And then said he unto me, "Stand up upon thy feet, O thou son of man, and I will talk with thee."

And he said, "Behold, thou son of man: I will send thee to the children of Israel, to those renegades and obstinate people - for they have taken part against me, and are run away from me: both they and their forefathers unto this day.

Yea, I will send thee unto a people that have rough visages and stiff stomachs: unto whom thou shalt say on this manner, 'This the LORD God himself hath spoken,'

"Therefore, thou son of man, fear them not; neither be afraid of their words: for they shall rebel against thee, and despise thee. Yea, thou shalt dwell among scorpions. But fear not their words, be not abashed at their looks: for it is a froward household.

Therefore, thou son of man, obey thou all things, that I say unto thee, and be not thou stiffnecked, like as they are a stiffnecked household. Open thy mouth, and eat that I give thee."

and said unto me, "Thou son of man, thy belly shall eat, and thy bowels shall be filled with the book, that I give thee." Then did I eat the book and it was, in my mouth, sweeter than honey.

And he said unto me, "Thou son of man, get thee soon unto the house of Israel, and show them the words that I command thee.

For I send thee not to a people that hath a strange, unknown, or hard speech, but unto the house of Israel;

Not to many nations which have divers speeches and hard languages, whose words thou understandest not. Nevertheless, if I sent thee to those people, they would follow thee:

But the house of Israel will not follow thee, for they will not follow me. Yea, all the house of Israel have stiff foreheads, and hard hearts.

He said moreover unto me, "Thou son of man, take diligent heed with thine ears, to the words that I speak unto thee, fasten them in thine heart:

"Thou son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore take good heed to the words, and give them warning at my commandment.

If I say unto thee, concerning the ungodly man, that without doubt he must die: and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest unto him, that he may turn from his evil way, and so to live - Then shall the same ungodly man die in his own unrighteousness, but his blood will I require of thine hand.

And there came the hand of the LORD upon me, and he said unto me, "Stand up and go into the field, that I may there talk with thee."

Behold, O thou son of man, there shall chains be brought for thee, to bind thee withal, so that thou shalt not escape out of them.

But when I speak unto thee, then open thy mouth, and say, 'Thus sayeth the LORD God: whoso heareth, let him hear; who so will not, let him leave.' For it is an obstinate household."

Thou son of man, take a tile stone, and lay it before thee, and describe upon it the city of Jerusalem;

Moreover, take an iron pan, and set it betwixt thee and the city instead of an iron wall. Then set thy face toward it, besiege it, and lay ordinance against it, to win it. This shall be a token unto the house of Israel.

But thou shalt sleep upon thy left side, and lay the sin of the house of Israel upon thee. Certain days appointed, thou shalt sleep upon that side, and bear their sins.

Nevertheless, I will appoint thee a time to put out their sins and the number of the days: Three hundred and ninety days must thou bear the wickedness of the house of Israel.

When thou hast fulfilled these days, lie down again, and sleep upon thy right side forty days, and bear the sins of the house of Judah. A day for a year; a day, I say, for a year will I ever lay upon thee.

Behold, I will lay chains upon thee, that thou shalt not turn thee from one side to another, till thou hast ended the days of thy siege.

"Wherefore, take unto thee wheat, barley, beans, growell seed, Millium and fitches: and put these together in a vessel, and make thee loaves of bread thereof, according to the number of the days that thou must lie upon thy side: that thou mayest have bread to eat, for three hundred and ninety days.

Whereunto he answered me, and said, "Well then, I will grant thee to take cow's dung, for the dung of a man, and to strike the bread over withal, before them."

O Thou son of man, take thee then a sharp knife, namely a razor. Take that, and shave the hair of thy head and beard: Then take the scales and weight, and divide the hair asunder.

Therefore thus sayeth the LORD God: I will also come upon thee, for in the midst of thee will I sit in judgment, in the sight of the Heathen,

and will handle thee of such a fashion as I never did before, and as I never will do from that time forth, and that because of all thine abominations.

For in thee the fathers shall be fain to eat their own sons, and the sons their own fathers. Such a court will I keep in thee, and the whole remnant will I scatter into all the winds.

Wherefore as truly as I live, sayeth the LORD God, seeing thou hast defiled my Sanctuary with all manner of abominations and with all thy shameful offenses: For this cause will I also destroy thee. Mine eye shall not oversee thee, neither will I spare thee.

One third part within thee shall die of the pestilence and of hunger: Another third part shall be slain down round about thee with the sword: The other third part, that remaineth, will I scatter abroad toward all the winds, and draw out the sword after them.

Moreover, I will make thee waste and abhorred before all the Heathen that dwell about thee, and in the sight of all them that go by thee:

so that when I punish thee in my wrath, in mine anger, and with the plague of my hot displeasure, thou shalt be a very abomination, shame, a gasping and wondering stock among the Heathen that lie about thee. Even I, the LORD, have spoken it: and it shall come to pass.

"Thee I call, O thou son of man. Thus sayeth the LORD God unto the land of Israel: The end cometh: yea, verily the end cometh upon all the four corners of the land.

But now shall the end come upon thee: For I will send my wrath upon thee, and will punish thee according to thy ways; and reward thee after all thy abominations.

Mine eye shall not oversee thee, neither will I spare thee: but reward thee according to thy ways, and declare thy abominations. Then shall ye know that I am the LORD.

The end is here: The end, I say, that waiteth for thee is come already.

The hour is come against thee that dwellest in the land. The time is at hand; the day of sedition is hard by: and no glad tidings upon the mountains.

Therefore, I will shortly pour out my sore displeasure over thee, and fulfill my wrath upon thee. I will judge thee after thy ways, and recompense thee all thy abominations.

Mine eye shall not oversee thee, neither will I spare thee; but reward thee after thy ways, and show thy abominations, to learn you for to know how that I am the LORD that smiteth.

And he said furthermore unto me, "Thou son of man, seest thou what these do? Seest thou the great abominations that the house of Israel commit in this place? Which ought not to be done in my sanctuary: But turn thee about, and thou shalt see yet greater abominations."

And he said unto me, "Turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see the great abominations that they do."

As for thyself, thou shalt go forth in the dark. Hide thy face that thou see not the earth, for I have made thee a show-token unto the house of Israel."

"Thou son of man, if Israel, that froward household, ask thee and say, 'What doest thou there?'

In the day of thy birth when thou wast born, the string of thy navel was not cut off; thou wast not bathed in water to make thee clean; thou wast neither rubbed with salt, nor swaddled in clouts;

No man regarded that so much, as to do any of these things for thee, or to show thee such favour, but thou wast utterly cast out upon the field: yea, despised wast thou in the day of thy birth.

"'Then came I by thee, and saw thee trodden down in thine own blood, and said unto thee, 'Thou shalt be purged from thine own blood; from thine own blood, I say, shalt thou be cleansed.'

So I planted thee, as the blossom of the field. Thou art grown up, and waxen great: thou hast gotten a marvelous pleasant beauty, thy breasts are come up, thy hair is goodly grown; whereas thou wast naked and bare afore.

Now when I went by thee, and looked upon thee: behold, thy time was come; yea, even the time to vow thee. Then spread I my clothes over thee, to cover thy dishonesty: Yea, I made an oath unto thee, and married myself with thee, sayeth the LORD God; and so thou becamest mine own.

Then washed I thee with water, and purged thy blood from thee; I anointed thee with oil,

I gave thee change of raiments; I made thee shoes of Taxus leather; I girded thee about with white silk; I clothed thee with kerchiefs;

I decked thee with costly apparel; I put rings upon thy fingers,

Insomuch, that thy beauty was spoken of among the Heathen, for thou wast excellent in my beauty, which I put upon thee, sayeth the LORD God.

"'But thou hast put confidence in thine own beauty, and played the harlot, when thou hadst gotten thee a name. Thou hast committed whoredom with all that went by thee, and hast fulfilled their desires:

The goodly ornaments and Jewels which I gave thee of mine own gold and silver, hast thou taken, and made thee men's images thereof, and committed whoredom withal.

My meat which I gave thee, as simnels, oil and honey to feed thee withal, that hast thou set before them, for a sweet savour. And this came also to pass, sayeth the LORD God.

After all these thy wickednesses, woe, woe unto thee, sayeth the LORD.

Thou hast builded thy stews and brothel houses in every place: yea, at the head of every street hast thou builded thee an altar.

Behold, I will stretch out mine hand over thee, and will diminish thy store of food, and deliver thee over into the wiles of the Philistines thine enemies, which are ashamed of thy abominable way.

Thou hast played the whore also with the Assyrians, which might not satisfy thee. Yea, thou hast played the harlot, and not had enough.

Gifts are given to all other whores, but thou givest rewards unto all thy lovers; and offerest them gifts, to come unto thee out of all places and to commit fornication with thee.

It is come to pass with thee in thy whoredoms, contrary to the use of other women: yea, there hath no such fornication been committed after thee, seeing that thou profferest gifts unto other, and no regard is given thee. This is a contrary thing.

Moreover, I will judge thee as a breaker of wedlock and a murderer, and recompense thee thine own blood in wrath and jealousy.

I will give thee over into their power, that shall break down thy stews, and destroy thy brothel houses: they shall strip thee out of thy clothes, all thy fair and beautiful Jewels shall they take from thee, and so let thee sit naked and bare.

Yea, they shall bring the common people upon thee, which shall stone thee, and slay thee down with their swords.

They shall burn up thy houses, and punish thee in the sight of many women. Thus will I make thy whoredom to cease, so that thou shalt give out no more rewards.

Should I make my wrath to be still, take my jealousy from thee, be content, and no more to be displeased?

Seeing thou rememberest not the days of thy youth, but hast provoked me to wrath in all these things? Behold therefore, I will bring thine own ways upon thine head, sayeth the LORD God: howbeit, I never did unto thee, according to thy wickedness and all thy abominations.

"'Behold, all they that use common proverbs, shall use this proverb also against thee: 'Like mother, like daughter.'

that thou mayest take thine own confusion upon thee, and be ashamed of all that thou hast done, and to comfort them.

and before thy wickedness came to light: thou wouldest not hear speak of thy sister Sodom, until the time that the Syrians with all their towns, and the Philistines, with all that lie round about them, brought thee to shame and confusion:

For thus sayeth the LORD God: I should, by right, deal with thee, as thou hast done. Thou hast despised the oath, and broken the covenant.

"'Nevertheless, I will remember the covenant that I made with thee in thy youth, insomuch that it shall be an everlasting covenant:

And so I will renew my covenant with thee, that thou mayest know that I am the LORD:

That thou mayest think upon it, be ashamed, and excuse thine own confusion no more: when I have forgiven thee all that thou hast done, sayeth the LORD God.'"

and say to the wood toward the south, 'Hear the word of the LORD, thus sayeth the LORD God: Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, that shall consume thee green trees with the dry. No man shall be able to quench his flame, but all that looketh from the south to the north shall be burnt therein.

'Thus sayeth the LORD God: Behold, I will upon thee, and will draw my sword out of the sheath, and root out of thee both the righteous and the wicked.

Seeing then that I will root out of thee both the righteous and wicked, therefore shall my sword go out of his sheath against all flesh from the north to the south:

Get thee to some place alone, either upon the righthand or on the left, whithersoever thy face turneth.

"Thou son of man, make thee two streets, that the sword of the king of Babylon may come. Both these streets shall go out of one land. He shall set him up a place; at the head of the street shall he choose him out a corner.

Make thee a street, that the sword may come toward Rabbah of the Ammonites, and to the strong city of Jerusalem.

because thou hast looked thee out vanities, and prophesied lies, that it may come upon thy neck like as upon the other ungodly which be slain: whose day came, when their wickedness was full.

Though it were put up again into the sheath, yet will I punish thee, in the land where thou wast nourished and born,

and pour my indignation upon thee, and will blow upon thee in the fire of my wrath, and deliver thee unto cruel people, which are learned to destroy.

and tell them, 'Thus sayeth the LORD God: O thou city, that sheddest blood in the midst of thee, that thy time may come also: and makest thee Idols to defile thee withal.

Thou hast made thyself guilty in the blood that thou hast shed, and defiled thee in the Idols, which thou hast made. Thou hast caused thy days to draw nigh, and made the time of thy years to come. Therefore will I make thee to be confounded among the heathen, and to be despised in all the lands.

Whether they be nigh or far from thee, they shall laugh thee to scorn; thou that hast gotten thee so foul a name, and art full of mischief.

Behold, the rulers of Israel have brought every man his power, to shed blood in thee.

In thee have they despised father and mother, in thee have they oppressed the stranger, in thee have they vexed the widow and the fatherless.

Murderers are there in thee, that shed blood, and eat upon the hills, and in thee they use unhappiness.

In thee have they discovered their fathers' shame, in thee have they vexed women in their sickness.

Every man hath dealt shamefully with his neighbour's wife, and abominably defiled his daughter-in-law. In thee hath every man forced his own sister, even his father's daughter.

Yea, gifts have been received in thee to shed blood. Thou hast taken usury and increase, thou hast oppressed thy neighbours by extortion, and forgotten me, sayeth the LORD God.

Behold, I have smitten my hands upon thy covetousness, that thou hast used, and upon the blood which hath been shed in thee.

Is thy heart able to endure it, or may thy hands defend themselves, in the time that I shall bring upon thee? Even I the LORD that speak it, will bring it also to pass.

I will scatter thee among the heathen, and straw thee about in the lands, and will cause thy filthiness to cease out of thee.

Yea, and I will have thee in possession in the sight of the Heathen, that thou mayest know that I am the LORD.'"

thy Prophets that are in thee are sworn together to devour souls, like as a roaring Lion that liveth by his prey. They receive riches and good, and make many widows in thee.

Thy rulers in thee are like ravishing wolves, to shed blood, and to destroy souls, for their own covetous lucre.

As for thy Prophets, they daub with untempered clay, they see vanities, and prophesy lies unto thee, saying, 'The LORD God sayeth so,' where as the LORD hath not spoken.

"Therefore, O Oholibah, thus sayeth the LORD God: I will raise up thy lovers, with whom thou hast satisfied thy lust, against thee; and gather them together round about thee.