But those whose hearts are devoted to detestable things and abominations, I hereby repay them for what they have done, says the sovereign Lord."

Then did the cherubim lift up their wings, and the wheels were beside them; and the glory of the God of Israel was over them above.

Son of man, thou dwellest in the midst of a rebellious house, which have eyes to see, and see not; they have ears to hear, and hear not: for they are a rebellious house.

Therefore, thou son of man, prepare thee stuff for removing, and remove by day in their sight; and thou shalt remove from thy place to another place in their sight: it may be they will consider, though they are a rebellious house.

Bring your provisions and supplies out during the day as they watch, as provisions and supplies for [going into] exile. Then you shall go out at evening as they watch, as those going into exile.

Dig through the wall in their sight, and carry your stuff out that way.

As they look on, load the provisions and supplies on your shoulder and carry it out in the dark. You shall cover your face so that you cannot see the land, for I have set you as a sign to the house of Israel.”

I did just as I was commanded. I brought out the luggage as if it were luggage for exile. I did this during the day. Then in the evening I dug a hole in the wall with my hand and brought the luggage out in total darkness and carried it out on my shoulder while they were watching.

“Son of man, has not the house of Israel, the rebellious house, asked you, ‘What you are doing?’

Say thou unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; This burden concerneth the prince in Jerusalem, and all the house of Israel that are among them.

Say, I am your sign: like as I have done, so shall it be done unto them: they shall remove and go into captivity.

And I will scatter toward every wind all that are about him to help him, and all his bands; and I will draw out the sword after them.

But I will spare a few of them from the sword, famine, and plague so they can tell about all their detestable practices among the nations where they go. Then they will know that I am Yahweh.”

“Son of man, eat your bread with anxiety, and drink your water with trembling and with fear.

and thou hast said unto the people of the land, Thus said the Lord Jehovah concerning the inhabitants of Jerusalem, concerning the land of Israel: Their bread with fear they do eat, and their water with astonishment drink, because its land is desolate, because of its fulness, because of the violence of all who are dwelling in it.

And the cities that are inhabited shall be laid waste, and the land shall be desolate; and ye shall know that I am the LORD.

Son of man, what is that proverb that ye have in the land of Israel, saying, The days are prolonged, and every vision faileth?

Tell them therefore, Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will make this proverb to cease, and they shall no more use it as a proverb in Israel; but say unto them, The days are at hand, and the effect of every vision.

For there will no longer be any false and empty vision or flattering divination within the house of Israel.

For I am the LORD: I will speak, and the word that I shall speak shall come to pass; it shall be no more prolonged: for in your days, O rebellious house, will I say the word, and will perform it, saith the Lord GOD.

Son of man, behold, they of the house of Israel say, The vision that he seeth is for many days to come, and he prophesieth of the times that are far off.

therefore say unto them: Thus said the Lord Jehovah: None of my words are prolonged any more, When I speak a word -- it is done, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah!'

'Son of man, prophesy concerning the prophets of Israel who are prophesying, and thou hast said to those prophesying from their own heart: Hear ye a word of Jehovah:

Thus said the Lord Jehovah: Woe unto the prophets who are foolish, Who are going after their own spirit, And they have seen nothing.

O Israel, thy prophets are like the foxes in the deserts.

You have not gone up into the gaps or breaches, nor built the wall around the house of Israel that it might stand in the battle on the day of the Lord.

They have seen vanity, and lying divination, Who are saying: An affirmation of Jehovah, And Jehovah hath not sent them, And they have hoped to establish a word.

Is it not a Vision of falsehood, ye have seen, and a Divination of lies, ye have spoken, Since ye are saying. Declareth Yahweh! when I have not spoken

Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: 'Because of your speaking falseness and [because] you envisioned a lie, therefore, look! I [am] against you!" {declares} the Lord Yahweh.

And My hand hath been on the prophets, Who are seeing vanity, and who are divining a lie, In the assembly of My people they are not, And in the writing of the house of Israel they are not written, And unto the ground of Israel they come not, And ye have known that I am the Lord Jehovah.

Because, even because, they did cause My people to err, Saying, Peace! and there is no peace, And that one is building a wall, And lo, they are daubing it with chalk.

Say thou unto them who are coating with whitewash It shall fall,- There hath come an Overflowing rain And I will make ha-stones fall, And a tempestuous wind shall break it down.

Lo, when the wall is fallen, shall it not be said unto you, Where is the daubing wherewith ye have daubed it?

So I will let the wall, which you were covering with whitewash, be broken down; I will have it levelled to the earth so that its base is uncovered: it will come down, and destruction will come on you with it; and it will be clear to you that I am the Lord.

And I have completed My wrath on the wall, And on those daubing it with chalk, And I say to you: The wall is not, And those daubing it are not;

The prophets of Israel who are prophesying concerning Jerusalem, And who are seeing for her a vision of peace, And there is no peace, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah.

And thou, son of man, set thy face against the daughters of thy people, who are prophesying out of their own heart, and prophesy concerning them,

and say, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Woe unto the women that sew pillows for all wrists, and that make veils for the head of persons of every stature to catch souls! Will ye catch the souls of my people, and will ye save your own souls alive?

And will ye pollute me among my people for handfuls of barley and for pieces of bread, to slay the souls that should not die, and to save the souls alive that should not live, by your lying to my people that hear your lies?

Wherefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against your pillows, wherewith ye there hunt the souls to make them fly, and I will tear them from your arms, and will let the souls go, even the souls that ye hunt to make them fly.

Your kerchiefs also will I tear, and deliver my people out of your hand, and they shall be no more in your hand to be hunted; and ye shall know that I am the LORD.

Because you disheartened the righteous with falsehood when I did not cause him grief, but have encouraged the wicked not to turn from his wicked way and preserve his life,

Therefore ye shall see no more vanity, nor divine divinations: for I will deliver my people out of your hand: and ye shall know that I am the LORD.

Son of man, these men have taken their false gods into their hearts and put before their faces the sin which is the cause of their fall: am I to give ear when they come to me for directions?

For this cause say to them, These are the words of the Lord: Every man of Israel who has taken his false god into his heart, and put before his face the sin which is the cause of his fall, and comes to the prophet; I the Lord will give him an answer by myself in agreement with the number of his false gods;

That I may take the house of Israel in their own heart, because they are all estranged from me through their idols.

Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Repent, and turn yourselves from your idols; and turn away your faces from all your abominations.

For every one of the house of Israel, or of the stranger that sojourneth in Israel, which separateth himself from me, and setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to a prophet to inquire of him concerning me; I the LORD will answer him by myself:

so that the house of Israel do not wander any more from after Me, nor are defiled any more with all their transgressions, and they have been to Me for a people, and I am to them for God -- an affirmation of the Lord Jehovah.'

Though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness, saith the Lord GOD.

Or if I send evil beasts through the land causing destruction and making it waste, so that no man may go through because of the beasts:

Though these three men were in it, as I live, saith the Lord GOD, they shall deliver neither sons nor daughters; they only shall be delivered, but the land shall be desolate.

Or if I bring a sword upon that land, and say, Sword, go through the land; so that I cut off man and beast from it:

Though these three men were in it, as I live, saith the Lord GOD, they shall deliver neither sons nor daughters, but they only shall be delivered themselves.

Or if I send a pestilence into that land, and pour out my fury upon it in blood, to cut off from it man and beast:

Though Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, as I live, saith the Lord GOD, they shall deliver neither son nor daughter; they shall but deliver their own souls by their righteousness.

yet, lo, there hath been left in it an escape, who are brought forth, sons and daughters, lo, they are coming forth unto you, and ye have seen their way, and their doings, and have been comforted concerning the evil that I have brought in against Jerusalem, all that which I have brought in against it.

Son of man, What is the vine tree more than any tree, or than a branch which is among the trees of the forest?

Shall wood be taken thereof to do any work? or will men take a pin of it to hang any vessel thereon?

If it has been thrown into the fire for fuel, and the fire has consumed both of its ends and the middle section has been charred, is it suitable or useful for anything?

“Son of man, make Jerusalem understand [the heinous and vile nature of] her repulsive (idolatrous) acts

Thus said the Lord Jehovah to Jerusalem: Thy birth and thy nativity Are of the land of the Canaanite, Thy father the Amorite, and thy mother a Hittite.

And as for your birth, on the day you were born your navel cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water for cleansing, nor were you rubbed with salt or even wrapped in cloths.

No eye looked with pity on you to do any of these things for you, to have compassion on you; but you were thrown out in the open field, for you were loathed on the day that you were born.

“When I passed by you and saw you squirming in your [newborn] blood, I said to you while you were there in your blood, ‘Live!’ Yes, I said to you while you were there in your blood, ‘Live!’

I have caused thee to multiply as the bud of the field, and thou hast increased and waxen great, and thou art come to excellent ornaments: thy breasts are fashioned, and thine hair is grown, whereas thou wast naked and bare.

“Then I passed by you [again] and looked on you; behold, you were maturing and at the time for love, and I spread My skirt over you and covered your nakedness. Yes, I swore [an oath] to you and entered into a covenant with you,” says the Lord God, “and you became Mine.”

“Then I washed you with water; yes, I [thoroughly] washed away from you the [clinging] blood and anointed you with oil.

And I had you clothed with needlework, and put leather shoes on your feet, folding fair linen about you and covering you with silk.

I adorned you with ornaments and I put bracelets on your wrists and a necklace around your neck.

And I put a ring upon thy nose, and ear-rings in thine ears, and a beautiful crown upon thy head.

Thus you were adorned with gold and silver, and your dress was [made] of fine linen and silk and embroidered cloth. You ate fine flour and honey and oil; so you were extremely beautiful and you advanced and prospered into royalty.

Then your fame went out among the nations on account of your beauty, for it was perfect because of My majesty and splendor which I bestowed on you,” says the Lord God.

“But you trusted in and relied on your beauty and prostituted yourself [in idolatry and its debauched rituals] because of your fame, and you poured out your immoralities on every [willing] passer-by and your beauty was his [as you worshiped the idols of the Gentile nations].

And thou dost take of thy garments, And dost make to thee spotted high-places, And dost go a-whoring upon them, They are not coming in -- nor shall it be!

You also took your beautiful jewels and beautiful vessels made of My gold and My silver, which I had given you, and made for yourself images of men so that you could prostitute yourself with them;

and you took your embroidered clothing and covered them, and offered My oil and My incense before them.

And my bread which I gave you, the best meal and oil and honey which I gave you for your food, you put it before them for a sweet smell, says the Lord.

Moreover thou hast taken thy sons and thy daughters, whom thou hast borne unto me, and these hast thou sacrificed unto them to be devoured. Were thy whoredoms a small matter,

You slaughtered My children and offered them up to [worthless] idols, forcing them to pass through the [hideousness of the] fire.

And in all your repulsive acts and prostitutions (idolatrous immoralities) you did not [pause to] remember the days of your youth, when you were naked and bare, squirming in your [newborn] blood.

“Then it came about after all your wickedness (‘Woe, woe to you!’ says the Lord God),

At the beginning of every street you built your high place and made your beauty repulsive; and you offered your body to every passer-by and multiplied your obscene immorality.

You also prostituted yourself with the Egyptians, your lustful neighbors [by embracing their pagan rituals], and you multiplied your obscene immorality to provoke Me to anger.

Behold, therefore I have stretched out my hand over thee, and have diminished thine ordinary food, and delivered thee unto the will of them that hate thee, the daughters of the Philistines, which are ashamed of thy lewd way.

Thou hast played the whore also with the Assyrians, because thou wast unsatiable; yea, thou hast played the harlot with them, and yet couldest not be satisfied.

Moreover, you increased your obscene immorality with the land of tradesmen, Chaldea (Babylonia), and yet even with this you were not satisfied.”’”

“How weakened by longing and lust is your heart (mind),” says the Lord God, “while you do all these things, the actions of a bold and brazen prostitute.

In thy building thine arch at the head of every way, Thy high place thou hast made in every broad place, And -- hast not been as a whore deriding a gift.

You adulterous wife, who welcomes and receives strangers instead of her husband!

Men give gifts to all prostitutes, but you give your gifts to all your lovers, bribing the pagan nations to come to you [as allies] from every direction for your obscene immoralities.

And you are different from other [unfaithful] women in your promiscuity, in that no one follows you to lure you into prostitution, and because you give money and no money is given you; in this way you are different.”

Therefore, O whore, hear a word of Jehovah,

Thus says the Lord God, “Because your lewdness was poured out and your nakedness uncovered through your obscene immoralities with your lovers (pagan allies), and with all your [repulsive] idols, and because of the blood of your sons that you gave to them,

therefore, listen, I will gather all your lovers (pagan allies) with whom you took pleasure, and all those whom you loved with all those whom you hated; I will even gather them against you from every direction and will expose your nakedness to them that they may see all your nakedness [making you, Israel, an object of loathing and of mockery, a spectacle among the nations].

And I will judge thee, as women that break wedlock and shed blood are judged; and I will give thee blood in fury and jealousy.

I will also hand you over to your lovers, and they will tear down your shrines, demolish your high places, strip you of your clothing, take away your jewels, and they will leave you naked and bare.

They will burn down your houses with fire and execute judgments on you in the sight of many women (Gentile nations). Then I will make you cease your prostitution, and you will no longer hire your lovers.

"That's how I'll make you stop your prostitution so you won't pay any prostitute's fees anymore. I'll stop being angry with you, and I'll cease being jealous. I'll be calm and not be indignant anymore.

Because you have not remembered the days of your youth but have enraged Me with all these things, therefore, I in turn will bring your conduct down on your own head,” says the Lord God, “so that you will not commit this lewdness on top of all your other repulsive acts.