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Evil Rulers to Be Judged

¹ Now the ^(C1)Spirit lifted me up and brought me to the east gate of the LORD'S house which faced eastward. And behold, there were twenty-five men at the entrance of the gate, and among them I saw Jaazaniah son of Azzur and ^(C2)Pelatiah son of Benaiah, leaders of the people.² Then He said to me, "Son of man, these are the men who devise wrongdoing and ^(C1)give evil advice in this city,³ who say, 'The time is not near to build houses. ^(F1)This ^(C1)city is the pot and we are the meat.'⁴ "Therefore, ^(C1)prophesy against them, prophesy, son of man!"

⁵ Then the Spirit of the LORD fell upon me, and He said to me, "Say, 'This is what the LORD says: "This is how you think, house of Israel, for ^(C1)I know ^(F1)your ^(C2)thoughts.⁶ "You have ^(C1)multiplied your slain in this city, and filled its streets with ^(F1)them."⁷ 'Therefore, this is what the Lord ^(F1)GOD says: "Your ^(C1)slain whom you have laid in the midst of ^(F2)the city are the meat and this city is the pot; but ^(F3)I will ^(C2)bring you out of it.⁸ "You have ^(C1)feared a sword; so I will ^(C2)bring a sword upon you," the Lord GOD declares.⁹ "And I will bring you out of the midst of ^(F1)the city, and hand you over to ^(C1)strangers, and ^(C2)execute judgments against you.¹⁰ "You will ^(C1)fall by the sword. I will judge you to the ^(C2)border of Israel; so you shall know that I am the LORD.¹¹ "This city will ^(C1)not be a pot for you, nor will you be meat in the midst of it; I will judge you to the border of Israel.¹² "So you will know that I am the LORD; for you have not walked in My statutes, nor have you ^(C1)executed My ordinances, but you have acted in accordance with the ordinances of the ^(C2)nations around you."'"

¹³ Now it came about, as I prophesied, that ^(C1)Pelatiah son of Benaiah died. Then I fell on my face and cried out with a loud voice, and said, "^(C2)Oh, Lord GOD! Will You bring the remnant of Israel to a complete destruction?"

Promise of Restoration

¹⁴ Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,¹⁵ "Son of man, your brothers, your relatives, ^(F1)your fellow exiles, and the entire house of Israel, all of them, are those to whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, 'Keep far from the LORD; this land has been given ^(C1)to us as a possession.'¹⁶ "Therefore say, 'This is what the Lord GOD says: "Though I had removed them far away among the nations, and though I had scattered them among the countries, yet I was a ^(C1)sanctuary for them for a little while in the countries where they had gone."'¹⁷ "Therefore say, 'This is what the Lord GOD says: "I will ^(C1)gather you from the peoples and assemble you from the countries among which you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel."'¹⁸ "When they come there, they will ^(C1)remove all its ^(C2)detestable things and all its abominations from it.¹⁹ "And I will ^(C1)give them one heart, and put a new spirit within ^(F1)them. And I will remove the ^(C2)heart of stone from their flesh and give them a ^(C3)heart of flesh,²⁰ so that they may ^(C1)walk in My statutes, and keep My ordinances and do them. Then they will be ^(C2)My people, and I shall be their God.²¹ "^(F1)But as for those whose hearts go after their ^(C1)detestable things and abominations, I will ^(F2)(C2)bring their conduct down on their heads," declares the Lord GOD.

²² Then the cherubim ^(C1)lifted up their wings with the wheels beside them, and ^(C2)the glory of the God of Israel ^(F1)hovered over them.²³ The ^(C1)glory of the LORD went up from the midst of the city and ^(C2)stood over the mountain which is east of the city.²⁴ And the ^(C1)Spirit lifted me up and brought me in a vision by the Spirit of God to ^(F1)Chaldea, to the exiles. Then the vision that I had seen ^(F2)(C2)left me.²⁵ And I ^(C1)told the exiles all the things that the LORD had shown me.