"Son of Man," he said, "I've appointed you to be a watchman over the house of Israel. Therefore when you hear a message that comes from me, you are to warn them for me.

"Now as for you, Son of Man, you are to go find a sharp sword and use it like a barber's razor. You are to cut your hair and beard. Then you are to take a weighing scale and divide your shaved hair into three parts.

You are to preserve a few strands of hair and hide them in the folds of your garment.

"This is what the Lord GOD says, "This is Jerusalem. I placed her in the center of nations, with many nations surrounding her.

But she rebelled against my ordinances and my statutes. She practiced more evil than all the nations and territories around her. They rejected my ordinances and didn't live by my statutes.'

""The end is coming! ""The end is here! ""And it's looking in your direction! ""Look out! It's arrived!

The form of a hand reached out and took me by the hair of my head. Then the Spirit lifted me up between the earth and sky, brought me toward Jerusalem, and in visions that came from God took me through the doors of the inner gate that faced north, where an image that provoked God's jealous anger had been erected.

Then the Spirit told me, "Son of Man, don't you see what they're doing? The house of Israel practices awful, detestable things here, so I'm going far away from my sanctuary. But you're about to see things even more detestable than these."

Then he told me, "Go on through that entrance, so you may see the wicked, detestable things that they're committing here."

"Do you see this, Son of Man?" he asked me. "Is it an insignificant thing for Judah's house to commit the detestable things that they're doing here? They've filled the land with violence and turned away from me, causing me to become angry again. Look how they're sniffing with their noses!

"Son of Man, you live in a rebellious house that has eyes to see, but they can't see, and ears to hear, but they can't hear, since they're a rebellious house.

The prophets of Israel prophesied about Jerusalem and saw visions of peace concerning her, yet there's no peace,'" declares the Lord GOD.

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.

"Son of Man, make known to Israel her detestable practices.

I made you increase like sprouting grain in the field. As a result, you multiplied greatly. Eventually, you reached the age when young women start wearing jewelry. Your breasts were formed, your hair had grown, but you were still bare and naked."'"

who commits adultery, preferring a stranger over her husband!

You're the daughter of your mother, who loathed her husband and children. You're the sister of your sisters, who loathed their husbands and children.

"Your mother was a Hittite and your father was an Amorite. Your elder sister was Samaria. She and her daughters lived in the north, while your younger sister who lived in the south with her daughters was Sodom.

"As I live," declares the Lord GOD, "your sister Sodom and her daughters didn't do what you and your daughters have done.

Look! This was the sin of your sister Sodom and her daughters: Pride, too much food, undisturbed peace, and failure to help the poor and needy.

"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.

Your sister Sodom and her daughters will be restored to their former status. Samaria and her daughters will be restored to their former status. Then you and your daughters will be restored to your former status.

"Tell my rebellious house, "Don't you know what these things mean? Look! The king of Babylon came to Jerusalem, captured her king and princes, and took them with him to Babylon.

if he doesn't eat at mountain shrines, and doesn't look to the idols that have been erected in Israel's house, if he doesn't defile his neighbor's wife or approach a woman during her time of menstrual separation,

Tell them: "What a lioness your mother was among lions! She reared her cubs in the midst of fierce young males.

When she learned that her plans had been frustrated and that her hopes were dashed, she took another of her cubs and turned him into a fierce lion.

"Now, Son of Man, will you truly judge that blood-stained city? Then make her aware of all of her detestable practices.

"You are to say, "This is what the Lord GOD says: "The city keeps on shedding blood within her, hastening her time to be judged. She crafts idols that defile her.

"Son of Man, tell her, "You're a land that hasn't been purified, one that hasn't been rained on in the day of indignation.

There's a conspiracy of prophets within her, and like a roaring lion tearing its prey, they've devoured people, and confiscated treasures, and taken precious things. They've added to the population of widows within her.

Her priests have violated my Law and profaned my sacred things. They didn't differentiate between what's sacred and what's common. They didn't instruct others to discern clean from unclean things. They refused to keep my Sabbaths.

""I'm constantly being profaned among them. Her princes within her are like wolves tearing their prey apart. They shed blood, destroying souls, and make unjust gain.

""Her prophets whitewashed all of these things through false visions and lying divinations. They kept on saying, "This is what the Lord GOD says"", when the LORD has not spoken.

"Son of Man, here are two sisters who are daughters from the same mother.

The older one was named Oholah and her sister was named Oholibah. They belonged to me and gave birth to sons and daughters. Now as to their real identities, Oholah refers to Samaria and Oholibah to Jerusalem."

She bestowed her sexual favors on them all of them, the best of the Assyrians and with whomever she lusted for.

"She defiled herself with all their idols. She never abandoned the immorality that she practiced in Egypt during her youth, where they laid down with her and fondled her virgin breasts, lavishing her with all kinds of favors.

Therefore, I turned her over to the control of her lovers, that is, into the control of the Assyrians for whom she lusted.

They stripped her naked, took away her sons and daughters, and executed her with a sword. She became an object of ridicule among other nations when they punished her."

"Her sister Oholibah saw this, but she was more corrupt in her lust and sexual immorality than her sister had been in her own sexual immorality.

The Babylonians came to her love nest and defiled her with their sexual immorality. As a result, she was defiled by them. Even so, she turned away from them in disgust.

She displayed her immorality publicly and stripped herself naked, so I turned away in disgust from her, just as I had turned away in disgust from her sister.

She lusted after her paramours, whose genitals are like those of donkeys, and whose emissions are like those of horses.

You took the path of your sister, so I'll place her cup in your hand.'

The sound of a carefree multitude accompanied her. Men from a multitude of nations were coming including Sabeans from the wilderness, adorned with bracelets on their hands and beautiful crowns on their heads.

"After she had worn herself out by her adulterous behavior, I asked her, "Will they continue with their sexual immorality and with their prostitution?'

They've gone to her, like men do, to have sex with a prostitute. They had sex with Oholah and Oholibah, those licentious women.

Her blood was in it. She poured it out onto bare rock. She didn't pour it out on the ground, intending to cover it with dirt.

and will destroy the city walls of Tyre. After they break down her fortified towers, I'll scrape away the city's debris, right down to the bare bedrock,

Furthermore, her citizens who live on the mainland will be executed with swords. That's how they'll learn that I am the LORD.'"

"This is what the Lord GOD says to Tyre: "When your wounded citizens groan while the slaughter takes place among you, the people who live in the coastlands will tremble in terror as they hear about your fall, will they not?

They'll sing this mourning song for you: "How lost you are, you inhabited city, that was built in the middle of the sea! How famous you were! How strong on the sea! She and her inhabitants inflicted terror to everyone who lived within her."

"Son of Man, turn your attention to Sidon and prophesy against her.

Tell her: "Pay attention to me, Sidon! I'm against you, and I'm going to glorify myself right in your midst.' They'll learn that I am the LORD when I carry out these punishments and manifest my holiness in her midst.

I'm going to send disease into that city and blood into her streets. People will drop dead in her midst from the violence done to her from every side. Then they'll learn that I am the Lord GOD."

I'll see to it that Egypt becomes a devastated land in the midst of devastated lands. Her cities deep inside her territories will be laid waste and desolate for 40 years. I will scatter Egypt among the nations and disperse them throughout the land.'"

"Son of Man, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon made his army work very hard to attack Tyre. They tore their hair out and rubbed their shoulders raw! Despite all of that work trying to capture Tyre, neither he nor his army got paid from Tyre for all that!

Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: "I'm going to give the land of Egypt to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. He's going to carry off her wealth, confiscate her war implements, and use it all to pay wages for his army!

"Son of Man, here's what you are to prophesy and announce, "This is what the Lord GOD says: "Wail out loud! Oh no! The day!

War will come to Egypt, and Ethiopia will be in anguish when the slain fall in Egypt, when her wealth is carried off, and her foundations are demolished.

"This is what the LORD says: "Those who are supporting Egypt will fall; her majestic strength that she brought from the Aswan fortress will collapse by the sword that invades her,' declares the Lord GOD.

They will know that I am the LORD when I kindle my fire in Egypt and all who help her are crushed.

It will be a dark day for Tahpanhes when I break the yokes of Egypt. That's when her arrogant power will come to an end. She'll be covered by a cloud, and her citizens will go into captivity.

"Son of Man, mourn about the hordes of Egypt. Bring them down that is, her and the citizens of those majestic nations whose destiny is the deep part of the Pit.

Assyria will be there, along with all of those who keep company with her, all of them killed violently.

Her grave will be set in the remotest part of the Pit, surrounded by those who accompanied her. All of them will have been killed, executed violently, who spread terror throughout the land of the living.

They have prepared a bed for her and for her hordes that surround her graves. All of them are uncircumcised, having been killed violently, because they had spread terror throughout the land of the living. They will bear the shame of those who descend to the Pit and will take their place among the dead.

"Meshech and Tubal will be there, along with all of the hordes that surround her grave. Every one of them is uncircumcised, killed violently, because they spread terror throughout the land of the living.

"Now as for you, Son of Man, I've established you as a sentinel for the house of Israel. So whenever you hear a message from me, you are to warn the people from me.

Then I'll turn the land into a desolate ruin and her arrogant strength will come to an abrupt end. The mountains of Israel will become so desolate that no one will be able to travel over them."

"Now as for you, Son of Man, your nation's children keep gathering together to talk about you beside the walls and at the doorway to their houses. Everyone tells one another, "Please come! Let's go hear what the LORD has to say!'

Then they come to you as a group, sit down right in front of you as if they were my people, hear your words and then they don't do what you say because they're seeking only their own desires, they pursue ill-gotten profits, and they keep following their own self-interests.

"Therefore this is what you are to prophesy: "Here's what the Lord GOD says, "You've been turned into a desolate wasteland and crushed by everyone who surrounds you for a very, very good reason. You've become the property of all the other nations and you've become the object of gossip and whispering campaigns of the nations."'"

"I won't let you hear other people mock you, and no nation will ever make you childless again,' declares the Lord GOD."

He led me here and there throughout the valley, and I was amazed to see that the surface of the entire valley was covered with myriads of very dry bones!

This is what the man told me: "Son of Man, watch carefully, listen closely, and remember everything I'm going to be showing you, because you've been brought here to be shown what you're about to see. Be sure that you tell the house of Israel everything that you observe."

"Here are the measurements of the altar in cubits that were a cubit and a handbreadth long: its base is a cubit long and a cubit wide, and its border around the edge at one handbreadth is to be the height of the altar.

Also, they are not to shave their heads nor let their hair grow long. Instead, they are certainly to trim the hair on their heads.

"Here are the standards for presenting offerings: a sixth of an ephah that is based on the standard omer of wheat, and a sixth of an ephah based on the standard omer of barley.