Ezekiel 22:1–23

¹Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying, ²“As for you, son of man, will you judge her? Will you pass judgment on the city of bloodshed? Then confront her with all her abominations ³and tell her that this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘O city who brings her own doom by shedding blood within her walls and making idols to defile herself, ⁴you are guilty of the blood you have shed, and you are defiled by the idols you have made. You have brought your days to a close 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 far will mock you, O infamous city, full of turmoil.

⁶See how every prince of Israel within you has used his power to shed blood. ⁷Father and mother are treated with contempt. Within your walls the foreign resident is exploited, the fatherless and the widow are oppressed.

⁸You have despised My holy things and profaned My Sabbaths. ⁹Among you are slanderous men bent on bloodshed; within you are those who eat on the mountain shrines and commit acts of indecency.

¹⁰In you they have uncovered the nakedness of their fathers; in you they violate women during their menstrual impurity. ¹¹One man commits an abomination with his neighbor’s wife; another wickedly defiles his daughter-in-law; and yet another violates his sister, his own father’s daughter.

¹²In you they take bribes to shed blood. You engage in usury, take excess interest, and extort your neighbors. But Me you have forgotten, declares the Lord GOD.

¹³Now look, I strike My hands together against your unjust gain and against the blood you have shed in your midst. ¹⁴Will your courage endure or your hands be strong in the day I deal with you? I, the LORD, have spoken, and I will act. ¹⁵I will disperse you among the nations and scatter you throughout the lands; I will purge your uncleanness. ¹⁶And when you have defiled yourself^a in the eyes of the nations, then you will know that I am the LORD.’”

¹⁷Then 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 copper, tin, iron, and lead inside the furnace; they are but the dross of silver.

¹⁹Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Because all of you have become dross, behold, I will gather you into Jerusalem. ²⁰Just as one gathers silver, copper, iron, lead, and tin into the furnace to melt with a fiery blast, so I will gather you in My anger and wrath, leave you there, and melt you.

²¹Yes, I will gather you together and blow on you with the fire of My wrath, and you will be melted within the city. ²²As silver is melted in a furnace, so you will be melted within the city. Then you will know that I, the LORD, have poured out My wrath upon you.’”

²³And the word of the LORD came to me, saying,