The World English Bible (WEB) Part 70

14:1 Then came certain of the elders of Israel to me, and sat before me.

14:2 The word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 14:3 Son of man, these men have taken their idols into their heart, and put the stumbling block of their iniquity before their face: should I be inquired of at all by them? 14:4 Therefore speak to them, and tell them, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Every man of the house of Israel who takes his idols into his heart, and puts the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and comes to the prophet; I Yahweh will answer him therein according to the mult.i.tude of his idols; 14:5 that I may take the house of Israel in their own heart, because they are all estranged from me through their idols. 14:6 Therefore tell the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Return you, and turn yourselves from your idols; and turn away your faces from all your abominations. 14:7 For everyone of the house of Israel, or of the strangers who sojourn in Israel, who separates himself from me, and takes his idols into his heart, and puts the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and comes to the prophet to inquire for himself of me; I Yahweh will answer him by myself: 14:8 and I will set my face against that man, and will make him an astonishment, for a sign and a proverb, and I will cut him off from the midst of my people; and you shall know that I am Yahweh. 14:9 If the prophet be deceived and speak a word, I, Yahweh, have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand on him, and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel. 14:10 They shall bear their iniquity: the iniquity of the prophet shall be even as the iniquity of him who seeks to him; 14:11 that the house of Israel may go no more astray from me, neither defile themselves any more with all their transgressions; but that they may be my people, and I may be their G.o.d, says the Lord Yahweh. 14:12 The word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 14:13 Son of man, when a land sins against me by committing a trespa.s.s, and I stretch out my hand on it, and break the staff of its bread, and send famine on it, and cut off from it man and animal; 14:14 though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness, says the Lord Yahweh. 14:15 If I cause evil animals to pa.s.s through the land, and they ravage it, and it be made desolate, so that no man may pa.s.s through because of the animals; 14:16 though these three men were in it, as I live, says the Lord Yahweh, they should deliver neither sons nor daughters; they only should be delivered, but the land should be desolate. 14:17 Or if I bring a sword on that land, and say, Sword, go through the land; so that I cut off from it man and animal; 14:18 though these three men were in it, as I live, says the Lord Yahweh, they should deliver neither sons nor daughters, but they only should be delivered themselves. 14:19 Or if I send a pestilence into that land, and pour out my wrath on it in blood, to cut off from it man and animal; 14:20 though Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, as I live, says the Lord Yahweh, they should deliver neither son nor daughter; they should but deliver their own souls by their righteousness. 14:21 For thus says the Lord Yahweh: How much more when I send my four sore judgments on Jerusalem, the sword, and the famine, and the evil animals, and the pestilence, to cut off from it man and animal! 14:22 Yet, behold, therein shall be left a remnant that shall be carried forth, both sons and daughters: behold, they shall come forth to you, and you shall see their way and their doings; and you shall be comforted concerning the evil that I have brought on Jerusalem, even concerning all that I have brought on it.

14:23 They shall comfort you, when you see their way and their doings; and you shall know that I have not done without cause all that I have done in it, says the Lord Yahweh.

15:1 The word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 15:2 Son of man, what is the vine tree more than any tree, the vine-branch which is among the trees of the forest? 15:3 Shall wood be taken of it to make any work? or will men take a pin of it to hang any vessel thereon? 15:4 Behold, it is cast into the fire for fuel; the fire has devoured both its ends, and its midst is burned: is it profitable for any work? 15:5 Behold, when it was whole, it was meet for no work: how much less, when the fire has devoured it, and it is burned, shall it yet be meet for any work! 15:6 Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: As the vine tree among the trees of the forest, which I have given to the fire for fuel, so will I give the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 15:7 I will set my face against them; they shall go forth from the fire, but the fire shall devour them; and you shall know that I am Yahweh, when I set my face against them. 15:8 I will make the land desolate, because they have committed a trespa.s.s, says the Lord Yahweh.

16:1 Again the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 16:2 Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations; 16:3 and say, Thus says the Lord Yahweh to Jerusalem: Your birth and your birth is of the land of the Canaanite; the Amorite was your father, and your mother was a Hitt.i.te.

16:4 As for your birth, in the day you were born your navel was not cut, neither were you washed in water to cleanse you; you weren't salted at all, nor swaddled at all. 16:5 No eye pitied you, to do any of these things to you, to have compa.s.sion on you; but you were cast out in the open field, for that your person was abhorred, in the day that you were born. 16:6 When I pa.s.sed by you, and saw you weltering in your blood, I said to you, Though you are in your blood, live; yes, I said to you, Though you are in your blood, live. 16:7 I caused you to multiply as that which grows in the field, and you increased and grew great, and you attained to excellent ornament; your b.r.e.a.s.t.s were fas.h.i.+oned, and your hair was grown; yet you were naked and bare. 16:8 Now when I pa.s.sed by you, and looked at you, behold, your time was the time of love; and I spread my skirt over you, and covered your nakedness: yes, I swore to you, and entered into a covenant with you, says the Lord Yahweh, and you became mine. 16:9 Then washed I you with water; yes, I thoroughly washed away your blood from you, and I anointed you with oil. 16:10 I clothed you also with embroidered work, and shod you with sealskin, and I girded you about with fine linen, and covered you with silk. 16:11 I decked you with ornaments, and I put bracelets on your hands, and a chain on your neck. 16:12 I put a ring on your nose, and earrings in your ears, and a beautiful crown on your head. 16:13 Thus you were decked with gold and silver; and your clothing was of fine linen, and silk, and embroidered work; you ate fine flour, and honey, and oil; and you were exceeding beautiful, and you prospered to royal estate. 16:14 Your renown went forth among the nations for your beauty; for it was perfect, through my majesty which I had put on you, says the Lord Yahweh. 16:15 But you did trust in your beauty, and played the prost.i.tute because of your renown, and poured out your prost.i.tution on everyone who pa.s.sed by; his it was.

16:16 You took of your garments, and made for yourselves high places decked with various colors, and played the prost.i.tute on them: the like things shall not come, neither shall it be so. 16:17 You also took your beautiful jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given you, and made for yourself images of men, and played the prost.i.tute with them; 16:18 and you took your embroidered garments, and covered them, and did set my oil and my incense before them. 16:19 My bread also which I gave you, fine flour, and oil, and honey, with which I fed you, you did even set it before them for a pleasant aroma; and thus it was, says the Lord Yahweh. 16:20 Moreover you have taken your sons and your daughters, whom you have borne to me, and these have you sacrificed to them to be devoured. Were your prost.i.tution a small matter, 16:21 that you have slain my children, and delivered them up, in causing them to pa.s.s through the fire to them? 16:22 In all your abominations and your prost.i.tution you have not remembered the days of your youth, when you were naked and bare, and was weltering in your blood. 16:23 It is happen after all your wickedness, (woe, woe to you! says the Lord Yahweh), 16:24 that you have built to you a vaulted place, and have made you a lofty place in every street. 16:25 You have built your lofty place at the head of every way, and have made your beauty an abomination, and have opened your feet to everyone who pa.s.sed by, and multiplied your prost.i.tution. 16:26 You have also committed s.e.xual immorality with the Egyptians, your neighbors, great of flesh; and have multiplied your prost.i.tution, to provoke me to anger. 16:27 See therefore, I have stretched out my hand over you, and have diminished your ordinary food, and delivered you to the will of those who hate you, the daughters of the Philistines, who are ashamed of your lewd way. 16:28 You have played the prost.i.tute also with the a.s.syrians, because you were insatiable; yes, you have played the prost.i.tute with them, and yet you weren't satisfied. 16:29 You have moreover multiplied your prost.i.tution to the land of merchants, to Chaldea; and yet you weren't satisfied with this.

16:30 How weak is your heart, says the Lord Yahweh, seeing you do all these things, the work of an impudent prost.i.tute; 16:31 in that you build your vaulted place at the head of every way, and make your lofty place in every street, and have not been as a prost.i.tute, in that you scorn pay. 16:32 A wife who commits adultery! who takes strangers instead of her husband! 16:33 They give gifts to all prost.i.tutes; but you give your gifts to all your lovers, and bribe them, that they may come to you on every side for your prost.i.tution. 16:34 You are different from other women in your prost.i.tution, in that none follows you to play the prost.i.tute; and whereas you give hire, and no hire is given to you, therefore you are different. 16:35 Therefore, prost.i.tute, hear the word of Yahweh: 16:36 Thus says the Lord Yahweh, Because your filthiness was poured out, and your nakedness uncovered through your prost.i.tution with your lovers; and because of all the idols of your abominations, and for the blood of your children, that you gave to them; 16:37 therefore see, I will gather all your lovers, with whom you have taken pleasure, and all those who you have loved, with all those who you have hated; I will even gather them against you on every side, and will uncover your nakedness to them, that they may see all your nakedness. 16:38 I will judge you, as women who break wedlock and shed blood are judged; and I will bring on you the blood of wrath and jealousy. 16:39 I will also give you into their hand, and they shall throw down your vaulted place, and break down your lofty places; and they shall strip you of your clothes, and take your beautiful jewels; and they shall leave you naked and bare. 16:40 They shall also bring up a company against you, and they shall stone you with stones, and thrust you through with their swords.

16:41 They shall burn your houses with fire, and execute judgments on you in the sight of many women; and I will cause you to cease from playing the prost.i.tute, and you shall also give no hire any more. 16:42 So will I cause my wrath toward you to rest, and my jealousy shall depart from you, and I will be quiet, and will be no more angry. 16:43 Because you have not remembered the days of your youth, but have raged against me in all these things; therefore, behold, I also will bring your way on your head, says the Lord Yahweh: and you shall not commit this lewdness with all your abominations. 16:44 Behold, everyone who uses proverbs shall use this proverb against you, saying, As is the mother, so is her daughter. 16:45 You are the daughter of your mother, who loathes her husband and her children; and you are the sister of your sisters, who loathed their husbands and their children: your mother was a Hitt.i.te, and your father an Amorite. 16:46 Your elder sister is Samaria, who dwells at your left hand, she and her daughters; and your younger sister, who dwells at your right hand, is Sodom and her daughters. 16:47 Yet have you not walked in their ways, nor done after their abominations; but, as if that were a very little thing, you were more corrupt than they in all your ways. 16:48 As I live, says the Lord Yahweh, Sodom your sister has not done, she nor her daughters, as you have done, you and your daughters. 16:49 Behold, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: pride, fullness of bread, and prosperous ease was in her and in her daughters; neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. 16:50 They were haughty, and committed abomination before me: therefore I took them away as I saw good. 16:51 Neither has Samaria committed half of your sins; but you have multiplied your abominations more than they, and have justified your sisters by all your abominations which you have done. 16:52 You also, bear you your own shame, in that you have given judgment for your sisters; through your sins that you have committed more abominable than they, they are more righteous that you: yes, be also confounded, and bear your shame, in that you have justified your sisters. 16:53 I will turn again their captivity, the captivity of Sodom and her daughters, and the captivity of Samaria and her daughters, and the captivity of your captives in the midst of them; 16:54 that you may bear your own shame, and may be ashamed because of all that you have done, in that you are a comfort to them. 16:55 Your sisters, Sodom and her daughters, shall return to their former estate; and Samaria and her daughters shall return to their former estate; and you and your daughters shall return to your former estate. 16:56 For your sister Sodom was not mentioned by your mouth in the day of your pride, 16:57 before your wickedness was uncovered, as at the time of the reproach of the daughters of Syria, and of all who are around her, the daughters of the Philistines, who do despite to you all around. 16:58 You have borne your lewdness and your abominations, says Yahweh. 16:59 For thus says the Lord Yahweh: I will also deal with you as you have done, who have despised the oath in breaking the covenant.

16:60 Nevertheless I will remember my covenant with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish to you an everlasting covenant. 16:61 Then you shall remember your ways, and be ashamed, when you shall receive your sisters, your elder sisters and your younger; and I will give them to you for daughters, but not by your covenant. 16:62 I will establish my covenant with you; and you shall know that I am Yahweh; 16:63 that you may remember, and be confounded, and never open your mouth any more, because of your shame, when I have forgiven you all that you have done, says the Lord Yahweh.

17:1 The word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 17:2 Son of man, put forth a riddle, and speak a parable to the house of Israel; 17:3 and say, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: A great eagle with great wings and long feathers, full of feathers, which had various colors, came to Lebanon, and took the top of the cedar: 17:4 he cropped off the topmost of the young twigs of it, and carried it to a land of traffic; he set it in a city of merchants. 17:5 He took also of the seed of the land, and planted it in a fruitful soil; he placed it beside many waters; he set it as a willow tree. 17:6 It grew, and became a spreading vine of low stature, whose branches turned toward him, and its roots were under him: so it became a vine, and brought forth branches, and shot forth sprigs. 17:7 There was also another great eagle with great wings and many feathers: and behold, this vine did bend its roots toward him, and shot forth its branches toward him, from the beds of its plantation, that he might water it.

17:8 It was planted in a good soil by many waters, that it might bring forth branches, and that it might bear fruit, that it might be a goodly vine. 17:9 Say you, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Shall it prosper? shall he not pull up its roots, and cut off its fruit, that it may wither; that all its fresh springing leaves may wither? and not by a strong arm or much people can it be raised from its roots. 17:10 Yes, behold, being planted, shall it prosper? shall it not utterly wither, when the east wind touches it? it shall wither in the beds where it grew. 17:11 Moreover the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 17:12 Say now to the rebellious house, Don't you know what these things mean? tell them, Behold, the king of Babylon came to Jerusalem, and took its king, and its princes, and brought them to him to Babylon: 17:13 and he took of the seed royal, and made a covenant with him; he also brought him under an oath, and took away the mighty of the land; 17:14 that the kingdom might be base, that it might not lift itself up, but that by keeping his covenant it might stand. 17:15 But he rebelled against him in sending his amba.s.sadors into Egypt, that they might give him horses and much people. Shall he prosper? shall he escape who does such things? shall he break the covenant, and yet escape? 17:16 As I live, says the Lord Yahweh, surely in the place where the king dwells who made him king, whose oath he despised, and whose covenant he broke, even with him in the midst of Babylon he shall die. 17:17 Neither shall Pharaoh with his mighty army and great company help him in the war, when they cast up mounds and build forts, to cut off many persons. 17:18 For he has despised the oath by breaking the covenant; and behold, he had given his hand, and yet has done all these things; he shall not escape. 17:19 Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: As I live, surely my oath that he has despised, and my covenant that he has broken, I will even bring it on his own head. 17:20 I will spread my net on him, and he shall be taken in my snare, and I will bring him to Babylon, and will enter into judgment with him there for his trespa.s.s that he has trespa.s.sed against me. 17:21 All his fugitives in all his bands shall fall by the sword, and those who remain shall be scattered toward every wind: and you shall know that I, Yahweh, have spoken it. 17:22 Thus says the Lord Yahweh: I will also take of the lofty top of the cedar, and will set it; I will crop off from the topmost of its young twigs a tender one, and I will plant it on a high and lofty mountain: 17:23 in the mountain of the height of Israel will I plant it; and it shall bring forth boughs, and bear fruit, and be a goodly cedar: and under it shall dwell all birds of every wing; in the shade of its branches shall they dwell. 17:24 All the trees of the field shall know that I, Yahweh, have brought down the high tree, have exalted the low tree, have dried up the green tree, and have made the dry tree to flourish; I, Yahweh, have spoken and have done it.

18:1 The word of Yahweh came to me again, saying, 18:2 What do you mean, that you use this proverb concerning the land of Israel, saying, The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge? 18:3 As I live, says the Lord Yahweh, you shall not have occasion any more to use this proverb in Israel. 18:4 Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul who sins, he shall die. 18:5 But if a man is just, and does that which is lawful and right, 18:6 and has not eaten on 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 to a woman in her impurity, 18:7 and has not wronged any, but has restored to the debtor his pledge, has taken nothing by robbery, has given his bread to the hungry, and has covered the naked with a garment; 18:8 he who has not given forth on interest, neither has taken any increase, who has withdrawn his hand from iniquity, has executed true justice between man and man, 18:9 has walked in my statutes, and has kept my ordinances, to deal truly; he is just, he shall surely live, says the Lord Yahweh.

18:10 If he fathers a son who is a robber, a shedder of blood, and who does any one of these things, 18:11 and who does not any of those duties, but even has eaten on the mountains, and defiled his neighbor's wife, 18:12 has wronged the poor and needy, has taken by robbery, has not restored the pledge, and has lifted up his eyes to the idols, has committed abomination, 18:13 has given forth on 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 on him. 18:14 Now, behold, if he fathers a son, who sees all his father's sins, which he has done, and fears, and does not such like; 18:15 who has not eaten on the mountains, neither has lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, has not defiled his neighbor's wife, 18:16 neither has wronged any, has not taken anything to pledge, neither has taken by robbery, but has given his bread to the hungry, and has covered the naked with a garment; 18:17 who has withdrawn his hand from the poor, who has not received interest nor increase, has executed my ordinances, has walked in my statutes; he shall not die for the iniquity of his father, he shall surely live. 18:18 As for his father, because he cruelly oppressed, robbed his brother, and did that which is not good among his people, behold, he shall die in his iniquity. 18:19 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. 18:20 The soul who sins, he 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 on him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be on him. 18:21 But if the wicked 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. 18:22 None of his transgressions that he has committed shall be remembered against him: in his righteousness that he has done he shall live. 18:23 Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked? says the Lord Yahweh; and not rather that he should return from his way, and live? 18:24 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? None of his righteous deeds that he has done shall be remembered: in his trespa.s.s that he has trespa.s.sed, and in his sin that he has sinned, in them shall he die. 18:25 Yet you say, The way of the Lord is not equal. Hear now, house of Israel: Is my way not equal?

Aren't your ways unequal? 18:26 When the righteous man turns away from his righteousness, and commits iniquity, and dies therein; in his iniquity that he has done shall he die. 18:27 Again, when the wicked man turns away from his wickedness that he has committed, and does that which is lawful and right, he shall save his soul alive. 18:28 Because he considers, and turns away from all his transgressions that he has committed, he shall surely live, he shall not die. 18:29 Yet says the house of Israel, The way of the Lord is not equal. house of Israel, are not my ways equal? are not your ways unequal? 18:30 Therefore I will judge you, house of Israel, everyone according to his ways, says the Lord Yahweh. Return you, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin. 18:31 Cast away from you all your transgressions, in which you have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit: for why will you die, house of Israel?

18:32 For I have no pleasure in the death of him who dies, says the Lord Yahweh: therefore turn yourselves, and live.

19:1 Moreover, take up a lamentation for the princes of Israel, 19:2 and say, What was your mother? A lioness: she couched among lions, in the midst of the young lions she nourished her cubs. 19:3 She brought up one of her cubs: he became a young lion, and he learned to catch the prey; he devoured men. 19:4 The nations also heard of him; he was taken in their pit; and they brought him with hooks to the land of Egypt. 19:5 Now when she saw that she had waited, and her hope was lost, then she took another of her cubs, and made him a young lion. 19:6 He went up and down among the lions; he became a young lion, and he learned to catch the prey; he devoured men. 19:7 He knew their palaces, and laid waste their cities; and the land was desolate, and its fullness, because of the noise of his roaring. 19:8 Then the nations set against him on every side from the provinces; and they spread their net over him; he was taken in their pit. 19:9 They put him in a cage with hooks, and brought him to the king of Babylon; they brought him into strongholds, that his voice should no more be heard on the mountains of Israel. 19:10 Your mother was like a vine, in your blood, planted by the waters: it was fruitful and full of branches by reason of many waters. 19:11 It had strong rods for the scepters of those who bore rule, and their stature was exalted among the thick boughs, and they were seen in their height with the mult.i.tude of their branches. 19:12 But it was plucked up in fury, it was cast down to the ground, and the east wind dried up its fruit: its strong rods were broken off and withered; the fire consumed them. 19:13 Now it is planted in the wilderness, in a dry and thirsty land. 19:14 Fire is gone out of the rods of its branches, it has devoured its fruit, so that there is in it no strong rod to be a scepter to rule. This is a lamentation, and shall be for a lamentation.

20:1 It happened in the seventh year, in the fifth month, the tenth day of the month, that certain of the elders of Israel came to inquire of Yahweh, and sat before me. 20:2 The word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 20:3 Son of man, speak to the elders of Israel, and tell them, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Is it to inquire of me that you have come? As I live, says the Lord Yahweh, I will not be inquired of by you. 20:4 Will you judge them, son of man, will you judge them? Cause them to know the abominations of their fathers; 20:5 and tell them, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: In the day when I chose Israel, and swore to the seed of the house of Jacob, and made myself known to them in the land of Egypt, when I swore to them, saying, I am Yahweh your G.o.d; 20:6 in that day I swore to them, to bring them forth out of the land of Egypt into a land that I had searched out for them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands. 20:7 I said to them, Cast you away every man the abominations of his eyes, and don't defile yourselves with the idols of Egypt; I am Yahweh your G.o.d. 20:8 But they rebelled against me, and would not listen to 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 would pour out my wrath on them, to accomplish my anger against them in the midst of the land of Egypt. 20:9 But I worked for my name's sake, that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations, among which they were, in whose sight I made myself known to them, in bringing them forth out of the land of Egypt. 20:10 So I caused them to go forth out of the land of Egypt, and brought them into the wilderness.

20:11 I gave them my statutes, and showed them my ordinances, which if a man does, he shall live in them. 20:12 Moreover also I gave them my Sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am Yahweh who sanctifies them. 20:13 But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness: they didn't walk in my statutes, and they rejected my ordinances, which if a man keep, he shall live in them; and my Sabbaths they greatly profaned. Then I said I would pour out my wrath on them in the wilderness, to consume them. 20:14 But I worked for my name's sake, that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations, in whose sight I brought them out. 20:15 Moreover also I swore to 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; 20:16 because they rejected my ordinances, and didn't walk in my statutes, and profaned my Sabbaths: for their heart went after their idols. 20:17 Nevertheless my eye spared them, and I didn't destroy them, neither did I make a full end of them in the wilderness. 20:18 I said to their children in the wilderness, Don't you walk in the statutes of your fathers, neither observe their ordinances, nor defile yourselves with their idols. 20:19 I am Yahweh your G.o.d: walk in my statutes, and keep my ordinances, and do them; 20:20 and make my Sabbaths holy; and they shall be a sign between me and you, that you may know that I am Yahweh your G.o.d. 20:21 But the children rebelled against me; they didn't walk in my statutes, neither kept my ordinances to do them, which if a man do, he shall live in them; they profaned my Sabbaths. Then I said I would pour out my wrath on them, to accomplish my anger against them in the wilderness. 20:22 Nevertheless I withdrew my hand, and worked for my name's sake, that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations, in whose sight I brought them forth. 20:23 Moreover I swore to them in the wilderness, that I would scatter them among the nations, and disperse them through the countries; 20:24 because they had not executed my ordinances, but had rejected my statutes, and had profaned my Sabbaths, and their eyes were after their fathers' idols. 20:25 Moreover also I gave them statutes that were not good, and ordinances in which they should not live; 20:26 and I polluted them in their own gifts, in that they caused to pa.s.s through the fire all that opens the womb, that I might make them desolate, to the end that they might know that I am Yahweh. 20:27 Therefore, son of man, speak to the house of Israel, and tell them, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: In this moreover have your fathers blasphemed me, in that they have committed a trespa.s.s against me. 20:28 For when I had brought them into the land, which I swore to give to them, then they saw every high hill, and every thick tree, and they offered there their sacrifices, and there they presented the provocation of their offering; there also they made their pleasant aroma, and they poured out there their drink offerings. 20:29 Then I said to them, What means the high place whereunto you go? So its name is called Bamah to this day. 20:30 Therefore tell the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Do you pollute yourselves after the manner of your fathers? and play you the prost.i.tute after their abominations? 20:31 and when you offer your gifts, when you make your sons to pa.s.s through the fire, do you pollute yourselves with all your idols to this day? and shall I be inquired of by you, house of Israel? As I live, says the Lord Yahweh, I will not be inquired of by you; 20:32 and that which comes into your mind shall not be at all, in that you say, We will be as the nations, as the families of the countries, to serve wood and stone. 20:33 As I live, says the Lord Yahweh, surely with a mighty hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with wrath poured out, will I be king over you: 20:34 and I will bring you out from the peoples, and will gather you out of the countries in which you are scattered, with a mighty hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with wrath poured out; 20:35 and I will bring you into the wilderness of the peoples, and there will I enter into judgment with you face to face. 20:36 Like as I entered into judgment with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so will I enter into judgment with you, says the Lord Yahweh. 20:37 I will cause you to pa.s.s under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant; 20:38 and I will purge out from among you the rebels, and those who disobey against me; I will bring them forth out of the land where they sojourn, but they shall not enter into the land of Israel: and you shall know that I am Yahweh. 20:39 As for you, house of Israel, thus says the Lord Yahweh: Go you, serve everyone his idols, and hereafter also, if you will not listen to me; but my holy name you shall no more profane with your gifts, and with your idols. 20:40 For in my holy mountain, in the mountain of the height of Israel, says the Lord Yahweh, there shall all the house of Israel, all of them, serve me in the land: there will I accept them, and there will I require your offerings, and the first fruits of your offerings, with all your holy things. 20:41 As a pleasant aroma will I accept you, when I bring you out from the peoples, and gather you out of the countries in which you have been scattered; and I will be sanctified in you in the sight of the nations. 20:42 You shall know that I am Yahweh, when I shall bring you into the land of Israel, into the country which I swore to give to your fathers. 20:43 There you shall remember your ways, and all your doings, in which you have polluted yourselves; and you shall loathe yourselves in your own sight for all your evils that you have committed. 20:44 You shall know that I am Yahweh, when I have dealt with you for my name's sake, not according to your evil ways, nor according to your corrupt doings, you house of Israel, says the Lord Yahweh. 20:45 The word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 20:46 Son of man, set your face toward the south, and drop your word toward the south, and prophesy against the forest of the field in the South; 20:47 and tell the forest of the South, Hear the word of Yahweh: Thus says the Lord Yahweh, 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 burnt thereby. 20:48 All flesh shall see that I, Yahweh, have kindled it; it shall not be quenched. 20:49 Then said I, Ah Lord Yahweh! they say of me, Isn't he a speaker of parables?

21:1 The word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 21:2 Son of man, set your face toward Jerusalem, and drop your word toward the sanctuaries, and prophesy against the land of Israel; 21:3 and tell the land of Israel, Thus says Yahweh: Behold, I am against you, and will draw forth my sword out of its sheath, and will cut off from you the righteous and the wicked. 21:4 Seeing then that I will cut off from you the righteous and the wicked, therefore shall my sword go forth out of its sheath against all flesh from the south to the north: 21:5 and all flesh shall know that I, Yahweh, have drawn forth my sword out of its sheath; it shall not return any more. 21:6 Sigh therefore, you son of man; with the breaking of your thighs and with bitterness you will sigh before their eyes. 21:7 It shall be, when they tell you, Why do you sigh? that you shall say, Because of the news, for it comes; and every heart shall melt, and all hands shall be feeble, and every spirit shall faint, and all knees shall be weak as water: behold, it comes, and it shall be done, says the Lord Yahweh. 21:8 The word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 21:9 Son of man, prophesy, and say, Thus says Yahweh: Say, A sword, a sword, it is sharpened, and also furbished; 21:10 it is sharpened that it may make a slaughter; it is furbished that it may be as lightning: shall we then make mirth? the rod of my son, it condemns every tree.

21:11 It is given to be furbished, that it may be handled: the sword, it is sharpened, yes, it is furbished, to give it into the hand of the killer. 21:12 Cry and wail, son of man; for it is on my people, it is on all the princes of Israel: they are delivered over to the sword with my people; strike therefore on your thigh. 21:13 For there is a trial; and what if even the rod that condemns shall be no more? says the Lord Yahweh. 21:14 You therefore, son of man, prophesy, and strike your hands together; and let the sword be doubled the third time, the sword of the deadly wounded: it is the sword of the great one who is deadly wounded, which enters into their chambers. 21:15 I have set the threatening sword against all their gates, that their heart may melt, and their stumblings be multiplied: ah! it is made as lightning, it is pointed for slaughter.

21:16 Gather you together, go to the right, set yourself in array, go to the left, wherever your face is set. 21:17 I will also strike my hands together, and I will cause my wrath to rest: I, Yahweh, have spoken it.

21:18 The word of Yahweh came to me again, saying, 21:19 Also, you son of man, appoint two ways, that the sword of the king of Babylon may come; they both shall come forth out of one land: and mark out a place, mark it out at the head of the way to the city. 21:20 You shall appoint a way for the sword to come to Rabbah of the children of Ammon, and to Judah in Jerusalem the fortified. 21:21 For the king of Babylon stood at the parting of the way, at the head of the two ways, to use divination: he shook the arrows back and forth, he consulted the teraphim, he looked in the liver. 21:22 In his right hand was the divination 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 cast up mounds, to build forts. 21:23 It shall be to them as a false divination in their sight, who have sworn oaths to them; but he brings iniquity to memory, that they may be taken. 21:24 Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: Because you have made your iniquity to be remembered, in that your transgressions are uncovered, so that in all your doings your sins do appear; because you have come to memory, you shall be taken with the hand. 21:25 You, deadly wounded wicked one, the prince of Israel, whose day is come, in the time of the iniquity of the end, 21:26 thus says the Lord Yahweh: Remove the turban, and take off the crown; this shall be no more the same; exalt that which is low, and abase that which is high. 21:27 I will overturn, overturn, overturn it: this also shall be no more, until he come whose right it is; and I will give it him. 21:28 You, son of man, prophesy, and say, Thus says the Lord Yahweh concerning the children of Ammon, and concerning their reproach; and say you, A sword, a sword is drawn, for the slaughter it is furbished, to cause it to devour, that it may be as lightning; 21:29 while they see for you false visions, while they divine lies to you, to lay you on the necks of the wicked who are deadly wounded, whose day is come in the time of the iniquity of the end. 21:30 Cause it to return into its sheath. In the place where you were created, in the land of your birth, will I judge you. 21:31 I will pour out my indignation on you; I will blow on you with the fire of my wrath; and I will deliver you into the hand of brutish men, skillful to destroy. 21:32 You shall be for fuel to the fire; your blood shall be in the midst of the land; you shall be no more remembered: for I, Yahweh, have spoken it.

22:1 Moreover the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 22:2 You, son of man, will you judge, will you judge the b.l.o.o.d.y city? then cause her to know all her abominations. 22:3 You shall say, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: A city that sheds blood in the midst of her, that her time may come, and that makes idols against herself to defile her! 22:4 You have become guilty in your blood that you have shed, and are defiled in your idols which you have made; and you have caused your days to draw near, and are come even to your years: therefore have I made you a reproach to the nations, and a mocking to all the countries. 22:5 Those who are near, and those who are far from you, shall mock you, you infamous one and full of tumult. 22:6 Behold, the princes of Israel, everyone according to his power, have been in you to shed blood. 22:7 In you have they set light by father and mother; in the midst of you have they dealt by oppression with the foreigner; in you have they wronged the fatherless and the widow. 22:8 You have despised my holy things, and have profaned my Sabbaths. 22:9 Slanderous men have been in you to shed blood; and in you they have eaten on the mountains: in the midst of you they have committed lewdness. 22:10 In you have they uncovered their fathers' nakedness; in you have they humbled her who was unclean in her impurity. 22:11 One has committed abomination with his neighbor's wife; and another has lewdly defiled his daughter-in-law; and another in you has humbled his sister, his father's daughter. 22:12 In you have they taken bribes to shed blood; you have taken interest and increase, and you have greedily gained of your neighbors by oppression, and have forgotten me, says the Lord Yahweh. 22:13 Behold, therefore, I have struck my hand at your dishonest gain which you have made, and at your blood which has been in the midst of you. 22:14 Can your heart endure, or can your hands be strong, in the days that I shall deal with you? I, Yahweh, have spoken it, and will do it. 22:15 I will scatter you among the nations, and disperse you through the countries; and I will consume your filthiness out of you. 22:16 You shall be profaned in yourself, in the sight of the nations; and you shall know that I am Yahweh. 22:17 The word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 22:18 Son of man, the house of Israel is become dross to me: all of them are bra.s.s and tin and iron and lead, in the midst of the furnace; they are the dross of silver. 22:19 Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: Because you are all become dross, therefore, behold, I will gather you into the midst of Jerusalem. 22:20 As they gather silver and bra.s.s and iron and lead and tin into the midst of the furnace, to blow the fire on it, to melt it; so will I gather you in my anger and in my wrath, and I will lay you there, and melt you.

22:21 Yes, I will gather you, and blow on you with the fire of my wrath, and you shall be melted in its midst. 22:22 As silver is melted in the midst of the furnace, so you will be melted in its midst; and you will know that I, Yahweh, have poured out my wrath on you. 22:23 The word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 22:24 Son of man, tell her, You are a land that is not cleansed, nor rained on in the day of indignation. 22:25 There is a conspiracy of her prophets in its midst, like a roaring lion ravening the prey: they have devoured souls; they take treasure and precious things; they have made her widows many in its midst. 22:26 Her priests have done violence to my law, and have profaned my holy things: they have made no distinction between the holy and the common, neither have they caused men to discern between the unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes from my Sabbaths, and I am profaned among them.

22:27 Her princes in its midst are like wolves ravening the prey, to shed blood, and to destroy souls, that they may get dishonest gain.

22:28 Her prophets have daubed for them with whitewash, seeing false visions, and divining lies to them, saying, Thus says the Lord Yahweh, when Yahweh has not spoken. 22:29 The people of the land have used oppression, and exercised robbery; yes, they have troubled the poor and needy, and have oppressed the foreigner wrongfully. 22:30 I sought for a man among them, who 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.

22:31 Therefore have I poured out my indignation on them; I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath: their own way have I brought on their heads, says the Lord Yahweh.

23:1 The word of Yahweh came again to me, saying, 23:2 Son of man, there were two women, the daughters of one mother: 23:3 and they played the prost.i.tute in Egypt; they played the prost.i.tute in their youth; there were their b.r.e.a.s.t.s pressed, and there was handled the bosom of their virginity. 23:4 The names of them were Oholah the elder, and Oholibah her sister: and they became mine, and they bore sons and daughters. As for their names, Samaria is Oholah, and Jerusalem Oholibah. 23:5 Oholah played the prost.i.tute when she was mine; and she doted on her lovers, on the a.s.syrians her neighbors, 23:6 who were clothed with blue, governors and rulers, all of them desirable young men, hors.e.m.e.n riding on horses.

23:7 She bestowed her prost.i.tution on them, the choicest men of a.s.syria all of them; and on whoever she doted, with all their idols she defiled herself. 23:8 Neither has she left her prost.i.tution since the days of Egypt; for in her youth they lay with her, and they handled the bosom of her virginity; and they poured out their prost.i.tution on her. 23:9 Therefore I delivered her into the hand of her lovers, into the hand of the a.s.syrians, on whom she doted. 23:10 These uncovered her nakedness; they took her sons and her daughters; and her they killed with the sword: and she became a byword among women; for they executed judgments on her. 23:11 Her sister Oholibah saw this, yet was she more corrupt in her doting than she, and in her prost.i.tution which were more than the prost.i.tution of her sister. 23:12 She doted on the a.s.syrians, governors and rulers, her neighbors, clothed most gorgeously, hors.e.m.e.n riding on horses, all of them desirable young men. 23:13 I saw that she was defiled; they both took one way. 23:14 She increased her prost.i.tution; for she saw men portrayed on the wall, the images of the Chaldeans portrayed with vermilion, 23:15 girded with girdles on their waists, with flowing turbans on their heads, all of them princes to look on, after the likeness of the Babylonians in Chaldea, the land of their birth. 23:16 As soon as she saw them she doted on them, and sent messengers to them into Chaldea. 23:17 The Babylonians came to her into the bed of love, and they defiled her with their prost.i.tution, and she was polluted with them, and her soul was alienated from them. 23:18 So she uncovered her prost.i.tution, and uncovered her nakedness: then my soul was alienated from her, like as my soul was alienated from her sister. 23:19 Yet she multiplied her prost.i.tution, remembering the days of her youth, in which she had played the prost.i.tute in the land of Egypt. 23:20 She doted on their paramours, whose flesh is as the flesh of donkeys, and whose issue is like the issue of horses. 23:21 Thus you called to memory the lewdness of your youth, in the handling of your bosom by the Egyptians for the b.r.e.a.s.t.s of your youth. 23:22 Therefore, Oholibah, thus says the Lord Yahweh: Behold, I will raise up your lovers against you, from whom your soul is alienated, and I will bring them against you on every side: 23:23 the Babylonians and all the Chaldeans, Pekod and Shoa and Koa, and all the a.s.syrians with them; desirable young men, governors and rulers all of them, princes and men of renown, all of them riding on horses. 23:24 They shall come against you with weapons, chariots, and wagons, and with a company of peoples; they shall set themselves against you with buckler and s.h.i.+eld and helmet all around; and I will commit the judgment to them, and they shall judge you according to their judgments. 23:25 I will set my jealousy against you, and they shall deal with you in fury; they shall take away your nose and your ears; and your residue shall fall by the sword: they shall take your sons and your daughters; and your residue shall be devoured by the fire. 23:26 They shall also strip you of your clothes, and take away your beautiful jewels. 23:27 Thus will I make your lewdness to cease from you, and your prost.i.tution brought from the land of Egypt; so that you shall not lift up your eyes to them, nor remember Egypt any more.

23:28 For thus says the Lord Yahweh: Behold, I will deliver you into the hand of them whom you hate, into the hand of them from whom your soul is alienated; 23:29 and they shall deal with you in hatred, and shall take away all your labor, and shall leave you naked and bare; and the nakedness of your prost.i.tution shall be uncovered, both your lewdness and your prost.i.tution. 23:30 These things shall be done to you, because you have played the prost.i.tute after the nations, and because you are polluted with their idols. 23:31 You have walked in the way of your sister; therefore will I give her cup into your hand. 23:32 Thus says the Lord Yahweh: You will drink of your sister's cup, which is deep and large; you will be ridiculed and held in derision; it contains much.

23:33 You shall be filled with drunkenness and sorrow, with the cup of astonishment and desolation, with the cup of your sister Samaria. 23:34 You shall even drink it and drain it out, and you shall gnaw the broken pieces of it, and shall tear your b.r.e.a.s.t.s; for I have spoken it, says the Lord Yahweh. 23:35 Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: Because you have forgotten me, and cast me behind your back, therefore bear you also your lewdness and your prost.i.tution. 23:36 Yahweh said moreover to me: Son of man, will you judge Oholah and Oholibah? then declare to them their abominations. 23:37 For they have committed adultery, and blood is in their hands; and with their idols have they committed adultery; and they have also caused their sons, whom they bore to me, to pa.s.s through the fire to them to be devoured. 23:38 Moreover this they have done to me: they have defiled my sanctuary in the same day, and have profaned my Sabbaths. 23:39 For when they had slain their children to their idols, then they came the same day into my sanctuary to profane it; and behold, thus have they done in the midst of my house. 23:40 Furthermore you have sent for men who come from far, to whom a messenger was sent, and behold, they came; for whom you did wash yourself, paint your eyes, and deck yourself with ornaments, 23:41 and sit on a stately bed, with a table prepared before it, whereupon you did set my incense and my oil.

23:42 The voice of a mult.i.tude being at ease was with her: and with men of the common sort were brought drunkards from the wilderness; and they put bracelets on the hands of them twain, and beautiful crowns on their heads. 23:43 Then said I of her who was old in adulteries, Now will they play the prost.i.tute with her, and she with them. 23:44 They went in to her, as they go in to a prost.i.tute: so went they in to Oholah and to Oholibah, the lewd women. 23:45 Righteous men, they shall judge them with the judgment of adulteresses, and with the judgment of women who shed blood; because they are adulteresses, and blood is in their hands.

23:46 For thus says the Lord Yahweh: I will bring up a company against them, and will give them to be tossed back and forth and robbed. 23:47 The company shall stone them with stones, and dispatch them with their swords; they shall kill their sons and their daughters, and burn up their houses with fire. 23:48 Thus will I cause lewdness to cease out of the land, that all women may be taught not to do after your lewdness.

23:49 They shall recompense your lewdness on you, and you shall bear the sins of your idols; and you shall know that I am the Lord Yahweh.

24:1 Again, in the ninth year, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 24:2 Son of man, write you the name of the day, even of this same day: the king of Babylon drew close to Jerusalem this same day. 24:3 Utter a parable to the rebellious house, and tell them, Thus says the Lord Yahweh, Set on the caldron, set it on, and also pour water into it: 24:4 gather its pieces into it, even every good piece, the thigh, and the shoulder; fill it with the choice bones. 24:5 Take the choice of the flock, and also a pile of wood for the bones under the caldron; make it boil well; yes, let its bones be boiled in its midst. 24:6 Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: Woe to the b.l.o.o.d.y city, to the caldron whose rust is therein, and whose rust is not gone out of it! take out of it piece after piece; No lot is fallen on it. 24:7 For her blood is in the midst of her; she set it on the bare rock; she didn't pour it on the ground, to cover it with dust. 24:8 That it may cause wrath to come up to take vengeance, I have set her blood on the bare rock, that it should not be covered. 24:9 Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: Woe to the b.l.o.o.d.y city! I also will make the pile great. 24:10 Heap on the wood, make the fire hot, boil well the flesh, and make thick the broth, and let the bones be burned. 24:11 Then set it empty on its coals, that it may be hot, and its bra.s.s may burn, and that its filthiness may be molten in it, that its rust may be consumed. 24:12 She has wearied herself with toil; yet her great rust doesn't go forth out of her; her rust doesn't go forth by fire. 24:13 In your filthiness is lewdness: because I have cleansed you and you weren't cleansed, you shall not be cleansed from your filthiness any more, until I have caused my wrath toward you to rest. 24:14 I, Yahweh, have spoken it: it shall happen, and I will do it: I will not go back, neither will I spare, neither will I repent; according to your ways, and according to your doings, shall they judge you, says the Lord Yahweh. 24:15 Also the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 24:16 Son of man, behold, I take away from you the desire of your eyes with a stroke: yet you shall neither mourn nor weep, neither shall your tears run down. 24:17 Sigh, but not aloud, make no mourning for the dead; bind your headdress on you, and put your shoes on your feet, and don't cover your lips, and don't eat men's bread. 24:18 So I spoke to the people in the morning; and at even my wife died; and I did in the morning as I was commanded. 24:19 The people said to me, Won't you tell us what these things are to us, that you do so? 24:20 Then I said to them, The word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 24:21 Speak to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Behold, I will profane my sanctuary, the pride of your power, the desire of your eyes, and that which your soul pities; and your sons and your daughters whom you have left behind shall fall by the sword. 24:22 You shall do as I have done: you shall not cover your lips, nor eat the bread of men.

24:23 Your tires shall be on your heads, and your shoes on your feet: you shall not mourn nor weep; but you shall pine away in your iniquities, and moan one toward another. 24:24 Thus shall Ezekiel be to you a sign; according to all that he has done you will do: when this comes, then you will know that I am the Lord Yahweh. 24:25 You, son of man, shall it not be in the day when I take from them their strength, the joy of their glory, the desire of their eyes, and that whereupon they set their heart, their sons and their daughters, 24:26 that in that day he who escapes shall come to you, to cause you to hear it with your ears? 24:27 In that day your mouth will be opened to him who has escaped, and you shall speak, and be no more mute: so you will be a sign to them; and they shall know that I am Yahweh.

25:1 The word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 25:2 Son of man, set your face toward the children of Ammon, and prophesy against them: 25:3 and tell the children of Ammon, Hear the word of the Lord Yahweh: Thus says the Lord Yahweh, Because you said, Aha, against my sanctuary, when it was profaned; and against the land of Israel, when it was made desolate; and against the house of Judah, when they went into captivity: 25:4 therefore, behold, I will deliver you to the children of the east for a possession, and they shall set their encampments in you, and make their dwellings in you; they shall eat your fruit, and they shall drink your milk. 25:5 I will make Rabbah a stable for camels, and the children of Ammon a resting place for flocks: and you shall know that I am Yahweh.

25:6 For thus says the Lord Yahweh: Because you have clapped your hands, and stamped with the feet, and rejoiced with all the despite of your soul against the land of Israel; 25:7 therefore, behold, I have stretched out my hand on you, and will deliver you for a spoil to the nations; and I will cut you off from the peoples, and I will cause you to perish out of the countries: I will destroy you; and you shall know that I am Yahweh. 25:8 Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Because Moab and Seir say, Behold, the house of Judah is like all the nations; 25:9 therefore, behold, I will open the side of Moab from the cities, from his cities which are on his frontiers, the glory of the country, Beth Jes.h.i.+moth, Baal Meon, and Kiriathaim, 25:10 to the children of the east, to go against the children of Ammon; and I will give them for a possession, that the children of Ammon may not be remembered among the nations.

25:11 and I will execute judgments on Moab; and they shall know that I am Yahweh. 25:12 Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Because Edom has dealt against the house of Judah by taking vengeance, and has greatly offended, and revenged himself on them; 25:13 therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh, I will stretch out my hand on Edom, and will cut off man and animal from it; and I will make it desolate from Teman; even to Dedan shall they fall by the sword. 25:14 I will lay my vengeance on Edom by the hand of my people Israel; and they shall do in Edom according to my anger and according to my wrath; and they shall know my vengeance, says the Lord Yahweh. 25:15 Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Because the Philistines have dealt by revenge, and have taken vengeance with despite of soul to destroy with perpetual enmity; 25:16 therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh, Behold, I will stretch out my hand on the Philistines, and I will cut off the Cherethites, and destroy the remnant of the sea coast. 25:17 I will execute great vengeance on them with wrathful rebukes; and they shall know that I am Yahweh, when I shall lay my vengeance on them.

26:1 It happened in the eleventh year, in the first day of the month, that the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 26:2 Son of man, because Tyre has said against Jerusalem, Aha, she is broken: the gate of the peoples; she is turned to me; I shall be replenished, now that she is laid waste: 26:3 therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh, Behold, I am against you, Tyre, and will cause many nations to come up against you, as the sea causes its waves to come up. 26:4 They shall destroy the walls of Tyre, and break down her towers: I will also sc.r.a.pe her dust from her, and make her a bare rock. 26:5 She shall be a place for the spreading of nets in the midst of the sea; for I have spoken it, says the Lord Yahweh; and she shall become a spoil to the nations. 26:6 Her daughters who are in the field shall be slain with the sword: and they shall know that I am Yahweh. 26:7 For thus says the Lord Yahweh: Behold, I will bring on Tyre Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, king of kings, from the north, with horses, and with chariots, and with hors.e.m.e.n, and a company, and much people. 26:8 He shall kill with the sword your daughters in the field; and he shall make forts against you, and cast up a mound against you, and raise up the buckler against you. 26:9 He shall set his battering engines against your walls, and with his axes he shall break down your towers. 26:10 By reason of the abundance of his horses their dust shall cover you: your walls shall shake at the noise of the hors.e.m.e.n, and of the wagons, and of the chariots, when he shall enter into your gates, as men enter into a city in which is made a breach.

26:11 With the hoofs of his horses shall he tread down all your streets; he shall kill your people with the sword; and the pillars of your strength shall go down to the ground. 26:12 They shall make a spoil of your riches, and make a prey of your merchandise; and they shall break down your walls, and destroy your pleasant houses; and they shall lay your stones and your timber and your dust in the midst of the waters.

26:13 I will cause the noise of your songs to cease; and the sound of your harps shall be no more heard. 26:14 I will make you a bare rock; you shall be a place for the spreading of nets; you shall be built no more: for I Yahweh have spoken it, says the Lord Yahweh. 26:15 Thus says the Lord Yahweh to Tyre: shall not the islands shake at the sound of your fall, when the wounded groan, when the slaughter is made in the midst of you? 26:16 Then all the princes of the sea shall come down from their thrones, and lay aside their robes, and strip off their embroidered garments: they shall clothe themselves with trembling; they shall sit on the ground, and shall tremble every moment, and be astonished at you. 26:17 They shall take up a lamentation over you, and tell you, How are you destroyed, who were inhabited by seafaring men, the renowned city, who was strong in the sea, she and her inhabitants, who caused their terror to be on all who lived there! 26:18 Now shall the islands tremble in the day of your fall; yes, the islands that are in the sea shall be dismayed at your departure. 26:19 For thus says the Lord Yahweh: When I shall make you a desolate city, like the cities that are not inhabited; when I shall bring up the deep on you, and the great waters shall cover you; 26:20 then will I bring you down with those who descend into the pit, to the people of old time, and will make you to dwell in the lower parts of the earth, in the places that are desolate of old, with those who go down to the pit, that you be not inhabited; and I will set glory in the land of the living: 26:21 I will make you a terror, and you shall no more have any being; though you are sought for, yet you will never be found again, says the Lord Yahweh.

27:1 The word of Yahweh came again to me, saying, 27:2 You, son of man, take up a lamentation over Tyre; 27:3 and tell Tyre, you who dwell at the entry of the sea, who are the merchant of the peoples to many islands, thus says the Lord Yahweh: You, Tyre, have said, I am perfect in beauty. 27:4 Your borders are in the heart of the seas; your builders have perfected your beauty. 27:5 They have made all your planks of fir trees from Senir; they have taken a cedar from Lebanon to make a mast for you. 27:6 Of the oaks of Bashan have they made your oars; they have made your benches of ivory inlaid in boxwood, from the islands of Kittim. 27:7 Of fine linen with embroidered work from Egypt was your sail, that it might be to you for a banner; blue and purple from the islands of Elishah was your awning. 27:8 The inhabitants of Sidon and Arvad were your rowers: your wise men, Tyre, were in you, they were your pilots. 27:9 The old men of Gebal and the wise men of it were in you your repairers of s.h.i.+p seams: all the s.h.i.+ps of the sea with their mariners were in you to deal in your merchandise. 27:10 Persia and Lud and Put were in your army, your men of war: they hanged the s.h.i.+eld and helmet in you; they set forth your comeliness. 27:11 The men of Arvad with your army were on your walls all around, and valorous men were in your towers; they hanged their s.h.i.+elds on your walls all around; they have perfected your beauty. 27:12 Tars.h.i.+sh was your merchant by reason of the mult.i.tude of all kinds of riches; with silver, iron, tin, and lead, they traded for your wares. 27:13 Javan, Tubal, and Meshech, they were your traffickers; they traded the persons of men and vessels of bra.s.s for your merchandise. 27:14 They of the house of Togarmah traded for your wares with horses and war horses and mules. 27:15 The men of Dedan were your traffickers; many islands were the market of your hand: they brought you in exchange horns of ivory and ebony. 27:16 Syria was your merchant by reason of the mult.i.tude of your handiworks: they traded for your wares with emeralds, purple, and embroidered work, and fine linen, and coral, and rubies. 27:17 Judah, and the land of Israel, they were your traffickers: they traded for your merchandise wheat of Minnith, and confections, and honey, and oil, and balm. 27:18 Damascus was your merchant for the mult.i.tude of your handiworks, by reason of the mult.i.tude of all kinds of riches, with the wine of Helbon, and white wool. 27:19 Vedan and Javan traded with yarn for your wares: bright iron, ca.s.sia, and calamus, were among your merchandise. 27:20 Dedan was your trafficker in precious cloths for riding. 27:21 Arabia, and all the princes of Kedar, they were the merchants of your hand; in lambs, and rams, and goats, in these were they your merchants. 27:22 The traffickers of Sheba and Raamah, they were your traffickers; they traded for your wares with the chief of all spices, and with all precious stones, and gold. 27:23 Haran and Canneh and Eden, the traffickers of Sheba, a.s.shur and Chilmad, were your traffickers. 27:24 These were your traffickers in choice wares, in wrappings of blue and embroidered work, and in chests of rich clothing,