¶ Moreover, the word of the LORD came unto me, and said:
Thou son of man, wilt thou not reprove this bloodthirsty city? Shew them their abominations,
and tell them: Thus sayeth the Lord GOD: O thou city, that sheddest blood in the middest of thee, that thy time may come also: and makest the Idols to defile thee withal.
Thou hast made thy self guilty in the blood that thou hast shed, and defiled thee in the Idols, which thou hast made. Thou hast caused thy days to draw nye, and made the time of thy years to come. Therefore will I make thee to be confounded among the heathen, and to be despised in all the lands,
whether they be nye or far from thee: they shall laugh thee to scorn, thou that hast gotten thee so foul a name, and art full of mischief.
Behold, the rulers of Israel have brought every man his power, to shed blood in thee.
In thee have they despised father and mother, in thee have they oppressed the stranger, in thee have they vexed the widow and the fatherless.
Thou hast despised my Sanctuary, and unhallowed my Sabbath.
Murderers are there in thee, that shed blood, and eat upon the hills, and in thee they use unhappiness.
In thee have they discovered their fathers' shame, in thee have they vexed women in their sickness.
Every man hath dealt shamefully with his neighbour's wife, and abominably defiled his daughter-in-law. In thee hath every man forced his own sister, even his father's daughter.
Yea gifts have been received in thee, to shed blood. Thou hast taken usury and increase, thou hast oppressed thy neighbours by extortion, and forgotten me, sayeth the Lord GOD.
Behold, I have smitten my hands upon thy covetousness, that thou hast used, and upon the blood which hath been shed in thee.
Is thy heart able to endure it, or may thy hands defend themselves, in the time that I shall bring upon thee? Even I the LORD that speak it, will bring it also to pass.
I will scatter thee among the heathen, and strow thee about in the lands, and will cause thy filthiness to cease out of thee.
Yea and I will have thee in possession in the sight of the Heathen, that thou mayest know that I am the LORD.
¶ And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying:
Thou son of man, the house of Israel is turned to dross. All they that should be brass, tin, iron and lead, are in the fire become dross.
Therefore, thus sayeth the Lord GOD: for so much as ye all are turned into dross, behold: I will bring you together unto Ierusalem,
like as silver, and brass, iron, tin, and lead, are put together in the furnace and the fire blown there under to melt them: Even so will I gather you, put you in together, and melt you in my wrath and indignation.
I will bring you together, and kindle the fire of my cruel displeasure under you, that ye may be melted therein.
Like as the silver is melted in the fire, so shall ye also be melted therein: that ye may know, how that I the LORD have poured my wrath upon you.
¶ And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying:
Thou son of man, tell her: Thou art an unclean land, which is not rained upon in the day of the cruel wrath:
thy Prophets that are in thee, are sworn together to devour souls, like as a roaring Lion, that liveth by his prey. They receive riches and good, and make many widows in thee.
Thy priests break my law, and defile my Sanctuary. They put no difference between the holy and unholy, neither discern between the clean and unclean: they turn their eyes from my Sabbaths, and I am unhallowed among them.
Thy rulers in thee are like ravishing wolves, to shed blood, and to destroy souls, for their own covetous lucre.
As for thy Prophets, they daub with untempered clay, they see vanities, and prophesy lies unto thee, saying: the Lord GOD sayeth so, where as the LORD hath not spoken.
The people in the land useth wicked extortion and robbery. They vex the poor and needy and oppress the stranger against right.
And I sought in the land for a man, that would make up the hedge, and set himself in the gap before me in the lands behalf, that I should not utterly destroy it: but I could find none.
Therefore will I poured out my cruel displeasure upon them, and burn them in the fire of my wrath: their own ways will I recompense upon their heads, sayeth the Lord GOD.
Praise the Everlasting Lord for His Faithful Word.