Ezekiel 22

1 The Lord’s word came to me. 2 “Son of man, will you judge the city of bloodshed? Declare all her lawless deeds to her.” 3 “Tell her, ‘This is what the Lord God says: City that sheds blood within herself and forms devisings against herself to defile herself, your time has come.’” 4 “You have committed an offense through the blood you shed and polluted yourself through the devisings you made. You brought your days and years near, so I made you a disgrace to the nations and an object of mockery to every country.” 5 “Those near and far will mock you, city notorious for uncleanness and full of lawlessness.” 6 “Look, the leaders of the house of Israel each conspired with his relatives within you to shed blood.” 7 “Within you they insulted father and mother, dealt wrongfully with the newcomer, and oppressed orphan and widow.” 8 “They treated my holy things with contempt and treated my Sabbaths as common.” 9 “Robbers within you shed blood. They ate sacrifices on the mountains and did unholy things among you.” 10 “Within you they exposed their father’s nakedness and humiliated a woman during her period of uncleanness.” 11 “One acted lawlessly with his neighbor’s wife, another defiled his daughter-in-law through ungodliness, and another humiliated his own sister, his father’s daughter.” 12 “Within you they accepted bribes to shed blood. They took interest and excessive profit. You brought your wickedness to completion through oppression, and you forgot me, says the Lord.” 13 “If I strike my hands together at what you have accomplished, what you have done, and at the blood shed within you,” 14 “will your heart endure and your hands remain strong in the days when I deal with you? I, the Lord, have spoken and will act.” 15 “I will scatter you among the nations, disperse you through the countries, and remove your uncleanness from you.” 16 “I will take possession of you before the nations’ eyes, and you will know that I am the Lord.” [a] 17 The Lord’s word came to me. 18 “Son of man, the house of Israel has become a mixture of bronze, iron, tin, and lead among the silver.” 19 “Therefore, this is what the Lord says: Because you have become one mixture, I will gather you into Jerusalem.” 20 “As silver, bronze, iron, tin, and lead are gathered into a furnace and the fire is blown to melt them, so I will gather you in my wrath and melt you.” 21 “I will blow on you with the fire of my wrath, and you will melt within the city.” 22 “As silver melts in a furnace, you will melt within the city. Then you will know that I, the Lord, have poured my wrath on you.” 23 The Lord’s word came to me. 24 “Son of man, tell her, ‘You are a land on which no rain fell on the day of wrath.’” 25 “Her leaders are like roaring lions seizing prey. They devour lives through oppression and take bribes, multiplying widows within you.” [b] 26 “Her priests treated my law with contempt and treated my holy things as common. They did not distinguish between holy and common or between unclean and clean. They hid their eyes from my Sabbaths, and I was treated as common among them.” 27 “Her rulers are like wolves tearing prey and shedding blood to gain dishonest profit.” 28 “Her prophets, who plaster for them, will fall. They see empty visions and divine falsehoods, saying, ‘This is what the Lord says,’ when the Lord has not spoken.” 29 “They oppress the people of the land with injustice and commit robbery. They oppress the poor and needy and deny justice to the newcomer.” 30 “I looked among them for someone who acted uprightly and stood fully before me in the land’s hour so that I would not destroy the land completely, but I found no one.” 31 “So I poured out my wrath on her with the fire of my anger to make an end, and I brought their conduct back on their own heads, says the Lord God.”