1The word of the LORD came to me again, saying,
2"Now, son of man, will you judge? Will you judge the bloody city? Then show her all the disgusting things she has done."
3"Say to her, 'This is what the Lord GOD says: You are a city that sheds blood inside your own walls, so that your time may come. You make idols against yourself, to make yourself unclean."
4"'You have become guilty because of the blood you have shed. You have made yourself unclean with the idols you have made. You have brought your days near, and you have come to the end of your years. So I have made you a shame to the nations, and something to be laughed at in every country."
5"'Those who are near you, and those who are far from you, will mock you. Your name is foul, and you are full of trouble."
6"'Look, the princes of Israel, every one of them, have used their power in you to shed blood."
7"'In you they have made light of father and mother. In you they have crushed the stranger. In you they have wronged the fatherless and the widow."
8"'You have looked down on my holy things, and you have treated my sabbaths as common."
9"'In you are men who carry tales so that blood may be shed. In you they eat on the mountains. In the middle of you they do shameful things."
10"'In you they have uncovered their fathers' nakedness. In you they have humbled the woman who was set apart because she was unclean."
11"'One man has done a disgusting thing with his neighbour's wife. Another has shamefully defiled his daughter-in-law. Another in you has humbled his sister, his own father's daughter."
12"'In you they have taken gifts to shed blood. You have taken interest and made a profit. You have greedily robbed your neighbours, and you have forgotten me, says the Lord GOD."
13"'So look, I have struck my hands together at the dishonest gain you have made, and at the blood that has been shed inside you."
14"'Can your heart hold out, or can your hands be strong, in the days when I deal with you? I the LORD have spoken it, and I will do it."
15"'I will scatter you among the nations, and spread you out through the countries, and I will burn your filthiness out of you."
16"'And you will take your inheritance in yourself in the sight of the nations, and you will know that I am the LORD.'"
17And the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
18"Son of man, the house of Israel has become dross to me. All of them are brass and tin and iron and lead inside the furnace. They are the dross of silver."
19"So this is what the Lord GOD says: 'Because you have all become dross, look, I will gather you into the middle of Jerusalem."
20"'As men gather silver and brass and iron and lead and tin into the furnace, to blow the fire on it and melt it, so I will gather you in my anger and in my fury. I will leave you there, and melt you."
21"'Yes, I will gather you, and blow on you with the fire of my wrath, and you will be melted inside it."
22"'As silver is melted in the furnace, so you will be melted inside it. And you will know that I the LORD have poured out my fury on you.'"
23And the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
24"Son of man, say to her, 'You are the land that is not made clean, and has no rain on the day of anger.'"
25"Her prophets have made a plot inside her, like a roaring lion tearing its prey. They have devoured souls. They have taken treasure and precious things. They have made many widows inside her."
26"Her priests have broken my law and have treated my holy things as common. They have made no difference between the holy and the common. They have not shown the difference between the unclean and the clean. They have shut their eyes to my sabbaths, and I am not honoured among them."
27"Her princes inside her are like wolves tearing their prey. They shed blood and destroy souls to get dishonest gain."
28"And her prophets have plastered them over with untempered mortar. They see empty visions and speak lies to them, saying, 'This is what the Lord GOD says,' when the LORD has not spoken."
29"The people of the land have crushed others and have robbed them. They have wronged the poor and needy. Yes, they have oppressed the stranger unjustly."
30"And I looked for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand in the gap before me for the land, so that I would not destroy it. But I found no one."
31"So I have poured out my anger on them. I have burned them up with the fire of my wrath. I have brought their own way down on their heads, says the Lord GOD."