¹ And in the ninth year, in the tenth month, on the tenth of the month, the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying,

² Son of man, write thee the name of the day, of this selfsame day: on this selfsame day the king of Babylon draws near to Jerusalem.

³ And propose a parable unto the rebellious house, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Set on the pot, set [it] on, and also pour water into it.

⁴ Gather the pieces thereof into it, every good piece, the thigh and the shoulder; fill [it] with the choice bones:

⁵ take the choice of the flock; and also [put] a pile of wood under it, for the bones; make it boil well, and let the bones of it seethe therein.

⁶ Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Woe to the bloody city, to the pot whose rust is therein, and whose rust is not gone out of it! Bring it out piece by piece; let no lot fall upon it:

⁷ for her blood is in the midst of her; she set it upon the bare rock; she poured it not upon the ground, to cover it with dust.

⁸ That it might cause fury to come up to execute vengeance, I have set her blood upon the bare rock, that it should not be covered.

⁹ Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Woe to the bloody city! I also will make the pile great.

¹⁰ Heap on the wood, kindle the fire, boil thoroughly the flesh, and spice it well, and let the bones be burned.

¹¹ Then set it empty upon its coals, that it may be hot, and the brass of it may burn, and that its filthiness may be molten in it, [and] that its rust may be consumed.

¹² She hath exhausted [her] labours, yet her great rust goeth not forth out of her: let her rust be in the fire.

¹³ In thy filthiness is lewdness, for I have purged thee, and thou art not pure. Thou shalt no more be purged from thy filthiness, till I have satisfied my fury upon thee.

¹⁴ I Jehovah have spoken [it]: it shall come to pass, and I will do it; I will not go back, neither will I spare, nor will I repent. According to thy ways, and according to thy doings, shall they judge thee, saith the Lord Jehovah.

¹⁵ And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying,

¹⁶ Son of man, behold, I take away from thee the desire of thine eyes with a stroke; yet thou shalt not mourn nor weep, neither shall thy tears run down.

¹⁷ Sigh in silence, make no mourning for the dead; bind thy turban upon thee, and put thy sandals upon thy feet, and cover not the beard, and eat not the bread of men.

¹⁸ -- And I spoke unto the people in the morning; and at even my wife died. And I did in the morning as I was commanded.

¹⁹ And the people said unto me, Wilt thou not tell us what these things are to us, which thou doest?

²⁰ And I said to them, The word of Jehovah came unto me, saying,

²¹ Say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Behold, I will profane my sanctuary, the pride of your strength, the desire of your eyes, and your soul's longing; and your sons and your daughters whom ye have left behind shall fall by the sword.

²² And ye shall do as I have done: ye shall not cover the beard, neither eat the bread of men;

²³ and your turbans shall be upon your heads, and your sandals upon your feet: ye shall not mourn nor weep; but ye shall waste away in your iniquities and moan one toward another.

²⁴ Thus Ezekiel shall be unto you a sign; according to all that he hath done shall ye do: when it cometh, then ye shall know that I [am] the Lord Jehovah.

²⁵ And thou, son of man, shall it not be in the day when I take from them their strength, the joy of their glory, the desire of their eyes, and that whereunto they lift up their soul, their sons and their daughters,

²⁶ that in that day he that escapeth shall come unto thee, to cause [thine] ears to hear [it]?

²⁷ In that day shall thy mouth be opened to him that is escaped, and thou shalt speak, and be no more dumb. So shalt thou be a sign unto them; and they shall know that I [am] Jehovah.

¹ The word of Yahweh came to me, saying,

² Son of man, speak to the children of your people, and tell them, When I bring the sword on a land, and the people of the land take a man from among them, and set him for their watchman;

³ if, when he sees the sword come on the land, he blow the trumpet, and warn the people;

⁴ then whoever hears the sound of the trumpet, and doesn't take warning, if the sword come, and take him away, his blood shall be on his own head.

⁵ He heard the sound of the trumpet, and didn't take warning; his blood shall be on him; whereas if he had taken warning, he would have delivered his soul.

⁶ But if the watchman sees the sword come, and doesn't blow the trumpet, and the people aren't warned, and the sword comes, and take any person from among them; he is taken away in his iniquity, but his blood will I require at the watchman's hand.

⁷ So you, son of man, I have set you a watchman to the house of Israel; therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me.

⁸ When I tell the wicked, O wicked man, you shall surely die, and you don't speak to warn the wicked from his way; that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood will I require at your hand.

⁹ Nevertheless, if you warn the wicked of his way to turn from it, and he doesn't turn from his way; he shall die in his iniquity, but you have delivered your soul.

¹⁰ You, son of man, tell the house of Israel: Thus you speak, saying, Our transgressions and our sins are on us, and we pine away in them; how then can we live?

¹¹ Tell them, As I live, says the Lord Yahweh, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn, turn from your evil ways; for why will you die, house of Israel?

¹² You, son of man, tell the children of your people, The righteousness of the righteous shall not deliver him in the day of his disobedience; and as for the wickedness of the wicked, he shall not fall thereby in the day that he turns from his wickedness; neither shall he who is righteous be able to live thereby in the day that he sins.

¹³ When I tell the righteous, that he shall surely live; if he trust to his righteousness, and commit iniquity, none of his righteous deeds shall be remembered; but in his iniquity that he has committed, therein shall he die.

¹⁴ Again, when I say to the wicked, You shall surely die; if he turn from his sin, and do that which is lawful and right;

¹⁵ if the wicked restore the pledge, give again that which he had taken by robbery, walk in the statutes of life, committing no iniquity; he shall surely live, he shall not die.

¹⁶ None of his sins that he has committed shall be remembered against him: he has done that which is lawful and right; he shall surely live.

¹⁷ Yet the children of your people say, The way of the Lord is not equal: but as for them, their way is not equal.

¹⁸ When the righteous turns from his righteousness, and commits iniquity, he shall even die therein.

¹⁹ When the wicked turns from his wickedness, and does that which is lawful and right, he shall live thereby.

²⁰ Yet you say, The way of the Lord is not equal. House of Israel, I will judge every one of you after his ways.

²¹ It happened in the twelfth year of our captivity, in the tenth [month], in the fifth [day] of the month, that one who had escaped out of Jerusalem came to me, saying, The city has been struck.

²² Now the hand of Yahweh had been on me in the evening, before he who was escaped came; and he had opened my mouth, until he came to me in the morning; and my mouth was opened, and I was no more mute.

²³ The word of Yahweh came to me, saying,

²⁴ Son of man, they who inhabit those waste places in the land of Israel speak, saying, Abraham was one, and he inherited the land: but we are many; the land is given us for inheritance.

²⁵ Therefore tell them, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: You eat with the blood, and lift up your eyes to your idols, and shed blood: and shall you possess the land?

²⁶ You stand on your sword, you work abomination, and every one of you defiles his neighbor's wife: and shall you possess the land?

²⁷ You shall tell them, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: As I live, surely those who are in the waste places shall fall by the sword; and him who is in the open field will I give to the animals to be devoured; and those who are in the strongholds and in the caves shall die of the pestilence.

²⁸ I will make the land a desolation and an astonishment; and the pride of her power shall cease; and the mountains of Israel shall be desolate, so that none shall pass through.

²⁹ Then shall they know that I am Yahweh, when I have made the land a desolation and an astonishment, because of all their abominations which they have committed.

³⁰ As for you, son of man, the children of your people talk of you by the walls and in the doors of the houses, and speak one to another, everyone to his brother, saying, Please come and hear what is the word that comes forth from Yahweh.

³¹ They come to you as the people come, and they sit before you as my people, and they hear your words, but don't do them; for with their mouth they show much love, but their heart goes after their gain.

³² Behold, you are to them as a very lovely song of one who has a pleasant voice, and can play well on an instrument; for they hear your words, but they don't do them.

³³ When this comes to pass, (behold, it comes), then shall they know that a prophet has been among them.