and say, 'Thus sayeth the LORD God: Woe be unto you, that sew pillows under all armholes, and bolsters under the heads both of young and old, to catch souls withal. For when ye have gotten the souls of my people in your captivity, ye promise them life,

and dishonour me to my people for a handful of barley, and for a piece of bread. When ye kill the souls of them that die not, and promise life to them that live not: Thus ye dissemble with my people, that believeth your lies.

Wherefore thus sayeth the LORD God: Behold, I will also upon the pillows, wherewith ye catch the souls in flying: them will I take from your arms, and let the souls go, that ye catch in flying.

Your bolsters also will I tear in pieces, and deliver my people out of your hand: so that they shall come no more in your hands to be spoiled, and ye shall know, that I am the LORD.

Seeing that with your lies ye discomfort the heart of the righteous, whom I have not discomforted: Again, forsomuch as ye courage the hand of the wicked, so that he may not turn from his wicked way, and live:

therefore shall ye spy out no more vanity, nor prophesy your own guessings. For I will deliver my people out of your hand, that ye may know how that I am the LORD.'"

Therefore speak unto them, and say, 'Thus sayeth the LORD God: Every man of the house of Israel that beareth his Idols in his heart, purposing to stumble in his own wickedness, and cometh to a prophet, to enquire anything at me by him: unto that man will I the LORD myself give answer, according to the multitude of his idols:

that the house of Israel may be snared in their own hearts, because they be clean gone from me, for their Idols' sakes.'

For every man, whether he be of the house of Israel, or a stranger that sojourneth in Israel, which departeth from me, and carrieth idols in his heart, purposing to go still stumbling in his own wickedness, and cometh to a Prophet, for to ask counsel at me through him: unto that man will I the LORD give answer, by mine own self.

I will set my face against that man. And will make him to be an example for others; yea, and a common byword. And will root him out of my people, that he may know how that I am the LORD.

And if that Prophet be deceived, when he telleth him a word: then I the LORD myself have deceived that Prophet, and will stretch forth mine hand upon him, to root him out of my people of Israel:

and they both shall be punished for their wickedness. According to the sin of him that asketh, shall the sin of the Prophet be:

that the house of Israel be led no more from me through error, and be no more defiled in their wickedness: but that they may be my people, and I their God, sayeth the LORD God.'"

If I bring noisome beasts into the land to waste it up, and it be so desolate that no man may go therein for beasts;

Or if I bring a sword into the land, and charge it to go through the land, so that I slay down man and beast in it,

If I send a pestilence into the land, and pour out my sore indignation upon it in blood, so that I root out of it both man and beast,

yet shall there be a remnant saved therein, which shall bring forth their sons and daughters. Behold, they shall come forth unto you, and ye shall see their way, and what they take in hand, and ye shall be comforted, as touching all the plagues that I have brought upon Jerusalem.

They shall comfort you, when ye see their way and works: and ye shall know how that it is not without a cause, that I have done so against Jerusalem, as I did, sayeth the LORD God.

Seeing then, that it was mete for no work, being whole: much less may there anything be made of it, when the fire hath consumed and burnt it.

And therefore thus sayeth the LORD God: Like as I cast the vine into the fire for to be burnt, as other trees of the wood: Even so will I do with them that dwell in Jerusalem,

and set my face against them: they shall go out from the fire, and yet the fire shall consume them. Then shall ye know that I am the LORD: when I set my face against them,

No man regarded that so much, as to do any of these things for thee, or to show thee such favour, but thou wast utterly cast out upon the field: yea, despised wast thou in the day of thy birth.

Insomuch, that thy beauty was spoken of among the Heathen, for thou wast excellent in my beauty, which I put upon thee, sayeth the LORD God.

"'But thou hast put confidence in thine own beauty, and played the harlot, when thou hadst gotten thee a name. Thou hast committed whoredom with all that went by thee, and hast fulfilled their desires:

My meat which I gave thee, as simnels, oil and honey to feed thee withal, that hast thou set before them, for a sweet savour. And this came also to pass, sayeth the LORD God.

that thou slayest my children, and givest them over to be burnt unto them?

And yet in all thy abominations and whoredom, thou hast not remembered the days of thy youth:, how naked and bare thou wast at that time, and trodden down in thine own blood.

Thou hast made thy beauty to be abhorred, thou hast laid out thy legs to every one that came by, and multiplied thine whoredom.

Building thy stews at the head of every street, and thy brothel houses in all places? Thou hast not been as another whore, that maketh boast of her winning;

but as a wife that breaketh wedlock, and taketh other instead of her husband.

It is come to pass with thee in thy whoredoms, contrary to the use of other women: yea, there hath no such fornication been committed after thee, seeing that thou profferest gifts unto other, and no regard is given thee. This is a contrary thing.

Behold therefore, I will gather together all thy lovers, unto whom thou hast made thy self common. Yea, and all them whom thou favourest, and euery one that thou hatest: and will uncover thy shame before them, that they all may see thy filthiness.

I will give thee over into their power, that shall break down thy stews, and destroy thy brothel houses: they shall strip thee out of thy clothes, all thy fair and beautiful Jewels shall they take from thee, and so let thee sit naked and bare.

They shall burn up thy houses, and punish thee in the sight of many women. Thus will I make thy whoredom to cease, so that thou shalt give out no more rewards.

"'Behold, all they that use common proverbs, shall use this proverb also against thee: 'Like mother, like daughter.'

Thou art even thy mother's own daughter, that hath cast off her husband and her children. Yea, thou art the sister of thy sisters, which forsook their husbands and their children. Your mother is a Hittite, and your father an Amorite.

Thine eldest sister is Samaria, she and her daughters that dwell upon thy left hand. But thy youngest sister that dwelleth on thy righthand, is Sodom and her daughters.

Yet hast thou not walked after their ways, nor done after their abominations: but in all thy ways thou hast been more corrupt than they.

Behold, the sins of thy sister Sodom, were these: Pride, fullness of meat, abundance and Idleness: these things had she and her daughters. Besides that, they reached not their hand to the poor and needy,

Neither hath Samaria done half of thy sins. Yea, thou hast exceeded them in wickedness: Insomuch that in comparison of all the abominations which thou hast done, thou hast made thy sisters good women.

Therefore thou which didst condemn thy sister: bear thine own shame, for thine own offences that thou hast committed - more abominable than they did, which indeed are more righteous than thou art. Be thou, I say, ashamed; and bear thy shameful rebuke, seeing that thou has proven thy sisters in comparison of the righteous.

that thou mayest take thine own confusion upon thee, and be ashamed of all that thou hast done, and to comfort them.

and before thy wickedness came to light: thou wouldest not hear speak of thy sister Sodom, until the time that the Syrians with all their towns, and the Philistines, with all that lie round about them, brought thee to shame and confusion:

that thou mightest bear thine own filthiness and abomination, sayeth the LORD.

"'Nevertheless, I will remember the covenant that I made with thee in thy youth, insomuch that it shall be an everlasting covenant:

So that thou also remember thy ways, and be ashamed of them. Then shalt thou receive of me thy elder and younger sisters, whom I will make thy daughters: and that beside thy covenant.

And so I will renew my covenant with thee, that thou mayest know that I am the LORD:

That thou mayest think upon it, be ashamed, and excuse thine own confusion no more: when I have forgiven thee all that thou hast done, sayeth the LORD God.'"

Nevertheless it was planted upon a good ground beside great waters: so that by reason it should have brought out branches and fruit, and have been a goodly vine.'

"Speak to that froward household, 'Know ye not, what these things do signify?' Tell them, 'Behold, the king of Babylon came to Jerusalem, and took the king and his princes, and led them to Babylon.

that the land might be held in subjection, and not to rebel, but keep the covenant, and fulfill it.

But he fell from him, and sent his Ambassadors into Egypt that he might have horses and much people. Should that prosper? Should he be kept safe, that doth such things? Or should he escape, that breaketh his covenant?

As truly as I live, sayeth the LORD God, he shall die at Babylon: in the place where the king dwelleth, that made him king, whose oath he hath despised, and whose covenant he hath broken.

Therefore thus sayeth the LORD God: As truly as I live, I will bring mine oath that he hath despised, and my covenant that he hath broken, upon his own head.

I will cast my net about him, and catch him in my yarn. To Babylon will I carry him: there will I punish him, because of the great offense that he made me.

As for those that flee from him out of the host, they shall be slain with the sword. The residue shall be scattered toward all the winds: and ye shall know, that I the LORD have spoken it.

"'Thus sayeth the LORD God: I will also take a branch from a high Cedar tree, and will set it, and take the uppermost twig, that yet is but tender, and plant it upon a high hill:

Namely, upon the high hill of Zion will I plant it: that it may bring forth twigs, and give fruit, and be a great Cedar tree: so that all manner of fowls may bide in it, and make their nests under the shadow of his branches.

And all the trees of the field shall know, that I the LORD have brought down the high tree, and set the low tree up: that I have dried up the green tree, and made the dry tree to flourish: Even I the LORD that spake it, have also brought it to pass.'"

"What mean ye by this common proverb, that ye use in the land of Israel, saying, 'The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge'?

Behold, all souls are mine. Like as the father is mine, so is the son mine also. The soul that sinneth, shall die.

If a man be godly, and do the thing that is equal and right,

"If he now get a son, that is a murderer, a shedder of blood: if he do one of these things

Now if this man get a son also, that seeth all his father's sins, which he hath done, and feareth, neither doth such like:

The soul that sinneth, she shall die. The son shall not bear part of the father's wickedness. The righteousness of the right shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be on him.

None of the sins that he hath done shall be reckoned unto him: In the righteousness that he hath done, he shall live.

For I desire not the death of a sinner, saith the Lord Jehovah, but rather that he should turn from his way, and live.

And so if a righteous turn from his righteousness and do wickedness, and shall do like unto all the abominations which a wicked doth, shall he live? No, none of those righteousness that he did shall be remembered. But in the wickedness which he wrought, and in the sin which he did, in them shall he die.

Cast away from you all your ungodliness that ye have done: make you new hearts and a new spirit. Wherefore will ye die, O ye house of Israel?

Seeing I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, sayeth the LORD God; Turn you then, and ye shall live."

and say, "Wherefore lay thy mother, that lioness, among the lions, and nourished her young ones among the lion's whelps?

Now when the dame saw, that all her hope and comfort was away, she took another of her whelps, and made a lion of him.

he destroyed their palaces, and made their cities waste. Insomuch that the whole land and every thing therein were utterly desolate through the very voice of his roaring.

So they bound him with chains, and brought him to the king of Babylon: which put him in prison, that his voice should no more be heard upon the mountains of Israel.

her stalks were so strong that men might have made staves thereof for officers, she grew so high in her stalks. So when men saw that she exceeded the height and multitude of her branches,

And there is a fire gone out of her stalks, which hath burnt up her branches and her fruit: so that she hath no more strong stalks, to be staves for officers. This is a piteous and miserable thing."

In the seventh year, the tenth day of the fifth Month, it happened that certain of the elders of Israel came unto me, for to ask counsel at the LORD, and sat them down by me.

even in the day that I lift up mine hand over them, to bring them out of the land of Egypt, into a land that I have provided for them, which floweth with milk and honey, and it is a pleasant land among all others:

Then said I unto them, 'Cast away every man the abominations that he hath before him, and defile not yourselves with the Idols of Egypt, for I am the LORD your God.'

But I would not do it, for my name's sake: that it should not be unhallowed before the Heathen, among whom they dwelt, and among whom I showed myself unto them, that I would bring them out of the land of Egypt.

I gave them also my holy days, to be a token betwixt me and them, and thereby to know that I am the LORD which halloweth them.

But I swore unto them in the wilderness, that I would not bring them into the land, which I gave them: a land that floweth with milk and honey, and is a pleasure of all lands.

And that because they refused my laws, and walked not in my commandments, but had unhallowed my Sabbaths - for their heart was gone after their Idols.

Nevertheless, mine eye spared them, so that I would not utterly slay them, and consume them in the wilderness.

hallow my Sabbaths: for they are a token betwixt me and you, that ye may know how that I am the LORD.'

Notwithstanding, their sons rebelled against me also: they walked not in my statutes, they kept not my laws to fulfill them, which he that doth shall live in them; neither hallowed they my Sabbath days. Then I made me again to pour out my indignation over them, and to satisfy my wrath upon them in the wilderness.

I lift up mine hand over them also in the wilderness, that I would scatter them among the Heathen, and straw them among the nations:

Wherefore I gave them also commandments that were not good, and laws through the which they should not live,

and I unhallowed them in their own gifts when I appointed for myself all their firstborn, to make them desolate: that they might know, how that I am the LORD.'

For after I had brought them into the land that I promised to give them, when they saw every high hill, and all the thick trees: they made there offerings, and provoked me with their oblations, making sweet savours there, and poured out their drink offerings.

Then I ask them, 'What is that hill altar that you go to it?' And therefore is it called Bamah unto this day.

And as for the thing that ye go about, it shall not come to pass, whereas ye say, 'We will be as the Heathen, and do as other people in the land: wood and stone will we worship.'

The forsakers also and the transgressors will I take from among you, and bring them out of the land of your habitations: As for the land of Israel, they shall not come in it: that they may know how that I am the LORD.

But upon my holy hill, even upon the high hill of Israel shall all the house of Israel and all that is in the land worship me: and in the same place will I favour them, and there will I require your heave offerings, and the firstlings of your oblations, with all your holy things.

I will accept your sweet savour, when I bring you from the nations, and gather you together out of the lands, wherein ye be scattered: that I may be hallowed in you before the Heathen.

And that ye may know, that I am the LORD, which have brought you into the land of Israel. Yea, into the same land that I swore to give unto your forefathers.

There shall ye call to remembrance your own ways and all your imaginations, wherein ye have been defiled: and ye shall be displeased with your own selves, for all your wickedness, that ye have done.

And ye shall know that I am the LORD: when I entreat you after my name, not after your wicked ways, nor according to your corrupt works: O ye house of Israel, sayeth the LORD.'"

and say to the wood toward the south, 'Hear the word of the LORD, thus sayeth the LORD God: Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, that shall consume thee green trees with the dry. No man shall be able to quench his flame, but all that looketh from the south to the north shall be burnt therein.

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