"Son of man, did not they, the house of Israel, the house of rebellion, say to you, 'What [are] you doing?'

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.

Say, I am your sign: as I have done, so shall it be done to them: they shall remove and go into captivity.

And the prince that is among them shall bear upon his shoulder in the twilight, and shall go forth: they shall dig through the wall to carry out thereby: he shall cover his face, that he may not see the ground with his eyes.

And they shall know that I am the LORD, when I shall scatter them among the nations, and disperse them in the countries.

But I will leave a few men of them from the sword, from the famine, and from the pestilence; that they may declare all their abominations among the heathen whither they come; and they shall know that I am the LORD.

And say to the people of the land, Thus saith the Lord GOD of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and of the land of Israel; They shall eat their bread with solicitude, and drink their water with astonishment, that her land may be desolate from all that is therein, because of the violence of all them that dwell therein.

The towns that are inhabited will lie in ruins, because the land will be devastated. Then they'll learn that I am the LORD."'"

Tell them therefore, Thus saith the Lord GOD: I will make this proverb to cease, and they shall no more use it as a proverb in Israel; but say to them, The days are at hand, and the effect of every vision.

Son of man, behold, they of the house of Israel say, The vision that he seeth is for many days to come, and he prophesieth of the times that are distant.

"Son of Man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel, who even now are prophesying, and tell those prophets that keep on prophesying according to what they wish would happen, "Listen to what the LORD says.'"

Thus says the Lord Yahweh: 'Alas, for the foolish prophets who [are] going after their [own] spirit, {and they did not see anything}!

For they stand not in the gaps, neither made they a hedge for the house of Israel, that men might abide the peril in the day of the LORD.

They have seen vanity and lying divination, saying, The LORD saith: and the LORD hath not sent them: and they have made others to hope that they would confirm the word.

""They say, ""declares the LORD," even though the LORD didn't send them. And they hope for the fulfillment of their message. You've crafted a false prophesy and spoken deceptive divination, haven't you? But then you say, ""declares the LORD," although I haven't spoken a single word.

And my hand shall be upon the prophets that see vanity, and that divine lies: they shall not be in the assembly of my people, neither shall they be written in the writing of the house of Israel, neither shall they enter into the land of Israel; and ye shall know that I am the Lord GOD.

Because, even because they have seduced my people, saying, Peace; and there was no peace; and one built up a wall, and lo, others daubed it with untempered mortar:

Say to [those] covering [it] [with] whitewash that it will fall; there will be {a torrent of rain}, and I will give stones of hail; they will fall! And a {windstorm} will burst forth!

And when the wall has come down, will they not say to you, Where is the whitewash which you put on it?

Thus will I accomplish my wrath upon the wall, and upon them that have daubed it with untempered mortar, and will say to you, The wall is no more, neither they that daubed it;

This is what the Lord has said: A curse is on the women who are stitching bands on all arms and putting veils on the heads of those of every size, so that they may go after souls! Will you go after the souls of my people and keep yourselves safe from death?

Wherefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Behold, I am against your pillows, that the souls which ye catch by their means may fly away; and I will tear them from your arms, and will let the souls go, the souls that ye catch, that they may fly away.

Your kerchiefs also will I tear, and deliver my people out of your hand, and they shall no more be in your hand to be hunted; and ye shall know that I am the LORD.

And men from the elders of Israel came to me, and they sat {before me}.

Son of man These men have brought up their manufactured gods upon their hear, And their stumbling-block of iniquity, have they set straight before their face, - Shall I be at all enquired of by them?

That I may take the house of Israel in their own heart, because they are all estranged from me through their idols.

And they shall bear the punishment of their iniquity: the punishment of the prophet shall be even as the punishment of him that seeketh to him;

That the house of Israel may no more go astray from me, neither be polluted any more with all their transgressions; but that they may be my people, and I may be their God, saith the Lord GOD.

Though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they should deliver their own souls only by their righteousness, saith the Lord GOD.

If I cause noisome beasts to pass through the land, and they lay it waste, so that it be desolate, that no man may pass through because of the beasts:

Though these three men were in it, as I live, saith the Lord GOD, they shall deliver neither sons nor daughters; they only shall be delivered, but the land shall be desolate.

Though these three men were in it, as I live, saith the Lord GOD, they shall deliver neither sons nor daughters, but they only shall be delivered themselves.

Though Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, as I live, saith the Lord GOD, they shall deliver neither son nor daughter; they shall deliver their own souls only by their righteousness.

For thus, saith My Lord Yahweh, How much less should they avail when my four calamitous judgments, sword and famine and mischievous wild beast and pestilence I have sent against Jerusalem, - to cut off therefrom 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 to 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.

Can wood be taken from it to make anything, or can they take a tent peg from it to hang on it any object?

And I will set my face against them; they shall go out from one fire, and another fire shall devour them; and ye shall know that I am the LORD, when I set my face against them.

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

“Son of man, make Jerusalem understand [the heinous and vile nature of] her repulsive (idolatrous) acts

And thou dost take of thy garments, And dost make to thee spotted high-places, And dost go a-whoring upon them, They are not coming in -- nor shall it be!

Yea thou didst slay my children, - And didst deliver them up. that they should be caused to pass through the fire unto them.

"Therefore, look out! I've reached out to oppose you. I withdrew your rations and delivered you to those Philistine women who hate you. Even they were embarrassed at your wicked ways!

They give gifts to all lewd women: but thou givest thy gifts to all thy lovers, and hirest them, that they may come to thee on every side for thy lewdness.

And so there came about in thee, the reverse of women, in thine unchastity, In that they did not follow thee for purposes of lewdness, - And in that thou gavest a present when no present was given to thee So didst thou become the reverse.

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 on every side against thee, and will uncover thy nakedness to them, that they may see all thy nakedness.

And I will also give thee into their hand, and they shall throw down thy eminent place, and shall break down thy high places: they shall strip thee also of thy clothes, and shall take thy fair jewels, and leave thee naked and bare.

They shall also bring up a company against thee, and they shall stone thee with stones, and thrust thee through with their swords.

And they shall burn thy houses with fire, and execute judgments upon thee in the sight of many women: and I will cause thee to cease from playing the harlot, and thou also shalt give no hire any more.

"'Behold, all they that use common proverbs, shall use this proverb also against thee: 'Like mother, like daughter.'

Yet hast thou not walked after their ways, nor done after their abominations: but as if that were a very little thing, thou wast corrupted more than they in all thy ways.

"'See here -- this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters had majesty, abundance of food, and enjoyed carefree ease, but they did not help the poor and needy.

And they were haughty, and committed abomination before me: therefore I took them away as I saw good.

Neither hath Samaria committed half of thy sins; but thou hast multiplied thy abominations more than they, and hast justified thy sisters in all thy abominations which thou hast done.

Thou also, who hast judged thy sisters, bear thy own shame for thy sins that thou hast committed more abominable than they: they are more righteous than thou: yes, be thou confounded also, and bear thy shame, in that thou hast justified thy sisters.

And [as for] your sisters, Sodom and her daughters, they will return to their former state, and Samaria and her daughters, they will return to their former state, and you and your daughters will return to your former state.

so that [they would] be a humble kingdom and not lift itself up to keep his covenant {in order for it to stand}.

But he rebelled against him in sending his embassadors into Egypt, that they might give him horses and many people. Shall he prosper? shall he escape that doeth such things? or shall he break the covenant, and be delivered?

Neither shall Pharaoh with his mighty army and great company help him in the war, when they cast up mounds and build forts, to cut off many persons.

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

In the mountain of the hight of Israel will I plant it: and it shall bring forth boughs, and bear fruit, and be a goodly cedar: and under it shall dwell all fowl of every wing; in the shade of its branches shall they dwell.

"{What do you mean by} quoting this proverb about the land of Israel, {saying}, 'The fathers, they ate unripe fruit, and the teeth of the child became blunt.'

Lo! as for all persons, mine they are, As the person of the father, so also the person of the son, mine they are, - The person that sinneth, the same shall die.

All his transgressions that he hath committed, they shall not be mentioned to him: in his righteousness that he hath done he shall live.

And [yet] they, the house of Israel, say, 'The way of the Lord is not fair!' [Are] not my ways fair, house of Israel? {Are not your ways unfair?}

Therefore, Every man according to his own ways, will I judge you O house of Israel, Declareth My Lord Yahweh, Return ye - and make good your return - from all your transgressions, That they become not unto you a stumbling_ block of iniquity.

The nations also heard of him; he was taken in their pit, and they brought him with chains to the land of Egypt.

Then the nations set against him on every side from the provinces; and they spread their net over him; he was taken in their pit.

And they put him in custody in chains, and brought him to the king of Babylon: they brought him into holds, that his voice should no more be heard upon the mountains of Israel.

And they served her as staves of power For the sceptres of rulers, And high became the stature thereof With its interwoven foliage,- And it was seen by its height, By its multitude of branches.

But it was uprooted in rage; it was thrown to the earth, and the east wind dried up its fruit; they were stripped off, and its strong branch dried up; fire consumed it.

And it came to pass in the seventh year in the fifth month, on the tent of the month, that there came in men of the elders of Israel to enquire of Yahweh, - and they sat before me.

But they rebelled against me, and would not hearken to me: they did not every man cast away the abominations of their eyes, neither did they forsake the idols of Egypt: then I said, I will pour out my fury upon them, to accomplish my anger against them in the midst of the land of Egypt.

But I wrought for my name's sake, that it should not be profaned before the heathen, among whom they were, in whose sight I made myself known to them, in bringing them forth from the land of Egypt.

Moreover also I gave them my sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the LORD that sanctify them.

But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness: they walked not in my statutes, and they despised my judgments, which if a man doeth, he shall even live in them; and my sabbaths they greatly profaned: then I said, I would pour out my fury upon them in the wilderness, to consume them.

Because they despised my judgments, and walked not in my statutes, but profaned my sabbaths: for their heart went after their idols.

Nevertheless mine eye threw a shield over them that they should not be destroyed; So I made not of them a full end in the desert.

And hallow my sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I am the LORD your God.

Notwithstanding the children rebelled against me: they walked not in my statutes, neither kept my judgments to do them, which if a man doeth, he shall even live in them: they profaned my sabbaths: then I said, I would pour out my fury upon them, to accomplish my anger against them in the wilderness.

Because they had not executed my judgments, but had despised my statutes, and had profaned my sabbaths, and their eyes were after their fathers' idols.

Wherefore I gave them also statutes that were not good, and judgments by which they should not live;

And I polluted them in their own gifts, in that they caused to pass through the fire all the first-born, that I might make them desolate, to the end that they might know that I am the LORD.

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

For when I had brought them into the land, for which I lifted up my hand to give it to them, then they saw every high hill, and all the thick trees, and they offered there their sacrifices, and there they presented the provocation of their offering: there also they made their sweet savor, and poured out there their drink-offerings.

And I will purge out from among you the rebels, and them that transgress against me: I will bring them forth out of the country where they sojourn, and they shall not enter into the land of Israel: and ye shall know that I am the LORD.

Then said I, Ah Lord GOD! they say of me, Doth he not speak parables?

And they will know, all creatures, that I, Yahweh, I will bring out my sword from its sheath; it will not return again!" '

And it shall be, when they say to thee, Why sighest thou? that thou shalt answer, For the tidings; because it cometh: and every heart shall melt, and all hands shall be feeble, and every spirit shall faint, and all knees shall be weak as water: behold, it cometh, and shall be brought to pass, saith the Lord GOD.

Cry and wail, son of man; for it is upon my people, it is upon all the princes of Israel: they are delivered over to the sword with my people; smite therefore upon thy thigh.

Also, thou son of man, appoint thee two ways, that the sword of the king of Babylon may come; they twain shall come forth out of one land: and mark out a place, mark it out at the head of the way to the city.

And it shall be to them as a false divination in their sight, to them that have sworn oaths: but he will call to remembrance the iniquity, that they may be taken.

This is what the Lord God says:

Remove the turban, and take off the crown.
Things will not remain as they are;
exalt the lowly and bring down the exalted.

While they see vanity to thee, while they divine a lie to thee, to bring thee upon the necks of them that are slain, of the wicked, whose day is come, when their iniquity shall have an end.

They who are near and they who are far off from thee shall shew themselves derisive over these, - O thou of impure name, abounding in confusion!

Lo! the princes of Israel, very man for his own arm, have they been in thee, For the sake of shedding blood.

In thee have they set light by father and mother: in the midst of thee have they dealt by oppression with the stranger: in thee have they oppressed the fatherless and the widow.

In thee are men that carry tales to shed blood: and in thee they eat upon the mountains: in the midst of thee they commit lewdness.

In thee have they uncovered their fathers' nakedness: in thee have they humbled her that was set apart for pollution.

In thee have they taken gifts to shed blood; thou hast taken interest and increase, and thou hast greedily gained from thy neighbors by extortion, and hast forgotten me, saith the Lord GOD.