Ezekiel 22

1And there is a word of YHWH to me, saying,

2“And you, son of man, do you judge? Do you judge the city of blood? Then you have caused it to know all its abominations,

3and you have said, Thus said Lord YHWH: The city is shedding blood in its midst, || For the coming in of its time, || And it has made idols on it for defilement.

4You have been guilty by your blood that you have shed, || And you have been defiled by your idols that you have made, || And you cause your days to draw near, || And have come to your years, || Therefore I have given you [for] a reproach to nations, || And a derision to all the lands.

5The near and the far-off from you scoff at you, || O defiled of name—abounding in trouble.

6Behold, princes of Israel—each according to his arm || Have been in you to shed blood.

7They have made light of father and mother in you, || They dealt oppressively to a sojourner in your midst, || They oppressed fatherless and widow in you.

8You have despised My holy things, || And you have defiled My Sabbaths.

9Men of slander have been in you to shed blood, || And they have eaten on the mountains in you, || They have done wickedness in your midst.

10One has uncovered the nakedness of a father in you, || They humbled the menstruous woman in you.

11And each has done abomination with the wife of his neighbor, || And each has defiled his daughter-in-law through wickedness, || And each has humbled his sister, his father’s daughter, in you.

12They have taken a bribe to shed blood in you, || You have taken usury and increase, || And cut off your neighbor by oppression, || And you have forgotten Me, || A declaration of Lord YHWH!

13And behold, I have struck My hand, || Because of your dishonest gain that you have gained, || And for your blood that has been in your midst.

14Does your heart stand—are your hands strong, || For the days that I am dealing with you? I, YHWH, have spoken and have done [it].

15And I have scattered you among nations, || And have spread you out among lands, || And consumed your uncleanness out of you.

16And you have been defiled in yourself || Before the eyes of nations, || And you have known that I [am] YHWH.”

17And there is a word of YHWH to me, saying,

18“Son of man, the house of Israel has been for dross to Me, || All of them [are] bronze, and tin, and iron, and lead, || In the midst of a furnace—silver has been dross,

19Therefore, thus said Lord YHWH: Because you have all become dross, || Therefore, behold, I am gathering you into the midst of Jerusalem,

20A gathering of silver, and bronze, and iron, and lead, and tin, || Into the midst of a furnace—to blow fire on it, to melt it, || So I gather in My anger and in My fury, || And I have let rest, and have melted you.

21And I have heaped you up, || And blown on you in the fire of My wrath, || And you have been melted in its midst.

22As the melting of silver in the midst of a furnace, || So you are melted in its midst, || And you have known that I, YHWH, have poured out My fury on you.”

23And there is a word of YHWH to me, saying,

24“Son of man, say to it, You [are] a land, || It [is] not cleansed nor rained on in a day of indignation.

25A conspiracy of its prophets [is] in its midst, || As a roaring lion tearing prey; They have devoured the soul, || They have taken wealth and glory, || Its widows have multiplied in its midst.

26Its priests have wronged My law, || And they defile My holy things, || They have not made separation between holy and common, || And they have not made known [the difference] between the unclean and the clean, || And they have hidden their eyes from My Sabbaths, || And I am pierced in their midst.

27Its princes [are] as wolves in its midst, || Tearing prey, to shed blood, to destroy souls, || For the sake of gaining dishonest gain.

28And its prophets have coated with chalk for them, || Seeing a vain thing, and divining a lie for them, || Saying, Thus said Lord YHWH, || And YHWH has not spoken.

29The people of the land have used oppression, || And have taken plunder away violently, || And have oppressed humble and needy, || And oppressed the sojourner without judgment.

30And I seek from them a man making a wall, || And standing in the breach before Me, || In behalf of the land—not to destroy it, || And I have found none.

31And I pour out My indignation on them, || I have consumed them by [the] fire of My wrath, || I have put their way on their own head, || A declaration of Lord YHWH!”