Or, if I bring a sword over that land, and I say, 'Sword, let it cross over into the land!' And I will cut off from it [both] human and animal.

And [if] these three men [were] in the midst of it, {as surely as I live}," {declares} the Lord Yahweh, "they will not save sons and daughters, but {they alone} will be saved.

and [if] Noah, Daniel, and Job [were] in the midst of her, {as surely as I live}," {declares} the Lord Yahweh, "surely not son, surely not daughter will they save by their righteousness; they would save {themselves}."

"For this is what the sovereign Lord says: How much worse will it be when I send my four terrible judgments -- sword, famine, wild animals, and plague -- to Jerusalem to kill both people and animals!

Yet some survivors will be left in it, sons and daughters who will be brought out. They will come out to you, and when you see their behavior and their deeds, you will be consoled about the catastrophe I have brought on Jerusalem -- for everything I brought on it.

They will console you when you see their behavior and their deeds, because you will know that it was not without reason that I have done everything which I have done in it, declares the sovereign Lord."

And the word of Jehovah will be to me, saying,

"Son of man, how will the wood of the vine be {better than} {any of the wood of} the branch which is among the trees of the forest?

Can wood be taken from it to make any object? Or can men take a peg from it on which to hang any vessel?

No! It is thrown in the fire for fuel; when the fire has burned up both ends of it and it is charred in the middle, will it be useful for anything?

Truly, before it was cut down, it was not used for any purpose: how much less, when the fire has made a meal of it and it is burned, will it be made into anything?

"Therefore, this is what the sovereign Lord says: Like the wood of the vine is among the trees of the forest which I have provided as fuel for the fire -- so I will provide the residents of Jerusalem as fuel.

I will set my face against them -- although they have escaped from the fire, the fire will still consume them! Then you will know that I am the Lord, when I set my face against them.

I will make the land desolate because they have acted unfaithfully, declares the sovereign Lord."

And the word of Jehovah will be to me, saying,

No eye spared upon thee to do one of these to thee, to pity upon thee; and thou wilt be east to the face of the field in loathing of thy soul in the day of bringing thee forth.

Grow up; I will make you like a plant of the field." And you grew up, and you became tall and {reached full womanhood}. [Your] breasts were formed, and your hair had grown, but you [were] naked and bare.

And I will wash thee in water, and I will wash thy bloods from off thee, and I will cover thee with oil.

And I will clothe thee with variegations, and shoe thee with tahash, and I will bind thee round with fine linen, and cover thee with silk.

And I will give a ring upon thy nose, and earrings for thine ears, and a crown of glory upon thy head.

And thou shalt be decked with gold and silver, and thy clothing fine linen and silk, and variegation; fine flour and honey and oil thou didst eat; and thou wilt be fair, very exceedingly, and thou wilt prosper into a kingdom.

And thou wilt trust in thy beauty, and commit fornication upon thy name, and thou wilt pour out thy fornications upon every one passing by; to him it will be.

You took some of your clothes and made gaily-colored high places and prostituted yourself all around them something which had never happened before nor will ever happen again.

And thou wilt take all thy ornaments from my gold and from my silver, which I gave to thee, and thou wilt make to thee images of a male and commit fornication with them.

And thou wilt take thy garments of variegations and cover them: and thou gavest mine oil and mine incense before them.

And my bread which I gave to thee, fine flour and oil and honey I gave thee to eat, and thou didst give it before them for an odor of sweetness: and it will be, says the Lord Jehovah.

And thou wilt take thy sons and thy daughters which thou didst bear to me, and thou wilt sacrifice them for these to eat From thy fornication is it small?

And thou wilt slaughter my sons and give them in causing them to pass through for them.

"How terrible! How terrible it will be for all of your wickedness!" declares the Lord GOD.

Thou wilt build to thee a brothel, and thou wilt make to thee a height in every street

At every head of the way thou didst build thy height, and thou wilt cause thy beauty to be abhorred, and thou wilt open wide thy feet to every one passing by, and thou wilt multiply thy fornication.

And thou wilt commit fornication with the sons of Egypt thy neighbors, great of flesh: and thou wilt multiply thy fornications to irritate me.

Behold now [listen very carefully], I have stretched out My hand against you, reduced your portion, and handed you over to the desire of those who hate you, the daughters of the Philistines, who are ashamed of your infamous behavior.

And thou wilt commit fornication with the sons of Assur, from thy not being satisfied; and thou wilt commit fornication with them, and thou wert not satisfied.

And thou wilt multiply thy fornination at the land of Canaan with the Chaldeans, and also thou wert not satisfied with this,

The wife committing adultery, instead of her husband she will take strangers

To all committing fornication they will give liberal gifts: and thou gavest thy liberal gifts to all loving thee, and thou wilt make them a present to come in to thee from round about in thy fornications

And it will be in thee the reverse from women in thy fornications, and none committing fornication after thee: and in thy giving liberal gifts, and none giving liberal gifts to thee; and thou wilt be for the reverse.

Thus said the Lord Jehovah Because thy brass was poured out, and thy nakedness will be uncovered in thy fornications to those loving thee, and to all the blocks of thine abominations, and according to the bloods of thy sons which thou gavest to them;

therefore, take note: I am about to gather all your lovers whom you enjoyed, both all those you loved and all those you hated. I will gather them against you from all around, and I will expose your nakedness to them, and they will see all your nakedness.

I will punish you as an adulteress and murderer deserves. I will avenge your bloody deeds with furious rage.

I will give you into their hands and they will destroy your chambers and tear down your pavilions. They will strip you of your clothing and take your beautiful jewelry and leave you naked and bare.

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

They will burn down your houses and execute judgments on you in front of many women. Thus I will put a stop to your prostitution, and you will no longer give gifts to your clients.

I will exhaust my rage on you, and then my fury will turn from you. I will calm down and no longer be angry.

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.

"'Observe -- everyone who quotes proverbs will quote this proverb about you: "Like mother, like daughter."

And thou wentest not in their ways, and thou didst not their abominations: loathing as a little, and thou wilt be corrupted above them in all thy ways.

And they will be proud, and they will do abomination before me: and I shall take them away according to what I saw.

And Shomeron sinned not according to half thy sins: and thou wilt multiply thine abominations above them, and thou wilt justify thy sisters in all thine abominations which thou didst.

And you yourself will be put to shame, in that you have given the decision for your sisters; through your sins, which are more disgusting than theirs, they are more upright than you: truly, you will be shamed and made low, for you have made your sisters seem upright.

"'I will restore their fortunes, the fortunes of Sodom and her daughters, and the fortunes of Samaria and her daughters (along with your fortunes among them),

So that you will be shamed and made low because of all you have done, when I have mercy on you.

As for your sisters, Sodom and her daughters will be restored to their former status, Samaria and her daughters will be restored to their former status, and you and your daughters will be restored to your former status.

"'For this is what the sovereign Lord says: I will deal with you according to what you have done when you despised your oath by breaking your covenant.

Yet I will remember the covenant I made with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish a lasting covenant with you.

Then you will remember your conduct, and be ashamed when you receive your older and younger sisters. I will give them to you as daughters, but not on account of my covenant with you.

I will establish my covenant with you, and then you will know that I am the Lord.

Then you will remember, be ashamed, and remain silent when I make atonement for all you have done, declares the sovereign Lord.'"

And the word of Jehovah will be to me, saying,

And say, Thus said the Lord Jehovah: The great eagle great of wings, long of the wing-feather, full of feathers, which to him variegation, came to Lebanon, and he will take the foliage of the cedar.

He plucked off the head of the suckers, and he will bring it to the land of Canaan, and he set it in a city of merchants.

And he will take from the seed of the land, and he will give it in a field of seed; he took it to many waters, he set it a willow.

And it will spring up, and it will be for a spreading vine low of stature, for its branches turning towards him, and its roots will be under him: and it will be for a vine, and it will make branches, and it will send forth foliage.

And there will be one great eagle, great of wings, and many feathers: and behold, this vine turned her roots to him, and sent forth her branches to him, to water it from the ascendings of its planting.

"'Say to them: This is what the sovereign Lord says: "'Will it prosper? Will he not rip out its roots and cause its fruit to rot and wither? All its foliage will wither. No strong arm or large army will be needed to pull it out by its roots.

Consider! It is planted, but will it prosper? Will it not wither completely when the east wind blows on it? Will it not wither in the soil where it sprouted?'"

And the word of Jehovah will be to me, saying,

Say now to the house of contradiction, Knew ye not what are these? Say, Behold, the king of Babel coming to Jerusalem, and he will take her king and her chiefs, and bring them to him into Babel.

And he will take from the seed of the kingdom and cut out with him a covenant, and he will bring him in with an oath, and he took the mighty of the land:

But this one from Israel's royal family rebelled against the king of Babylon by sending his emissaries to Egypt to obtain horses and a large army. Will he prosper? Will the one doing these things escape? Can he break the covenant and escape?

"'As surely as I live, declares the sovereign Lord, surely in the city of the king who crowned him, whose oath he despised and whose covenant he broke -- in the middle of Babylon he will die!

Pharaoh with his great army and mighty horde will not help him in battle, when siege ramps are erected and siege-walls are built to kill many people.

He despised the oath by breaking the covenant. Take note -- he gave his promise and did all these things -- he will not escape!

"'Therefore this is what the sovereign Lord says: As surely as I live, I will certainly repay him for despising my oath and breaking my covenant!

I will throw my net over him and he will be caught in my snare; I will bring him to Babylon and judge him there because of the unfaithfulness he committed against me.

All the choice men among his troops will die by the sword and the survivors will be scattered to every wind. Then you will know that I, the Lord, have spoken!

"'This is what the sovereign Lord says: "'I will take a sprig from the lofty top of the cedar and plant it. I will pluck from the top one of its tender twigs; I myself will plant it on a high and lofty mountain.

I will plant it on a high mountain of Israel, and it will raise branches and produce fruit and become a beautiful cedar. Every bird will live under it; Every winged creature will live in the shade of its branches.

All the trees of the field will know that I am the Lord. I make the high tree low; I raise up the low tree. I make the green tree wither, and I make the dry tree sprout. I, the Lord, have spoken, and I will do it!'"

And the word of Jehovah will be to me, saying,

What to you making use of this parable upon the land of Israel, saying, The fathers will eat sour grapes and the sons' teeth will be blunted?

"As surely as I live, declares the sovereign Lord, you will not quote this proverb in Israel anymore!

Indeed! All lives are mine -- the life of the father as well as the life of the son is mine. The one who sins will die.

And he shall not oppress a man; he shall turn back his pledge to the debtor; he will not strip off plunder, his bread he will give to him hungry, and the naked he will cover with a garment;

and follows my statutes and observes my regulations by carrying them out. That man is righteous; he will certainly live, declares the sovereign Lord.

Oppressing the poor and needy, stripping off plunder, he will not turn back the pledge, and he lifted up his eyes to the blocks, doing abomination,

engages in usury and charges interest. Will he live? He will not! Because he has done all these abominable deeds he will certainly die. He will bear the responsibility for his own death.

And behold, he begat a son, and he will see all his father's sins which he did, and he will see and will not do like them;

refrains from wrongdoing, does not engage in usury or charge interest, carries out my regulations and follows my statutes. He will not die for his father's iniquity; he will surely live.

As for his father, because he practices extortion, robs his brother, and does what is not good among his people, he will die for his iniquity.

"Yet you say, 'Why should the son not suffer for his father's iniquity?' When the son does what is just and right, and observes all my statutes and carries them out, he will surely live.

The person who sins is the one who will die. A son will not suffer for his father's iniquity, and a father will not suffer for his son's iniquity; the righteous person will be judged according to his righteousness, and the wicked person according to his wickedness.

"But if the wicked person turns from all the sin he has committed and observes all my statutes and does what is just and right, he will surely live; he will not die.

None of the sins he has committed will be held against him; because of the righteousness he has done, he will live.

"But if a righteous man turns away from his righteousness and practices wrongdoing according to all the abominable practices the wicked carry out, will he live? All his righteous acts will not be remembered; because of the unfaithful acts he has done and the sin he has committed, he will die.

But you will say, 'The way of the Lord is not equal.' Here I pray you, ye house of Israel. Is not my way equal?

When a righteous person turns back from his righteousness and practices wrongdoing, he will die for it; because of the wrongdoing he has done, he will die.

When a wicked person turns from the wickedness he has committed and does what is just and right, he will preserve his life.

Because he considered and turned from all the sins he had done, he will surely live; he will not die.