The Aaron Papers  www.the-aaron-papers.net 

  Ezekiel

1 Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I was among the captives by the river Che-bar, that the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God. ²In the fifth day of the month, which was the fifth year of king Jehoiachin’s captivity, ³the word of Jehovah came expressly unto Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chal-de-ans by the river Che-bar; and the hand of Jehovah was there upon him.

⁴And I looked, and, behold, a stormy wind came out of the north, a great cloud, with a fire infolding itself, and a brightness round about it, and out of the midst thereof as it were glowing metal, out of the midst of the fire. ⁵And out of the midst thereof came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance: they had the likeness of a man. ⁶And every one had four faces, and every one of them had four wings. ⁷And their feet were straight feet; and the sole of their feet was like the sole of a calf’s foot; and they sparkled like burnished brass. ⁸And they had the hands of a man under their wings on their four sides; and they four had their faces and their wings thus: ⁹their wings were joined one to another; they turned not when they went; they went every one straight forward. ¹⁰As for the likeness of their faces, they had the face of a man; and they four had the face of a lion on the right side; and they four had the face of an ox on the left side; they four had also the face of an eagle. ¹¹And their faces and their wings were separate above; two wings of every one were joined one to another, and two covered their bodies. ¹²And they went every one straight forward: where the spirit was to go, they went; they turned not when they went. ¹³As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire, like the appearance of torches: the fire went up and down among the living creatures; and the fire was bright, and out of the fire went forth lightning. ¹⁴And the living creatures ran and returned as the appearance of a flash of lightning.

¹⁵Now as I beheld the living creatures, behold, one wheel upon the earth beside the living creatures, for each of the four faces thereof. ¹⁶The appearance of the wheels and their work was like unto a beryl: and they four had one likeness; and their appearance and their work was as it were a wheel within a wheel. ¹⁷When they went, they went in their four directions: they turned not when they went. ¹⁸As for their rims, they were high and dreadful; and they four had their rims full of eyes round about. ¹⁹And when the living creatures went, the wheels went beside them; and when the living creatures were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up. ²⁰Whithersoever the spirit was to go, they went; there was the spirit to go: and the wheels were lifted up beside them; for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels. ²¹When those went, these went; and when those stood, these stood; and when those were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up beside them: for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels. ²²And over the head of the living creature there was the likeness of a firmament, like the terrible crystal to look upon, stretched forth over their heads above. ²³And under the firmament were their wings straight, the one toward the other: every one had two which covered on this side, and every one had two which covered on that side, their bodies. ²⁴And when they went, I heard the noise of their wings like the noise of great waters, like the voice of the Almighty, a noise of tumult like the noise of a host: when they stood, they let down their wings. ²⁵And there was a voice above the firmament that was over their heads: when they stood, they let down their wings.

²⁶And above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone; and upon the likeness of the throne was a likeness as the appearance of a man upon it above. ²⁷And I saw as it were glowing metal, as the appearance of fire within it round about, from the appearance of his loins and upward; and from the appearance of his loins and downward I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and there was brightness round about him. ²⁸As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of Jehovah. And when I saw it, I fell upon my face, and I heard a voice of one that spoke.

2 And he said unto me, Son of man, stand upon your feet, and I will speak with you. ²And the Spirit entered into me when he spoke unto me, and set me upon my feet; and I heard him that spoke unto me. ³And he said unto me, Son of man, I send you to the children of Israel, to nations that are rebellious, which have rebelled against me: they and their fathers have transgressed against me even unto this very day. ⁴And the children are impudent and stiffhearted: I do send you unto them; and you shall say unto them, this says the Lord Jehovah. ⁵And they, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear, (for they are a rebellious house,) yet shall know that there has been a prophet among them.

⁶And you, son of man, be not afraid of them, neither be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns are with you, and you do dwell among scorpions: be not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, though they are a rebellious house. ⁷And you shall speak my words unto them, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear; for they are most rebellious. ⁸But you, son of man, hear what I say unto you; be not rebellious like that rebellious house: open your mouth, and eat that which I give you. ⁹And when I looked, behold, a hand was put forth unto me; and, lo, a roll of a book was therein; ¹⁰And he spread it before me: and it was written within and without; and there were written therein lamentations, and mourning, and woe.

3 And he said unto me, Son of man, eat that which you find; eat this roll, and go, speak unto the house of Israel. ²So I opened my mouth, and he caused me to eat the roll. ³And he said unto me, Son of man, cause your belly to eat, and fill your bowels with this roll that I give you. Then did I eat it; and it was in my mouth as honey for sweetness. ⁴And he said unto me, Son of man, go, get you unto the house of Israel, and speak with my words unto them. ⁵For you are not sent to a people of a strange speech and of a hard language, but to the house of Israel; ⁶not to many peoples of a strange speech and of a hard language, whose words you cannot understand. Surely, if I sent you to them, they would hearken unto you. ⁷But the house of Israel will not hearken unto you; for they will not hearken unto me: for all the house of Israel are of a hard forehead and of a stiff heart. ⁸Behold, I have made your face hard against their faces, and your forehead hard against their foreheads. ⁹As an adamant harder than flint have I made your forehead: fear them not, neither be dismayed at their looks, though they are a rebellious house. ¹⁰Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, all my words that I shall speak unto you receive in your heart, and hear with your ears. ¹¹And go, get you to them of the captivity, unto the children of your people, and speak unto them, and tell them, this says the Lord Jehovah; whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear. ¹²Then the Spirit lifted me up, and I heard behind me the voice of a great rushing, saying, Blessed be the glory of Jehovah from his place. ¹³And I heard the noise of the wings of the living creatures as they touched one another, and the noise of the wheels beside them, even the noise of a great rushing. ¹⁴So the Spirit lifted me up, and took me away; and I went in bitterness, in the heat of my spirit; and the hand of Jehovah was strong upon me. ¹⁵Then I came to them of the captivity at Tel-abib, that dwelt by the river Che-bar, and to where they dwelt; and I sat there overwhelmed among them seven days.

¹⁶And it came to pass at the end of seven days, that the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying, ¹⁷Son of man, I have made you a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word of my mouth, and give them warning from me. ¹⁸When I say unto the wicked, you shall surely die; and you give him not warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at your hand. ¹⁹Yet if you warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have delivered your soul. ²⁰Again, when a righteous man does turn from his righteousness, and commit iniquity, and I lay a stumblingblock before him, he shall die: because you have not given him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteous deeds which he has done shall not be remembered; but his blood will I require at your hand. ²¹Nevertheless if you warn the righteous man, that the righteous sin not, and he does not sin, he shall surely live, because he took warning; and you have delivered your soul.

²²And the hand of Jehovah was there upon me; and he said unto me, Arise, go forth into the plain, and I will talk with you there. ²³Then I arose, and went forth into the plain: and, behold, the glory of Jehovah stood there, as the glory which I saw by the river Che-bar; and I fell on my face. ²⁴Then the Spirit entered into me, and set me upon my feet; and he spoke with me, and said unto me, Go, shut yourself within your house. ²⁵But you, son of man, behold, they shall lay bands upon you, and shall bind you with them, and you shall not go out among them: ²⁶and I will make your tongue cleave to the roof of your mouth, that you shall be dumb, and shall not be to them a reprover; for they are a rebellious house. ²⁷But when I speak with you, I will open your mouth, and you shall say unto them, this says the Lord Jehovah: He that hears, let him hear; and he that forbears, let him forbear: for they are a rebellious house.

4 you also, son of man, take a tile, and lay it before you, and portray upon it a city, even Jerusalem: ²and lay siege against it, and build forts against it, and cast up a mound against it; set camps also against it, and plant battering rams against it round about. ³And take unto you an iron pan, and set it for a wall of iron between you and the city: and set your face toward it, and it shall be besieged, and you shall lay siege against it. This shall be a sign to the house of Israel. ⁴Moreover lie upon your left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it; according to the number of the days that you shall lie upon it, you shall bear their iniquity. ⁵For I have appointed the years of their iniquity to be unto you a number of days, even three hundred and ninety days: so shall you bear the iniquity of the house of Israel. ⁶And again, when you have accomplished these, you shall lie on your right side, and shall bear the iniquity of the house of Judah: forty days, each day for a year, have I appointed it unto you. ⁷And you shall set your face toward the siege of Jerusalem, with your arm uncovered; and you shall prophesy against it. ⁸And, behold, I lay bands upon you, and you shall not turn from one side to the other, till you have accomplished the days of your siege.

⁹Take also unto you wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentils, and millet, and spelt, and put them in one vessel, and make bread thereof; according to the number of the days that you shall lie upon your side, even three hundred and ninety days, shall you eat thereof. ¹⁰And your food which you shall eat shall be by weight, twenty shekels a day: from time to time shall you eat it. ¹¹And you shall drink water by measure, the sixth part of a hin: from time to time shall you drink. ¹²And you shall eat it as barley cakes, and you shall bake it in their sight with dung that comes out of man. ¹³And Jehovah said, Even this shall the children of Israel eat their bread unclean, among the nations where I will drive them. ¹⁴Then said I, Ah Lord Jehovah! behold, my soul has not been polluted; for from my youth up even till now have I not eaten of that which dies of itself, or is torn of beasts; neither came there abominable flesh into my mouth. ¹⁵Then he said unto me, See, I have given you cow’s dung for man’s dung, and you shall prepare your bread thereon. ¹⁶Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, behold, I will break the staff of bread in Jerusalem: and they shall eat bread by weight, and with fearfulness; and they shall drink water by measure, and in dismay: ¹⁷that they may want bread and water, and be dismayed one with another, and pine away in their iniquity.

5 And you, son of man, take a sharp sword; as a barber’s razor shall you take it unto you, and shall cause it to pass upon your head and upon your beard: then take balances to weigh, and divide the hair. ²A third part shall you burn in the fire in the midst of the city, when the days of the siege are fulfilled; and you shall take a third part, and strike with the sword round about it; and a third part you shall scatter to the wind, and I will draw out a sword after them. ³And you shall take thereof a few in number, and bind them in your skirts. ⁴And of these again shall you take, and cast them into the midst of the fire, and burn them in the fire; therefrom shall a fire come forth into all the house of Israel.

⁵This says the Lord Jehovah: This is Jerusalem; I have set her in the midst of the nations, and countries are round about her. ⁶And she has rebelled against my ordinances in doing wickedness more than the nations, and against my statutes more than the countries that are round about her; for they have rejected my ordinances, and as for my statutes, they have not walked in them. ⁷Therefore this says the Lord Jehovah: Because you are turbulent more than the nations that are round about you, and have not walked in my statutes, neither have kept my ordinances, neither have done after the ordinances of the nations that are round about you; ⁸therefore this says the Lord Jehovah: Behold, I, even I, am against you; and I will execute judgments in the midst of you in the sight of the nations. ⁹And I will do in you that which I have not done, and whereunto I will not do any more the like, because of all your abominations. ¹⁰Therefore the fathers shall eat the sons in the midst of you, and the sons shall eat their fathers; and I will execute judgments on you; and the whole remnant of you will I scatter unto all the winds. ¹¹Wherefore, as I live, says the Lord Jehovah, surely, because you have defiled my sanctuary with all your detestable things, and with all your abominations, therefore will I also diminish you; neither shall my eye spare, and I also will have no pity. ¹²A third part of you shall die with the pestilence, and with famine shall they be consumed in the midst of you; and a third part shall fall by the sword round about you; and a third part I will scatter unto all the winds, and will draw out a sword after them. ¹³Thus shall my anger be accomplished, and I will cause my wrath toward them to rest, and I shall be comforted; and they shall know that I, Jehovah, have spoken in my zeal, when I have accomplished my wrath upon them. ¹⁴Moreover I will make you a desolation and a reproach among the nations that are round about you, in the sight of all that pass by. ¹⁵So it shall be a reproach and a taunt, an instruction and an astonishment, unto the nations that are round about you, when I shall execute judgments on you in anger and in wrath, and in wrathful rebukes; (I, Jehovah, have spoken it;) ¹⁶when I shall send upon them the evil arrows of famine, that are for destruction, which I will send to destroy you: and I will increase the famine upon you, and will break your staff of bread; ¹⁷and I will send upon you famine and evil beasts, and they shall bereave you; and pestilence and blood shall pass through you; and I will bring the sword upon you: I, Jehovah, have spoken it.

6 And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying, ²Son of man, set your face toward the mountains of Israel, and prophesy unto them, ³and say, you mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord Jehovah: this says the Lord Jehovah to the mountains and to the hills, to the watercourses and to the valleys: Behold, I, even I, will bring a sword upon you, and I will destroy your high places. ⁴And your altars shall become desolate, and your sun-images shall be broken; and I will cast down your slain men before your idols. ⁵And I will lay the dead bodies of the children of Israel before their idols; and I will scatter your bones round about your altars. ⁶In all your dwelling-places the cities shall be laid waste, and the high places shall be desolate; that your altars may be laid waste and made desolate, and your idols may be broken and cease, and your sun-images may be hewn down, and your works may be abolished. ⁷And the slain shall fall in the midst of you, and you shall know that I am Jehovah.

⁸Yet will I leave a remnant, in that you shall have some that escape the sword among the nations, when you shall be scattered through the countries. ⁹And those of you that escape shall remember me among the nations where they shall be carried captive, how that I have been broken with their lewd heart, which has departed from me, and with they eyes, which play the harlot after their idols: and they shall loathe themselves in their own sight for the evils which they have committed in all their abominations. ¹⁰And they shall know that I am Jehovah: I have not said in vain that I would do this evil unto them.

¹¹This says the Lord Jehovah: strike with your hand, and stamp with your foot, and say, Alas! because of all the evil abominations of the house of Israel; for they shall fall by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence. ¹²He that is far off shall die of the pestilence; and he that is near shall fall by the sword; and he that remains and is besieged shall die by the famine: by this will I accomplish my wrath upon them. ¹³And you shall know that I am Jehovah, when their slain men shall be among their idols round about their altars, upon every high hill, on all the tops of the mountains, and under every green tree, and under every thick oak, the places where they offered sweet savor to all their idols. ¹⁴And I will stretch out my hand upon them, and make the land desolate and waste, from the wilderness toward Diblah, throughout all their habitations: and they shall know that I am Jehovah.

7 Moreover the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying, ²And you, son of man, this says the Lord Jehovah unto the land of Israel, An end: the end is come upon the four corners of the land. ³Now is the end upon you, and I will send my anger upon you, and will judge you according to your ways; and I will bring upon you all your abominations. ⁴And my eye shall not spare you, neither will I have pity; but I will bring your ways upon you, and your abominations shall be in the midst of you: and you shall know that I am Jehovah. ⁵This says the Lord Jehovah: An evil, an only evil; behold, it comes. ⁶An end is come, the end is come; it awakes against you; behold, it comes. ⁷Your doom is come unto you, O inhabitant of the land: the time is come, the day is near, a day of tumult, and not of joyful shouting, upon the mountains. ⁸Now will I shortly pour out my wrath upon you, and accomplish my anger against you, and will judge you according to your ways; and I will bring upon you all your abominations. ⁹And my eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity: I will bring upon you according to your ways; and your abominations shall be in the midst of you; and you shall know that I, Jehovah, do strike. ¹⁰Behold, the day, behold, it comes: your doom is gone forth; the rod has blossomed, pride has budded. ¹¹Violence is risen up into a rod of wickedness; none of them shall remain, nor of their multitude, nor of their wealth: neither shall there be any exalted among them. ¹²The time is come, the day drew near: let not the buyer rejoice, nor the seller mourn; for wrath is upon all the multitude thereof. ¹³For the seller shall not return to that which is sold, although they are yet alive: for the vision is touching the whole multitude thereof, none shall return; neither shall any strengthen himself in the iniquity of his life. ¹⁴They have blown the trumpet, and have made all ready; but none goes to the battle; for my wrath is upon all the multitude thereof. ¹⁵The sword is without, and the pestilence and the famine within: he that is in the field shall die with the sword: and he that is in the city, famine and pestilence shall devour him.

¹⁶But those of them that escape shall escape, and shall be on the mountains like doves of the valleys, all of them moaning, every one in his iniquity. ¹⁷All hands shall be feeble, and all knees shall be weak as water. ¹⁸They shall also gird themselves with sackcloth, and horror shall cover them; and shame shall be upon all faces, and baldness upon all their heads. ¹⁹They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be as an unclean thing; their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of Jehovah: they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels; because it has been the stumblingblock of their iniquity. ²⁰As for the beauty of his ornament, he set it in majesty; but they made the images of their abominations and their detestable things therein: therefore have I made it unto them as an unclean thing. ²¹And I will give it into the hands of the strangers for a prey, and to the wicked of the earth for a plunder; and they shall profane it. ²²My face will I turn also from them, and they shall profane my secret place; and robbers shall enter into it, and profane it.

²³Make the chain; for the land is full of bloody crimes, and the city is full of violence. ²⁴Wherefore I will bring the worst of the nations, and they shall possess their houses: I will also make the pride of the strong to cease; and their holy places shall be profaned. ²⁵Destruction comes; and they shall seek peace, and there shall be none. ²⁶Mischief shall come upon mischief, and rumor shall be upon rumor; and they shall seek a vision of the prophet; but the law shall perish from the priest, and counsel from the elders. ²⁷The king shall mourn, and the prince shall be clothed with desolation, and the hands of the people of the land shall be troubled: I will do unto them after their way, and according to their deserts will I judge them; and they shall know that I am Jehovah.

8 And it came to pass in the sixth year, in the sixth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I sat in my house, and the elders of Judah sat before me, that the hand of the Lord Jehovah fell there upon me. ²Then I beheld, and, lo, a likeness as the appearance of fire; from the appearance of his loins and downward, fire; and from his loins and upward, as the appearance of brightness, as it were glowing metal. ³And he put forth the form of a hand, and took me by a lock of my head; and the Spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven, and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem, to the door of the gate of the inner court that looks toward the north; where was the seat of the image of jealousy, which provokes to jealousy. ⁴And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel was there, according to the appearance that I saw in the plain. ⁵Then he said unto me, Son of man, lift up your eyes now the way toward the north. So I lifted up my eyes the way toward the north, and behold, northward of the gate of the altar this image of jealousy in the entry. ⁶And he said unto me, Son of man, do you see what they do? even the great abominations that the house of Israel does commit here, that I should go far off from my sanctuary? but you shall yet again see other great abominations.

⁷And he brought me to the door of the court; and when I looked, behold, a hole in the wall. ⁸Then he said unto me, Son of man, dig now in the wall: and when I had dug in the wall, behold, a door. ⁹And he said unto me, Go in, and see the wicked abominations that they do here. ¹⁰So I went in and saw; and behold, every form of creeping things, and abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel, portrayed upon the wall round about. ¹¹And there stood before them seventy men of the elders of the house of Israel; and in the midst of them stood Ja-az-a-ni-ah the son of Sha-phan, every man with his censer in his hand; and the odor of the cloud of incense went up. ¹²Then he said unto me, Son of man, have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in his chambers of imagery? for they say, Jehovah sees us not; Jehovah has forsaken the land.

¹³He said also unto me, you shall yet again see other great abominations which they do. ¹⁴Then he brought me to the door of the gate of Jehovah’s house which was toward the north; and behold, there sat the women weeping for Tam-muz. ¹⁵Then he said unto me, have you seen this, O son of man? you shall yet again see greater abominations than these. ¹⁶And he brought me into the inner court of Jehovah’s house; and behold, at the door of the temple of Jehovah, between the porch and the altar, were about five and twenty men, with their backs toward the temple of Jehovah, and their faces toward the east; and they were worshipping the sun toward the east. ¹⁷Then he said unto me, have you seen this, O son of man? Is it a light thing to the house of Judah that they commit the abominations which they commit here? for they have filled the land with violence, and have turned again to provoke me to anger: and, lo, they put the branch to their nose. ¹⁸Therefore will I also deal in wrath; my eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity; and though they cry in my ears with a loud voice, yet will I not hear them.

9 Then he cried in my ears with a loud voice, saying, Cause them that have charge over the city to draw near, every man with his destroying weapon in his hand. ²And behold, six men came from the way of the upper gate, which lies toward the north, every man with his slaughter weapon in his hand; and one man in the midst of them clothed in linen, with a writer’s inkhorn by his side. And they went in, and stood beside the brazen altar. ³And the glory of the God of Israel was gone up from the cherub, whereupon it was, to the threshold of the house: and he called to the man clothed in linen, who had the writer’s inkhorn by his side. ⁴And Jehovah said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry over all the abominations that are done in the midst thereof.

⁵And to the others he said in my hearing, You go through the city after him, and strike: let not your eye spare, neither have pity; ⁶slay utterly the old man, the young man and the virgin, and little children and women; but come not near any man upon whom is the mark: and begin at my sanctuary. Then they began at the old men that were before the house. ⁷And he said unto them, Defile the house, and fill the courts with the slain: go forth. And they went forth, and struck in the city. ⁸And it came to pass, while they were smiting, and I was left, that I fell upon my face, and cried, and said, Ah Lord Jehovah! will you destroy all the residue of Israel in your pouring out of your wrath upon Jerusalem? ⁹Then he said unto me, The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is exceeding great, and the land is full of blood, and the city full of wresting of judgment: for they say, Jehovah has forsaken the land, and Jehovah sees not. ¹⁰And as for me also, my eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity, but I will bring their way upon their head. ¹¹And behold, the man clothed in linen, who had the inkhorn by his side, reported the matter, saying, I have done as you have commanded me.

10 Then I looked, and behold, in the firmament that was over the head of the cherubim there appeared above them as it were a sapphire stone, as the appearance of the likeness of a throne. ²And he spoke unto the man clothed in linen, and said, Go in between the whirling wheels, even under the cherub, and fill both your hands with coals of fire from between the cherubim, and scatter them over the city. And he went in in my sight. ³Now the cherubim stood on the right side of the house, when the man went in; and the cloud filled the inner court. ⁴And the glory of Jehovah mounted up from the cherub, and stood over the threshold of the house; and the house was filled with the cloud, and the court was full of the brightness of Jehovah’s glory. ⁵And the sound of the wings of the cherubim was heard even to the outer court, as the voice of God Almighty when he spoke. ⁶And it came to pass, when he commanded the man clothed in linen, saying, Take fire from between the whirling wheels, from between the cherubim, that he went in, and stood beside a wheel. ⁷And the cherub stretched forth his hand from between the cherubim unto the fire that was between the cherubim, and took thereof, and put it into the hands of him that was clothed in linen, and who took it and went out.

⁸And there appeared in the cherubim the form of a man’s hand under their wings. ⁹And I looked, and behold, four wheels beside the cherubim, one wheel beside one cherub, and another wheel beside another cherub; and the appearance of the wheels was like unto a beryl stone. ¹⁰And as for their appearance, they all four had one likeness, as if a wheel had been within a wheel. ¹¹When they went, they went in their four directions: they turned not as they went, but to the place where the head looked they followed it; and they turned not as they went. ¹²And their whole body, and their backs, and their hands, and their wings, and the wheels, were full of eyes round about, even the wheels that they all four had. ¹³As for the wheels, they were called in my hearing, the whirling wheels. ¹⁴And every one had four faces: the first face was the face of the cherub, and the second face was the face of a man, and the third face the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle. ¹⁵And the cherubim mounted up: this is the living creature that I saw by the river Che-bar. ¹⁶And when the cherubim went, the wheels went beside them; and when the cherubim lifted up their wings to mount up from the earth, the wheels also turned not from beside them. ¹⁷When they stood, these stood; and when they mounted up, these mounted up with them: for the spirit of the living creature was in them. ¹⁸And the glory of Jehovah went forth from over the threshold of the house, and stood over the cherubim. ¹⁹And the cherubim lifted up their wings, and mounted up from the earth in my sight when they went forth, and the wheels beside them: and they stood at the door of the east gate of Jehovah’s house; and the glory of the God of Israel was over them above. ²⁰This is the living creature that I saw under the God of Israel by the river Che-bar; and I knew that they were cherubim. ²¹Every one had four faces, and every one four wings; and the likeness of the hands of a man was under their wings. ²²And as for the likeness of their faces, they were the faces which I saw by the river Che-bar, their appearances and themselves; they went every one straight forward.

11 Moreover the Spirit lifted me up, and brought me unto the east gate of Jehovah’s house, which looks eastward: and behold, at the door of the gate five and twenty men; and I saw in the midst of them Ja-az-a-ni-ah the son of A-zur, and Pel-a-ti-ah the son of Be-na-jah, princes of the people. ²And he said unto me, Son of man, these are the men that devise iniquity, and that give wicked counsel in this city; ³that say, The time is not near to build houses: this city is the caldron, and we are the flesh. ⁴Therefore prophesy against them, prophesy, O son of man. ⁵And the Spirit of Jehovah fell upon me, and he said unto me, Speak, this says Jehovah: this have you said, O house of Israel; for I know the things that come into your mind. ⁶You have multiplied your slain in this city, and you have filled the streets thereof with the slain. ⁷Therefore this says the Lord Jehovah: Your slain whom you have laid in the midst of it, they are the flesh, and this city is the caldron; but you shall be brought forth out of the midst of it. ⁸You have feared the sword; and I will bring the sword upon you, says the Lord Jehovah. ⁹And I will bring you forth out of the midst thereof, and deliver you into the hands of strangers, and will execute judgments among you. ¹⁰You shall fall by the sword; I will judge you in the border of Israel; and you shall know that I am Jehovah. ¹¹This city shall not be your caldron, neither shall you be the flesh in the midst thereof; I will judge you in the border of Israel; ¹²and you shall know that I am Jehovah: for you have not walked in my statutes, neither have you executed my ordinances, but have followed after the ordinances of the nations that are round about you. ¹³And it came to pass, when I prophesied, that Pel-a-ti-ah the son of Be-na-jah died. Then I fell down upon my face, and cried with a loud voice, and said, Ah Lord Jehovah! will you make a full end of the remnant of Israel?

¹⁴And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying, ¹⁵Son of man, your brethren, even your brethren, the men of your kindred, and all the house of Israel, all of them, are they unto whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, Get you far from Jehovah; give unto us is this land for a possession. ¹⁶Therefore say, this says the Lord Jehovah: Whereas I have removed them far off among the nations, and whereas I have scattered them among the countries, yet will I be to them a sanctuary for a little while in the countries where they are come. ¹⁷Therefore, this says the Lord Jehovah: I will gather you from the peoples, and assemble you out of the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel. ¹⁸And they shall come there, and they shall take away all the detestable things thereof and all the abominations thereof from them. ¹⁹And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh; ²⁰that they may walk in my statutes, and keep my ordinances, and do them: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God. ²¹But as for them whose heart walks after the heart of their detestable things and their abominations, I will bring their way upon their own heads, says the Lord Jehovah.

²²Then did the cherubim lift up their wings, and the wheels were beside them; and the glory of the God of Israel was over them above. ²³And the glory of Jehovah went up from the midst of the city, and stood upon the mountain which is on the east side of the city. ²⁴And the Spirit lifted me up, and brought me in the vision by the Spirit of God into Chal-de-a, to them of the captivity. So the vision that I had seen went up from me. ²⁵Then I spoke unto them of the captivity all the things that Jehovah had showed me.

12 The word of Jehovah also came unto me, saying, ²Son of man, you dwell in the midst of the rebellious house, that have eyes to see, and see not, that have ears to hear, and hear not; for they are a rebellious house. ³Therefore, you, son of man, prepare the apparatus for removing, and remove by day in their sight; and you shall remove from your place to another place in their sight: it may be they will consider, though they are a rebellious house. ⁴And you shall bring forth your apparatus by day in their sight, as the apparatus for removing; and you shall go forth yourself at evening in their sight, as when men go forth into exile. ⁵Dig through the wall in their sight, and carry out thereby. ⁶In their sight shall you bear it upon your shoulder, and carry it forth in the dark; you shall cover your face, that you see not the land: for I have set you for a sign unto the house of Israel. ⁷And I did so as I was commanded: I brought forth my apparatus by day, as the apparatus for removing, and in the evening I dug through the wall with my hands; and I brought it forth in the dark, and bare it upon my shoulder in their sight. ⁸And in the morning the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying, ⁹Son of man, has not the house of Israel, the rebellious house, said unto you, What are you doing? ¹⁰Say unto them, this says the Lord Jehovah: This burden concerns the prince in Jerusalem, and all the house of Israel among whom they are. ¹¹Say, I am your sign: like as I have done, so shall it be done unto them; they shall go into exile, into captivity. ¹²And the prince that is among them shall bear upon his shoulder in the dark, and shall go forth: they shall dig through the wall to carry out thereby: he shall cover his face, because he shall not see the land with his eyes. ¹³My net also will I spread upon him, and he shall be taken in my snare; and I will bring him to Babylon to the land of the Chal-de-ans; yet shall he not see it, though he shall die there. ¹⁴And I will scatter toward every wind all that are round about him to help him, and all his bands; and I will draw out the sword after them. ¹⁵And they shall know that I am Jehovah, when I shall disperse them among the nations, and scatter them through the countries. ¹⁶But I will leave a few men of them from the sword, from the famine, and from the pestilence; that they may declare all their abominations among the nations where they come; and they shall know that I am Jehovah.

¹⁷Moreover the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, ¹⁸Son of man, eat your bread with quaking, and drink your water with trembling and with fearfulness; ¹⁹and say unto the people of the land, this says the Lord Jehovah concerning the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the land of Israel: They shall eat their bread with fearfulness, and drink their water in dismay, that her land may be desolate, and despoiled of all that is therein, because of the violence of all them that dwell therein. ²⁰And the cities that are inhabited shall be laid waste, and the land shall be a desolation; and you shall know that I am Jehovah.

²¹And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying, ²²Son of man, what is this proverb that you have in the land of Israel, saying, The days are prolonged, and every vision fails? ²³Tell them therefore, this says the Lord Jehovah: I will make this proverb to cease, and they shall no more use it as a proverb in Israel; but say unto them, The days are at hand, and the fulfillment of every vision. ²⁴For there shall be no more any false vision nor flattering divination within the house of Israel. ²⁵For I am Jehovah; I will speak, and the word that I shall speak shall be performed; it shall be no more deferred: for in your days, O rebellious house, will I speak the word, and will perform it, says the Lord Jehovah. ²⁶Again the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, ²⁷Son of man, behold, they of the house of Israel say, The vision that he sees is for many day to come, and he prophesies of times that are far off. ²⁸Therefore say unto them, this says the Lord Jehovah: There shall none of my words be deferred any more, but the word which I shall speak shall be performed, says the Lord Jehovah.

13 And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying, ²Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel that prophesy, and say you unto them that prophesy out of their own heart, Hear the word of Jehovah: ³This says the Lord Jehovah, Woe unto the foolish prophets, that follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing! ⁴O Israel, your prophets have been like foxes in the waste places. ⁵You have not gone up into the gaps, neither built up the wall for the house of Israel, to stand in the battle in the day of Jehovah. ⁶They have seen falsehood and lying divination, that say, Jehovah says; but Jehovah has not sent them: and they have made men to hope that the word would be confirmed. ⁷Have you not seen a false vision, and have you not spoken a lying divination, in that you say, Jehovah says; albeit I have not spoken? ⁸Therefore this says the Lord Jehovah: Because you have spoken falsehood, and seen lies, therefore, behold, I am against you, says the Lord Jehovah. ⁹And my hand shall be against the prophets that see false visions, and that divine lies: they shall not be in the council of my people, neither shall they be written in the writing of the house of Israel, neither shall they enter into the land of Israel; and you shall know that I am the Lord Jehovah.

¹⁰Because, even because they have seduced my people, saying, Peace; and there is no peace; and when one builds up a wall, behold, they daub it with untempered mortar: ¹¹say unto them that daub it with untempered mortar, that it shall fall: there shall be an overflowing shower; and you, O great hailstones, shall fall; and a stormy wind shall rend it. ¹²Lo, when the wall is fallen, shall it not be said unto you, Where is the daubing wherewith you have daubed it? ¹³Therefore this says the Lord Jehovah: I will even rend it with a stormy wind in my wrath; and there shall be an overflowing shower in my anger, and great hailstones in wrath to consume it. ¹⁴So will I break down the wall that you have daubed with untempered mortar, and bring it down to the ground, so that the foundation thereof shall be uncovered; and it shall fall, and you shall be consumed in the midst thereof: and you shall know that I am Jehovah. ¹⁵Thus will I accomplish my wrath upon the wall, and upon them that have daubed it with untempered mortar; and I will say unto you, The wall is no more, neither they that daubed it; ¹⁶to wit, the prophets of Israel that prophesy concerning Jerusalem, and that see visions of peace for her, and there is no peace, says the Lord Jehovah.

¹⁷And you, son of man, set your face against the daughters of your people, that prophesy out of their own heart; and prophesy against them, ¹⁸and say, this says the Lord Jehovah: Woe to the women that sew pillows upon all elbows, and make kerchiefs for the head of persons of every stature to hunt souls! Will you hunt the souls of my people, and save souls alive for yourselves? ¹⁹And you have profaned me among my people for handfuls of barley and for pieces of bread, to slay the souls that should not die, and to save the souls alive that should not live, by your lying to my people that hearken unto lies. ²⁰Wherefore this says the Lord Jehovah: Behold, I am against your pillows, wherewith you there hunt the souls to make them fly, and I will tear them from your arms; and I will let the souls go, even the souls that you hunt to make them fly. ²¹Your kerchiefs also will I tear, and deliver my people out of your hand, and they shall be no more in your hand to be hunted; and you shall know that I am Jehovah. ²²Because with lies you have grieved the heart of the righteous, whom I have not made sad; and strengthened the hands of the wicked, that he should not return from his wicked way, and be saved alive: ²³Therefore you shall no more see false visions, nor divine divinations: and I will deliver my people out of your hand; and you shall know that I am Jehovah.

14 Then came certain of the elders of Israel unto me, and sat before me. ²And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying, ³Son of man, these men have taken their idols into their heart, and put the stumblingblock of their iniquity before their face: should I be inquired of at all by them? ⁴Therefore speak unto them, and say, this says the Lord Jehovah: Every man of the house of Israel that takes his idols into his heart, and puts the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and comes to the prophet; I Jehovah will answer him therein according to the multitude of his idols; ⁵that I may take the house of Israel in their own heart, because they are all estranged from me through their idols. ⁶Therefore say unto the house of Israel, this says the Lord Jehovah: Return, and turn yourselves from your idols; and turn away your faces from all your abominations. ⁷For every one of the house of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn in Israel, that separates himself from me, and takes his idols into his heart, and puts the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and comes to the prophet to inquire for himself of me; I Jehovah will answer him by myself: ⁸and I will set my face against that man, and will make him an astonishment, for a sign and a proverb, and I will cut him off from the midst of my people; and you shall know that I am Jehovah. ⁹And if the prophet be deceived and speak a word, I, Jehovah, have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand upon him, and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel. ¹⁰And they shall bear their iniquity: the iniquity of the prophet shall be even as the iniquity of him that seeks unto him; ¹¹that the house of Israel may go no more astray from me, neither defile themselves any more with all their transgressions; but that they may be my people, and I may be their God, says the Lord Jehovah.

¹²And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying, ¹³Son of man, when a land sins against me by committing a trespass, and I stretch out my hand upon it, and break the staff of the bread thereof, and send famine upon it, and cut off from it man and beast; ¹⁴though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness, says the Lord Jehovah. ¹⁵If I cause evil beasts to pass through the land, and they ravage it, and it be made desolate, so that no man may pass through because of the beasts; ¹⁶though these three men were in it, as I live, says the Lord Jehovah, they should deliver neither sons nor daughters; they only should be delivered, but the land should be desolate. ¹⁷Or if I bring a sword upon that land, and say, Sword, go through the land; so that I cut off from it man and beast; ¹⁸though these three men were in it, as I live, says the Lord Jehovah, they should deliver neither sons nor daughters, but they only should be delivered themselves. ¹⁹Or if I send a pestilence into that land, and pour out my wrath upon it in blood, to cut off from it man and beast; ²⁰though Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, as I live, says the Lord Jehovah, they should deliver neither son nor daughter; they should but deliver their own souls by their righteousness. ²¹For this says the Lord Jehovah: How much more when I send my four grievous judgments upon Jerusalem, the sword, and the famine, and the evil beasts, and the pestilence, to cut off from it man and beast! ²²Yet, behold, therein shall be left a remnant that shall be carried forth, both sons and daughters: behold, they shall come forth unto you, and you shall see their way and their doings; and you shall be comforted concerning the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem, even concerning all that I have brought upon it. ²³And they shall comfort you, when you see their way and their doings; and you shall know that I have not done without cause all that I have done in it, says the Lord Jehovah.

15 And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying, ²Son of man, what is the vine-tree more than any tree, the vine-branch which is among the trees of the forest? ³Shall wood be taken thereof to make any work? or will men take a pin of it to hang any vessel thereon? ⁴Behold, it is cast into the fire for fuel; the fire has devoured both ends of it, and the midst of it is burned: is it profitable for any work? ⁵Behold, when it was whole, it was meet for no work: how much unless, when the fire has devoured it, and it is burned, shall it yet be meet for any work! ⁶Therefore this says the Lord Jehovah: As the vine-tree among the trees of the forest, which I have given to the fire for fuel, so will I give the inhabitants of Jerusalem. ⁷And I will set my face against them; they shall go forth from the fire, but the fire shall devour them; and you shall know that I am Jehovah, when I set my face against them. ⁸And I will make the land desolate, because they have committed a trespass, says the Lord Jehovah.

16 Again the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying, ²Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations; ³and say, this says the Lord Jehovah unto Jerusalem: your birth and your nativity is of the land of the Canaanite; the Amorite was your father, and your mother was a Hittite. ⁴And as for your nativity, in the day you were born your navel was not cut, neither were you washed in water to cleanse you; you were not salted at all, nor swaddled at all. ⁵No eye pitied you, to do any of these things unto you, to have compassion upon you; but you were cast out in the open field, for that your person was abhorred, in the day that you were born.

⁶And when I passed by you, and saw you weltering in your blood, I said unto you, Though you are in your blood, live; yes, I said unto you, Though you are in your blood, live. ⁷I caused you to multiply as that which grows in the field, and you did increase and become great, and you attained to excellent ornament; your breasts were fashioned, and your hair was grown; yet you were naked and bare. ⁸Now when I passed by you, and looked upon you, behold, your time was the time of love; and I spread my skirt over you, and covered your nakedness: yes, I swore unto you, and entered into a covenant with you, says the Lord Jehovah, and you became mine. ⁹Then I washed you with water; yes, I thoroughly washed away your blood from you, and I anointed you with oil. ¹⁰I clothed you also with broidered work, and shod you with sealskin, and I girded you about with fine linen, and covered you with silk. ¹¹And I decked you with ornaments, and I put bracelets upon your hands, and a chain on your neck. ¹²And I put a ring upon your nose, and ear-rings in your ears, and a beautiful crown upon your head. ¹³Thus were you decked with gold and silver; and your raiment was of fine linen, and silk, and broidered work; you did eat fine flour, and honey, and oil; and you were exceedingly beautiful, and you did prosper unto royal estate. ¹⁴And your renown went forth among the nations for your beauty; for it was perfect, through my majesty which I had put upon you, says the Lord Jehovah.

¹⁵But you did trust in your beauty, and played the harlot because of your renown, and poured out your whoredoms on every one that passed by; his it was. ¹⁶And you did take of your garments, and made for you high places decked with divers colors, and played the harlot upon them: the like things shall not come, neither shall it be so. ¹⁷You did also take your fair jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given you, and made for you images of men, and did play the harlot with them; ¹⁸and you took your broidered garments, and covered them, and did set my oil and my incense before them. ¹⁹My bread also which I gave you, fine flour, and oil, and honey, wherewith I fed you, you did even set it before them for a sweet savor; and this it was, says the Lord Jehovah. ²⁰Moreover you have taken your sons and your daughters, whom you have borne unto me, and these have you sacrificed unto them to be devoured. Were your whoredoms a small matter, ²¹that you have slain my children, and delivered them up, in causing them to pass through the fire unto them? ²²And in all your abominations and your whoredoms you have not remembered the days of your youth, when you were naked and bare, and were weltering in your blood. ²³And it is come to pass after all your wickedness, (woe, woe unto you! says the Lord Jehovah,) ²⁴that you have built unto you a vaulted place, and have made you a lofty place in every street. ²⁵You have built your lofty place at the head of every way, and have made your beauty an abomination, and have opened your feet to every one that passed by, and multiplied your whoredom. ²⁶You have also committed fornication with the Egyptians, your neighbors, great of flesh; and have multiplied your whoredom, to provoke me to anger. ²⁷Behold therefore, I have stretched out my hand over you, and have diminished your ordinary food, and delivered you unto the will of them that hate you, the daughters of the Philistines, that are ashamed of your lewd way. ²⁸You have played the harlot also with the Assyrians, because you were insatiable; yes, you have played the harlot with them, and yet you were not satisfied. ²⁹You have moreover multiplied your whoredom unto the land of traffic, unto Chal-de-a; and yet you were not satisfied herewith. ³⁰How weak is your heart, says the Lord Jehovah, seeing you do all these things, the work of an impudent harlot; ³¹in that you build your vaulted place at the head of every way, and make your lofty place in every street, and have not been as a harlot, in that you scorn hire. ³²A wife that commits adultery! that takes strangers instead of her husband! ³³They give gifts to all harlots; but you give your gifts to all your lovers, and bribe them, that they may come unto you on every side for your whoredoms. ³⁴And you are different from other women in your whoredoms, in that none follows you to play the harlot; and whereas you give hire, and no hire is given unto you, therefore you are different.

³⁵Wherefore, O harlot, hear the word of Jehovah: ³⁶This says the Lord Jehovah, Because your filthiness was poured out, and your nakedness uncovered through your whoredoms with your lovers; and because of all the idols of your abominations, and for the blood of your children, that you did give unto them; ³⁷therefore behold, I will gather all your lovers, with whom you have taken pleasure, and all them that you have loved, with all them that you have hated; I will even gather them against you on every side, and will uncover your nakedness unto them, that they may see all your nakedness. ³⁸And I will judge you, as the women that break wedlock and shed blood are judged; and I will bring upon you the blood of wrath and jealousy. ³⁹I will also give you into their hand, and they shall throw down your vaulted place, and break down your lofty places; and they shall strip you of your clothes, and take your fair jewels; and they shall leave you naked and bare. ⁴⁰They shall also bring up a company against you, and they shall stone you with stones, and thrust you through with their swords. ⁴¹And they shall burn your houses with fire, and execute judgments upon you in the sight of many women; and I will cause you to cease from playing the harlot, and you shall also give no hire any more. ⁴²So will I cause my wrath toward you to rest, and my jealousy shall depart from you, and I will be quiet, and will be no more angry. ⁴³Because you have not remembered the days of your youth, but have raged against me in all these things; therefore, behold, I also will bring your way upon your head, says the Lord Jehovah: and you shall not commit this lewdness with all your abominations.

⁴⁴Behold, every one that uses proverbs shall use this proverb against you, saying, As is the mother, so is her daughter. ⁴⁵You are the daughter of your mother, that loathes her husband and her children; and you are the sister of your sisters, who loathed their husbands and their children: your mother was a Hittite, and your father an Amorite. ⁴⁶And your elder sister is Samaria, that dwells at your left hand, she and her daughters; and your younger sister, that dwells at your right hand, is Sodom and her daughters. ⁴⁷Yet have you not walked in their ways, nor done after their abominations; but, as if that were a very little thing, you were more corrupt than they in all your ways. ⁴⁸As I live, says the Lord Jehovah, Sodom your sister has not done, she nor her daughters, as you have done, you and your daughters. ⁴⁹Behold, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: pride, fulness of bread, and prosperous ease was in her and in her daughters; neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. ⁵⁰And they were haughty, and committed abomination before me: therefore I took them away as I saw good. ⁵¹Neither has Samaria committed half of your sins; but you have multiplied your abominations more than they, and have justified your sisters by all your abominations which you have done. ⁵²You also, bear your own shame, in that you have given judgment for your sisters; through your sins that you have committed more abominable than they, they are more righteous than you: yes, you also be confounded, and bear your shame, in that you have justified your sisters. ⁵³And I will turn again their captivity, the captivity of Sodom and her daughters, and the captivity of Samaria and her daughters, and the captivity of your captives in the midst of them; ⁵⁴that you may bear your own shame, and may be ashamed because of all that you have done, in that you are a comfort unto them. ⁵⁵And your sisters, Sodom and her daughters, shall return to their former estate; and Samaria and her daughters shall return to their former estate; and you and your daughters shall return to your former estate. ⁵⁶For your sister Sodom was not mentioned by your mouth in the day of your pride, ⁵⁷before your wickedness was uncovered, as at the time of the reproach of the daughters of Syria, and of all that are round about her, the daughters of the Philistines, that do despite unto you round about. ⁵⁸You have borne your lewdness and your abominations, says Jehovah. ⁵⁹For this says the Lord Jehovah: I will also deal with you as you have done, who have despised the oath in breaking the covenant.

⁶⁰Nevertheless I will remember my covenant with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish unto you an everlasting covenant. ⁶¹Then shall you remember your ways, and be ashamed, when you shall receive your sisters, your elder sisters and your younger; and I will give them unto you for daughters, but not by your covenant. ⁶²And I will establish my covenant with you; and you shall know that I am Jehovah; ⁶³that you may remember, and be confounded, and never open your mouth any more, because of your shame, when I have forgiven you all that you have done, says the Lord Jehovah.

17 And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying, ²Son of man, put forth a riddle, and speak a parable unto the house of Israel; ³and say, this says the Lord Jehovah: A great eagle with great wings and long pinions, full of feathers, which had divers colors, came unto Lebanon, and took the top of the cedar: ⁴he cropped off the topmost of the young twigs thereof, and carried it unto a land of traffic; he set it in a city of merchants. ⁵He took also of the seed of the land, and planted it in a fruitful soil; he placed it beside many waters; he set it as a willow-tree. ⁶And it grew, and became a spreading vine of low stature, whose branches turned toward him, and the roots thereof were under him: so it became a vine, and brought forth branches, and shot forth sprigs. ⁷There was also another great eagle with great wings and many feathers: and, behold, this vine did bend its roots toward him, and shot forth its branches toward him, from the beds of its plantation, that he might water it. ⁸It was planted in a good soil by many waters, that it might bring forth branches, and that it might bear fruit, that it might be a goodly vine. ⁹Say, this says the Lord Jehovah: Shall it prosper? shall he not pull up the roots thereof, and cut off the fruit thereof, that it may wither; that all its fresh springing leaves may wither? and not by a strong arm or much people can it be raised from the roots thereof. ¹⁰Yes, behold, being planted, shall it prosper? shall it not utterly wither, when the east wind touches it? it shall wither in the beds where it grew. ¹¹Moreover the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying, ¹²Say now to the rebellious house, Know you not what these things mean? tell them, Behold, the king of Babylon came to Jerusalem, and took the king thereof, and the princes thereof, and brought them to Babylon: ¹³and he took of the royal seed, and made a covenant with him; he also brought him under an oath, and took away the mighty of the land; ¹⁴that the kingdom might be base, that it might not lift itself up, but that by keeping his covenant it might stand. ¹⁵But he rebelled against him in sending his ambassadors into Egypt, that they might give him horses and much people. Shall he prosper? shall he escape that does such things? shall he break the covenant, and yet escape? ¹⁶As I live, says the Lord Jehovah, surely in the place where the king dwells that made him king, whose oath he despised, and whose covenant he broke, even with him in the midst of Babylon he shall die. ¹⁷Neither shall Pharaoh with his mighty army and great company help him in the war, when they cast up mounds and build forts, to cut off many persons. ¹⁸For he has despised the oath by breaking the covenant; and behold, he had given his hand, and yet has done all these things; he shall not escape. ¹⁹Therefore this says the Lord Jehovah: As I live, surely my oath that he has despised, and my covenant that he has broken, I will even bring it upon his own head. ²⁰And I will spread my net upon him, and he shall be taken in my snare, and I will bring him to Babylon, and will enter into judgment with him there for his trespass that he has trespassed against me. ²¹And all his fugitives in all his bands shall fall by the sword, and they that remain shall be scattered toward every wind: and you shall know that I, Jehovah, have spoken it.

²²This says the Lord Jehovah: I will also take of the lofty top of the cedar, and will set it; I will crop off from the topmost of its young twigs a tender one, and I will plant it upon a high and lofty mountain: ²³in the mountain of the height of Israel will I plant it; and it shall bring forth boughs, and bear fruit, and be a goodly cedar: and under it shall dwell all birds of every wing; in the shade of the branches thereof shall they dwell. ²⁴And all the trees of the field shall know that I, Jehovah, have brought down the high tree, have exalted the low tree, have dried up the green tree, and have made the dry tree to flourish; I, Jehovah, have spoken and have done it.

18 The word of Jehovah came unto me again, saying, ²What do you mean, that you use this proverb concerning the land of Israel, saying, The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge? ³As I live, says the Lord Jehovah, you shall not have occasion any more to use this proverb in Israel. ⁴Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sins, it shall die. ⁵But if a man be just, and do that which is lawful and right, ⁶and has not eaten upon the mountains, neither has lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, neither has defiled his neighbor’s wife, neither has come near to a woman in her impurity, ⁷and has not wronged any, but has restored to the debtor his pledge, has taken nothing by robbery, has given his bread to the hungry, and has covered the naked with a garment; ⁸he that has not given forth upon interest, neither has taken any increase, that has withdrawn his hand from iniquity, has executed true justice between man and man, ⁹has walked in my statutes, and has kept my ordinances, to deal truly; he is just, he shall surely live, says the Lord Jehovah.

¹⁰If he beget a son that is a robber, a shedder of blood, and that does any one of these things, ¹¹and that does not any of those duties, but even has eaten upon the mountains, and defiled his neighbor’s wife, ¹²has wronged the poor and needy, has taken by robbery, has not restored the pledge, and has lifted up his eyes to the idols, has committed abomination, ¹³has given forth upon interest, and has taken increase; shall he then live? he shall not live: he has done all these abominations; he shall surely die; his blood shall be upon him. ¹⁴Now, lo, if he beget a son, that sees all his father’s sins, which he has done, and fears, and does not such like; ¹⁵that has not eaten upon the mountains, neither has lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, has not defiled his neighbor’s wife, ¹⁶neither has wronged any, has not taken anything to pledge, neither has taken by robbery, but has given his bread to the hungry, and has covered the naked with a garment; ¹⁷that has withdrawn his hand from the poor, that has not received interest nor increase, has executed my ordinances, has walked in my statutes; he shall not die for the iniquity of his father, he shall surely live. ¹⁸As for his father, because he cruelly oppressed, robbed his brother, and did that which is not good among his people, behold, he shall die in his iniquity. ¹⁹Yet you say, why does not the son bear the iniquity of the father? when the son has done that which is lawful and right, and has kept all my statutes, and has done them, he shall surely live. ²⁰The soul that sins, it shall die: the son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son; the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.

²¹But if the wicked turn from all his sins that he has committed, and keep all my statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die. ²²None of his transgressions that he has committed shall be remembered against him: in his righteousness that he has done he shall live. ²³Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked? says the Lord Jehovah; and not rather that he should return from his way, and live? ²⁴But when the righteous turns away from his righteousness, and commits iniquity, and does according to all the abominations that the wicked man does, shall he live? None of his righteous deeds that he has done shall be remembered: in his trespass that he has trespassed, and in his sin that he has sinned, in them shall he die. ²⁵Yet you say, The way of the Lord is not equal. Hear now, O house of Israel: Is not my way equal? are not your ways unequal? ²⁶When the righteous man turns away from his righteousness, and commits iniquity, and dies therein; in his iniquity that he has done shall he die. ²⁷Again, when the wicked man turns away from his wickedness that he has committed, and does that which is lawful and right, he shall save his soul alive. ²⁸Because he considers, and turns away from all his transgressions that he has committed, he shall surely live, he shall not die. ²⁹Yet says the house of Israel, The way of the Lord is not equal. O house of Israel, are not my ways equal? are not your ways unequal?

³⁰Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, says the Lord Jehovah. Return, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin. ³¹Cast away from you all your transgressions, wherein you have transgressed; and make a new heart and a new spirit: for why will you die, O house of Israel? ³²For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dies, says the Lord Jehovah: therefore turn yourselves, and live.

19 Moreover, take up a lamentation for the princes of Israel, ²and say, What was your mother? A lioness: she couched among lions, in the midst of the young lions she nourished her whelps. ³And she brought up one of her whelps: he became a young lion, and he learned to catch the prey; he devoured men. ⁴The nations also heard of him; he was taken in their pit; and they brought him with hooks unto the land of Egypt. ⁵Now when she saw that she had waited, and her hope was lost, then she took another of her whelps, and made him a young lion. ⁶And he went up and down among the lions; he became a young lion, and he learned to catch the prey; he devoured men. ⁷And he knew their palaces, and laid waste their cities; and the land was desolate, and the fulness thereof, because of the noise of his roaring. ⁸Then the nations set against him on every side from the provinces; and they spread their net over him; he was taken in their pit. ⁹And they put him in a cage with hooks, and brought him to the king of Babylon; they brought him into strongholds, that his voice should no more be heard upon the mountains of Israel.

20 And it came to pass in the seventh year, in the fifth month, the tenth day of the month, that