From the city he took an official who was in charge of the soldiers, seven of the king's advisers who were discovered in the city, an official army secretary who drafted citizens for military service, and sixty citizens who were discovered in the middle of the city.

The king of Babylon ordered them to be executed at Riblah in the territory of Hamath. So Judah was taken into exile away from its land.

in Nebuchadnezzar's eighteenth year, 832 people from Jerusalem;

In the thirty-seventh year of the exile of King Jehoiachin of Judah, on the twenty-fifth day of the twelfth month, Evil-Merodach, in the first year of his reign, pardoned King Jehoiachin of Judah and released him from prison.

(Vav) All of Daughter Zion's splendor has departed. Her leaders became like deer; they found no pasture, so they were too exhausted to escape from the hunter.

(Alef) Alas! The Lord has covered Daughter Zion with his anger. He has thrown down the splendor of Israel from heaven to earth; he did not protect his temple when he displayed his anger.

(Khet) The Lord was determined to tear down Daughter Zion's wall. He prepared to knock it down; he did not withdraw his hand from destroying. He made the ramparts and fortified walls lament; together they mourned their ruin.

(Tet) Her city gates have fallen to the ground; he smashed to bits the bars that lock her gates. Her king and princes were taken into exile; there is no more guidance available. As for her prophets, they no longer receive a vision from the Lord.

(Kaf) My eyes are worn out from weeping; my stomach is in knots. My heart is poured out on the ground due to the destruction of my helpless people; children and infants faint in the town squares.

(Tsade) Cry out from your heart to the Lord, O wall of Daughter Zion! Make your tears flow like a river all day and all night long! Do not rest; do not let your tears stop!

(Alef) I am the man who has experienced affliction from the rod of his wrath.

So I said, "My endurance has expired; I have lost all hope of deliverance from the Lord."

It is good to wait patiently for deliverance from the Lord.

Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that everything comes -- both calamity and blessing?

Streams of tears flow from my eyes because my people are destroyed.

(Ayin) Tears flow from my eyes and will not stop; there will be no break

until the Lord looks down from heaven and sees what has happened.

(Qof) I have called on your name, O Lord, from the deepest pit.

Watch them from morning to evening; I am the object of their mocking songs.

Pursue them in anger and eradicate them from under the Lord's heaven.

(Tet) Those who died by the sword are better off than those who die of hunger, those who waste away, struck down from lack of food.

(Ayin) Our eyes continually failed us as we looked in vain for help. From our watchtowers we watched for a nation that could not rescue us.

Slaves rule over us; there is no one to rescue us from their power.

Our skin is hot as an oven due to a fever from hunger.

The young men perform menial labor; boys stagger from their labor.

The elders are gone from the city gate; the young men have stopped playing their music.

The crown has fallen from our head; woe to us, for we have sinned!

But you, O Lord, reign forever; your throne endures from generation to generation.

As I watched, I noticed a windstorm coming from the north -- an enormous cloud, with lightning flashing, such that bright light rimmed it and came from it like glowing amber from the middle of a fire.

When the living beings moved, the wheels beside them moved; when the living beings rose up from the ground, the wheels rose up too.

When the living beings moved, the wheels moved, and when they stopped moving, the wheels stopped. When they rose up from the ground, the wheels rose up from the ground; the wheels rose up beside them because the spirit of the living being was in the wheel.

Then there was a voice from above the platform over their heads when they stood still.

I saw an amber glow like a fire enclosed all around from his waist up. From his waist down I saw something that looked like fire. There was a brilliant light around it,

Then a wind lifted me up and I heard a great rumbling sound behind me as the glory of the Lord rose from its place,

"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.

When I say to the wicked, "You will certainly die," and you do not warn him -- you do not speak out to warn the wicked to turn from his wicked deed and wicked lifestyle so that he may live -- that wicked person will die for his iniquity, but I will hold you accountable for his death.

But as for you, if you warn the wicked and he does not turn from his wicked deed and from his wicked lifestyle, he will die for his iniquity but you will have saved your own life.

"When a righteous person turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and I set an obstacle before him, he will die. If you have not warned him, he will die for his sin. The righteous deeds he performed will not be considered, but I will hold you accountable for his death.

Look here, I will tie you up with ropes, so you cannot turn from one side to the other until you complete the days of your siege.

"As for you, take wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and spelt, put them in a single container, and make food from them for yourself. For the same number of days that you lie on your side -- 390 days -- you will eat it.

And I said, "Ah, sovereign Lord, I have never been ceremonially defiled before. I have never eaten a carcass or an animal torn by wild beasts; from my youth up, unclean meat has never entered my mouth."

"As for you, son of man, take a sharp sword and use it as a barber's razor. Shave off some of the hair from your head and your beard. Then take scales and divide up the hair you cut off.

But take a few strands of hair from those and tie them in the ends of your garment.

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.

I will send famine and wild beasts against you and they will take your children from you. Plague and bloodshed will overwhelm you, and I will bring a sword against you. I, the Lord, have spoken!"

Then your survivors will remember me among the nations where they are exiled. They will realize how I was crushed by their unfaithful heart which turned from me and by their eyes which lusted after their idols. They will loathe themselves because of the evil they have done and because of all their abominable practices.

I will stretch out my hand against them and make the land a desolate waste from the wilderness to Riblah, in all the places where they live. Then they will know that I am the Lord!"

Violence has grown into a staff that supports wickedness. Not one of them will be left -- not from their crowd, not from their wealth, not from their prominence.

I will turn my face away from them and they will desecrate my treasured place. Vandals will enter it and desecrate it.

Disaster after disaster will come, and one rumor after another. They will seek a vision from a prophet; priestly instruction will disappear, along with counsel from the elders.

As I watched, I noticed a form that appeared to be a man. From his waist downward was something like fire, and from his waist upward something like a brightness, like an amber glow.

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!"

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.

Next, I noticed six men coming from the direction of the upper gate which faces north, each with his war club in his hand. Among them was a man dressed in linen with a writing kit at his side. They came and stood beside the bronze altar.

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.

The Lord said to the man dressed in linen, "Go between the wheelwork underneath the cherubim. Fill your hands with burning coals from among the cherubim and scatter them over the city." He went as I watched.

Then the glory of the Lord arose from the cherub and moved to the threshold of the temple. The temple was filled with the cloud while the court was filled with the brightness of the Lord's glory.

The sound of the wings of the cherubim could be heard from the outer court, like the sound of the sovereign God when he speaks.

When the Lord commanded the man dressed in linen, "Take fire from within the wheelwork, from among the cherubim," the man went in and stood by one of the wheels.

When the cherubim moved, the wheels moved beside them; when the cherubim spread their wings to rise from the ground, the wheels did not move from their side.

Then the glory of the Lord moved away from the threshold of the temple and stopped above the cherubim.

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.

"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.'

"When they return to it, they will remove from it all its detestable things and all its abominations.

I will give them one heart and I will put a new spirit within them; I will remove the hearts of stone from their bodies and I will give them tender hearts,

The glory of the Lord rose up from within the city and stopped over the mountain east of it.

Then a wind lifted me up and carried me to the exiles in Babylonia, in the vision given to me by the Spirit of God. Then the vision I had seen went up from me.

"Therefore, son of man, pack up your belongings as if for exile. During the day, while they are watching, pretend to go into exile. Go from where you live to another place. Perhaps they will understand, although they are a rebellious house.

"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!

"As for you, son of man, turn toward the daughters of your people who are prophesying from their imagination. Prophesy against them

"'Therefore, this is what the sovereign Lord says: Take note that I am against your wristbands with which you entrap people's lives like birds. I will tear them from your arms and will release the people's lives, which you hunt like birds.

I will tear off your headbands and rescue my people from your power; they will no longer be prey in your hands. Then you will know that I am the Lord.

This is because you have disheartened the righteous person with lies (although I have not grieved him), and because you have encouraged the wicked person not to turn from his evil conduct and preserve his life.

Therefore you will no longer see false visions and practice divination. I will rescue my people from your power, and you will know that I am the 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.

I will set my face against that person and will make him an object lesson and a byword and will cut him off from among my people. Then you will know that I am the Lord.

"'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.'"

Can wood be taken from it to make anything useful? Or can anyone make a peg from it to hang things on?

I will set my face against them -- although they have escaped from the fire, the fire will still consume them! Then you will know that I am the Lord, when I set my face against them.

All prostitutes receive payment, but instead you give gifts to every one of your lovers. You bribe them to come to you from all around for your sexual favors!

You were different from other prostitutes because no one solicited you. When you gave payment and no payment was given to you, you became the opposite!

therefore, take note: I am about to gather all your lovers whom you enjoyed, both all those you loved and all those you hated. I will gather them against you from all around, and I will expose your nakedness to them, and they will see all your nakedness.

I will exhaust my rage on you, and then my fury will turn from you. I will calm down and no longer be angry.

"'There was another great eagle with broad wings and thick plumage. Now this vine twisted its roots toward him and sent its branches toward him to be watered from the soil where it was planted.

He took one from the royal family, made a treaty with him, and put him under oath. He then took the leaders of the land

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?

"'This is what the sovereign Lord says: "'I will take a sprig from the lofty top of the cedar and plant it. I will pluck from the top one of its tender twigs; I myself will plant it on a high and lofty mountain.

does not engage in usury or charge interest, but refrains from wrongdoing, promotes true justice between men,

refrains from wrongdoing, does not engage in usury or charge interest, carries out my regulations and follows my statutes. He will not die for his father's iniquity; he will surely live.

"But if the wicked person turns from all the sin he has committed and observes all my statutes and does what is just and right, he will surely live; he will not die.

Do I actually delight in the death of the wicked, declares the sovereign Lord? Do I not prefer that he turn from his wicked conduct and live?

"But if a righteous man turns away from his righteousness and practices wrongdoing according to all the abominable practices the wicked carry out, will he live? All his righteous acts will not be remembered; because of the unfaithful acts he has done and the sin he has committed, he will die.

When a righteous person turns back from his righteousness and practices wrongdoing, he will die for it; because of the wrongdoing he has done, he will die.

When a wicked person turns from the wickedness he has committed and does what is just and right, he will preserve his life.