"Now as for you, Son of Man, never be afraid of them or of anything they have to say, because being with them will be like settling down to live among briers, thorn bushes, and scorpions! Don't be afraid of anything they have to say, and don't be awed by their appearance, since they are a rebellious group.

"So when I say to a wicked person, "You're about to die,' if you don't warn or instruct that wicked person that his behavior is wicked so he can live, that wicked person will die in his sin, but I'll hold you responsible for his death.

If you warn the wicked person, and he doesn't repent of his wickedness or of his wicked behavior, he'll die in his sin, but you will have saved your own life.

If you warn the righteous person, so that he doesn't commit sin, then he'll live, since he had been warned. And you will have saved your life."

But when I speak with you, I'll open your mouth so you can say to them, "This is what the Lord GOD says: "As for those who will listen, "Let them listen,' but as for those who refuse, "Let them refuse,' since they're a rebellious group."'"

Then you are to take a flat, iron plate and set it up as an iron wall between you and the city. "Next, you are to turn toward it, oppose it, and place it under siege, because you are to lay siege to it. All of this will serve as a sign to the house of Israel.

Then the LORD said, "This is how the Israelis will be eating unclean food among the nations, where I'll be sending them."

Indeed, they'll need bread and water, but everyone will be panic-stricken as they waste away in their iniquity."

Then you are to take a few strands, throw them in the fire, and incinerate them. A fire will proceed to the house of Israel from there."

Fathers will eat their children in your midst. After this, your sons will eat their fathers as I carry out my sentence against you and scatter your survivors to the winds!'

A third of you will die by pestilence, starving because of the famine in your midst. Another third will die violently by the violence of war around you. The final third I'll scatter to the wind as I unsheathe my sword to pursue them.

"Only then will I stop being angry my burning in anger. Then they'll know that I've spoken out in my arduous anger. Only then will my burning anger against them be exhausted.

As a result, Jerusalem will become an insult, an object of taunt, an example of chastisement, and a useless waste to all the nations that surround you when I carry out my sentence against you in my anger, my burning rage, and my burning rebukes. I, the LORD, have spoken it.

I'll send arrows of severe famine in their direction, meant for destruction, which I'll shoot, intending to destroy them. I'll make you have more and more famines that will attack you, and I'll disrupt your source of food.

"I'll send famine and wild beasts against you that will rob you of your children. Pestilence and bloodshed will devastate you when I'll declare war on you. I, the LORD, have spoken."

Your altars will become desolate and your sun pillars will be shattered. I'll throw your slain down right in front of your idols.

In all the places where you live, the cities will be desolate. The high places will also be desolate so that your altars will be laid waste, bearing the punishment appropriate to them. Your idols will be shattered, your sun pillars will be hewn down, and your works will be obliterated.

The fatally wounded among you will fall, and at that time you'll know that I am the LORD.

I'll leave a remnant among you those who will escape the sword when I'll have scattered you throughout the earth.

Your survivors will remember me among the nations where they'll be taken captives. I've been crushed by their unfaithful hearts that have turned against me.

The one who lives far away will die by pestilence and the one who is near will die violently. The survivors and their surveillance details will die by famine as I exhaust my rage against them.

"You'll learn that I am the LORD, when the fatally wounded will be among their idols, around their altars, on every hill, on top of the mountains, under every luxuriant tree, and under all the full-grown foliage every place where they've offered fragrant aromas to all their idols.

""Your doom has come to you, you who live in the land. The time has arrived, and the day of confusion is near. There will be no shouts of joy on the mountains.

"Violence has matured into a branch that is wicked. No one will survive from that vast crowd, from their wealthy people, or from the famous among them.

"The day has arrived. Don't let the buyer rejoice, nor the seller lament, because wrath is coming to attack the entire multitude. The seller won't regain what he has sold while the crowd remains alive, because the vision concerning the entire multitude won't be annulled. No person will be able to survive because of the sin in his life.

The sword lurks outside, but pestilence and famine are on the prowl inside the house. Whoever is in the field will die by violence, while famine and pestilence will devour those in the city.

Fugitives will escape to the mountains like doves fleeing through the valleys, all of them moaning because of their own iniquity.

Every hand will be limp. Every knee will glisten with sweat."

"They'll clothe themselves with sackcloth, terror will overcome them, shame will cover their faces, and baldness will spread over their entire heads.

They'll fling their silver into the streets, and their gold will be cast away as impure. Their silver and gold won't be able to deliver them during the time of the LORD's wrath. They won't be able to satisfy their appetites or fill their stomachs, because their iniquity has tripped them up."

I'll give it as plunder into the control of strangers and as the spoils of war to the wicked who will invade the land to profane it.

I'll turn my face away from them so that they'll defile my treasured place. Robbers will enter and profane it!

Therefore, I'm bringing the worst of the nations, who will take possession of their houses. I'll cause the pride of the mighty to cease, and their sanctuaries will be profaned.

"When destruction comes, they'll seek peace, but there will be none to be found.

Disaster upon disaster will come, followed by rumor after rumor. They'll seek an oracle from the prophet, but the Law will be gone from the priests, and counsel from the elders.

"The king will mourn, the prince will be clothed with desolation, and the hands of the people of the land will tremble. I'll deal with them according to their behavior and I will judge them by how they've judged. Then they'll learn that I am the LORD."

This city won't be your cooking pot and neither will you be the meat in it, because I'm going to judge you as far as the borders of Israel.

"Therefore you are to say, "This is what the Lord GOD says, "Although I've removed them far away to live among the nations, and although I've scattered them throughout the earth, yet I've continued to be their sanctuary, even for the short time that they will be living in the lands to which they've gone."'

When they live by my statutes and keep my ordinances by observing them, then they'll be my people and I will be their God.

Then the prince, who will be one of them, will carry his luggage on his shoulder in the dark and will go out. They'll dig a hole in the wall for him to go through. His face will be covered so that he won't be able to see the land with his eyes.

Then tell the people of the land, "This is what the LORD says to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to Israel's land: "They'll eat their food in anxiety and drink their water in trepidation, because their land will be desolate in its entirety due to all the violence committed by all who live in it.

The towns that are inhabited will lie in ruins, because the land will be devastated. Then they'll learn that I am the LORD."'"

Therefore you are to tell them, "This is what the Lord GOD says, "I'm about to put an end to use of this proverb in Israel. It will never be used again as a proverb in Israel. Instead, tell them that the days are drawing near when every vision will be fulfilled.

There will no longer be worthless visions and flattering divinations in the midst of Israel's house.

Because I am the LORD, I'll speak and the message that I communicate will be accomplished without delay. While you continue to be a rebellious house, I'll speak the message and then fulfill it," declares the Lord GOD.'"

Therefore tell them, "This is what the Lord GOD says, "None of my messages will be delayed any longer. Any message that I speak will be fulfilled," declares the Lord GOD.'"

"This is what the Lord GOD says, "How terrible it will be for the false prophets who walk according to their own wrong inclinations and see nothing.

My hand will oppose the prophets who see false visions and speak deceptive divinations. They won't be included with the council of my people, nor will they be entered into the registry of Israel's house or enter Israel's land. Then you'll know that I am the Lord GOD,

"When someone builds a wall, they coat it with whitewash. Tell those who coat it with whitewash that it will fall. It will be washed off by the rain. Great hailstones will fall and a stormy wind will strip it off.

I'll tear down the wall that you've smeared with whitewash, level it to the ground, and tear out its foundation. Then it will collapse and you'll perish with it! Then you'll know that I am the LORD.

Tell them, "This is what the Lord GOD says, "How terrible it will be for those women who sew magical bracelets on all their wrists and make one-size-fits all headbands, in order to entrap their souls. Will you hunt for the souls of my people and remain alive?

Therefore, speak up and tell them, "This is what the Lord GOD says, "Every person from Israel's house who follows his idols and sets the stumbling block that is his own sin in front of his face, and then consults a prophet, I the LORD will answer him according to how many idols he embraces.

For when a native Israeli or a resident alien abandons me to set up idols in his heart behind my back, and then places the stumbling block of his iniquity right in front of his own face, then approaches a prophet to inquire of me on behalf of his own self-interest, I, the LORD will answer him myself.

I'm determined to oppose that person and make him an example. Proverbs will be written about him when I eliminate him from my people. Then you'll know that I am the LORD."'"

They'll bear the consequences of their guilt, and the prophet will be just as guilty as the one who seeks that prophet's guidance.

Then Israel's house won't wander away from me again, nor will they defile themselves again with all their transgressions. They'll become my people and I'll be their God," declares the Lord GOD.

"If I were to make wild animals pass throughout the land, so that they kill its residents and it were to become desolate because no one will travel through it due to those wild animals,

This is what the Lord GOD says, "I'm sending four of my most destructive judgments military invasion, famine, wild animals, and pestilence into Jerusalem to destroy both human beings and livestock in it.

But look! There will be a remnant who escapes, a few sons and daughters to be brought out. Look! They'll come out to you and you'll see how they've lived and what they've done, and you'll be comforted concerning the catastrophe that I brought on Jerusalem, including everything that I brought against her.

to punishment. They may have escaped one fire, but the coming fire will burn them up completely, and they will know that I am the LORD, when I set myself in opposition to them

You took some of your clothes and made gaily-colored high places and prostituted yourself all around them something which had never happened before nor will ever happen again.

"How terrible! How terrible it will be for all of your wickedness!" declares the Lord GOD.

"Now, everyone who likes proverbs will quote this proverb about you, "Like mother, like daughter.'

Your sister Sodom and her daughters will be restored to their former status. Samaria and her daughters will be restored to their former status. Then you and your daughters will be restored to your former status.

Then you will remember, be ashamed, and you won't open your mouth anymore due to humiliation when I will have made atonement for you for everything that you've done,' declares the Lord GOD."

"Tell them, "This is what the Lord GOD says, "Will it prosper? Won't he pull up its roots, and strip it bare so all its fresh foliage dries up? It won't be by great strength or by a great army that it will be uprooted.

Look! Because it's a transplanted vine, won't it wither when the east wind hits it? It will surely wither in the terraces where it had started to sprout."'"

But he rebelled against the king of Babylon by sending his messengers to Egypt to obtain horses and a large army. Will he succeed? Or will the one who did this escape? Will he break the covenant, but still be delivered?'"

The fugitives of his troops will die by the sword, and the survivors will be scattered to the four winds. Then you'll know that I, the LORD, have spoken."

I'll transplant it on Israel's land, and it will grow branches, bear fruit, and become a majestic cedar. All sorts of birds will rest under it, and they'll settle down in the shade of its branches.

Then all the trees of the fields will know that I, the LORD, bring down the lofty tree and exalt the lowly tree. I dry up the green tree and cause the dry tree to bud. I the LORD have spoken this, and I will fulfill it."

if he lives his life consistent with my statutes and keeps my ordinances by practicing what's true, then he's righteous and will certainly live," declares the Lord GOD.

loans with usury, and exacts interest; will he live? He certainly will not! He has done all these detestable practices. He will certainly die, and his guilt will be his own fault."

doesn't refuse to help the afflicted, or refuses to loan with usury or exact interest, but instead follows my ordinances and lives his life consistent with my statutes. He won't die because of his father's sin, will he? No! He'll certainly live.

The soul who sins dies. The son won't bear the punishment of his father's sin and the father won't bear the punishment of his son's sin. The righteous deeds of that righteous person will be attributed to him, while the wicked deeds of the wicked person will be charged against him.

None of the transgressions that he had committed will be held against him. Because of the righteous deeds that he had done, he'll live.

But when the righteous person abandons his righteous deeds and commits evil, detestable practices, as wicked people do, he won't live, will he? None of the righteous acts that he had done will be remembered. He'll die in his treacherous unfaithfulness and sins that he had committed."

"Will you judge them? Son of Man, will you indeed judge them? Teach them about the detestable things that their ancestors did.

"But they rebelled against me. They didn't live according to my statutes, observe my ordinances, or practice them, by which a person will live. They also kept profaning my Sabbaths. So I said that I was going to pour out my anger on them and in my anger I'm going to bring about a complete end to them in the wilderness.

"Therefore you are to say to Israel's house, "This is what the Lord GOD says: "Will you defile yourselves like your ancestors did by acting as a prostitute, consistent with their horrible deeds?

"I'll cause you to pass under the rod until I will have brought you into the bond of the covenant.

For on my holy mountain, on Israel's high mountains," declares the Lord GOD, "the whole of Israel's house all of it will serve me there in the land. I'll accept them there. And there I'll demand your offerings, the first fruits of your portions of all your sacred things.

"When I will have brought you from among the people and have gathered you from the lands where you were scattered, I'll accept you as a pleasing aroma. I'll reveal my holiness among you, and the entire world will see it.

Then you'll know that I am the LORD, when I will have dealt with you for the benefit of my own reputation and not according to your evil attitudes or corrupt practices, you house of Israel," declares the Lord GOD.

Prophesy against the forest of the Negev, "Listen to this message from the LORD. This is what the Lord GOD says: "Look out! I'm about to ignite a fire and set it against you. It will devour every tree whether green or dry that lives in you. This powerful flame will not be extinguishable, and the entire surface from south to north will be scorched by it.

Then everyone will see that I, the LORD, have kindled it, because it won't be extinguished."'"

Then everyone will know that I am the LORD, who unsheathed my sword, and who won't have to unsheathe it again."'

When they'll ask you, "Why are you groaning?' you are to say, "Because of the news that just arrived. Every heart will melt with fear, every hand will grow limp, every spirit will grow faint, and every knee will glisten with sweat.' Look! It has come and it will be fulfilled," declares the Lord GOD.

because testing is sure to come. "In putting the sword to the test along with the scepter, it won't keep on rejecting, will it?' declares the Lord GOD."

I will also clap my hands; then my anger will subside. I, the LORD have spoken it."

"Now, Son of Man, demarcate two pathways by which the sword of Babylon's king will arrive in the land. Both pathways will lead from a single land.

In their view, it will seem to be a false prophecy, but because they swore allegiance, he'll make them remember their guilt as he takes them captive."

This is what the Lord GOD says: "Remove your turban! Take off your crown! Things aren't going to remain as they used to be. What is lowly will be exalted, and what is lofty will be brought low.

A ruin! A ruin! I'm bringing about ruin!' But this also will not happen until he who has authority over it arrives, because I'll give it to him."

You'll be fuel for the conflagration. Your blood will be spilled throughout the land. You won't be remembered anymore, now that I, the LORD, have spoken."

"Now, Son of Man, will you truly judge that blood-stained city? Then make her aware of all of her detestable practices.

Those who are both near and far away from you will scoff at you, because your reputation will be infamous and full of turmoil.

Can your heart stand up to this? Can your hands remain strong when I deal with you? I, the LORD, have spoken and will fulfill this.

I'll expend my jealousy on you so they'll deal with you in anger. They'll cut off your noses and your ears. Your survivors will die violently. They'll take your sons and daughters away from you, but your survivors will be incinerated.

They'll deal with you with hatred. They'll take away your productivity, leaving you naked and defenseless, so that the nakedness of your sexual immorality will be uncovered your licentious sexual immorality.