Whether this rebellious group listens to you or not, at least they'll realize that a prophet had appeared in their midst!

"So when I say to a wicked person, "You're about to die,' if you don't warn or instruct that wicked person that his behavior is wicked so he can live, that wicked person will die in his sin, but I'll hold you responsible for his death.

If you warn the wicked person, and he doesn't repent of his wickedness or of his wicked behavior, he'll die in his sin, but you will have saved your own life.

"When a righteous man abandons his righteousness to practice unrighteousness, I'll set a stumbling block before him. He'll die. If you don't warn him, he'll die in his sin and the righteous deeds that he had practiced won't be remembered, but you'll be held responsible for his death.

If you warn the righteous person, so that he doesn't commit sin, then he'll live, since he had been warned. And you will have saved your life."

The hand of the LORD was upon me, and he told me, "Get up! Go to the valley, and I'll speak with you there."

Meanwhile, I'll make your tongue stick to the roof of your mouth so that you'll be mute and unable to reprove them, since they're a rebellious group.

But when I speak with you, I'll open your mouth so you can say to them, "This is what the Lord GOD says: "As for those who will listen, "Let them listen,' but as for those who refuse, "Let them refuse,' since they're a rebellious group."'"

You are to lay siege against it, build a rampart around it, set a bulwark against it, encircle it with a berm, set up camps against it, and place battering rams around it.

Then you are to take a flat, iron plate and set it up as an iron wall between you and the city. "Next, you are to turn toward it, oppose it, and place it under siege, because you are to lay siege to it. All of this will serve as a sign to the house of Israel.

"Now as for you, you are to sleep on your left side, symbolically bearing the punishment of the house of Israel while you're counting the days you'll be sleeping on your left side to bear symbolically the punishment for their sin.

Look! I'll tie you up so that you're unable to turn from one side to the other until you've completed your siege."

"Furthermore, you are to take some wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and spelt, and mix them together in one container. Then you are to make bread from these grains sufficient to supply you through the time during which you'll be sleeping on your side. You are to eat it for 390 days.

The food that you'll be eating is to consist of portions weighing 20 shekels, to be consumed daily at regular intervals.

Then the LORD said, "This is how the Israelis will be eating unclean food among the nations, where I'll be sending them."

"Okay," he responded. "I'll allow you to substitute cow's dung for human dung. Cook your food over that."

He also told me, "Son of Man, look! I'm about to disrupt the source of bread in Jerusalem. As a result, they'll ration bread by weight while their terror continues to grow and they'll ration drinking water while their horror continues to mount!

Indeed, they'll need bread and water, but everyone will be panic-stricken as they waste away in their iniquity."

You are to burn a third of it in the middle of the city when you've finished your siege. Next, you are to take another third of it and beat it with your sword. Last, you are to scatter the remaining third to the wind, after which I'll unsheathe my sword and pursue them.

"Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: "Watch out! I that's right, even I am against you. I'll carry out my sentence among you right in front of the nations.

In fact, I'm going to do what I've never done before and what I'll never again do, because of all of your loathsome behavior:

"Therefore, as sure as I live," declares the Lord GOD, "because you've defiled my sanctuary with every loathsome thing and every abomination, I'll restrain myself, and I'll show neither pity nor compassion.

A third of you will die by pestilence, starving because of the famine in your midst. Another third will die violently by the violence of war around you. The final third I'll scatter to the wind as I unsheathe my sword to pursue them.

"Only then will I stop being angry my burning in anger. Then they'll know that I've spoken out in my arduous anger. Only then will my burning anger against them be exhausted.

I'll send arrows of severe famine in their direction, meant for destruction, which I'll shoot, intending to destroy them. I'll make you have more and more famines that will attack you, and I'll disrupt your source of food.

"I'll send famine and wild beasts against you that will rob you of your children. Pestilence and bloodshed will devastate you when I'll declare war on you. I, the LORD, have spoken."

Your altars will become desolate and your sun pillars will be shattered. I'll throw your slain down right in front of your idols.

I'll place the corpses of the Israelis in front of their idols. I'll scatter your bones around your altar.

The fatally wounded among you will fall, and at that time you'll know that I am the LORD.

I'll leave a remnant among you those who will escape the sword when I'll have scattered you throughout the earth.

Your survivors will remember me among the nations where they'll be taken captives. I've been crushed by their unfaithful hearts that have turned against me.

Then they'll know that I am the LORD. I didn't declare this evil that's intended for them without a reason.'"

This is what the Lord GOD says: "Clap your hands and stamp your feet! Say, "Oh, no!' Because of all the detestable evil that has come from Israel's house, they'll fall by the sword, famine, and pestilence.

"You'll learn that I am the LORD, when the fatally wounded will be among their idols, around their altars, on every hill, on top of the mountains, under every luxuriant tree, and under all the full-grown foliage every place where they've offered fragrant aromas to all their idols.

I'll stretch out my hands to strike them and send devastation to the land, from the wilderness of Diblah, throughout all their dwelling places. Then they'll know that I am the LORD."

I won't be showing pity on you and I won't be showing compassion. I'm going to turn your own lifestyles against you while your detestable practices remain among you. Then you'll learn that I am the LORD.'"

Very soon now, I'll pour out my burning anger on you. I'll complete expressing my anger at you, judge you according to your behavior, and repay you for all your detestable practices.

I won't be showing pity or compassion. I'll repay you according to your behavior while your detestable practices remain among you. And you'll know that I, the LORD, have been attacking you.'"

"They'll clothe themselves with sackcloth, terror will overcome them, shame will cover their faces, and baldness will spread over their entire heads.

They'll fling their silver into the streets, and their gold will be cast away as impure. Their silver and gold won't be able to deliver them during the time of the LORD's wrath. They won't be able to satisfy their appetites or fill their stomachs, because their iniquity has tripped them up."

"As for his beautiful ornament, he set it up in majesty, but they made detestable images and loathsome idols. Therefore, I'll give them something loathsome

I'll give it as plunder into the control of strangers and as the spoils of war to the wicked who will invade the land to profane it.

I'll turn my face away from them so that they'll defile my treasured place. Robbers will enter and profane it!

Therefore, I'm bringing the worst of the nations, who will take possession of their houses. I'll cause the pride of the mighty to cease, and their sanctuaries will be profaned.

"When destruction comes, they'll seek peace, but there will be none to be found.

Disaster upon disaster will come, followed by rumor after rumor. They'll seek an oracle from the prophet, but the Law will be gone from the priests, and counsel from the elders.

"The king will mourn, the prince will be clothed with desolation, and the hands of the people of the land will tremble. I'll deal with them according to their behavior and I will judge them by how they've judged. Then they'll learn that I am the LORD."

I'm going to deal with them in rage and anger. I'll show neither pity nor compassion. They'll cry loudly directly in my ears, but I won't listen to them."

"Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says, "The corpses that you've laid out in your midst are the meat, and this city is the cooking pot. But you'll be taken out from the middle of it.

You're going to die violently, and I'll judge you as far as the borders of Israel. Then you'll learn that I am the LORD.

Then you'll learn that I am the LORD, because you didn't live by my statues or obey my ordinances. Instead, you obeyed the ordinances of the nations around you."'"

"Therefore you are to say, "This is what the Lord GOD says, "I'm going to gather you from among the nations, assembling you from the lands among which you have been dispersed. I'll give you the land of Israel.

then I'll give them a united heart, placing a new spirit within them. I'll remove their stubborn heart and give them a heart that's sensitive to me.

When they live by my statutes and keep my ordinances by observing them, then they'll be my people and I will be their God.

But to those whose hearts delight in loathsome things and detestable practices, I'll bring the consequences of their behavior crashing down on their own heads," declares the Lord GOD.'"

"So now, Son of Man, you are to prepare your luggage for a trip into exile, and then you are to leave during the daytime so they see you leaving. Leave from your place to another while they're watching. Then perhaps they'll realize that they're a rebellious house.

Tell them, "I'm a sign for you. Just as I enacted it, it's going to happen to them. They'll go into exile and captivity.

Then the prince, who will be one of them, will carry his luggage on his shoulder in the dark and will go out. They'll dig a hole in the wall for him to go through. His face will be covered so that he won't be able to see the land with his eyes.

But I'll throw my net over him. As a result, he'll be captured with my net, and with it I'll bring him to Babel, the land of the Chaldeans. He won't see it, though he'll die there.

I'll scatter every attendant who surrounds him, along with his entire army, to every wind. When I unsheathe my sword to pursue them,

they'll learn that I am the LORD, when I've dispersed them among the nations and scattered them throughout the earth."'"

"But I'll preserve a few people out of the violent death, famine, and pestilence, so they can recount their detestable practices among the nations when they'll go there. Then they'll know that I am the LORD."

Then tell the people of the land, "This is what the LORD says to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to Israel's land: "They'll eat their food in anxiety and drink their water in trepidation, because their land will be desolate in its entirety due to all the violence committed by all who live in it.

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

Because I am the LORD, I'll speak and the message that I communicate will be accomplished without delay. While you continue to be a rebellious house, I'll speak the message and then fulfill it," declares the Lord GOD.'"

My hand will oppose the prophets who see false visions and speak deceptive divinations. They won't be included with the council of my people, nor will they be entered into the registry of Israel's house or enter Israel's land. Then you'll know that I am the Lord GOD,

"Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says, "In my burning anger, I'll rip it open with a windstorm. In my anger, I'll rinse it off with rain, and put an end to it with a hailstorm in my destructive rage.

I'll tear down the wall that you've smeared with whitewash, level it to the ground, and tear out its foundation. Then it will collapse and you'll perish with it! Then you'll know that I am the LORD.

""That's how I'll vent my anger on the wall and on the ones who coated it with whitewash. And I'll say to you, "The wall is gone and so are those who coated it."

""Therefore, this is what the Lord GOD says, "Watch out! I'm opposing your amulets with which you hunt souls as one would swat at a flying insect. I'll tear them off your arms and then deliver those people, whom you've hunted like birds.

I'll also tear off your headbands and deliver my people from your grip so that they won't be under your control anymore. Then you'll know that I am the LORD.

you'll no longer see false visions or again practice divination, because I'm going to deliver my people from your power. Then you'll know that I am the LORD."'"

I'll do this in order to capture the hearts of Israel's house who have become alienated from me due to all of their idols."'"

I'm determined to oppose that person and make him an example. Proverbs will be written about him when I eliminate him from my people. Then you'll know that I am the LORD."'"

"Now as to the prophet, if through deceit he delivers a message, I the LORD have deceived that prophet! I'll reach out in opposition to him and exterminate him from among my people Israel.

They'll bear the consequences of their guilt, and the prophet will be just as guilty as the one who seeks that prophet's guidance.

Then Israel's house won't wander away from me again, nor will they defile themselves again with all their transgressions. They'll become my people and I'll be their God," declares the Lord GOD.

"Son of Man, when a nation sins against me by a treacherous act, I'll reach out to oppose it, destroying its source of food, by sending famine against it, and by destroying both people and beast within it.

But look! There will be a remnant who escapes, a few sons and daughters to be brought out. Look! They'll come out to you and you'll see how they've lived and what they've done, and you'll be comforted concerning the catastrophe that I brought on Jerusalem, including everything that I brought against her.

They'll comfort you when you see how they've lived and what they've done, because you'll know for certain that I haven't done anything that I've done against them without any reason," declares the Lord GOD.

"""When I passed by you, I saw you kicking around, covered in your own blood. That's when I told you, "Live!' while you were wallowing in your blood. I commanded you to live, even as you lay there in your own blood.

therefore, watch out! I'm about to gather all your lovers from whom you've received your pleasure, everyone whom you've loved, and those whom you've hated. I'll gather them together to oppose you from every side, and they'll uncover your nakedness in their presence. Then they'll see you completely naked.

I'll judge you with the same standards by which I issue verdicts against a woman who commits adultery and murder. I'll avenge the blood you've shed with impassioned wrath.

"I'll also deliver you into their control, and they'll break down your mounds, tear down your high places, strip off your clothes, remove your fine jewels, and then they'll leave you stark naked!

They'll bring a mob against you to stone you to death and cut you into pieces with their swords.

Then they'll burn your houses and carry out my sentence against you in the sight of many women.

"That's how I'll make you stop your prostitution so you won't pay any prostitute's fees anymore. I'll stop being angry with you, and I'll cease being jealous. I'll be calm and not be indignant anymore.

"I'll bring them back from their captivity that is, from the captivity of Sodom and her daughters, along with the captivity of Samaria and her daughters and the captivity of your captives among them.

But you'll continue to bear your own reproach and be humiliated for everything that you've done. You'll be a comfort to them.

"since the Lord GOD says, "I'll deal with you according to what you've done, when you despised your oath by breaking the covenant.

""Meanwhile, as for me, I'll remember my covenant with you from when you were young, because I'll establish an eternal covenant with you.

Then you'll remember your behavior and be ashamed when you greet your sisters your elder sister and your younger sister. I'll give them to you as daughters, but not on account of my covenant with you.

I'll establish my covenant with you, and then you'll know that I am the LORD.

It flourished and became a low, spreading vine. Its branches turned toward him, and its roots spread under him to become a vine that put out shoots and spread out its branches.

"As long as I live," declares the Lord GOD, "in Babylon, that place where the king has enthroned him, whose oath he despised so as to break his covenant, he'll die with him.

I'll spread my net over him so that he'll be caught in my snare. I'll bring him to Babylon and carry out my sentence there because of his treachery toward me.

The fugitives of his troops will die by the sword, and the survivors will be scattered to the four winds. Then you'll know that I, the LORD, have spoken."

This is what the Lord GOD says, "I'm also going to take a shoot from the top of a cedar and plant it. I'll pluck off its delicate twigs and transplant it on a high and lofty mountain.

I'll transplant it on Israel's land, and it will grow branches, bear fruit, and become a majestic cedar. All sorts of birds will rest under it, and they'll settle down in the shade of its branches.

doesn't refuse to help the afflicted, or refuses to loan with usury or exact interest, but instead follows my ordinances and lives his life consistent with my statutes. He won't die because of his father's sin, will he? No! He'll certainly live.