22Verse 1Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,Verse 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 abominationsVerse 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,Verse 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.Verse 5Those near and far will mock you, O infamous city, full of turmoil.Verse 6See how every prince of Israel within you has used his power to shed blood.Verse 7Father and mother are treated with contempt. Within your walls the foreign resident is exploited, the fatherless and the widow are oppressed.Verse 8You have despised My holy things and profaned My Sabbaths.Verse 9Among you are slanderous men bent on bloodshed; within you are those who eat on the mountain shrines and commit acts of indecency.Verse 10In you they have uncovered the nakedness of their fathers; in you they violate women during their menstrual impurity.Verse 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.Verse 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.Verse 13Now look, I strike My hands together against your unjust gain and against the blood you have shed in your midst.Verse 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.Verse 15I will disperse you among the nations and scatter you throughout the lands; I will purge your uncleanness.Verse 16And when you have defiled yourself+in the eyes of the nations, then you will know that I am the LORD.’”
The Refining Furnace
Verse 17Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,Verse 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.Verse 19Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Because all of you have become dross, behold, I will gather you into Jerusalem.Verse 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.Verse 21Yes, I will gather you together and blow on you with the fire of My wrath, and you will be melted within the city.Verse 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.’”
Israel’s Wicked Leaders
Verse 23And the word of the LORD came to me, saying,Verse 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.’Verse 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.Verse 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.Verse 27Her officials within her are like wolves tearing their prey, shedding blood, and destroying lives for dishonest gain.Verse 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.Verse 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.Verse 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.Verse 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.”