"Are you willing to pronounce judgment? Are you willing to pronounce judgment, son of man? Then confront them with the abominable practices of their fathers,

The Lord said to me: "Son of man, are you willing to pronounce judgment on Oholah and Oholibah? Then declare to them their abominable deeds!

Bloody city

But upright men will punish them appropriately for their adultery and bloodshed, because they are adulteresses and blood is on their hands.

"'Therefore this is what the sovereign Lord says: Woe to the city of bloodshed, the pot whose rot is in it, whose rot has not been removed from it! Empty it piece by piece. No lot has fallen on it.

Furthermore Manasseh killed so many innocent people, he stained Jerusalem with their blood from end to end, in addition to encouraging Judah to sin by doing evil in the sight of the Lord.

Just as the Lord had announced, he rejected Judah because of all the sins which Manasseh had committed.

"It did no good for me to punish your people. They did not respond to such correction. You slaughtered your prophets like a voracious lion."

There is only cursing, lying, murder, stealing, and adultery. They resort to violence and bloodshed.

Woe to the city guilty of bloodshed! She is full of lies; she is filled with plunder; she has hoarded her spoil!

so that on you will come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.

In reply all the people said, "Let his blood be on us and on our children!"

so that this generation may be held accountable for the blood of all the prophets that has been shed since the beginning of the world,

Which of the prophets did your ancestors not persecute? They killed those who foretold long ago the coming of the Righteous One, whose betrayers and murderers you have now become!

Thou shalt

"Son of man, confront Jerusalem with her abominable practices

"Shout loudly! Don't be quiet! Yell as loud as a trumpet! Confront my people with their rebellious deeds; confront Jacob's family with their sin!

Those guilty of sin must be rebuked before all, as a warning to the rest.

Her abominations

He said to me, "Go in and see the evil abominations they are practicing here."

General references

The Lord said to me, "I have made you like a metal assayer to test my people like ore. You are to observe them and evaluate how they behave."

You have killed many people in this city; you have filled its streets with corpses.'