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.

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, go to the house of Israel and speak my words to them.

For you are not being sent to a people of unintelligible speech and difficult language, but to the house of Israel --

But the house of Israel is unwilling to listen to you, because they are not willing to listen to me, for the whole house of Israel is hard-headed and hard-hearted.

"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.

Then for your part take an iron frying pan and set it up as an iron wall between you and the city. Set your face toward it. It is to be under siege; you are to besiege it. This is a sign for the house of Israel.

"Also for your part lie on your left side and place the iniquity of the house of Israel on it. For the number of days you lie on your side you will bear their iniquity.

I have determined that the number of the years of their iniquity are to be the number of days for you -- 390 days. So bear the iniquity of the house of Israel.

And the Lord said, "This is how the people of Israel will eat their unclean food among the nations where I will banish them."

Again, take more of them and throw them into the fire, and burn them up. From there a fire will spread to all the house of Israel.

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

Say, 'Mountains of Israel, Hear the word of the sovereign Lord! This is what the sovereign Lord says to the mountains and the hills, to the ravines and the valleys: I am bringing a sword against you, and I will destroy your high places.

I will place the corpses of the people of Israel in front of their idols, and I will scatter your bones around your altars.

"'This is what the sovereign Lord says: Clap your hands, stamp your feet, and say, "Ah!" because of all the evil, abominable practices of the house of Israel, for they will fall by the sword, famine, and pestilence.

"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!

Then I perceived that the glory of the God of Israel was there, as in the vision I had seen earlier in the valley.

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!"

So I went in and looked. I noticed every figure of creeping thing and beast -- detestable images -- and every idol of the house of Israel, engraved on the wall all around.

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!'"

Then the glory of the God of Israel went up from the cherub where it had rested to the threshold of the temple. He called to the man dressed in linen who had the writing kit at his side.

While they were striking them down, I was left alone, and I threw myself face down and cried out, "Ah, sovereign Lord! Will you destroy the entire remnant of Israel when you pour out your fury on Jerusalem?"

He said to me, "The sin of the house of Israel and Judah is extremely great; the land is full of murder, and the city is full of corruption, for they say, 'The Lord has abandoned the land, and the Lord does not see!'

The cherubim spread their wings, and they rose up from the earth while I watched (when they went the wheels went alongside them). They stopped at the entrance to the east gate of the Lord's temple as the glory of the God of Israel hovered above them.

These were the living creatures which I saw at the Kebar River underneath the God of Israel; I knew that they were cherubim.

Then the Spirit of the Lord came upon me and said to me, "Say: This is what the Lord says: 'This is what you are thinking, O house of Israel; I know what goes through your minds.

You will die by the sword; I will judge you at the border of Israel. Then you will know that I am the Lord.

This city will not be a cooking pot for you, and you will not be meat within it; I will judge you at the border of Israel.

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.'

"Therefore say: 'This is what the sovereign Lord says: When I regather you from the peoples and assemble you from the lands where you have been dispersed, I will give you back the country of Israel.'

Then the cherubim spread their wings with their wheels alongside them while the glory of the God of Israel hovered above them.

While they are watching, raise your baggage onto your shoulder and carry it out in the dark. You must cover your face so that you cannot see the ground because I have made you an object lesson to the house of Israel."

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

Say to them, 'This is what the sovereign Lord says: The prince will raise this burden in Jerusalem, and all the house of Israel within it.'

Then say to the people of the land, 'This is what the sovereign Lord says about the inhabitants of Jerusalem and of the land of Israel: They will eat their bread with anxiety and drink their water in fright, for their land will be stripped bare of all it contains because of the violence of all who live in it.

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

Therefore tell them, 'This is what the sovereign Lord says: I hereby end this proverb; they will not recite it in Israel any longer.' But say to them, 'The days are at hand when every vision will be fulfilled.

For there will no longer be any false visions or flattering omens amidst the house of Israel.

"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!

Your prophets have become like jackals among the ruins, O Israel.

You have not gone up in the breaks in the wall, nor repaired a wall for the house of Israel that it would stand strong in the battle on the day of the Lord.

My hand will be against the prophets who see delusion and announce lying omens. They will not be included in the council of my people, nor be written in the registry of the house of Israel, nor enter the land of Israel. Then you will know that I am the sovereign Lord.

those prophets of Israel who would prophesy about Jerusalem and would see visions of peace for it, when there was no peace," declares the sovereign Lord.'

Then some men from Israel's elders came to me and sat down in front of me.

Therefore speak to them and say to them, 'This is what the sovereign Lord says: When any one from the house of Israel erects his idols in his heart and sets the obstacle leading to his iniquity before his face, and then consults a prophet, I the Lord am determined to answer him personally according to the enormity of his idolatry.

I will do this in order to capture the hearts of the house of Israel, who have alienated themselves from me on account of all their idols.'

"Therefore say to the house of Israel, 'This is what the sovereign Lord says: Return! Turn from your idols, and turn your faces away from your abominations.

For when anyone from the house of Israel, or the foreigner who lives in Israel, separates himself from me and erects his idols in his heart and sets the obstacle leading to his iniquity before his face, and then consults a prophet to seek something from me, I the Lord am determined to answer him personally.

"'As for the prophet, if he is made a fool by being deceived into speaking a prophetic word -- I, the Lord, have made a fool of that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand against him and destroy him from among my people Israel.

so that the house of Israel will no longer go astray from me, nor continue to defile themselves by all their sins. They will be my people and I will be their God, declares the sovereign Lord.'"

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

"Say to the rebellious house of Israel: 'Don't you know what these things mean?' Say: 'See here, the king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and took her king and her officials prisoner and brought them to himself in Babylon.

But this one from Israel's royal family rebelled against the king of Babylon by sending his emissaries to Egypt to obtain horses and a large army. Will he prosper? Will the one doing these things escape? Can he break the covenant and escape?

I will plant it on a high mountain of Israel, and it will raise branches and produce fruit and become a beautiful cedar. Every bird will live under it; Every winged creature will live in the shade of its branches.

"What do you mean by quoting this proverb concerning the land of Israel, "'The fathers eat sour grapes And the children's teeth become numb?'

"As surely as I live, declares the sovereign Lord, you will not quote this proverb in Israel anymore!

does not eat pagan sacrifices on the mountains or pray to the idols of the house of Israel, does not defile his neighbor's wife, does not have sexual relations with a woman during her period,

He does not eat pagan sacrifices on the mountains, does not pray to the idols of the house of Israel, does not defile his neighbor's wife,

"Yet you say, 'The Lord's conduct is unjust!' Hear, O house of Israel: Is my conduct unjust? Is it not your conduct that is unjust?

Yet the house of Israel says, 'The Lord's conduct is unjust!' Is my conduct unjust, O house of Israel? Is it not your conduct that is unjust?

"Therefore I will judge each person according to his conduct, O house of Israel, declares the sovereign Lord. Repent and turn from all your wickedness; then it will not be an obstacle leading to iniquity.

Throw away all your sins you have committed and fashion yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! Why should you die, O house of Israel?

"And you, sing a lament for the princes of Israel,

They put him in a collar with hooks; they brought him to the king of Babylon; they brought him to prison so that his voice would not be heard any longer on the mountains of Israel.

In the seventh year, in the fifth month, on the tenth of the month, some of the elders of Israel came to seek the Lord, and they sat down in front of 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.'

and say to them: "'This is what the sovereign Lord says: On the day I chose Israel I swore to the descendants of the house of Jacob and made myself known to them in the land of Egypt. I swore to them, "I am the Lord your God."

But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness; they did not follow my statutes and they rejected my regulations (the one who obeys them will live by them), and they utterly desecrated my Sabbaths. So I decided to pour out my rage on them in the wilderness and destroy them.

"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.

"Therefore say to the house of Israel, 'This is what the sovereign Lord says: Will you defile yourselves like your fathers and engage in prostitution with detestable idols?

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!

I will eliminate from among you the rebels and those who revolt against me. I will bring them out from the land where they have been residing, but they will not come to the land of Israel. Then you will know that I am the Lord.

"'As for you, O house of Israel, this is what the sovereign Lord says: Each of you go and serve your idols, if you will not listen to me. But my holy name will not be profaned again by your sacrifices and your idols.

For there on my holy mountain, the high mountain of Israel, declares the sovereign Lord, all the house of Israel will serve me, all of them in the land. I will accept them there, and there I will seek your contributions and your choice gifts, with all your holy things.

Then you will know that I am the Lord when I bring you to the land of Israel, to the land I swore to give to your fathers.

Then you will know that I am the Lord, when I deal with you for the sake of my reputation and not according to your wicked conduct and corrupt deeds, O house of Israel, declares the sovereign Lord.'"

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

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.

"'As for you, profane and wicked prince of Israel, whose day has come, the time of final punishment,

"'See how each of the princes of Israel living within you has used his authority to shed blood.

"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.

Say to the house of Israel, 'This is what the sovereign Lord says: Realize I am about to desecrate my sanctuary -- the source of your confident pride, the object in which your eyes delight, and your life's passion. Your very own sons and daughters whom you have left behind will die by the sword.

Say to the Ammonites, 'Hear the word of the sovereign Lord: This is what the sovereign Lord says: You said "Aha!" about my sanctuary when it was desecrated, about the land of Israel when it was made desolate, and about the house of Judah when they went into exile.

For this is what the sovereign Lord says: Because you clapped your hands, stamped your feet, and rejoiced with intense scorn over the land of Israel,

I will exact my vengeance upon Edom by the hand of my people Israel. They will carry out in Edom my anger and rage; they will experience my vengeance, declares the sovereign Lord.'"

Judah and the land of Israel were your clients; they traded wheat from Minnith, millet, honey, olive oil, and balm for your merchandise.

"'No longer will Israel suffer from the sharp briers or painful thorns of all who surround and scorn them. Then they will know that I am the sovereign Lord.

"'This is what the sovereign Lord says: When I regather the house of Israel from the peoples where they are dispersed, I will reveal my sovereign power over them in the sight of the nations, and they will live in their land that I gave to my servant Jacob.

Then all those living in Egypt will know that I am the Lord because they were a reed staff for the house of Israel;

It will never again be Israel's source of confidence, but a reminder of how they sinned by turning to Egypt for help. Then they will know that I am the sovereign Lord.'"

On that day I will make Israel powerful, and I will give you the right to be heard among them. Then they will know that I am the Lord."

"As for you, son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you must warn them on my behalf.

"And you, son of man, say to the house of Israel, 'This is what you have said: "Our rebellious acts and our sins have caught up with us, and we are wasting away because of them. How then can we live?"'

Say to them, 'As surely as I live, declares the sovereign Lord, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but prefer that the wicked change his behavior and live. Turn back, turn back from your evil deeds! Why should you die, O house of Israel?'

Yet you say, 'The behavior of the Lord is not right.' House of Israel, I will judge each of you according to his behavior."

"Son of man, the ones living in these ruins in the land of Israel are saying, 'Abraham was only one man, yet he possessed the land, but we are many; surely the land has been given to us for a possession.'

I will turn the land into a desolate ruin; her confident pride will come to an end. The mountains of Israel will be so desolate no one will pass through them.