Ezekiel 22

1. Moreover the Word of the LORD came to me, saying,

2. “Now you, son of man, will you judge, will you judge the bloody city? And yes, you shall make her know all her abominations.

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

4. You are guilty by the blood that you have shed; and you have defiled yourself with your idols that you have made. And you have caused your days to draw near, and have come unto your years. Therefore I have made you a reproach to the nations, and a mocking to all countries.

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

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

7. In you they have despised both father and mother. In your midst they have dealt with the stranger by oppression. In you they oppressed the orphan and the widow.

8. You have despised My holy things, and have profaned My Sabbaths.

9. In you are men of slander who shed blood; and in you they that eat on the mountains; in your midst they commit lewdness.

10. In you they have uncovered their fathers’ nakedness; in you they have humbled her who was unclean in her impurity.

11. And a man has committed abominations with his neighbor’s wife; and a man has lewdly defiled his daughter-in-law; and another has humbled his sister, his father’s daughter.

12. In you they have taken bribes to shed blood. You have taken usury and excessive increase, and you gained by extortion of your neighbors, and you have forgotten Me,” says the Lord GOD.

13. “Therefore behold, I have struck My hand against your dishonest gain which you have made, and at your blood which has been in your midst.

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

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

16. And you will be profaned by your own selves in the sight of the heathen, and you shall know that I am the LORD.” ‘ ”

17. And the Word of the LORD came to me, saying,

18. “Son of man, the house of Israel has become dross to Me. All of them are bronze, and tin, and iron, and lead, in the middle of the furnace; they are even the dross of silver.

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

20. As they gather silver, and bronze, and iron, and lead, and tin, into the middle of the furnace, to blow the fire on it to melt it, so I will gather you in My anger and in My fury, and I will cast you in and melt you.

21. And I will gather you and blow on you with the fire of My wrath, and you shall be melted in the midst of it.

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

23. And the Word of the LORD came to me, saying,

24. “Son of man, say to her, ‘You are a land that is not cleansed, nor rained upon in the day of indignation.’

25. There 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 made many widows in her midst.

26. Her priests have done violence to My law and have profaned My holy things. They have put no difference between the holy and the profane, and have not taught the difference between the unclean and the clean, and they have hidden their eyes from My Sabbaths, and I am profaned among them.

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

28. And her prophets have covered themselves with whitewash, seeing false visions and divining lies unto them, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD;’ when the LORD has not spoken.

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

30. And I sought for a man among them who should build up a wall for the land, and stand in the breach before Me, so that I should not destroy it. But I did not find one.

31. Therefore I have poured out My fury on them. I have burned them up with the fire of My wrath. I have recompensed their own way upon their heads,” says the Lord GOD.