And hallow my sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I am the LORD your God.

Notwithstanding 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 in 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 mine hand, and wrought for my name's sake, that it should not be polluted in the sight of the heathen, in whose sight I brought them forth.

I lifted up my hand also unto them in the wilderness, that I would scatter them among the nations, and disperse them through the countries;

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

Therefore, son of man, speak unto the house of Israel, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Yet in this your fathers have blasphemed me, in that they have committed a trespass against me.

When I had brought them into the land which I had lifted up my hand to give unto them, then they saw every high hill and all the thick trees, and they offered there their sacrifices, and there they presented the provocation of their offering; and there they placed their sweet savour, and there poured out their drink-offerings.

For this cause say to the children of Israel, This is what the Lord has said: Are you making yourselves unclean as your fathers did? are you being untrue to me by going after their disgusting works?

And when you give your offerings, causing your sons to go through the fire, you make yourselves unclean with all your images to this day; and will you come to me for directions, O children of Israel? By my life, says the Lord, you will get no direction from me.

By my life, says the Lord, truly, with a strong hand and with an outstretched arm and with burning wrath let loose, I will be King over you:

Just as I contended with yore fathers in the desert of the land of Egypt, So will I contend with you, Declareth My Lord Yahweh;

I will bring you under my jurisdiction, and under the bond of the covenant.

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 ye shall know that I am the LORD.

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

For in mine holy mountain, in the mountain of the height of Israel, saith the Lord GOD, there shall all the house of Israel, all of them in the land, serve me: there will I accept them, and there will I require your offerings, and the firstfruits of your oblations, with all your holy things.

With sweet fragrance I do accept you, In My bringing you out from the peoples, And I have assembled you from the lands In which ye have been scattered, And I have been sanctified in you Before the eyes of the nations.

And ye shall know that I am Jehovah, when I have brought you into the land of Israel, into the country which I lifted up my hand to give to your fathers.

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

Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

And thou shalt say to the forest of the South Hear the word of Yahweh, - Thus saith My Lord Yahweh-Behold me! kindling in thee a fire. And it shall devour in thee every moist tree and every dry tree. The spreading flame shall not be quenched, Then shall be scorched thereby all faces from south to north;

And all flesh shall see, that I the LORD have kindled it, so that no man may quench it.'"

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

And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

And say to the land of Israel, Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I am against thee, and will draw forth my sword out of his sheath, and will cut off from thee the righteous and the wicked.

Seeing then that I will cut off from thee the righteous and the wicked, therefore shall my sword go forth out of his sheath against all flesh from the south to the north:

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

And it shall come to pass when they shall say unto thee, Wherefore art thou sighing? that thou shalt say, For the report because it cometh, When every heart shall melt. And all hands be unnerved And every spirit shall become faint. And all knees shall be weak as water, Lo! it cometh and shall be brought to pass, Saith My Lord, Yahweh.

Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

Son of man, Prophesy and thou shalt say, Thus saith My Lord, - Say, A sword! a sword! Sharpened moreover also furbished:

It is sharpened to make a sore slaughter; it is furbished that it may glitter: should we then make mirth? it contemneth the rod of my son, as every tree.

And he hath given it to be furbished, that it may be handled: this sword is sharpened, and it is furbished, to give it into the hand of the slayer.

Cry and howl, son of man: for it shall be upon my people, it shall be upon all the princes of Israel: terrors by reason of the sword shall be upon my people: smite therefore upon thy thigh.

For trial hath been made, What then, even though the royal rod despiseth, shall it not be? Demandeth My Lord. Yahweh.

I have set the point of the sword against all their gates, that their heart may faint, and their ruins be multiplied: ah! it is made bright, it is wrapped up for the slaughter.

I will also smite mine hands together, and I will cause my fury to rest: I the LORD have said it.

The word of the LORD came unto me again, saying,

Also, thou son of man, appoint thee two ways, that the sword of the king of Babylon may come: both twain shall come forth out of one land: and choose thou a place, choose it at the head of the way to the city.

Appoint a way, that the sword may come to Rabbath of the Ammonites, and to Judah in Jerusalem the defenced.

But the soothsaying shall point to the right side upon Jerusalem, that he may set men of war, to smite it with a great noise, to cry out Alarum, to set battle rams against the gates, to grave up ditches, and to make bulwarks.

And it shall be unto them as a false divination in their sight, to them that have sworn oaths: but he will call to remembrance the iniquity, that they may be taken.

Therefore Thus saith My Lord. Yahweh, Because ye have brought to mind your iniquity, by revealing your transgressions causing your sins to appear in all your doings,- Because ye have brought yourselves to mind By force shall ye be captured.

Thus, saith My Lord. Yahweh, Remove the turban, And lift off the crown, - This not that, The abased, exalt, And the exalted, abase.

A ruin! A ruin! I'm bringing about ruin!' But this also will not happen until he who has authority over it arrives, because I'll give it to him."

And thou, son of man, prophesy, and say, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah concerning the children of Ammon, and concerning their reproach; and say thou, A sword, a sword is drawn, for the slaughter it is furbished, to cause it to devour, that it may be as lightning;

because thou hast looked thee out vanities, and prophesied lies, that it may come upon thy neck like as upon the other ungodly which be slain: whose day came, when their wickedness was full.

And I will pour out mine indignation upon thee, I will blow against thee in the fire of my wrath, and deliver thee into the hand of brutish men, and skilful to destroy.

Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

Then say thou, Thus saith the Lord GOD, The city sheddeth blood in the midst of it, that her time may come, and maketh idols against herself to defile herself.

Thou hast despised mine holy things, and hast profaned my sabbaths.

In thee have they taken gifts to shed blood; thou hast taken usury and increase, and thou hast greedily gained of thy neighbours by extortion, and hast forgotten me, saith the Lord GOD.

Behold, therefore, I have smitten my hand at thy dishonest gain which thou hast made, and at thy blood which hath been in the midst of thee.

Is thy heart able to endure it, or may thy hands defend themselves, in the time that I shall bring upon thee? Even I the LORD that speak it, will bring it also to pass.

I'm going to disperse you among the nations and scatter you to other lands. I'm going to put an end to your uncleanness.

And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

Son of man, the house of Israel is to me become dross: all they are brass, and tin, and iron, and lead, in the midst of the furnace; they are even the dross of silver.

Therefore, Thus, saith My Lord Yahweh, Because ye all are become dross, Therefore, behold me! gathering you into the midst of Jerusalem:

As they gather silver, and brass, and iron, and lead, and tin, into the midst of the furnace, to blow the fire upon it, to melt it; so will I gather you in mine anger and in my fury, and I will leave you there, and melt you.

Yea, I will gather you, and blow upon you in the fire of my wrath, and ye shall be melted in the midst thereof.

As silver is melted in the midst of the furnace, so shall ye be melted in the midst thereof; and ye shall know that I the LORD have poured out my fury upon you.

And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

"Son of man, say to her: 'You are a land that receives no rain or showers in the day of my anger.'

Her priests have violated my law, and have profaned mine holy things: they have put no difference between the holy and profane, neither have they shewed difference between the unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes from my sabbaths, and I am profaned among them.

Her princes in the midst thereof are like wolves ravening the prey, to shed blood, and to destroy souls, that they may get dishonest gain.

And her prophets have coated it for them with whitewash, Seeing visions of falsehood And divining for them lies, Saying, Thus saith My Lord Yahweh, when Yahweh, hath not spoken.

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

Therefore have I poured out mine indignation upon them; I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath: their own way have I recompensed upon their heads, saith the Lord GOD.

The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying,

The older one was named Oholah and her sister was named Oholibah. They belonged to me and gave birth to sons and daughters. Now as to their real identities, Oholah refers to Samaria and Oholibah to Jerusalem."

And go a-whoring doth Aholah under Me, And she doteth on her lovers, On the neighbouring Assyrians,

So she discovered her whoredoms, and discovered her nakedness: then my mind was alienated from her, like as my mind was alienated from her sister.

Therefore, O Oholibah, Thus saith My Lord Yahweh, Behold me! musing up thy lovers against thee, Even them from whom thy soul hath been torn,- And I will bring them against thee from every side:

And I will set my jealousy against thee, and they shall deal furiously with thee: they shall take away thy nose and thine ears; and thy remnant shall fall by the sword: they shall take thy sons and thy daughters; and thy residue shall be devoured by the fire.

For thus saith My Lord, Yahweh, Behold me! delivering thee up, into the hand of them whom thou hatest, Into the hand of them from whom thy soul hath been torn;

They will do these things to you because you have been untrue to me, and have gone after the nations, and have become unclean with their images.

Thus, saith My Lord Yahweh, The cup of thy sister, shalt thou drink, The cup deep and large, Thou shalt become a laughingstock and a derision, much doth it contain!

Yea thou shalt drink it and drain it out And the sherds thereof, shalt thou gnaw And thy breasts, shalt thou tear out,- For, I, have spoken, Declareth My Lord. Yahweh.

Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thou hast forgotten me, and cast me behind thy back, therefore bear thou also thy lewdness and thy whoredoms.

The LORD said moreover unto me; Son of man, wilt thou judge Aholah and Aholibah? yea, declare unto them their abominations;

That they have committed adultery, and blood is in their hands, and with their idols have they committed adultery, and have also caused their sons, whom they bare unto me, to pass for them through the fire, to devour them.

Moreover this they have done unto me: they have defiled my sanctuary in the same day, and have profaned my sabbaths.

For when they had slain their children to their idols, then they came the same day into my sanctuary to profane it; and, lo, thus have they done in the midst of mine house.

And thou hast sat on a couch of honour, And a table arrayed before it, And My perfume and My oil placed on it.

And upright men will be her judges, judging her as false wives and women who take lives are judged; because she has been untrue to me and blood is on her hands.

For thus, saith My Lord. Yahweh,- There shall be brought up against them a gathered host, Then shall they be delivered up. for a terror and for a prey,

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

Again in the ninth year, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

Put thou forth therefore, against the perverse house a parable, and say unto them Thus saith My Lord, Yahweh: Sot on the caldron set it on, Moreover also pour into it water:

Wherefore, Thus saith My Lord Yahweh, Woe! city of bloodshed. The caldron whose scum is in it, and whose scum, hath not gone out of it: Piece by piece, bring it out, There hath fallen thereon no lot.

That it may cause wrath to come up to take vengeance, I have set her blood upon the bare rock, that it should not be covered.

Wherefore Thus, saith My Lord Yahweh, Woe! city of bloodshed, - Even I myself, will make large the pe.

Bear thou the bones together, kindle thou the fire, seeth the flesh, let all be well sodden, that the bones may be sucked out.

Then set it empty upon the coals thereof, that the brass of it may be hot, and may burn, and that the filthiness of it may be molten in it, that the scum of it may be consumed.

“She has wearied Me with toil,
Yet her great rust has not left her;
Her thick rust and filth will not be burned away by fire [no matter how hot the flame].

In thy filthiness is lewdness: because I have purged thee, and thou wast not purged, thou shalt not be purged from thy filthiness any more, till I have caused my fury to rest upon thee.

I the Lord have said the word and I will do it; I will not go back or have mercy, and my purpose will not be changed; in the measure of your ways and of your evil doings you will be judged, says the Lord.

Also the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

"Son of Man, pay attention! I'm about to take away your most precious treasure with a single, fatal stroke, but you are not to mourn, weep, nor even let tears well up in your eyes.

So I spake unto the people in the morning: and at even my wife died; and I did in the morning as I was commanded.

And the people said unto me, Wilt thou not tell us what these things are to us, that thou doest so?

Then I answered them, The word of the LORD came unto me, saying,