New International Version | New Living Translation |
1The word of the LORD came to me: | 1Now this message came to me from the LORD: |
2"Son of man, will you judge her? Will you judge this city of bloodshed? Then confront her with all her detestable practices | 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 say: 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: You city that brings on herself doom by shedding blood in her midst and defiles herself by making idols, | 3and give her this message from the Sovereign LORD: O city of murderers, doomed and damned—city of idols, filthy and foul— |
4you have become guilty because of the blood you have shed and have become defiled by the idols you have made. You have brought your days to a close, and the end of your years has come. Therefore I will make you an object of scorn to the nations and a laughingstock to all the countries. | 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 who are near and those who are far away will mock you, you infamous city, full of turmoil. | 5O infamous city, filled with confusion, you will be mocked by people far and near. |
6"'See how each of the princes of Israel who are in you uses his power to shed blood. | 6“Every leader in Israel who lives within your walls is bent on murder. |
7In you they have treated father and mother with contempt; in you they have oppressed the foreigner and mistreated the fatherless and the widow. | 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 desecrated my Sabbaths. | 8You despise my holy things and violate my Sabbath days of rest. |
9In you are slanderers who are bent on shedding blood; in you are those who eat at the mountain shrines and commit lewd acts. | 9People accuse others falsely and send them to their death. You are filled with idol worshipers and people who do obscene things. |
10In you are those who dishonor their father's bed; in you are those who violate women during their period, when they are ceremonially unclean. | 10Men sleep with their fathers’ wives and force themselves on women who are menstruating. |
11In you one man commits a detestable offense with his neighbor's wife, another shamefully defiles his daughter-in-law, and 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 are people who accept bribes to shed blood; you take interest and make a profit from the poor. You extort unjust gain from your neighbors. And you have forgotten me, declares the Sovereign LORD. | 12There are hired murderers, loan racketeers, and extortioners everywhere. They never even think of me and my commands, says the Sovereign LORD. |
13"'I will surely strike my hands together at the unjust gain you have made and at 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 do it. | 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 through the countries; and I will put an end to your uncleanness. | 15I will scatter you among the nations and purge you of your wickedness. |
16When you have been defiled in the eyes of the nations, 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: | 17Then this message came to me from the LORD: |
18"Son of man, the people of Israel have become dross to me; all of them are the copper, tin, iron and lead left inside a 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 Sovereign LORD says: 'Because you have all become dross, 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. |
20As silver, copper, iron, lead and tin are gathered into a furnace to be melted with a fiery blast, so will I gather you in my anger and my wrath and put you inside the city 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. |
21I will gather you and I will blow on you with my fiery wrath, and you will be melted inside her. | 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 inside her, and you will know that I the LORD have poured out my wrath on 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 |
23Again the word of the LORD came to me: | 23Again a message came to me from the LORD: |
24"Son of man, say to the land, 'You are a land that has not been cleansed or rained on in the day of wrath.' | 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. |
25There is a conspiracy of her princes within her like a roaring lion tearing its prey; they devour people, take treasures and precious things and make many 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 do not distinguish between the holy and the common; they teach that there is no difference between the unclean and the clean; and they shut their eyes to the keeping of 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; they shed blood and kill people to make unjust gain. | 27Your leaders are like wolves who tear apart their victims. They actually destroy people’s lives for money! |
28Her prophets whitewash these deeds for them by false visions and lying divinations. They say, 'This is what the Sovereign LORD 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 practice extortion and commit robbery; they oppress the poor and needy and mistreat the foreigner, denying them justice. | 29Even common people oppress the poor, rob the needy, and deprive foreigners of justice. |
30"I looked for someone among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to 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 will pour out my wrath on them and consume them with my fiery anger, bringing down on their own heads all they have done, declares the Sovereign LORD." | 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!” |
New International Version (NIV) Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. | Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. |
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