Judgment on Jerusalem’s Sins
22:1 Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me,
saying,
22:2 Now, thou son of man, wilt thou judge, wilt thou judge
the bloody city? yea, thou shalt shew her all her
abominations.
22:3 Then say thou, Thus saith the Lord GOD, The city
sheddeth blood in the midst of it, that her time may come,
and maketh idols against herself to defile herself.
22:4 Thou art become guilty in thy blood that thou hast
shed; and hast defiled thyself in thine idols which thou
hast made; and thou hast caused thy days to draw near, and
art come even unto thy years: therefore have I made thee a
reproach unto the heathen, and a mocking to all countries.
22:5 Those that be near, and those that be far from thee,
shall mock thee, which art infamous and much vexed.
22:6 Behold, the princes of Israel, every one were in thee
to their power to shed blood.
22:7 In thee have they set light by father and mother: in
the midst of thee have they dealt by oppression with the
stranger: in thee have they vexed the fatherless and the
widow.
22:8 Thou hast despised mine holy things, and hast profaned
my sabbaths.
22:9 In thee are men that carry tales to shed blood: and in
thee they eat upon the mountains: in the midst of thee they
commit lewdness.
22:10 In thee have they discovered their fathers'
nakedness: in thee have they humbled her that was set apart
for pollution.
22:11 And one hath committed abomination with his
neighbour's wife; and another hath lewdly defiled his
daughter in law; and another in thee hath humbled his
sister, his father's daughter.
22:12 In thee have they taken gifts to shed blood; thou
hast taken usury and increase, and thou hast greedily gained
of thy neighbours by extortion, and hast forgotten me, saith
the Lord GOD.
22:13 Behold, therefore I have smitten mine hand at thy
dishonest gain which thou hast made, and at thy blood which
hath been in the midst of thee.
22:14 Can thine heart endure, or can thine hands be strong,
in the days that I shall deal with thee? I the LORD have
spoken it, and will do it.
22:15 And I will scatter thee among the heathen, and
disperse thee in the countries, and will consume thy
filthiness out of thee.
22:16 And thou shalt take thine inheritance in thyself in
the sight of the heathen, and thou shalt know that I am the
LORD.
22:17 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
22:18 Son of man, the house of Israel is to me become
dross: all they are brass, and tin, and iron, and lead, in
the midst of the furnace; they are even the dross of silver.
22:19 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because ye are all
become dross, behold, therefore I will gather you into the
midst of Jerusalem.
22:20 As they gather silver, and brass, and iron, and lead,
and tin, into the midst of the furnace, to blow the fire
upon it, to melt it; so will I gather you in mine anger and
in my fury, and I will leave you there, and melt you.
22:21 Yea, I will gather you, and blow upon you in the fire
of my wrath, and ye shall be melted in the midst therof.
22:22 As silver is melted in the midst of the furnace, so
shall ye be melted in the midst thereof; and ye shall know
that I the LORD have poured out my fury upon you.
22:23 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
22:24 Son of man, say unto her, Thou art the land that is
not cleansed, nor rained upon in the day of indignation.
22:25 There is a conspiracy of her prophets in the midst
thereof, like a roaring lion ravening the prey; they have
devoured souls; they have taken the treasure and precious
things; they have made her many widows in the midst thereof.
22:26 Her priests have violated my law, and have profaned
mine holy things: they have put no difference between the
holy and profane, neither have they shewed difference
between the unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes
from my sabbaths, and I am profaned among them.
22:27 Her princes in the midst thereof are like wolves
ravening the prey, to shed blood, and to destroy souls, to
get dishonest gain.
22:28 And her prophets have daubed them with untempered
morter, seeing vanity, and divining lies unto them, saying,
Thus saith the Lord GOD, when the LORD hath not spoken.
22:29 The people of the land have used oppression, and
exercised robbery, and have vexed the poor and needy: yea,
they have oppressed the stranger wrongfully.
22:30 And I sought for a man among them, that should make
up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land,
that I should not destroy it: but I found none.
22:31 Therefore have I poured out mine indignation upon
them; I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath: their
own way have I recompensed upon their heads, saith the Lord
GOD. |