Those who went after us were quicker than the eagles of the heaven, driving us before them on the mountains, waiting secretly for us in the waste land.

Our heritage is given up to men of strange lands, our houses to those who are not our countrymen.

Now it came about in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, on the fifth day of the month, while I was by the river Chebar among those who had been made prisoners, that the heavens were made open and I saw visions of God.

And go now to those who have been taken away as prisoners, to the children of your people, and say to them, This is what the Lord has said; if they give ear or if they do not.

Then I came to those who had been taken away as prisoners, who were at Telabib by the river Chebar, and I was seated among them full of wonder for seven days.

And those of you who are kept safe will have me in mind among the nations where they have been taken away as prisoners, how I sent punishment on their hearts which were untrue to me, and on their eyes which were turned to their false gods: and they will be full of hate for themselves because of the evil things which they have done in all their disgusting ways.

And those of them who get away safely will go and be in the secret places like the doves of the valleys, all of them will come to death, every one in his sin.

Son of man, your countrymen, your relations, and all the children of Israel, all of them, are those to whom the people of Jerusalem have said, Go far from the Lord; this land is given to us for a heritage:

But as for those whose heart goes after their hated and disgusting things, I will send on their heads the punishment of their ways, says the Lord.

And the wind, lifting me up, took me in the visions of God into Chaldaea, to those who had been taken away as prisoners. So the vision which I had seen went away from me.

Then I gave an account to those who had been taken prisoners of all the things which the Lord had made me see.

By day, before their eyes, take out your vessels like those of one who is taken away: and go out in the evening before their eyes, like those who are taken away as prisoners.

And I did as I was ordered: I took out my vessels by day, like those of one who is taken away, and in the evening I made a hole through the wall with a tent-pin; and in the dark I went out, taking my things on my back before their eyes.

Son of man, be a prophet against the prophets of Israel, and say to those prophets whose words are the invention of their hearts, Give ear to the word of the Lord;

Say to those who put whitewash on it, There will be an overflowing shower; and you, O ice-drops, will come raining down; and it will be broken in two by the storm-wind.

So I will let loose my passion on the wall in full measure, and on those who put whitewash on it; and I will say to you, Where is the wall, and where are those who put whitewash on it?

This is what the Lord has said: A curse is on the women who are stitching bands on all arms and putting veils on the heads of those of every size, so that they may go after souls! Will you go after the souls of my people and keep yourselves safe from death?

And you have put me to shame among my people for a little barley and some bits of bread, sending death on souls for whom there is no cause of death, and keeping those souls living who have no right to life, by the false words you say to my people who give ear to what is false.

When any one of the men of Israel, or of those from other lands who are living in Israel, who has become strange to me, and takes his false gods into his heart, and puts before his face the sin which is the cause of his fall, comes to the prophet to get directions from me; I the Lord will give him an answer by myself:

For this cause I will get together all your lovers with whom you have taken your pleasure, and all those to whom you have given your love, with all those who were hated by you; I will even make them come together against you on every side, and I will have you uncovered before them so that they may see your shame.

Truly, this was the sin of your sister Sodom: pride, a full measure of food, and the comforts of wealth in peace, were seen in her and her daughters, and she gave no help to the poor or to those in need.

Clearing out from among you all those who are uncontrolled and who are sinning against me; I will take them out of the land where they are living, but they will not come into the land of Israel: and you will be certain that I am the Lord.

So then, son of man, be a prophet, and put your hands together with a loud sound, and give two blows with the sword, and even three; it is the sword of those who are wounded, even the sword of the wounded; the great sword which goes round about them.

In order that hearts may become soft, and the number of those who are falling may be increased, I have sent death by the sword against all their doors: you are made like a flame, you are polished for death.

And this answer given by secret arts will seem false to those who have given their oaths and have let them be broken: but he will keep the memory of evil-doing so that they may be taken.

Those who are near and those who are far from you will make sport of you; your name is unclean, you are full of sounds of fear.

The people of the land have been acting cruelly, taking men's goods by force; they have been hard on the poor and those in need, and have done wrong to the man from a strange land.

For this cause, O Oholibah, this is what the Lord has said: See, I will make your lovers come up against you, even those from whom your soul is turned away in disgust; and I will make them come up against you on every side;

For this is what the Lord has said: See, I will give you up into the hands of those who are hated by you, into the hands of those from whom your soul is turned away in disgust:

Let there be no sound of sorrow; make no weeping for your dead, put on your head-dress and your shoes on your feet, let not your lips be covered, and do not take the food of those in grief.

And you will do as I have done, not covering your lips or taking the food of those in grief.

Then I will make you go down with those who go down into the underworld, to the people of the past, causing your living-place to be in the deepest parts of the earth, in places long unpeopled, with those who go down into the deep, so that there will be no one living in you; and you will have no glory in the land of the living.

Your wealth and your goods, the things in which you do trade, your seamen and those guiding your ships, those who make your boards watertight, and those who do business with your goods, and all your men of war who are in you, with all who have come together in you, will go down into the heart of the seas in the day of your downfall.

And all the boatmen, the seamen and those who are expert at guiding a ship through the sea, will come down from their ships and take their places on the land;

Those who do business among the peoples make sounds of surprise at you; you have become a thing of fear, you have come to an end for ever.

They will send you down to the underworld, and your death will be the death of those who are put to the sword in the heart of the seas.

Will you say, in the face of those who are taking your life, I am God? but you are man and not God in the hands of those who are wounding you.

Your death will be the death of those who are without circumcision, by the hands of men from strange lands: for I have said it, says the Lord.

And they will be safe there, building houses and planting vine-gardens and living without fear; when I have sent my punishments on all those who put shame on them round about them; and they will be certain that I am the Lord their God.

In order that no trees by the waters may be lifted up in their growth, putting their tops among the clouds; and that no trees which are watered may take their place on high: for they are all given up to death, to the lowest parts of the earth among the children of men, with those who go down to the underworld.

I will send shaking on the nations at the sound of his fall, when I send him down to the underworld with those who go down into the deep: and on earth they will be comforting themselves, all the trees of Eden, the best of Lebanon, even all the watered ones.

And they will go down with him to the underworld, to those who have been put to the sword; even those who were his helpers, living under his shade among the nations

Whom then are you like? for you will be sent down with the trees of Eden into the lowest parts of the earth: there you will be stretched out among those without circumcision, with those who were put to the sword. This is Pharaoh and all his people, says the Lord.

When I make Egypt an unpeopled waste, cutting off from the land all the things in it; when I send punishment on all those living in it, then it will be clear to them that I am the Lord.

Son of man, let your voice be loud in sorrow for the people of Egypt and send them down, even you and the daughters of the nations; I will send them down into the lowest parts of the earth, with those who go down into the underworld.

Are you more beautiful than any? go down, and take your rest among those without circumcision,

Among those who have been put to the sword: they will give a resting-place with them to all their people.

The strong among the great ones will say to him from the underworld, Are you more beautiful than any? go down, you and your helpers, and take your rest among those without circumcision, and those who have been put to the sword.

There is Elam and all her people, round about her last resting-place: all of them put to death by the sword, who have gone down without circumcision into the lowest parts of the earth, who were a cause of fear in the land of the living, and are put to shame with those who go down to the underworld:

They have made a bed for her among the dead, and all her people are round about her resting-place: all of them without circumcision, put to death with the sword; for they were a cause of fear in the land of the living, and are put to shame with those who go down to the underworld: they have been given a place among those who have been put to the sword.

But you will have your bed among those without circumcision, and will be put to rest with those who have been put to death with the sword.

There is Edom, her kings and all her princes, who have been given a resting-place with those who were put to the sword: they will be resting among those without circumcision, even with those who go down to the underworld.

There are the chiefs of the north, all of them, and all the Zidonians, who have gone down with those who have been put to the sword: they are shamed on account of all the fear caused by their strength; they are resting there without circumcision, among those who have been put to the sword, and are put to shame with those who go down to the underworld.

For he put his fear in the land of the living: and he will be put to rest among those without circumcision, with those who have been put to death with the sword, even Pharaoh and all his people, says the Lord.

Son of man, those who are living in these waste places in the land of Israel say, Abraham was but one, and he had land for his heritage: but we are a great number; the land is given to us for our heritage.

This is what you are to say to them: The Lord has said, By my life, truly, those who are in the waste places will be put to the sword, and him who is in the open field I will give to the beasts for their food, and those who are in the strong places and in holes in the rocks will come to their death by disease.

And the tree of the field will give its fruit and the earth will give its increase, and they will be safe in their land; and they will be certain that I am the Lord, when I have had their yoke broken and have given them salvation from the hands of those who made them servants.

I will make his mountains full of those who have been put to death; in your valleys and in all your water-streams men will be falling by the sword.

So I let loose my wrath on them because of those whom they had violently put to death in the land, and because they had made it unclean with their images:

And you will say, I will go up to the land of small unwalled towns; I will go to those who are quiet, living, all of them, without fear of danger, without walls or locks or doors:

This is what the Lord has said: You are he of whom I gave them word in earlier times by my servants, the prophets of Israel, who in those days went on saying, year after year, that I would make you come up against them.

And I will send a fire on Magog, and on those who are living in the sea-lands without fear: and they will be certain that I am the Lord.

And those who are living in the towns of Israel will go out and make fires of the instruments of war, burning the body-covers and the breastplates, the bows and the arrows and the sticks and the spears, and for seven years they will make fires of them:

And they will take no wood out of the field or have any cut down in the woods; for they will make their fires of the instruments of war: and they will take by force the property of those who took their property, and go off with the goods of those who took their goods, says the Lord.

And it will come about in those days, that I will give to Gog a last resting-place there in Israel, in the valley of Abarim on the east of the sea: and those who go through will be stopped: and there Gog and all his people will be put to rest, and the place will be named, The valley of Hamon-gog.

And they will put on one side men to do no other work but to go through the land and put in the earth the rest of those who are still on the face of the land, to make it clean: after seven months are ended they are to make a search.

And while they go through the land, if anyone sees a man's bone, he is to put up a sign by the place till those who are doing the work have put it in the earth in the valley of Hamon-gog.

And it had three rooms on this side of it and three on that; its uprights and its covered ways were the same size as those of the first doorway: it was fifty cubits long and twenty-five cubits wide.

And its windows, and the windows of its covered ways, and its palm-trees, were the same as those of the doorway looking to the east; and there were seven steps up to it; and the covered way went inside.

For this cause the Lord has said, No man from a strange land, without circumcision of heart and flesh, of all those who are living among the children of Israel, is to come into my holy place.

And by the edge of the river, on this side and on that, will come up every tree used for food, whose leaves will ever be green and its fruit will not come to an end: it will have new fruit every month, because its waters come out from the holy place: the fruit will be for food and the leaf will make well those who are ill.

For the priests who have been made holy, those of the sons of Zadok who kept the orders I gave them, who did not go out of the right way when the children of Israel went from the way, as the Levites did,

And the rest is to be for the prince, on this side and on that side of the holy offering and of the property of the town, in front of the twenty-five thousand to the east, as far as the east limit, and to the west, in front of the twenty-five thousand, as far as the west limit, and of the same measure as those parts; it will be the property of the prince: and the holy offering and holy place of the house will be in the middle of it.

And the king gave orders to Ashpenaz, the captain of his unsexed servants, to take in some of the children of Israel, certain of the king's family, and those of high birth;

Then the king gave orders that the wonder-workers, and the users of secret arts, and those who made use of evil powers, and the Chaldaeans, were to be sent for to make clear to the king his dreams. So they came and took their places before the king.

By him times and years are changed: by him kings are taken away and kings are lifted up: he gives wisdom to the wise, and knowledge to those whose minds are awake:

And in the days of those kings, the God of heaven will put up a kingdom which will never come to destruction, and its power will never be given into the hands of another people, and all these kingdoms will be broken and overcome by it, but it will keep its place for ever.

Then Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, was at a loss for a time, his thoughts troubling him. The king made answer and said, Belteshazzar, do not be troubled by the dream or by the sense of it. Belteshazzar, answering, said, My lord, may the dream be about your haters, and its sense about those who are against you.

That very hour the order about Nebuchadnezzar was put into effect: and he was sent out from among men, and had grass for his food like the oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his hair became long as eagles' feathers and his nails like those of birds.

Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, give worship and praise and honour to the King of heaven; for all his works are true and his ways are right: and those who go in pride he is able to make low.

And at the king's order, they took those men who had said evil against Daniel, and put them in the lions' hole, with their wives and their children; and they had not got to the floor of the hole before the lions overcame them and all their bones were broken.

After this I saw another beast, like a leopard, which had on its back four wings like those of a bird; and the beast had four heads, and the power of a ruler was given to it.

I came near to one of those who were waiting there, questioning him about what all this was. And he said to me that he would make clear to me the sense of these things.

And I made prayer to the Lord my God, putting our sins before him, and said, O Lord, the great God, greatly to be feared. keeping your agreement and mercy with those who have love for you and do your orders;

O Lord, righteousness is yours, but shame is on us, even to this day; and on the men of Judah and the people of Jerusalem, and on all Israel, those who are near and those who are far off, in all the countries where you have sent them because of the sin which they have done against you.

And he has given effect to his words which he said against us and against those who were our judges, by sending a great evil on us: for under all heaven there has not been done what has been done to Jerusalem.

In those days I, Daniel, gave myself up to grief for three full weeks.

And at the end of years they will be joined together; and the daughter of the king of the south will come to the king of the north to make an agreement: but she will not keep the strength of her arm; and his offspring will not keep their place; but she will be uprooted, with those who were the cause of her coming, and her son, and he who took her in those times.

In those times, a number will take up arms against the king of the south: and the children of the violent among your people will be lifting themselves up to make the vision come true; but it will be their downfall.

For those who go out from the west will come against him, and he will be in fear and will go back, full of wrath against the holy agreement; and he will do his pleasure: and he will go back and be united with those who have given up the holy agreement.

And those who do evil against the agreement will be turned to sin by his fair words: but the people who have knowledge of their God will be strong and do well.

And those who are wise among the people will be the teachers of the mass of the people: but they will come to their downfall by the sword and by the flame, being made prisoners and undergoing loss for a long time.

And some of those who are wise will have wisdom in testing themselves and making themselves clean, till the time of the end: for it is still for the fixed time.

And he will make use of the people of a strange god to keep his strongest places; to those whom he takes note of he will give high honour: and he will make them rulers over the mass of the people, and will make division of the land for a price.

And a number of those who are sleeping in the dust of the earth will come out of their sleep, some to eternal life and some to eternal shame.

And those who are wise will be shining like the light of the outstretched sky; and those by whom numbers have been turned to righteousness will be like the stars for ever and ever.

Till a number are tested and make themselves clean; and the evil-doers will do evil; for not one of the evil-doers will have knowledge; but all will be made clear to those who are wise.

And I will put her as seed in the earth, and I will have mercy on her to whom no mercy was given; and I will say to those who were not my people, You are my people, and they will say, My God.

Let no man go to law or make protests, for your people are like those who go to law with a priest.

I will not give punishment to your daughters or your brides for their evil behaviour; for they make themselves separate with loose women, and make offerings with those who are used for sex purposes in the worship of the gods: the people who have no wisdom will be sent away.