1And the word of Yahweh came to me, saying:
2“And you, son of man, will you judge, will you judge the city of bloodshed? Then make known to her all her abominations.
3And say: Thus says the Lord Yahweh: A city that sheds blood in her midst, so that her time may come, and that has made idols for herself, becoming defiled.
4By your blood that you have shed you have become guilty, and by your idols that you have made you are defiled; you have brought your days near and have come to the end of your years. Therefore I have made you a reproach to the nations and a mockery to all the lands.
5Those near and those far from you will mock you, O defiled of name, full of turmoil.
6Behold, the princes of Israel, each according to his arm, have been in you to shed blood.
7Father and mother they have treated with contempt in you; the sojourner they have oppressed in your midst; the orphan and the widow they have wronged in you.
8My holy things you have despised, and my sabbaths you have profaned.
9Men of slander have been in you to shed blood; and on the mountains they have eaten in you; they have committed lewdness in your midst.
10A father’s nakedness he has uncovered in you; the one unclean in menstrual impurity they have violated in you.
11One man has committed an abomination with his neighbor’s wife; another has defiled his daughter-in-law with lewdness; and another has violated his sister, his father’s daughter, in you.
12Bribes they have taken in you to shed blood; interest and increase you have taken, and you have made unjust gain from your neighbors by extortion, and me you have forgotten, declares the Lord Yahweh.
13And behold, I have struck my hands together at your dishonest gain that you have made, and at your blood that has been in your midst.
14Will your heart stand firm, or will your hands be strong, in the days when I deal with you? I, Yahweh, have spoken, and I will act.
15And I will scatter you among the nations and disperse you through the lands, and I will consume your uncleanness out of you.
16And you will be profaned through yourself in the sight of the nations, and you will know that I am Yahweh.”
17And the word of Yahweh came to me, saying:
18“Son of man, the house of Israel has become dross to me; all of them are copper and tin and iron and lead within the furnace; they have become the dross of silver.
19Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: Because all of you have become dross, therefore behold, I am gathering you into the midst of Jerusalem.
20As silver and copper and iron and lead and tin are gathered into the midst of a furnace to blow fire upon it to melt it, so I will gather you in my anger and in my wrath, and I will set you down and melt you.
21And I will collect you and blow upon you with the fire of my fury, and you will be melted in the midst of it.
22As silver is melted in the midst of a furnace, so you will be melted in the midst of it; and you will know that I, Yahweh, have poured out my wrath upon you.”
23And the word of Yahweh came to me, saying:
24“Son of man, say to her: You are a land that has not been cleansed, not rained upon in the day of indignation.
25A conspiracy of her prophets is in her midst, like a roaring lion tearing prey; they have devoured lives, they seize treasure and precious things, they have multiplied her widows in her midst.
26Her priests have done violence to my law and have profaned my holy things; they have not distinguished between the holy and the common, nor have they taught the difference between the unclean and the clean; and from my sabbaths they have hidden their eyes, so that I am profaned among them.
27Her officials in her midst are like wolves tearing prey, shedding blood, destroying lives to make dishonest gain.
28And her prophets have plastered over for them with whitewash, seeing false visions and divining lies for them, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh,’ when Yahweh has not spoken.
29The people of the land have practiced extortion and committed robbery; they have wronged the poor and needy, and they have extorted the sojourner without justice.
30And I sought among them a man who would build up the wall and stand in the breach before me on behalf of the land, so that it would not be destroyed, but I found none.
31So I poured out my indignation upon them; with the fire of my wrath I consumed them. I brought their way down upon their own heads, declares the Lord Yahweh.
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