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Punishment for Wickedness Foretold

¹ Moreover, the word of the LORD came to me saying,² "And you, son of man, thus says the Lord ^(F1)GOD to the land of Israel, 'An ^(C1)end! The end is coming on the four corners of the land.³ 'Now the end is upon you, and I will send My anger against you; I will judge you according to your ways and bring all your abominations upon you.⁴ 'For My eye will have no pity on you, nor will I spare you, but I will ^(C1)bring your ways upon you, and your abominations will be among you; then you will ^(C2)know that I am the LORD!'

⁵ "Thus says the Lord ^(F1)GOD, 'A ^(C1)disaster, unique disaster, behold it is coming!⁶ 'An end is coming; the end has come! It has ^(C1)awakened against you; behold, it has come!⁷ 'Your doom has come to you, O inhabitant of the land. The ^(C1)time has come, the ^(C2)day is near--tumult rather than joyful shouting on the mountains.⁸ 'Now I will shortly ^(C1)pour out My wrath on you and spend My anger against you; ^(C2)judge you according to your ways and bring on you all your abominations.⁹ 'My eye will show no pity nor will I spare. I will ^(F1)repay you according to your ways, while your abominations are in your midst; then you will know that I, the LORD, do the smiting.

¹⁰ 'Behold, the day! Behold, it is coming! Your doom has gone forth; the ^(C1)rod has budded, arrogance has blossomed.¹¹ 'Violence ^(F1)has grown into a rod of ^(C1)wickedness. None of them shall remain, none of their people, none of their ^(C2)wealth, nor anything eminent among them.¹² 'The ^(C1)time has come, the day has arrived. Let not the ^(C2)buyer rejoice nor the seller mourn; for ^(C3)wrath is against all their multitude.¹³ 'Indeed, the seller will not ^(F1)(C1)regain ^(F2)what he sold as long as ^(F3)they both live; for the vision regarding all their multitude will not ^(F4)be averted, nor will any of them maintain his life by his iniquity.

¹⁴ 'They have ^(C1)blown the trumpet and made everything ready, but no one is going to the battle, for My wrath is against all ^(F1)their multitude.¹⁵ 'The ^(C1)sword is outside and the plague and the famine are within. He who is in the field will die by the sword; famine and the plague will also consume those in the city.¹⁶ 'Even when their survivors ^(C1)escape, they will be on the mountains like ^(C2)doves of the valleys, all of them ^(F1)(C3)mourning, each over his own iniquity.¹⁷ 'All ^(C1)hands will hang limp and all knees will ^(F1)become like water.¹⁸ 'They will ^(C1)gird themselves with sackcloth and ^(C2)shuddering will overwhelm them; and shame will be on all faces and ^(C3)baldness on all their heads.¹⁹ 'They will ^(C1)fling their silver into the streets and their gold will become an abhorrent thing; their ^(C2)silver and their gold will not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD. They cannot satisfy their ^(F1)appetite nor can they fill their stomachs, for their iniquity has become an occasion of stumbling.

The Temple Profaned

²³ '^(C1)Make the chain, for the land is full of ^(F1)(C2)bloody crimes and the city is ^(C3)full of violence.²⁴ 'Therefore, I will bring the worst of the ^(C1)nations, and they will possess their houses. I will also make the ^(C2)pride of the strong ones cease, and their ^(C3)holy places will be profaned.²⁵ 'When anguish comes, they will seek ^(C1)peace, but there will be none.²⁶ '^(C1)Disaster will come upon disaster and ^(C2)rumor will be added to rumor; then they will seek a ^(C3)vision from a prophet, but the ^(C4)law will be lost from the priest and ^(C5)counsel from the elders.²⁷ 'The king will mourn, the prince will be ^(C1)clothed with horror, and the hands of the people of the land will ^(F1)tremble. According to their conduct I will deal with them, and by their judgments I will judge them. And they will know that I am the LORD.'"