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Judgment on Wicked Counselors

^1 (a)The Spirit lifted me up and brought me to ^(b)the east gate of the house of the Lord, which faces east. And behold, at the entrance of the gateway there were ^(c)twenty-five men. And I saw among them Jaazaniah ^(d)the son of Azzur, and ^(e)Pelatiah the son of Benaiah, princes of the people. ² And he said to me, ^(f)"Son of man, these are the men who devise iniquity and who give wicked counsel in this city; ^3 (g)who say, ^(h)‘The time is not near^[a] to build houses. ⁽ⁱ⁾This city is the cauldron, and we are the meat.' ⁴ Therefore prophesy against them; prophesy, O son of man."

⁵ And ^(j)the Spirit of the Lord fell upon me, and he said to me, "Say, Thus says the Lord: So you think, O house of Israel. ^(k)For I know the things that come into your mind. ^6 (l)You have multiplied your slain in this city and have filled its streets with the slain. ⁷ Therefore thus says the Lord God: ^(m)Your slain whom you have laid in the midst of it, ⁽ⁿ⁾they are the meat, and ^(o)this city is the cauldron, but you shall be brought out of the midst of it. ^8 (p)You have feared the sword, and I will bring the sword upon you, declares the Lord God. ⁹ And I will bring you out of the midst of it, and ^(q)give you into the hands of foreigners, and ^(r)execute judgments upon you. ^10 (s)You shall fall by the sword. I will judge you at the border of Israel, ^(t)and you shall know that I am the Lord. ^11 (u)This city shall not be your cauldron, nor shall you be the meat in the midst of it. I will judge you at the border of Israel, ¹² and you shall know that I am the Lord. For you have not walked in my statutes, nor obeyed my rules, ^(v)but have acted according to the rules of the nations that are around you."

¹³ And it came to pass, while I was prophesying, ^(w)that ^(x)Pelatiah the son of Benaiah died. ^(y)Then I fell down on my face and cried out with a loud voice and said, ^(z)"Ah, Lord God! ^(aa)Will you make a full end of the remnant of Israel?"

Israel's New Heart and Spirit

¹⁴ And the word of the Lord came to me: ^15 (ab)"Son of man, your brothers, even your brothers, your kinsmen,^[b] the whole house of Israel, all of them, are those of whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, ^(ac)‘Go far from the Lord; to us this land is given for a possession.' ¹⁶ Therefore say, ‘Thus says the Lord God: Though I removed them far off among the nations, and though I scattered them among the countries, yet ^(ad)I have been a sanctuary to them for a while^[c] in the countries where they have gone.' ¹⁷ Therefore say, ‘Thus says the Lord God: ^(ae)I will gather you from the peoples and assemble you out of the countries where you have been scattered, ^(af)and I will give you the land of Israel.' ¹⁸ And when they come there, ^(ag)they will remove from it all its ^(ah)detestable things and all its abominations. ^19 (ai)And I will give them one heart, and ^(aj)a new spirit I will put within them. ^(ak)I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh ^(al)and give them a heart of flesh, ^20 (am)that they may walk in my statutes and keep my rules and obey them. ^(an)And they shall be my people, and I will be their God. ^21 (ao)But as for those whose heart goes after their detestable things and their abominations, ^(ap)I will^[d] bring their deeds upon their own heads, declares the Lord God."

^22 (aq)Then the cherubim lifted up their wings, with the wheels beside them, ^(ar)and the glory of the God of Israel was over them. ²³ And the glory of the Lord went up from the midst of the city and ^(as)stood on the mountain that is on the east side of the city. ^24 (at)And the Spirit lifted me up and brought me ^(au)in the vision by the Spirit of God ^(av)into Chaldea, to the exiles. Then the vision that I had seen went up from me. ²⁵ And I told the exiles all the things that the Lord had shown me.