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Ezekiel 24
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| 1 |
1 And so the ninth year came, and the tenth month, and the tenth day of it. And the Lord gave me this message: 2 Son of man, write down this day as The Day Itself.[1] This day, this very day, the king of Babylon has closed his grip on Jerusalem. 3 A riddle, a parable, for the rebellious brood! Tell them the Lord God this bidding gave thee: Set a pot on the fire, but filling it first with water; 4 slice after slice goes in, all that is best; thigh and shoulder, the best joints of all, to fill the pot; 5 and fat be the sheep that yields them. Pile high the fuel[2] beneath; now boil pot, and see the stew, there in the heart of it! 6 But ah, says the Lord God, what of the city that is stained with blood? It is no better than a pot covered with rust, that cannot be scraped off any longer; broken in pieces that must be cast away one by one; never shall the lot fall upon it.[3] 7 Blood plain for all to see, spilt on the polished rock, not on earth that might hide it away under the dust; 8 rock, not earth, so I would have it; blood unconcealed, to warrant my angry frown, my avenging punishments! | 1 Et factum est verbum Domini ad me in anno nono, in mense decimo, decima die mensis, dicens: 2 Fili hominis, scribe tibi nomen diei hujus, in qua confirmatus est rex Babylonis adversum Jerusalem hodie. 3 Et dices per proverbium ad domum irritatricem parabolam, et loqueris ad eos: Hæc dicit Dominus Deus: Pone ollam; pone, inquam, et mitte in eam aquam. 4 Congere frusta ejus in eam, omnem partem bonam, femur et armum, electa et ossibus plena. 5 Pinguissimum pecus assume, compone quoque strues ossium sub ea: efferbuit coctio ejus, et discocta sunt ossa illius in medio ejus. 6 Propterea hæc dicit Dominus Deus: Væ civitati sanguinum, ollæ cujus rubigo in ea est, et rubigo ejus non exivit de ea! per partes et per partes suas ejice eam: non cecidit super eam sors. 7 Sanguis enim ejus in medio ejus est; super limpidissimam petram effudit illum: non effudit illum super terram, ut possit operiri pulvere. 8 Ut superinducerem indignationem meam, et vindicta ulciscerer, dedi sanguinem ejus super petram limpidissimam, ne operiretur. |
| 9 |
9 Out upon the blood-stained city, says the Lord God, the great pyre I mean to kindle! 10 Pile high the fuel for its burning! Why, how is this, meat wasted, the whole dish charred, the very bones calcined? 11 Empty of water it must be set on the coals, till it is red-hot, and copper melts away, and the stain on it is burnt out, and it is rusty no more! 12 Alas, it is but labour spent in vain; so deep is that rust, even the fire will not drive it out.[4] 13 A curse lies on this uncleanness of thine; purge thee I would, yet purged thou wilt never be, never till I have taken full toll of my vengeance on thee. 14 Such is my divine doom; come it must, executed it needs must be; indulgence is none, nor mercy, nor pity; I will pay thee what thy ill life, thy ill thoughts have earned. | 9 Propterea hæc dicit Dominus Deus: Væ civitati sanguinum, cujus ego grandem faciam pyram! 10 Congere ossa, quæ igne succendam: consumentur carnes, et coquetur universa compositio, et ossa tabescent. 11 Pone quoque eam super prunas vacuam, ut incalescat, et liquefiat æs ejus, et confletur in medio ejus inquinamentum ejus, et consumatur rubigo ejus. 12 Multo labore sudatum est, et non exivit de ea nimia rubigo ejus, neque per ignem. 13 Immunditia tua execrabilis, quia mundare te volui, et non es mundata a sordibus tuis: sed nec mundaberis prius, donec quiescere faciam indignationem meam in te. 14 Ego Dominus locutus sum: veniet, et faciam: non transeam, nec parcam, nec placabor: juxta vias tuas, et juxta adinventiones tuas judicabo te, dicit Dominus. |
| 15 |
15 The Lord’s word came to me, 16 Son of man, I mean to smite thee down, by taking away from thee what thou most lovest. Dole make thou none, nor lament, shed never a tear. 17 Unmarked be thy sighing, with no funeral grief made; thy head covered, thy feet shod, no veil on thy face, no customary fare of mourners. 18 And so it was; that morning I uttered my word to the people, and my wife died at set of sun. Next day, I did as the Lord bade me, 19 and the people were all agog to know the meaning of what I did. 20 Why, I told them, the Lord has spoken to me, 21 giving me a message for the race of Israel: he means to profane his own sanctuary, that proud boast of yours, which you love so, trembling ever for its safety. Sons and daughters of yours, left behind at Jerusalem, will die at the sword’s point. 22 As I do now, you will do then; no veils on your faces, no customary fare of mourners; 23 heads covered, feet shod, you will make neither dole nor lament, but languish ever under the load of your guilt, sighing each of you in his neighbour’s ear.[5] 24 In Ezechiel, says the Lord God, read your own doom; when that day comes, you will be at pains to do as he does now; you will have learned what power the Lord God has. | 15 Et factum est verbum Domini ad me, dicens: 16 Fili hominis, ecce ego tollo a te desiderabile oculorum tuorum in plaga: et non planges, neque plorabis, neque fluent lacrimæ tuæ. 17 Ingemisce tacens: mortuorum luctum non facies: corona tua circumligata sit tibi, et calceamenta tua erunt in pedibus tuis: nec amictu ora velabis, nec cibos lugentium comedes. 18 Locutus sum ergo ad populum mane, et mortua est uxor mea vespere: fecique mane sicut præceperat mihi. 19 Et dixit ad me populus: Quare non indicas nobis quid ista significent quæ tu facis? 20 Et dixi ad eos: Sermo Domini factus est ad me, dicens: 21 Loquere domui Israël: Hæc dicit Dominus Deus: Ecce ego polluam sanctuarium meum, superbiam imperii vestri, et desiderabile oculorum vestrorum, et super quo pavet anima vestra: filii vestri et filiæ vestræ quas reliquistis, gladio cadent. 22 Et facietis sicut feci: ora amictu non velabitis, et cibos lugentium non comedetis: 23 coronas habebitis in capitibus vestris, et calceamenta in pedibus: non plangetis, neque flebitis, sed tabescetis in iniquitatibus vestris, et unusquisque gemet ad fratrem suum. 24 Eritque Ezechiel vobis in portentum: juxta omnia quæ fecit, facietis cum venerit istud: et scietis quia ego Dominus Deus. |
| 25 |
25 Yes, son of man, the day is coming when I will rob them of that citadel of theirs, that proud boast of theirs, so well loved, the comfort of their thoughts; rob them, too, of sons and daughters. 26 And what of thyself? Wait till a fugitive comes and tells thee the news;[6] 27 then, when he utters his message, utter thou thine, dumb no longer. So thou shalt be the presage of their doom, and they shall learn my power at last. | 25 Et tu, fili hominis, ecce in die qua tollam ab eis fortitudinem eorum, et gaudium dignitatis, et desiderium oculorum eorum, super quo requiescunt animæ eorum, filios et filias eorum: 26 in die illa, cum venerit fugiens ad te ut annuntiet tibi: 27 in die, inquam illa, aperietur os tuum cum eo qui fugit, et loqueris, et non silebis ultra: erisque eis in portentum, et scietis quia ego Dominus. |
[1] Literally, ‘write down the name of this day, this very day’.
[2] The word translated ‘fuel’, here and in verse 10, is in the Latin ‘bones’. The Hebrew text has ‘bones’ here and ‘wood’ in verse 10; the two Hebrew words differ only by a single letter. There is some likelihood that the original had ‘wood’ in both places.
[3] The Hebrew text is obscure, and perhaps corrupt; as it stands, it must mean that the rusty pot was thrown away in pieces, not that it was emptied of the slices of meat. It is difficult to see why a ‘lot’ should fall upon it; unless indeed we are to think of it as so riddled with holes that it could not even be used as an urn for casting lots in.
[4] vv. 10-12. No certainty can be attained about the meaning of this passage. The Latin, but not the Hebrew text, has the word ‘empty’ in verse 11; it is rendered above ‘empty of water’, on the assumption that we are meant to look back to verse 3. A cooking-vessel with no water in it—possibly because it has rusted away into holes—will char the meat that is put into it and afterwards be burnt through, so that it is left more useless than ever. But it is not clear that this is the meaning.
[5] vv. 22, 23. Various reasons have been suggested for this absence of public lament among the exiled community; fear of political consequences is perhaps the simplest explanation.
[6] It seems to be implied that Ezechiel received no more revelations for his own fellow-countrymen during the two years of the siege. Cf. 33.21.
Knox Translation Copyright © 2013 Westminster Diocese
Nihil Obstat. Father Anton Cowan, Censor.
Imprimatur. +Most Rev. Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster. 8th January 2012.
Re-typeset and published in 2012 by Baronius Press Ltd
