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 Chebar, that the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God.

For they are impudent children and stubborn. I do send you unto them; and you shall say unto them, Thus says the Lord GOD.

And he said unto me, Son of man, go, get unto the house of Israel, and speak with my words unto them.

And go, get you to them of the captivity, unto the children of your people, and speak unto them, and tell them, Thus says the Lord GOD; whether they will hear, or whether they refuse.

But when I speak with you, I will open your mouth, and you shall say unto them, Thus says the Lord GOD; He that hears, let him hear; and he that refuses, let him refuse: for they are a rebellious house.

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

Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, behold, I will cut off the supply of bread in Jerusalem: and they shall eat bread by weight, and with care; and they shall drink water by measure, and in dismay:

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

Therefore thus says the Lord GOD; Because you multiplied more than the nations that are round about you, and have not walked in my statutes, neither have kept my ordinances, neither have done according to the ordinances of the nations that are round about you;

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

Therefore, as I live, says the Lord GOD; Surely, because you have defiled my sanctuary with all your detestable things, and with all your abominations, therefore will I also diminish you; neither shall my eye spare, neither will I have any pity.

When I shall send upon them the evil arrows of famine, which shall be for their destruction, and which I will send to destroy you: and I will increase the famine upon you, and will cut off your supply of bread:

And say, You mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord GOD; Thus says 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 destroyed, and your images may be cut down, and your works may be abolished.

Thus says the Lord GOD; Strike with your hand, and stamp with your 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, you son of man, thus says the Lord GOD unto the land of Israel; An end, the end has come upon the four corners of the land.

Thus says the Lord GOD; An evil, a special evil, behold, has 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 hair; and the Spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven, and brought me in visions of God to Jerusalem, to the door of the inner gate that looks toward the north; where the seat of the image of jealousy was, which provokes to jealousy.

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

Then he said unto me, Son of man, lift up your eyes now in the way toward the north. So I lifted up my eyes in the way toward the north, and behold northward at the gate of the altar this image of jealousy in the entrance.

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

And, behold, six men came from the way of the higher gate, which lies toward the north, and every man a weapon for slaughter 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 bronze altar.

And the glory of the God of Israel had gone up from the cherub, where it was, to the threshold of the house. And he called to the man clothed with linen, which 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! will you destroy all the rest of Israel in your pouring out of your 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 speaks.

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 Chebar; and I knew that they were the cherubim.

Moreover the Spirit lifted me up, and brought me unto the east gate of the LORD's house, which looks 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 says the Lord GOD; Your slain whom you 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.

You have feared the sword; and I will bring a sword upon you, says 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! will you make a full end of the remnant of Israel?

Son of man, your brethren, even your brethren, the men of your kindred, and all the house of Israel entirely, are they unto whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, Get you far from the LORD: unto us is this land given in possession.

Therefore say, Thus says the Lord GOD; Although I have cast them far off among the nations, 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 says the Lord GOD; I will even gather you from the people, and assemble you out of the countries where you 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 walks after the heart of their detestable things and their abominations, I will recompense their way upon their own heads, says the Lord GOD.

Then did the cherubim lift up 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 a 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 you unto them, Thus says the Lord GOD; This burden concerns the prince in Jerusalem, and all the house of Israel that are among them.

And say unto the people of the land, Thus says the Lord GOD of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and of the land of Israel; They shall eat their bread with anxiety, and drink their water with dismay, that their land may be emptied from all who are in it, because of the violence of all them that dwell in it.

Tell them therefore, Thus says the Lord GOD; I will make this proverb to cease, and they shall no more use it as a proverb in Israel; but say unto them, The days are at hand, and the fulfillment 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 delayed: for in your days, O rebellious house, will I say the word, and will perform it, says the Lord GOD.

Therefore say unto them, Thus says the Lord GOD; There shall none of my words be delayed any more, but the word which I have spoken shall be done, says the Lord GOD.

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

Therefore thus says the Lord GOD; Because you have spoken vanity, and seen lies, therefore, behold, I am against you, says 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 register of the house of Israel, neither shall they enter into the land of Israel; and you shall know that I am the Lord GOD.

Therefore thus says the Lord GOD; I will even break 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.

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

And say, Thus says the Lord GOD; Woe to the women that sew charms upon all wrists, and make veils for the heads, of every length, to hunt souls! Will you hunt the souls of my people, and will you save the souls alive that belong to you?

Therefore thus says the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against your charms, with which you hunt the souls there like birds, and I will tear them from your arms, and will let the souls go, even the souls that you hunt like birds.

Therefore speak unto them, and say unto them, Thus says the Lord GOD; Every man of the house of Israel that sets up his idols in his heart, and puts the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and comes to the prophet; I the LORD will answer him that comes according to the multitude of his idols;

Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus says 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 you shall know that I am the LORD.

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

Son of man, when the land sins against me by trespassing grievously, then will I stretch out my hand upon it, and will break its supply of bread, 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 only their own souls by their righteousness, says the Lord GOD.

Though these three men were in it, as I live, says 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, says 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, says the Lord GOD, they shall deliver neither son nor daughter; they shall only deliver their own souls by their righteousness.

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

And they shall comfort you, when you see their ways and their doings: and you shall know that I have not done without cause all that I have done in it, says the Lord GOD.

Therefore thus says 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, says the Lord GOD.

And say, Thus says the Lord GOD unto Jerusalem; Your birth and your nativity are from the land of Canaan; your father was an Amorite, and your mother a Hittite.

And as for your nativity, in the day you were born your navel was not cut, neither were you washed in water to cleanse you; you were not rubbed with salt at all, nor swaddled at all.

Now when I passed by you, and looked upon you, behold, your time was the time of love; and I spread my skirt over you, and covered your nakedness: yea, I swore unto you, and entered into a covenant with you, says the Lord GOD, and you became mine.

And your renown went forth among the nations for your beauty: for it was perfect through my splendor, which I had put upon you, says the Lord GOD.

My food also which I gave you, fine flour, and oil, and honey, with which I fed you, you have even set it before them for a sweet aroma: and thus it was, says the Lord GOD.

And it came to pass after all your wickedness, (woe, woe unto you! says the Lord GOD;)

How weak is your heart, says the Lord GOD, seeing you do all these things, the work of a brazen harlot;

Thus says the Lord GOD; Because your filthiness was poured out, and your nakedness uncovered through your harlotries with your lovers, and with all the idols of your abominations, and by the blood of your children, which you did give unto them;

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

Because you have not remembered the days of your youth, but have enraged me in all these things; behold, therefore I also will recompense your way upon your head, says the Lord GOD: and you shall not commit this lewdness in addition to all your abominations.

As I live, says the Lord GOD, Sodom your sister has not done, she nor her daughters, as you have done, you and your daughters.

For thus says the Lord GOD; I will even deal with you as you have done, who have despised the oath in breaking the covenant.

That you may remember, and be ashamed, and never open your mouth any more because of your shame, when I provide toward you an atonement for all that you have done, says the Lord GOD.

And say, Thus says the Lord GOD; A great eagle with great wings, longwinged, full of feathers, which had various colors, came unto 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 splendid vine.

Say, Thus says the Lord GOD; Shall it prosper? shall he not pull up its roots, and cut off its fruit, so that it withers? it shall wither in all its leaves of spring, not requiring great power or many people to pluck it up by its roots.

As I live, says the Lord GOD, surely in the place where the king dwells 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 help him in the war, by casting up siege mounds, and building walls, to cut off many persons:

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

Thus says 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 his young twigs a tender one, and will plant it upon a high and prominent mountain:

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

Has walked in my statutes, and has kept my judgments faithfully; he is just, he shall surely live, says the Lord GOD.

As for his father, because he cruelly oppressed, robbed 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? says the Lord GOD: and not that he should turn from his ways, and live?

Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, says 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 dies, says the Lord GOD: therefore turn yourselves, and live.

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

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

Then said I unto them, Cast you 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 you may know that I am the LORD your God.

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

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

Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord GOD; Are you defiled after the manner of your fathers? and commit you harlotry after their abominations?