¹ And there is a word of Jehovah unto me, saying,

² `And thou, son of man, dost thou judge? dost thou judge the city of blood? then thou hast caused it to know all its abominations,

³ and thou hast said: Thus said the Lord Jehovah: The city is shedding blood in its midst, For the coming in of its time, And it hath made idols on it for defilement.

⁴ By thy blood that thou hast shed thou hast been guilty, And by thine idols that thou hast made thou hast been defiled, And thou causest thy days to draw near, And art come in unto thine years, Therefore I have given thee a reproach to nations, And a derision to all the lands.

⁵ The near and the far-off from thee scoff at thee, O defiled of name -- abounding in trouble.

⁶ Lo, princes of Israel -- each according to his arm Have been in thee to shed blood.

⁷ Father and mother made light of in thee, To a sojourner they dealt oppressively in thy midst, Fatherless and widow they oppressed in thee.

⁸ My holy things thou hast despised, And My sabbaths thou hast polluted.

⁹ Men of slander have been in thee to shed blood, And on the mountains they have eaten in thee, Wickedness they have done in thy midst.

¹⁰ The nakedness of a father hath one uncovered in thee, The defiled of impurity they humbled in thee.

¹¹ And each with the wife of his neighbour hath done abomination, And each his daughter-in-law hath defiled through wickedness, And each his sister, his father's daughter, hath humbled in thee.

¹² A bribe they have taken in thee to shed blood, Usury and increase thou hast taken, And cuttest off thy neighbour by oppression, And Me thou hast forgotten, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah!

¹³ And lo, I have smitten My hand, Because of thy dishonest gain that thou hast gained, And for thy blood that hath been in thy midst.

¹⁴ Doth thy heart stand -- are thy hands strong, For the days that I am dealing with thee? I, Jehovah, have spoken and have done [it].

¹⁵ And I have scattered thee among nations, And have spread thee out among lands, And consumed thy uncleanness out of thee.

¹⁶ And thou hast been polluted in thyself Before the eyes of nations, And thou hast known that I [am] Jehovah.'

¹⁷ And there is a word of Jehovah unto me, saying, `Son of man,

¹⁸ The house of Israel hath been to Me for dross, All of them [are] brass, and tin, and iron, and lead, In the midst of a furnace -- dross hath silver been,

¹⁹ Therefore, thus said the Lord Jehovah: Because of your all becoming dross, Therefore, lo, I am gathering you unto the midst of Jerusalem,

²⁰ A gathering of silver, and brass, and iron, and lead, and tin, Unto the midst of a furnace -- to blow on it fire, to melt it, So do I gather in Mine anger and in My fury, And I have let rest, and have melted you.

²¹ And I have heaped you up, And blown on you in the fire of My wrath, And ye have been melted in its midst.

²² As the melting of silver in the midst of a furnace, So are ye melted in its midst, And ye have known that I, Jehovah, I have poured out My fury upon you.'

²³ And there is a word of Jehovah unto me, saying:

²⁴ `Son of man, say to it, Thou [art] a land, It [is] not cleansed nor rained on in a day of indignation.

²⁵ A conspiracy of its prophets [is] in its midst, as a roaring lion tearing prey; The soul they have devoured, Wealth and glory they have taken, Its widows have multiplied in its midst.

²⁶ Its priests have wronged My law, And they pollute My holy things, Between holy and common they have not made separation, And Between the unclean and the clean they have not made known, And from my sabbaths they have hidden their eyes, And I am pierced in their midst.

²⁷ Its princes in its midst [are] as wolves, Tearing prey, to shed blood, to destroy souls, For the sake of gaining dishonest gain.

²⁸ And its prophets have daubed for them with chalk, Seeing a vain thing, and divining for them a lie, Saying, `Thus said the Lord Jehovah:' And Jehovah hath not spoken.

²⁹ The people of the land have used oppression, And have taken plunder violently away, And humble and needy have oppressed, And the sojourner oppressed -- without judgment.

³⁰ And I seek of them a man making a fence, And standing in the breach before Me, In behalf of the land -- not to destroy it, And I have not found.

³¹ And I pour out on them mine indignation, By fire of My wrath I have consumed them, Their way on their own head I have put, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah!'

¹ And the people of the land take Jehoahaz son of Josiah, and cause him to reign instead of his father in Jerusalem.

² A son of three and twenty years [is] Jehoahaz in his reigning, and three months he hath reigned in Jerusalem,

³ and turn him aside doth the king of Egypt in Jerusalem, and fineth the land a hundred talents of silver, and a talent of gold;

⁴ and the king of Egypt causeth Eliakim his brother to reign over Judah and Jerusalem, and turneth his name to Jehoiakim; and Jehoahaz his brother hath Necho taken, and bringeth him in to Egypt.

⁵ A son of twenty and five years [is] Jehoiakim in his reigning, and eleven years he hath reigned in Jerusalem, and he doth the evil thing in the eyes of Jehovah his God;

⁶ against him hath Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon come up, and bindeth him in brazen fetters to take him away to Babylon.

⁷ And of the vessels of the house of Jehovah hath Nebuchadnezzar brought in to Babylon, and putteth them in his temple in Babylon.

⁸ And the rest of the matters of Jehoiakim, and his abominations that he hath done, and that which is found against him, lo, they are written on the book of the kings of Israel and Judah, and reign doth Jehoiachin his son in his stead.

⁹ A son of eight years is Jehoiachin in his reigning, and three months and ten days he hath reigned in Jerusalem, and he doth the evil thing in the eyes of Jehovah;

¹⁰ and at the turn of the year hath king Nebuchadnezzar sent and bringeth him in to Babylon, with the desirable vessels of the house of Jehovah, and causeth Zedekiah his brother to reign over Judah and Jerusalem.

¹¹ A son of twenty and one years [is] Zedekiah in his reigning, and eleven years he hath reigned in Jerusalem;

¹² and he doth the evil thing in the eyes of Jehovah his God, he hath not been humbled before Jeremiah the prophet [speaking] from the mouth of Jehovah;

¹³ and also, against king Nebuchadnezzar he hath rebelled, who had caused him to swear by God, and he hardeneth his neck, and strengtheneth his heart, against turning back unto Jehovah, God of Israel.

¹⁴ Also, all the heads of the priests, and the people, having multiplied to commit a trespass according to all the abominations of the nations, and they defile the house of Jehovah that He hath sanctified in Jerusalem.

¹⁵ And Jehovah, God of their fathers, sendeth unto them by the hand of His messengers -- rising early and sending -- for He hath had pity on His people, and on His habitation,

¹⁶ and they are mocking at the messengers of God, and despising His words, and acting deceitfully with His prophets, till the going up of the fury of Jehovah against His people -- till there is no healing.

¹⁷ And He causeth to go up against them the king of the Chaldeans, and he slayeth their chosen ones by the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and hath had no pity on young man and virgin, old man and very aged -- the whole He hath given into his hand.

¹⁸ And all the vessels of the house of God, the great and the small, and the treasures of the house of Jehovah, and the treasures of the king and of his princes -- the whole he hath brought in to Babylon.

¹⁹ And they burn the house of God, and break down the wall of Jerusalem, and all its palaces they have burnt with fire, and all its desirable vessels -- to destruction.

²⁰ And he removeth those left of the sword unto Babylon, and they are to him and to his sons for servants, till the reigning of the kingdom of Persia,

²¹ to fulfil the word of Jehovah in the mouth of Jeremiah, till the land hath enjoyed its sabbaths; all the days of the desolation it kept sabbath -- to the fulness of seventy years.

²² And in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, at the completion of the word of Jehovah in the mouth of Jeremiah, hath Jehovah waked up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, and he causeth an intimation to pass over into all his kingdom, and also in writing, saying,

²³ `Thus said Cyrus king of Persia, All kingdoms of the earth hath Jehovah, God of the heavens, given to me, and He hath laid a charge on me to build to Him a house in Jerusalem, that [is] in Judah; who is among you of all His people? Jehovah his God [is] with him, and he doth go up.'