They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed: their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD: they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their stomachs: because it is the stumblingblock of their iniquity.

Then said he unto me, Son of man, have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the chambers of his idols? for they say, The LORD sees us not; the LORD has forsaken the land.

Therefore will I also deal in fury: my eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity: and though they cry in my ears with a loud voice, yet will I not hear them.

And to the others he said in my hearing, Go you after him through the city, and kill: let not your eye spare, neither have you pity:

Slay utterly old and young, both maidens, and little children, and women: but come not near any man upon whom is the mark; and begin at my sanctuary. Then they began at the elders who were before the house.

Then said he unto me, The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is exceedingly great, and the land is full of blood, and the city full of perverseness: for they say, The LORD has forsaken the land, and the LORD sees not.

And as for me also, my eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity, but I will recompense their way upon their heads.

When they went, they went upon their four sides; they turned not as they went, but to the place where the head looked they followed it; they turned not as they went.

And when the cherubim went, the wheels went by them: and when the cherubim lifted up their wings to mount up from the earth, the same wheels also turned not from beside them.

Who say, It is not near for us to build houses: this city is the caldron, and we are the flesh.

This city shall not be your caldron, neither shall you be the flesh in its midst; but I will judge you at the border of Israel:

And you shall know that I am the LORD: for you have not walked in my statutes, neither executed my judgments, but have done after the manners of the nations that are round about you.

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

In their sight shall you bear it upon your shoulders, and carry it forth in the twilight: you shall cover your face, that you see not the ground: for I have set you for a sign unto the house of Israel.

Son of man, has not the house of Israel, the rebellious house, said unto you, What do you?

And the prince that is among them shall bear upon his shoulder in the twilight, and shall go forth: they shall dig through the wall to go out through it: he shall cover his face, so that he sees not the ground with his eyes.

My net also will I spread upon him, and he shall be taken in my snare: and I will bring him to Babylon to the land of the Chaldeans; yet shall he not see it, though he shall die there.

You have not gone up into the breaches, neither built up the wall for the house of Israel to stand in the battle in the day of the LORD.

They have seen vanity and lying divination, saying, The LORD says: and the LORD has not sent them: and they have made others to hope that they would confirm the word.

Have you not seen a vain vision, and have you not spoken a lying divination, whenever you say, The LORD says it; although I have not spoken?

And my hand shall be upon the prophets that see vanity, and that divine lies: they shall not be in the assembly of my people, neither shall they be written in the register of the house of Israel, neither shall they enter into the land of Israel; and you shall know that I am the Lord GOD.

Lo, when the wall has fallen, shall it not be said unto you, Where is the daubing with which you have daubed it?

And will you profane 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?

Because with lies you have made the heart of the righteous sad, whom I have not made sad; and strengthened the hands of the wicked, that he should not turn from his wicked way, to save his life:

And they shall comfort you, when you see their ways and their doings: and you shall know that I have not done without cause all that I have done in it, says the Lord GOD.

And as for your nativity, in the day you were born your navel was not cut, neither were you washed in water to cleanse you; you were not rubbed with salt at all, nor swaddled at all.

And in all your abominations and your harlotries you have not remembered the days of your youth, when you were naked and bare, and were polluted in your blood.

You have played the harlot also with the Assyrians, because you were insatiable; yea, you have played the harlot with them, and yet could not be satisfied.

You have moreover multiplied your harlotry with trading in the land of Chaldea; and yet you were not satisfied with this.

In that you build your shrine at the head of every street, and make your high place in every street; and have not been as a harlot, in that you scorned payment;

Because you have not remembered the days of your youth, but have enraged me in all these things; behold, therefore I also will recompense your way upon your head, says the Lord GOD: and you shall not commit this lewdness in addition to all your abominations.

Yet have you not walked after their ways, nor done after their abominations: but, as if that were a very little thing, you were corrupted more than they in all your ways.

As I live, says the Lord GOD, Sodom your sister has not done, she nor her daughters, as you have done, you and your daughters.

For your sister Sodom was not mentioned by your mouth in the day of your pride,

Then you shall remember your ways, and be ashamed, when you shall receive your sisters, your elder and your younger: and I will give them unto you for daughters, but not by your covenant.

Say, Thus says the Lord GOD; Shall it prosper? shall he not pull up its roots, and cut off its fruit, so that it withers? it shall wither in all its leaves of spring, not requiring great power or many people to pluck it up by its roots.

Yea, behold, being planted, shall it prosper? shall it not utterly wither, when the east wind touches it? it shall wither in the bed where it grew.

Say now to the rebellious house, Know you not what these things mean? tell them, Behold, the king of Babylon has come to Jerusalem, and has taken its king, and its princes, and led them with him to Babylon;

That the kingdom might be humble, that it might not lift itself up, but that by keeping of his covenant it might stand.

Seeing he despised the oath by breaking the covenant, when, lo, he had given his hand, and has done all these things, he shall not escape.

And I will spread my net upon him, and he shall be taken in my snare, and I will bring him to Babylon, and will execute judgment on him there for his trespass that he has trespassed against me.

As I live, says the Lord GOD, you shall not have occasion any more to use this proverb in Israel.

And has not eaten upon the mountains, neither has lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, neither has defiled his neighbor's wife, neither has come near a woman during her impurity,

And has not oppressed any, but has restored to the debtor his pledge, has robbed none by violence, has given his bread to the hungry, and has covered the naked with a garment;

He that has not lent money for interest, neither has taken any increase, that has withdrawn his hand from iniquity, has executed true justice between man and man,

And that does not any of those duties, but even has eaten upon the mountains, and defiled his neighbor's wife,

Has oppressed the poor and needy, has robbed by violence, has not restored the pledge, and has lifted up his eyes to the idols, has committed abomination,

Has lent money for interest, and has taken increase: shall he then live? he shall not live: he has done all these abominations; he shall surely die; his blood shall be upon him.

Now, lo, if he begets a son, that sees all his father's sins which he has done, and considers, and does not the same,

That has not eaten upon the mountains, neither has lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, has not defiled his neighbor's wife,

Neither has oppressed any, has not withheld the pledge, neither has robbed by violence, but has given his bread to the hungry, and has covered the naked with a garment,

That has withheld his hand from the poor, that has not received from money interest nor increase, has executed my judgments, has walked in my statutes; he shall not die for the iniquity of his father, he shall surely live.

As for his father, because he cruelly oppressed, robbed his brother by violence, and did that which is not good among his people, lo, even he shall die in his iniquity.

Yet say you, Why? does not the son bear the iniquity of the father? When the son has done that which is lawful and right, and has kept all my statutes, and has done them, he shall surely live.

The soul that sins, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.

But if the wicked will turn from all his sins that he has committed, and keep all my statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die.

All his transgressions that he has committed, they shall not be remembered against him: in his righteousness that he has done he shall live.

Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? says the Lord GOD: and not that he should turn from his ways, and live?

But when the righteous turns away from his righteousness, and commits iniquity, and does according to all the abominations that the wicked man does, shall he live? All his righteousness that he has done shall not be remembered: in his trespass that he has trespassed, and in his sin that he has sinned, in them shall he die.

Yet you say, The way of the Lord is not equal. Hear now, O house of Israel; Is not my way equal? are not your ways unequal?

Because he considers, and turns away from all his transgressions that he has committed, he shall surely live, he shall not die.

Yet says the house of Israel, The way of the Lord is not equal. O house of Israel, are not my ways equal? are not your ways unequal?

Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, says the Lord GOD. Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin.

Then the nations set against him on every side from the provinces, and spread their net over him: he was taken in their pit.

Son of man, speak unto the elders of Israel, and say unto them, Thus says the Lord GOD; Have you come to inquire of me? As I live, says the Lord GOD, I will not be inquired of by you.

Then said I unto them, Cast you away every man the abominations of his eyes, and defile not yourselves with the idols of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.

But they rebelled against me, and would not hearken unto me: they did not every man cast away the abominations of their eyes, neither did they forsake the idols of Egypt: then I said, I will pour out my fury upon them, to accomplish my anger against them in the midst of the land of Egypt.

But I acted for my name's sake, that it should not be polluted before the nations, among whom they were, in whose sight I made myself known unto them, in bringing them forth out of the land of Egypt.

But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness: they walked not in my statutes, and they despised my judgments, which if a man does, he shall even live by them; and my sabbaths they greatly polluted: then I said, I would pour out my fury upon them in the wilderness, to consume them.

But I acted for my name's sake, that it should not be polluted before the nations, in whose sight I brought them out.

Yet also I lifted up my hand unto them in the wilderness, that I would not bring them into the land which I had given them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands;

Because they despised my judgments, and walked not in my statutes, but polluted my sabbaths: for their heart went after their idols.

But I said unto their children in the wilderness, Walk you not in the statutes of your fathers, neither observe their judgments, nor defile yourselves with their idols:

Yet the children rebelled against me: they walked not in my statutes, neither kept my judgments to do them, which if a man do, he shall even live by them; they polluted my sabbaths: then I said, I would pour out my fury upon them, to accomplish my anger against them in the wilderness.

Nevertheless I withdrew my hand, and acted for my name's sake, that it should not be polluted in the sight of the nations, in whose sight I brought them forth.

Because they had not executed my judgments, but had despised my statutes, and had polluted my sabbaths, and their eyes were fixed on their fathers' idols.

Therefore I gave them also statutes that were not good, and judgments by which they should not live;

For when you offer your gifts, when you make your sons to pass through the fire, you defile yourselves with all your idols, even unto this day: and shall I be inquired of by you, O house of Israel? As I live, says the Lord GOD, I will not be inquired of by you.

And that which comes into your mind shall not be at all, that you say, We will be as the Gentiles, as the families of the countries, to serve wood and stone.

And I will purge out from among you the rebels, and them that transgress against me: I will bring them forth out of the country where they sojourn, and they shall not enter into the land of Israel: and you shall know that I am the LORD.

As for you, O house of Israel, thus says the Lord GOD; Go, serve everyone his idols, and hereafter also, if you will not hearken unto me: but defile my holy name no more with your gifts, and with your idols.

And you shall know that I am the LORD, when I have dealt with you for my name's sake, not according to your wicked ways, nor according to your corrupt doings, O you house of Israel, says the Lord GOD.

And say to the forest of the south, Hear the word of the LORD; Thus says the Lord GOD; Behold, I will kindle a fire in you, and it shall devour every green tree in you, and every dry tree: the flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be burned in it.

And all flesh shall see that I the LORD have kindled it: it shall not be quenched.

Then said I, Ah Lord GOD! they say of me, Does he not speak parables?

That all flesh may know that I the LORD have drawn forth my sword out of its sheath: it shall not return any more.

Thus says the Lord GOD; Remove the turban, and take off the crown: this shall not remain the same: exalt him that is low, and abase him that is high.

Son of man, say unto her, You are the land that is not cleansed, nor rained upon in the day of indignation.

And her prophets have daubed them with untempered mortar, seeing false visions, and divining lies unto them, saying, Thus says the Lord GOD, when the LORD has not spoken.

And I sought for a man among them, that should build up the wall, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none.

Thus will I make your lewdness to cease from you, and your harlotry brought from the land of Egypt: so that you shall not lift up your eyes unto them, nor remember Egypt anymore.

Thus will I cause lewdness to cease out of the land, that all women may be taught not to do after your lewdness.

Therefore thus says the Lord GOD; Woe to the bloody city, to the pot whose scum is in it, and whose scum has not gone out of it! bring it out piece by piece; let no lot fall upon it.

For her blood is in the midst of her; she set it upon the top of a rock; she poured it not upon the ground, to cover it with dust;

That it might cause fury to come up to take vengeance; I have set her blood upon the top of a rock, that it should not be covered.

She has wearied herself with lies, and her great scum went not forth out of her: her scum shall be in the fire.

In your filthiness is lewdness: because I have purged you, and you were not purged, you shall not be purged from your filthiness any more, till I have caused my fury to rest upon you.

I the LORD have spoken it: it shall come to pass, and I will do it; I will not go back, neither will I spare, neither will I relent; according to your ways, and according to your doings, shall they judge you, says the Lord GOD.

Forbear to cry, make no mourning for the dead, bind the turban of your head upon you, and put on your shoes upon your feet, and cover not your lips, and eat not man's bread of sorrow.

And the people said unto me, Will you not tell us what these things are to us, that you so do?