¹ And the word of Jehovah was unto^▵ me, saying,

² And thou^◦, son of man, wilt thou judge, wilt thou judge the city of bloods^*? And thou shalt make her know all her abominations.

³ Then say thou, Thus says the Lord Jehovih^*, The city sheds blood in the midst of it, that her time may come, and makes idols against herself to defile herself.

⁴ Thou art held·​·as·​·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 come·​·near, and art come even to^◦ thy years; therefore have I given thee a reproach unto the nations, and a scoffing to all lands.

⁵ Those that be near, and those that be far from thee, shall scoff·​·at thee, who art unclean of name and much upset.

⁶ Behold, the chiefs of Israel, a man^◦ for his own arm, are among thee in·​·order·​·to shed blood.

⁷ Father and mother have they reviled in thee; in thy midst have they done things to the sojourner with oppression; in thee have they exploited the orphan and the widow.

⁸ Thou hast despised My holy things, and hast profaned My Sabbaths.

⁹ Men^◦ of slander are among^◦ thee in·​·order·​·to shed blood; and in^▵ the mountains they eat with thee; they do crimes in the midst of thee.

¹⁰ In thee have they revealed their fathers’ nakedness; in thee have they afflicted her that was isolated for being unclean.

¹¹ And a man^◦ has done abomination with^◦ the wife of his companion; and a man^◦ has in crime defiled his daughter-in-law; and a man^◦ among^◦ thee has afflicted his sister, the daughter of his father.

¹² In thee have they taken a bribe for the sake^◦ of shedding blood; thou hast taken usury and interest, and thou hast made·​·gain of thy companions by oppression, and hast forgotten Me, says^◦ the Lord Jehovih.

¹³ And, behold, I have made My palm smite at^▵ thy gain which thou hast made, and upon thy blood which is in thy midst.

¹⁴ Will thy heart stand, if thy hands be·​·firm, in the days that I^◦ shall deal with^◦ thee? I^◦, Jehovah, have spoken it, and will deal with it.

¹⁵ And I will scatter thee among^◦ the nations, and disperse thee in the lands, and will entirely consume thine uncleanness out·​·of thee.

¹⁶ And thou shalt be profaned in thyself in the eyes of the nations, and thou shalt know that I^◦ am Jehovah.

¹⁷ And the word of Jehovah was unto^▵ me, saying,

¹⁸ Son of man, the house of Israel is to Me become dross; all they are bronze, and tin, and iron, and lead, in the midst of the furnace; they are even the dross of silver.

¹⁹ Therefore thus says the Lord Jehovih; Because you are all become dross, behold, therefore I will bring· you ·together to^▵ the midst of Jerusalem.

²⁰ As the bringing·​·together of silver, and bronze, and iron, and lead, and tin, into^▵ the midst of the furnace, to breathe fire upon it, to fuse; so will I bring· you ·together in My anger and in My fury, and I will place you there, and fuse you.

²¹ And I will gather· you ·together, and breathe upon you in the fire of My wrath, and you shall be fused in her midst.

²² As the fusing of silver in the midst of the furnace, so shall you be fused in her midst; and you shall know that I^◦, Jehovah, have spilled·​·out My fury on you.

²³ And the word of Jehovah was unto^▵ me, saying,

²⁴ Son of man, say unto her, Thou^◦ art the land that is· not ·cleansed, nor rained upon in the day of indignation.

²⁵ There is a conspiracy of her prophets in her midst, as a roaring lion tearing the prey; they have devoured the soul; they have taken what is secure^◦ and precious; they have multiplied her widows in her midst.

²⁶ Her priests have violated My law, and have profaned My holy things; they have not distinguished between the holy and profane, and between the unclean and the clean they have not made known, and from My Sabbaths they have hidden^◦ their eyes, and I am profaned in the midst of them.

²⁷ Her princes in her midst^◦ are as wolves tearing the prey, to shed blood, in·​·order·​·to make· souls ·perish, gaining gain.

²⁸ And her prophets have plastered for them with unfit mortar, beholding^◦ vanity, and divining a lie for them, saying, Thus says the Lord Jehovih, and Jehovah has not spoken.

²⁹ The people of the land have oppressed with oppression, and robbed with robbery, and have exploited the afflicted and needy, and they have oppressed the sojourner with no^◦ judgment.

³⁰ And I sought for a man^◦ from them^◦, that should fence·​·in with a fence, and stand in the breach before Me for^▫ the land, that I should not^▵ destroy it; but I found not.

³¹ And I have spilled·​·out My indignation on them; I have consumed· them ·all with the fire of My wrath; their own way have I given back upon^◦ their head, says^◦ the Lord Jehovih.

¹ "Woe to the rebellious children," says Yahweh, "who take counsel, but not from me; and who make an alliance, but not with my Spirit, that they may add sin to sin,

² who set out to go down into Egypt, and have not asked my advice; to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and to take refuge in the shadow of Egypt!

³ Therefore the strength of Pharaoh will be your shame, and the refuge in the shadow of Egypt your confusion.

⁴ For their princes are at Zoan, and their ambassadors have come to Hanes.

⁵ They shall all be ashamed because of a people that can't profit them, that are not a help nor profit, but a shame, and also a reproach."

⁶ The burden of the animals of the South. Through the land of trouble and anguish, of the lioness and the lion, the viper and fiery flying serpent, they carry their riches on the shoulders of young donkeys, and their treasures on the humps of camels, to an unprofitable people.

⁷ For Egypt helps in vain, and to no purpose; therefore have I called her Rahab who sits still.

⁸ Now go, write it before them on a tablet, and inscribe it in a book, that it may be for the time to come forever and ever.

⁹ For it is a rebellious people, lying children, children who will not hear the law of Yahweh;

¹⁰ who tell the seers, "Don't see!" and to the prophets, "Don't prophesy to us right things. tell us pleasant things. Prophesy deceits.

¹¹ Get out of the way. Turn aside from the path. Cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us."

¹² Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel, "Because you despise this word, and trust in oppression and perverseness, and rely on it;

¹³ therefore this iniquity shall be to you like a breach ready to fall, swelling out in a high wall, whose breaking comes suddenly in an instant.

¹⁴ He will break it as a potter's vessel is broken, breaking it in pieces without sparing, so that there won't be found among the broken piece a piece good enough to take fire from the hearth, or to dip up water out of the cistern."

¹⁵ For thus said the Lord Yahweh, the Holy One of Israel, "You will be saved in returning and rest. Your strength will be in quietness and in confidence." You refused,

¹⁶ but you said, "No, for we will flee on horses;" therefore you will flee; and, "We will ride on the swift;" therefore those who pursue you will be swift.

¹⁷ One thousand will flee at the threat of One. At the threat of five, you will flee until you are left like a beacon on the top of a mountain, and like a banner on a hill.

¹⁸ Therefore Yahweh will wait, that he may be gracious to you; and therefore he will be exalted, that he may have mercy on you, for Yahweh is a God of justice. Blessed are all those who wait for him.

¹⁹ For the people will dwell in Zion at Jerusalem. You will weep no more. He will surely be gracious to you at the voice of your cry. When he hears you, he will answer you.

²⁰ Though the Lord may give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your teachers won't be hidden anymore, but your eyes will see your teachers;

²¹ and when you turn to the right hand, and when you turn to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, "This is the way. Walk in it."

²² You shall defile the overlaying of your engraved images of silver, and the plating of your molten images of gold. You shall cast them away as an unclean thing. You shall tell it, "Go away!"

²³ He will give the rain for your seed, with which you will sow the ground; and bread of the increase of the ground will be rich and plentiful. In that day, your livestock will feed in large pastures.

²⁴ The oxen likewise and the young donkeys that till the ground will eat savory provender, which has been winnowed with the shovel and with the fork.

²⁵ There shall be brooks and streams of water on every lofty mountain and on every high hill in the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall.

²⁶ Moreover the light of the moon will be like the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be seven times brighter, like the light of seven days, in the day that Yahweh binds up the fracture of his people, and heals the wound they were struck with.

²⁷ Behold, the name of Yahweh comes from far away, burning with his anger, and in thick rising smoke. His lips are full of indignation, and his tongue is as a devouring fire.

²⁸ His breath is as an overflowing stream that reaches even to the neck, to sift the nations with the sieve of destruction; and a bridle that leads to ruin will be in the jaws of the peoples.

²⁹ You will have a song, as in the night when a holy feast is kept; and gladness of heart, as when one goes with a flute to come to Yahweh's mountain, to Israel's Rock.

³⁰ Yahweh will cause his glorious voice to be heard, and will show the descent of his arm, with the indignation of his anger, and the flame of a devouring fire, with a blast, storm, and hailstones.

³¹ For through the voice of Yahweh the Assyrian will be dismayed. He will strike him with his rod.

³² Every stroke of the rod of punishment, which Yahweh will lay on him, will be with the sound of tambourines and harps. He will fight with them in battles, brandishing weapons.

³³ For his burning place has long been ready. Yes, for the king it is prepared. He has made its pyre deep and large with fire and much wood. Yahweh's breath, like a stream of sulfur, kindles it.