| Berean Study Bible | New Living Translation |
| 1Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying, | 1Now this message came to me from the LORD: |
| 2“As for you, son of man, will you judge her? Will you pass judgment on the city of bloodshed? Then confront her with all her abominations | 2“Son of man, are you ready to judge Jerusalem? Are you ready to judge this city of murderers? Publicly denounce her detestable sins, |
| 3and tell her that this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘O city who brings her own doom by shedding blood within her walls and making idols to defile herself, | 3and give her this message from the Sovereign LORD: O city of murderers, doomed and damned—city of idols, filthy and foul— |
| 4you are guilty of the blood you have shed, and you are defiled by the idols you have made. You have brought your days to a close and have come to the end of your years. Therefore I have made you a reproach to the nations and a mockery to all the lands. | 4you are guilty because of the blood you have shed. You are defiled because of the idols you have made. Your day of destruction has come! You have reached the end of your years. I will make you an object of mockery throughout the world. |
| 5Those near and far will mock you, O infamous city, full of turmoil. | 5O infamous city, filled with confusion, you will be mocked by people far and near. |
| 6See how every prince of Israel within you has used his power to shed blood. | 6“Every leader in Israel who lives within your walls is bent on murder. |
| 7Father and mother are treated with contempt. Within your walls the foreign resident is exploited, the fatherless and the widow are oppressed. | 7Fathers and mothers are treated with contempt. Foreigners are forced to pay for protection. Orphans and widows are wronged and oppressed among you. |
| 8You have despised My holy things and profaned My Sabbaths. | 8You despise my holy things and violate my Sabbath days of rest. |
| 9Among you are slanderous men bent on bloodshed; within you are those who eat on the mountain shrines and commit acts of indecency. | 9People accuse others falsely and send them to their death. You are filled with idol worshipers and people who do obscene things. |
| 10In you they have uncovered the nakedness of their fathers; in you they violate women during their menstrual impurity. | 10Men sleep with their fathers’ wives and force themselves on women who are menstruating. |
| 11One man commits an abomination with his neighbor’s wife; another wickedly defiles his daughter-in-law; and yet another violates his sister, his own father’s daughter. | 11Within your walls live men who commit adultery with their neighbors’ wives, who defile their daughters-in-law, or who rape their own sisters. |
| 12In you they take bribes to shed blood. You engage in usury, take excess interest, and extort your neighbors. But Me you have forgotten, declares the Lord GOD. | 12There are hired murderers, loan racketeers, and extortioners everywhere. They never even think of me and my commands, says the Sovereign LORD. |
| 13Now look, I strike My hands together against your unjust gain and against the blood you have shed in your midst. | 13“But now I clap my hands in indignation over your dishonest gain and bloodshed. |
| 14Will your courage endure or your hands be strong in the day I deal with you? I, the LORD, have spoken, and I will act. | 14How strong and courageous will you be in my day of reckoning? I, the LORD, have spoken, and I will do what I said. |
| 15I will disperse you among the nations and scatter you throughout the lands; I will purge your uncleanness. | 15I will scatter you among the nations and purge you of your wickedness. |
| 16And when you have defiled yourself in the eyes of the nations, then you will know that I am the LORD.’ ” | 16And when I have been dishonored among the nations because of you, you will know that I am the LORD.” The LORD’s Refining Furnace |
| 17Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying, | 17Then this message came to me from the LORD: |
| 18“Son of man, the house of Israel has become dross to Me. All of them are copper, tin, iron, and lead inside the furnace; they are but the dross of silver. | 18“Son of man, the people of Israel are the worthless slag that remains after silver is smelted. They are the dross that is left over—a useless mixture of copper, tin, iron, and lead. |
| 19Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Because all of you have become dross, behold, I will gather you into Jerusalem. | 19So tell them, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Because you are all worthless slag, I will bring you to my crucible in Jerusalem. |
| 20Just as one gathers silver, copper, iron, lead, and tin into the furnace to melt with a fiery blast, so I will gather you in My anger and wrath, leave you there, and melt you. | 20Just as silver, copper, iron, lead, and tin are melted down in a furnace, I will melt you down in the heat of my fury. |
| 21Yes, I will gather you together and blow on you with the fire of My wrath, and you will be melted within the city. | 21I will gather you together and blow the fire of my anger upon you, |
| 22As silver is melted in a furnace, so you will be melted within the city. Then you will know that I, the LORD, have poured out My wrath upon you.’ ” | 22and you will melt like silver in fierce heat. Then you will know that I, the LORD, have poured out my fury on you.’” The Sins of Israel’s Leaders |
| 23And the word of the LORD came to me, saying, | 23Again a message came to me from the LORD: |
| 24“Son of man, say to her, ‘In the day of indignation, you are a land that has not been cleansed, upon which no rain has fallen.’ | 24“Son of man, give the people of Israel this message: In the day of my indignation, you will be like a polluted land, a land without rain. |
| 25The conspiracy of the princes in her midst is like a roaring lion tearing its prey. They devour the people, seize the treasures and precious things, and multiply the widows within her. | 25Your princes plot conspiracies just as lions stalk their prey. They devour innocent people, seizing treasures and extorting wealth. They make many widows in the land. |
| 26Her priests do violence to My law and profane My holy things. They make no distinction between the holy and the common, and they fail to distinguish between the clean and the unclean. They disregard My Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them. | 26Your priests have violated my instructions and defiled my holy things. They make no distinction between what is holy and what is not. And they do not teach my people the difference between what is ceremonially clean and unclean. They disregard my Sabbath days so that I am dishonored among them. |
| 27Her officials within her are like wolves tearing their prey, shedding blood, and destroying lives for dishonest gain. | 27Your leaders are like wolves who tear apart their victims. They actually destroy people’s lives for money! |
| 28Her prophets whitewash these deeds by false visions and lying divinations, saying, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says,’ when the LORD has not spoken. | 28And your prophets cover up for them by announcing false visions and making lying predictions. They say, ‘My message is from the Sovereign LORD,’ when the LORD hasn’t spoken a single word to them. |
| 29The people of the land have practiced extortion and committed robbery. They have oppressed the poor and needy and have exploited the foreign resident without justice. | 29Even common people oppress the poor, rob the needy, and deprive foreigners of justice. |
| 30I searched for a man among them to repair the wall and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, so that I should not destroy it. But I found no one. | 30“I looked for someone who might rebuild the wall of righteousness that guards the land. I searched for someone to stand in the gap in the wall so I wouldn’t have to destroy the land, but I found no one. |
| 31So I have poured out My indignation upon them and consumed them with the fire of My fury. I have brought their ways down upon their own heads, declares the Lord GOD.” | 31So now I will pour out my fury on them, consuming them with the fire of my anger. I will heap on their heads the full penalty for all their sins. I, the Sovereign LORD, have spoken!” |
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