| Chapter
22 |
| 1 |
Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, |
|
2 | Now, thou son of man, wilt thou judge, wilt thou
judge the bloody city? yea, thou shalt shew her all her abominations. |
| 3 | Then say thou, Thus saith the
Lord GOD, The city sheddeth blood in the midst of it, that her time may come,
and maketh idols against herself to defile herself. |
|
4 | Thou art become guilty in thy blood that thou hast
shed; and hast defiled thyself in thine idols which thou hast made; and thou
hast caused thy days to draw near, and art come even unto thy years: therefore
have I made thee a reproach unto the heathen, and a mocking to all
countries. |
| 5 | Those that
be near, and those that be far from thee, shall mock thee, which art infamous
and much vexed. |
| 6 | Behold,
the princes of Israel, every one were in thee to their power to shed blood. |
| 7 | In thee have they set light
by father and mother: in the midst of thee have they dealt by oppression with
the stranger: in thee have they vexed the fatherless and the widow. |
| 8 | Thou hast despised mine holy
things, and hast profaned my sabbaths. |
| 9 | In thee are men that carry tales to shed blood: and in
thee they eat upon the mountains: in the midst of thee they commit
lewdness. |
| 10 | In thee
have they discovered their fathers' nakedness: in thee have they humbled her
that was set apart for pollution. |
|
11 | And one hath committed abomination with his neighbour's wife;
and another hath lewdly defiled his daughter in law; and another in thee hath
humbled his sister, his father's daughter. |
| 12 | In thee have they taken gifts to shed blood; thou hast
taken usury and increase, and thou hast greedily gained of thy neighbours by
extortion, and hast forgotten me, saith the Lord GOD. |
| 13 | Behold, therefore I have smitten mine
hand at thy dishonest gain which thou hast made, and at thy blood which hath
been in the midst of thee. |
| 14
| Can thine heart endure, or can thine hands be strong, in the days that
I shall deal with thee? I the LORD have spoken it, and will do it. |
| 15 | And I will scatter thee among the
heathen, and disperse thee in the countries, and will consume thy filthiness
out of thee. |
| 16 | And thou
shalt take thine inheritance in thyself in the sight of the heathen, and thou
shalt know that I am the LORD. |
| 17
| And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, |
| 18 | Son of man, the house of Israel is to
me become dross: all they are brass, and tin, and iron, and lead, in the midst
of the furnace; they are even the dross of silver. |
|
19 | Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because ye are
all become dross, behold, therefore I will gather you into the midst of
Jerusalem. |
| 20 | As they
gather silver, and brass, and iron, and lead, and tin, into the midst of the
furnace, to blow the fire upon it, to melt it; so will I gather you in mine
anger and in my fury, and I will leave you there, and melt you. |
| 21 | Yea, I will gather you, and blow
upon you in the fire of my wrath, and ye shall be melted in the midst
therof. |
| 22 | As silver is
melted in the midst of the furnace, so shall ye be melted in the midst thereof;
and ye shall know that I the LORD have poured out my fury upon you. |
| 23 | And the word of the LORD came
unto me, saying, |
| 24 | Son
of man, say unto her, Thou art the land that is not cleansed, nor rained upon
in the day of indignation. |
| 25
| There is a conspiracy of her prophets in the midst thereof, like a
roaring lion ravening the prey; they have devoured souls; they have taken the
treasure and precious things; they have made her many widows in the midst
thereof. |
| 26 | Her priests
have violated my law, and have profaned mine holy things: they have put no
difference between the holy and profane, neither have they shewed difference
between the unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes from my sabbaths,
and I am profaned among them. |
| 27
| Her princes in the midst thereof are like wolves ravening the prey, to
shed blood, and to destroy souls, to get dishonest gain. |
| 28 | And her prophets have daubed them with
untempered morter, seeing vanity, and divining lies unto them, saying, Thus
saith the Lord GOD, when the LORD hath not spoken. |
|
29 | The people of the land have used oppression, and
exercised robbery, and have vexed the poor and needy: yea, they have oppressed
the stranger wrongfully. |
| 30 |
And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand
in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found
none. |
| 31 | Therefore have
I poured out mine indignation upon them; I have consumed them with the fire of
my wrath: their own way have I recompensed upon their heads, saith the Lord
GOD. |
