You are to execute old men, young men, young women, little children, and women. But don't touch anyone who has been marked. Begin at my Holy Place!" And so they started with the elders who were in standing in front of the Temple.

And they begin among the aged men who are before the house, and He saith unto them, 'Defile the house, and fill the courts with the wounded, go forth.' And they have gone forth and have smitten in the city.

While they were killing, I was left alone. And I fell facedown and cried out, “Oh, Lord God! Are You going to destroy the entire remnant of Israel when You pour out Your wrath on Jerusalem?”

Then He said to me, “The wickedness (guilt) of the house of Israel and Judah is extremely great; the land is full of blood and the city is full of perversion and injustice; for they say, ‘The Lord has abandoned the land; the Lord does not see [what we are doing].’

And he spoke to the man clothed in linen and said, "Go {in among the wheel area under the cherubim} and fill the hollow of your hands [with] coals of fire from among the cherubim, and toss [them] on the city." And he went [right] before my eyes.

And the cherubs are standing on the right side of the house, at the going in of the man, and the cloud hath filled the inner court,

And then at his command to the man clothed in linen, {saying}, "Take fire from among the wheel area from among the cherubim," he went and stood beside the wheel.

And all their flesh, and their backs, and their hands, and their wings, and the wheels, are full of eyes round about; to them four are their wheels.

And four faces are to each; the face of the one is the face of the cherub, and the face of the second the face of man, and of the third the face of a lion, and of the fourth the face of an eagle.

And the cherubs are lifted up, it is the living creature that I saw by the river Chebar.

In their standing they stand, and in their exaltation they are exalted with them: for the living spirit is in them.

and the cherubs lift up their wings, and are lifted up from the earth before mine eyes; in their going forth, the wheels also are over-against them, and he standeth at the opening of the east gate of the house of Jehovah, and the honour of the God of Israel is over them from above.

It is the living creature that I saw under the God of Israel by the river Chebar, and I know that they are cherubs.

Four faces are to each, and four wings to each, and the likeness of the hands of man is under their wings.

As to the likeness of their faces, they are the faces that I saw by the river Chebar, their appearances and themselves; each straight forward they go.

Then said he to me, Son of man, these are the men that devise mischief, and give wicked counsel in this city:

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

Therefore you are to prophesy against them. Prophesy, Son of Man!"

And the spirit of the Lord came on me, and he said to me, Say, These are the words of the Lord: This is what you have said, O children of Israel; what comes into your mind is clear to me.

Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Your slain whom ye have laid in the midst of it, they are the flesh, and this city is the caldron: but I will bring you forth out of the midst of it.

It is not to you for a pot, Nor are ye in its midst for flesh, At the border of Israel I do judge you.

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

And it happened [that] {as I was prophesying}, Pelatiahu the son of Benaiahu died! And I fell on my face, and I cried [with] a loud voice, and I said, "Ah, Lord Yahweh, you [are] making complete destruction [of] the remnant of Israel!"

Son of man, thy brethren, even thy brethren, the men of thy kindred, and all the house of Israel wholly, are they to whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, Retire far from the LORD: to us is this land given in possession.

Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Whereas I have removed them far off among the nations, and whereas I have scattered them among the countries, yet will I be to them a sanctuary for a little while in the countries where they are come.

Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: I will even gather you from the peoples, and assemble you out of the countries where ye are scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.

But those whose hearts are devoted to detestable things and abominations, I hereby repay them for what they have done, says the sovereign Lord."

And the cherubs lift up their wings, and the wheels are over-against them, and the honour of the God of Israel is over them above.

Son of man, thou dwellest 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.

Therefore, thou son of man, prepare thee stuff for removing, and remove by day in their sight; and thou shalt remove from thy place to another place in their sight; it may be they will consider, though they are a rebellious house.

By day, before their eyes, take out your vessels like those of one who is taken away: and go out in the evening before their eyes, like those who are taken away as prisoners.

While they are watching, dig a hole in the wall and carry your belongings out through it.

While they are watching, raise your baggage onto your shoulder and carry it out in the dark. You must cover your face so that you cannot see the ground because I have made you an object lesson to the house of Israel."

"Son of man, did not they, the house of Israel, the house of rebellion, say to you, 'What [are] you doing?'

Say thou to them, Thus saith the Lord GOD, This burden concerneth the prince in Jerusalem, and all the house of Israel that are among them.

You are to say, ‘I am a sign for you. Just as I have done, so it will be done to them; they will go into exile, into captivity.’

And I will scatter towards every wind all that are about him to help him, and all his bands; and I will draw out the sword after them.

And you must say to the people of the land, 'Thus says the Lord Yahweh to the inhabitants of Jerusalem about the land of Israel: "They will eat their food with anxiety and their water they will drink with horror, because their land will be desolate from its fullness because of all the violence of {those who are dwelling in it}.

And the cities that are inhabited shall be laid waste, and the land shall be desolate; and ye shall know that I am the LORD.

Son of man, what is that proverb that ye have in the land of Israel, saying, The days are prolonged, and every vision faileth?

Tell them therefore, Thus saith the Lord GOD: I will make this proverb to cease, and they shall no more use it as a proverb in Israel; but say to them, The days are at hand, and the effect of every vision.

Son of man, behold, they of the house of Israel say, The vision that he seeth is for many days to come, and he prophesieth of the times that are distant.

therefore say unto them: Thus said the Lord Jehovah: None of my words are prolonged any more, When I speak a word -- it is done, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah!'

Son of man. prophesy against the prophets of Israel, who are prophesying, - and say unto them who prophesy out of their own heart, Hear ye the word of Yahweh,

Thus says the Lord Yahweh: 'Alas, for the foolish prophets who [are] going after their [own] spirit, {and they did not see anything}!

O Israel, thy prophets are like the foxes in the deserts.

They have seen vanity, and lying divination, Who are saying: An affirmation of Jehovah, And Jehovah hath not sent them, And they have hoped to establish a word.

Is it not a Vision of falsehood, ye have seen, and a Divination of lies, ye have spoken, Since ye are saying. Declareth Yahweh! when I have not spoken

So this is what the Lord has said: Because your words are without substance and your visions are false, see, I am against you, says the Lord.

"And it will be my hand against the prophets who [are] seeing falseness and who [are] practicing lying divination. They will not be in the council of my people, and they will not be written [down] in the record [book] of the house of Israel, and into the land of Israel they will not come, and [then] you will know that I [am] the Lord Yahweh.

Because, even because, they did cause My people to err, Saying, Peace! and there is no peace, And that one is building a wall, And lo, they are daubing it with chalk.

Say thou unto them who are coating with whitewash It shall fall,- There hath come an Overflowing rain And I will make ha-stones fall, And a tempestuous wind shall break it down.

Thus will I bring to an end mine indignation against the wall, and against them who were coating it with whitewash, And will say to you No more is the wall, And no more are they who were coating it:

to wit the prophets of Israel who are prophesying unto Jerusalem, and are seeing, on her behalf, visions of prosperity, - when there is no prosperity, Declareth My Lord Yahweh.

And thou, Son of man Set thy face against the daughters of thy people, Those who are prophesying out of their own heart, - And prophesy thou against them;

and say, Thus, saith My Lord Yahweh, Alas! for the women Who sew oracle, cases on all elbows And prepare wraps upon the head of every stature to hunt souls, - the souls ye hunt, are those of my people, Whereas your own souls:, ye keep alive.

And you defiled me among my people for a handful of barley and for morsels of bread to kill persons who should not die and to keep alive persons who should not live by [means of] your lies to my people [who are] listening to [your] lies." '

Therefore, Thus saith my Lord Yahweh, Behold me! against your oracle-cases where. with ye are hunting the souls to make them fly, And I will tear them off your arms, And let go the souls of them whose souls ye are hunting as birds;

And I have torn your kerchiefs, And delivered My people out of your hand, And they are no more in your hand for a prey, And ye have known that I am Jehovah.

For this cause say to them, These are the words of the Lord: Every man of Israel who has taken his false god into his heart, and put before his face the sin which is the cause of his fall, and comes to the prophet; I the Lord will give him an answer by myself in agreement with the number of his false gods;

That I may take the house of Israel in their own heart, because they are all estranged from me through their idols.

For this cause say to the children of Israel, These are the words of the Lord: Come back and give up your false gods and let your faces be turned from your disgusting things.

When any one of the men of Israel, or of those from other lands who are living in Israel, who has become strange to me, and takes his false gods into his heart, and puts before his face the sin which is the cause of his fall, comes to the prophet to get directions from me; I the Lord will give him an answer by myself:

so that the house of Israel do not wander any more from after Me, nor are defiled any more with all their transgressions, and they have been to Me for a people, and I am to them for God -- an affirmation of the Lord Jehovah.'

these three men in its midst: I live -- an affirmation of the Lord Jehovah -- neither sons nor daughters do they deliver; they alone are delivered, and the land is a desolation.

and these three men in its midst: I live -- an affirmation of the Lord Jehovah -- they deliver not sons and daughters, for they alone are delivered.

even though Noah, Daniel, and Job were in the land, as I live,” says the Lord God, “they could not save either their son or their daughter; they would save only themselves by their righteousness [that is, their right-standing with God—their moral and spiritual integrity].”

Yet lo! there hath been left therein remnant of fugitives to be brought forth - sons and daughters - There they are! coming forth unto you, And so ye shall see their way, and their doings, and be consoled over the calamity which I have brought in upon Jerusalem even all that I have brought in upon her.

“Son of man, make Jerusalem understand [the heinous and vile nature of] her repulsive (idolatrous) acts

And say, Thus says the Lord GOD unto Jerusalem; Your birth and your nativity are from the land of Canaan; your father was an Amorite, and your mother a Hittite.

And when I went past you and saw you stretched out in your blood, I said to you, Though you are stretched out in your blood, have life;

I have caused thee to multiply as the bud of the field, and thou hast increased and become great, and thou art come to excellent ornaments: thy breasts are fashioned, and thy hair is grown, whereas thou wast naked and bare.

And thou dost take of thy garments, And dost make to thee spotted high-places, And dost go a-whoring upon them, They are not coming in -- nor shall it be!

And you have taken your sons and your daughters, whom you have borne to Me, and you gave these to them for food. Are your fornications small?

Behold, therefore I have stretched out my hand over thee, and have diminished thy ordinary food, and delivered thee to the will of them that hate thee, the daughters of the Philistines, who are ashamed of thy lewd way.

Gifts are given to all other whores, but thou givest rewards unto all thy lovers; and offerest them gifts, to come unto thee out of all places and to commit fornication with thee.

And you are different from other women in your harlotries, therefore none follows you to commit harlotries: and in that you give a reward, and no reward is given unto you, therefore you are different.

And I will judge thee, as women that break wedlock and shed blood are judged; and I will give thee blood in fury and jealousy.

You [are] a daughter of your mother [who] abhorred her husband and her children, and you [are] a sister of your sisters who abhorred their husbands and their children. Your mother [was] a Hittite, and your father [was] an Amorite.

And your elder sister, she [is] Samaria, and her daughters, [who are] dwelling on your north, and your younger sister [is] the one dwelling on your south; [she] [is] Sodom and her daughters.

And they are haughty and do abomination before Me, And I turn them aside when I have seen.

Thou also, who hast judged thy sisters, bear thy own shame for thy sins that thou hast committed more abominable than they: they are more righteous than thou: yes, be thou confounded also, and bear thy shame, in that thou hast justified thy sisters.

That you may bear your own shame, and may be disgraced in all that you have done, in that you are a comfort unto them.

Before thy wickedness was disclosed, as at the time of thy reproach of the daughters of Syria, and all that are around her, the daughters of the Philistines, who despise thee on every side.

You are bearing your wickedness and your abominations, says Jehovah.

And thou shalt remember thy ways, and be confounded, when thou shalt receive thy sisters who are older than thou, together with those who are younger than thou; for I will give them unto thee for daughters, but not by virtue of thy covenant.

You are to say: This is what the Lord God says:

A great eagle with great wings, long pinions,
and full plumage of many colors
came to Lebanon and took the top of the cedar.

And it springeth up, and becometh a spreading vine, humble of stature, To turn its thin shoots toward itself, And its roots are under it, And it becometh a vine, and maketh boughs, And sendeth forth beauteous branches.

You are to say: This is what the Lord God says:

Will it flourish?
Will he not tear out its roots
and strip off its fruit
so that it shrivels?
All its fresh leaves will wither!
Great strength and many people
will not be needed to pull it from its roots.

Say, I pray thee unto the perverse house, Know ye not what these things are? Say thou Lo! the King of Babylon entered Jerusalem And took her king and her princes, And brought them unto him in Babylon;

Pharaoh will not help him with his great army and vast horde in battle, when ramps are built and siege walls constructed to destroy many lives.

And all his fugitives throughout all his bands by the sword, shall fall, And they who are left, to every wind, shall be scattered,- So shall ye know that I, Yahweh, have spoken!

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

As I live,” declares the Lord God, “you are surely not going to use this proverb in Israel anymore.

Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die.

if he doesn't oppress anyone, but instead returns the debtor's security for his debt, if he doesn't rob anyone, but instead shares his food with the hungry and gives clothes to those who are naked,

doesn't oppress anyone, doesn't take possession of a debtor's pledge, or doesn't steal, but instead shares his food with the hungry, gives clothes to those who are naked,

All his transgressions that he hath done Are not remembered to him, In his righteousness that he hath done he liveth.

And in the turning back of the righteous from his righteousness, And he hath done perversity, According to all the abominations That the wicked hath done, he doth -- thus he liveth, All his righteousnesses that he hath done are not remembered, For his trespass that he hath trespassed, And for his sin that he hath sinned, For them he doth die.

Yet ye 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?