his idols,

so that [I may] take hold of the house of Israel by their heart, [those] who are estranged from me, all of them, through their idols.'

Therefore say to the house of Israel, 'Thus says the Lord Yahweh: "Return, and turn away from your idols and from all of your detestable things! Turn away your faces!" '

For {each person} from the house of Israel, and from the alien who dwells as an alien in Israel, who separates himself {from following me} and brings up his idols into his heart and {places before himself} a stumbling block of his guilt, and [yet] he comes to the prophet to consult him concerning me, I Yahweh will answer him myself.

so that the house of Israel will not go astray again {from me}, and they will not make themselves unclean again with all of their transgressions, and they will be for me a people, and I will be for them as God," {declares} the Lord Yahweh.

"Son of man, tell a riddle and quote a proverb to the house of Israel,

"Say now to the rebellious house of Israel, 'Do you not know what these [are]?' Say, 'Look! The king of Babylon will come [to] Jerusalem, and he will take its king and its officials, and he will bring them to himself, [to] Babylon.

and on the mountains he [does] not eat and he [does] not lift up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, and the wife of his neighbor he [does] not defile and he [does] not approach a woman of menstruation,

On the mountains he does not eat, and he does not lift [up] his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, [and] the wife of his neighbor he does not defile.

"Yet you say, 'The way of the Lord is not fair!' Listen, now, house of Israel, is my way not fair? [Is it] not your ways [that] are not fair?

And [yet] they, the house of Israel, say, 'The way of the Lord is not fair!' [Are] not my ways fair, house of Israel? {Are not your ways unfair?}

"Therefore I will judge you, house of Israel, each one according to his ways," {declares} the Lord Yahweh. "Repent and turn around from all of your transgression, and it will not be as a stumbling block of iniquity to you.

Throw {away from yourselves} all of your transgressions that you committed, and make {for yourselves} a new heart and new spirit, and [so] why will you die, house of Israel?

"But in the desert the house of Israel rebelled against me; {they did not walk in my statutes}, and they rejected my regulations, which, if a person does them, he will live by them, and they greatly profaned my Sabbaths, and I decided to pour out my rage on them in the desert to destroy them,

"Therefore speak to the house of Israel, son of man, and you must say to them, 'Thus says the Lord Yahweh: "Again [in] this your ancestors blasphemed me {at their display of infidelity toward me}." '

Therefore thus say to the house of Israel, 'Thus says the Lord Yahweh: "In the way of your ancestors [will] you defile yourself, and after their vile idols [will] you prostitute [yourselves]?

And {when you lift up your gifts, sacrificing your children} through the fire, you are defiling yourself through all of your idols until {today}, and will I let myself be consulted by you, house of Israel?" ' {As I live}," {declares} the Lord Yahweh, "I will not let myself be consulted by you!

And you, house of Israel, thus says the Lord Yahweh: "[Let] each one go serve his idols [now] and after, if you [are] not listening to me, but {my holy name} you will not profane [any] longer with your gifts and with your idols.

"For on {my holy mountain}, on the mountain of the height of Israel," {declares} the Lord Yahweh, "there all of the house of Israel will serve me, all of them, in the land. I will take pleasure in them, and there I will accept your contributions and the best of your portions with all of your holy objects.

And you will know that I [am] Yahweh {when I deal with you} for the sake of my name and {not according to your evil ways} or {according to} your corrupted deeds, house of Israel," {declares} the Lord Yahweh.

"Son of man, the house of Israel has become as silver dross to me; all of them [are as] bronze and tin and iron and lead in the midst of a furnace, [even] [as] silver dross, silver [dross] they became!

"Say to the house of Israel, 'Thus says the Lord Yahweh: "Look! I [will be] profaning my sanctuary, the pride of your strength [and] the delight of your eyes and the object of your own affection; and your sons and your daughters whom you left behind will fall by the sword,

And {there will not be any longer} painful thorn and a sharp thornbush for the house of Israel from {anywhere around them} [from those] {who are despising them}, and they will know that I [am] the Lord Yahweh." '"

Thus says the Lord Yahweh: "When I gather the house of Israel from the peoples to which they were scattered [about] in them, and I show myself holy in them before the eyes of the nations, then they will live on their soil, which I gave to my servant Jacob.

And all of the inhabitants of Egypt will know that I [am] Yahweh, because of their being a staff of reed for the house of Israel.

And it will not be again for the house of Israel an object of trust, bringing to remembrance [their] guilt {when they turned back to them}, and they will know that I [am] the Lord Yahweh."

"On that day I will cause {power} to grow [up] for the house of Israel, and for you I will give an opening of [your] mouth in the midst of them, and they will know that I [am] Yahweh."

"And you, son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; if you hear a word from my mouth, then you must warn them from me.

"And you, son of man, say to the house of Israel, {saying}, 'So you said, {saying}, "Indeed, our transgressions and our sins [are] on us, and because of them we [are] rotting, and how can we live?" '

Say to them, '{As I live},' {declares} the Lord Yahweh, '{Surely I have no delight} in the death of the wicked, {except} in [the] wicked returning from his way, and he lives. Turn back! Turn back from your ways, O evil [ones], for why should you die, house of Israel?'

Yet you said, 'The way of the Lord is not fair!' I will judge you, house of Israel, each [person] according to his ways."

And they will know that I, Yahweh their God, [am] with them and they [are] my people, the house of Israel," {declares} the Lord Yahweh,

{Like your rejoicing over the inheritance of the house of Israel} {because} it was desolate, I will do to you; you will be desolation, mountain of Seir and all of Edom, indeed all of it; and they will know that I [am] Yahweh.'" '

And I will cause {your population} to increase for you, all of the house of Israel, all of it, and the towns will be inhabited, and the ruins will be built.

"Son of man, the house of Israel, [they] were dwelling on their soil, and they defiled it with their way and with their deeds; like the uncleanness of menstruation was their way {before me}.

"Therefore thus say to the house of Israel, 'Thus says the Lord Yahweh: "{Not for your sake} [am] I about to act, house of Israel, {but} {for my holy name}, which you defiled among the nations {to which you went}.

[But] not for your sake [am] I acting," {declares} the Lord Yahweh. "Let it be known to you, be ashamed, and be put to shame because of your ways, house of Israel.

"Thus says the Lord Yahweh: 'Again this [time] I will let {myself be inquired of} by the house of Israel, to do [something] for them; I will cause them to increase {their population like a flock}.

And he said to me, "Son of man, these bones [are] all of the house of Israel; look! [they are] saying, 'Our bones are dried up, and our hope is destroyed; {we are cut off as far as we are concerned}.'

"And you, son of man, take for yourself {a piece of wood}, and write on it, 'For Judah and for the {Israelites} his associates,' and take another [piece of] wood, and write on it, 'For Joseph, [the piece of] wood of Ephraim and all of the house of Israel his associates.'

And the house of Israel will bury them for seven months to cleanse the land.

"And the house of Israel will know that I [am] Yahweh their God from that day and beyond,

and the nations will know that because of their guilt the house of Israel went into exile, {because} they acted unfaithfully against me, and I hid my face from them, and I gave them into the hand of their foes, and they fell by the sword, all of them.

Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: "Now I will restore the fortunes of Jacob, and I will have compassion on all of the house of Israel, and I will be jealous for {my holy name}.

And I will not hide my face again from them when I pour out my Spirit over the house of Israel," {declares} the Lord Yahweh.

And the man spoke to me, "Son of man, look with your eyes and listen with your ears and apply your heart to all that I [am] showing you, for you were brought here in order to show you [this]; tell all that you [are] seeing to the house of Israel."

And he said to me, "Son of man, [this is] the place of my throne and the place for the soles of my feet {where I will dwell} in the midst of the {Israelites} to eternity, and they, the house of Israel, they and their kings, will not again defile {my holy name} with their fornication and with their offerings for the dead of their kings [on] their high places.

You, son of man, describe [to] the house of Israel the temple and let them be ashamed of their iniquities and let them measure the pattern.

And you must say to [the] rebellious, to the house of Israel, 'Thus says the Lord Yahweh: "Enough for you, house of Israel, of all of your detestable things!

{because} they used to serve them {before} their idols and they were for the house of Israel [like] a stumbling block of iniquity. Therefore {I swore} concerning them," {declares} the Lord Yahweh, "[that] they will bear their iniquity.

And a widow or divorced [woman] they shall not take for themselves as wives, {but only} a virgin from the offspring of the house of Israel, or the widow who is a widow for a priest they may take.

And [as] property of the city, you must set apart alongside the contribution of the sanctuary [a portion] five thousand [cubits] in width and twenty-five thousand [cubits] in length, [and] it shall be for the entire house of Israel.

[This] shall be to him {with respect to the land} as property in Israel; [and so] my princes shall not again oppress my people, but they shall give the land to the house of Israel according to their tribes."

"But on the prince shall be [the responsibility for] the burnt offerings, and the grain offering, and the libation at the feasts, and at the New Moon festivals, and at the Sabbaths at all of the assemblies of the house of Israel; he shall provide the sin offering, and the grain offering, and the burnt offering, and the fellowship offering to make atonement for the house of Israel.