¹ The word of the LORD also came to me, saying,

² Son of man, thou dwellest in the midst of a rebellious house, who have eyes to see, and see not; they have ears to hear, and hear not: for they are a rebellious house.

³ Therefore, thou son of man, prepare thee stuff for removing, and remove by day in their sight; and thou shalt remove from thy place to another place in their sight; it may be they will consider, though they are a rebellious house.

⁴ Then shalt thou bring forth thy stuff by day in their sight, as stuff for removing: and thou shalt go forth at evening in their sight, as they that go forth into captivity.

⁵ Dig thou through the wall in their sight, and carry out thereby.

⁶ In their sight shalt thou bear it upon thy shoulders, and carry it forth in the twilight: thou shalt cover thy face, that thou mayest not see the ground: for I have set thee for a sign to the house of Israel.

⁷ And I did so as I was commanded: I brought forth my stuff by day, as stuff for captivity, and in the evening I digged through the wall with my hand; I brought it forth in the twilight, and I bore it upon my shoulder in their sight.

⁸ And in the morning came the word of the LORD to me, saying,

⁹ Son of man, hath not the house of Israel, the rebellious house, said to thee, What doest thou?

¹⁰ Say thou to them, Thus saith the Lord GOD, This burden concerneth the prince in Jerusalem, and all the house of Israel that are among them.

¹¹ Say, I am your sign: as I have done, so shall it be done to them: they shall remove and go into captivity.

¹² And the prince that is among them shall bear upon his shoulder in the twilight, and shall go forth: they shall dig through the wall to carry out thereby: he shall cover his face, that he may not see the ground with his eyes.

¹³ My 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 Chaldeans, yet shall he not see it, though he shall die there.

¹⁴ And I will scatter towards every wind all that are about him to help him, and all his bands; and I will draw out the sword after them.

¹⁵ And they shall know that I am the LORD, when I shall scatter them among the nations, and disperse them in the countries.

¹⁶ But 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 heathen whither they come; and they shall know that I am the LORD.

¹⁷ Moreover the word of the LORD came to me, saying,

¹⁸ Son of man, eat thy bread with quaking, and drink thy water with trembling and with solicitude.

¹⁹ And say to the people of the land, Thus saith the Lord GOD of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and of the land of Israel; They shall eat their bread with solicitude, and drink their water with astonishment, that her land may be desolate from all that is therein, because of the violence of all them that dwell therein.

²⁰ And the cities that are inhabited shall be laid waste, and the land shall be desolate; and ye shall know that I am the LORD.

²¹ And the word of the LORD came to me, saying,

²² Son of man, what is that proverb that ye have in the land of Israel, saying, The days are prolonged, and every vision faileth?

²³ Tell them therefore, Thus saith the Lord GOD: I will make this proverb to cease, and they shall no more use it as a proverb in Israel; but say to them, The days are at hand, and the effect of every vision.

²⁴ For there shall no more be any vain vision nor flattering divination within the house of Israel.

²⁵ For I am the LORD: I will speak, and the word that I shall speak shall come to pass; it shall no more be prolonged: for in your days, O rebellious house, will I say the word, and will perform it, saith the LORD GOD.

²⁶ Again the word of the LORD came to me, saying,

²⁷ Son of man, behold, they of the house of Israel say, The vision that he seeth is for many days to come, and he prophesieth of the times that are distant.

²⁸ Therefore say to them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; There shall none of my words be further deferred, but the word which I have spoken shall be done, saith the Lord GOD.

¹ I say then, Hath God cast away his people? By no means. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.

² God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew. Know ye not what the scripture saith of Elijah? how he maketh intercession to God against Israel, saying,

³ Lord, they have killed thy prophets, and digged down thy altars; and I am left alone, and they seek my life.

⁴ But what saith the answer of God to him? I have reserved to myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to Baal.

⁵ Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace.

⁶ And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work.

⁷ What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded.

⁸ (According as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear;) to this day.

⁹ And David saith, Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, and a stumbling-block, and a recompense to them:

¹⁰ Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see, and bow down their back always.

¹¹ I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? By no means: but rather through their fall salvation is come to the Gentiles, to provoke them to jealousy.

¹² Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fullness?

¹³ For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify my office:

¹⁴ If by any means I may incite to emulation them who are my flesh, and may save some of them.

¹⁵ For if the rejection of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?

¹⁶ For if the first fruit is holy, the lump is also holy: and if the root is holy, so are the branches.

¹⁷ And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive-tree, art ingrafted among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive-tree;

¹⁸ Boast not against the branches. But if thou boastest, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee.

¹⁹ Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be ingrafted.

²⁰ Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not high-minded, but fear:

²¹ For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee.

²² Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them who fell, severity; but towards thee, goodness, if thou shalt continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.

²³ And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be ingrafted: for God is able to ingraft them again.

²⁴ For if thou wast cut out of the olive-tree which is wild by nature, and wast ingrafted contrary to nature into a good olive-tree; how much more shall these, which are the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive-tree?

²⁵ For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, (lest ye should be wise in your own conceits) that blindness in part hath happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles shall be come in.

²⁶ And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob:

²⁷ For this is my covenant to them, when I shall take away their sins.

²⁸ As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as concerning the election, they are beloved for the father's sakes.

²⁹ For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.

³⁰ For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief;

³¹ Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy.

³² For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all.

³³ O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!

³⁴ For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counselor?

³⁵ Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed to him again?

³⁶ For from him, and by him, and to him are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.