I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, and put my sword in his hand: but I will break the arms of Pharaoh, and he shall groan before him with the groanings of a deadly wounded man.

I will hold up the arms of the king of Babylon; and the arms of Pharaoh shall fall down; and they shall know that I am the LORD, when I shall put my sword into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall stretch it out on the land of Egypt.

"Son of man, tell Pharaoh king of Egypt, and to his multitude: 'Whom are you like in your greatness?

Thus was it beautiful in its greatness, in the length of its branches; for its root was by many waters.

The cedars in the garden of God could not hide it; the fir trees were not like its boughs, and the plane trees were not as its branches; nor was any tree in the garden of God like it in its beauty.

I will even deliver him into the hand of the mighty one of the nations; he shall surely deal with him; I have driven him out for his wickedness.

to the end that none of all the trees by the waters exalt themselves in their stature, neither set their top among the thick boughs, nor that their mighty ones stand up on their height, even all who drink water: for they are all delivered to death, to the lower parts of the earth, in the midst of the children of men, with those who go down to the pit.'

"Thus says the Lord GOD: 'In the day when he went down to Sheol I caused a mourning: I covered the deep for him, and I restrained its rivers; and the great waters were stayed; and I caused Lebanon to mourn for him, and all the trees of the field fainted for him.

To whom are you thus like in glory and in greatness among the trees of Eden? Yet you will be brought down with the trees of Eden to the lower parts of the earth: you shall lie in the midst of the uncircumcised, with those who are slain by the sword. This is Pharaoh and all his multitude,' says the Lord GOD."

"Son of man, take up a lamentation over Pharaoh king of Egypt, and tell him, 'You were likened to a young lion of the nations: yet you are as a monster in the seas; and you broke out with your rivers, and troubled the waters with your feet, and fouled their rivers.'

Yes, I will make many peoples amazed at you, and their kings shall be horribly afraid for you, when I shall brandish my sword before them; and they shall tremble at every moment, every man for his own life, in the day of your fall.'

"For thus says the Lord GOD: 'The sword of the king of Babylon shall come on you.

"Son of man, wail for the multitude of Egypt, and cast them down, even her, and the daughters of the famous nations, to the lower parts of the earth, with those who go down into the pit.

They have set her a bed in the midst of the slain with all her multitude; her graves are around her; all of them uncircumcised, slain by the sword; for their terror was caused in the land of the living, and they have borne their shame with those who go down to the pit: he is put in the midst of those who are slain.

"There is Meshech, Tubal, and all their multitude; their graves are around them; all of them uncircumcised, slain by the sword; for they caused their terror in the land of the living.

They shall not lie with the mighty who are fallen of the uncircumcised, who are gone down to Sheol with their weapons of war, and have laid their swords under their heads, and their iniquities are on their bones; for they were the terror of the mighty in the land of the living.

"Pharaoh shall see them, and shall be comforted over all his multitude, even Pharaoh and all his army, slain by the sword," says the Lord GOD.

"For I have put his terror in the land of the living; and he shall be laid in the midst of the uncircumcised, with those who are slain by the sword, even Pharaoh and all his multitude," says the Lord GOD.

"Son of man, speak to the children of your people, and tell them, 'When I bring the sword on a land, and the people of the land take a man from among them, and set him for their watchman;

Tell them, 'As I live,' says the Lord GOD, 'I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn, turn from your evil ways; for why will you die, house of Israel?'

"You, son of man, tell the children of your people, 'The righteousness of the righteous shall not deliver him in the day of his disobedience; and as for the wickedness of the wicked, he shall not fall thereby in the day that he turns from his wickedness; neither shall he who is righteous be able to live thereby in the day that he sins.'

"Yet the children of your people say, 'The way of the Lord is not equal': but as for them, their way is not equal.

"Son of man, they who inhabit those waste places in the land of Israel speak, saying, 'Abraham was one, and he inherited the land: but we are many; the land is given us for inheritance.'

"As for you, son of man, the children of your people talk of you by the walls and in the doors of the houses, and speak one to another, everyone to his brother, saying, 'Please come and hear what is the word that comes forth from the LORD.'

They come to you as the people come, and they sit before you as my people, and they hear your words, but do not do them; for with their mouth they show much love, but their heart goes after their gain.

Behold, you are to them as a very lovely song of one who has a pleasant voice, and can play well on an instrument; for they hear your words, but they do not do them.

'As I live,' says the Lord GOD, 'surely because my sheep became a prey, and my sheep became food to all the animals of the field, because there was no shepherd, neither did my shepherds search for my sheep, but the shepherds fed themselves, and didn't feed my sheep';

Thus says the Lord GOD: 'Behold, I am against the shepherds; and I will require my sheep at their hand, and cause them to cease from feeding the sheep; neither shall the shepherds feed themselves any more; and I will deliver my sheep from their mouth, that they may not be food for them.'"

"'For thus says the Lord GOD: "Behold, I myself, even I, will search for my sheep, and will seek them out.

"'As for you, O my flock, thus says the Lord GOD: "Behold, I judge between sheep and sheep, the rams and the male goats.

As for my sheep, they eat that which you have trodden with your feet, and they drink that which you have fouled with your feet."

I will raise up to them a plantation for renown, and they shall be no more consumed with famine in the land, neither bear the shame of the nations any more.

therefore, as I live," says the Lord GOD, "I will prepare you for blood, and blood shall pursue you: since you have not hated blood, therefore blood shall pursue you.

therefore thus says the Lord GOD: 'Surely in the fire of my jealousy have I spoken against the residue of the nations, and against all Edom, that have appointed my land to themselves for a possession with the joy of all their heart, with despite of soul, to cast it out for a prey.'"'

"'"'But you, mountains of Israel, you shall shoot forth your branches, and yield your fruit to my people Israel; for they are at hand to come.

For, behold, I am for you, and I will turn into you, and you shall be tilled and sown;

Therefore I poured out my wrath on them for the blood which they had poured out on the land, and because they had defiled it with their idols;

But I had respect for my holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations, where they went.

"Therefore tell the house of Israel, 'Thus says the Lord GOD: "I do not do this for your sake, house of Israel, but for my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations, where you went.

For I will take you from among the nations, and gather you out of all the countries, and will bring you into your own land.

I will save you from all your uncleanness: and I will call for the grain, and will multiply it, and lay no famine on you.

Then you shall remember your evil ways, and your doings that were not good; and you shall loathe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and for your abominations.

Nor for your sake do I this," says the Lord GOD, "be it known to you: be ashamed and confounded for your ways, house of Israel."'

"Thus says the Lord GOD: 'For this, moreover, will I be inquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them: I will increase them with men like a flock.

As the flock for sacrifice, as the flock of Jerusalem in her appointed feasts, so shall the waste cities be filled with flocks of men; and they shall know that I am the LORD.'"

Then he said to me, "Prophesy to the wind, prophesy, son of man, and tell the wind, 'Thus says the Lord GOD: Come from the four winds, breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live.'"

"You, son of man, take one stick, and write on it, 'For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions': then take another stick, and write on it, 'For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions':

and join them for you one to another into one stick, that they may become one in your hand.

They shall dwell in the land that I have given to Jacob my servant, in which your fathers lived; and they shall dwell therein, they, and their children, and their children's children, forever: and David my servant shall be their prince for ever.

"'Thus says the Lord GOD: "Are you he of whom I spoke in old time by my servants the prophets of Israel, who prophesied in those days for many years that I would bring you against them?"

For in my jealousy and in the fire of my wrath have I spoken, Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel;

I will call for a sword against him to all my mountains,' says the Lord GOD: 'every man's sword shall be against his brother.

With pestilence and with blood will I enter into judgment with him; and I will rain on him, and on his hordes, and on the many peoples who are with him, an overflowing shower, and great hailstones, fire, and sulfur.

You shall fall on the open field; for I have spoken it," says the Lord GOD.

I will send a fire on Magog, and on those who dwell securely in the islands; and they shall know that I am the LORD.

so that they shall take no wood out of the field, neither cut down any out of the forests; for they shall make fires of the weapons; and they shall plunder those who plundered them, and rob those who robbed them, says the Lord GOD.

"'It shall happen in that day, that I will give to Gog a place for burial in Israel, the valley of those who pass through on the east of the sea; and it shall stop those who pass through: and there shall they bury Gog and all his multitude; and they shall call it The valley of Hamon Gog.

"You, son of man, thus says the Lord GOD: Speak to the birds of every sort, and to every animal of the field, 'Assemble yourselves, and come; gather yourselves on every side to my sacrifice that I do sacrifice for you, even a great sacrifice on the mountains of Israel, that you may eat flesh and drink blood.

You shall eat fat until you be full, and drink blood until you are drunk, of my sacrifice which I have sacrificed for you.

The nations shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity; because they trespassed against me, and I hid my face from them: so I gave them into the hand of their adversaries, and they fell all of them by the sword.

"Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: 'Now will I bring back the captivity of Jacob, and have mercy on the whole house of Israel; and I will be jealous for my holy name.

neither will I hide my face any more from them; for I have poured out my Spirit on the house of Israel,' says the Lord GOD."

The man said to me, "Son of man, see with your eyes, and hear with your ears, and set your heart on all that I shall show you; for, to the intent that I may show them to you, you are brought here: declare all that you see to the house of Israel."

Then brought he me into the outer court; and behold, there were rooms and a pavement, made for the court all around: thirty rooms were on the pavement.

Four tables were on this side, and four tables on that side, by the side of the gate; eight tables, whereupon they killed the sacrifices.

There were four tables for the burnt offering, of cut stone, a cubit and a half long, and a cubit and a half broad, and one cubit high; whereupon they laid the instruments with which they killed the burnt offering and the sacrifice.

Outside of the inner gate were rooms for the singers in the inner court, which was at the side of the north gate; and their prospect was toward the south; one at the side of the east gate having the prospect toward the north.

He said to me, "This room, whose prospect is toward the south, is for the priests, the keepers of the duty of the house;

and the room whose prospect is toward the north is for the priests, the keepers of the duty of the altar: these are the sons of Zadok, who from among the sons of Levi come near to the LORD to minister to him."

Then he measured the wall of the house, six cubits; and the breadth of every side room, four cubits, all around the house on every side.

The side rooms were in three stories, one over another, and thirty in order; and they entered into the wall which belonged to the house for the side rooms all around, that they might have hold therein, and not have hold in the wall of the house.

The side rooms were broader as they encompassed the house higher and higher; for the encompassing of the house went higher and higher around the house: therefore the breadth of the house continued upward; and so one went up from the lowest room to the highest by the middle room.

The thickness of the wall, which was for the side rooms, on the outside, was five cubits: and that which was left was the place of the side rooms that belonged to the house.

As for the temple, the door posts were squared; and as for the face of the sanctuary, the appearance of it was as the appearance of the temple.

The doors had two leaves apiece, two turning leaves: two leaves for the one door, and two leaves for the other.

Now the upper rooms were shorter; for the galleries took away from these, more than from the lower and the middle, in the building.

For they were in three stories, and they didn't have pillars as the pillars of the courts: therefore the uppermost was straitened more than the lowest and the middle from the ground.

For the length of the rooms that were in the outer court was fifty cubits: and behold, before the temple were one hundred cubits.

Then he said to me, "The north rooms and the south rooms, which are before the separate place, they are the holy rooms, where the priests who are near to the LORD shall eat the most holy things: there shall they lay the most holy things, and the meal offering, and the sin offering, and the trespass offering; for the place is holy.

When the priests enter in, then shall they not go out of the holy place into the outer court, but there they shall lay their garments in which they minister; for they are holy: and they shall put on other garments, and shall approach to that which pertains to the people."

He measured it on the four sides: it had a wall around it, the length five hundred, and the breadth five hundred, to make a separation between that which was holy and that which was common.

Now let them put away their prostitution, and the dead bodies of their kings, far from me; and I will dwell in their midst forever.

From the bottom on the ground to the lower ledge shall be two cubits, and the breadth one cubit; and from the lesser ledge to the greater ledge shall be four cubits, and the breadth a cubit.

The upper altar shall be four cubits; and from the altar hearth and upward there shall be four horns.

The altar hearth shall be twelve cubits long by twelve broad, square in the four sides of it.

The ledge shall be fourteen cubits long by fourteen broad in the four sides of it; and the border about it shall be half a cubit; and its bottom shall be a cubit around; and its steps shall look toward the east."

You shall give to the priests the Levites who are of the seed of Zadok, who are near to me, to minister to me, says the Lord GOD, a young bull for a sin offering.

You shall take of its blood, and put it on the four horns of it, and on the four corners of the ledge, and on the border all around: thus you shall cleanse it and make atonement for it.

"On the second day you shall offer a male goat without blemish for a sin offering; and they shall cleanse the altar, as they cleansed it with the bull.

You shall bring them near to the LORD, and the priests shall cast salt on them, and they shall offer them up for a burnt offering to the LORD.

"Seven days you shall prepare every day a goat for a sin offering: they shall also prepare a young bull, and a ram out of the flock, without blemish.

Seven days shall they make atonement for the altar and purify it; so shall they consecrate it.

The LORD said to me, "This gate shall be shut; it shall not be opened, neither shall any man enter in by it; for the LORD, the God of Israel, has entered in by it; therefore it shall be shut.

As for the prince, he shall sit therein as prince to eat bread before the LORD; he shall enter by the way of the porch of the gate, and shall go out by the way of the same."

You have not performed the duty of my holy things; but you have set performers of my duty in my sanctuary for yourselves.'

But the Levites who went far from me, when Israel went astray, who went astray from me after their idols, they shall bear their iniquity.

Yet they shall be ministers in my sanctuary, having oversight at the gates of the house, and ministering in the house: they shall kill the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people, and they shall stand before them to minister to them.

Yet will I make them performers of the duty of the house, for all its service, and for all that shall be done therein.

Neither shall they take for their wives a widow, nor her who is put away; but they shall take virgins of the seed of the house of Israel, or a widow who is the widow of a priest.

"'They shall go in to no dead person to defile themselves; but for father, or for mother, or for son, or for daughter, for brother, or for sister who has had no husband, they may defile themselves.