1   On the fifth day of the fourth month in the thirtieth year, while I was among the exiles by the river Kebar, ^note the heavens were opened and I saw a vision of God. 2   On the fifth day of the month in the fifth year of the exile of King Jehoiachin, 3   the word of the Lord came to Ezekiel son of Buzi the priest, in Chaldaea, by the river Kebar, and there the hand of the Lord came upon him.

4   I saw a storm wind coming from the north, a vast cloud with flashes of fire and brilliant light about it; and within was a radiance like brass, ^note glowing in the heart of the flames. 5   In the fire was the semblance of four living creatures in human form. 6   Each had four faces and each four wings; their legs were straight, 7   and their hooves were like the hooves of a calf, glittering like a disc of bronze. 8   Under the wings on each of the four sides were human hands; 9   all four creatures had faces and wings, and their wings touched one another. They did not turn as they moved; each creature went straight forward. 10   Their faces were like this: all four had the face of a man and the face of a lion on the right, on the left the face of an ox and the face of an eagle. 11   Their wings ^note were spread; each living creature had one pair touching its neighbours’, ^note while one pair covered its body. 12   They moved straight forward in whatever direction the spirit ^note would go; they never swerved in their course. 13   The appearance of the creatures was as if fire from burning coals or torches were darting to and fro among them; the fire was radiant, and out of the fire came lightning. ^note

15   As I looked at the living creatures, I saw wheels on the ground, one beside each of the four. ^note 16   The wheels ^note sparkled like topaz, and they were all alike: in form and working they were like a wheel inside a wheel, 17   and when they moved in any of the four directions they never swerved in their course. 18   All four had hubs and each hub had a projection which had the power of sight, ^note and the rims of the wheels were full of eyes all round. 19   When the living creatures moved, the wheels moved beside them; 20   when the creatures rose from the ground, the wheels rose; they

Ezekiel's call to be a prophet moved in whatever direction the spirit ^note would go; and the wheels rose together with them, for the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels. 21   When the one moved, the other moved; when the one halted, the other halted; when the creatures rose from the ground, the wheels rose together with them, for the spirit of the creatures was in the wheels.

22   Above the heads of the living creatures was, as it were, a vault glittering like a sheet of ice, awe-inspiring, stretched over their heads above them. 23   Under the vault their wings were spread straight out, touching one another, while one pair covered the body of each. ^note 24   I heard, too, the noise of their wings; when they moved it was like the noise of a great torrent or of a cloud-burst, ^note like the noise of a crowd or of an armed camp; when they halted their wings dropped. 25   A sound was heard above the vault over their heads, as they halted with drooping wings. 26   Above the vault over their heads there appeared, as it were, a sapphire ^note in the shape of a throne, and high above all, upon the throne, a form in human likeness. 27   I saw what might have been brass glowing like fire in a furnace from the waist upwards; and from the waist downwards I saw what looked like fire with encircling radiance. 28   Like a rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day was the sight of that encircling radiance; it was like the appearance of the glory of the Lord.

When I saw this I threw myself on my face, and heard a voice speaking to me:

1   Man, ^note he said, stand up, and let me talk with you. 2   As he spoke, a spirit came into me and stood me on my feet, and I listened to him speaking. 3   He said to me, Man, I am sending you to the Israelites, a nation of rebels who have rebelled against me. Past generations of them have been in revolt against me to this very day, 4   and this generation to which I am sending you is stubborn and obstinate. When you say to them, 5   ‘These are the words of the Lord God’, they will know that they have a prophet among them, whether they listen or whether they refuse to listen, because they are rebels. 6   But you, man, must not be afraid of them or of what they say, though they are rebels against you and renegades, and you find yourself sitting on scorpions. There is nothing to fear in what they say, and nothing in their looks to terrify you, rebels though they are. 7   You must speak my words to them, whether they listen or whether they refuse to listen, rebels that they are. 8   But you, man, must listen to what I say and not be rebellious like them. Open your mouth and eat what I give you.

9    10   Then I saw a hand stretched out to me, holding a scroll. He unrolled it before me, and it was written all over on both sides with dirges and laments and words of woe.

1   Then he said to me, ‘Man, eat what is in

Ezekiel's call to be a prophet front of you, eat this scroll; then go and speak to the Israelites.’ 2   So I opened my mouth and he gave me the scroll to eat. 3   Then he said, ‘Man, swallow this scroll I give you, and fill yourself full.’ So I ate it, and it tasted as sweet as honey.

4   Man, he said to me, go and tell the Israelites what I have to say to them. 5   You are sent not to people whose speech is thick and difficult, but to Israelites. 6   No; I am not sending you to great nations whose speech is so thick and so difficult that you cannot make out what they say; if however I had sent you to them they would have listened to you. 7   But the Israelites will refuse to listen to you, for they refuse to listen to me, so brazen are they all and stubborn. 8   But I will make you a match for them. 9   I will make you as brazen as they are and as stubborn as they are. I will make your brow like adamant, harder than flint. Never fear them, never be terrified by them, rebels though they are. 10   And he said to me, Listen carefully, man, to all that I have to say to you, and take it to heart. 11   Go to your fellow-countrymen in exile and speak to them. Whether they listen or refuse to listen, say, ‘These are the words of the Lord God.’

12   Then a spirit ^note lifted me up, and I heard behind me a fierce rushing sound as the glory of the Lord rose ^note from his place. 13   I heard the sound of the living creatures' wings brushing against one another, the sound of the wheels beside them, and a fierce rushing sound. 14   A spirit ^note lifted me and carried me along, and I went full of exaltation, the hand of the Lord strong upon me. 15   So I came to the exiles at Tel-abib who were settled by the river Kebar. ^noteFor seven days I stayed with them, dumb-founded.

16    17   At the end of seven days the word of the Lord came to me: Man, I have made you a watchman for the Israelites; you will take messages from me and carry my warnings to them. 18   It may be that I pronounce sentence of death on a wicked man: ^note if you do not warn him to give up his wicked ways and so save his life, the guilt is his; because of his wickedness he shall die, but I will hold you answerable for his death. ^note 19   But if you have warned him and he still continues in his wicked and evil ways, he shall die because of his wickedness, but you will have saved yourself. 20   Or it may be that a righteous man turns away and does wrong, and I let that be the cause of his downfall; he will die because you have not warned him. He will die for his sin; the righteous deeds he has done will not be taken into account, and I will hold you answerable for his death. 21   But if you have warned the righteous man not to sin and he has not sinned, then he will have saved his life because he has been warned, and you will have saved yourself.

The impending ruin of Jerusalem

22   The hand of the Lord came upon me there, and he said to me, Rise up; go out into the plain, and there I will speak to you. 23   So I rose and went out into the plain; the glory of the Lord was there, like the glory which I had seen by the river Kebar, and I threw myself down on my face. 24   Then a spirit came into me and stood me on my feet, and spoke to me: Go, he said, and shut yourself up in your house. 25   You shall be tied and bound with ropes, man, so that you cannot go out among the people. 26   I will fasten your tongue to the roof of your mouth and you will be unable to speak; you will not be the one to rebuke them, rebels though they are. 27   But when I have something to say to you, I will give you back the power of speech. Then you will say to them, ‘These are the words of the Lord God.’ If anyone will listen, he may listen, and, if he refuses to listen, he may refuse; for they are rebels.

1   Man, take a tile and set it before you. Draw a city on it, the city of Jerusalem: 2   lay siege to it, erect watch-towers against it, raise a siege-ramp, put mantelets in position, and bring battering-rams against it all round. 3   Then take an iron griddle, and put it as a wall of iron between you and the city. Keep your face turned towards the city; it will be the besieged and you the besieger. This will be a sign to the Israelites.

4   Now lie on your left side, and I will lay Israel's iniquity on you; you shall bear their iniquity for as many days as you lie on that side. 5   Allowing one day for every year of their iniquity, I ordain that you bear it for one ^note hundred and ninety days; thus you shall bear Israel's iniquity. 6   When you have completed all this, lie down a second time on your right side, and bear Judah's iniquity for forty days; I count one day for every year. 7   Then turn your face towards the siege of Jerusalem and bare your arm, and prophesy against it. 8   See how I tie you with ropes so that you cannot turn over from one side to the other until you complete the days of your distress.

9   Then take wheat and barley, beans and lentils, millet and spelt. Mix them all in one bowl and make your bread out of them. You are to eat it during the one ^note hundred and ninety days you spend lying on your side. 10   And you must weigh out your food; you may eat twenty shekels' weight a day, taking it from time to time. 11   Measure out your drinking water too; you may drink a sixth of a hin a day, taking it from time to time. 12   You are to eat your bread baked like barley cakes, using human dung as fuel, and you must bake it where people can see you. 13   Then the Lord said, ‘This is the kind of bread, unclean bread, that the Israelites will

The impending ruin of Jerusalem eat in the foreign lands into which I shall drive them.’ 14   But I said, ‘O Lord God, I have never been made unclean, never in my life have I eaten what has died naturally or been killed by wild beasts; no tainted meat has ever passed my lips.’ 15   So he allowed me to use cow-dung instead of human dung to bake my bread.

16   Then he said to me, Man, I am cutting short their daily bread ^note in Jerusalem; people will weigh out anxiously the bread they eat, and measure with dismay the water they drink. 17   So their food and their water will run short until they are dismayed at the sight of one another; they will waste away because of their iniquity.

1   Man, take a sharp sword, take it like a barber's razor and run it over your head and your chin. Then take scales and divide the hair into three. 2   When the siege comes to an end, burn one third of the hair in a fire in the centre of the city; cut up one third with the sword all round the city; scatter one third to the wind, and I will follow it with drawn sword. 3   Take a few of these hairs and tie them up in a fold of your robe. 4   Then take others of them, throw them into the fire and burn them, and out of them fire will come upon all Israel.

5   These are the words of the Lord God: This city of Jerusalem I have set among the nations, 6   with other countries around her, and she has rebelled against my laws and my statutes more wickedly than those nations and countries; for her people have rejected my laws and refused to conform to my statutes.

7   Therefore the Lord God says: Since you have been more ungrateful than the nations around you and have not conformed to my statutes and have not kept my laws or even the laws of the nations around you, therefore, says the Lord God, I, in my turn, will be against you; 8   I will execute judgements in your midst for the nations to see, 9   such judgements as I have never executed before nor ever will again, so abominable have your offences been. 10   Therefore, O Jerusalem, fathers will eat their children and children their fathers in your midst; I will execute judgements on you, and any who are left in you I will scatter to the four winds. 11   As I live, says the Lord God, because you have defiled my holy place with all your vile and abominable rites, I in my turn will consume you without pity; I in my turn will not spare you. 12   One third of your people shall die by pestilence and perish by famine in your midst; one third shall fall by the sword in the country round about; and one third I will scatter to the four winds and follow with drawn sword. 13   Then my anger will be spent, I will abate my fury against them and be calm; when my fury is spent they will know that it is I, the Lord, who spoke in jealous passion. 14   I have made you a scandal ^note and a reproach to the nations around you, and all who pass by will see it. 15   You ^note will be an

The impending ruin of Jerusalem object of reproach and abuse, a terrible lesson to the nations around you, when I pass sentence on you and do judgement in anger and fury. 16   I, the Lord, have spoken. When I shoot the deadly arrows of famine against you, ^note arrows of destruction, I will shoot to destroy you. I will bring famine upon you and cut short your daily bread; ^note 17   I will unleash famine and beasts of prey upon you, and they will leave you childless. Pestilence and slaughter will sweep through you, and I will bring the sword upon you. I, the Lord, have spoken.

1    2   These were the words of the Lord to me: Man, look towards the mountains of Israel, and prophesy to them: 3   Mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord God. This is his word to mountains and hills, watercourses and valleys: I am bringing a sword against you, and I will destroy your hill-shrines. 4   Your altars will be made desolate, your incense-altars shattered, and I will fling down your slain before your idols. 5   I will strew the corpses of the Israelites before their idols, and I will scatter your bones about your altars. 6   In all your settlements the blood-spattered altars ^note shall be laid waste and the hill-shrines made desolate. Your altars will be waste and desolate and your idols shattered and useless, your incense-altars hewn down, and all your works wiped out; 7   with the slain falling about you, you shall know that I am the Lord. 8   But when they fall, ^note I will leave you, among the nations, some who survive the sword. 9   When you are scattered in foreign lands, these survivors, in captivity among the nations, will remember how I was grieved because their hearts had turned wantonly from me and their eyes had gone roving wantonly after idols. Then they will loathe themselves for all the evil they have done with their abominations. 10   So they will know that I am the Lord, that I was uttering no vain threat when I said that I would bring this evil upon them.

11   These are the words of the Lord God: Beat your hands together, stamp with your foot, bemoan your vile abominations, people of Israel. 12   Men will fall by sword, famine, and pestilence. Far away they will die by pestilence; at home they will fall by the sword; any who survive or are spared will die by famine, and so at last my anger will be spent. 13   You will know that I am the Lord when their slain fall among the idols round their altars, on every high hill, on all mountain-tops, under every spreading tree, under every leafy terebinth, wherever they have brought offerings of soothing odour for their idols one and all. 14   So I will stretch out my hand over them and make the land a desolate waste in all their settlements, more desolate than the desert of Riblah. ^noteThey shall know that I am the Lord.

1    2   The word of the Lord came to me: Man, the Lord God says this to

The impending ruin of Jerusalem the land of Israel: An end is coming, the end is coming upon the four corners of the land. ^note 3   The end is now upon you; I will unleash my anger against you; I will call you to account for your doings and bring your abominations upon your own heads. 4   I will neither pity nor spare you: I will make you suffer for your doings and the abominations that continue in your midst. So you shall know that I am the Lord.

5   These are the words of the Lord God: Behold, it comes, disasters one upon another; ^note the end, the end, it comes, it comes. ^note 6    7   Doom is coming upon you, dweller in the land; the time is coming, the day is near, with confusion and the crash of thunder. ^note 8   Now, in an instant, I will vent my rage upon you and let my anger spend itself. I will call you to account for your doings and bring your abominations upon your own heads. 9   I will neither pity nor spare; I will make you suffer for your doings and the abominations that continue in your midst. So you shall know that it is I, the Lord, who strike the blow.

10   Behold, the day! the doom is here, it has burst upon them. Injustice buds, 11   insolence blossoms, violence shoots up into injustice and wickedness. And it is all their fault, the fault of their turmoil and tumult and all their restless ways. ^note 12   The time has come, the day has arrived; the buyer has no reason to be glad, and the seller none for regret, for I am angry ^note at all their turmoil. 13   The seller will never go back on his bargain while either of them lives; for the bargain will never be reversed because of the turmoil, and no man will exert himself, even in his iniquity, as long as he lives. ^note 14   The trumpet has sounded and all is ready, but no one goes out to war. ^note

15   Outside is the sword, inside are pestilence and famine; in the country men will die by the sword, in the city famine and pestilence will carry them off. 16   If any escape and take to the mountains, like moaning doves, there will I slay them, 17   each for his iniquity, while their hands hang limp and their knees run with urine. 18   They will go in sackcloth, shuddering from head to foot, with faces downcast and heads close shaved. 19   They shall fling their silver into the streets and cast aside their gold like filth; their silver and their gold will be powerless to save them on the day of the Lord's fury. Their hunger will not be satisfied nor their bellies filled; for their iniquity will be the cause of their downfall. 20   They have fed their pride on their beautiful jewels, which they made into vile and abominable images. Therefore I will treat their jewels like filth, 21   I will hand them over as plunder to foreigners and as booty to the

The impending ruin of Jerusalem most evil people on earth, and these will defile them. 22   I will turn my face from them and let my treasured land be profaned; brigands will come in and defile it.

23   Clench your fists, for the land is full of bloodshed ^note and the city full of violence. 24   I will let in the scum of nations to take possession of their houses; I will quell the pride of the strong, and their sanctuaries shall be profaned. 25   Shuddering will come over them, and they will look in vain for peace. 26   Tempest shall follow upon tempest and rumour upon rumour. Men will go seeking a vision from a prophet; there will be no more guidance from a priest, no counsel from elders. 27   The king will mourn, the prince will be clothed with horror, the hands of the common people will shake with fright. I will deal with them as they deserve, and call them to account for their doings; and so they shall know that I am the Lord. Jerusalem's guilt and punishment

1   On the fifth day of the sixth month in the sixth year, I was sitting at home and the elders of Judah were with me. Suddenly the hand of the Lord God came upon me, 2   and I saw what looked like a man. He seemed to be all fire from the waist down and to shine and glitter like brass from the waist up. 3   He stretched out what seemed a hand and seized me by the forelock. A spirit ^note lifted me up between heaven and earth, carried me to Jerusalem in a vision of God and put me down at the entrance to the inner gate facing north, where stands the image of Lust to rouse lustful passion. 4   The glory of the God of Israel was there, like the vision I had seen in the plain. 5   The Lord said to me, ‘Man, look northwards.’ I did so, and there to the north of the altar gate, at the entrance, was that image of Lust. 6   ‘Man,’ he said, ‘do you see what they are doing? The monstrous abominations which the Israelites practise here are driving me far from my sanctuary, and you will see even more such abominations.’

7   Then he brought me to the entrance of the court, and I looked and found a hole in the wall. 8   ‘Man,’ he said to me, ‘dig through the wall.’ 9   I did so, and it became an opening. ‘Go in,’ he said, ‘and see the vile abominations they practise here.’ 10   So I went in and saw figures of reptiles, beasts, and vermin, and all the idols of the Israelites, carved round the walls. 11   Seventy elders of Israel were standing in front of them, with Jaazaniah son of Shaphan in the middle, and each held a censer from which rose the fragrant smoke of incense. 12   ‘Man,’ he said to me, ‘do

Jerusalem's guilt and punishment you see what the elders of Israel are doing in darkness, each at the shrine of his own carved image? They think that the Lord does not see them, or that he has forsaken the country. 13   You will see’, he said, ‘yet more monstrous abominations which they practise.’

14   Then he brought me to that gateway of the Lord's house which faces north; and there I saw women sitting and wailing for Tammuz. 15   ‘Man, do you see that?’ he asked me. ‘But you will see abominations more monstrous than these.’ 16   So he took me to the inner court of the Lord's house, and there, by the entrance to the sanctuary of the Lord, between porch and altar, were some twenty-five men with their backs to the sanctuary and their faces to the east, prostrating themselves to the rising sun. 17   He said to me, ‘Man, do you see that? Is it because they think these abominations a trifle, that the Jews have filled the country with violence? They provoke me further to anger, even while they seek to appease me; ^note 18   I will turn upon them in my rage; I will neither pity nor spare. Loudly as they may cry to me, I will not listen.’

1   A loud voice rang in my ears: ‘Here they come, those appointed to punish the city, each carrying his weapon of destruction.’ 2   Then I saw six men approaching from the road that leads to the upper northern gate, each carrying a battle-axe, one man among them dressed in linen, with pen and ink at his waist; and they halted by the altar of bronze. 3   Then the glory of the God of Israel rose from above the cherubim. ^note He came to the terrace of the temple and called to the man dressed in linen with pen and ink at his waist. 4   ‘Go through the city, through Jerusalem,’ said the Lord, ‘and put a mark on the foreheads of those who groan and lament over the abominations practised there.’ 5   Then I heard him say to the others, ‘Follow him through the city and kill without pity; spare no one. 6   Kill and destroy them all, old men and young, girls, little children and women, but touch no one who bears the mark. Begin at my sanctuary.’ So they began with the elders in front of the temple. 7   ‘Defile the temple,’ he said, ‘and fill the courts with dead bodies; then go out ^note into the city and kill.’

8   While they did their work, I was left alone; and I threw myself upon my face, crying out, ‘O Lord God, must thou destroy all the Israelites who are left, pouring out thy anger on Jerusalem?’ 9   He answered, ‘The iniquity of Israel and Judah is great indeed; the land is full of murder, the city is filled with injustice. They think the Lord has forsaken this country; they think he sees nothing. 10   But I will neither pity nor spare them; I will make them answer for all they have done.’ 11   Then the man dressed in linen with pen and ink at his waist came and made his report: ‘I have done what thou hast commanded.’

Jerusalem's guilt and punishment

1   Then I saw, above the vault over the heads of the cherubim, as it were a throne of sapphire ^note visible above them. 2   The Lord said to the man dressed in linen, ^note ‘Come in between the circling wheels under the cherubim, ^note and take a handful of the burning embers lying among the cherubim; then toss them over the city.’ So he went in before my eyes.

3   The cherubim stood on the right side of the temple as a man enters, and a cloud filled the inner court. 4   The glory of the Lord rose high from above the cherubim ^note and moved on to the terrace; and the temple was filled with the cloud, while the radiance of the glory of the Lord filled the court. 5   The sound of the wings of the cherubim could be heard as far as the outer court, as loud as if God Almighty were speaking. 6   Then he told the man dressed in linen to take fire from between the circling wheels and among the cherubim; 7   the man came and stood by a wheel, and a cherub from among the cherubim put its hand into the fire that lay among them, and, taking some fire, gave it to the man dressed in linen; and he received it and went out.

8   Under the wings of the cherubim there appeared what seemed a human hand. 9   And I saw four wheels beside the cherubim, one wheel beside each cherub. 10   They had the sparkle of topaz, and all four were alike, like a wheel inside a wheel. 11   When the cherubim moved in any of the four directions, they never swerved in their course; they went straight on in the direction in which their heads were turned, never swerving in their course. 12   Their whole bodies, their backs and hands and wings, as well as the wheels, were full of eyes all round the four of them. ^note 13    14   The whirring of the wheels sounded in my ears. Each had four faces: the first was that of a cherub, the second that of a man, the third that of a lion, and the fourth that of an eagle.

15   Then the cherubim raised themselves up, those same living creatures I had seen by the river Kebar. 16   When the cherubim moved, the wheels moved beside them; when the cherubim lifted their wings and rose from the ground, the wheels did not turn away from them. 17   When the one halted, the other halted; when the one rose, the other rose; for the spirit of the creatures was in the wheels. 18   Then the glory of the Lord left the temple terrace and halted above the cherubim. 19   The cherubim lifted their wings and raised themselves from the ground; I watched them go with the wheels beside them. They halted at the eastern gateway of the Lord's house, and the glory of the God of Israel was over them.

20   These were the living creatures I had seen beneath the God of Israel at the river Kebar; I knew that they were cherubim. 21   Each had four faces and four wings and the semblance of human hands under their

Jerusalem's guilt and punishment wings. 22   Their faces were like those I had seen in vision by the river Kebar; ^note they moved, each one of them, straight forward.

1   A spirit ^note lifted me up and brought me to the eastern gate of the Lord's house, the gate that faces east. By the doorway were twenty-five men, and I saw among them two of high office, Jaazaniah son of Azzur and Pelatiah son of Benaiah. 2   The Lord said to me, Man, it is these who are planning mischief and plotting trouble in this city, 3   saying to themselves, ‘There will be no building of houses yet awhile; the city is a stewpot and we are the meat in it.’ 4   Therefore, said he, prophesy against them, prophesy, O man. 5   Then the spirit of the Lord came suddenly upon me, and he told me to say, These are the words of the Lord: This is what you are saying to yourselves, you men of Israel; well do I know the thoughts that rise in your mind. 6   You have killed and killed in this city and heaped the streets with the slain. 7   These, therefore, are the words of the Lord God: The bodies of the slain that you have put there, it is they that are the meat. The city is indeed the stewpot, but I ^note will take you out of it. 8   It is a sword that you fear, and a sword I will bring upon you, says the Lord God. 9   I will take you out of it; I will give you over to a foreign power; I will bring you to justice. 10   You too shall fall by the sword when I judge you on the frontier of Israel; thus you shall know that I am the Lord. 11   So the city will not be your stewpot, nor you the meat in it. 12   On the frontier of Israel I will judge you; thus you shall know that I am the Lord. You have not conformed to my statutes nor kept my laws, but you have followed the laws of the nations around you.

13   While I was prophesying, Pelatiah son of Benaiah fell dead; and I threw myself upon my face, crying aloud, ‘O Lord God, must thou make an end of all the Israelites who are left?’

14    15   The word of the Lord came to me: Man, they are your brothers, your brothers and your kinsmen, this whole people of Israel, to whom the men who now live in Jerusalem have said, ‘Keep your distance from the Lord; the land has been made over to us as our property.’ 16   Say therefore, These are the words of the Lord God: When I sent them far away among the nations and scattered them in many lands, for a while I became their sanctuary in the countries to which they had gone. 17   Say therefore, These are the words of the Lord God: I will gather them ^note from among the nations and assemble them ^note from the countries over which I have scattered them, ^note and I will give them ^note the soil of Israel. 18   When they come into it, they will do away with all their vile and abominable practices. 19   I will give them a different ^note heart and put a new

Jerusalem's guilt and punishment spirit into them; ^note I will take the heart of stone out of their bodies and give them a heart of flesh. 20   Then they will conform to my statutes and keep my laws. They will become my people, and I will become their God. 21   But as for those whose heart is set upon ^note their vile and abominable practices, I will make them answer for all they have done. This is the very word of the Lord God.

22   Then the cherubim lifted their wings, with the wheels beside them and the glory of the God of Israel above them. 23   The glory of the Lord rose up and left the city, and halted on the mountain to the east of it. 24   And a spirit ^note lifted me up and brought me to the exiles in Chaldaea. All this came in a vision sent by the spirit of God, and then the vision that I had seen left me. 25   I told the exiles all that the Lord had revealed to me. Jerusalem's downfall certain

1    2   The word of the Lord came to me: Man, you live among a rebellious people. Though they have eyes they will not see, though they have ears they will not hear, because they are a rebellious people. 3   Therefore, man, pack up what you need for a journey into exile, by day before their eyes; then set off on your journey. When you leave home and go off into exile before their eyes, it may be they will see that they are rebels. 4   Bring out your belongings, packed as for exile; do it by day, before their eyes, and then at evening, still before their eyes, leave home, as if you were going into exile. 5   Next, before their eyes, break a hole through the wall, and carry your belongings out through it. 6   When dusk falls, take your pack on your shoulder, before their eyes, and carry it out, with your face covered so that you cannot see the ground. I am making you a warning sign for the Israelites.

7   I did exactly as I had been told. By day I brought out my belongings, packed as for exile, and at evening I broke through the wall with my hands. When dusk fell, I shouldered my pack and carried it out before their eyes.

8    9   Next morning, the word of the Lord came to me: Man, he said, have not the Israelites, that rebellious people, asked you what you are doing? 10   Tell them that these are the words of the Lord God: This oracle concerns the prince in Jerusalem, and all the Israelites therein. ^note 11   Tell them that you are a sign to warn them; what you have done will be done to them; they will go into exile and captivity. 12   Their prince will shoulder his pack in the dusk and go through a hole made to let him out, with his

Jerusalem's downfall certain face covered so that he cannot be seen nor himself see ^note the ground. 13   But I will cast my net over him, and he will be caught in the meshes. I will bring him to Babylon, the land of the Chaldaeans, though he will not see it; and there he will die. 14   I will scatter his bodyguard and drive all his squadrons to the four winds; I will follow them with drawn sword. 15   Then they shall know that I am the Lord, when I disperse them among the nations and scatter them through many lands. 16   But I will leave a few of them who will escape sword, famine, and pestilence, to tell the whole story of their abominations to the peoples among whom they go; and they shall know that I am the Lord.

17    18   And the word of the Lord came to me: Man, he said, as you eat you must tremble, and as you drink you must shudder with dread. 19   Say to the common people, These are the words of the Lord God about those who live in Jerusalem and about the land of Israel: They will eat with dread and be filled with horror as they drink; the land shall be filled with horror because it is sated with the violence of all who live there. 20   Inhabited cities shall be deserted, and the land shall become a waste. Thus you shall know that I am the Lord.

21    22   The word of the Lord came to me: Man, he said, what is this proverb current in the land of Israel: ‘Time runs on, visions die away’? 23   Say to them, These are the words of the Lord God: I have put an end to this proverb; it shall never be heard in Israel again. Say rather to them, The time, with all the vision means, is near. 24   There will be no more false visions, 25   no specious divination among the Israelites, for I, the Lord, will say what I will, and it shall be done. It shall be put off no longer: in your lifetime, you rebellious people, I will speak, I will act. This is the very word of the Lord God.

26    27   The word of the Lord came to me: Man, he said, the Israelites say that the vision you now see is not to be fulfilled for many years: you are prophesying of a time far off. 28   Say to them, These are the words of the Lord God: No word of mine shall be delayed; even as I speak it shall be done. This is the very word of the Lord God.

1    2   The Lord said to me, Man, prophesy of the prophets of Israel; prophesy, ^note and say to those who prophesy out of their own hearts, Hear what the Lord says: 3   These are the words of the Lord God: Oh, the wicked folly of the prophets! Their inspiration comes from themselves; they have seen no vision. 4   Your prophets, Israel, have been like jackals among ruins. 5   They have not gone up into the breach to repair the broken wall round the Israelites, that they may stand firm in battle on the day of the Lord. 6   Oh, false vision and lying divination! Oh, those prophets who say, ‘It is the very word of the Lord’, when it is not the Lord who has sent them; yet they expect their words to control the

Jerusalem's downfall certain event. 7   Is it not a false vision that you prophets have seen? Is not your divination a lie? You call it the very word of the Lord, but it is not I who have spoken.

8   These, then, are the words of the Lord God: Because your words are false and your visions a lie, I am against you, says the Lord God. 9   I will raise my hand against the prophets whose visions are false, whose divinations are a lie. They shall have no place in the counsels of my people; they shall not be entered in the roll of Israel nor set foot upon its soil. 10   Thus you shall know that I am the Lord God. Rightly, for they have misled my people by saying that all is well when all is not well. It is as if they were building a wall and used whitewash for the daubing. 11   Tell these daubers that it will fall; rain will pour down in torrents, and I will send hailstones hard as rock streaming down and I will unleash a stormy wind. 12   When the building falls, men will ask, ‘Where is the plaster you should have used?’ 13   So these are the words of the Lord God: In my rage I will unleash a stormy wind; rain will come in torrents in my anger, hailstones hard as rock in my fury, until all is destroyed. 14   I will demolish the building which you have daubed with whitewash and level it to the ground, so that its foundations are laid bare. It shall fall, and you shall be destroyed within it; thus you shall know that I am the Lord. 15   I will spend my rage on the building and on those who daubed it with wash; and people ^note will say, ‘The building is gone and the men who daubed it are gone, 16   those prophets of Israel who prophesied to Jerusalem, who saw visions of prosperity when there was no prosperity.’ This is the very word of the Lord God.

17   Now turn, man, to the women of your people who prophesy out of their own hearts, and prophesy to them. 18   Say to them, These are the words of the Lord God: I loathe you, you women who hunt men's lives by sewing magic bands upon the ^note wrists and putting veils over the heads of persons of every age; are you to hunt the lives of my people and keep your own lives safe? 19   You have violated my sanctity before my people with handfuls of barley and scraps of bread. You bring death to those who should not die, and life to those who should not live, by lying to this people of mine who listen to lies. 20   So these are the words of the Lord God: I am against your magic bands with which ^note you hunt men's lives for the excitement of it. 21   I will tear them from your arms and set those lives at liberty, lives that you hunt for the excitement of it. I will tear up your long veils and save my people from you; you shall no longer have power to hunt them. Thus you shall know that I am the Lord. 22   You discouraged the righteous man with lies, when I meant him no hurt; you so strengthened the wicked that he would not abandon

Jerusalem's downfall certain his evil ways and be saved; 23   and therefore you shall never see your false visions again nor practise your divination any more. I will rescue my people from your power; and thus you shall know that I am the Lord.

1   Some of the elders of Israel came to visit me, and while they sat with me the Lord said to me, 2    3   Man, these people have set their hearts on their idols and keep their eyes fixed on the sinful things that cause their downfall. 4   Am I to let such men consult me? Speak to them and tell them that these are the words of the Lord God: If any Israelite, with his heart set on his idols and his eyes fixed on the sinful things that cause his downfall, comes to a prophet, I, the Lord, in my own person, ^note shall be constrained to answer him, despite his many idols. 5   My answer will grip the hearts of the Israelites, estranged from me as they are, one and all, through their idols. 6   So tell the Israelites that these are the words of the Lord God: Turn away, turn away from your idols; turn your backs on all your abominations. 7   If any man, Israelite or alien, renounces me, sets his heart upon idols and fixes his eyes upon the vile thing that is his downfall—if such a man comes to consult me through a prophet, I, the Lord, in my own person, shall be constrained to answer him. 8   I will set my face against that man; I will make him an example and a byword; I will rid my people of him. Thus you shall know that I am the Lord. 9   If a prophet is seduced into making a prophecy, it is I the Lord who have seduced him; I will stretch out my hand and rid my people Israel of him. 10   Both shall be punished; the prophet and the man who consults him alike are guilty. 11   And never again will the Israelites stray from their allegiance, never again defy my will and bring pollution upon themselves; they will become my people, and I will become their God. This is the very word of the Lord God.

12    13   These were the words of the Lord to me: Man, when a country sins by breaking faith with me, I will stretch out my hand and cut short its daily bread. ^noteI will send famine upon it and destroy both men and cattle. 14   Even if those three men were living there, Noah, Danel ^note and Job, they would save none but themselves by their righteousness. This is the very word of the Lord God. 15   If I should turn wild beasts loose in a country to destroy its inhabitants, until it became a waste through which no man would pass for fear of the beasts, 16   then, if those three men were living there, as I live, says the Lord God, they would not save even their own sons and daughters; they would save themselves alone, and the country would become a waste. 17   Or if I should bring the sword upon that country and command it to go through the land and should destroy men and cattle, 18   then, if those three men were living there, as I live, says

Jerusalem's downfall certain the Lord God, they could save neither son nor daughter; they would save themselves alone. 19   Or if I should send pestilence on that land and pour out my fury upon it in blood, 20   to destroy men and cattle, then, if Noah, Danel and Job were living there, as I live, says the Lord God, they would save neither son nor daughter; they would save themselves alone by their righteousness.

21   These were the words of the Lord God: How much less hope is there for Jerusalem when I inflict on her these four punishments of mine, sword and famine, wild beasts and pestilence, to destroy both men and cattle! 22   Some will be left in her, some survivors to be brought out, both sons and daughters. Look at them as they come out to you, and see how they have behaved and what they have done. This will be some comfort to you for all the harm I have done to Jerusalem and all I have inflicted upon her. 23   It will bring you comfort when you see how they have behaved and what they have done; for you will know that it was not without reason that I dealt thus with her. This is the very word of the Lord God.

1   These were the words of the Lord to me:

   2   Man, how is the vine better than any other tree,
  than a branch from a tree in the forest?
     3   Is wood got from it
      fit to make anything useful?
    Can men make it into a peg
    and hang things on it?
     4   If it is put on the fire for fuel,
    if its two ends are burnt by the fire
      and the middle is charred,
      is it fit for anything useful?
   5   Nothing useful could be made of it even when whole;
  how much less, when it is burnt by the fire and charred,
    can it be made into anything useful!

6   So these are the words of the Lord God:

  I treat the vine, as against forest-trees,
      only as fuel for the fire,
  even so I treat the people of Jerusalem;
     7   I set my face against them.
  Though they escape from the fire, fire shall burn them up.
    Thus you shall know that I am the Lord
    when I set my face against them,
     8   making the land a waste
    because they have broken faith.
      This is the very word of the Lord God.

Jerusalem's downfall certain

1    2   The word of the Lord came to me: Man, he said, make Jerusalem see her abominable conduct. 3   Tell her that these are the words of the Lord God to her: Canaan is the land of your ancestry and there you were born; and Amorite was your father and a Hittite your mother. 4   This is how you were treated at birth: when you were born, your navel-string was not tied, ^note you were not bathed in water ready for the rubbing, you were not salted as you should have been nor wrapped in swaddling clothes. 5   No one cared for you enough to do any of these things or, indeed, to have any pity for you; you were thrown out on the bare ground in your own filth on the day of your birth. 6   Then I came by and saw you kicking helplessly in your own blood; I spoke to you, there in your blood, and bade you live. ^note 7   I tended you like an evergreen plant, like something growing in the fields; you throve and grew. You came to full womanhood; your breasts became firm and your hair grew, but still you were naked and exposed.

8   Again I came by and saw that you were ripe for love. I spread the skirt of my robe over you and covered your naked body. Then I plighted my troth and entered into a covenant with you, says the Lord God, and you became mine. 9   Then I bathed you in water and washed off the blood and anointed you with oil. 10   I gave you robes of brocade and sandals of stout ^note hide; I fastened a linen girdle round you and dressed you in lawn. ^note 11   For jewellery I put bracelets on your arms and a chain round your neck; 12   I gave you a nose-ring, I put pendants in your ears and a beautiful coronet on your head. 13   You had ornaments of gold and silver, your dresses were of linen, lawn, ^note and brocade. You had flour and honey and olive oil for food, and you grew very beautiful, you grew into a queen. 14   The fame of your beauty went all over the world, for the splendour with which I decked you made it perfect. This is the very word of the Lord God.

15   But you trusted to your beauty and prostituted your fame; you committed fornication, offering yourself freely to any passer-by for your beauty to become his. 16   You took some of your clothes and decked a platform for yourself in gay colours and there you committed fornication; you had intercourse with him for your beauty to become his. ^note 17   You took the splendid ornaments of gold and silver which I had given you, and made for yourself male images with which you committed fornication. 18   You covered them with your robes of brocade and offered up my oil and my incense before them. 19   You took the food I had given you, the flour, the oil, and the honey, with which I had fed you, and set it before them as an offering of soothing odour. ^noteThis is the very word of the Lord God.

Jerusalem's downfall certain

20   You took the sons and daughters whom you had borne to me, and sacrificed them to these images for their food. Was this of less account than your fornication? 21   No! you slaughtered my children and handed them over, you surrendered them to your images. 22   With all your abominable fornication you forgot those early days when you lay naked and exposed, kicking helplessly in your own blood.

23   After all the evil you had done (Oh! the pity of it, says the Lord God), 24   you built yourself a couch and constructed a high-stool in every open place. 25   You built up your high-stools at the top of every street and disgraced your beauty, offering your body to any passer-by in countless acts of fornication. 26   You committed fornication with your gross neighbours, the Egyptians, and you provoked me to anger by your countless acts of fornication.

27   I stretched out my hand against you and cut down your portion. Then I gave you up to women who hated you, Philistine women, who were so disgusted by your lewd ways. 28   Not content with this, you committed fornication with the Assyrians, led them into fornication and still were not content. 29   You committed countless acts of fornication in Chaldaea, the land of commerce, and even with this you were not content.

30   How you anger me! says the Lord God. You have done all this like the imperious whore you are. 31   You have built your couch at the top of every street and constructed your stool in every open place, but, unlike the common prostitute, you have scorned a fee. 32   An adulterous wife who owes obedience to her husband takes a fee from ^note strangers. 33   The prostitute also takes her fee; but you give presents to all your lovers, you bribe them to come from all quarters to commit fornication with you. 34   You are the very opposite of other women in your fornication: no one runs after you, you do not receive a fee, you give it. You are the very opposite.

35    36   Listen to the words of the Lord, whore that you are. These are the words of the Lord God: You have been prodigal in your excesses, you have exposed your naked body in fornication with your lovers. In return for your abominable idols and for the slaughter of the children you have given them, 37   I will gather all those lovers to whom you made advances, ^note all whom you loved and all whom you hated. I will gather them in from all quarters against you; I will strip you naked before them, and they shall see your whole body naked. 38   I will put you on trial for adultery and murder, and I will charge you with ^note blood shed in jealousy and fury. 39   Then I will hand you over to them. They will demolish your couch and pull down your high-stool; they will strip your clothes off, take away your splendid ornaments, and leave you naked and exposed.

Jerusalem's downfall certain 40   They will bring up the mob against you and stone you, they will hack you to pieces with their swords. 41   They will burn down your houses and execute judgement on you, and many women shall see it. I will put an end to your fornication, and you shall never again give a fee to your lovers. 42   Then I will abate my fury, and my jealousy will turn away from you. 43   I will be calm and will no longer be provoked to anger. For you had forgotten the days of your youth and exasperated me with all your doings: so I in my turn ^note brought retribution upon you for your deeds. This is the very word of the Lord God.

Did you not commit these obscenities, as well as all your other abominations? 44   Dealers in proverbs will say of you, ‘Like mother, like daughter.’ 45   You are a true daughter of a mother who loathed her husband and children. You are a true sister of your sisters ^note who loathed their husbands and children. You are all daughters of a Hittite mother and an Amorite father. 46   Your elder sister was Samaria, who lived with her daughters to the north of you; your younger sister, who lived with her daughters to the south of you, was Sodom. 47   Did you not behave as they did and commit the same abominations? You came very near to doing even worse than they. 48   As I live, says the Lord God, your sister Sodom and her daughters never behaved as you and your daughters have done. 49   This was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride of wealth and food in plenty, comfort and ease, and yet she never helped the poor and wretched. 50   They grew haughty and did deeds abominable in my sight, and I made away with them, as you have seen. 51   Samaria was never half the sinner you have been; you have committed more abominations than she, abominations which have made your sister seem innocent. 52   You must bear the humiliation which you thought your sisters ^note deserved. Your sins are so much more abominable than theirs that they appear innocent in comparison with you; and now you must bear your shame and humiliation and make your sisters ^note seem innocent.

53   But I will restore the fortunes of Sodom and her daughters and of Samaria and her daughters, and I will restore ^note yours at the same time. 54   Even though you bring them comfort, you will bear your shame, you will be disgraced for all you have done; 55   but when your sister Sodom and her daughters become what they were of old, and when your sister Samaria and her daughters become what they were of old, then you and your daughters will be restored. 56   Did you not hear and talk much of your sister Sodom in the days of your pride, 57   before your wickedness was exposed, in the days when the daughters of Aram with those about her were disgraced, and the daughters of the Philistines round about, who

Jerusalem's downfall certain so despised you? 58   Now you too must bear the consequences of your lewd and abominable conduct. This is the very word of the Lord.

59   These are the words of the Lord God: I will treat you as you have deserved, because you violated a covenant and made light of a solemn oath. 60   But I will remember the covenant I made with you when you were young, and I will establish with you a covenant which shall last for ever. 61   And you will remember your past ways and feel ashamed when you receive your sisters, the elder and the younger. For I will give them to you as daughters, and they shall not be outside your covenant. ^note 62   Thus I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall know that I am the Lord. 63   You will remember, and will be so ashamed and humiliated that you will never open your mouth again once I have accepted expiation for all you have done. This is the very word of the Lord God.

1    2   These were the words of the Lord to me: Man, speak to the Israelites in allegory and parable. 3   Tell them that these are the words of the Lord God:

      A great eagle
  with broad wings and long pinions,
  in full plumage, richly patterned,
      came to Lebanon.
    He took the very top of a cedar-tree,
     4   he plucked its highest twig;
    he carried it off to a land of commerce,
      and planted it in a city of merchants.
     5   Then he took a native seed
      and put it in nursery-ground;
      he set it like a willow,
    a shoot beside abundant water.
     6   It sprouted and became a vine,
      sprawling low along the ground
    and bending its trailing boughs towards him ^note
    with its roots growing beneath him.
  So it became a vine, it branched out
      and put forth shoots.
   7   But there was another ^note great eagle
  with broad wings and thick plumage;
  and this vine gave its roots
      a twist towards him; ^note
    it pushed out its trailing boughs towards him,
  seeking drink from the bed where it was planted,

Jerusalem's downfall certain
       8   though it had been set
  in good ground beside abundant water
  that it might bear shoots and be fruitful
    and become a noble vine.

9   Tell them that these are the words of the Lord God:

      Can such a vine flourish?
    Will not its roots be broken off
      and its fruit be stripped,
    and all its fresh sprouting leaves wither, ^note
    until it is uprooted and carried away
    with little effort and few hands?
     10   If it is transplanted, can it flourish?
    Will it not be utterly shrivelled,
    as though by the touch of the east wind,
      on the bed where it ought to sprout?

11    12   These were the words of the Lord to me: Say to that rebellious people, Do you not know what this means? The king of Babylon came to Jerusalem, took its king and its officers and had them brought to him at Babylon. 13   He took a prince of the royal line and made a treaty with him, putting him on his oath. 14   He took away the chief men of the country, so that it should become a humble kingdom unable to raise itself but ready to observe the treaty and keep it in force. 15   But the prince rebelled against him and sent messengers to Egypt, asking for horses and men in plenty. Can such a man prosper? Can he escape destruction if he acts in this way? 16   Can he violate a covenant and escape? As I live, says the Lord God, I swear that he shall die in the land of the king who put him on the throne; he made light of his oath and violated the covenant he made with him. 17   He shall die in Babylon. Pharaoh will send no large army, no great host, to protect him in battle; no siege-ramp will be raised, no watch-tower put up, nor will the lives of many men be lost. 18   He has violated a covenant and has made light of his oath. He had submitted, and yet he did all these things; he shall not escape.

19   These then are the words of the Lord God: As I live, he has made light of the oath he took by me and has violated the covenant I made with him. 20   I will bring retribution upon him; I will cast my net over him, and he shall be caught in its meshes. I will carry him to Babylon and bring him to judgement there, because he has broken faith with me. 21   In all his squadrons every commander shall fall by the sword; those who are left will be scattered to the four winds. Thus you shall know that it is I, the Lord, who have spoken.

Jerusalem's downfall certain

22   These are the words of the Lord God:

    I, too, will take a slip
    from the lofty crown of the cedar
      and set it in the soil;
  I will pluck a tender shoot from the topmost branch
      and plant it.
   23   I will plant it high on a lofty mountain,
    the highest mountain in Israel.
  It will put out branches, bear its fruit,
    and become a noble cedar.
  Winged birds of every kind will roost under it,
    they will roost in the shelter of its sweeping boughs.
     24   All the trees of the country-side will know
      that it is I, the Lord,
    who bring low the tall tree
    and raise the low tree high,
    who dry up the green tree
    and make the dry tree put forth buds.
  I, the Lord, have spoken and will do it.

1    2   These were the words of the Lord to me: What do you all mean by repeating this proverb in the land of Israel:

    ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes,
      and the children's teeth are set on edge’?

3   As I live, says the Lord God, this proverb shall never again be used in Israel. 4   Every living soul belongs to me; father and son alike are mine. The soul that sins shall die.

5   Consider the man who is righteous and does what is just and right. 6   He never feasts at mountain-shrines, never lifts his eyes to the idols of Israel, never dishonours another man's wife, never approaches a woman during her periods. 7   He oppresses no man, he returns the debtor's pledge, ^note he never robs. He gives bread to the hungry and clothes to those who have none. 8   He never lends either at discount or at interest. 9   He shuns injustice and deals fairly between man and man. He conforms to my statutes and loyally observes my laws. Such a man is righteous: he shall live, says the Lord God.

10   He may have a son who is a man of violence and a cut-throat who turns his back on these rules. ^note 11   He obeys none of them, he feasts at mountain-shrines, he dishonours another man's wife, 12   he oppresses the unfortunate

Jerusalem's downfall certain and the poor, he is a robber, he does not return the debtor's pledge, he lifts his eyes to idols and joins in abominable rites; 13   he lends both at discount and at interest. Such a man shall not live. Because he has committed all these abominations he shall die, and his blood will be on his own head.

14   This man in turn may have a son who sees all his father's sins; he sees, but he commits none of them. 15   He never feasts at mountain-shrines, never lifts his eyes to the idols of Israel, never dishonours another man's wife. 16   He oppresses no man, takes no pledge, does not rob. He gives bread to the hungry and clothes to those who have none. 17   He shuns injustice, ^note he never lends either at discount or at interest. He keeps my laws and conforms to my statutes. Such a man shall not die for his father's wrongdoing; he shall live.

18   His father may have been guilty of oppression and robbery ^note and may have lived an evil life among his kinsfolk, and so has died because of his iniquity. 19   You may ask, ‘Why is the son not punished for his father's iniquity?’ Because he has always done what is just and right and has been careful to obey all my laws, therefore he shall live. 20   It is the soul that sins, and no other, that shall die; a son shall not share a father's guilt, nor a father his son's. The righteous man shall reap the fruit of his own righteousness, and the wicked man the fruit of his own wickedness.

21   It may be that a wicked man gives up his sinful ways and keeps all my laws, doing what is just and right. That man shall live; he shall not die. 22   None of the offences he has committed shall be remembered against him; he shall live because of his righteous deeds. 23   Have I any desire, says the Lord God, for the death of a wicked man? Would I not rather that he should mend his ways and live?

24   It may be that a righteous man turns back from his righteous ways and commits every kind of abomination that the wicked practise; shall he do this and live? No, none of his former righteousness will be remembered in his favour; he has broken his faith, he has sinned, and he shall die. 25   You say that the Lord acts without principle? Listen, you Israelites, it is you who act without principle, not I. 26   If a righteous man turns from his righteousness, takes to evil ways and dies, ^note it is because of these evil ways that he dies. 27   Again, if a wicked man turns from his wicked ways and does what is just and right, he will save his life. 28   If he sees his offences as they are and turns his back on them all, then he shall live; he shall not die.

29   ‘The Lord acts without principle’, say the Israelites. No, Israelites, it is you who act without principle, not I. 30   Therefore, Israelites, says the

Jerusalem's downfall certain Lord God, I will judge every man of you on his deeds. Turn, turn from your offences, or your iniquity will be your downfall. 31   Throw off the load of your past misdeeds; get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. 32   Why should you die, you men of Israel? I have no desire for any man's death. This is the very word of the Lord God. ^note

1    2   Raise a lament over the princes of Israel and say:

    Your mother was a lioness
      among the lions!
    She made her lair among the young lions
      and many were the cubs she bore.
     3   One of her cubs she raised,
      and he grew into a young lion.
    He learnt to tear his prey,
      he devoured men.
     4   Then the nations shouted at ^note him
      and he was caught in their pit,
  and they dragged him with hooks to the land of Egypt.
   5   His case, she saw, was desperate, her hope was lost;
    so she took another ^note of her cubs
      and made him a young lion.
       6   He prowled among the lions
      and acted like a young lion.
    He learnt to tear his prey,
      he devoured men;
   7   he broke down their palaces, ^note laid their cities in ruins.
      The land and all that was in it
    was aghast at the noise of his roaring.
       8   From the provinces all round
    the nations raised the hue and cry;
    they cast their net over him
      and he was caught in their pit.
     9   With hooks they drew him into a cage
      and brought him to the king of Babylon,
      who flung him into prison,
  that his voice might never again be heard
      on the mountains of Israel.


     10   Your mother was a vine in a vineyard ^note
      planted by the waterside.
    It grew fruitful and luxuriant,
      for there was water in plenty.

Jerusalem's downfall certain
     11   It had stout branches,
      fit to make sceptres for those who bear rule.
  It grew tall, finding its way through the foliage,
  and conspicuous for its height and many trailing boughs.
   12   But it was torn up in anger and thrown to the ground;
    the east wind blighted it,
      its fruit was blown off,
      its strong branches were blighted,
      and fire burnt it.
     13   Now it is replanted in the wilderness,
    in a dry and thirsty land;
     14   and fire bursts forth from its own branches
      and burns up its shoots. ^note
    It has no strong branch any more
      to make a sceptre for those who bear rule.

This is the lament and as a lament it passed into use.

1   On the tenth day of the fifth month in the seventh year, some of the elders of Israel came to consult the Lord and were sitting with me. 2   Then this word came to me from the Lord: Man, say to the elders of Israel, This is the word of the Lord God: 3   Do you come to consult me? As I live, I will not be consulted by you. This is the very word of the Lord God.

4   Will you judge them? Will you judge them, O man? Then tell them of the abominations of their forefathers and say to them, 5   These are the words of the Lord God: When I chose Israel, with uplifted hand I bound myself by oath to the race of Jacob and revealed myself to them in Egypt; I lifted up my hand and declared: I am the Lord your God. 6   On that day I swore with hand uplifted that I would bring them out of Egypt into the land I had sought out for them, a land flowing with milk and honey, fairest of all lands. 7   I told them, every one, to cast away the loathsome things on which they feasted their eyes and not to defile themselves with the idols of Egypt. I am the Lord your God, I said.

8   But they rebelled against me, they refused to listen to me, and not one of them cast away the loathsome things on which he feasted his eyes or forsook the idols of Egypt. I had thought to pour out my wrath and exhaust my anger on them in Egypt. 9   I acted for the honour of my name, that it might not be profaned in the sight of the nations among whom Israel was living: I revealed myself to them by bringing Israel out of Egypt. 10   I brought them out of Egypt and led them into the wilderness. 11   There I gave my statutes to them and taught them my laws,

Jerusalem's downfall certain so that by keeping them men might have life. 12   Further, I gave them my sabbaths as a sign between us, so that they should know that I, the Lord, was hallowing them for myself. 13   But the Israelites rebelled against me in the wilderness; they did not conform to my statutes, they rejected my laws, though by keeping them men might have life, and they utterly desecrated my sabbaths. So again I thought to pour out my wrath on them in the wilderness to destroy them. 14   I acted for the honour of my name, that it might not be profaned in the sight of the nations who had seen me bring them out.

15   Further, I swore to them in the wilderness with uplifted hand that I would not bring them into the land I had given them, that land flowing with milk and honey, fairest of all lands. 16   For they had rejected my laws, they would not conform to my statutes and they desecrated my sabbaths, because they loved to follow idols of their own. 17   Yet I pitied them too much to destroy them and did not make an end of them in the wilderness. 18   I commanded their sons in the wilderness not to conform to their fathers' statutes, nor observe their laws, nor defile themselves with their idols. 19   I said, I am the Lord your God, you must conform to my statutes; you must observe my laws and act according to them. 20   You must keep my sabbaths holy, and they will become a sign between us; so you will know that I am the Lord your God.

21   But the sons too rebelled against me. They did not conform to my statutes or observe my laws, though any who had done so would have had life through them, and they desecrated my sabbaths. Again I thought to pour out my wrath and exhaust my anger on them in the wilderness. ^note 22   I acted for the honour of my name, that it might not be profaned in the sight of the nations who had seen me bring them out. 23   Yes, and in the wilderness I swore to them with uplifted hand that I would disperse them among the nations and scatter them abroad, 24   because they had disobeyed my laws, rejected my statutes, desecrated my sabbaths, and turned longing eyes toward the idols of their forefathers. 25   I did more; I imposed on them statutes that were not good statutes, and laws by which they could not win life. 26   I let them defile themselves with gifts to idols; I made them surrender their eldest sons to them so that I might fill them with horror. Thus they would know that I am the Lord.

27   Speak then, O man, to the Israelites and say to them, These are the words of the Lord God: Once again your forefathers insulted me and broke faith with me: 28   when I brought them into the land which I had sworn with uplifted hand to give them, they marked down every hilltop and every leafy tree, and there they offered their sacrifices, they made the gifts which roused my anger, they set out their offerings of

Jerusalem's downfall certain soothing odour and poured out their drink-offerings. 29   I asked them, What is this hill-shrine to which you are going up? And ‘hill-shrine’ has been its name ever since.

30   So tell the Israelites, These are the words of the Lord God: Are you defiling yourselves as your forefathers did? Are you wantonly giving yourselves to their loathsome gods? 31   When you bring your gifts, when you pass your sons through the fire, you are still defiling yourselves in the service of your crowd of idols. How can I let you consult me, men of Israel? As I live, says the Lord God, I will not be consulted by you. 32   When you say to yourselves, ‘Let us become like the nations and tribes of other lands and worship wood and stone’, you are thinking of something that can never be. 33   As I live, says the Lord God, I will reign over you with a strong hand, with arm outstretched and wrath outpoured. 34   I will bring you out from the peoples and gather you from the lands over which you have been scattered by my strong hand, my outstretched arm and outpoured wrath. 35   I will bring you into the wilderness of the peoples; there will I confront you, and there will I state my case against you. 36   Even as I did in the wilderness of Egypt against your forefathers, so will I state my case against you. This is the very word of the Lord God.

37   I will pass you under the rod and bring you within the bond ^note of the covenant. 38   I will rid you of those who revolt and rebel against me. I will take them out of the land where they are now living, but they shall not set foot on the soil of Israel. Thus shall you know that I am the Lord.

39   Now, men of Israel, these are the words of the Lord God: Go, sweep away ^note your idols, every man of you. So in days to come you will never be disobedient to me or desecrate my holy name with your gifts and your idolatries. 40   But on my holy hill, the lofty hill of Israel, says the Lord God, there shall the Israelites serve me in the land, every one of them. There will I receive them with favour; there will I demand your contribution and the best of your offerings, with all your consecrated gifts. 41   I will receive your offerings of soothing odour, when I have brought you out from the peoples and gathered you from the lands where you have been scattered. I, and only I, will have your worship, for all the nations to see.

42   You will know that I am the Lord, when I bring you home to the soil of Israel, to the land which I swore with uplifted hand to give your forefathers. 43   There you will remember your past ways and all the wanton deeds with which you have defiled yourselves, and will loathe yourselves for all the evils you have done. 44   You will know that I am the Lord, when I have dealt with you, O men of Israel, not as your wicked ways and your vicious deeds deserve but for the honour of my name. This is the very word of the Lord God.

Jerusalem's downfall certain

45    ^note 46   These were the words of the Lord to me: Man, turn and face towards Teman ^note and pour out your words to the south; prophesy to the rough country of the Negeb. 47   Say to it, Listen to the words of the Lord. These are the words of the Lord God: I will set fire to you, and the fire will consume all the wood, green and dry alike. Its fiery flame shall not be put out, but from the Negeb northwards every face will be scorched by it. 48   All men will see that it is I, the Lord, who have set it ablaze; it shall not be put out. 49   ‘Ah no! O Lord God,’ I cried; ‘they say of me, “He deals only in parables.”’

1    2   These were the words of the Lord to me: Man, turn and face towards Jerusalem, and pour out your words against her sanctuary; ^note prophesy against the land of Israel. 3   Say to the land of Israel, These are the words of the Lord: I am against you; I will draw my sword from the scabbard and cut off from you both righteous and wicked. 4   It is because I would cut off your righteous and your wicked equally that my sword will be drawn from the scabbard against all men, from the Negeb northwards. 5   All men shall know that I the Lord have drawn my sword; it shall never again be sheathed. 6   Groan in their presence, man, groan bitterly until your lungs are bursting. 7   When they ask you why you are groaning, say to them, ‘I groan at the thing I have heard; when it comes, all hearts melt, all courage fails, all hands fall limp, all men's knees run with urine. It is coming. It is here.’ This is the very word of the Lord God.

8    9   These were the words of the Lord to me: Prophesy, man, and say, This is the word of the Lord:

  A sword, a sword is sharpened and burnished,
     10   sharpened to kill and kill again,
    burnished to flash ^note like lightning.
  Ah! the club is brandished, my son,
      to defy all wooden idols! ^note
     11   The sword is given to be burnished
      ready for the hand to grasp.
    The sword—it is sharpened,
      it is burnished,
    ready to be put into the slayer's hand.

12   Cry, man, and howl; for all this falls on my people, it falls on Israel's princes who are delivered over to the sword and are slain with my people. 13   Therefore beat your breast ^note in remorse, for it is the test—and what if it is not in truth the club of defiance? This is the very word of the Lord God.

Jerusalem's downfall certain

   14   But you, man, prophesy and clap your hands together;
    swing the sword twice, thrice:
      it is the sword of slaughter,
  the great sword of slaughter whirling about them.
   15   That their hearts may be troubled and many stumble and fall,
  I have set the threat of the sword at all their gates,
    the threat of the sword ^note made to flash like lightning
      and drawn to kill.
   16   Be sharpened, ^note turn right; be unsheathed, turn left,
    wherever your point is aimed.

17   I, too, will clap my hands together and abate my anger. I, the Lord, have spoken.

18    19   These were the words of the Lord to me: Man, trace out two roads by which the sword of the king of Babylon may come, starting both of them from the same land. Then carve a signpost, carve it at the point where the highway forks. 20   Mark out a road for the sword to come to ^note the Ammonite city of Rabbah, to ^note Judah, and to Jerusalem at the heart of it. 21   For the king of Babylon halts to take the omens at the parting of the ways, where the road divides. He casts lots with arrows, consults teraphim ^note and inspects the livers of beasts. 22   The augur's arrow marked ‘Jerusalem’ falls at his right hand: here, then, ^note he must raise a shout ^note and sound the battle-cry, set battering-rams against the gates, pile siege-ramps and build watch-towers. 23   It may well seem to the people that the auguries are false, ^note whereas they will put me in mind of their wrongdoing, and they will fall into the enemies' hand. 24   These therefore are the words of the Lord God: Because you have kept me mindful of your wrongdoing by your open rebellion, and your sins have been revealed in all your acts, because you have kept yourselves in my mind, you will fall into the enemies' hand by force.

25   You, too, you impious and wicked prince of Israel, your fate has come upon you in the hour of final punishment. 26   These are the words of the Lord God: Put off your diadem, lay aside your crown. All is changed; raise the low and bring down the high. 27   Ruin! Ruin! I will bring about such ruin as never was before, until the rightful sovereign comes. Then I will give him all.

28   Man, prophesy and say, These are the words of the Lord God to the Ammonites and to their shameful god:

  A sword, a sword drawn for slaughter,
      burnished for destruction, ^note

Jerusalem's downfall certain
      to flash like lightning!
   29   Your visions are false, your auguries a lie,
      which bid you bring it ^note down
    upon the necks of impious and wicked men,
      whose fate has come upon them
      in the hour of final punishment.
       30   Sheathe it again.
  I will judge you in the place where you were born,
      the land of your origin.
     31   I will pour out my rage upon you;
  I will breathe out my blazing wrath over you.
    I will hand you over to brutal men,
      skilled in destruction.
     32   You shall become fuel for fire,
    your blood shall be shed within the land
      and you shall leave no memory behind.

For I, the Lord, have spoken.

1    2   These were the words of the Lord to me: Man, will you judge her, will you judge the murderous city and bring home to her all her abominable deeds? 3   Say to her, These are the words of the Lord God: Alas for ^note the city that sheds blood within her walls and brings her fate upon herself, the city that makes herself idols and is defiled thereby! 4   The guilt is yours for the blood you have shed, the pollution is on you for the idols you have made. You have shortened your days by this and brought the end of your years nearer. This is why I exposed you to the contempt of the nations and the mockery of every country. 5   Lands far and near will taunt you with your infamy and gross disorder. 6   In you the princes of Israel, one and all, have used their power to shed blood; 7   men have treated their fathers and mothers with contempt, they have oppressed the alien and ill-treated the orphan and the widow. 8   You have disdained what is sacred to me and desecrated my sabbaths. 9   In you, Jerusalem, informers have worked to procure bloodshed; in you are men who have feasted at mountain-shrines and have committed lewdness. 10   In you men have ^note exposed their fathers' nakedness; they have violated women during their periods; 11   they have committed an outrage with their neighbours' wives and have lewdly defiled their daughters-in-law; they have ravished their sisters, their own fathers' daughters. 12   In you men have accepted bribes to shed blood, and they ^note have exacted discount and interest on their loans. You have oppressed your fellows for gain, and you have forgotten me. This is the very word of the Lord God.

Jerusalem's downfall certain

13   See, I strike with my clenched fist in anger at your ill-gotten gains and at the bloodshed within your walls. 14   Will your strength or courage stand when I deal with you? 15   I, the Lord, have spoken and I will act. I will disperse you among the nations and scatter you abroad; thus will I rid you altogether of your defilement. 16   I will sift you ^note in the sight of the nations, and you will know that I am the Lord.

17    18   These were the words of the Lord to me: Man, to men all Israelites are an alloy, their silver alloyed with copper, tin, iron, and lead. ^note 19   Therefore, these are the words of the Lord God: Because you have all become alloyed, 20   I will gather you together into Jerusalem, as a mass of silver, copper, iron, lead, and tin is gathered into a crucible for the fire to be blown to full heat to melt them. So will I gather you in my anger and wrath, set you there and melt you; 21   I will collect you and blow up the fire of my anger until you are melted within it. 22   You will be melted as silver is melted in a crucible, and you will know that I, the Lord, have poured out my anger upon you.

23    24   These were the words of the Lord to me: Man, say to Jerusalem, You are like a land on which no rain has fallen; ^note no shower has come down upon you ^note in the days of indignation. 25   The princes within her are ^note like lions growling as they tear their prey. They have devoured men, and seized their treasure and all their wealth; they have widowed many women within her walls. 26   Her priests have done violence to my law ^note and profaned what is sacred to me. They make no distinction between sacred and common, and lead men to see no difference between clean and unclean. They have disregarded my sabbaths, and I am dishonoured among them. 27   Her officers within her are like wolves tearing their prey, shedding blood and destroying men's lives to acquire ill-gotten gain. 28   Her prophets use whitewash instead of plaster; ^note their vision is false and their divination a lie. They say, ‘This is the word of the Lord God’, when the Lord has not spoken. 29   The common people are bullies and robbers; they ill-treat the unfortunate and the poor, they are unjust and cruel to the alien. 30   I looked for a man among them who could build up a barricade, who could stand before me in the breach to defend the land from ruin; but I found no such man. 31   I poured out my indignation upon them and utterly destroyed them in the fire of my wrath. Thus I brought on them the punishment they had deserved. This is the very word of the Lord God.

1    2   The word of the Lord came to me: Man, he said, there were once two women, daughters of the same mother. 3   They played the whore in

Jerusalem's downfall certain Egypt, played the whore while they were still girls; for there they let their breasts be fondled and their virgin bosoms pressed. 4   The elder was named Oholah, her sister Oholibah. They became mine and bore me sons and daughters. 5   ‘Oholah’ is Samaria, ‘Oholibah’ Jerusalem. While she owed me obedience Oholah played the whore and was infatuated with her Assyrian lovers, 6   staff officers in blue, ^note viceroys and governors, handsome young cavaliers all of them, riding on horseback. 7   She played the whore with all of them, the flower of the Assyrian youth; and she let herself be defiled with all their idols, wherever her lust led her. 8   She never gave up the whorish ways she had learnt in Egypt, where men had lain with her when young, had pressed her virgin bosom and overwhelmed her with their fornication. 9   So I abandoned her to her lovers, the Assyrians, with whom she was infatuated. 10   They ravished her, they took her sons and daughters, and they killed her with the sword. She became a byword among women, and judgement was passed upon her.

11   Oholibah, her sister, had watched her, and she gave herself up to lust and played the whore worse than her sister. 12   She, too, was infatuated with Assyrians, viceroys, governors and staff officers, all handsome young cavaliers, in full dress, riding on horseback. 13   I found that she too had let herself be defiled; 14   both had gone the same way; but she carried her fornication to greater lengths: she saw male figures carved on the wall, sculptured forms of Chaldaeans, picked out in vermilion. 15   Belts were round their waists, and on their heads turbans with dangling ends. All seemed to be high officers and looked like Babylonians, natives of Chaldaea. 16   As she looked she was infatuated with them, so she sent messengers to Chaldaea for them. 17   And the Babylonians came to her to share her bed, and defiled her with fornication; she was defiled by them until she was filled with revulsion. 18   She made no secret that she was a whore but let herself be ravished until I was filled with revulsion against her as I was against her sister. 19   She played the whore again and again, remembering how in her youth she had played the whore in Egypt. 20   She was infatuated with their male prostitutes, whose members were like those of asses and whose seed came in floods like that of horses. 21   So, Oholibah, you relived the lewdness of your girlhood in Egypt when you let your bosom be pressed and your breasts fondled. ^note

22   Therefore these are the words of the Lord God: I will rouse them against you, Oholibah, those lovers of yours who have filled you with revulsion, 23   and bring them upon you from every side, the Babylonians and all those Chaldaeans, men of Pekod, Shoa, and Koa, and all the Assyrians with them. Handsome young men they are, viceroys and governors, commanders and staff officers, ^note riding on horseback. 24   They

Jerusalem's downfall certain will come against you with war-horses, ^note with chariots and wagons, with a host drawn from the nations, armed with shield, buckler, and helmet; they will beset you on every side. I will give them authority to judge, and they will use that authority to judge you. 25   I will turn my jealous wrath loose on you, and they will make you feel their fury. They will cut off your nose and your ears, and in the end you ^note will fall by the sword. ^note 26   They will strip you of your clothes and take away all your finery. 27   So I will put a stop to your lewdness and the way in which you learnt to play the whore in Egypt. You will never cast longing eyes on such things again, never remember Egypt any more.

28   These are the words of the Lord God: I am handing you over to those whom you hate, those who have filled you with revulsion; 29   and they will make you feel their hatred. They will take all you have earned and leave you naked and exposed; that body with which you have played the whore will be ravished. It is your lewdness and your fornication that have brought this upon you, 30   it is because you have followed alien peoples and played the whore and have allowed yourself to be defiled with their idols. 31   You have followed in your sister's footsteps, and I will put her cup into your hand.

32   These are the words of the Lord God:

  You shall drink from your sister's cup,
    a cup deep and wide,
  charged with mockery and scorn,
    more than ever cup can hold.
   33   It ^note will be full of drunkenness and grief,
    a cup of ruin and desolation,
  the cup of your sister Samaria;
   34   and you shall drink it to the dregs.
    Then you will chew ^note it in pieces
    and tear out your breasts.
  This is my verdict, says the Lord God.

35   Therefore, these are the words of the Lord God: Because you have forgotten me and flung me behind your back, you must bear the guilt of your lewdness and your fornication.

36   The Lord said to me, Man, will you judge Oholah and Oholibah? 37   Then tax them with their vile offences. They have committed adultery, and there is blood on their hands. They have committed adultery with their idols and offered my children to them for food, the children they had borne me. 38   This too they have done to me: they have polluted my

Jerusalem's downfall certain sanctuary ^note and desecrated my sabbaths. 39   They came into my sanctuary and desecrated it ^note by slaughtering their sons as an offering to their idols; this they did in my own house. 40   They would send for men from a far-off country; and the men came at the messenger's bidding. You bathed your body for these men, you painted your eyes, decked yourself in your finery, 41   you sat yourself upon a bed of state and had a table put ready before it and laid my own incense and my own oil on it. 42   Loud were the voices of the light-hearted crowd; and besides ordinary folk Sabaeans were there, brought from the wilderness; they put bracelets on the women's hands and beautiful garlands on their heads. 43   I thought: Ah that woman, grown old in adultery! Now they will commit fornication with her—with her of all women ^note! 44   They ^note resorted to her as a prostitute; they resorted to Oholah and Oholibah, those lewd women. 45   Upright men will condemn them for their adultery and bloodshed; for adulterous they are, and blood is on their hands.

46   These are the words of the Lord God: Summon the invading host; abandon them to terror and rapine. 47   Let the host stone them and hack them to pieces with their swords, kill their sons and daughters and burn down their houses. 48   Thus I will put an end to lewdness in the land, and other women shall be taught not to be as lewd as they. ^note 49   You shall pay the penalty for your lewd conduct and be punished for your idolatries, and you will know that I am the Lord God.

1   These were the words of the Lord, spoken to me on the tenth day of the tenth month in the ninth year: 2   Man, write down a name for this day, this very day: This is the day the king of Babylon invested Jerusalem. 3   Sing a song of derision to this people of rebels; say to them, These are the words of the Lord God:

    Set a cauldron on the fire,
    set it on and pour water into it.
     4   Into it collect the pieces,
      all the choice pieces,
  cram it with leg and shoulder and the best of the bones;
       5   take the best of the flock.
    Pack the logs ^note round it underneath;
      seethe the stew
    and boil the bones in it.


       6   O city running with blood,
    O pot green with corrosion,
    corrosion that will never be clean!

Jerusalem's downfall certain

Therefore these are the words of the Lord God:

    Empty it, piece after piece,
    though no lot is cast for any of them.
     7   The city had blood in her midst
    and she poured it out on the gleaming rock,
    not on the ground: she did not pour it there
    for the dust to cover it.
   8   But I too have spilt blood on the gleaming white rock
      so that it cannot be covered,
  to make anger flare up and to call down vengeance.

9   Therefore these are the words of the Lord God:

      O city running with blood,
    I too will make a great fire-pit.
   10   Fill it with logs, light the fire;
      make an end of the meat,
  pour out all the broth ^note and the bones with it. ^note
     11   Then set the pot empty on the coals
  so that its copper may be heated red-hot,
    and then the impurities in it may be melted
      and its corrosion burnt off.
       12   Try as you may, ^note
  the corrosion is so deep that it will not come off;
      only fire will rid it of corrosion for you.
   13   Even so, when I cleansed you in your filthy lewdness,
    you did not become clean from it,
      and therefore you shall never again be clean
    until I have satisfied my anger against you.

14   I, the Lord, have spoken; the time is coming, I will act. I will not refrain nor pity nor relent; I ^note will judge you for your conduct and for all that you have done. This is the very word of the Lord God.

15    16   These were the words of the Lord to me: Man, I am taking from you at one blow the dearest thing you have, but you must not wail or weep or give way to tears. 17   Keep in good heart; be quiet, and make no mourning for the dead; cover your head as usual and put sandals on your feet. You shall not cover your upper lip in mourning nor eat the bread of despair.

18   I spoke to the people in the morning; and that very evening my wife died. 19   Next morning I did as I was told. The people asked me to say what meaning my behaviour had for them. 20   I answered, These were the

Jerusalem's downfall certain words of the Lord to me: 21   Tell the Israelites, This is the word of the Lord God: I will desecrate my sanctuary, which has been the pride of your strength, the delight of your eyes and your heart's desire; and the sons and daughters whom you have left behind shall fall by the sword. 22   But, I said, you shall do as I have done: you shall not cover your upper lip in mourning nor eat the bread of despair. 23   You shall cover your head and put sandals on your feet; you shall not wail nor weep. Because of your wickedness you will pine away and will lament to ^note one another. 24   The Lord says, Ezekiel will be a sign to warn you, and when it happens you will do as he has done, and you will know that I am the Lord God.

25   And now, man, a word for you: I am taking from them that fortress whose beauty so gladdened them, the delight of their eyes, their heart's desire; I am taking their sons and their daughters. 26   Soon fugitives will come and tell you their news by word of mouth. 27   At once you will recover the power of speech and speak with the fugitives; you will no longer be dumb. So will you be a portent to them, and they shall know that I am the Lord. Prophecies against foreign nations

1    2   These were the words of the Lord to me: Man, look towards the Ammonites and prophesy against them. 3   Say to the Ammonites, Listen to the word of the Lord God. These are his words: Because you cried ‘Aha!’ when you saw my holy place desecrated, the soil of Israel laid waste and the people of Judah sent into exile, 4   I will hand you over as a possession to the tribes of the east. They shall pitch their camps and put up their dwellings among you; they shall eat your crops; they shall drink your milk. 5   I will make Rabbah a camel-pasture and Ammon a sheep-walk. Thus you shall know that I am the Lord. 6   These are the words of the Lord God: Because you clapped your hands and stamped your feet, and exulted over the land of Israel with single-minded scorn, 7   I will stretch out my hand over you and make you the prey of the nations and cut you off from all other peoples; in every land I will exterminate you and bring you to utter ruin. Thus you shall know that I am the Lord.

8   These are the words of the Lord God: Because Moab ^note said, ‘Judah is like all the rest’, 9   I will expose the flank of Moab and lay open its cities, ^note from one end to the other—the fairest of its cities: Bethjeshimoth,

Prophecies against foreign nations Baal-meon and Kiriathaim. 10   I will hand over Moab and Ammon together to the tribes of the east to be their possession, so that the Ammonites shall not be remembered among the nations, 11   and so that I may execute judgement upon Moab. Thus they shall know that I am the Lord.

12   These are the words of the Lord God: Because Edom took deliberate revenge on Judah and by so doing incurred lasting guilt, 13   I will stretch my hand out over Edom, says the Lord God, and destroy both man and beast in it, laying waste the land from Teman as far as Dedan; they shall fall by the sword. 14   I will wreak my vengeance upon Edom through my people Israel. They will deal with Edom as my anger and fury demand, and it shall feel my vengeance. This is the very word of the Lord God.

15   These are the words of the Lord God: Because the Philistines have taken deliberate revenge and have avenged themselves with single-minded scorn, 16   giving vent to their age-long enmity in destruction, I will stretch out my hand over the Philistines, says the Lord God, I will wipe out the Kerethites and destroy all the rest of the dwellers by the sea. 17   I will take fearful vengeance upon them and punish them in my fury. When I take my vengeance, they shall know that I am the Lord.

1   These were the words of the Lord to me on the first day of the first ^note month in the eleventh year: 2   Man, Tyre has said of Jerusalem,

  Aha! she that was the gateway of the nations is broken,
  her gates swing open to me;
  I grow rich, she lies in ruins. ^note

3   Therefore these are the words of the Lord God:

  I am against you, Tyre,
and will bring up many nations against you
  as the sea brings up its waves;
4   they will destroy the walls of Tyre and pull down her towers.
  I will scrape the soil off her
and make her a gleaming rock,
5   she shall be an islet where men spread their nets;
    I have spoken, says the Lord God.
  She shall become the prey of nations,
6   and her daughters ^note shall be slain by the sword in the open country.

Prophecies against foreign nations

Thus they shall know that I am the Lord.

7   These are the words of the Lord God: I am bringing against Tyre from the north Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, king of kings. He will come with horses and chariots, with cavalry and a great army.

     8   Your daughters in the open country
    he will put to the sword.
  He will set up watch-towers against you,
  pile up siege-ramps against you
  and raise against you a screen of shields.
9   He will launch his battering-rams on your walls
  and break down your towers with his axes.
10   He will cover you with dust from the thousands of his cavalry;
    at the thunder of his horses
    and of his chariot-wheels
your walls will quake when he enters your gates
  as men enter a city that is breached.
   11   He will trample all your streets
    with the hooves of his horses
  and put your people to the sword,
  and your strong pillars will fall to the ground.
     12   Your wealth will become spoil,
    your merchandise will be plundered,
    your walls levelled,
  your pleasant houses pulled down;
  your stones, your timber and your rubble
    will be dumped into the sea. ^note
   13   So I will silence the clamour of your songs,
and the sound of your harps shall be heard no more.
   14   I will make you a gleaming rock,
  a place for fishermen to spread their nets,
    and you ^note shall never be rebuilt.
  I, the Lord, have spoken.
    This is the very word of the Lord God.

15   These are the words of the Lord God to Tyre: How the coasts and islands will shake at the sound of your downfall, while the wounded groan, and the slaughter goes on ^note in your midst! 16   Then all the sea-kings will come down from their thrones, and lay aside their cloaks, and strip off their brocaded robes. They will wear coarse loin-cloths; they will sit on the ground, shuddering at every moment, horror-struck at your fate. 17   Then they will raise this dirge over you:

Prophecies against foreign nations

    How you are undone, swept ^note from the sea,
      O famous city!
    You whose strength lay in the sea,
      you and your inhabitants,
    who spread their terror throughout the mainland. ^note
   18   Now the coast-lands tremble on the day of your downfall,
  and the isles of the sea are appalled at your passing.

19   For these are the words of the Lord God: When I make you a desolate city, like a city where no man can live, when I bring up the primeval ocean against you and the great waters cover you, 20   I will thrust you down with those that descend to the abyss, to the dead of all the ages. I will make you dwell in the underworld as in places long desolate, with those that go down to the abyss. So you will never again be inhabited or take your place ^note in the land of the living. 21   I will bring you to a fearful end, and you shall be no more; men may look for you but will never find you again. This is the very word of the Lord God.

1    2   These were the words of the Lord to me: Man, raise a dirge over Tyre and say, 3   Tyre, throned above your harbours, you who carry the trade of the nations to many coasts and islands, these are the words of the Lord God:

    O Tyre, you said,
      ‘I am perfect in beauty.’
     4   Your frontiers are on the high seas,
    your builders made your beauty perfect;
     5   they fashioned all your timbers
      of pine from Senir;
    they took a cedar from Lebanon
    to raise up a mast over you.
   6   They made your oars of oaks from Bashan;
    they made your deck strong ^note with box-wood
      from the coasts of Kittim.
       7   Your canvas was linen,
    patterned linen from Egypt
    to make your sails;
  your awnings were violet and purple
      from the coasts of Elishah.
   8   Men of Sidon and Arvad became your oarsmen;
    you had skilled men within you, O Tyre,
      who served as your helmsmen.
     9   You had skilled veterans from Gebal
      caulking your seams.

Prophecies against foreign nations
  You had all sea-going ships and their sailors
      to market your wares;
   10   men of Pharas, ^note Lud, ^note and Put, served
      as warriors in your army;
    they hung shield and helmet around you,
    and it was they who gave you your glory.
   11   Men of Arvad and Cilicia manned all your walls,
    men of Gammad were posted on your towers
    and hung their shields around your battlements;
  it was they who made your beauty perfect.

12   Tarshish was a source of your commerce, from its abundant resources offering silver and iron, tin and lead, as your staple wares. 13   Javan, ^note Tubal, and Meshech dealt with you, offering slaves and vessels of bronze as your imports. 14   Men from Togarmah offered horses, mares, and mules as your staple wares. 15   Rhodians ^note dealt with you, great islands were a source of your commerce, paying what was due to you in ivory and ebony. 16   Edom ^note was a source of your commerce, so many were your undertakings, and offered purple garnets, brocade and fine linen, black coral and red jasper, ^note for your staple wares. 17   Judah and Israel dealt with you, offering wheat from Minnith, and meal, syrup, oil, and balsam, as your imports. 18   Damascus was a source of your commerce, so many were your undertakings, from its abundant resources offering wine of Helbon and wool of Suhar, 19   and casks of wine from Izalla, ^note for your staple wares; wrought iron, cassia, and sweet cane were among your imports. 20   Dedan dealt with you in coarse woollens for saddle-cloths. 21   Arabia and all the chiefs of Kedar were the source of your commerce in lambs, rams, and he-goats; this was your trade with them. 22   Dealers from Sheba and Raamah dealt with you, offering the choicest spices, every kind of precious stone and gold, as your staple wares. 23   Harran, Kanneh, and Eden, ^note dealers from Asshur and all Media, ^note dealt with you; 24   they were your dealers in gorgeous stuffs, violet cloths and brocades, in stores of coloured fabric rolled up and tied with cords; your dealings with them were in these.

   25   Ships of Tarshish were the caravans for your imports;
    you were deeply laden with full cargoes
      on the high seas.
   26   Your oarsmen brought you into many waters,
    but on the high seas an east wind wrecked you.
     27   Your wealth, your staple wares, your imports,

Prophecies against foreign nations
      your sailors and your helmsmen,
  your caulkers, your merchants, and your warriors,
    all your ship's company,
      all who were with you,
  were flung into the sea on the day of your disaster;
   28   at the cries of your helmsmen the troubled waters tossed.


   29   When all the rowers disembark from their ships,
  when the sailors, the helmsmen all together, go ashore,
     30   they exclaim over your fate,
      they cry out bitterly;
    they throw dust on their heads
      and sprinkle themselves with ashes.
     31   They tear out their hair at your plight
      and put on sackcloth;
    they weep bitterly over you,
      bitterly wailing.
   32   In their lamentation they raise a dirge over you,
      and this is their dirge:
      Who was like Tyre,
    with her buildings piled ^note off shore?
     33   When your wares were unloaded off the sea
    you met the needs of many nations;
      with your vast resources and your imports
      you enriched the kings of the earth.
     34   Now you are broken by the sea
      in deep water;
  your wares and all your company are gone overboard.
     35   All who dwell on the coasts and islands
      are aghast at your fate;
    horror is written on the faces of their kings
      and their hair stands on end.
   36   Among the nations the merchants jeer in derision at you;
  you have come to a fearful end and shall be no more for ever.

1    2   These were the words of the Lord to me: Man, say to the prince of Tyre, This is the word of the Lord God:

    In your arrogance you say,
      ‘I am a god;
  I sit throned like a god on the high seas.’
    Though you are a man and no god,
    you try to think the thoughts of a god.

Prophecies against foreign nations
   3   What? are you wiser than Danel ^note?
    Is no secret too dark for you?
     4   Clever and shrewd as you are,
    you have amassed wealth for yourself,
  you have amassed gold and silver in your treasuries;
     5   by great cleverness in your trading
      you have heaped up riches,
    and with your riches your arrogance has grown.

6   Therefore these are the words of the Lord God:

  Because you try to think the thoughts of a god
     7   I will bring strangers against you,
      the most ruthless of nations,
  who will draw their swords against your fine wisdom
      and lay your pride in the dust,
     8   sending you down to the pit ^note to die
    a death of disgrace on the high seas.
   9   Will you dare to say that you are a god
      when you face your assailants,
    though you are a man and no god
      in the hands of those who lay you low?
     10   You will die strengthless
      at the hands of strangers.

For I have spoken. This is the very word of the Lord God.

11    12   These were the words of the Lord to me: Man, raise this dirge over the king of Tyre, and say to him, This is the word of the Lord God:

    You set the seal on perfection;
    full of wisdom you were and altogether beautiful.
     13   You were in an Eden, a garden of God,
    adorned with gems of every kind:
    sardin and chrysolite and jade,
    topaz, cornelian and green jasper,
    lapis lazuli, ^note purple garnet and green felspar.
    Your jingling beads were of gold,
    and the spangles you wore were made for you
      on the day of your birth.
     14   I set you with a towering cherub ^note as guardian;
      you were on God's holy hill
    and you walked proudly among stones that flashed with fire.
     15   You were blameless in all your ways

Prophecies against foreign nations
      from the day of your birth
    until your iniquity came to light.
       16   Your commerce grew so great,
  lawlessness filled your heart and you went wrong,
  so I brought you down in disgrace from the mountain of God,
    and the guardian cherub banished you ^note
      from among the stones that flashed like fire.
     17   Your beauty made you arrogant,
  you misused your wisdom to increase your dignity.
      I flung you to the ground,
  I left you there, a sight for kings to see.
   18   So great was your sin in your wicked trading
      that you desecrated your sanctuaries.
    So I kindled a fire within you,
      and it devoured you.
    I left you as ashes on the ground
      for all to see.
   19   All among the nations who knew you were aghast:
  you came to a fearful end and shall be no more for ever.

20    21   These were the words of the Lord to me: Man, look towards Sidon and prophesy against her. 22   These are the words of the Lord God:

  Sidon, I am against you
    and I will show my glory in your midst.


  Men will know that I am the Lord
  when I execute judgement upon her
    and thereby prove my holiness.
   23   I will let loose pestilence upon her
    and bloodshed in her streets;
  the slain will fall in her streets,
  beset on all sides by the sword;
  then men will know that I am the Lord.

24   No longer shall the Israelites suffer from the scorn of their neighbours, the pricking of briars and scratching of thorns, and they shall know that I am the Lord God.

25   These are the words of the Lord God: When I gather the Israelites from the peoples among whom they are scattered, I shall thereby prove my holiness in the sight of all nations. They shall live on their native soil, which I gave to my servant Jacob. 26   They shall live there in peace of mind, build houses and plant vineyards; they shall live there in peace of

Prophecies against foreign nations mind when I execute judgement on all their scornful neighbours. Thus they shall know that I am the Lord their God.

1   These were the words of the Lord to me on the twelfth day of the tenth month in the tenth year: 2   Man, look towards Pharaoh king of Egypt and prophesy against him and all his country. 3   Say, These are the words of the Lord God:

    I am against you,
      Pharaoh king of Egypt,
      you great monster, ^note
    lurking in the streams of the Nile.
    You have said, ‘My Nile is my own;
      it was I who made it.’ ^note
     4   I will put hooks in your jaws
    and make them cling ^note to your scales.
    I will hoist you out of its streams
  with all its fish clinging to your scales.
       5   I will fling you into the wilderness,
    you and all the fish in your streams;
    you will fall on the bare ground
    with none to pick you up and bury ^note you;
      I will make you food
      for beasts and for birds.
     6   So all who live in Egypt will know
      that I am the Lord,
    for the support that you ^note gave to the Israelites
      was no better than a reed,
   7   which splintered in the hand when they grasped you,
    and tore their armpits;
    when they leaned upon you, you snapped
    and their limbs gave way.

8   This therefore is the word of the Lord God: I am bringing a sword upon you to destroy both man and beast. 9   The land of Egypt shall become a desolate waste, and they shall know that I am the Lord, because you ^note said, ‘The Nile is mine; it was I who made it.’ 10   I am against you therefore, you and your Nile, and I will make Egypt desolate, wasted by drought, from Migdol to Syene and up to the very frontier of Cush. 11   No foot of man shall pass through it, no foot of beast; it shall lie uninhabited for forty years. 12   I will make the land of Egypt the

Prophecies against foreign nations most desolate of desolate lands; her cities shall lie derelict among the ruined cities. For forty years shall they lie derelict, and I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations and disperse them among the lands.

13   These are the words of the Lord God: At the end of forty years I will gather the Egyptians from the peoples among whom they are scattered. 14   I will turn the fortunes of Egypt and bring them back to Pathros, the land of their origin, where they shall become a petty kingdom. 15   She shall be the most paltry of kingdoms and never again exalt herself over the nations, for I will make the Egyptians too few to rule over them. 16   The Israelites will never trust Egypt again; this will be a reminder to them of their sin in turning to Egypt for help. They shall know that I am the Lord God.

17   These were the words of the Lord to me on the first day of the first month in the twenty-seventh year: 18   Man, long did Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon keep his army in the field against Tyre, until every head was rubbed bare and every shoulder chafed. But neither he nor his army gained anything from Tyre for their long service against her. 19   This, therefore, is the word of the Lord God: I am giving the land of Egypt to Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon. He shall carry off its wealth, he shall spoil and plunder it, and so his army will be paid. 20   I have given him the land of Egypt as the wages for his service because they have disregarded me. This is the very word of the Lord God.

21   At that time I will make Israel put out fresh shoots, ^note and give you back the power to speak among them, and they will know that I am the Lord.

1    2   These were the words of the Lord to me: Man, prophesy and say, These are the words of the Lord God:

    Woe, woe for the day!
       3   for a day is near,
    a day of the Lord is near,
    a day of cloud, a day of reckoning for the nations.
     4   Then a sword will come upon Egypt,
      and there will be anguish in Cush,
      when the slain fall in Egypt,
  when its wealth is taken and its foundations are torn up.
     5   Cush and Put and Lud, ^note
    all the Arabs and Libyans ^note and the peoples of allied lands,
    shall fall with them by the sword.

6   These are the words of the Lord:

    All who support Egypt shall fall
    and her boasted might be brought low;

Prophecies against foreign nations
from Migdol to Syene men shall fall by the sword.
    This is the very word of the Lord God.

7   They shall be the most desolate of desolate lands, and their ^note cities shall lie derelict among the ruined cities. 8   When I set Egypt on fire and all her helpers are broken, they will know that I am the Lord. 9   When that time comes messengers shall go out in haste ^note from my presence to alarm Cush, still without a care, and anguish shall come upon her in Egypt's hour. Even now it is on the way.

10   These are the words of the Lord God:

  I will make an end of Egypt's hordes
  by the hands of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon.
11   He and his people with him, the most ruthless of nations,
  will be brought to ravage the land.
  They will draw their swords against Egypt
  and fill the land with the slain.
   12   I will make the streams of the Nile dry land
  and sell Egypt to evil men;
I will lay waste the land and everything in it by foreign hands.
  I, the Lord, have spoken.

13   These are the words of the Lord God:

      I will make an end of the lordlings ^note
  and wipe out the princelings ^note of Noph;
and never again shall a prince arise in Egypt.
  Then I will put fear in that land,
14   I will lay Pathros waste and set fire to Zoan
  and execute judgement on No.
   15   I will pour out my rage upon Sin,
    the bastion of Egypt,
  and destroy the horde of Noph. ^note
   16   I will set Egypt on fire,
  and Syene ^note shall writhe in anguish;
  the walls of No shall be breached
    and flood-waters shall burst into it. ^note
17   The young men of On and Pi-beseth ^note shall fall by the sword
  and the cities themselves go into captivity.
   18   Daylight shall fail in Tahpanhes
  when I break the yoke of Egypt there;
  then her boasted might shall be subdued;

Prophecies against foreign nations
  a cloud shall cover her,
  and her daughters ^note shall go into captivity.
   19   Thus I will execute judgement on Egypt,
  and they shall know that I am the Lord.

20   This was the word of the Lord to me on the seventh day of the first month in the eleventh year: 21   Man, I have broken the arm of Pharaoh king of Egypt. See, it has not been bound up with dressings and bandage ^note to give it strength to wield a sword. 22   These, therefore, are the words of the Lord God: I am against Pharaoh king of Egypt; I will break both his arms, the sound and the broken, and make the sword drop from his hand. 23   I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations and disperse them over many lands. 24   Then I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon and put my sword in his hand; but I will break Pharaoh's arms, and he shall lie wounded and groaning before him. 25   I will give strength to the arms of the king of Babylon, but the arms of Pharaoh will fall. Men will know that I am the Lord, when I put my sword in the hand of the king of Babylon, and he stretches it out over the land of Egypt. 26   I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations and disperse them over many lands, and they shall know that I am the Lord.

1   On the first day of the third month in the eleventh year this word came to me from the Lord: 2   Man, say to Pharaoh king of Egypt and all his horde:

  What are you like in your greatness?


3   Look at Assyria: it was a cedar in Lebanon,
  whose fair branches overshadowed the forest,
towering high with its crown finding a way through the foliage.
4   Springs nourished it, underground waters gave it height,
their streams washed the soil all round it
and sent forth their rills to every tree in the country.
5   So it grew taller than every other tree.
Its boughs were many, its branches spread far;
  for water was abundant in the channels.
6   In its boughs all the birds of the air had their nests,
under its branches all wild creatures bore their young,
and in its shadow all great nations made their home.
   7   A splendid great tree it was, with its long spreading boughs,
for its roots were beside abundant waters.
   8   No cedar in God's garden overshadowed it,
  no fir could compare with its boughs,
  and no plane-tree had such branches;

Prophecies against foreign nations
    not a tree in God's garden
  could rival its beauty.
   9   I, the Lord, gave it beauty
    with its mass of spreading boughs,
  the envy of all the trees in Eden,
    the garden of God.

10   Therefore these are the words of the Lord God: Because it ^note grew so high and pushed its crown up through the foliage, and its pride mounted as it grew, 11   therefore I handed it over to a prince of the nations to deal with it; I made an example of it as its wickedness deserved. 12   Strangers from the most ruthless of nations hewed it down and flung it away. Its sweeping boughs fell on the mountains and in all the valleys, and its branches lay broken beside all the streams in the land. All nations of the earth came out from under its shade and left it. 13   All the birds of the air settled on its fallen trunk; the wild creatures all stood by its branches. 14   Never again, therefore, shall the well-watered trees grow so high or push their crowns up through the foliage. Nor shall the strongest of them, well watered though they be, stand erect in their full height; for all have been given over to death, to the world below, to share the common doom and go down to the abyss.

15   These are the words of the Lord God: When he went down to Sheol, I closed the deep over him as a gate, I dammed its rivers, the great waters were held back. I put Lebanon in mourning for him, and all the trees of the country-side wilted. 16   I made nations shake with the crash of his fall, when I brought him down to Sheol with those who go down to the abyss. From this all the trees of Eden, all the choicest and best of Lebanon, all the well-watered trees, drew comfort in the world below. 17   They too like him had gone down to Sheol, to those slain with the sword; and those who had lived in his shadow were scattered among the nations. 18   Which among the trees of Eden was like you in glory and greatness? Yet you will be brought down with the trees of Eden to the world below; you will lie with those who have been slain by the sword, in the company of the strengthless dead. This stands for Pharaoh and all his horde. This is the very word of the Lord God.

1   On the first day of the twelfth month in the twelfth ^note year the word of the Lord came to me: 2   Man, raise a dirge over Pharaoh king of Egypt and say to him:

    Young lion of the nations, you are undone.
  You were like a monster ^note in the waters of the Nile

Prophecies against foreign nations
    scattering the water with its snout, ^{note note}
  churning the water with its feet
    and fouling the streams.

3   These are the words of the Lord God: When many nations are gathered together I will spread my net over you, and you will be dragged up in its meshes. 4   I will fling you on land, dashing you down on the bare ground. I will let all the birds of the air settle upon you and all the wild beasts gorge themselves on your flesh. 5   Your flesh I will lay on the mountains, and fill the valleys with the worms that feed on it. 6   I will drench the land with your discharge, drench it with your blood to the very mountain-tops, and the watercourses shall be full of you. 7   When I put out your light I will veil the sky and blacken its stars; I will veil the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not give its light. 8   I will darken all the shining lights of the sky above you and bring darkness over your land. This is the very word of the Lord God.

9   I will disquiet ^note many peoples when I bring your broken army among the nations into lands you have never known. 10   I will appal many peoples with your fate; when I brandish my sword in the faces of their kings, their hair shall stand on end. In the day of your downfall each shall tremble for his own fate from moment to moment. 11   For these are the words of the Lord God: The sword of the king of Babylon shall come upon you. 12   I will make the whole horde of you fall by the sword of warriors who are of all men the most ruthless. They shall make havoc of the pride of Egypt, and all its horde shall be wiped out. 13   I will destroy all their cattle beside many waters. No foot of man, no hoof of beast, shall ever churn them up again. 14   Then will I let their waters settle and their streams run smooth as oil. This is the very word of the Lord God. 15   When I have laid Egypt waste, and the whole land is devastated, when I strike down all who dwell there, they shall know that I am the Lord.

16   This is a dirge, and the women of the nations shall sing it as a dirge. They shall sing it as a dirge, as a dirge over Egypt and all its horde. This is the very word of the Lord God.

17   On the fifteenth day of the first ^note month in the twelfth year, the word of the Lord came to me:

   18   Man, raise a lament, you and the daughters of the nations,
      over the hordes of Egypt and her nobles,
    whom I will bring down ^note to the world below
    with those that go down to the abyss.

Prophecies against foreign nations
     19   Are you better favoured than others?
  Go down and be laid to rest with the strengthless dead.

20   A sword stands ready. Those who marched with her, and all her horde, shall fall into the midst of those slain by the sword. 21   Warrior chieftains in Sheol speak to Pharaoh ^note and those who aided him:

The strengthless dead, slain by the sword, have come down and are laid to rest. 22   There is Assyria with all her company, her buried around her, all of them slain and fallen by the sword. 23   Her graves are set in the recesses of the abyss, with her company buried around her, all of them slain, fallen by the sword, men who once filled the land of the living with terror. 24   There is Elam, with all her hordes buried around her, all of them slain, fallen by the sword; they have gone down strengthless to the world below, men who struck terror into the land of the living but now share the disgrace of those that go down to the abyss. 25   In the midst of the slain a resting-place has been made for her, with all her hordes buried around her; all of them strengthless, slain by the sword. For they who once struck terror into the land of the living now share the disgrace of those that go down to the abyss; they are assigned a place in the midst of the slain. 26   There are Meshech and Tubal with all their hordes, with their buried around them, all of them strengthless and slain by the sword, men who once struck terror into the land of the living. 27   Do they not rest with warriors fallen strengthless, ^note who have gone down to Sheol with their weapons, their swords under their heads and their shields over their bones, ^note though the terror of their prowess ^note once lay on the land of the living? 28   You also, Pharaoh, shall lie broken in the company of the strengthless dead, resting with those slain by the sword. 29   There is Edom, her kings and all her princes, who, for all their prowess, have been lodged with those slain by the sword; they shall rest with the strengthless dead and with those that go down to the abyss. 30   There are all the princes of the North and all the Sidonians, who have gone down in shame with the slain, for all the terror they inspired by their prowess. They rest strengthless with those slain by the sword, and they share the disgrace of those that go down to the abyss.

31   Pharaoh will see them and will take comfort for his lost hordes— Pharaoh who, with all his army, is slain by the sword, says the Lord God; 32   though he spread ^note terror throughout the land of the living, yet he with all his horde is laid to rest with those that are slain by the sword, in the company of the strengthless dead. This is the very word of the Lord God.

The remnant of Israel in the land

1    2   These were the words of the Lord to me: Man, say to your fellow-countrymen, When I set armies in motion against a land, its people choose one of themselves to be a watchman. 3   When he sees the enemy approaching and blows his trumpet to warn the people, then if anyone does not heed the warning and is overtaken by the enemy, 4    he is responsible for his own fate. 5   He is responsible because, when he heard the alarm, he paid no heed to it; if he had heeded it, he would have escaped. 6   But if the watchman does not blow his trumpet or warn the people when he sees the enemy approaching, then any man who is killed is caught with all his sins upon him; but I will hold the watchman answerable for his death. ^note

7   Man, I have appointed you a watchman for the Israelites. You will take messages from me and carry my warnings to them. 8   It may be that I pronounce sentence of death on a man because he is wicked; if you do not warn him to give up his ways, the guilt is his and because of his wickedness he shall die, but I will hold you answerable for his death. 9   But if you have warned him to give up his ways, and he has not given them up, he will die because of his wickedness, but you will have saved yourself.

10   Man, say to the Israelites, You complain, ‘We are burdened by our sins and offences; we are pining away because of them; we despair of life.’ 11   So tell them: As I live, says the Lord God, I have no desire for the death of the wicked. I would rather that a wicked man should mend his ways and live. Give up your evil ways, give them up; O Israelites, why should you die?

12   Man, say to your fellow-countrymen, When a righteous man goes wrong, his righteousness shall not save him. When a wicked man mends his ways, his former wickedness shall not bring him down. When a righteous man sins, all his righteousness cannot save his life. 13   It may be that, when I tell the righteous man that he will save his life, he presumes on his righteousness and does wrong; then none of his righteous acts will be remembered: he will die for the wrong he has done. 14   It may be that when I pronounce sentence of death on the wicked, he mends his ways and does what is just and right: 15   if he then restores the pledges he has taken, repays what he has stolen, and, doing no more wrong, follows the rules that ensure life, he shall live and not die. 16   None of the sins he has committed shall be remembered against him; he shall live, because he does what is just and right.

The remnant of Israel in the land

17   Your fellow-countrymen are saying, ‘The Lord acts without principle’, but it is their ways that are unprincipled. 18   When a righteous man gives up his righteousness and does wrong, he shall die because of it; 19   and when a wicked man gives up his wickedness and does what is just and right, he shall live. 20   How, Israel, can you say that the Lord acts without principle, when I judge every man of you on his deeds?

21   On the fifth day of the tenth month in the twelfth ^note year of our captivity, fugitives came to me from Jerusalem and told me that the city had fallen. 22   The evening before they arrived, the hand of the Lord had come upon me, and by the time they reached me in the morning the Lord had given me back my speech. My speech was restored and I was no longer dumb.

23    24   These were the words of the Lord to me: Man, the inhabitants of these wastes on the soil of Israel say, ‘When Abraham took possession of the land he was but one; now we are many, and the land has been granted to us in possession.’ 25   Tell them, therefore, that these are the words of the Lord God: You eat meat with the blood in it, you lift up your eyes to idols, you shed ^note blood; and yet you expect to possess the land! 26   You trust to the sword, you commit abominations, you defile one another's wives; and you expect to possess the land! 27   Tell them that these are the words of the Lord God: As I live, among the ruins they shall fall by the sword; in the open country I will give them for food to beasts; in dens and caves they shall die by pestilence. 28   I will make the land a desolate waste; her boasted might shall be brought to nothing, and the mountains of Israel shall be an untrodden desert. 29   When I make the land a desolate waste because of all the abominations they have committed, they will know that I am the Lord.

30   Man, your fellow-countrymen gather in groups and talk of you under walls and in doorways and say to one another, ‘Let us go and see what message there is from the Lord.’ 31   So my people will come crowding in, as people do, and sit down in front of you. They will hear what you have to say, but they will not do it. ‘Fine words ^note!’ they will say, but their hearts are set on selfish gain. 32   You are no more to them than a singer of fine songs ^note with a lovely voice, or a clever harpist; they will listen to what you say but will certainly not do it. 33   But when it comes, as come it will, they will know that there has been a prophet in their midst.

1    2   These were the words of the Lord to me: Prophesy, man, against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy and say to them, You shepherds, these are the words of the Lord God: How I hate the shepherds of Israel who care only for themselves! Should not the shepherd care for the sheep? 3   You consume the milk, wear the wool, and slaughter the fat beasts, but

The remnant of Israel in the land you do not feed the sheep. 4   You have not encouraged the weary, tended the sick, bandaged the hurt, recovered the straggler, or searched for the lost; and even the strong ^note you have driven with ruthless severity. 5   They are scattered, they have no shepherd, they have become the prey of wild beasts. ^note 6   My sheep go straying over the mountains and on every high hill, my flock is dispersed over the whole country, with no one to ask after them or search for them.

7    8   Therefore, you shepherds, hear the words of the Lord. As surely as I live, says the Lord God, because my sheep are ravaged by wild beasts and have become their prey for lack of a shepherd, because my shepherds have not asked after the sheep but have cared only for themselves and not for the sheep—therefore, 9   you shepherds, hear the words of the Lord. 10   These are the words of the Lord God: I am against the shepherds and will demand my sheep from them. I will dismiss those shepherds: they shall care only for themselves no longer; I will rescue my sheep from their jaws, and they shall feed on them no more.

11   For these are the words of the Lord God: Now I myself will ask after my sheep and go in search of them. 12   As a shepherd goes in search of his sheep when his flock is dispersed all around him, so I will go in search of my sheep and rescue them, no matter where they were scattered in dark and cloudy days. 13   I will bring them out from every nation, gather them in from other lands, and lead them home to their own soil. I will graze them on the mountains of Israel, by her streams and in all her green fields. 14   I will feed them on good grazing-ground, and their pasture shall be the high mountains of Israel. There they will rest, there in good pasture, and find rich grazing on the mountains of Israel. 15   I myself will tend my flock, I myself pen them in their fold, says the Lord God. 16   I will search for the lost, recover the straggler, bandage the hurt, strengthen the sick, leave the healthy and strong to play, ^note and give them their proper food.

17   As for you, my flock, these are the words of the Lord God: I will judge between one sheep and another. 18   You rams and he-goats! Are you not satisfied with grazing on good herbage, that you must trample down the rest with your feet? Or with drinking clear water, that you must churn up the rest with your feet? 19   My flock has to eat what you have trampled and drink what you have churned up. 20   These, therefore, are the words of the Lord God to them: Now I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean. 21   You hustle the weary with flank and shoulder, you butt them with your horns until you have driven them away and scattered them abroad. 22   Therefore I will save my flock, and they shall be ravaged no more; I will judge between one sheep and another. 23   Then I

The remnant of Israel in the land will set over them one shepherd to take care of them, my servant David; he shall care for them and become their shepherd. 24   I, the Lord, will become their God, and my servant David shall be a prince among them. 25   I, the Lord, have spoken. I will make a covenant with them to ensure prosperity; I will rid the land of wild beasts, and men shall live in peace of mind on the open pastures and sleep in the woods. 26   I will settle them in the neighbourhood of my hill ^note and send them rain in due season, blessed rain. 27   Trees in the country-side shall bear their fruit, the land shall yield its produce, and men shall live in peace of mind on their own soil. They shall know that I am the Lord when I break the bars of their yokes and rescue them from those who have enslaved them. 28   They shall never be ravaged by the nations again nor shall wild beasts devour them; they shall live in peace of mind, with no one to alarm them. 29   I will give prosperity ^note to their plantations; they shall never again be victims of famine in the land nor any longer bear the taunts of the nations. 30   They shall know that I, the Lord their God, am with them, and that they are my people Israel, says the Lord God. 31   You are my flock, my people, the flock I feed, and I am your God. This is the very word of the Lord God.

1    2   These were the words of the Lord to me: Man, look towards the hill-country of Seir and prophesy against it. 3   Say, These are the words of the Lord God:

  O hill-country of Seir, I am against you:
    I will stretch out my hand over you
    and make you a desolate waste.
     4   I will lay your cities in ruins
    and you shall be made desolate;
    thus you shall know that I am the Lord.
   5   For you have maintained an immemorial feud
  and handed over the Israelites to the sword
      in the hour of their doom,
      at the time of their final punishment.


   6   Therefore, as I live, says the Lord God,
  I make blood your destiny, and blood shall pursue you;
    you are most surely guilty of ^note blood,
      and blood shall pursue you.
   7   I will make the hill-country of Seir a desolate waste
  and put an end to all in it who pass to and fro;
   8   I will fill ^note your hills and your valleys with its slain,
  and those slain by the sword shall fall into your streams.

The remnant of Israel in the land
     9   I will make you desolate for ever,
    and your cities shall not be inhabited;
    thus you shall know that I am the Lord.

10   You say, The two nations and the two countries shall be mine and I will take possession of them, though the Lord is ^note there. 11   Therefore, as I live, says the Lord God, your anger and jealousy shall be requited, for I will do to you what you have done in your hatred against them. I shall be known among you ^note when I judge you; 12   you shall know that I am the Lord. I have heard all your blasphemies; you have said, ‘The mountains of Israel are desolate and have been given to us to devour.’ 13   You have set yourselves up against me and spoken recklessly against me. 14   I myself have heard you. These are the words of the Lord God: I will make you so desolate that the whole world will gloat over you. 15   I will do to you as you did to Israel my own possession when you gloated over its desolation. O hill-country of Seir, you will be desolate, and it will be the end of all Edom. Thus men will know that I am the Lord.

1   And do you, man, prophesy to the mountains of Israel and say, Mountains of Israel, hear the words of the Lord. 2   These are the words of the Lord God: The enemy has said, ‘Aha! now the everlasting highlands are ours.’ 3   Therefore prophesy and say, These are the words of the Lord God: You mountains of Israel, all round you men gloated over you and trampled you down when you were seized and occupied by the rest of the nations; your name was bandied about in the common talk of men. 4   Therefore, listen to the words of the Lord God when he speaks to the mountains and hills, to the streams and valleys, to the desolate palaces and deserted cities, all plundered and despised by the rest of the nations round you. 5   These are the words of the Lord God: In the fire of my jealousy I have spoken plainly against the rest of the nations, and against Edom above all. For Edom, swollen with triumphant scorn, seized on my land to hold it up to public contempt. 6   Therefore prophesy over the soil of Israel and say to the mountains and hills, the streams and valleys, These are the words of the Lord God: I have spoken my mind in jealousy and anger because you have had to endure the taunts of all nations. 7   Therefore, says the Lord God, I have sworn with uplifted hand that the nations round about shall be punished for ^note their taunts. 8   But you, mountains of Israel, you shall put forth your branches and yield your fruit for my people Israel, for their home-coming is near. 9   See now, I am for you, I will turn to you, and you shall be tilled and sown. 10   I will plant many men upon you—the whole house of Israel. The cities shall again be inhabited and the palaces rebuilt. 11   I will plant many men and beasts upon you; they shall increase and be fruitful. I will make you

The remnant of Israel in the land populous as in days of old and more prosperous than you were at first. 12   Thus you will know that I am the Lord. I will make men—my people Israel—tread your paths again. They shall settle in you, and you shall be their possession; but you shall never again rob them of their children.

13   These are the words of the Lord God: People say that you are a land that devours men and robs your tribes of their children. 14   But you shall never devour men any more nor rob your tribes of their children, says the Lord God. 15   I will never let you hear the taunts of the nations again nor shall you have to endure the reproaches of the peoples. ^noteThis is the very word of the Lord God.

16    17   These were the words of the Lord to me: Man, when the Israelites lived on their own soil they defiled it with their ways and deeds; their ways were foul and disgusting ^note in my sight. 18   I poured out my fury upon them because of the blood they had poured out upon the land, and the idols with which they had defiled it. 19   I scattered them among the nations, and they were dispersed among different countries; I passed on them the sentence which their ways and deeds deserved. 20   When they ^note came among those nations, they caused my holy name to be profaned wherever they came: men said of them, ‘These are the people of the Lord, and it is from his land that they have come.’ 21   And I spared them for the sake of my holy name which the Israelites had profaned among the nations to whom they had gone.

22   Therefore tell the Israelites that these are the words of the Lord God: It is not for your sake, you Israelites, that I am acting, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the peoples where you have gone. 23   I will hallow my great name, which has been profaned among those nations. When they see that I reveal my holiness through you, the nations will know that I am the Lord, says the Lord God. 24   I will take you out of the nations and gather you from every land and bring you to your own soil. 25   I will sprinkle clean water over you, and you shall be cleansed from all that defiles you; I will cleanse you from the taint of all your idols. 26   I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone from your body and give you a heart of flesh. 27   I will put my spirit into you and make you conform to my statutes, keep my laws and live by them. 28   You shall live in the land which I gave to your ancestors; you shall become my people, and I will become your God. 29   I will save you from all that defiles you; I will call to the corn and make it plentiful; I will bring no more famine upon you. 30   I will make the trees bear abundant fruit and the ground yield heavy crops, so that you will never again have to bear the reproach of famine among the nations. 31   You will recall your wicked ways and evil deeds, and

The remnant of Israel in the land you will loathe yourselves because of your wickedness and your abominations. 32   It is not for your sake that I am acting; be sure of that, says the Lord God. Feel, then, the shame and disgrace of your ways, men of Israel.

33   These are the words of the Lord God: When I cleanse you of all your wickedness, I will re-people the cities, and the palaces shall be rebuilt. 34   The land now desolate shall be tilled, instead of lying waste for every passer-by to see. 35   Men will say that this same land which was waste has become like a garden of Eden, and people will make their homes in the cities once ruined, wasted, and shattered, but now well fortified. 36   The nations still left around you will know that it is I, the Lord, who have rebuilt the shattered cities and planted anew the waste land; I, the Lord, have spoken and will do it.

37   These are the words of the Lord God: Yet again will I let the Israelites ask me to act in their behalf. I will make their men numerous as sheep, 38   like the sheep offered as holy-gifts, like the sheep in Jerusalem at times of festival. So shall their ruined cities be filled with human flocks, and they shall know that I am the Lord.

1   The hand of the Lord came upon me, and he carried me out by his spirit and put me down in a plain full of bones. 2   He made me go to and fro across them until I had been round them all; ^note they covered the plain, countless numbers of them, and they were very dry. 3   He said to me, ‘Man, can these bones live again?’ I answered, ‘Only thou knowest that, Lord God.’ 4   He said to me, ‘Prophesy over these bones and say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. 5   This is the word of the Lord God to these bones: I will put breath ^note into you, and you shall live. 6   I will fasten sinews on you, bring flesh upon you, overlay you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live; and you shall know that I am the Lord.’ 7   I began to prophesy as he had bidden me, and as I prophesied there was a rustling sound and the bones fitted themselves together. 8   As I looked, sinews appeared upon them, flesh covered them, and they were overlaid with skin, but there was no breath in them. 9   Then he said to me, ‘Prophesy to the wind, prophesy, man, and say to it, These are the words of the Lord God: Come, O wind, come from every quarter and breathe into these slain, that they may come to life.’ 10   I began to prophesy as he had bidden me: breath came into them; they came to life and rose to their feet, a mighty host. 11   He said to me, ‘Man, these bones are the whole people of Israel. They say, “Our bones are dry, our thread of life is snapped, our web is severed from the loom.” ^note 12   Prophesy, therefore, and say to them, These are the words of the Lord God: O my people, I will open your graves

The remnant of Israel in the land and bring you up from them, and restore you to the land of Israel. 13   You shall know that I am the Lord when I open your graves and bring you up from them, O my people. 14   Then I will put my spirit ^note into you and you shall live, and I will settle you on your own soil, and you shall know that I the Lord have spoken and will act. This is the very word of the Lord.’

15    16   These were the words of the Lord to me: Man, take one leaf of a wooden tablet and write on it, ‘Judah and his associates of Israel.’ Then take another ^note leaf and write on it, ‘Joseph, the leaf of Ephraim and all his associates of Israel.’ 17   Now bring the two together to form one tablet; then they will be a folding tablet in your hand. 18   When your fellow-countrymen ask you to tell them what you mean by this, 19   say to them, These are the words of the Lord God: I am taking the leaf of Joseph, which belongs to Ephraim and his associate tribes of Israel, and joining ^note to it the leaf of Judah. Thus I shall make them one tablet, and they shall be one in my hand. 20   The leaves on which you write shall be visible in your hand for all to see.

21   Then say to them, These are the words of the Lord God: I am gathering up the Israelites from their places of exile among the nations; I will assemble them from every quarter and restore them to their own soil. 22   I will make them one single nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel, and they shall have one king; they shall no longer be two nations or divided into two kingdoms. 23   They shall never again be defiled with their idols, their loathsome ways and all their disloyal acts; I will rescue them from all their sinful backsliding ^note and purify them. Thus they shall become my people, and I will become their God. 24   My servant David shall become king over them, and they shall have one shepherd. They shall conform to my laws, they shall observe and carry out my statutes. 25   They shall live in the land which I gave my servant Jacob, the land where your fathers lived. They and their descendants shall live there for ever, and my servant David shall for ever be their prince. 26   I will make a covenant with them to bring them prosperity; this covenant shall be theirs for ever. ^noteI will greatly increase their numbers, and I will put my sanctuary for ever in their midst. 27   They shall live under the shelter of my dwelling; I will become their God and they shall become my people. 28   The nations shall know that I the Lord am keeping Israel sacred to myself, because my sanctuary is in the midst of them for ever.

God's triumph over the world

1    2   These were the words of the Lord to me: Man, look towards Gog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal, in the land of Magog, and prophesy against him. 3   Say, These are the words of the Lord God: I am against you, Gog, prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal. 4   I will turn you about, I will put hooks in your jaws. I will lead you out, you and your whole army, horses and horsemen, all fully equipped, a great host with shield and buckler, every man wielding a sword, 5   and with them the men of Pharas, Cush, and Put, all with shield and helmet; 6   Gomer and all its squadrons, Beth-togarmah with its squadrons from the far recesses of the north—a great concourse of peoples with you. 7   Be prepared; make ready, you and all the host which has gathered to join you, and hold yourselves in reserve for me. ^{note note} 8   After many days you will be summoned; in years to come you will enter a land restored from ruin, whose people are gathered from many nations upon the mountains of Israel that have been desolate so long. The Israelites, brought out from the nations, will all be living undisturbed; and you will come up, driving in like a hurricane; 9   you will cover the land like a cloud, you and all your squadrons, a great concourse of peoples.

10   This is the word of the Lord God: At that time a thought will enter your head and you will plan evil. 11   You will say, ‘I will attack a land of open villages, I will fall upon a people living quiet and undisturbed, undefended by walls, with neither gates nor bars.’ 12   You will expect to come plundering, spoiling, and stripping bare the ruins where men now live again, a people gathered out of the nations, a people acquiring cattle and goods, and making their home at the very centre of the world. 13   Sheba and Dedan, the traders of Tarshish and her leading merchants, ^note will say to you, ‘Is it for plunder that you have come? Have you gathered your host to get spoil, to carry off silver and gold, to seize cattle and goods, to collect rich spoil?’

14   Therefore, prophesy, man, and say to Gog, These are the words of the Lord God: In that day when my people Israel is living undisturbed, 15   will you not awake ^note and come with many nations from your home in the far recesses of the north, all riding on horses, a great host, a mighty army? 16   You will come up against my people Israel; and in those future days you will be like a cloud covering the earth. I will bring you against my land, that the nations may know me, when they see me prove my holiness at your expense, O Gog.

God's triumph over the world

17   This is the word of the Lord God: When I spoke in days of old through my servants the prophets, who prophesied in those days unceasingly, it was you ^note whom I threatened to bring against Israel. 18   On that day, when at length Gog comes against the land of Israel, says the Lord God, my wrath will boil over. 19   In my jealousy and in the heat of my anger I swear that on that day there shall be a great earthquake throughout the land of Israel. 20   The fish in the sea and the birds in the air, the wild animals and all reptiles that move on the ground, all mankind on the face of the earth, all shall be shaken before me. Mountains shall be torn up, the terraced hills collapse, and every wall crash to the ground. 21   I will summon universal terror ^note against Gog, says the Lord God, and his men shall turn their swords against one another. 22   I will bring him to judgement with pestilence and bloodshed; I will pour down teeming rain, hailstones hard as rock, and fire and brimstone, upon him, upon his squadrons, upon the whole concourse of peoples with him. 23   Thus will I prove myself great and holy and make myself known to many nations; they shall know that I am the Lord.

1   And you, man, prophesy against Gog and say, These are the words of the Lord God: I am against you, Gog, prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal. 2   I will turn you about and drive you, I will fetch you up from the far recesses of the north and bring you to the mountains of Israel. 3   I will strike the bow from your left hand and dash the arrows from your right hand. 4   There on the mountains of Israel you shall fall, you, all your squadrons, and your allies; I will give you as food to the birds of prey and the wild beasts. 5   You shall fall on the bare ground, for it is I who have spoken. 6   This is the very word of the Lord God. I will send fire on Magog and on those who live undisturbed in the coasts and islands, and they shall know that I am the Lord. 7   My holy name I will make known in the midst of my people Israel and will no longer let it be profaned; the nations shall know that in Israel I, the Lord, am holy.

8   Behold, it comes; it shall be, says the Lord God, the day of which I have spoken. 9   The dwellers in the cities of Israel shall come out and gather weapons to light their fires, buckler and shield, bow and arrows, throwing-stick and lance, and they shall kindle fires with them for seven years. 10   They shall take no wood from the fields nor cut it from the forests but shall light their fires with the weapons. Thus they will plunder their plunderers and spoil their spoilers. This is the very word of the Lord God.

11   In that day I will give to Gog, instead of ^note a burial-ground in Israel, the valley of Abarim east of the Sea. ^noteThere they shall bury Gog and all his horde, and all Abarim will be blocked; and they shall call it the

God's triumph over the world Valley of Gog's Horde. 12   For seven months the Israelites shall bury them and purify the land; 13   all the people shall take their share in the burying. The day that I win myself honour shall be a memorable day for them. 14   This is the very word of the Lord God. Men shall be picked for the regular duty of going through the country and searching for ^note any left above ground, to purify the land; they shall begin their search at the end of the seven months. 15   They shall go through the country, and whenever one of them sees a human bone he shall put a marker beside it, until it has been buried in the Valley of Gog's Horde. 16   So no more shall be heard of that great horde, ^note and the land will be purified.

17   Man, these are the words of the Lord God: Cry to every bird that flies and to all the wild beasts: Come, assemble, gather from every side to my sacrifice, the great sacrifice I am making for you on the mountains of Israel; 18   eat flesh and drink blood, eat the flesh of warriors and drink the blood of princes of the earth; all these are your rams and sheep, he-goats and bulls, and buffaloes of Bashan. 19   You shall cram yourselves with fat and drink yourselves drunk on blood at the sacrifice which I am preparing for you. 20   At my table you shall eat your fill of horses and riders, of warriors and all manner of fighting men. This is the very word of the Lord God.

21   I will show my glory among the nations; all shall see the judgement that I execute and the heavy hand that I lay upon them. 22   From that day forwards the Israelites shall know that I am the Lord their God. 23   The nations shall know that the Israelites went into exile for their iniquity, because they were faithless to me. So I hid my face from them and handed them over to their enemies, and they fell, every one of them, by the sword. 24   I dealt with them as they deserved, defiled and rebellious as they were, and hid my face from them.

25   These, therefore, are the words of the Lord God: Now I will restore the fortunes of Jacob and show my affection for all Israel, and I will be jealous for my holy name. 26   They shall forget their shame and all their unfaithfulness to me, when they are at home again on their own soil, undisturbed, with no one to alarm them. 27   When I bring them home out of the nations and gather them from the lands of their enemies, I will make them an example of my holiness, for many nations to see. 28   They will know that I am the Lord their God, because I who sent them into exile among the nations will bring them together again on the soil of their own land and leave none of them behind. 29   No longer will I hide my face from them, I who have poured out my spirit upon Israel. This is the very word of the Lord God.

The restored theocracy

1    ^noteAt the beginning of the year, on the tenth day of the month, in the twenty-fifth year of our exile, that is fourteen years after the destruction of the city, on that very day, the hand of the Lord came upon me and he brought me there. 2   In a vision God brought me to the land of Israel and set me on a very high mountain, where I saw what seemed the buildings of a city facing me. ^note 3   He led me towards it, and I saw a man like a figure of bronze holding a cord of linen thread and a measuring-rod, and standing at the gate. 4   ‘Man,’ he said to me, ‘look closely and listen carefully; mark well all that I show you, for this is why you have been brought here. Tell the Israelites all that you see.’

5   Round the outside of the temple ran a wall. The length of the rod which the man was holding was six cubits, reckoning by the long cubit which was one cubit and a hand's breadth. He measured the thickness and the height of the wall; each was one rod. 6   He came to a gate which faced eastwards, went up its steps and measured the threshold of the gateway; its depth was one rod. ^note 7   Each cell was one rod long and one rod wide; the space between the cells five cubits, and the threshold of the gateway at the end of the vestibule on the side facing the temple one rod. 8    9   He measured the vestibule of the gate and found it ^note eight cubits, with pilasters two cubits thick; the vestibule of the gateway lay at the end near the temple. 10   Now the cells of the gateway, looking back eastwards, were three in number on each side; all three of the same size, and their pilasters on each side of the same size also. 11   He measured the entrance into the gateway; it was ten cubits wide, and the gateway itself throughout its length thirteen cubits wide. 12   In front of the cells on each side lay a kerb, one cubit wide; each cell was six cubits by six. 13   He measured the width of the gateway through the cell doors which faced one another, from the back ^note of one cell to the back ^note of the opposite cell; he made it twenty-five cubits, and the vestibule ^note twenty ^note cubits, across; 14    the gateway on every side projected into ^note the court. 15   From the front of the entrance-gate to the outer face of the vestibule of the inner gate the distance was fifty cubits. 16   Both cells and pilasters had loopholes all round inside the gateway, and the vestibule had windows ^note all round within and palms carved on each pilaster.

The restored theocracy

17   He brought me to the outer court, and I saw rooms and a pavement all round the court: in all, thirty rooms on the pavement. 18   The pavement ran up to the side of the gateways, as wide as they were long; this was the lower pavement. 19   He measured the width of the court ^note from the front of the lower gateway to the outside of the inner gateway; ^note it was a hundred cubits. 20   He led me round to the north and I saw a gateway ^note facing northwards, belonging to the outer court, and he measured its length and its breadth. 21   Its cells, three on each side, together with its pilasters and its vestibule, were the same size as those of the first gateway, fifty cubits long by twenty-five wide. 22   So too its windows, and those of ^note its vestibule, and its palms were the same size as those of the gateway which faced east; it was approached by seven steps with its vestibule facing them. 23   A gate like that on the east side ^note led to the inner court opposite the northern gateway; he measured from gateway to gateway, and it was a hundred cubits. 24   Then he led me round to the south, and I found a gateway facing southwards. He measured its cells, ^note its pilasters, and its vestibule, and found it the same size as the others, fifty cubits long by twenty-five wide. 25   Both gateway and vestibule had windows all round like the others. 26   It was approached by seven steps with a vestibule facing them and palms carved on each pilaster. 27   The inner court had a gateway facing southwards, and he measured from gateway to gateway; ^note it was a hundred cubits.

28   He brought me into the inner court through the southern gateway, measured it and found it the same size as the others. 29   So were its cells, pilasters, and vestibule, fifty cubits long by twenty-five wide. It and its vestibule had windows all round. ^note 31   Its vestibule faced the outer court; it had palms carved on its pilasters, and eight steps led up to it.

32   Then he brought me into the inner court, towards the east, and measured the gateway and found it the same size as the others. 33   So too were its cells, pilasters, and vestibule; it and its vestibule had windows all round, and it was fifty cubits long by twenty-five wide. 34   Its vestibule faced the outer court and had a palm carved on each pilaster; eight steps led up to it. 35   Then he brought me to the north gateway and measured it and found it the same size as the others. 36   So were ^note its cells, pilasters, and vestibule, and it had windows all round; it was fifty cubits long by twenty-five wide. 37   Its vestibule ^note faced the outer court and had palms carved on the pilaster at each side; eight steps led up to it.

The restored theocracy

38   There was a room opening out from the vestibule of the gateway; ^note here the whole-offerings were washed. 39   In the vestibule of the gateway were two tables on each side, at which to slaughter the whole-offering, the sin-offering, and the guilt-offering. 40   At the corner on the outside, as one goes up to the opening of the northern gateway, stood two tables, and two more at the other corner of the vestibule of the gateway. 41   Another four stood on each side at the corner of the gateway, eight tables in all at which slaughtering was done. 42   Four tables used for the whole-offering were of hewn stone, each a cubit and a half long by a cubit and a half wide and a cubit high; and on them ^note they put the instruments used for the whole-offering and other sacrifices. 43   The flesh of the offerings was on the tables, ^note and ledges a hand's breadth in width were fixed all round facing inwards.

44   Then he brought me right into the inner court, and I saw two rooms ^note in the inner court, one at the corner of the northern gateway, facing south, and one at the corner of the southern ^note gateway, facing north. 45   This room facing south, he told me, is for the priests who have charge of the temple. 46   The room facing north is for the priests who have charge of the altar; these are the sons of Zadok, who alone of the Levites may come near to serve the Lord. 47   He measured the court; it was square, a hundred cubits each way, and the altar lay in front of the temple.

48   Then he brought me into the vestibule of the temple, and measured a pilaster of the vestibule; it was five cubits on each side, the width of the gateway fourteen cubits and that of the corners of the gateway ^note three cubits in each direction. 49   The vestibule was twenty cubits long by twelve ^note wide; ten ^note steps led up to it, and by the pilasters rose pillars, one on each side.

1   Then he brought me into the sanctuary and measured the pilasters; they were six cubits wide on each side. ^note 2   The opening was ten cubits wide and its corners five cubits wide in each direction. He measured its length; it was forty cubits, and its width twenty. 3   He went inside and measured the pilasters at the opening: they were two cubits; the opening itself was six cubits, and the corners ^note of the opening were seven cubits in each direction. ^note 4   Then he measured the room at the far end of the sanctuary; its length and its breadth were each twenty cubits. He said to me, ‘This is the Holy of Holies.’

5   He measured the wall of the temple; it was six cubits high, and each arcade all round the house was four cubits wide. 6   The arcades were arranged in three tiers, each tier in thirty sections. In the wall all round

The restored theocracy the temple there were intakes for the arcades, so that they could be supported without being fastened into the wall of the temple. 7   The higher up the arcades were, the broader they were all round by the addition of the intakes, ^note one above the other all round the temple; the temple itself had a ramp ^note running upwards on a base, and in this way one went up from ^note the lowest to the highest tier by way of the middle tier.

8   Then I saw a raised pavement all round the temple, and the foundations of the arcades were flush with it and measured a full rod, six cubits high. 9   The outer wall of the arcades was five cubits thick. There was an unoccupied area beside the terrace ^note which was adjacent to the temple, 11    ^note and the arcades ^note opened on to this area, one opening facing northwards and one southwards; the unoccupied area was five cubits wide on all sides. 10   There was a free space ^note twenty cubits wide all round the temple. 12   On the western side, at the far end of the free space, stood a building seventy cubits wide; its wall was five cubits thick all round, and its length ninety cubits.

13   He measured the temple; it was a hundred cubits long; and the free space, the building, and its walls, a hundred cubits in all. 14   The eastern front of the temple and the free space was a hundred cubits wide. 15   He measured the length of the building at the far end of the free space to the west of the temple, and its corridors on each side: a hundred cubits.

The sanctuary, the inner shrine and the outer vestibule were panelled; 16   the embrasures all round the three of them were framed with wood all round. 17   From the ground up to the windows and above the door, ^note both in the inner and outer chambers, round all the walls, inside and out, were carved figures, ^note 18   cherubim and palm-trees, a palm between every pair of cherubim. 19   Each cherub had two faces: one the face of a man, looking towards one palm-tree, and the other the face of a lion, looking towards another palm-tree. Such was the carving round the whole of the temple. 20   The cherubim and the palm-trees were carved from the ground up to the top of the doorway and on the wall of the sanctuary. 21   The door-posts of the sanctuary were square. ^note

22   In front of ^note the Holy Place was what seemed an altar of wood, three cubits high and two cubits long; it was fitted with corner-posts, and its base ^note and sides also were of wood. He told me that this was the table which stood before the Lord. 23   The sanctuary had a double door, and the Holy Place also had a double door: 24   the double doors had swinging

The restored theocracy leaves, a pair for each door. 25   Cherubim and palm-trees like those on the walls were carved on them. ^noteOutside there was a wooden cornice over the vestibule; 26   on both sides of the vestibule were loopholes, with palm-trees carved at the corners. ^note

1   Then he took me to the outer court round by the north and brought me to the rooms ^note facing the free space and facing the buildings to the north. 2   The length along the northern side was a hundred cubits, ^note and the breadth fifty. 3   Facing the free space measuring twenty cubits, which adjoined the inner court, and facing the pavement of the outer court, were corridors at three levels corresponding to each other. 4   In front of the rooms a passage, ten cubits wide and a hundred cubits long, ^note ran towards the inner court; their entrances faced northwards. 5   The upper rooms were shorter than the lower and middle rooms, because the corridors took ^note building space from them. 6   For they were all at three levels and had no pillars as the courts had, so that the lower and middle levels were recessed from the ground upwards. 7   An outside wall, fifty cubits long, ran parallel to the rooms and in front of them, on the side of the outer court. 8   The rooms adjacent to the outer court were fifty cubits long, and those facing the sanctuary a hundred cubits. 9   Below these rooms was an entry from the east as one entered them from the outer court where the wall of the court began. ^note 10   On the south ^note side, passing by the free space and the building, 11   were other rooms with a passage in front of them. These rooms corresponded, in length and breadth and in general character, 12   to those facing north, whose exits and entrances were the same as those of the rooms on the south. As one ^note went eastwards, where the passages began, there was an entrance in the face of the inner ^note wall. 13   Then he said to me, ‘The northern and southern rooms facing the free space are the consecrated rooms where the priests who approach the Lord may eat the most sacred offerings. There they shall put these offerings as well as the grain-offering, the sin-offering, and the guilt-offering; for the place is holy. 14   When the priests have entered the Holy Place they shall not go into the outer court again without leaving here the garments they have worn while performing their duties, for these are holy. They shall put on other garments when they approach the place assigned to the people.’

15   When he had finished measuring the inner temple, he brought me out towards the gateway which faces eastwards and measured the whole area. 16   He measured the east side with the measuring-rod, and it

The restored theocracy was five hundred cubits. ^note 17   He turned and measured ^note the north side with his rod, and it was five hundred cubits. ^note 18    ^noteHe turned to ^note the south side and measured it with his rod; it was five hundred cubits. ^note 19   He turned to the west and measured it with his rod; it was five hundred cubits. ^note 20   So he measured all four sides; in each direction the surrounding wall measured five hundred cubits. ^noteThis marked off the sacred area from the profane.

1    2   He led me to the gate, the gate facing eastwards, and I beheld the glory of the God of Israel coming from the east. His voice was like the sound of a mighty torrent, and the earth shone with his glory. 3   The form that I saw was the same as that which I had seen when he ^note came to destroy the city, and as that which I had seen by the river Kebar, ^note and I fell on my face. 4   The glory of the Lord came up to the temple towards the gate which faced eastwards. 5   A spirit ^note lifted me up and brought me into the inner court, and the glory of the Lord filled the temple. 6   Then I heard one speaking to me from the temple, and the ^note man was standing at my side. 7   He said, Man, do you see ^note the place of my throne, the place where I set my feet, where I will dwell among the Israelites for ever? Neither they nor their kings shall ever defile my holy name again with their wanton disloyalty, and with the corpses ^note of their kings when they die. 8   They set their threshold by mine and their door-post beside mine, with a wall between me and them, and they defiled my holy name with the abominations they committed, and I destroyed them in my anger. 9   But now they shall abandon their wanton disloyalty and remove the corpses ^note of their kings far from me, and I will dwell among them for ever. 10   So tell the Israelites, man, about this temple, its appearance and proportions, ^note that they may be ashamed of their iniquities. 11   If they are ashamed of all they have done, you shall describe ^note to them the temple and its fittings, its exits and entrances, all the details and particulars of its elevation and plan; explain them and draw them before their eyes, so that they may keep them in mind and carry them out. 12   This is the plan of the temple to be built on the top of the mountain; all its precincts on every side shall be most holy. ^note

13   These were the dimensions of the altar in cubits (the cubit that is a cubit and a hand's breadth). This was the height ^note of the altar: the base was a cubit high ^note and projected a cubit; on its edge was a rim one span deep. 14   From the base to the cubit-wide ridge of the lower pedestal-block was two cubits, and from this shorter ^note pedestal-block to the

The restored theocracy cubit-wide ridge of the taller ^note pedestal-block was four cubits. 15   The altar-hearth was four cubits high and was surmounted by four horns a cubit high. ^note 16   The hearth was twelve cubits long and twelve cubits wide, being a perfect square. 17   The upper pedestal-block was fourteen cubits long and fourteen cubits wide along its four sides, and the rim round it was half a cubit deep. The base of the altar projected a cubit, and there were steps facing eastwards.

18   He said to me, Man, these are the words of the Lord God: These are the regulations for the altar when it has been made, for sacrificing whole-offerings on it and flinging the blood against it. 19   The levitical priests of the family of Zadok, and they alone, may come near to me to serve me, says the Lord God. You shall assign them a young bull for a sin-offering; 20   you shall take some of the blood and put it on the four horns of the altar, on the four corners of the upper pedestal and all round the rim, and so purify it and make expiation for it. 21   Then take the bull assigned as the sin-offering, and they shall destroy it by fire in the proper place within the precincts but outside the Holy Place. 22   On the second day you shall present a he-goat without blemish as a sin-offering, and with it they shall purify the altar as they did with the bull. 23   When you have completely purified the altar, you shall present a young bull without blemish and a ram without blemish from the flock. 24   You shall present them before the Lord; the priests shall throw salt on them and sacrifice them as a whole-offering to the Lord. 25   For seven days you shall provide as a daily sin-offering a goat, a young bull, and a ram from the flock; all of them shall be provided free from blemish. 26   For seven days they shall make expiation for the altar, and pronounce it ritually clean, and consecrate it. 27   At the end of that time, on the eighth day and onwards, the priests shall sacrifice on the altar your whole-offerings and your shared-offerings, and I will accept you. This is the very word of the Lord God.

1   He again brought me round to the outer gate of the sanctuary facing eastwards, and it was shut. 2   The Lord said to me, This gate shall be kept shut; it must not be opened. No man may enter by it, for the Lord the God of Israel has entered by it. 3   It shall be kept shut. The prince, however, when he is here as prince, may sit there to eat food in the presence of the Lord; he shall come in and go out by the vestibule of the gate.

4   He brought me round to the northern gate facing the temple, and I saw the glory of the Lord filling the Lord's house, and I fell on my face. 5   The Lord said to me, Mark well, man, look closely, and listen carefully to all that I say to you, to all the rules and regulations for the house of the Lord. Mark well the entrance to the house of the Lord and all the

The restored theocracy exits from the sanctuary. 6   Say to that rebel people of Israel, These are the words of the Lord God: Enough of all these abominations of yours, you Israelites! 7   You have added to them by bringing foreigners, uncircumcised in mind and body, to stand in my sanctuary and defile my house when you present my food to me, both fat and blood, and they have made my covenant void. 8   Instead of keeping charge of my holy things yourselves, you have chosen to put these men in charge of my sanctuary.

9   These are the words of the Lord God: No foreigner, uncircumcised in mind and body, shall enter my sanctuary, not even a foreigner living among the Israelites. 10   But the Levites, though they deserted me when the Israelites went astray after their idols and had to bear the punishment of their iniquity, shall yet do service in my sanctuary. 11   They shall take charge of the gates of the temple and do service there. They shall slaughter the whole-offering and the sacrifice for the people and shall be in attendance to serve them. 12   Because they served them in the presence of their idols and brought Israel to the ground by their iniquity, says the Lord God, I have sworn with uplifted hand that they shall bear the punishment of their iniquity. 13   They shall not have access to me, to serve me as priests; they shall not come near to my holy things or to the Holy of Holies; they shall bear the shame of the abominable deeds they have done. 14   I will put them in charge of the temple with all the service which must be performed there.

15   But the levitical priests of the family of Zadok remained in charge of my sanctuary when the Israelites went astray from me; these shall approach me to serve me. They shall be in attendance on me, presenting the fat and the blood, says the Lord God. 16   It is they who shall enter my sanctuary and approach my table to serve me and observe my charge. 17   When they come to the gates of the inner court they shall dress in linen; they shall wear no wool when they serve me at the gates of the inner court and within. 18   They shall wear linen turbans, and linen drawers on their loins; they shall not fasten their clothes with a belt so that they sweat. 19   When they go out to the people in the outer court, ^note they shall take off the clothes they have worn while serving, leave them in the sacred rooms and put on other clothes; otherwise they will transmit the sacred influence to the people through their clothing.

20   They shall neither shave their heads nor let their hair grow long; they shall only clip their hair. 21   No priest shall drink wine when he is to enter the inner court. 22   He may not marry a widow or a divorced woman; he may marry a virgin of Israelite birth. He may, however, marry the widow of a priest.

23   They shall teach my people to distinguish the sacred from the profane, and show them the difference between clean and unclean. 24   When

The restored theocracy disputes break out, they shall take their place in court, and settle the case according to my rules. At all my appointed seasons they shall observe my laws and statutes. They shall keep my sabbaths holy.

25   They shall not defile themselves ^note by contact with any dead person, except ^note father or mother, son or daughter, brother or unmarried sister. 26   After purification, they shall count seven days and then be clean. ^note 27   When they enter ^note the inner court to serve in the Holy Place, they shall present their ^note sin-offering, says the Lord GOD.

28   They shall own no ^note patrimony in Israel; I am their patrimony. You shall grant them no holding in Israel; I am their holding. 29   The grain-offering, the sin-offering, and the guilt-offering shall be eaten by them, and everything in Israel devoted to God shall be theirs. 30   The first of all the firstfruits and all your contributions of every kind shall belong wholly to the priests. You shall give the first lump of your dough to the priests, that a blessing may rest upon your home. 31   The priests shall eat no carrion, bird or beast, whether it has died naturally or been killed by a wild animal.

1   When you divide the land by lot among the tribes for their possession, you shall set apart from it a sacred reserve for the Lord, twenty-five thousand cubits in length and twenty ^note thousand in width; the whole enclosure shall be sacred. 2   Of this a square plot, five hundred cubits each way, shall be devoted to the sanctuary, with fifty cubits of open land round it. 3   From this area you shall measure out a space twenty-five thousand by ten thousand cubits, in which the sanctuary, the holiest place of all, shall stand. 4   This space is ^note for the priests who serve in the sanctuary and who come nearest in serving the Lord. It shall include space for their houses and a sacred plot for the sanctuary. 5   An area of twenty-five thousand by ten thousand cubits shall belong to the Levites, the temple servants; on this shall stand the towns in which they live. ^note 6   You shall give to each town an area of five thousand by twenty-five thousand cubits alongside the sacred reserve; this shall belong to all Israel. 7   On either side of the sacred reserve and of the city's holding the prince shall have a holding facing the sacred reserve and the city's holding, running westwards on the west and eastwards on the east. It shall run alongside one of the tribal portions, and stretch to the western limit of the land and to the eastern. 8   It shall be his holding in Israel; the princes of Israel ^note shall never oppress my people again but shall give the land to Israel, tribe by tribe.

The restored theocracy

9   These are the words of the Lord God: Enough, princes of Israel! Put an end to lawlessness and robbery; maintain law and justice; relieve my people and stop your evictions, says the Lord God. 10   Your scales shall be honest, your bushel ^note and your gallon ^note shall be honest. 11   There shall be one standard for each, taking each as the tenth of a homer, and the homer shall have its fixed standard. 12   Your shekel weight shall contain twenty gerahs; your mina shall contain weights of ten ^note and twenty-five and fifteen shekels.

13   These are the contributions you shall set aside: out of every homer of wheat or of barley, one sixth of an ephah. 14   For oil the rule is ^note one tenth of a bath from every kor ^note (at ten bath to the kor ^note); 15   one sheep in every flock of two hundred is to be reserved by every Israelite clan. ^noteFor a grain-offering, a whole-offering, and a shared-offering, to make expiation for them, 16   says the Lord God, all the people of the land shall bring ^note this contribution to the prince in Israel; and the prince shall be responsible for the whole-offering, the grain-offering, and the drink-offering, at pilgrim-feasts, new moons, sabbaths, and every sacred season observed by Israel. He himself is to provide the sin-offering and the grain-offering, the whole-offering and the shared-offering, needed to make expiation for Israel.

18   These are the words of the Lord God: On the first day of the first month you shall take a young bull without blemish, and purify the sanctuary. 19   The priest shall take some of the blood from the sin-offering and put it on the door-posts of the temple, on the four corners of the altar pedestal and on the gate-posts of the inner court. 20   You shall do the same on the seventh day of the month; ^note in this way you shall make expiation for the temple.

21   On the fourteenth day of the first month you shall hold the Passover, the pilgrim-feast of seven days; bread must be eaten unleavened. 22   On that day the prince shall provide a bull as a sin-offering for himself and for all the people. 23   During the seven days of the feast he shall offer daily as a whole-offering to the Lord seven bulls and seven rams without blemish, and a he-goat as a daily sin-offering. 24   With every bull and ram he shall provide a grain-offering of one ephah, together with a hin of oil for each ephah. 25   He shall do the same thing also on the fifteenth day of the seventh month at the pilgrim-feast; this also shall last seven days, and he shall provide the same sin-offering and whole-offering and the same quantity of grain and oil.

The restored theocracy

1   These are the words of the Lord God: The eastern gate of the inner court shall remain closed for the six working days; it may be opened only on the sabbath and at new moon. 2   When the prince comes through the porch of the gate from the outside, he shall halt at the door-post, and the priests shall sacrifice his whole-offering and shared-offerings. On the terrace he shall bow down at the gate and then go out, but the gate shall not be shut till the evening. 3   On sabbaths and at new moons the people also shall bow down before the Lord at the entrance to that gate.

4   The whole-offering which the prince sacrifices to the Lord shall be as follows: on the sabbath, six sheep without blemish and a ram without blemish; 5   the grain-offering shall be an ephah with the ram and as much as he likes with the sheep, together with a hin of oil for every ephah. 6   At the new moon it shall be a young bull without blemish, ^note six sheep and a ram, all without blemish. 7   He shall provide as the grain-offering to go with the bull one ephah and with the ram one ephah, with the sheep as much as he can afford, adding a hin of oil for every ephah.

8   When the prince comes in, he shall enter through the porch of the gate and come out by the same way. 9   But on festal days when the people come before the Lord, a man who enters by the northern gate to bow down shall leave by the southern gate, and a man who enters by the southern gate shall leave by the northern gate. He shall not turn back and go out through the gate by which he came in but shall go straight on. 10   The prince shall then be among them, going in when they go in and coming out when they come out.

11   At pilgrim-feasts and on festal days the grain-offering shall be an ephah with a bull, an ephah with a ram and as much as he likes with a sheep, together with a hin of oil for every ephah.

12   When the prince provides a whole-offering or shared-offerings as a voluntary sacrifice ^note to the Lord, the eastern gate shall be opened for him, ^note and he shall make his whole-offering and his shared-offerings as he does on the sabbath; when he goes out the gate shall be closed ^note behind him.

13   You shall provide a yearling sheep without blemish daily as a whole-offering to the Lord; you shall provide it morning by morning. 14   With it every morning you shall provide as a grain-offering one sixth of an ephah with a third of a hin of oil to moisten the flour; the Lord's grain-offering is an observance ^note prescribed for all time. 15   Morning by morning, as a regular whole-offering, they shall offer a sheep with the grain-offering and the oil.

16   These are the words of the Lord God: When the prince makes a gift

The restored theocracy out of ^note his property to any of his sons, it shall belong to his sons, since it is part of the family property. 17   But when he makes such a gift to one of his slaves, it shall be his only till the year of manumission, when it shall revert to the prince; it is the property of ^note his sons and shall belong to them.

18   The prince shall not oppress the people by taking part of their holdings; he shall give his sons an inheritance from his own holding of land, so that my people may not be scattered and separated from their holdings.

19   Then he brought me through the entrance by the side of the gate to the rooms which face north (the sacred rooms reserved for ^note the priests), and, 20   pointing to a place on their western side, he said to me, ‘This is the place where the priests shall boil the guilt-offering and the sin-offering and bake the grain-offering; they shall not take it into the outer court for fear they transmit the sacred influence to the people.’ 21   Then he brought me into the outer court and took me across to the four corners of the court, at each of which there was a further court. 22   These four courts were vaulted and were the same size, forty cubits long by thirty cubits wide. 23   Round each of the four was a row of stones, with fire-places constructed close up against the rows. 24   He said to me, ‘These are the kitchens where the attendants shall boil the people's sacrifices.’

1   He brought me back to the gate of the temple, and I saw a spring of water issuing from under the terrace of the temple towards the east; for the temple faced east. The water was running down along the right side, ^note to the south of the altar. 2   He took me out through the northern gate and brought me round by an outside path to the eastern gate of the court, ^note and water was trickling from the right side. 3   When the man went out eastwards he had a line in his hand. He measured a thousand cubits and made me walk through the water; it came up to my ankles. 4   He measured another thousand and make me walk through the water; it came up to my knees. He measured another thousand and made me walk through the water; it was up to my waist. 5   Another thousand, and it was a torrent I could not cross, for the water had risen and was now deep enough to swim in; it had become a torrent that could not be crossed. 6   ‘Mark this, man’, he said, and led me back to the bank of the torrent. 7   When we came back to the bank I saw a great number of trees on each side. 8   He said to me, ‘This water flows out to the region lying east, and down to the Arabah; at last it will reach that sea whose waters ^note are foul, and they will be sweetened. 9   When any one of the living creatures that swarm upon the earth comes where the torrent ^note flows, it shall draw life from it. The fish shall be innumerable; for these waters

The restored theocracy come here so that the others may be sweetened, and where the torrent flows everything shall live. 10   From En-gedi as far as En-eglaim fishermen shall stand on its shores, for nets shall be spread there. Every kind of fish shall be there in shoals, like the fish of the Great Sea; 11   but its swamps and pools shall not have their waters sweetened but shall be left as salt-pans. 12   Beside the torrent on either bank all trees good for food shall spring up. Their leaves shall not wither, their fruit shall not cease; they shall bear early every month. For their water comes from the sanctuary; their fruit is for food and their foliage for enjoyment.’ ^note

13   These are the words of the Lord God: These ^note are the boundary lines within which the twelve tribes of Israel shall enter into possession of the land, Joseph receiving two portions. 14   The land which I swore with hand uplifted to give to your fathers you shall divide with each other; it shall be assigned to you by lot as your patrimony. 15   This is the frontier: on its northern side, from the Great Sea through Hethlon, Lebo-hamath, Zedad, ^note 16   Berutha, and Sibraim, which are between the frontiers of Damascus and Hamath, to Hazar-enan, ^note near the frontier of Hauran. 17   So the frontier shall run from the sea to Hazar-enan ^note on the frontier of Damascus and northwards; ^note this is ^note its northern side. 18   The eastern side runs alongside the territories of Hauran, Damascus, and Gilead, and alongside the territory of Israel; Jordan sets the boundary to the eastern sea, to Tamar. ^note 19   This is ^note the eastern side. The southern side runs from Tamar to the waters of Meribah-by-Kadesh; the region assigned to you reaches the Great Sea. This is ^note the southern side towards the Negeb. 20   The western side is the Great Sea, which forms a boundary as far as a point opposite Lebo-hamath. 21   This is the western side. You shall distribute 22   this land among the tribes of Israel and assign it by lot as a patrimony for yourselves and for any aliens living in your midst who leave sons among you. They shall be treated as native-born in Israel and with you shall receive a patrimony by lot among the tribes of Israel. 23   You shall give the alien his patrimony with the tribe in which he is living. This is the very word of the Lord God.

1   These are the names of the tribes: In the extreme north, in the direction of Hethlon, to Lebo-hamath and Hazar-enan, with Damascus on the northern frontier in the direction of Hamath, and so from the eastern side to the western, ^note shall be Dan: one portion.

2   Bordering on Dan, from the eastern side to the western, shall be Asher: one portion.

The restored theocracy

3   Bordering on Asher, from the eastern side to the western, shall be Naphtali: one portion.

4   Bordering on Naphtali, from the eastern side to the western, shall be Manasseh: one portion.

5   Bordering on Manasseh, from the eastern side to the western, shall be Ephraim: one portion.

6   Bordering on Ephraim, from the eastern side to the western, shall be Reuben: one portion.

7   Bordering on Reuben, from the eastern side to the western, shall be Judah: one portion.

8   Bordering on Judah, from the eastern side to the western, shall be the reserve which you shall set apart. Its breadth shall be twenty-five thousand cubits and its length the same as that of the other portions, from the eastern side to the western, and the sanctuary shall be in the middle of it.

9   The reserve which you shall set apart for the Lord shall measure twenty-five thousand cubits by twenty ^note thousand. 10   The reserve shall be apportioned thus: the priests shall have an area measuring twenty-five thousand cubits on the north side, ten thousand on the west, ^note ten thousand on the east, ^note and twenty-five thousand on the south side; ^note the sanctuary of the Lord shall be in the middle of it. 11   It shall be for the consecrated priests, the sons of Zadok, who kept my charge and did not follow the Israelites when they went astray, as the Levites did. 12   The area set apart for the priests from the reserved territory shall be most sacred, reaching the frontier of the Levites.

13   The Levites shall have a portion running parallel to the border of the priests. It shall be twenty-five thousand cubits long by ten thousand wide; altogether, the length shall be twenty-five thousand cubits and the breadth ten thousand. 14   They shall neither sell nor exchange any part of it, nor shall the best of the land be alienated; for it is holy to the Lord.

15   The strip which is left, five thousand cubits in width by ^note twenty-five thousand, is the city's secular land for dwellings and common land, and the city shall be in the middle of it. 16   These shall be its dimensions: on the northern side four thousand five hundred cubits, on the southern side four thousand five hundred cubits, on the eastern side four thousand five hundred cubits, on the western side four thousand five hundred cubits. 17   The common land belonging to the city shall be two hundred and fifty cubits to the north, two hundred and fifty to the south, two hundred and fifty to the east, and two hundred and fifty to the west. 18   What is left parallel to the reserve, ten thousand cubits to the

The restored theocracy east and ten thousand to the west, ^note shall provide food for those who work in the city. 19   Those who work in the city shall cultivate it; they may be drawn from any of the tribes of Israel.

20   You shall set apart the whole reserve, twenty-five thousand cubits square, ^note as sacred, as far as the holding of the city. 21   What is left over on each side of the sacred reserve and the holding of the city shall be assigned to the prince. Eastwards, what lies over against the reserved twenty-five thousand cubits, as far as the eastern side, and westwards, what lies over against the twenty-five thousand cubits to the western side, parallel to the tribal portions, shall be assigned to the prince; the sacred reserve and the sanctuary itself shall be in the centre. 22   The ^note holding of the Levites and the ^note holding of the city shall be in the middle of that which is assigned to the prince; it shall be between the frontiers of Judah and Benjamin. ^note

23   The rest of the tribes: from the eastern side to the western shall be Benjamin: one portion.

24   Bordering on Benjamin, from the eastern side to the western, shall be Simeon: one portion.

25   Bordering on Simeon, from the eastern side to the western, shall be Issachar: one portion.

26   Bordering on Issachar, from the eastern side to the western, shall be Zebulun: one portion.

27   Bordering on Zebulun, from the eastern side to the western, shall be Gad: one portion.

28   Bordering on Gad, on the side of the Negeb, the border on the south stretches from Tamar to ^note the waters of Meribah-by-Kadesh, to the Brook as far as the Great Sea.

29   This is the land which you shall allot as ^note a patrimony to the tribes of Israel, and these shall be their lots. This is the very word of the Lord God.

30    31   These are to be the ways out of the city, and they are to be named after the tribes of Israel. The northern side, four thousand five hundred cubits long, shall have three gates, those of Reuben, Judah, and Levi; the eastern side, 32   four thousand five hundred cubits long, three gates, those of Joseph, Benjamin, and Dan; 33   the southern side, four thousand five hundred cubits long, three gates, those of Simeon, Issachar, and Zebulun; 34   the western side, four thousand five hundred cubits long, three gates, those of Gad, Asher, and Naphtali. 35   The perimeter of the city shall be eighteen thousand cubits, and the city's name for ever after shall be Jehovah-shammah. ^note

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