because they had not observed My ordinances, but had [dishonored and] rejected My statutes and had profaned My Sabbaths, and set their eyes on the [man-made] idols of their fathers.

[Therefore] I also gave them statutes that were not good and ordinances by which they could not live;

When you offer your gifts, when you make your sons pass through the fire, you are defiling yourselves with all your idols to this day. And shall I be asked by you [for an oracle], O house of Israel? As I live,” says the Lord God, “I will not be inquired of by you.

And I will separate from you the rebels and those who transgress against Me; I will bring them out of the land where they temporarily live, but they will not enter the land of Israel. Thus you will know [without any doubt] that I am the Lord.

“As for you, O house of Israel,” thus says the Lord God, “Go, let everyone serve his idols; but later you shall most certainly listen to Me, and you shall no longer profane My holy name with your gifts and with your idols.

And you will know [without any doubt] that I am the Lord when I have dealt with you for My Name’s sake, not in accordance with your evil ways nor with your corrupt conduct, O house of Israel,” says the Lord God.’”

and say to the forest of the Negev, ‘Hear the word of the Lord: thus says the Lord God, “Behold, I am about to kindle a fire in you, and it will devour every one of your green trees, as well as every one of your dry trees. The blazing flame will not be quenched and the whole surface from the south to the north will be burned by it.

All flesh will see that I the Lord have kindled it; it will not be quenched.”’”

Then I said, “Ah, Lord God! They are saying of me, ‘Is he not [just] speaking in parables and making allegories?’”

and all living will know [without any doubt] that I the Lord have drawn My sword out of its sheath; it will not be sheathed again.”’

thus says the Lord God, ‘Remove the turban and take off the crown; things shall not remain as they have been. Exalt that which is low and abase the high.

“Son of man, say to her, ‘You [Israel] are a land that is not pronounced clean or rained on in the day of indignation.’

Her prophets have smeared whitewash for them, seeing false visions and divining lies for them, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord God’—when the Lord has not spoken.

I searched for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand in the gap before Me for [the sake of] the land, that I would not destroy it, but I found no one [not even one].

Thus I will put an end to your lewdness and your prostitution brought from the land of Egypt, so that you will not lift up your eyes to them or remember Egypt [with longing] anymore.’

Thus I will make lewdness cease from the land, that all women may be admonished and taught not to commit immoral acts as you have done.

‘Therefore, thus says the Lord God,
“Woe (judgment is coming) to the bloody city,
To the pot in which there is rust
And whose rust has not gone out of it!
Take out of it piece by piece,
Without making any choice.

“For her blood [that she has shed] remains in her midst;
She put it on the bare rock;
She did not pour it on the ground
To cover it with dust.

“That it may cause wrath to come up to take vengeance,
I have put her blood [guilt for her children sacrificed to Molech] on the bare rock,
That it may not be covered.”

“She has wearied Me with toil,
Yet her great rust has not left her;
Her thick rust and filth will not be burned away by fire [no matter how hot the flame].

“In your filthiness are lewdness and outrage.
Therefore I would have cleansed you,
Yet you were not [willing to be] cleansed,
You will not be cleansed from your filthiness again
Until I have satisfied My wrath against you.

I the Lord have spoken; it is coming and I will act. I will not relent, and I will not have compassion and I will not be sorry; in accordance with your ways and in accordance with your deeds I will judge and punish you,” says the Lord God.’”

Sigh and groan in silence; do not mourn for the dead. Bind on your turban and put your sandals on your feet, and do not cover your mustache or eat the bread of [mourners furnished by other] men.”

The people said to me, “These things that you are doing—tell us, what do they mean for us?”

You will do as I [Ezekiel] have done; you shall not cover your mustache nor eat the bread of [mourning brought to you by other] men.

Your turbans will be on your heads and your sandals on your feet. You will not mourn or weep, but you will rot away in your sins and you will groan to one another.

I will give it, along with the children of Ammon, to the people of the East as a possession, so that the children of Ammon will not be remembered among the nations [any longer].

Thus says the Lord God to Tyre, “Shall not the coastlands shake at the sound of your fall when the wounded groan, when the slaughter occurs in your midst?

For thus says the Lord God, “When I make you a desolate city, like the cities which are not inhabited, when I bring up the deep over you and great waters cover you,

then I will bring you down with those who descend into the pit (the place of the dead), to the people of old, and I will make you [Tyre] live in the depths of the earth, like the ancient ruins, with those who go down to the pit, so that you will not be inhabited; but I will set glory and splendor in the land of the living.

“Son of man, say to the prince of Tyre, ‘Thus says the Lord God,

“Because your heart is lifted up
And you have said and thought, ‘I am a god,
I sit in the seat of the gods
In the heart of the seas’;
Yet you are [only] a man [weak, feeble, made of earth] and not God,
Though you [imagine yourself to be more than mortal and] think your mind is as [wise as] the mind of God—

“I will abandon you to the wilderness, you and all the fish of your rivers;
You will fall on the open field; and you will not be gathered up or buried.
I have given you as food to the [wild] animals of the earth and the birds of the sky.

“Son of man, I have broken the arm of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and behold, it has not been bound up to heal or wrapped with a bandage, so that it may be strong to hold and wield the sword.

‘The cedars in the garden of God could not hide or rival it;
The cypress trees did not have boughs like it,
And the plane trees did not have branches like it.
No tree in the garden of God was like it in its beauty.

Thus says the Lord God,

“I will spread out My net over you
With a company of many nations,
And they will bring you up in My net.

“And when I extinguish you,
I will cover the heavens [of Egypt] and darken their stars;
I will cover the sun with a cloud
And the moon will not give its light.

I will also put fear into the hearts of many peoples when I bring your destruction [and captivity] among the nations, into countries which you have not known.

Nor do they lie beside the fallen heroes of the uncircumcised, who went down to Sheol with their weapons of war, whose swords were laid [with honors] under their heads. The punishment for their sins rested on their bones, for the terror of these heroes was once in the land of the living.

then whoever hears the sound of the trumpet and does not take warning, and a sword comes and takes him away, his blood will be on his [own] head.

He heard the sound of the trumpet but did not take warning; his blood shall be on himself. But if he had taken warning, he would have saved his life.

But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet and the people are not warned, and the sword comes and takes any one of them, he is taken away because of his corruption and sin; but I will require his blood from the watchman’s hand.’

When I say to the wicked, ‘O wicked man, you will certainly die,’ and you do not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man will die because of his sin; but I will require his blood from your hand.

But if you on your part warn the wicked man to turn from his [evil] way and he does not turn from his [evil] way, he will die in his sin; but you have saved your life.

And you, son of man, say to the sons of your people, ‘The righteousness of the righteous man will not save him in the day of his transgression; and as for the wickedness of the wicked, he will not stagger because of it in the day that he turns from his wickedness, whereas a righteous man will not be able to live because of his [previous acts of] righteousness on the day when he commits sin.’

When I say to the righteous that he will most certainly live, and he trusts in his [previous acts of] righteousness [to save him] and commits injustice, none of his righteous deeds will be remembered; but he will die for his injustice that he committed.

if a wicked man returns [what he took as] a pledge, pays back what he had taken by robbery, walks in the statutes which ensure life, without committing injustice, he will certainly live; he will not die.

“Yet your people [who are in exile in Babylon] say, ‘The way of the Lord is not right;’ but as for them, it is their own way that is not right.

Yet you say, ‘The way of the Lord is not right.’ O house of Israel, I will judge you, every one [of you] in accordance with his own ways!”

They come to you as people come, and they sit before you as My people, and they hear your words, but they do not practice them; for with their mouth they express loving devotion, but their heart goes after their (unlawful) gain.

Behold, you are to them like a love song by one who has a pleasant voice and plays well on a stringed instrument [merely to entertain them]; for they hear your words but do not practice them.

“Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel. Prophesy and say to them, the [spiritual] shepherds, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “Woe (judgment is coming) to the [spiritual] shepherds of Israel who have been feeding themselves! Should not the shepherds feed the flock?

You eat the fat [the choicest of meat], and clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the best of the livestock, but you do not feed the flock.

You have not strengthened those who are weak, you have not healed the sick, you have not bandaged the crippled, you have not brought back those gone astray, you have not looked for the lost; but you have ruled them with force and violence.

“As I live,” says the Lord God, “certainly because My flock has become prey, My flock has even become food for every predator of the field for lack of a shepherd, and My shepherds did not search for My flock, but rather the shepherds fed themselves and did not feed My flock;

‘Thus says the Lord God, “Behold, I am against the shepherds, and I will demand My flock from them and make them stop tending the flock, so that the shepherds cannot feed themselves anymore. I will rescue My flock from their mouth, so that they will not be food for them.”’”

therefore, as I live,” says the Lord God, “I will hand you over to bloodshed, and bloodshed will pursue you since you have not hated bloodshed, bloodshed will pursue you.

I will make you an everlasting desolation and your cities will not be inhabited. Then you will know [without any doubt] that I am the Lord.

“Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for My holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you went.

Then you will remember [clearly] your [own] evil ways and your deeds that were not good, and you will loathe yourselves in your own sight for your sins and for your outrageous atrocities.

I am not doing this for your sake,” says the Lord God. “Let that be known to you. Be ashamed and humiliated for your [wicked] ways, O house of Israel!”

When your people say to you, ‘Will you not tell us what you mean by these?’

They will no longer defile themselves with their idols, or with their detestable things, or with any of their transgressions; but I will save them from all their transgressions in which they have sinned, and I will cleanse them. So they will be My people, and I will be their God.

“Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say to Gog, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “On that day when My people Israel live securely, will you not become aware of it [and become active]?

“I will make My holy name known in the midst of My people Israel, and I will not let them profane My holy name anymore; and the nations will know that I am the Lord, the Holy One of Israel.

The side chambers were three stories [high], one above another, and thirty chambers in each story; and the side chambers extended to the wall which stood on their inward side all around, so that they would be attached, but not attached to the wall of the temple itself.

for they were in three stories and did not have pillars like the pillars of the [outer] courtyards; therefore the upper chambers were set back from the ground more than the lower and the middle ones.

When the priests enter [the Holy Place], they shall not go out from the sanctuary into the outer court unless they lay there their garments in which they minister, for these are holy (set apart). They shall put on other garments before they approach that which is for the people.”

The ledge shall be fourteen cubits long by fourteen wide on its four sides, and the border around it shall be half a cubit; and its base shall be a cubit all around, and its steps shall face the east.”

Then the Lord said to me, “This gate shall be shut; it shall not be opened, and no one shall enter by it, for the Lord, the God of Israel, has entered by it; therefore it shall be shut.

You shall say to the rebellious ones, to the house of Israel, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “Enough of all your repulsive acts, O house of Israel!

And you have not kept charge of My holy things yourselves, but you have chosen foreigners [to please yourselves] and have set them in charge of My sanctuary.”

And they shall not come near to Me to serve as priests to Me, nor come near to any of My holy things, to the things that are most holy; but they shall bear their shame and their disgrace and [the consequences of] their repulsive acts which they have committed.

They shall have linen turbans on their heads and linen undergarments on their loins; they shall not dress themselves with anything which makes them sweat.

The priests shall not eat any bird or animal that has died a natural death or has been torn to pieces.

The prince shall enter by the porch (portico) of the gate from outside and stand by the post of the gate. The priests shall prepare and provide his burnt offering and his peace offerings, and he shall worship at the threshold of the gate and then go out; but the gate shall not be shut until evening.

But when the people of the land come before the Lord at the appointed feasts, he who enters by way of the north gate to worship shall go out by way of the south gate. And he who enters by way of the south gate shall go out by way of the north gate. No one shall return by way of the gate through which he entered, but shall go out straight ahead [through the opposite gate].

Moreover, the prince shall not take from the people’s inheritance by oppression and by evicting them from their property; he shall give his sons an inheritance from his own possession, so that My people will not be scattered, anyone from his possession.”’”

Again he measured a thousand [cubits]; and it was a river that I could not pass through, for the water had risen, enough water to swim in, a river that could not be crossed [by wading].

But its swamps and marshes will not become fresh [and wholesome for animal life]; they will [as the river subsides] be left encrusted with salt.

By the river on its bank, on one side and on the other, will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not wither and their fruit will not fail. They shall bear every month because their water flows from the sanctuary, and their fruit will be for food and their leaves for healing.”

It shall be for the priests who are sanctified of the sons of Zadok, who have kept My charge, and who did not go astray when the children (descendants) of Israel went astray as the [other] Levites did.

And they shall not sell any of it or exchange it, or allow this choice portion of land to pass to others; for it is holy to the Lord.