Now it came about in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, on the fifth day of the month, while I was by the river Chebar among those who had been made prisoners, that the heavens were made open and I saw visions of God.

On the fifth day of the month, in the fifth year after King Jehoiachin had been made a prisoner,

And, on my opening my mouth, he made me take the roll as food.

See, I have made your face hard against their faces, and your brow hard against their brows.

Like a diamond harder than rock I have made your brow: have no fear of them and do not be overcome by their looks, for they are an uncontrolled people.

Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the children of Israel: so give ear to the word of my mouth, and give them word from me of their danger.

For this cause, by my life, says the Lord, because you have made my holy place unclean with all your hated things and all your disgusting ways, you will become disgusting to me; my eye will have no mercy and I will have no pity.

And your altars will be made waste, and your sun-images will be broken: and I will have your dead men placed before your images.

In all your living-places the towns will become broken walls, and the high places made waste; so that your altars may be broken down and made waste, and your images broken and ended, and so that your sun-images may be cut down and your works rubbed out.

And you will be certain that I am the Lord, when their dead men are stretched among their images round about their altars on every high hill, on all the tops of the mountains, and under every branching tree, and under every thick oak-tree, the places where they made sweet smells to all their images.

As for their beautiful ornament, they had put it on high, and had made the images of their disgusting and hated things in it: for this cause I have made it an unclean thing to them.

For this reason I will send the worst of the nations and they will take their houses for themselves: I will make the pride of their strength come to an end; and their holy places will be made unclean.

Then he said to me, Have you seen this, O son of man? is it a small thing to the children of Judah that they do the disgusting things which they are doing here? for they have made the land full of violent behaviour, making me angry again and again: and see, they put the branch to my nose.

Give up to destruction old men and young men and virgins, little children and women: but do not come near any man who has the mark on him: and make a start at my holy place. So they made a start with the old men who were before the house.

You have made great the number of your dead in this town, you have made its streets full of dead men.

Then I gave an account to those who had been taken prisoners of all the things which the Lord had made me see.

And before their eyes, take your goods on your back and go out in the dark; go with your face covered: for I have made you a sign to the children of Israel.

And I did as I was ordered: I took out my vessels by day, like those of one who is taken away, and in the evening I made a hole through the wall with a tent-pin; and in the dark I went out, taking my things on my back before their eyes.

And the peopled towns will be made waste, and the land will become a wonder; and you will be certain that I am the Lord.

For this cause say to them, This is what the Lord has said: I have made this saying come to an end, and it will no longer be used as a common saying in Israel; but say to them, The days are near, and the effect of every vision.

You have not gone up into the broken places or made up the wall for the children of Israel to take your place in the fight in the day of the Lord.

They have seen visions without substance and made use of secret arts, who say, The Lord has said; and the Lord has not sent them: hoping that the word would have effect.

Have you not seen a vision without substance and have you not falsely made use of secret arts, when you say, The Lord has said; though I have said nothing?

Because with your false words you have given pain to the heart of the upright man when I had not made him sad; in order to make strong the hands of the evil-doer so that he may not be turned from his evil way and get life:

Even if these three men were in it, by my life, says the Lord, they would not keep safe their sons or daughters, but only themselves, and the land would be made waste.

See, it is put into the fire for burning: the fire has made a meal of its two ends and the middle part of it is burned; is it good for any work?

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?

Now when I went past you, looking at you, I saw that your time was the time of love; and I put my skirts over you, covering your unclothed body: and I gave you my oath and made an agreement with you, says the Lord, and you became mine.

And I made you fair with ornaments and put jewels on your hands and a chain on your neck.

So you were made beautiful with gold and silver; and your clothing was of the best linen and silk and needlework; your food was the best meal and honey and oil: and you were very beautiful.

But you put your faith in the fact that you were beautiful, acting like a loose woman because you were widely talked of, and offering your cheap love to everyone who went by, whoever it might be.

And you took your robes and made high places for yourself ornamented with every colour, acting like a loose woman on them, without shame or fear.

And you took the fair jewels, my silver and gold which I had given to you, and made for yourself male images, acting like a loose woman with them;

That you made for yourself an arched room in every open place.

You put up your high places at the top of every street, and made the grace of your form a disgusting thing, opening your feet to everyone who went by, increasing your loose ways.

For you have made your arched room at the top of every street, and your high place in every open place; though you were not like a loose woman in getting together your payment.

And Samaria has not done half your sins; but you have made the number of your disgusting acts greater than theirs, making your sisters seem more upright than you by all the disgusting things which you have done.

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.

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

But still I will keep in mind the agreement made with you in the days when you were young, and I will make with you an eternal agreement.

And there was another eagle with great wings and thick feathers: and now this vine, pushing out its roots to him, sent out its branches in his direction from the bed where it was planted, so that he might give it water.

He had it planted in a good field by great waters so that it might put out branches and have fruit and be a strong vine.

And he took one of the sons of the king and made an agreement with him; and he put him under an oath, and took away the great men of the land:

So that the kingdom might be made low with no power of lifting itself up, but might keep his agreement to be his servants.

By my life, says the Lord, truly in the place of the king who made him king, whose oath he put on one side and let his agreement with him be broken, even in Babylon he will come to his death.

And it will be clear to all the trees of the field that I the Lord have made low the high tree and made high the low tree, drying up the green tree and making the dry tree full of growth; I the Lord have said it and have done it.

The soul which does sin will be put to death: the son will not be made responsible for the evil-doing of the father, or the father for the evil-doing of the son; the righteousness of the upright will be on himself, and the evil-doing of the evil-doer on himself.

And one of her little ones came to growth under her care, and became a young lion, learning to go after beasts for his food; and he took men for his meat.

And the nations had news of him; he was taken in the hole they had made: and, pulling him with hooks, they took him into the land of Egypt.

Now when she saw that her hope was made foolish and gone, she took another of her little ones and made him into a young lion.

And he went up and down among the lions and became a young lion, learning to go after beasts for his food; and he took men for his meat.

And he sent destruction on their widows and made waste their towns; and the land and everything in it became waste because of the loud sound of his voice.

Then the nations came against him from the kingdoms round about: their net was stretched over him and he was taken in the hole they had made.

They made him a prisoner with hooks, and took him to the king of Babylon; they put him in the strong place so that his voice might be sounding no longer on the mountains of Israel.

But she was uprooted in burning wrath, and made low on the earth; the east wind came, drying her up, and her branches were broken off; her strong rod became dry, the fire made a meal of it.

And say to them, This is what the Lord has said: In the day when I took Israel for myself, when I made an oath to the seed of the family of Jacob, and I gave them knowledge of myself in the land of Egypt, saying to them with an oath, I am the Lord your God;

And I was acting for the honour of my name, so that it might not be made unclean before the eyes of the nations among whom they were, and before whose eyes I gave them knowledge of myself, by taking them out of the land of Egypt.

So I made them go out of the land of Egypt and took them into the waste land.

And I gave them my rules and made clear to them my orders, which, if a man keeps them, will be life to him.

And further, I gave them my Sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, so that it might be clear that I, who make them holy, am the Lord.

And I was acting for the honour of my name, so that it might not be made unclean in the eyes of the nations, before whose eyes I had taken them out.

And I was acting for the honour of my name, so that it might not be made unclean in the eyes of the nations, before whose eyes I had taken them out.

I made them unclean in the offerings they gave, causing them to make every first child go through the fire, so that I might put an end to them.

For when I had taken them into the land which I made an oath to give to them, then they saw every high hill and every branching tree and made their offerings there, moving me to wrath by their offerings; and there the sweet smell of their offerings went up and their drink offerings were drained out.

And you will be certain that I am the Lord, when I take you into the land of Israel, into the country which I made an oath to give to your fathers.

Son of man, say as a prophet, These are the words of the Lord: Say, A sword, a sword which has been made sharp and polished:

It has been made sharp to give death; it is polished so that it may be like a thunder-flame: ...

And I have given it to the polisher so that it may be taken in the hand: he has made the sword sharp, he has had it polished, to put it into the hand of him who gives death.

In order that hearts may become soft, and the number of those who are falling may be increased, I have sent death by the sword against all their doors: you are made like a flame, you are polished for death.

For this cause the Lord has said: Because you have made your evil-doing come to mind by the uncovering of your wrongdoing, causing your sins to be seen in all your evil-doings; because you have come to mind, you will be taken in them.

This is what the Lord has said: Take away the holy head-dress, take off the crown: this will not be again: let that which is low be lifted up, and that which is high be made low.

Go back into your cover. In the place where you were made, in the land from which you were taken, I will be your judge.

You are responsible for the blood drained out by you, and you are unclean through the images which you have made; and you have made your day come near, and the time of your judging has come; for this cause I have made you a name of shame to the nations and a cause of laughing to all countries.

You have made little of my holy things, and have made my Sabbaths unclean.

And in you one man has done what was disgusting with his neighbour's wife; and another has made his daughter-in-law unclean; and another has done wrong to his sister, his father's daughter.

See, then, I have made my hands come together in wrath against your taking of goods by force and against the blood which has been flowing in you.

And you will be made low before the eyes of the nations; and it will be clear to you that I am the Lord.

Her rulers in her are like a loud-voiced lion violently taking his food; they have made a meal of souls; they have taken wealth and valued property; they have made great the number of widows in her.

Her priests have been acting violently against my law; they have made my holy things unclean: they have made no division between what is holy and what is common, and they have not made it clear that the unclean is different from the clean, and their eyes have been shut to my Sabbaths, and I am not honoured among them.

And I was looking for a man among them who would make up the wall and take his station in the broken place before me for the land, so that I might not send destruction on it: but there was no one.

And I let loose my passion on them, and have put an end to them in the fire of my wrath: I have made the punishment of their ways come on their heads, says the Lord.

And she gave her unclean love to them, all of them the noblest men of Assyria: and she made herself unclean with the images of all who were desired by her.

And the Babylonians came to her, into the bed of love, and made her unclean with their loose desire, and she became unclean with them, and her soul was turned from them.

And she made the memory of the loose ways of her early years come back to mind, when her young breasts were crushed by the Egyptians

For she has been false to me, and blood is on her hands, and with her images she has been untrue; and more than this, she made her sons, whom she had by me, go through the fire to them to be burned up.

Further, this is what she has done to me: she has made my holy place unclean and has made my Sabbaths unclean

For when she had made an offering of her children to her images, she came into my holy place to make it unclean; see, this is what she has done inside my house.

For this is what the Lord has said: A curse is on the town of blood, the cooking-pot which is unclean inside, which has never been made clean! take out its bits; its fate is still to come on it.

For her blood is in her; she has put it on the open rock not draining it on to the earth so that it might be covered with dust;

In order that it might make wrath come up to give punishment, she has put her blood on the open rock, so that it may not be covered.

I have made myself tired to no purpose: still all the waste which is in her has not come out, it has an evil smell.

As for your unclean purpose: because I have been attempting to make you clean, but you have not been made clean from it, you will not be made clean till I have let loose my passion on you in full measure.

And say to the children of Ammon, Give ear to the word of the Lord; this is what the Lord has said: Because you said, Aha! against my holy place when it was made unclean, and against the land of Israel when it was made waste, and against the people of Judah when they were taken away as prisoners;

For the Lord has said, Because you have made sounds of joy with your hands, stamping your feet, and have been glad, putting shame with all your soul on the land of Israel;

Son of man, because Tyre has said against Jerusalem, Aha, she who was the doorway of the peoples is broken; she is turned over to them; she who was full is made waste;

Your builders have made your outlines in the heart of the seas, they have made you completely beautiful.

They have made all your boards of fir-trees from Senir: they have taken cedars from Lebanon to make the supports for your sails.

Of oak-trees from Bashan they have made your driving blades; they have made your floors of ivory and boxwood from the sea-lands of Kittim.

The men of Arvad in your army were on your walls, and were watchmen in your towers, hanging up their arms on your walls round about; they made you completely beautiful.

Edom did business with you because of the great number of things which you made; they gave emeralds, purple, and needlework, and the best linen and coral and rubies for your goods.