Now it came about in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, on the fifth day of the month, while I was by the river Chebar among those who had been made prisoners, that the heavens were made open and I saw visions of God.

And there doth come into me a spirit, when He hath spoken unto me, and it causeth me to stand on my feet, and I hear Him who is speaking unto me.

And He saith unto Me, 'Son of man, I am sending thee unto the sons of Israel, unto nations who are rebels, who have rebelled against Me; they and their fathers have transgressed against Me, unto this self-same day.

And the sons are brazen-faced and hard-hearted to whom I am sending thee, and thou hast said unto them: Thus said the Lord Jehovah:

nor to many peoples of unintelligible speech or difficult language, whose words you cannot understand. But I have sent you to them who should listen to you;

And go now to those who have been taken away as prisoners, to the children of your people, and say to them, This is what the Lord has said; if they give ear or if they do not.

And I come in unto the Removed, at Tel-Ahib, who are dwelling at the river Chebar, and where they are dwelling I also dwell seven days, causing astonishment in their midst.

Moreover, I will make your tongue stick to the roof of your mouth so that you will be mute and cannot be a man who rebukes them, for they are a rebellious house.

But when I speak with you, I will open your mouth and you will say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God.’ He who hears, let him hear; and he who refuses [to hear], let him refuse; for they are a rebellious house.

Then the Lord said, “Thus the children of Israel will eat their bread unclean and defiled among the nations where I will banish them.”

Thus saith My Lord, Yahweh. Because ye have become more rebellious than the nations who are round about you, In My statutes, have not walked. And my regulations, have not done, And according to the regulations of the nations which are round about you, have not done:

Therefore, fathers will eat their sons among you, and sons will eat their fathers; and I will execute judgments on you and I will scatter to all the winds the remnant of you.

Moreover, I will make you a desolation and a disgrace among the nations which surround you and in the sight of all who pass by.

So it will be a reproach, a reviling, a warning and an object of horror to the nations who surround you when I execute judgments against you in anger, wrath and raging rebukes. I, the Lord, have spoken.

When I send against them the deadly arrows of famine which were for the destruction of those whom I will send to destroy you, then I will also intensify the famine upon you and break the staff of bread.

“Yet I will leave a remnant when you are scattered among the nations, for throughout the countries there will be some of you who will escape the sword.

Then those of you who escape will remember Me among the nations to which they will be exiled, how I have been broken by their lewdness and their adulterous hearts which have turned away from Me, and by their eyes which lust after their idols; and they will loathe themselves for the evils which they have committed, for all their repulsive acts.

Thus said the Lord Jehovah: 'Smite with thy palm, and stamp with thy foot, And say: Alas, for all the evil abominations of the house of Israel, Who by sword, by famine, and by pestilence do fall.

He who is far away will die of the virulent disease, and he who is near will fall by the sword, and he who remains and is besieged will die by the famine. Thus I will spend My wrath on them.

""Your doom has come to you, you who live in the land. The time has arrived, and the day of confusion is near. There will be no shouts of joy on the mountains.

My eye will show no pity nor will I spare [you]. I will repay you in accordance with your ways, while your abominations are in your midst; then you will know and understand that it is I, the Lord, who strikes you.

The time has come, the day is near: let not him who gives a price for goods be glad, or him who gets the price have sorrow:

And he who has given a price for goods will not get them, for my wrath is on all of them.

The sword is without, And the pestilence and the famine within, He who is in a field by sword dieth, And he who is in a city, Famine and pestilence devour him.

But those of those who escape shall escape, and shall be on the mountains like doves of the valleys, all of them moaning, every one in his iniquity.

And I will give it into the hands of men from strange lands who will take it by force, and to the evil-doers of the earth to have for themselves; and they will make it unholy.

And I will turn away my face from them, And they will profane my cherished place, - Yea there will enter it violent men Who will profane it. -

Therefore, I will bring the worst of the [Gentile] nations, and they will take possession of their houses [those of the people of Judah]; I will also silence their pride, and their holy places will be profaned.

This similitude stretched out a hand, and took me by the hairy locks of my head, and the spirit lift me up betwixt heaven and earth: And God brought me in a vision to Jerusalem, into the court of the inward port that lieth toward the north. There stood an image, with whom he that hath all things in his power was very wroth.

And behold, the glory and brilliance of the God of Israel [who had loved and chosen them] was there, like the vision which I saw in the plain.

and seventy men of the elders of the house of Israel with Jaazaniah son of Shaphan, who stood in their midst were standing before them, even every man with his censer in his hand, - and the fragrance of the cloud of incense ascending. le

Then He brought me to the entrance of the north gate of the Lord’s house; and behold, women were sitting there weeping for Tammuz.

Then [in my vision] I heard Him cry out with a thunderous voice, saying, “Approach now, executioners of the city, each with his weapon of destruction in his hand.”

All of a sudden, I noticed six men approaching from the direction of the upper gate, which faces north. Each of them held a destructive weapon in his hand. Among them there was one man, clothed in linen, who was equipped with a writing set at his side. They went in and presented themselves beside the bronze altar.

And the glory of the God of Israel was gone up from the cherub, whereupon it was, to the threshold of the house: and he called to the man clothed in linen, who had the writer's inkhorn by his side.

And He calleth unto the man who is clothed with linen, who hath the scribe's inkhorn at his loins, and Jehovah saith unto him, 'Pass on into the midst of the city, into the midst of Jerusalem, and thou hast made a mark on the foreheads of the men who are sighing and who are groaning for all the abominations that are done in its midst.'

Slay utterly old and young, both maids, and little children, and women: but come not near any man upon whom is the mark; and begin at my sanctuary. Then they began at the ancient men which were before the house.

And they begin among the aged men who are before the house, and He saith unto them, 'Defile the house, and fill the courts with the wounded, go forth.' And they have gone forth and have smitten in the city.

And behold, the man clothed in linen, who had the inkhorn by his side, reported the matter, saying, I have done as thou hast commanded me.

The LORD spoke to the man who was clothed in white linen, telling him, "Go between the whirling wheels, under the cherubim, and fill your hands with burning coals from among the cherubim. Then scatter them over the city." So he entered as I watched.

He issued this order to the man who was clothed in white linen: "Take fire from within the whirling wheels, among the cherubim." So he went and stood beside the wheels.

And one cherub stretched forth his hand from between the cherubims unto the fire that was between the cherubims, and took thereof, and put it into the hands of him that was clothed with linen: who took it, and went out.

Moreover the spirit lifted me up, and brought me unto the east gate of the LORD'S house, which looketh eastward: and behold at the door of the gate five and twenty men; among whom I saw Jaazaniah the son of Azur, and Pelatiah the son of Benaiah, princes of the people.

And He saith unto me, 'Son of man, these are the men who are devising iniquity, and who are giving evil counsel in this city;

who say, It is not the time to build houses: this is the cauldron, and we are the flesh.

Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Your slain whom ye have laid in the midst of it, they are the flesh, and this city is the caldron: but I will bring you forth out of the midst of it.

And ye have known that I am Jehovah, For in My statutes ye have not walked, And My Judgments ye have not done, And according to the judgments of the nations Who are round about you -- ye have done!'

Son of man, thy brethren, even thy brethren, the men of thy kindred, and all the house of Israel wholly, are they unto whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, Get you far from the LORD: unto us is this land given in possession.

But as for them who having a heart for their detestable things and for their abominations after their own heart, do walk, Their way upon their own heads, will I render, Declareth My Lord Yahweh.

And the wind, lifting me up, took me in the visions of God into Chaldaea, to those who had been taken away as prisoners. So the vision which I had seen went away from me.

Then I gave an account to those who had been taken prisoners of all the things which the Lord had made me see.

“Son of man, you live among a rebellious house, who have eyes to see but do not see, who have ears to hear but do not hear; for they are a rebellious people.

And you, O son of man, by day, before their eyes, get ready the vessels of one who is taken away, and go away from your place to another place before their eyes: it may be that they will see, though they are an uncontrolled people.

Bring your provisions and supplies out during the day as they watch, as provisions and supplies for [going into] exile. Then you shall go out at evening as they watch, as those going into exile.

And I did as I was ordered: I took out my vessels by day, like those of one who is taken away, and in the evening I made a hole through the wall with a tent-pin; and in the dark I went out, taking my things on my back before their eyes.

Say thou unto them, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: This burden concerneth the prince in Jerusalem, and all the house of Israel among whom they are.

As to the prince who is in their midst, on the shoulder he beareth in the darkness, and he goeth forth, through the wall they dig to bring forth by it, his face he covereth, that he may not look on the very surface of the land.

'And all who are round about him to help him, and all his bands, I do scatter to every wind, and a sword I draw out after them.

But I will leave a few [survivors] who will escape the sword, the famine, and the virulent disease, that they may confess all their repulsive (idolatrous) acts among the nations where they go, and may know [without any doubt] that I am the Lord.”

and thou hast said unto the people of the land, Thus said the Lord Jehovah concerning the inhabitants of Jerusalem, concerning the land of Israel: Their bread with fear they do eat, and their water with astonishment drink, because its land is desolate, because of its fulness, because of the violence of all who are dwelling in it.

'Son of man, prophesy concerning the prophets of Israel who are prophesying, and thou hast said to those prophesying from their own heart: Hear ye a word of Jehovah:

Thus said the Lord Jehovah: Woe unto the prophets who are foolish, Who are going after their own spirit, And they have seen nothing.

They have seen vanity, and lying divination, Who are saying: An affirmation of Jehovah, And Jehovah hath not sent them, And they have hoped to establish a word.

Did you not see a false vision and speak a lying divination when you said, ‘The Lord declares,’ but it is not I who have spoken?”’”

And My hand hath been on the prophets, Who are seeing vanity, and who are divining a lie, In the assembly of My people they are not, And in the writing of the house of Israel they are not written, And unto the ground of Israel they come not, And ye have known that I am the Lord Jehovah.

so tell those who plaster it with whitewash, that it will fall! A flooding rain [of judgment] will come, and you, O [great] hailstones, will fall; and a violent wind will tear the wall apart.

Thus I will expend My wrath on the wall and on those who have plastered it with whitewash and I will say to you, ‘The wall is gone and its plasterers are gone,

the prophets of Israel who prophesy concerning Jerusalem, and who see a vision of peace for her, and there is no peace, saith the Lord Jehovah.

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

and say, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “Woe to the women who fasten magic (protective) charms on all wrists and make veils for the heads of those of every stature to capture [human] lives! Will you capture the lives of My people but keep your own?

You have profaned Me among My people [in payment] for handfuls of barley and for pieces of bread, killing people who should not die and giving [a guarantee of] life to those who should not live, because of your lies to My people who pay attention to lies.”’”

Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: Behold, I am against your pillows, with which you 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 whom you hunt to make [them] fly.

Because with lies ye have made the heart of the righteous sad, whom I have not made sad; and strengthened the hands of the wicked, that he should not return from his wicked way, by promising him life:

Therefore, speak with them, and thou hast said unto them: Thus said the Lord Jehovah: Every one of the house of Israel who causeth his idols to go up unto his heart, and the stumbling-block of his iniquity setteth over-against his face, and hath gone in unto the prophet -- I Jehovah have given an answer to him for this, for the abundance 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.'

For every one of the house of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn in Israel, who separateth himself from me, and setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumbling-block of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to the prophet to inquire of me by him, I Jehovah will answer him by myself;

“But if the prophet is deceived and speaks a message, it was I, Yahweh, who deceived that prophet. I will stretch out My hand against him and destroy him from among My people Israel.

They will bear their punishment—the punishment of the one who inquires will be the same as that of the prophet—

But behold, there shall be left in it those that escape, who shall be brought out of it, 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, as to all that I have brought upon it.

“But you trusted in and relied on your beauty and prostituted yourself [in idolatry and its debauched rituals] because of your fame, and you poured out your immoralities on every [willing] passer-by and your beauty was his [as you worshiped the idols of the Gentile nations].

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

You built your elevated place at the head of every street and turned your beauty into a detestable thing. You spread your legs to everyone who passed by and increased your prostitution.

And you prostituted with the {Egyptians}, your neighbors {who were sexually aroused}, and you increased your fornication to provoke me.

And behold, I stretched out my hand over thee, and diminished thine appointed portion; and I gave thee over unto the will of them that hate thee, the daughters of the Philistines, who were confounded at thy lewd way.

The wife who committeth adultery -- Under her husband -- doth receive strangers.

Thus said the Lord Jehovah: Because of thy brass being poured forth, And thy nakedness is revealed in thy whoredoms near thy lovers, And near all the idols of thy abominations, And according to the blood of thy sons, Whom thou hast given to them;

Behold, therefore 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 round about against thee, and will discover thy nakedness unto them, that they may see all thy nakedness.

And I [the Lord God] will judge you like women who commit adultery or shed blood are judged; and I will bring on you the blood of wrath and jealousy.

They will summon a mob who will stone you and hack you in pieces with their swords.

“Behold, everyone who uses proverbs will use this proverb against you: ‘Like mother, like daughter.’

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

And thine elder sister is Samaria, she and her daughters, Who is dwelling at thy left hand, And thy younger sister, who is dwelling on thy right hand, is Sodom and her daughters.

Thou also, who hast judged thy sisters, bear thine own confusion, because of thy sins in which thou hast acted more abominably than they: they are more righteous than thou. So be thou ashamed also, and bear thy confusion, in that thou hast justified thy sisters.

before 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, who despise thee on every side.

For thus saith the Lord Jehovah: I will also deal with thee as thou hast done, who hast despised the oath in breaking the covenant.

And thou shalt remember thy ways, and be confounded, when thou shalt receive thy sisters who are older than thou, together with those who are younger than thou; for I will give them unto thee for daughters, but not by virtue of thy covenant.

And say, So says the Lord Jehovah: A great eagle with great wings, long of pinion, full of feathers, who had different colors, came to Lebanon and took the highest branch of the cedar.

And he rebelleth against him, To send his messengers to Egypt, To give to him horses, and much people, Doth he prosper? doth he escape who is doing these things? And hath he broken covenant and escaped?

I live -- an affirmation of the Lord Jehovah, Doth he not -- in the place of the king who is causing him to reign, Whose oath he hath despised, And whose covenant he hath broken, With him -- in the midst of Babylon -- die?

And all of his choice troops, among all of his troops, they will fall by the sword, and [those who] [are] remaining, they will be scattered to all [the directions of the] wind, and you will know that I, Yahweh, I have spoken.'