Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I was among the captives by the river of Kebar, that the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God.

For they are impudent children and obstinate in heart. I send thee to them; and thou shalt say to them, Thus saith the Lord GOD.

And depart, go to them of the captivity, to the children of thy people, and speak to them, and tell them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear.

But when I speak with thee, I will open thy mouth, and thou shalt say to them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; He that heareth, let him hear; and he that forbeareth, let him forbear: for they are a rebellious house.

Then said I, Ah Lord GOD! behold, my soul hath not been polluted: for from my youth even till now have I not eaten of that which dieth of itself, or is torn in pieces; neither hath abominable flesh come into my mouth.

Thus saith the Lord GOD; This is Jerusalem: I have set it in the midst of the nations and countries that are around her.

Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because ye multiplied more than the nations that are around you, and have not walked in my statutes, neither have kept my judgments, neither have done according to the judgments of the nations that are around you:

Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I, even I, am against thee, and will execute judgments in the midst of thee in the sight of the nations.

Wherefore, as I live, saith the Lord GOD; Surely, because thou hast defiled my sanctuary with all thy detestable things, and with all thy abominations, therefore I will also diminish thee; neither shall my eye spare, neither will I have any pity.

And say, Ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord GOD: Thus saith the Lord GOD to the mountains, and to the hills, to the rivers, and to the valleys; Behold, I, even I, will bring a sword upon you, and I will destroy your high places.

In all your dwelling-places the cities shall be laid waste, and the high places shall be desolate; that your altars may be laid waste and made desolate, and your idols may be broken and cease, and your images may be cut down, and your works may be abolished.

Thus saith the Lord GOD; Smite with thy hand, and stamp with thy foot, and say, Alas, for all the evil abominations of the house of Israel! for they shall fall by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence.

Also, thou son of man, thus saith the Lord GOD to the land of Israel; An end, the end is come upon the four corners of the land.

Thus saith the Lord GOD; An evil, an only evil, behold, is come.

And it came to pass in the sixth year, in the sixth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I sat in my house, and the elders of Judah sat before me, that the hand of the Lord GOD fell there upon me.

And he put forth the form of a hand, and took me by a lock of my head; and the spirit lifted me up between the earth and the heaven, and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem, to the door of the inner gate that looketh towards the north; where was the seat of the image of jealousy, which provoketh to jealousy.

And behold, the glory of the God of Israel was there, according to the vision that I saw in the plain.

Then said he to me, Son of man, lift up thy eyes now the way towards the north. So I lifted up my eyes the way towards the north, and behold northward at the gate of the altar this image of jealousy in the entry.

Then he brought me to the door of the gate of the LORD'S house which was towards the north; and behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz.

And behold, six men came from the way of the higher gate, which lieth towards the north, and every man a slaughter-weapon in his hand; and one man among them was clothed with linen, with a writer's inkhorn by his side: and they went in and stood beside the brazen altar.

And the glory of the God of Israel had gone up from the cherub on which he was, to the threshhold of the house. And he called to the man clothed with linen, who had the writer's inkhorn by his side;

And it came to pass, while they were slaying them, and I was left, that I fell upon my face, and cried, and said, Ah Lord GOD! wilt thou destroy all the residue of Israel in thy pouring out of thy fury upon Jerusalem?

And the sound of the cherubim's wings was heard even to the outer court, as the voice of the Almighty God when he speaketh.

And the cherubim lifted up their wings, and mounted up from the earth in my sight: when they went out, the wheels also were beside them, and every one stood at the door of the east-gate of the LORD'S house; and the glory of the God of Israel was over them above.

This is the living creature that I saw under the God of Israel by the river of Kebar; and I knew that they were the cherubim.

Moreover the spirit lifted me up, and brought me to the east-gate of the LORD'S house, which looketh eastward: and behold, at the door of the gate five and twenty men; among whom I saw Jaazaniah the son of Azur, and Pelatiah the son of Benaiah, princes of the people.

Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Your slain whom ye have laid in the midst of it, they are the flesh, and this city is the caldron: but I will bring you forth out of the midst of it.

Ye have feared the sword; and I will bring a sword upon you, saith the Lord GOD.

And it came to pass, when I prophesied, that Pelatiah the son of Benaiah died. Then I fell down upon my face, and cried with a loud voice, and said, Ah Lord GOD! wilt thou make a full end of the remnant of Israel?

Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Although I have cast them far off among the heathen, and although I have scattered them among the countries, yet will I be to them as a little sanctuary in the countries where they shall come.

Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will even gather you from the people, and assemble you out of the countries where ye have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.

That they may walk in my statutes, and keep my ordinances, and do them: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God.

But as for them whose heart walketh after the heart of their detestable things and their abominations, I will recompense their way upon their own heads, saith the Lord GOD.

Then the cherubim raised their wings, and the wheels beside them; and the glory of the God of Israel was over them above.

Afterwards the spirit took me up, and brought me in vision by the Spirit of God into Chaldea, to them of the captivity. So the vision that I had seen went up from me.

Say thou to them, Thus saith the Lord GOD, This burden concerneth the prince in Jerusalem, and all the house of Israel that are among them.

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.

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.

For I am the LORD: I will speak, and the word that I shall speak shall come to pass; it shall no more be prolonged: for in your days, O rebellious house, will I say the word, and will perform it, saith the Lord GOD.

Therefore say to them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; There shall none of my words be further deferred, but the word which I have spoken shall be done, saith the Lord GOD.

Thus saith the Lord GOD; Woe to the foolish prophets, that follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing!

Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because ye have spoken vanity, and seen lies, therefore, behold, I am against you, saith the Lord GOD.

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.

Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; I will even rend it with a stormy wind in my fury; and there shall be an overflowing shower in my anger, and great hailstones in my fury to consume it.

To wit, the prophets of Israel who prophesy concerning Jerusalem, and who see visions of peace for her, and there is no peace, saith the Lord GOD.

And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Woe to the women that sew pillows to all arm-holes, and make kerchiefs upon the head of every stature to hunt souls! Will ye hunt the souls of my people, and will ye save the souls alive that come to you?

Wherefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against your pillows, with which ye there hunt the souls to make them fly, and I will tear them from your arms, and will let the souls go, even the souls that ye hunt to make them fly.

Therefore speak to them, and say to them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Every man of the house of Israel that setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumbling-block of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to the prophet; I the LORD will answer him that cometh according to the multitude of his idols;

Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Repent, and turn yourselves from your idols; and turn away your faces from all your abominations.

And I will set my face against that man, and will make him a sign and a proverb, and I will cut him off from the midst of my people; and ye shall know that I am the LORD.

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.

Son of man, when the land sinneth against me by trespassing grievously, then will I stretch out my hand upon it, and will break the staff of the bread thereof, and will send famine upon it, and will cut off man and beast from it:

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.

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.

Or if I bring a sword upon that land, and say, Sword, go through the land; so that I cut off man and beast from it:

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.

Or if I send a pestilence into that land, and pour out my fury upon it in blood, to cut off from it man and beast:

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 the Lord GOD; How much more when I send my four severe judgments upon Jerusalem, the sword, and the famine, and the noisome beast, and the pestilence, to cut off from it man and beast?

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.

Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; As the vine-tree among the trees of the forest, which I have given to the fire for fuel, so will I give the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

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

And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD to Jerusalem; Thy birth and thy nativity is of the land of Canaan; thy father was an Amorite, and thy mother a Hittite.

And as for thy nativity, in the day thou wast born thy navel was not cut, neither wast thou washed in water to supple thee; thou wast not salted at all, nor swaddled at all.

Now when I passed by thee, and looked upon thee, behold, thy time was the time of love; and I spread my skirt over thee, and covered thy nakedness: yes, I swore to thee, and entered into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord GOD, and thou becamest mine.

And thy renown went forth among the heathen for thy beauty: for it was perfect through my comeliness, which I had put upon thee, saith the Lord GOD.

My provisions also which I gave thee, fine flour, and oil, and honey, with which I fed thee, thou hast even set before them for a sweet savor: and thus it was, saith the Lord GOD.

And it came to pass after all thy wickedness, (woe, woe to thee! saith the Lord GOD;)

How weak is thy heart, saith the Lord GOD, seeing thou doest all these things, the work of an imperious lewd woman;

Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thy filthiness was poured out, and thy nakedness exposed through thy carnal connection with thy lovers, and with all the idols of thy abominations, and by the blood of thy children, which thou didst give to them;

So will I make my fury towards thee to rest, and my jealousy shall depart from thee, and I will be quiet, and will be no more angry.

Because thou hast not remembered the days of thy youth, but hast provoked me in all these things; behold therefore, I also will recompense thy way upon thy head, saith the Lord GOD: and thou shalt not commit this lewdness above all thy abominations.

As I live, saith the Lord GOD, Sodom thy sister hath not done, she nor her daughters, as thou hast done, thou and thy daughters.

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

For thus saith the Lord GOD; I will even deal with thee as thou hast done, who hast despised the oath in breaking the covenant.

That thou mayest remember, and be confounded, and never open thy mouth any more because of thy shame, when I am pacified towards thee for all that thou hast done, saith the Lord GOD.

And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; A great eagle with great wings, long-winged, full of feathers, which had divers colors, came to Lebanon, and took the highest branch of the cedar:

It was planted in a good soil by great waters, that it might bring forth branches, and that it might bear fruit, that it might be a goodly vine.

Say thou, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Shall it prosper? shall he not pull up its roots, and cut off its fruit, that it may wither? it shall wither in all the leaves of her spring, even without great power or many people to pluck it up by its roots.

As I live, saith the Lord GOD, surely in the place where the king dwelleth that made him king, whose oath he despised, and whose covenant he broke, even with him in the midst of Babylon he shall die.

Neither shall Pharaoh with his mighty army and great company make for him in the war, by casting up mounts, and building forts, to cut off many persons:

Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; As I live, surely my oath that he hath despised, and my covenant that he hath broken, even that will I recompense upon his own head.

Thus saith the Lord GOD, I will also take of the highest branch of the high cedar, and will set it; I will crop off from the top of its young twigs a tender one, and will plant it upon a high mountain and eminent:

As I live, saith the Lord GOD, ye shall not have occasion any more to use this proverb in Israel.

Hath walked in my statutes, and hath kept my judgments, to deal truly; he is just, he shall surely live, saith the Lord GOD.

As for his father, because he cruelly oppressed, stripped his brother by violence, and did that which is not good among his people, lo, even he shall die in his iniquity.

Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? saith the Lord GOD: and not that he should return from his ways, and live?

Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, saith the Lord GOD. Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin.

For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord GOD: wherefore turn ye, and live.

Son of man, speak to the elders of Israel, and say to them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Are ye come to inquire of me? As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I will not be inquired of by you.

And say to them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; In the day when I chose Israel, and lifted up my hand to the seed of the house of Jacob, and made myself known to them in the land of Egypt, when I lifted up my hand to them, saying, I am the LORD your God;

Then said I to them, Cast ye away every man the abominations of his eyes, and defile not yourselves with the idols of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.

I am the LORD your God; walk in my statutes, and keep my judgments, and do them;

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.

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

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.

Wherefore say to the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Are ye polluted after the manner of your fathers? and commit ye lewd deeds after their abominations?

For when ye offer your gifts, when ye make your sons to pass through the fire, ye pollute yourselves with all your idols, even to this day: and shall I be inquired of by you, O house of Israel? As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I will not be inquired of by you.

As I live, saith the Lord GOD, surely with a mighty hand, and with an out-stretched arm, and with fury poured out, will I rule over you:

As I pleaded with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so will I plead with you, saith the Lord GOD.