Those who were used to feasting on delicate food are wasted in the streets: those who as children were dressed in purple are stretched out on the dust.

For the punishment of the daughter of my people is greater than the punishment of Sodom, which was overturned suddenly without any hand falling on her.

Their face is blacker than night; in the streets no one has knowledge of them: their skin is hanging on their bones, they are dry, they have become like wood.

The hands of kind-hearted women have been boiling their children; they were their food in the destruction of the daughter of my people.

The Lord has given full effect to his passion, he has let loose his burning wrath; he has made a fire in Zion, causing the destruction of its bases.

It is because of the sins of her prophets and the evil-doing of her priests, by whom the blood of the upright has been drained out in her.

They are wandering like blind men in the streets, they are made unclean with blood, so that their robes may not be touched by men.

Away! unclean! they were crying out to them, Away! away! let there be no touching: when they went away in flight and wandering, men said among the nations, There is no further resting-place for them.

The face of the Lord has sent them in all directions; he will no longer take care of them: they had no respect for the priests, they gave no honour to the old men.

Our eyes are still wasting away in looking for our false help: we have been watching for a nation unable to give salvation.

They go after our steps so that we may not go in our streets: our end is near, our days are numbered; for our end has come.

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 breath of life, he on whom the holy oil was put, was taken in their holes; of whom we said, Under his shade we will be living among the nations.

Have joy and be glad, O daughter of Edom, living in the land of Uz: the cup will be given to you in your turn, and you will be overcome with wine and your shame will be seen.

Keep in mind, O Lord, what has come to us: take note and see our shame.

Our attackers are on our necks: overcome with weariness, we have no rest.

Our fathers were sinners and are dead; and the weight of their evil-doing is on us.

Servants are ruling over us, and there is no one to make us free from their hands.

We put our lives in danger to get our bread, because of the sword of the waste land.

Our skin is heated like an oven because of our burning heat from need of food.

They took by force the women in Zion, the virgins in the towns of Judah.

The old men are no longer seated in the doorway, and the music of the young men has come to an end.

Make us come back to you, O Lord, and let us be turned; make our days new again as in the past.

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.

On the fifth day of the month, in the fifth year after King Jehoiachin had been made a prisoner,

The word of the Lord came to me, Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldaeans by the river Chebar; and the hand of the Lord was on me there.

And, looking, I saw a storm-wind coming out of the north, a great cloud with flames of fire coming after one another, and a bright light shining round about it and in the heart of it was something coloured like electrum.

And in the heart of it were the forms of four living beings. And this was what they were like; they had the form of a man.

And every one had four faces, and every one of them had four wings.

And they had the hands of a man under their wings; the four of them had faces on their four sides.

They went without turning, every one went straight forward.

As for the form of their faces, they had the face of a man, and the four of them had the face of a lion on the right side, and the four of them had the face of an ox on the left side, and the four of them had the face of an eagle.

And their wings were separate at the top; two of the wings of every one were joined one to another, and two were covering their bodies.

Every one of them went straight forward; wherever the spirit was to go they went; they went on without turning.

And between the living beings it was like burning coals of fire, as if flames were going one after the other between the living beings; and the fire was bright, and out of the fire went thunder-flames.

Now while I was looking at the four living beings, I saw one wheel on the earth, by the side of the living beings, for the four of them.

The four of them went straight forward without turning to one side.

And when the living beings went on, the wheels went by their side; and when the living beings were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up.

Wherever the spirit was to go they went; and the wheels were lifted up by their side: for the spirit of the living beings was in the wheels.

When these went on, the others went; and when these came to rest, the others came to rest; and when these were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up by their side: for the spirit of the living beings was in the wheels.

And over the heads of the living beings there was the form of an arch, looking like ice, stretched out over their heads on high.

Under the arch their wings were straight, one stretched out to another: every one had two wings covering their bodies on this side and two covering their bodies on that side.

And when they went, the sound of their wings was like the sound of great waters to my ears, like the voice of the Ruler of all, a sound like the rushing of an army: when they came to rest they let down their wings.

And there was a voice from the top of the arch which was over their heads: when they came to rest they let down their wings.

And on the top of the arch which was over their heads was the form of a king's seat, like a sapphire stone; and on the form of the seat was the form of a man seated on it on high.

And I saw it coloured like electrum, with the look of fire in it and round it, going up from what seemed to be the middle of his body; and going down from what seemed to be the middle of his body I saw what was like fire, and there was a bright light shining round him.

Like the bow in the cloud on a day of rain, so was the light shining round him. And this is what the glory of the Lord was like. And when I saw it I went down on my face, and the voice of one talking came to my ears.

And he said to me, Son of man, get up on your feet, so that I may say words to you.

And at his words the spirit came into me and put me on my feet; and his voice came to my ears.

And he said to me, Son of man, I am sending you to the children of Israel, to an uncontrolled nation which has gone against me: they and their fathers have been sinners against me even to this very day.

And they, if they give ear to you or if they do not give ear (for they are an uncontrolled people), will see that there has been a prophet among them.

And you, son of man, have no fear of them or of their words, even if sharp thorns are round you and you are living among scorpions: have no fear of their words and do not be overcome by their looks, for they are an uncontrolled people.

And looking, I saw a hand stretched out to me, and I saw the roll of a book in it;

And he put it open before me, and it had writing on the front and on the back; words of grief and sorrow and trouble were recorded in it.

And, on my opening my mouth, he made me take the roll as food.

And he said to me, Son of man, let your stomach make a meal of it and let your inside be full of this roll which I am giving you. Then I took it, and it was sweet as honey in my mouth.

Like a diamond harder than rock I have made your brow: have no fear of them and do not be overcome by their looks, for they are an uncontrolled people.

Then I was lifted up by the wind, and at my back the sound of a great rushing came to my ears when the glory of the Lord was lifted up from his place.

And there was the sound of the wings of the living beings touching one another, and the sound of the wheels at their side, the sound of a great rushing.

And the wind, lifting me up, took me away: and I went in the heat of my spirit, and the hand of the Lord was strong on me.

When I say to the evil-doer, Death will certainly be your fate; and you give him no word of it and say nothing to make clear to the evil-doer the danger of his evil way, so that he may be safe; that same evil man will come to death in his evil-doing; but I will make you responsible for his blood.

But if you give the evil-doer word of his danger, and he is not turned from his sin or from his evil way, death will overtake him in his evil-doing; but your life will be safe.

Again, when an upright man, turning away from his righteousness, does evil, and I put a cause of falling in his way, death will overtake him: because you have given him no word of his danger, death will overtake him in his evil-doing, and there will be no memory of the upright acts which he has done; but I will make you responsible for his blood.

And the hand of the Lord was on me there; and he said, Get up and go out into the valley and there I will have talk with you.

Then I got up and went out into the valley; and I saw the glory of the Lord resting there as I had seen it by the river Chebar; and I went down on my face.

Then the spirit came into me and put me on my feet; and he had talk with me and said to me, Go and keep yourself shut up inside your house.

But see, O son of man, I will put bands on you, prisoning you in them, and you will not go out among them:

And I will make your tongue fixed to the roof of your mouth, so that you have no voice and may not make protests to them: for they are an uncontrolled people.

But when I have talk with you I will make your mouth open, and you are to say to them, This is what the Lord has said: Let the hearer give ear; and as for him who will not, let him keep his ears shut: for they are an uncontrolled people.

And you, son of man, take a back and put it before you and on it make a picture of a town, even Jerusalem.

And make an attack on it, shutting it in, building strong places against it, and making high an earthwork against it; and put up tents against it, placing engines all round it for smashing down its walls.

And take a flat iron plate, and put it for a wall of iron between you and the town: and let your face be turned to it, and it will be shut in and you will make an attack on it. This will be a sign to the children of Israel.

Then, stretching yourself out on your left side, take the sin of the children of Israel on yourself: for as long as you are stretched out, so long will the sin of the children of Israel be on you.

For I have had the years of their sin measured for you by a number of days, even three hundred and ninety days: and you will take on yourself the sin of the children of Israel.

And when these days are ended, turning on your right side, you are to take on yourself the sin of the children of Judah: forty days, a day for a year, I have had it fixed for you.

And let your face be turned to where Jerusalem is shut in, with your arm uncovered, and be a prophet against it.

And see, I will put bands on you; and you will be stretched out without turning from one side to the other till the days of your attack are ended.

And take for yourself wheat and barley and different sorts of grain, and put them in one vessel and make bread for yourself from them; all the days when you are stretched on your side it will be your food.

Then I said, Ah, Lord! see, my soul has never been unclean, and I have never taken as my food anything which has come to a natural death or has been broken by beasts, from the time when I was young even till now; no disgusting flesh has ever come into my mouth.

Then he said to me, See, I have given you cow's waste in place of man's waste, and you will make your bread ready on it.

So that they may be in need of bread and water and be wondering at one another, wasting away in their sin.

You are to have a third part burned with fire inside the town, when the days of the attack are ended; and a third part you are to take and give blows with the sword round about it; and give a third part for the wind to take away, and let loose a sword after them.

And take from them a small number of hairs, folding them in your skirts.

And again take some of these and put them in the fire, burning them up in the fire; and say to all the children of Israel,

This is what the Lord has said: This is Jerusalem: I have put her among the nations, and countries are round her on every side;

And she has gone against my orders by doing evil more than the nations, and against my rules more than the countries round her: for they have given up my orders, and as for my rules, they have not gone in the way of them.

And I will do in you what I have not done and will not do again, because of all your disgusting ways.

So my wrath will be complete and my passion will come to rest on them; and they will be certain that I the Lord have given the word of decision, when my wrath against them is complete.

And I will make you a waste and a name of shame among the nations round about you, in the eyes of everyone who goes by.

And you will be a name of shame and a cause of bitter words, an example and a wonder to the nations round about you, when I give effect to my judging among you in wrath and in passion and in burning protests: I the Lord have said it:

When I send on you the evil arrows of disease, causing destruction, which I will send to put an end to you; and, further, I will take away your necessary food.

And I will send on you need of food and evil beasts, and they will be a cause of loss to you; and disease and violent death will go through you; and I will send the sword on you: I the Lord have said it.

You mountains of Israel, give ear to the words of the Lord: this is what the Lord has said to the mountains and the hills, to the waterways and the valleys: See, I, even I, am sending on you a sword for the destruction of your high places.

And I will put the dead bodies of the children of Israel in front of their images, sending your bones in all directions about your altars.

In all your living-places the towns will become broken walls, and the high places made waste; so that your altars may be broken down and made waste, and your images broken and ended, and so that your sun-images may be cut down and your works rubbed out.

But still, I will keep a small band safe from the sword among the nations, when you are sent wandering among the countries.

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 you will be certain that I am the Lord, when their dead men are stretched among their images round about their altars on every high hill, on all the tops of the mountains, and under every branching tree, and under every thick oak-tree, the places where they made sweet smells to all their images.

And you, son of man, say, This is what the Lord has said to the land of Israel: An end has come, the end has come on the four quarters of the land.

Now the end has come on you, and I will send my wrath on you, judging you for your ways, I will send punishment on you for all your disgusting acts.