Ezekiel 22

1 Thus the word of the LORD came to me:
2 You, son of man, would you judge, would you judge the bloody city? Then make known all her abominations,
3 and say: Thus says the Lord GOD: Woe to the city which sheds blood within herself so that her time has come, and which has made idols for her own defilement.
4 By the blood which you shed you have been made guilty, and with the idols you made you have become defiled; you have brought on your day, so that the end of your years has come. Therefore I make you an object of scorn to the nations and a laughingstock to all foreign lands.
5 Those near you and those far off shall deride you because of your foul reputation and your great perversity.
6 See! the princes of Israel, family by family, are in you only for bloodshed.
7 Within you, father and mother are despised; in your midst, they extort from the resident alien; within you, they oppress orphans and widows.
8 What is holy to me you have spurned, and my sabbaths you have desecrated.
9 There are those in you who slander to cause bloodshed; within you are those who feast on the mountains; in your midst are those who do lewd things.
10 In you are those who uncover the nakedness of their fathers, and in you those who coerce women in their menstrual period.
11 There are those in you who do abominable things with the wives of their neighbors, men who defile their daughters-in-law by incest, men who coerce their sisters, the daughters of their own fathers.
12 There are those in you who take bribes to shed blood. You exact interest and usury; you despoil your neighbors violently; and me you have forgotten, says the Lord GOD.
13 See, I am brushing one hand against the other because of the unjust profits you have made and because of the blood shed in your midst.
14 Can your heart remain firm, will your hands be strong, in the days when I deal with you? I, the LORD, have spoken, and I will act.
15 I will disperse you among the nations and scatter you over foreign lands, so that I may purge your uncleanness.
16 In you I will allow myself to be profaned in the eyes of the nations; thus you shall know that I am the LORD.
17 Thus the word of the LORD came to me:
18 Son of man, the house of Israel has become dross for me. All of them are bronze and tin, iron and lead (in the midst of a furnace): dross from silver have they become.
19 Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Because all of you have become dross, therefore I must gather you together within Jerusalem.
20 Just as silver, bronze, iron, lead, and tin are gathered into a furnace and smelted in the roaring flames, so I will gather you together in my furious wrath, put you in, and smelt you.
21 When I have assembled you, I will blast you with the fire of my anger and smelt you with it.
22 You shall be smelted by it just as silver is smelted in a furnace. Thus you shall know that I, the LORD, have poured out my fury on you.
23 Thus the word of the LORD came to me:
24 Son of man, say to her: You are a land unrained on (that is, not rained on) at the time of my fury.
25 Her princes are like roaring lions that tear prey; they devour people, seizing their wealth and precious things, and make widows of many within her.
26 Her priests violate my law and profane what is holy to me; they do not distinguish between the sacred and the profane, nor teach the difference between the unclean and the clean; they pay no attention to my sabbaths, so that I have been profaned in their midst.
27 Her nobles within her are like wolves that tear prey, shedding blood and destroying lives to get unjust gain.
28 Her prophets cover them with whitewash, pretending to visions that are false and performing lying divinations, saying, Thus says the Lord GOD, although the LORD has not spoken.
29 The people of the land practice extortion and commit robbery; they afflict the poor and the needy, and oppress the resident alien without justice.
30 Thus I have searched among them for someone who could build a wall or stand in the breach before me to keep me from destroying the land; but I found no one.
31 Therefore I have poured out my fury upon them; with my fiery wrath I have consumed them; I have brought down their conduct upon their heads, says the Lord GOD.

Ezekiel 23

1 Thus the word of the LORD came to me:
2 Son of man, there were two women, daughters of the same mother,
3 who even as young girls played the harlot in Egypt. There the Egyptians caressed their bosoms and fondled their virginal breasts.
4 Oholah was the name of the elder, and the name of her sister was Oholibah. They became mine and bore sons and daughters. (As for their names: Samaria is Oholah, and Jerusalem is Oholibah.)
5 Oholah became a harlot faithless to me; she lusted after her lovers, the Assyrians, warriors
6 dressed in purple, governors and officers, all of them attractive young men, knights mounted on horses.
7 Thus she gave herself as a harlot to them, to all the elite of the Assyrians, and she defiled herself with all those for whom she lusted (with all their idols).
8 She did not give up the harlotry which she had begun in Egypt, when they had lain with her as a young girl, fondling her virginal breasts and pouring out their impurities on her.
9 Therefore I handed her over to her lovers, the Assyrians for whom she had lusted.
10 They exposed her nakedness, her sons and daughters they took away, and herself they slew with the sword. Thus she became a byword for women, for they punished her grievously.
11 Though her sister Oholibah saw all this, her lust was more depraved than her sister's, and she outdid her in harlotry.
12 She too lusted after the Assyrians, governors and officers, warriors impeccably clothed, knights mounted on horses, all of them attractive young men.
13 I saw that she had defiled herself. Both had gone down the same path,
14 yet she went further in her harlotry. When she saw men drawn on the wall, the images of Chaldeans drawn with vermillion,
15 with sashes girded about their waists, flowing turbans on their heads, all looking like chariot warriors, the portraits of Babylonians, natives of Chaldea,
16 she lusted for them; no sooner had she set eyes on them than she sent messengers to them in Chaldea.
17 Then the Babylonians came to her, to the love couch, and defiled her with their intercourse. As soon as she was defiled by them, she became disgusted with them.
18 Her harlotry was discovered and her shame was revealed, and I became disgusted with her as I had become disgusted with her sister.
19 But she played the harlot all the more, recalling the days of her girlhood, when she had been a harlot in the land of Egypt.
20 She lusted for the lechers of Egypt, whose members are like that of an ass, and whose heat is like that of stallions.
21 You yearned for the lewdness of your girlhood, when the Egyptians fondled your breasts, caressing your bosom.
22 Therefore, Oholibah, thus says the Lord GOD: I will now stir up your lovers against you, those with whom you are disgusted, and I will bring them against you from every side:
23 the men of Babylon and all of Chaldea, Pekod, Shoa and Koa, along with all those of Assyria, attractive young men, all of them governors and officers, charioteers and warriors, all of them horsemen.
24 They shall come against you from the north with chariots and wagons and many peoples. Shields, bucklers, and helmets they shall array against you everywhere.
25 I will leave it to them to judge, and they will judge you by their own ordinances. I will let loose my jealousy against you, so that they shall deal with you in fury, cutting off your nose and ears; and what is left of you shall fall by the sword. They shall take away your sons and daughters, and what is left of you shall be devoured by fire.
26 They shall strip off your clothes and seize your splendid ornaments.
27 I will put an end to your lewdness and to the harlotry you began in Egypt; you shall no longer look toward it, nor shall you remember Egypt again.
28 For thus says the Lord GOD: I am now handing you over to those whom you hate, to those who fill you with disgust.
29 They shall deal with you in hatred, seizing all that you have worked for and leaving you stark naked, so that your indecent nakedness is exposed. Your lewdness and harlotry
30 have brought these things upon you, because you played the harlot with the nations by defiling yourself with their idols.
31 Because you followed in the path of your sister, I will hand you her cup.
32 Thus says the Lord GOD: The cup of your sister you shall drink, so wide and deep, which holds so much,
33 Filled with destruction and grief, a cup of dismay, the cup of your sister.
34 You shall drain it dry, and gnaw at the very sherds of the cup, and you shall tear out your breasts; for I have spoken, says the Lord GOD.
35 Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Because you have forgotten me and cast me behind your back, it is for you to bear the penalty of your lewdness and harlotry.
36 Then the LORD said to me: Son of man, would you judge Oholah and Oholibah? Then make known to them their abominations.
37 For they committed adultery, and blood is on their hands. They committed adultery with their idols; to feed them they immolated the children they had borne me.
38 (This, too, they did to me: they defiled my sanctuary and desecrated my sabbaths.
39 On the very day they slew their children for their idols, they entered my sanctuary to desecrate it. Thus they acted within my house.)
40 Moreover, they sent for men who had to come from afar, to whom messengers were sent. And so they came--and for them you bathed yourself, painted your eyes, and put on ornaments.
41 You sat on a couch prepared for them, with a table spread before it, on which you had set my incense and oil.
42 Then was heard the shout of a carefree mob in the city, and these were men brought in from the desert, who put bracelets on the women's arms and splendid diadems on their heads.
43 So I said: Oh, this woman jaded with adulteries! Now they will commit whoredom with her, and as for her....
44 And indeed they did come to her as men come to a harlot. Thus they came to Oholah and Oholibah, the lewd women.
45 But just men shall punish them with the sentence meted out to adulteresses and murderesses, for they have committed adultery, and blood is on their hands.
46 Thus says the Lord GOD: Summon an assembly against them, and deliver them over to terror and plunder.
47 The assembly shall stone them and hack them to pieces with their swords. They shall slay their sons and daughters, and burn their houses with fire.
48 Thus I will put an end to lewdness in the land, and all the women will be warned not to imitate your lewdness.
49 They shall inflict on you the penalty of your lewdness, and you shall pay for your sins of idolatry. Thus you shall know that I am the LORD.