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The Sins of Israel

¹ Then the word of the LORD came 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 "You shall say, 'Thus says the Lord ^(F1)GOD, "A city ^(C1)shedding blood in her midst, so that her time will come, and that makes idols, contrary to her interest, for defilement!⁴ "You have become ^(C1)guilty by ^(F1)the blood which you have shed, and defiled by your idols which you have made. Thus you have brought your ^(F2)day near and have come to your years; therefore I have made you a ^(C2)reproach to the nations and a mocking to all the lands.⁵ "Those who are near and those who are far from you will mock you, you of ill repute, full of ^(C1)turmoil.

⁶ "Behold, the ^(C1)rulers of Israel, each according to his ^(F1)power, have been in you for the purpose of shedding blood.⁷ "They have ^(C1)treated father and mother lightly within you. The ^(C2)alien they have oppressed in your midst; the ^(C3)fatherless and the widow they have wronged in you.⁸ "You have ^(C1)despised My holy things and ^(C2)profaned My sabbaths.⁹ "Slanderous men have been in you for the purpose of shedding blood, and in you they have eaten at the mountain shrines. In your midst they have ^(C1)committed acts of lewdness.¹⁰ "In you ^(F1)they have ^(C1)uncovered their fathers' nakedness; in you they have humbled her who was ^(C2)unclean in her menstrual impurity.¹¹ "One has committed abomination with his ^(C1)neighbor's wife and another has lewdly defiled his ^(C2)daughter-in-law. And another in you has ^(C3)humbled his sister, his father's daughter.¹² "In you they have ^(C1)taken bribes to shed blood; you have taken ^(C2)interest and profits, and you have injured your neighbors for gain by ^(C3)oppression, and you have ^(C4)forgotten Me," declares the Lord GOD.

¹³ "Behold, then, I smite My hand at your ^(C1)dishonest gain which you have acquired and at ^(F1)the bloodshed which is among you.¹⁴ "Can ^(C1)your heart endure, or can your hands be strong in the days that I will deal with you? ^(C2)I, the LORD, have spoken and will act.¹⁵ "I will ^(C1)scatter you among the nations and I will disperse you through the lands, and I will ^(C2)consume your uncleanness from you.¹⁶ "You will profane yourself in the sight of the nations, and you will ^(C1)know that I am the LORD."'"

¹⁷ And the word of the LORD came to me, saying,¹⁸ "Son of man, the house of Israel has become ^(C1)dross to Me; all of them are ^(C2)bronze and tin and iron and lead in the ^(C3)furnace; they are the dross of silver.¹⁹ "Therefore, thus says the Lord GOD, 'Because all of you have become dross, therefore, behold, I am going to gather you into the midst of Jerusalem.²⁰ 'As they gather silver and bronze and iron and lead and tin into the ^(C1)furnace to blow fire on it in order to melt it, so I will gather you in My anger and in My wrath and I will lay you there and melt you.²¹ 'I will gather you and blow on you with the fire of My wrath, and you will be melted in the midst of it.²² 'As silver is melted in the furnace, so you will be melted in the midst of it; and you will know that I, the LORD, have ^(C1)poured out My wrath on you.'"

²³ And the word of the LORD came to me, saying,²⁴ "Son of man, say to her, 'You are a land that is ^(C1)not cleansed or rained on in the day of indignation.'²⁵ "There is a ^(C1)conspiracy of her prophets in her midst like a roaring lion tearing the prey. They have ^(C2)devoured lives; they have taken treasure and precious things; they have made many ^(C3)widows in the midst of her.²⁶ "Her ^(C1)priests have done violence to My law and have ^(C2)profaned My holy things; they have made no ^(C3)distinction between the holy and the profane, and they have not taught the difference between the ^(C4)unclean and the clean; and they hide their eyes from My sabbaths, and I am profaned among them.²⁷ "Her princes within her are like wolves tearing the prey, by shedding blood and ^(C1)destroying lives in order to get ^(C2)dishonest gain.²⁸ "Her prophets have smeared whitewash for them, seeing ^(C1)false visions and divining lies for them, saying, 'Thus says the Lord GOD,' when the LORD has not spoken.²⁹ "The people of the land have practiced ^(C1)oppression and committed robbery, and they have wronged the poor and needy and have ^(C2)oppressed the sojourner without justice.³⁰ "I ^(C1)searched for a man among them who would ^(C2)build up the wall and ^(C3)stand in the gap before Me for the land, so that I would not destroy it; but I found ^(F1)no one.³¹ "Thus I have poured out My ^(C1)indignation on them; I have consumed them with the fire of My wrath; ^(C2)their way I have brought upon their heads," declares the Lord GOD.