The Sins of Jerusalem

1And the word of Jehovah will be to me, saying, 2Thou son of man, wilt thou judge, wilt thou judge the city of bloods, and make her to know all her abominations? 3And say, Thus said the Lord Jehovah: The city poured out blood in the midst of her, for her time to come; and she made blocks for herself to be defiled. 4In thy blood which thou didst pour out thou went guilty; and by thy blocks which thou didst make thou wert defiled; and thou wilt cause thy days to draw near, and thou wilt come even to thy years: for this, I gave thee a reproach to the nations, and a derision to all the lands. 5Those being near and those being far off from thee will scoff at thee; thou wert defiled of name and much in consternation.

6Behold, the princes of Israel they were a man to his arm to pour out blood in thee. 7They made light of father and mother in thee: they did with violence to the stranger in the midst of thee: they oppressed the orphan and the widow in thee. 8Thou didst despise my holy place, and thou didst profane my Sabbaths. 9Men of slander were in thee to pour forth blood: and they ate upon the mountains in thee: they did wickedness in the midst of thee. 10Thy father's nakedness was uncovered in thee: they humbled her set apart for uncleanness in thee. 11And a man did abomination with his neighbor's wife; and a man defiled his daughter-in-law in wickedness; and a man humbled his sister, his father's daughter, in thee. 12They took a gift in thee to pour out blood; thou tookest usury and interest, and thou wilt plunder thy neighbors by violence, and thou didst forget me, says the Lord Jehovah.

13And behold, I struck my hand at thy plunder which thou madest, and at thy blood which was in the midst of thee. 14Will thy heart stand, or will thine hands be strong for the day which I do with thee? I Jehovah spoke, and I did. 15And I scattered thee in the nations, and I dispersed thee in the lands, and I consumed thy uncleanness out of thee. 16And thou didst inherit in thee before the eyes of the nations, and thou knewest that I am Jehovah.

The Refining Furnace

17And the word of Jehovah will be to me, saying, 18Son of man, the house of Israel became to me for dross: all they brass and alloy, and iron, and lead, in the midst of the furnace; they were drosses of silver. 19For this, thus said the Lord Jehovah: because all of them were for drosses, for this, behold me gathering you into the midst of Jerusalem. 20The gathering silver and brass and iron and lead and alloy to the midst of the furnace to blow the fire upon it, to melt; so will I gather in mine anger and in my wrath, and I put down and melted you. 21And I gathered you and blew upon you in the fire of my wrath, and ye were melted in her midst. 22As silver being melted in the midst of the furnace, so shall ye be melted in her midst; And ye knew that I Jehovah poured out my wrath upon you.

Israel’s Wicked Leaders

23And the word of Jehovah will be to me, saying, 24Son of man, say to her, Thou a land not being cleansed; it was not rained upon in the day of anger. 25A conspiracy of her prophets in her midst as a roaring lion rending the prey; they consumed the soul; they will take the wealth and the precious thing; they multiplied her widows in her midst. 26Her priests did violence to my law, and they will profane my holy place: between the holy to the profane they separated not, and they did not make known between the unclean to the clean, and from my Sabbath they hid their eyes, and I shall be profaned in the midst of them. 27Her chiefs in her midst as wolves rending the prey, to pour out blood, to destroy souls, for the sake of plundering plunder. 28And her prophets plastered plaster upon them, seeing vanity, and divining to them falsehood, saying Thus said the Lord Jehovah; and Jehovah spoke not. 29The people of the land oppressed with violence and stripped off robbery, and oppressed the poor and needy, and did violence to the stranger without judgment. 30And I sought from them a man to wall in the wall, and to stand in the breach before my face for the land, not to destroy it: and I found not. 31I will pour out my wrath upon them; I consumed them in the fire of mine anger: I gave their way upon their head, says the Lord Jehovah.