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

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."

After this said he unto me, "Thou son of man, eat that, whatsoever it be: Yea, eat that closed book, and go thy way, and speak unto the children of Israel."

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.

Behold, therefore, I will make thy face prevail against their faces, and harden thy forehead against their foreheads;

so that thy forehead shall be harder than an Adamant or flint stone: that thou mayest fear them the less, and be less afraid of them, for they are a froward household."

and go to the prisoners of thy people. Speak unto them, and say on this manner, 'Thus the LORD God hath spoken: Whether ye hear, or hear not.'"

Nevertheless, if thou give warning unto the wicked: and he yet forsake not his ungodliness - Then shall he die in his own wickedness, but thou hast discharged thy soul.

Nevertheless, if thou exhortest the righteous, that he sin not, and so the righteous do not sin - then shall he live, because he hath received thy warning, and thou hast discharged thy soul."

and the spirit came in to me, which set me up upon my feet, and said thus unto me, "Go thy way, and shut thyself in thine house.

And I will make thy tongue cleave so to the roof of thy mouth, that thou shalt be dumb, and not be as a chider with them: for it is an obstinate household.

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."

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.

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.

Therefore set now thy face against that besieged Jerusalem, and discover thine arm, that thou mayest prophesy against it.

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.

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.

Yet afterward take a little of the same, and bind it in thy coat lap.

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.

"Thou son of man, turn thy face to the mountains of Israel, that thou mayest prophesy unto them,

The LORD said moreover unto me, "Smite thy hands together, and stamp with thy feet, and say, 'Woe worth all the abominations and wickednesses of the house of Israel, for because of them they shall perish with the sword, with hunger and with pestilence.

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.

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 unto me, "Go thy way in, and look what wicked abominations they do there."

and the LORD said unto him, "Go thy way through the city of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of them that mourn and are sorry for all the abominations that be done therein."

Now when they had done the slaughter, and I yet escaped: I fell down upon my face, and cried saying, "O LORD, wilt thou then destroy all the residue of Israel, in thy sore displeasure, that thou hast poured upon Jerusalem?"

"Thou son of man: thy brethren, thy kinsfolk, and the whole house of Judah which dwell at Jerusalem, say, 'They be gone far from the LORD, but the land is given us in possession.'

Therefore, O thou son of man, make thy gear ready to flit, and go forth by fair daylight, that they may see. Yea, even in their sight shalt thou go from thy place to another place: if peradventure they will consider that they be an unobedient household.

Thy gear that thou hast made ready to flit withal, shalt thou bear out by fair daylight, that they may see: and thou thyself shalt go forth also at even in their sight, as a man doth when he goeth forth to flight.

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: with a fearful trembling shalt thou eat thy bread, with carefulness and sorrow shalt thou drink thy water.

O Israel, thy prophets are like the foxes upon the dry field:

"Wherefore, O thou son of man, set thy face against the daughters of thy people which prophesy out of their own hearts: and speak thou prophecy against them,

and say, 'Thus sayeth the LORD God unto Jerusalem: Thy progeny and kindred came out of the land of Canaan, thy father was an Amorite, thy mother a Hittite.

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.

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

a chain about thy neck, spangles upon thy forehead, earrings upon thine ears, and set a beautiful crown upon thine head.

Thus wast thou decked with silver and gold, and thy raiment was of fine white silk, of needle work and divers colors. Thou didst eat nothing but simnels, honey and oil: marvelous goodly wast thou, and beautiful, yea even a very Queen wast thou.

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.

Yea, thou hast taken thy garments of divers colors, and decked thine altars therewith, whereupon thou mightest fulfill thine whoredom, of such a fashion as never was done, nor shall be.

Thy garments of divers colors hast thou taken, and decked them therewith: mine oil and incense hast thou set before them.

And yet in all thy abominations and whoredom, thou hast not remembered the days of thy youth:, how naked and bare thou wast at that time, and trodden down in thine own blood.

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.

Thou hast made thy beauty to be abhorred, thou hast laid out thy legs to every one that came by, and multiplied thine whoredom.

Thou hast committed fornication with the Egyptians thy neighbours, which had much flesh: and thus hast thou used thine whoredom to anger me.

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.

Thus hast thou still committed thy fornication from the land of Canaan unto the Chaldeans, and yet thy lust not satisfied.

Building thy stews at the head of every street, and thy brothel houses in all places? Thou hast not been as another whore, that maketh boast of her winning;

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.

Thus sayeth the LORD God: Forsomuch as thou hast spent thy money, and discovered thy shame - through thy whoredom with all thy lovers, and with all the Idols of thy abominations, in the blood of thy children whom thou hast given them -

Behold therefore, I will gather together all thy lovers, unto whom thou hast made thy self common. Yea, and all them whom thou favourest, and euery one that thou hatest: and will uncover thy shame before them, that they all may see thy filthiness.

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.

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.

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.

Thou art even thy mother's own daughter, that hath cast off her husband and her children. Yea, thou art the sister of thy sisters, which forsook their husbands and their children. Your mother is a Hittite, and your father an Amorite.

Thine eldest sister is Samaria, she and her daughters that dwell upon thy left hand. But thy youngest sister that dwelleth on thy righthand, is Sodom and her daughters.

Yet hast thou not walked after their ways, nor done after their abominations: but in all thy ways thou hast been more corrupt than they.

As truly as I live, sayeth the LORD God, Sodom thy sister with her daughters hath not done so evil as thou and thy daughters.

Behold, the sins of thy sister Sodom, were these: Pride, fullness of meat, abundance and Idleness: these things had she and her daughters. Besides that, they reached not their hand to the poor and needy,

Neither hath Samaria done half of thy sins. Yea, thou hast exceeded them in wickedness: Insomuch that in comparison of all the abominations which thou hast done, thou hast made thy sisters good women.

Therefore thou which didst condemn thy sister: bear thine own shame, for thine own offences that thou hast committed - more abominable than they did, which indeed are more righteous than thou art. Be thou, I say, ashamed; and bear thy shameful rebuke, seeing that thou has proven thy sisters in comparison of the righteous.

As for their captivity, namely the captivity of Sodom and her daughters, the captivity of Samaria and her daughters: I will bring them again. So will I also bring again thy captivity among them:

Thus thy sisters, namely Sodom and her daughters, Samaria and her daughters, with thyself and thy daughters, shall be brought again to your old estate.

When thou wast in thy pride,

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:

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

So that thou also remember thy ways, and be ashamed of them. Then shalt thou receive of me thy elder and younger sisters, whom I will make thy daughters: and that beside thy covenant.

and say, "Wherefore lay thy mother, that lioness, among the lions, and nourished her young ones among the lion's whelps?

"As for thy mother, she is like a vine in thy blood, planted by the waterside: her fruits and branches are grown out of many waters,

"Thou son of man, set thy face toward the south, and speak to the south wind,

"Thou son of man, set thy face toward Jerusalem, speak against the Sanctuary, and prophesy against the land of Israel, say to the land of Israel,

Mourn therefore, O thou son of man, that thy loins crack withal; yea mourn bitterly for them.

Cry, O thou son of man, and howl: for this sword shall smite my people, and all the rulers in Israel, which with my people shall be slain down to the ground through this sword. Smite therefore thou upon thy thigh, for it is gone forth to make a trial.

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

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.

Thou shalt feed the fire and thy blood shall be shed in the land, that thou mayest be put out of remembrance. Even I the LORD have spoken it.'"

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.

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.

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 priests break my law, and defile my Sanctuary. They put no difference between the holy and unholy, neither discern between the clean and unclean: they turn their eyes from my Sabbaths, and I am unhallowed among them.

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.

Thus thou hast renewed the filthiness of thy youth, when thy lovers bruised thy paps, and marred thy breasts in Egypt.

"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.

I will put my jealousy upon thee, so that they shall deal cruelly with thee. They shall cut off thy nose and thine ears, and the remnant shall fall through the sword. They shall carry away thy sons and daughters, and the residue shall be burnt in the fire.

They shall strip thee out of thy clothes, and carry thy costly jewels away with them.