Or -- a sword I bring in against that land, and I have said: Sword, thou dost pass over through the land, and I have cut off from it man and beast --

Or -- pestilence I send unto that land, and I have poured out My fury against it in blood, to cut off from it man and beast --

For thus said the Lord Jehovah: Although My four sore judgments -- sword, and famine, and wild beast, and pestilence -- I have sent unto Jerusalem, to cut off from it man and beast,

Yet, behold, therein shall be left a remnant that shall be brought 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.

And they shall comfort you, when ye see their ways 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.

Therefore 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.

And I have set My face against them, From the fire they have gone forth, And the fire doth consume them, And ye have known that I am Jehovah, In My setting My face against them.

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

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

And when I went past you and saw you stretched out in your blood, I said to you, Though you are stretched out in your blood, have life;

I have caused thee to multiply as the bud of the field, and thou hast increased and waxen great, and thou art come to excellent ornaments: thy breasts are fashioned, and thine hair is grown, whereas thou wast naked and bare.

And go forth doth thy name among nations, Because of thy beauty -- for it is complete, In My honour that I have set upon thee, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah.

You took some of your garments and made colorful high places for yourself, and you engaged in prostitution on them. These places should not have been built, and this should never have happened!

You have also taken your fair jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given you, and made to yourself images of men, and did commit harlotry with them,

And took your embroidered garments, and covered them: and you have set my oil and my incense before them.

Also My bread which I gave you, [made from the] fine flour and oil and honey with which I fed you, you even offered it before idols [no better than cow dung] as a sweet and soothing aroma; so it happened,” says the Lord God.

“Moreover, you took your sons and your daughters whom you had borne to Me, and you destroyed them as sacrifices [to your man-made gods]. Were your gross immoralities so small a matter?

You slaughtered My children and offered them up to [worthless] idols, forcing them to pass through the [hideousness of the] fire.

And in all your repulsive acts and prostitutions (idolatrous immoralities) you did not [pause to] remember the days of your youth, when you were naked and bare, squirming in your [newborn] blood.

that you built yourself an altar for prostitution and made yourself a high place [for ritual prostitution] in every square [of Jerusalem].

At the beginning of every street you built your high place and made your beauty repulsive; and you offered your body to every passer-by and multiplied your obscene immorality.

You also prostituted yourself with the Egyptians, your lustful neighbors [by embracing their pagan rituals], and you multiplied your obscene immorality to provoke Me to anger.

Behold, 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.

You have played the prostitute also with the Assyrians, because you were insatiable; yes, you have played the prostitute with them, and yet you weren't satisfied.

You have moreover multiplied your prostitution to the land of merchants, to Chaldea; and yet you weren't satisfied with this.

How weak was thy heart! Exclaimeth My Lord Yahweh, - That thou couldst have done all these things, The doing of a lewd woman without shame:

in that you build your vaulted place at the head of every way, and make your lofty place in every street, and have not been as a prostitute, in that you scorn pay.

This is what the sovereign Lord says: Because your lust was poured out and your nakedness was uncovered in your prostitution with your lovers, and because of all your detestable idols, and because of the blood of your children you have given to them,

Therefore, lo, I am assembling all thy lovers, To whom thou hast been sweet, And all whom thou hast loved, Besides all whom thou hast hated; And I have assembled them by thee round about, And have revealed thy nakedness to them, And they have seen all thy nakedness.

And I have judged thee -- judgments of adulteresses, And of women shedding blood, And have given thee blood, fury, and jealousy.

And I have given thee into their hand, And they have thrown down thine arch, And they have broken down thy high places, And they have stript thee of thy garments, And they have taken thy beauteous vessels, And they have left thee naked and bare.

And have caused an assembly to come up against thee, And stoned thee with stones, And thrust thee through with their swords,

And burnt thy houses with fire, And done in thee judgments before the eyes of many women, And I have caused thee to cease from going a-whoring, And also a gift thou givest no more.

And I have caused My fury against thee to rest, And My jealousy hath turned aside from thee, And I have been quiet, and I am not angry any more.

Because you have not remembered the days of your youth but have enraged Me with all these things, therefore, I in turn will bring your conduct down on your own head,” says the Lord God, “so that you will not commit this lewdness on top of all your other repulsive acts.

And you have not [only] gone in their ways, but you [also] did according to their detestable things. {In such a short time} you behaved [more] corruptly than they in all of your ways.

As I live,” says the Lord God, “Sodom, your sister and her daughters have not done as you and your daughters have done.

Lo, this hath been the iniquity of Sodom thy sister, Arrogancy, fulness of bread, and quiet ease, Have been to her and to her daughters, And the hand of the afflicted and needy She hath not strengthened.

And they are haughty and do abomination before Me, And I turn them aside when I have seen.

Furthermore, Samaria did not commit half of your sins, but you have greatly increased your repulsive acts more than they. So you have made your [wicked] sisters [Samaria and Sodom] appear righteous and justified by [comparison to] all the disgusting things which you have done.

Also bear your disgrace [as punishment], having made judgment favorable for your sisters, for [you virtually absolved them] because of your sins in which you behaved more repulsively than they; they are more in the right than you. Yes, be ashamed and bear your disgrace, for you made your [pagan] sisters seem righteous.

And I have turned back to their captivity, The captivity of Sodom and her daughters, And the captivity of Samaria and her daughters, And the captivity of thy captives in their midst,

so that you [Judah] will bear your humiliation and disgrace, and be [thoroughly] ashamed for all [the wickedness] that you have done to console and comfort them.

before your [own] wickedness was uncovered. Now you have become an object of reproach and a byword for the daughters of Aram and of Edom and all who are around her, and for the daughters of the Philistines—those surrounding you who despise you.

You have borne your lewdness and your abominations, says Yahweh.

For thus said the Lord Jehovah: I have dealt with thee as thou hast done, In that thou hast despised an oath -- to break covenant.

And I -- I have remembered My covenant with thee, In the days of thy youth, And I have established for thee a covenant age-during.

And thou hast remembered thy ways, And thou hast been ashamed, In thy receiving thy sisters -- Thine elder with thy younger, And I have given them to thee for daughters, And not by thy covenant.

And I -- I have established My covenant with thee, And thou hast known that I am Jehovah.

that 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 Jehovah.

He had it planted in a good field by great waters so that it might put out branches and have fruit and be a strong vine.

Say, This is what the Lord has said: Will it do well? will he not have its roots pulled up and its branches cut off, so that all its young leaves may become dry and it may be pulled up by its roots?

Say, I pray thee, to the rebellious house, Have ye not known what these are? Say, Lo, come hath the king of Babylon to Jerusalem, And he taketh its king, and its princes, And bringeth them to himself to Babylon.

But he fell from him, and sent his Ambassadors into Egypt that he might have horses and much people. Should that prosper? Should he be kept safe, that doth such things? Or should he escape, that breaketh his covenant?

Therefore, thus said the Lord Jehovah: I live -- Mine oath that he hath despised, And My covenant that he hath broken, Have I not put it on his head?

And I have spread out for him My snare, And he hath been caught in My net, And I have brought him in to Babylon, And pleaded with him there his trespass, That he hath trespassed against Me.

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

Thus said the Lord Jehovah: I have taken of the foliage of the high cedar, And I have set it, From the top of its tender shoots a tender one I crop, And I -- I have planted it on a mountain high and lofty.

In a mountain -- the high place of Israel, I plant it, And it hath borne boughs, and yielded fruit, And become a goodly cedar, And dwelt under it have all birds of every wing, In the shade of its thin shoots they dwell.

And 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.

What 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?

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

if he doesn't eat at mountain shrines, and doesn't look to the idols that have been erected in Israel's house, if he doesn't defile his neighbor's wife or approach a woman during her time of menstrual separation,

And if he have begotten a son that is violent, a shedder of blood, and that doeth only one of any of these things,

But lo, if he have begotten a son that seeth all his father's sins which he hath done, and considereth, and doeth not such like:

And ye have said, Wherefore hath not the son, Borne of the iniquity of the father? And -- the son judgment and righteousness hath done, All My statutes he hath kept, And he doeth them, he surely liveth.

Not one of the sins which he has done will be kept in memory against him: in the righteousness which he has done he will have life.

Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? saith the Lord GOD: and not that he should return from his ways, and live?

But when the upright man, turning away from his righteousness, does evil, like all the disgusting things which the evil man does, will he have life? Not one of his upright acts will be kept in memory: in the wrong which he has done and in his sin death will overtake him.

And ye have said, Not pondered is the way of the Lord. Hear, I pray you, O house of Israel, My way -- is it not pondered? Are not your ways unpondered?

Again, when the evil-doer, turning away from the evil he has done, does what is ordered and right, he will have life for his soul.

And the house of Israel have said, Not pondered is the way of the Lord, My ways -- are they not pondered? O house of Israel -- are not your ways unpondered?

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

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

her stalks were so strong that men might have made staves thereof for officers, she grew so high in her stalks. So when men saw that she exceeded the height and multitude of her branches,

And it cometh to pass, in the seventh year, in the fifth month, in the tenth of the month, come in have certain of the elders of Israel to seek Jehovah, and they sit before me;

“Son of man, speak to the elders of Israel and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “Have you come to inquire of Me? As I live,” says the Lord God, “I will not be inquired of by you.”’

even in the day that I lift up mine hand over them, to bring them out of the land of Egypt, into a land that I have provided for them, which floweth with milk and honey, and it is a pleasant land among all others:

And -- they rebel against Me, And have not been willing to hearken to Me, Each, the detestable things of their eyes, They have not cast away, And the idols of Egypt have not forsaken, And I say -- to pour out My fury on them, To complete Mine anger against them, In the midst of the land of Egypt.

And also My sabbaths I have given to them, To be for a sign between Me and them, To know that I am Jehovah their sanctifier.

And -- rebel against me do the house of Israel in the wilderness, In My statutes they have not walked, And My judgments they have despised, Which the man who doth -- liveth by them. And My sabbaths they have greatly polluted, And I say to pour out My fury on them in the wilderness, to consume them.

And also, I, I have lifted up My hand to them in the wilderness, Not to bring them in to the land that I had given, Flowing with milk and honey, A beauty it is to all the lands,

Because against My judgments they did kick, And in My statutes they have not walked, And My sabbaths they have polluted, For after their idols their heart is going.

And Mine eye hath pity on them -- against destroying them, And I have not made of them an end in the wilderness.

And My sabbaths sanctify, And they have been for a sign between Me and you, To know that I, Jehovah, am your God.

And -- the sons rebel against Me, In My statutes they have not walked, And My judgments they have not observed -- to do them, Which the man who doth -- liveth by them. My sabbaths they have polluted, And I say to pour out My fury upon them, To complete Mine anger against them in the wilderness.

And I have turned back My hand, And I do it for My name's sake, Not to pollute it before the eyes of the nations, Before whose eyes I brought them out.

I also, I have lifted up My hand to them in the wilderness, To scatter them among nations, And to spread them through lands.

Because My judgments they have not done, And My statutes they have despised, And My sabbaths they have polluted, And after idols of their fathers have their eyes been.

And I also, I have given to them statutes not good, And judgments by which they do not live.

Therefore, son of man, speak unto the house of Israel, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Yet in this your fathers have blasphemed me, in that they have committed a trespass against me.

“When you say, ‘Let us be like the nations, like the peoples of other countries, worshiping wood and stone,’ what you have in mind will never happen.

And I have brought you forth from the peoples, And assembled you from the lands In which ye have been scattered, With a strong hand and with a stretched-out arm, And with fury poured out.

And I have brought you in unto the wilderness of the peoples, And have been judged with you there face to face.

And I have caused you to pass under the rod, And brought you into the bond of the covenant,

And cleared out from you the rebels, And them transgressing against Me, From the land of their sojournings I bring them out, And unto the land of Israel they come not, And ye have known that I am Jehovah.

I will accept you with your sweet savour, when I bring you out from the people, and gather you out of the countries wherein ye have been scattered; and I will be sanctified in you before the heathen.

And ye shall know that I am Jehovah, when I have brought you into the land of Israel, into the country which I lifted up my hand to give to your fathers.

And there shall ye remember your ways, and all your doings, wherein ye have been defiled; and ye shall lothe yourselves in your own sight for all your evils that ye have committed.

And ye shall know that I am the LORD, when I have wrought with you for my name's sake, not according to your wicked ways, nor according to your corrupt doings, O ye house of Israel, saith the Lord GOD.