The Sins of Jerusalem

1Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

2Now, you son of man, will you judge, will you judge the bloody city? yea, you shall show her all her abominations.

3Then say you, Thus says the Lord GOD, The city sheds blood in the midst of it, that her time may come, and makes idols within herself to defile herself.

4You have become guilty in your blood that you have shed; and have defiled yourself in your idols which you have made; and you have caused your days to draw near, and have come even unto your years: therefore have I made you a reproach unto the nations, and a mocking to all countries.

5Those that are near, and those that are far from you, shall mock you, who are infamous and full of tumult.

6Behold, the princes of Israel, each one in you used his power to shed blood.

7In you have they made light of father and mother: in the midst of you have they dealt by oppression with the stranger: in you have they wronged the fatherless and the widow.

8You have despised my holy things, and have profaned my sabbaths.

9In you are men that slander to shed blood: and in you they eat upon the mountains: in the midst of you they commit lewdness.

10In you have they uncovered their fathers' nakedness: in you have they violated her that was set apart for her impurity.

11And one has committed abomination with his neighbor's wife; and another has lewdly defiled his daughter-in-law; and another in you has violated his sister, his father's daughter.

12In you have they taken bribes to shed blood; you have taken interest and increase, and you have greedily gained from your neighbors by extortion, and have forgotten me, says the Lord GOD.

13Behold, therefore I have struck my hands together at your dishonest gain which you have made, and at your blood which has been in the midst of you.

14Can your heart endure, or can your hands be strong, in the days that I shall deal with you? I the LORD have spoken it, and will do it.

15And I will scatter you among the nations, and disperse you in the countries, and will consume your filthiness out of you.

16And you shall defile yourself in the sight of the nations, and you shall know that I am the LORD.

17And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

18Son of man, the house of Israel has to me become dross: all they are bronze, and tin, and iron, and lead, in the midst of the furnace; they are even the dross of silver.

19Therefore thus says the Lord GOD; Because you have all become dross, behold, therefore I will gather you into the midst of Jerusalem.

20As they gather silver, and bronze, and iron, and lead, and tin, into the midst of the furnace, to blow the fire upon it, to melt it; so will I gather you in my anger and in my fury, and I will leave you there, and melt you.

21Yea, I will gather you, and blow upon you in the fire of my wrath, and you shall be melted in its midst.

22As silver is melted in the midst of the furnace, so shall you be melted in its midst; and you shall know that I the LORD have poured out my fury upon you.

23And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

24Son of man, say unto her, You are the land that is not cleansed, nor rained upon in the day of indignation.

25There is a conspiracy of her prophets in her midst, like a roaring lion tearing the prey; they have devoured souls; they have taken the treasure and precious things; they have made her many widows in her midst.

26Her priests have violated my law, and have profaned my holy things: they have put no difference between the holy and the common, neither have they shown difference between the unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes from my sabbaths, and I am profaned among them.

27Her princes in her midst are like wolves tearing the prey, to shed blood, and to destroy souls, to get dishonest gain.

28And her prophets have daubed them with untempered mortar, seeing false visions, and divining lies unto them, saying, Thus says the Lord GOD, when the LORD has not spoken.

29The people of the land have used oppression, and committed robbery, and have oppressed the poor and needy: yea, they have oppressed the stranger wrongfully.

30And I sought for a man among them, that 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.

31Therefore have I poured out my indignation upon them; I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath: their own way have I recompensed upon their heads, says the Lord GOD.