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

For in My holy mountain, in the mountain height of Israel, says the Lord Jehovah, there all the house of Israel, all of those in the land, shall serve Me. There will I receive them, and there will I ask for your offerings and the firstfruits of your offerings, with all your holy things.

And you shall know that I am Jehovah, when I shall bring you into the land of Israel, into the land for which I lifted up My hand, to give it to your fathers.

And there you shall remember your ways and all your doings in which you have been defiled. And you shall despise yourselves in your own sight for all your evils which you have committed.

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

Cry and howl, son of man; for it shall be on My people; it shall be on all the rulers of Israel. They are thrown to the sword with My people; Therefore slap your thigh.

so that their heart may melt, and many stumble at all their gates. I have given the threatening sword. Ah! It is made like lightning; it is wrapped for a slaughter.

And you, son of man, set for yourself two ways, that the sword of the king of Babylon may come. Both of them shall come out of one land. And create a hand at the head of the way to the city; create it.

For the king of Babylon shall stand at the parting of the way, at the head of the two highways, to practice divination. He shall shake arrows; he shall ask household idols; he shall look at the liver.

At his right shall be the divining for Jerusalem, to set battering rams, to open the mouth in the slaughter, to lift up the voice with shouting, to set battering-rams against the gates, to pour out and to build a siege wall.

And you, son of man, prophesy and say, So says the Lord Jehovah concerning the Ammonites, and concerning their shame. Even say: The sword, the sword is drawn, polished for slaughter to make an end, that it may be like lightning;

while they see false visions for you, while they divine a lie to you, to put you on the necks of the slain of the wicked whose day has come in the day of iniquity; it shall have an end.

You shall be for food to the fire. Your blood shall be in the midst of the land. You shall be remembered no more; for I Jehovah have spoken.

And I sought for a man among them who should wall up a wall for the land, and stand in the break before me, that I should not destroy it. But I did not find one.

Nor did she leave her fornications from Egypt. For in her youth they lay with her, and they worked her virgin nipples, and poured their fornications on her.

So you longed for the wickedness of your youth, when the Egyptians worked your nipples, for the sake of the breasts of your youth.

For so says the Lord Jehovah: Behold, I will give you into the hand of those whom you hate, into the hand of whom your soul was alienated from them.

So says the Lord Jehovah: You shall drink of your sister's cup deep and large; you shall be laughed to scorn and mocked; for it holds much.

You shall even drink it and empty it. And you shall break its pieces, and tear off your own breasts. For I have spoken, says the Lord Jehovah.

And they have even sent for men to come from far, to whom a messenger was sent. And lo, they came. You washed yourself for them, painted your eyes, and adorned yourself with ornaments,

For so says the Lord Jehovah: I will bring up a company on them, and will give them to be removed and stripped.

Son of man, write for yourself the name of the day, even of this same day. The king of Babylon has leaned toward Jerusalem this same day.

For her blood is in her midst; she set it on the top of a rock. She did not pour it on the ground, to cover it with dust,

Groan but be silent; make no mourning for the dead; tie your turban on you, and put your sandals on your feet, and do not cover your lips, and do not eat the bread of men.

And your turbans shall be on your heads, and your sandals on your feet. You shall not mourn nor weep; but you shall pine away for your iniquities and mourn to one another.

therefore, behold, I will give you to the sons of the east for a possession. And they shall set their camp sites among you, and put among you their dwellings. They shall eat your fruit, and they shall drink your milk.

And I will make Rabbah a pasture for camels, and the Ammonites a crouching-place for flocks. And you shall know that I am Jehovah.

For so says the Lord Jehovah: Because you have clapped your hands and stamped the foot, and rejoiced in heart with all your spite against the land of Israel;

It shall be a spreading place of nets in the middle of the sea. For I have spoken, says the Lord Jehovah. And it shall become a spoil to the nations.

For so says the Lord Jehovah: Behold, I will bring Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon on Tyre, a king of kings from the north, with horses and with chariots and with a company of horsemen, and many people.

And I will make you like a shining rock. You shall be a place to spread nets on; you shall be built no more; for I Jehovah have spoken, says the Lord Jehovah.

And they shall take up a mourning for you, and say to you, How you who lived by the sea are destroyed, the famous city which was strong in the sea, she and her people who caused their terror to be on all who lived in it!

For so says the Lord Jehovah: When I shall make you a ruined city, like the cities that have no inhabitants; when I shall bring up the deep on you, and great waters shall cover you;

And you, son of man, take up a mourning for Tyre.

And say to Tyre, O you who are placed at the entrance of the sea, a merchant of the peoples for many coastlands, so says the Lord Jehovah: O Tyre, you have said, I am of perfect beauty.

They have made all your ship boards of fir trees of Senir; they have taken cedars from Lebanon to make masts for you.

Your sail was of fine linen with embroidered work from Egypt, an ensign for you; violet and purple from the coasts of Elishah was your covering.

Tarshish was your merchant because of the multitude of your wealth; with silver, iron, tin, and lead, they gave for your wares.

Javan, Tubal, and Meshech were your merchants. They traded the souls of men and vessels of bronze for your goods.

From the house of Togarmah they gave horses and war-horses and mules for your wares.

Syria was your merchant because of the multitude of your works; with emeralds, purple, and embroidered work, and fine linen, and coral, and rubies they gave for your wares.

Judah and the land of Israel were your merchants with wheat from Minnith and Pannag, and honey, and oil, and balm, they gave for your goods.

Dan and Javan also, going about, gave for your wares; smooth iron, cassia, and cane were among your goods.

Dedan was your merchant in loose cloths for riding.

The merchants of Sheba and Raamah were your merchants, with the chief of all the spices, and with every precious stone, and gold they gave for your wares.

And they will be bald for you, and gird with sackcloth. And they shall weep for you with bitterness of soul, a bitter wailing.

With your wisdom and with your understanding you have made riches for yourselves, and have worked gold and silver into your treasuries.

You shall die the deaths of the uncircumcised by the hand of strangers. For I have spoken, says the Lord Jehovah.

By the host of your iniquities, by the iniquity of your trade, you have profaned your holy places; so I brought a fire from your midst; it shall devour you, and I will give you for ashes on the earth, before the eyes of all who see you.

For I will send a plague into her, and blood into her streets. And the wounded shall fall in her midst by the sword on her on every side. And they shall know that I am Jehovah.

And I will leave you to the wilderness, you and all the fish of your rivers. You shall fall on the open fields; you shall not be removed nor gathered. I have given you for food to the beasts of the field and to the birds of the heavens.

It shall be the lowest of the kingdoms, and shall no more exalt itself above the nations. For I will make them so few, that they shall no more rule over the nations.

Son of man, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon caused his army to serve a great service against Tyre. Every head was made bald, and every shoulder was peeled. Yet neither he nor his army had any pay for Tyre, for the service that he had served against it.

So the Lord Jehovah says this: Behold, I will give the land of Egypt to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. And he shall take her host, and take her spoil, and seize her plunder. And it shall be the wages for his army.

I have given him the land of Egypt for his labor with which he served against it, because they worked for Me, says the Lord Jehovah.

For the day is near, even the day of Jehovah is near, a cloudy day. It shall be the time of the nations.

In that day messengers shall go out from Me in ships to terrify the confident Ethiopians, and anguish shall be on them, as in the day of Egypt; for lo, it is coming.

And at Tahpanhes also the day shall be held back, when I shatter the yokes of Egypt there. And the pride of her strength shall cease in her; as for her, a cloud shall cover her, and her daughters shall go into exile.

So he was beautiful in his greatness, in the length of his branches. For his root was by great waters.

so I have given him into the hand of the mighty one of the nations. He shall surely deal with him; I have expelled him for his evil.

to the end that none of all the trees by the waters shall be exalted in their height, nor give their top among the thick boughs, nor should their trees stand up in their height, all that drink water. For all of them are given to death, to the lower parts of the earth, in the midst of the sons of men, with those who go down into the Pit.

So says the Lord Jehovah: In the day when he went down to the grave, I caused a mourning. I covered the deep for him, and I held back its floods, and the great waters were held back. And I caused Lebanon to mourn for him, and all the trees of the field fainted because of him.

Son of man, take up a lament for Pharaoh king of Egypt, and say to him, You were like a young lion of the nations, but you were like a sea-monster. And you came out with your rivers, and troubled the waters with your feet, and fouled their rivers.

Yea, I will make many people amazed at you, and their kings shall be horribly afraid for you, when I shall brandish My sword before them; and they shall tremble at every moment, each man for his own life, in the day of your fall.

For so says the Lord Jehovah: The sword of the king of Babylon shall come on you.

This is the mourning with which they shall mourn her. The daughters of the nations shall mourn her; they shall mourn for her, for Egypt and for all her multitude, says the Lord Jehovah.

Son of man, wail for the multitude of Egypt, and bring it down, her and the daughters of the majestic nations, to the lower parts of the earth, with those who go down into the Pit.

For I had put his terror in the land of the living. And he shall be laid in the midst of the uncircumcised with those slain with the sword, even Pharaoh and all his multitude, says the Lord Jehovah.

Son of man, speak to the sons of your people, and say to them: When I bring the sword on it, on a land, and take one man from the people of the land, of their borders, and set him for their watchman;

Say to them: As I live, says the Lord Jehovah, I have no delight in the death of the wicked, except in the turning of the wicked from his way, and so to live. Turn, turn from your evil ways; for why will you die, O house of Israel?

Therefore, son of man, say to the sons of your people: The righteousness of the righteous shall not deliver him in the day of his transgression. As for the wickedness of the wicked, he shall not fall by it in the day he turns from his wickedness. Nor shall the righteous be able to live for his righteousness in the day that he sins.

When I shall say to the righteous that he shall surely live; if he trusts in his own righteousness and commits iniquity, all his righteousnesses shall not be remembered; but for his iniquity that he has committed, he shall die for it.

Yet the sons of your people say, The way of the Lord is not fair. But as for them, their way is not fair.

Son of man, those who live in those wastes of the land of Israel are speaking, saying, Abraham was one, and he inherited the land. But we are many; the land is given to us for inheritance.

For I have made the land a ruin, and the pride of her strength has ceased. And the mountains of Israel shall be a waste, so that none shall pass through.

And they come to you as the people come, and they sit before you as My people, and they hear your words. But they will not do them. For with their mouth they show much love, but their heart goes after their unjust gain.

And lo, you are to them as a singer of love songs with a beautiful voice, and able to play well on an instrument; for they hear your words, but they do not do them.

And they were scattered for lack of a shepherd. And they became food to all the beasts of the field when they were scattered.

My sheep wandered through all the mountains and on every high hill. Yea, My flock was scattered on all the face of the earth, and none searched nor sought for them.

As I live, says the Lord Jehovah, surely because My flock became a prey, and My flock became food to every beast of the field, because there was no shepherd, nor did My shepherds search for My flock, but the shepherds fed themselves and did not feed My flock,

So says the Lord Jehovah: Behold, I am against the shepherds, and I will require My flock at their hand, and cause them to cease from feeding the flock. Nor shall the shepherds feed themselves any more; for I will deliver My flock from their mouth, and they will not be food to devour.

For so says the Lord Jehovah: Behold, I Myself will search for My sheep and seek them out.

And I will raise up for them a noted planting place, and they shall never again be of those gathered by famine in the land, nor shall they bear the shame of the nations any more.

And you shall know that I am Jehovah. I have heard all your blasphemies which you have spoken against the mountains of Israel, saying, Desolation! They are given to us for food.

So the Lord Jehovah says this: Surely in the fire of My jealousy I have spoken against the rest of the nations, and against all Idumea, who have given My land to themselves for a possession with all joy of heart, with scorning of soul, to make it open land for a prey.

But you, O mountains of Israel, you shall put out your branches and yield your fruit to My people Israel; for they have drawn near to come.

For, behold, I am for you, and I will turn to you, and you shall be tilled and sown.

So I poured My fury on them, because of the blood that they had shed on the land, and for their idols by which they defiled it.

But I had pity for My holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations where they went.

Therefore say to the house of Israel, So says the Lord Jehovah: I do not do this for your sake, O house of Israel, but for My holy name's sake, which you have profaned among the nations where you went.

For I will take you from among the nations and gather you out of all lands, and will gather you into your own land.

I will also save you from all your defilements, and I will call for the grain, and will increase it, and will lay no famine on you.

And you shall remember your own evil ways, and your doings that were not good, and shall despise yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and for your abominations.

I do not do this for your sake, says the Lord Jehovah, be it known to you. Be ashamed and confounded for your ways, O house of Israel.

So says the Lord Jehovah: yet this, I will be sought by the house of Israel to act for them. I will increase them with men like a flock.

And you, son of man, take a stick and write on it, For Judah and for his companions, the sons of Israel. And take another stick and write on it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and all the house of Israel, his companions.

Nor shall they be defiled with their idols, even with their filthy idols, nor with all of their transgressions. But I will save them out of all their dwelling places, in them where they sinned, and will cleanse them. And they shall be to Me for a people, and I will be to them for God.

And they shall dwell in the land that I have given to Jacob My servant, the land in which your fathers have lived. And they shall dwell in it, even they and their sons, and the sons of their sons for ever. And My servant David shall be their ruler forever.

Be prepared; yea, prepare for yourself, you and all your assembly that are assembled to you, and be a guard to them.

For in My jealousy and in the fire of My wrath I have spoken, Surely in that day there shall be a great quaking in the land of Israel,