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¹ And the Word of Jehovah was to me, saying,² And you, son of man, will you judge, will you judge the bloody city? Then cause her to know all her abominations.³ Then you shall say, So says the Lord Jehovah: The city sheds blood in her midst, that her time may come. And she makes idols against herself, to defile herself .⁴ By your blood which you have shed, you are guilty; and by your idols which you have made, you are defiled. And your days are brought near, and you have come to your years. On accountof this, I have made you a reproach to thenations, and a mocking to all the lands.⁵ Those who are near and those far from you shall mock against you, O defiled of name, abounding in tumult.⁶ Behold, the rulers of Israel, each man by his might, have been in you in order to pour out blood.⁷ In you they have despised father and mother. In your midst they have dealt with the alien by oppression. In you they oppressed the widow and the orphan.⁸ You have despised My holy things and have profaned My sabbaths.⁹ In you are men of slander in order to shed blood, and in you they eat on the mountains. In your midst they do unchaste acts.¹⁰ In you he has uncovered the nakedness of the father; in you they humbled the defiled by her impurity.¹¹ And a man has done abomination with his neighbor's wife, and a man has defiled his daughter-in-law in unchaste acts. And in you a man has humbled his sister, his father's daughter.¹² In you they have taken bribes in order to pour out blood. You have taken interest and increase, and you have gained by extortion of your neighbor. And you have forgotten Me, declares the Lord Jehovah.¹³ And behold! I have struck My hand against your unjust gain which you have made, and at your blood which has been in your midst.¹⁴ Can your heart stand, or can your hands be strong, in the days that I shall work with you? I, Jehovah, have spoken, and I will work.¹⁵ And I will scatter you among the nations and sow you in the lands. And I will destroy your uncleanness out of you.¹⁶ And you will be profaned in you in the eyes of the nations. And you shall know that I am Jehovah.

¹⁷ And the Word of Jehovah was to me, saying,¹⁸ Son of man, the house of Israel has become dross to Me. All of them are bronze and tin, and iron and lead, in the middle of the furnace; they are the dross of silver.¹⁹ So the Lord Jehovah says this: Because all of you have become for dross, therefore, behold, I will gather you into the midst of Jerusalem.²⁰ As they gather silver, and bronze, and iron, and lead, and tin, into the middle of the furnace, to blow the fire on it to melt it ; so I will gather you in My anger and in Myfury. And I will leave you there andmelt you.²¹ And I will collect you and blow on you in the fire of My wrath, and you shall be melted in its midst.²² As silver is melted in the midst of the furnace, so you shall be melted in its midst. And you shall know that I, Jehovah, have poured out My fury on you.

²³ And the Word of Jehovah was to me, saying,²⁴ Son of man, speak to her: You are a land, she is not being cleansed, you are not rained on in the day of disgust.²⁵ A plot by her prophets is in her midst, like a roaring lion tearing prey. They have devoured souls and they have taken the riches and gems. They multiplied her widows in her midst.²⁶ Her priests have violated My Law and have profaned My holy things. They have not divided between the holy and the common, and between the unclean and clean they have not taught. And they have hidden their eyes from the sabbaths, and I amprofaned among them.²⁷ Her rulers in her midst are like wolves tearing prey, to pour out blood, to destroy souls, in order to gain unjust gain.²⁸ And her prophets have daubed themselves with lime, a seer of empty visions , and divining lies to them, saying, So says the Lord Jehovah, when Jehovah has not spoken.²⁹ The people of the land have used oppression and practiced robbery. And they troubled the poor and the needy, and they have oppressed the stranger without justice.³⁰ And I sought among them a man to wall up a wall and stand in the breach before Me for the land, that I should not destroy it, but I found none.³¹ So I have poured out on them My disgust. With the fire of My wrath I consumed them. I have given their way on their heads, states the Lord Jehovah.