the word of the Lord came to the priest Ezekiel the son of Buzi, at the Kebar River in the land of the Babylonians. The hand of the Lord came on him there).

He said to me, "Son of man, stand on your feet and I will speak with you."

He said to me, "Son of man, I am sending you to the house of Israel, to rebellious nations who have rebelled against me; both they and their fathers have revolted against me to this very day.

and it is unto such sons - of shameless face, and emboldened heart, that I am sending thee, - therefore shalt thou say unto them, Thus saith My Lord, Yahweh.

But you, son of man, do not fear them, and do not fear their words -- even though briers and thorns surround you and you live among scorpions -- do not fear their words and do not be terrified of the looks they give you, for they are a rebellious house!

As for you, son of man, listen to what I am saying to you: Do not rebel like that rebellious house! Open your mouth and eat what I am giving you."

He said to me, "Son of man, eat what you see in front of you -- eat this scroll -- and then go and speak to the house of Israel."

He said to me, "Son of man, feed your stomach and fill your belly with this scroll I am giving to you." So I ate it, and it was sweet like honey in my mouth.

He said to me, "Son of man, go to the house of Israel and speak my words to them.

And he said to me, "Son of man, take all my words that I speak to you to heart and listen carefully.

Go to the exiles, to the sons of your people, and speak to them and tell them, whether they listen or not, ‘Thus says the Lord God.’”

"Son of man, I have appointed you a watchman for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you must give them a warning from me.

As for you, son of man, they will put ropes on you and tie you up with them, so you cannot go out among them.

"And you, son of man, take a brick and set it in front of you. Inscribe a city on it -- Jerusalem.

Then the Lord said, “Thus will the sons of Israel eat their bread unclean among the nations where I will banish them.”

Then he said to me, "Son of man, I am about to remove the bread supply in Jerusalem. They will eat their bread ration anxiously, and they will drink their water ration in terror

"As for you, son of man, take a sharp sword and use it as a barber's razor. Shave off some of the hair from your head and your beard. Then take scales and divide up the hair you cut off.

Therefore fathers will eat their sons within you, Jerusalem, and sons will eat their fathers. I will execute judgments on you, and I will scatter any survivors to the winds.

"Son of man, turn toward the mountains of Israel and prophesy against them:

I will also lay the dead bodies of the sons of Israel in front of their idols; and I will scatter your bones around your altars.

And there is a word of Jehovah unto me, saying, 'And thou, son of man, Thus said the Lord Jehovah to the ground of Israel:

"You, son of man -- this is what the sovereign Lord says to the land of Israel: An end! The end is coming on the four corners of the land!

He said to me, "Son of man, look up toward the north." So I looked up toward the north, and I noticed to the north of the altar gate was this statue of jealousy at the entrance.

He said to me, "Son of man, do you see what they are doing -- the great abominations that the people of Israel are practicing here, to drive me far from my sanctuary? But you will see greater abominations than these!"

He said to me, "Son of man, dig into the wall." So I dug into the wall and discovered a doorway.

Seventy men from the elders of the house of Israel (with Jaazaniah son of Shaphan standing among them) were standing in front of them, each with a censer in his hand, and fragrant vapors from a cloud of incense were swirling upward.

He said to me, "Do you see, son of man, what the elders of the house of Israel are doing in the dark, each in the chamber of his idolatrous images? For they think, 'The Lord does not see us! The Lord has abandoned the land!'"

He said to me, "Do you see this, son of man? You will see even greater abominations than these!"

He said to me, "Do you see, son of man? Is it a trivial thing that the house of Judah commits these abominations they are practicing here? For they have filled the land with violence and provoked me to anger still further. Look, they are putting the branch to their nose!

Kill utterly the old man, the young man, and the virgin, and little sons, and women, but come not near any man upon whom is the mark. And begin at my sanctuary. Then they began at the old men who were before the house.

A wind lifted me up and brought me to the east gate of the Lord's temple that faces the east. There, at the entrance of the gate, I noticed twenty-five men. Among them I saw Jaazaniah son of Azzur and Pelatiah son of Benaiah, officials of the people.

The Lord said to me, "Son of man, these are the men who plot evil and give wicked advice in this city.

Therefore, prophesy against them! Prophesy, son of man!"

Now, while I was prophesying, Pelatiah son of Benaiah died. Then I threw myself face down and cried out with a loud voice, "Alas, sovereign Lord! You are completely wiping out the remnant of Israel!"

"Son of man, your brothers, your relatives, and the whole house of Israel, all of them are those to whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, 'They have gone far away from the Lord; to us this land has been given as a possession.'

"Son of man, you are living in the midst of a rebellious house. They have eyes to see, but do not see, and ears to hear, but do not hear, because they are a rebellious house.

"Therefore, son of man, pack up your belongings as if for exile. During the day, while they are watching, pretend to go into exile. Go from where you live to another place. Perhaps they will understand, although they are a rebellious house.

"Son of man, has not the house of Israel, that rebellious house, said to you, 'What are you doing?'

"Son of man, eat your bread with trembling, and drink your water with anxious shaking.

"Son of man, what is this proverb you have in the land of Israel, 'The days pass slowly, and every vision fails'?

"Take note, son of man, the house of Israel is saying, 'The vision that he sees is for distant days; he is prophesying about the far future.'

"Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel who are now prophesying. Say to the prophets who prophesy from their imagination: 'Hear the word of the Lord!

"As for you, son of man, turn toward the daughters of your people who are prophesying from their imagination. Prophesy against them

"Son of man, these men have erected their idols in their hearts and placed the obstacle leading to their iniquity right before their faces. Should I really allow them to seek me?

"Son of man, suppose a country sins against me by being unfaithful, and I stretch out my hand against it, cut off its bread supply, cause famine to come on it, and kill both people and animals.

Even if these three men were in it, as surely as I live, declares the sovereign Lord, they could not save their own sons or daughters; they would save only their own lives, and the land would become desolate.

Even if these three men were in it, as surely as I live, declares the sovereign Lord, they could not save their own sons or daughters -- they would save only their own lives.

Even if Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, as surely as I live, declares the sovereign Lord, they could not save their own son or daughter; they would save only their own lives by their righteousness.

Yet some survivors will be left in it, sons and daughters who will be brought out. They will come out to you, and when you see their behavior and their deeds, you will be consoled about the catastrophe I have brought on Jerusalem -- for everything I brought on it.

"Son of man, of all the woody branches among the trees of the forest, what happens to the wood of the vine?

"Son of man, confront Jerusalem with her abominable practices

"'You took your sons and your daughters whom you bore to me and you sacrificed them as food for the idols to eat. As if your prostitution not enough,

That thou dost slaughter My sons, And dost give them up in causing them to pass over to them?

Then didst thou extend thine unchaste acts unto the sons of Egypt - thy neighbour great of flesh,- And caused thine unchaste ways to abound provoking me to anger.

Thou didst also extend thine unchastity unto the sons of Assyria, because thou wast insatiable. Yet though thou didst behave unchastely with them, yet even so couldst thou not be satisfied,

Thus says the Lord God, “Because your lewdness was poured out and your nakedness uncovered through your harlotries with your lovers and with all your detestable idols, and because of the blood of your sons which you gave to idols,

You are the daughter of your mother, who detested her husband and her sons, and you are the sister of your sisters who detested their husbands and their sons. Your mother was a Hittite and your father an Amorite.

"Son of man, offer a riddle, and tell a parable to the house of Israel.

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:

What -- to you, ye -- using this simile Concerning the ground of Israel, saying: Fathers do eat unripe fruit, And the sons' teeth are blunted?

Indeed! All lives are mine -- the life of the father as well as the life of the son is mine. The one who sins will die.

"Suppose such a man has a violent son who sheds blood and does any of these things mentioned previously

even though the father hasn't done any of these things. The son who eats at mountain shrines, defiles his neighbor's wife,

"But suppose he in turn has a son who notices all the sins his father commits, considers them, and does not follow his father's example.

"Yet you say, 'Why should the son not suffer for his father's iniquity?' When the son does what is just and right, and observes all my statutes and carries them out, he will surely live.

The person who sins is the one who will die. A son will not suffer for his father's iniquity, and a father will not suffer for his son's iniquity; the righteous person will be judged according to his righteousness, and the wicked person according to his wickedness.

Take up now a song of grief for the ruler of Israel, and say,

A fire has gone out from its branch; it has consumed its shoot and its fruit. No strong branch was left in it, nor a scepter to rule.' This is a lament song, and has become a lament song."

"Son of Man," the LORD told me,

"Son of man, speak to the elders of Israel, and tell them: 'This is what the sovereign Lord says: Are you coming to seek me? As surely as I live, I will not allow you to seek me, declares the sovereign Lord.'

"Are you willing to pronounce judgment? Are you willing to pronounce judgment, son of man? Then confront them with the abominable practices of their fathers,

“But I said to their children in the wilderness, ‘Do not walk in the statutes of your fathers nor observe their ordinances nor defile yourselves with their idols.

Yet the children rebelled against Me; they did not walk in My statutes, nor were they careful to observe My ordinances, which, if a man keeps, he will live; they profaned My Sabbaths. Then I decided to pour out My wrath on them and finish My anger against them in the wilderness.

"Therefore, speak to the house of Israel, son of man, and tell them, 'This is what the sovereign Lord says: In this way too your fathers blasphemed me when they were unfaithful to me.

When you present your sacrifices -- when you make your sons pass through the fire -- you defile yourselves with all your idols to this very day. Will I allow you to seek me, O house of Israel? As surely as I live, declares the sovereign Lord, I will not allow you to seek me!

"Son of man, turn toward the south, and speak out against the south. Prophesy against the open scrub land of the Negev,

"Son of man, turn toward Jerusalem and speak out against the sanctuaries. Prophesy against the land of Israel

"And you, son of man, groan with an aching heart and bitterness; groan before their eyes.

"Son of man, prophesy and say: 'This is what the Lord says: "'A sword, a sword is sharpened, and also polished.

It is sharpened for slaughter, it is polished to flash like lightning! "'Should we rejoice in the scepter of my son? No! The sword despises every tree!

Cry out and moan, son of man, for it is wielded against my people; against all the princes of Israel. They are delivered up to the sword, along with my people. Therefore, strike your thigh.

"And you, son of man, prophesy, and clap your hands together. Let the sword strike twice, even three times! It is a sword for slaughter, a sword for the great slaughter surrounding them.

"You, son of man, mark out two routes for the king of Babylon's sword to take; both of them will originate in a single land. Make a signpost and put it at the beginning of the road leading to the city.

You shall point out a way for the [Babylonian] sword to come to Rabbah [the capital] of the sons of Ammon, and to Judah into fortified Jerusalem.

"As for you, son of man, prophesy and say, 'This is what the sovereign Lord says concerning the Ammonites and their coming humiliation; say: "'A sword, a sword drawn for slaughter, polished to consume, to flash like lightning --

I will pour out My indignation on you [sons of Ammon]; I will blow on you with the fire of My wrath, and I will place you in the hand of brutal men, skilled in destruction.

"As for you, son of man, are you willing to pronounce judgment, are you willing to pronounce judgment on the bloody city? Then confront her with all her abominable deeds!

And there is a word of Jehovah unto me, saying, 'Son of man,

"Son of man, the house of Israel has become slag to me. All of them are like bronze, tin, iron, and lead in the furnace; they are the worthless slag of silver.

Son of man, say unto her, Thou art the land that is not cleansed, nor rained upon in the day of indignation.

And there is a word of Jehovah unto me, saying, 'Son of man,

Son of man, there were two women, the daughters of one mother:

And the names of them were Aholah the elder, and Aholibah her sister: and they were mine, and they bare sons and daughters. Thus were their names; Samaria is Aholah, and Jerusalem Aholibah.

And she giveth her whoredoms on them, The choice of the sons of Asshur, All of them -- even all on whom she doted, By all their idols she hath been defiled.

therefore, did I deliver her into the hand of her lovers,- into the hand of the sons of Assyria, after whom she lusted:

These discovered her nakedness: they took her sons and her daughters, and slew her with the sword: and she became famous among women; for they had executed judgment upon her.

After the sons of Assyria:, she lusted Governors and deputies so warlike. Clothed in splendid array, Horsemen, riding on horses, Attractive young men, all of them.

Girded with waistcloths upon their loins With overhanging high turbans upon their heads, In appearance, knights all of theme-The likeness of the sons of Babylon of Chaldea, the land of their birth.

Then came in unto her the sons of Babylon into the bed of endearments, and defiled her with their unchaste doings,- And she defiled herself with them, And then was her soul torn from them.

The sons of Babylon and all Chaldeans Pekod and Shoa and Koa, All the sons of Assyria with them, - Attractive young men Governors and deputies, all of them. Knights and men of renown, Riders on horses all of them;