Ezekiel

^1:1 Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I was among the captives by the river of Chebar, that the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God.

^1:2 In the fifth day of the month, which was the fifth year of king Jehoiachin's captivity,

^1:3 The word of the LORD came expressly unto Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar; and the hand of the LORD was there upon him.

^1:4 And I looked, and, behold, a whirlwind came out of the north, a great cloud, and a fire setting itself, and a brightness was about it, and out of the midst thereof as the colour of amber, out of the midst of the fire.

^1:5 Also out of the midst thereof came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance; they had the likeness of a man.

^1:6 And every one had four faces, and every one had four wings.

^1:7 And their feet were straight feet; and the sole of their feet was like the sole of a calf's foot: and they sparkled like the colour of burnished brass.

^1:8 And they had the hands of a man under their wings on their four sides; and they four had their faces and their wings.

^1:9 Their wings were joined one to another; they turned not when they went; they went every one straight forward.

^1:10 As for the likeness of their faces, they four had the face of a man, and the face of a lion, on the right side: and they four had the face of an ox on the left side; they four also had the face of an eagle.

^1:11 Thus were their faces: and their wings were stretched upward; two wings of every one were joined one to another, and two covered their bodies.

^1:12 And they went every one straight forward: where the spirit was to go, they went; and they turned not when they went.

^1:13 As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire, and like the appearance of lamps: it went up and down among the living creatures; and the fire was bright, and out of the fire went forth lightning.

^1:14 And the living creatures ran and returned as the appearance of a flash of lightning.

^1:15 Now as I beheld the living creatures, behold one wheel upon the earth by the living creatures, with his four faces.

^1:16 The appearance of the wheels and their work was like unto the colour of a beryl: and they four had one likeness: and their appearance and their work was as it were a wheel in the middle of a wheel.

^1:17 When they went, they went upon their four sides: and they turned not when they went.

^1:18 As for their rings, they were so high that they were dreadful; and their rings were full of eyes round about them four.

^1:19 And when the living creatures went, the wheels went by them: and when the living creatures were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up.

^1:20 Anywhere the spirit was to go, they went, thither was their spirit to go; and the wheels were lifted up opposite to them: for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels.

^1:21 When those went, these went; and when those stood, these stood; and when those were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up opposite to them: for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels.

^1:22 And the likeness of the firmament upon the heads of the living creature was as the colour of the terrible crystal, stretched forth over their heads above.

^1:23 And under the firmament were their wings straight, the one toward the other: every one had two, which covered on this side, and every one had two, which covered on that side, their bodies.

^1:24 And when they went, I heard the noise of their wings, like the noise of great waters, as the voice of the Almighty, the voice of speech, as the noise of an host: when they stood, they let down their wings.

^1:25 And there was a voice from the firmament that was over their heads, when they stood, and had let down their wings.

^1:26 And above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone: and upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness as the appearance of a man above upon it.

^1:27 And I saw as the colour of amber, as the appearance of fire round about within it, from the appearance of his loins even upward, and from the appearance of his loins even downward, I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and it had brightness round about.

^1:28 As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. And when I saw it, I fell upon my face, and I heard a voice of one that spoke.

^2:1 And he said unto me, Son of man, stand upon your feet, and I will speak unto you.

^2:2 And the spirit entered into me when he spoke unto me, and set me upon my feet, that I heard him that spoke unto me.

^2:3 And he said unto me, Son of man, I send you to the children of Israel, to a rebellious nation that has rebelled against me: they and their fathers have transgressed against me, even unto this very day.

^2:4 For they are shameless children and stiff hearted. I do send you unto them; and you shall say unto them, Thus says the Lord GOD.

^2:5 And they, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear, (for they are a rebellious house,) yet shall know that there has been a prophet among them.

^2:6 And you, son of man, be not afraid of them, neither be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns be with you, and you do dwell among scorpions: be not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious house.

^2:7 And you shall speak my words unto them, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear: for they are most rebellious.

^2:8 But you, son of man, hear what I say unto you; Be not you rebellious like that rebellious house: open your mouth, and eat that I give you.

^2:9 And when I looked, behold, an hand was sent unto me; and, lo, a roll of a book was therein;

^2:10 And he spread it before me; and it was written within and without: and there was written therein lamentations, and mourning, and woe.

^3:1 Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, eat that you find; eat this roll, and go speak unto the house of Israel.

^3:2 So I opened my mouth, and he caused me to eat that roll.

^3:3 And he said unto me, Son of man, cause your belly to eat, and fill your bowels with this roll that I give you. Then did I eat it; and it was in my mouth as honey for sweetness.

^3:4 And he said unto me, Son of man, go, get you unto the house of Israel, and speak with my words unto them.

^3:5 For you are not sent to a people of a strange speech and of an hard language, but to the house of Israel;

^3:6 Not to many people of a strange speech and of an hard language, whose words you can not understand. Surely, had I sent you to them, they would have hearkened unto you.

^3:7 But the house of Israel will not hearken unto you; for they will not hearken unto me: for all the house of Israel are shameless and hardhearted.

^3:8 Behold, I have made your face strong against their faces, and your forehead strong against their foreheads.

^3:9 As an adamant harder than flint have I made your forehead: fear them not, neither be dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious house.

^3:10 Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, all my words that I shall speak unto you receive in yours heart, and hear with yours ears.

^3:11 And go, get you to them of the captivity, unto the children of your people, and speak unto them, and tell them, Thus says the Lord GOD; whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear.

^3:12 Then the spirit took me up, and I heard behind me a voice of a great rushing, saying, Blessed be the glory of the LORD from his place.

^3:13 I heard also the noise of the wings of the living creatures that touched one another, and the noise of the wheels opposite to them, and a noise of a great rushing.

^3:14 So the spirit lifted me up, and took me away, and I went in bitterness, in the heat of my spirit; but the hand of the LORD was strong upon me.

^3:15 Then I came to them of the captivity at Telabib, that dwelt by the river of Chebar, and I sat where they sat, and remained there astonished among them seven days.

^3:16 And it came to pass at the end of seven days, that the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

^3:17 Son of man, I have made you a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me.

^3:18 When I say unto the wicked, You shall surely die; and you give him not warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at yours hand.

^3:19 Yet if you warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have delivered your soul.

^3:20 Again, When a righteous man does turn from his righteousness, and commit iniquity, and I lay a stumbling-block before him, he shall die: because you have not given him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he has done shall not be remembered; but his blood will I require at yours hand.

^3:21 Nevertheless if you warn the righteous man, that the righteous sin not, and he does not sin, he shall surely live, because he is warned; also you have delivered your soul.

^3:22 And the hand of the LORD was there upon me; and he said unto me, Arise, go forth into the plain, and I will there talk with you.

^3:23 Then I arose, and went forth into the plain: and, behold, the glory of the LORD stood there, as the glory which I saw by the river of Chebar: and I fell on my face.

^3:24 Then the spirit entered into me, and set me upon my feet, and spoke with me, and said unto me, Go, shut yourself within yours house.

^3:25 But you, O son of man, behold, they shall put bands upon you, and shall bind you with them, and you shall not go out among them:

^3:26 And I will make your tongue cleave to the roof of your mouth, that you shall be dumb, and shall not be to them a reprover: for they are a rebellious house.

^3:27 But when I speak with you, I will open your mouth, and you shall say unto them, Thus says the Lord GOD; He that hears, let him hear; and he that forbears, let him forbear: for they are a rebellious house.

^4:1 You also, son of man, take you a tile, and lay it before you, and illustrate upon it the city, even Jerusalem:

^4:2 And lay siege against it, and build a fort against it, and cast a mount against it; set the camp also against it, and set battering rams against it round about.

^4:3 Moreover take you unto you an iron pan, and set it for a wall of iron between you and the city: and set your face against it, and it shall be besieged, and you shall lay siege against it. This shall be a sign to the house of Israel.

^4:4 Lie you also upon your left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it: according to the number of the days that you shall lie upon it you shall bear their iniquity.

^4:5 For I have laid upon you the years of their iniquity, according to the number of the days, three hundred and ninety days: so shall you bear the iniquity of the house of Israel.

^4:6 And when you have accomplished them, lie again on your right side, and you shall bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days: I have appointed you each day for a year.

^4:7 Therefore you shall set your face toward the siege of Jerusalem, and yours arm shall be uncovered, and you shall prophesy against it.

^4:8 And, behold, I will lay bands upon you, and you shall not turn you from one side to another, till you have ended the days of your siege.

^4:9 Take you also unto you wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentils, and millet, and fitches, and put them in one vessel, and make you bread thereof, according to the number of the days that you shall lie upon your side, three hundred and ninety days shall you eat thereof.

^4:10 And your food which you shall eat shall be by weight, twenty shekels a day: from time to time shall you eat it.

^4:11 You shall drink also water by measure, the sixth part of an hin: from time to time shall you drink.

^4:12 And you shall eat it as barley cakes, and you shall bake it with dung that comes out of man, in their sight.

^4:13 And the LORD said, Even thus shall the children of Israel eat their defiled bread among the Gentiles, where I will drive them.

^4:14 Then said I, Ah Lord GOD! behold, my soul has not been polluted: for from my youth up even till now have I not eaten of that which dies of itself, or is torn in pieces; neither came there abominable flesh into my mouth.

^4:15 Then he said unto me, Lo, I have given you cow's dung for man's dung, and you shall prepare your bread therewith.

^4:16 Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, behold, I will break the staff of bread in Jerusalem: and they shall eat bread by weight, and with care; and they shall drink water by measure, and with astonishment:

^4:17 That they may lack bread and water, and be astonished one with another, and consume away for their iniquity.

^5:1 And you, son of man, take you a sharp knife, take you a barber's razor, and cause it to pass upon yours head and upon your beard: then take you balances to weigh, and divide the hair.

^5:2 You shall burn with fire a third part in the midst of the city, when the days of the siege are fulfilled: and you shall take a third part, and strike about it with a knife: and a third part you shall scatter in the wind; and I will draw out a sword after them.

^5:3 You shall also take thereof a few in number, and bind them in your skirts.

^5:4 Then take of them again, and cast them into the midst of the fire, and burn them in the fire; for thereof shall a fire come forth into all the house of Israel.

^5:5 Thus says the Lord GOD; This is Jerusalem: I have set it in the midst of the nations and countries that are round about her.

^5:6 And she has changed my judgments into wickedness more than the nations, and my statutes more than the countries that are round about her: for they have refused my judgments and my statutes, they have not walked in them.

^5:7 Therefore thus says the Lord GOD; Because all of you multiplied more than the nations that are round about you, and have not walked in my statutes, neither have kept my judgments, neither have done according to the judgments of the nations that are round about you;

^5:8 Therefore thus says the Lord GOD; Behold, I, even I, am against you, and will execute judgments in the midst of you in the sight of the nations.

^5:9 And I will do in you that which I have not done, and unto which I will not do any more the like, because of all yours abominations.

^5:10 Therefore the fathers shall eat the sons in the midst of you, and the sons shall eat their fathers; and I will execute judgments in you, and the whole remnant of you will I scatter into all the winds.

^5:11 Wherefore, as I live, says the Lord GOD; Surely, because you have defiled my sanctuary with all your detestable things, and with all yours abominations, therefore will I also diminish you; neither shall mine eye spare, neither will I have any pity.

^5:12 A third part of you shall die with the pestilence, and with famine shall they be consumed in the midst of you: and a third part shall fall by the sword round about you; and I will scatter a third part into all the winds, and I will draw out a sword after them.

^5:13 Thus shall mine anger be accomplished, and I will cause my fury to rest upon them, and I will be comforted: and they shall know that I the LORD have spoken it in my zeal, when I have accomplished my fury in them.

^5:14 Moreover I will make you waste, and a reproach among the nations that are round about you, in the sight of all that pass by.

^5:15 So it shall be a reproach and a taunt, an instruction and an astonishment unto the nations that are round about you, when I shall execute judgments in you in anger and in fury and in furious rebukes. I the LORD have spoken it.

^5:16 When I shall send upon them the evil arrows of famine, which shall be for their destruction, and which I will send to destroy you: and I will increase the famine upon you, and will break your staff of bread:

^5:17 So will I send upon you famine and evil beasts, and they shall bereave you: and pestilence and blood shall pass through you; and I will bring the sword upon you. I the LORD have spoken it.

^6:1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

^6:2 Son of man, set your face toward the mountains of Israel, and prophesy against them,

^6:3 And say, All of you mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord GOD; Thus says the Lord GOD to the mountains, and to the hills, to the rivers, and to the valleys; Behold, I, even I, will bring a sword upon you, and I will destroy your high places.

^6:4 And your altars shall be desolate, and your images shall be broken: and I will cast down your slain men before your idols.

^6:5 And I will lay the dead carcasses of the children of Israel before their idols; and I will scatter your bones round about your altars.

^6:6 In all your dwelling places the cities shall be laid waste, and the high places shall be desolate; that your altars may be laid waste and made desolate, and your idols may be broken and cease, and your images may be cut down, and your works may be abolished.

^6:7 And the slain shall fall in the midst of you, and all of you shall know that I am the LORD.

^6:8 Yet will I leave a remnant, that all of you may have some that shall escape the sword among the nations, when all of you shall be scattered through the countries.

^6:9 And they that escape of you shall remember me among the nations where they shall be carried captives, because I am broken with their whorish heart, which has departed from me, and with their eyes, which go a whoring after their idols: and they shall loathe themselves for the evils which they have committed in all their abominations.

^6:10 And they shall know that I am the LORD, and that I have not said in vain that I would do this evil unto them.

^6:11 Thus says the Lord GOD; Strike with yours hand, and stamp with your foot, and say, Alas for all the evil abominations of the house of Israel! for they shall fall by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence.

^6:12 He that is far off shall die of the pestilence; and he that is near shall fall by the sword; and he that remains and is besieged shall die by the famine: thus will I accomplish my fury upon them.

^6:13 Then shall all of you know that I am the LORD, when their slain men shall be among their idols round about their altars, upon every high hill, in all the tops of the mountains, and under every green tree, and under every thick oak, the place where they did offer sweet savour to all their idols.

^6:14 So will I stretch out my hand upon them, and make the land desolate, yea, more desolate than the wilderness toward Diblath, in all their habitations: and they shall know that I am the LORD.

^7:1 Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

^7:2 Also, you son of man, thus says the Lord GOD unto the land of Israel; An end, the end has come upon the four corners of the land.

^7:3 Now is the end come upon you, and I will send mine anger upon you, and will judge you according to your ways, and will recompense upon you all yours abominations.

^7:4 And mine eye shall not spare you, neither will I have pity: but I will recompense your ways upon you, and yours abominations shall be in the midst of you: and all of you shall know that I am the LORD.

^7:5 Thus says the Lord GOD; An evil, an only evil, behold, has come.

^7:6 An end has come, the end has come: it watches for you; behold, it has come.

^7:7 The morning has come unto you, O you that dwell in the land: the time has come, the day of trouble is near, and not the sounding again of the mountains.

^7:8 Now will I shortly pour out my fury upon you, and accomplish mine anger upon you: and I will judge you according to your ways, and will recompense you for all yours abominations.

^7:9 And mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity: I will recompense you according to your ways and yours abominations that are in the midst of you; and all of you shall know that I am the LORD that strikes.

^7:10 Behold the day, behold, it has come: the morning is gone forth; the rod has blossomed, pride has budded.

^7:11 Violence has risen up into a rod of wickedness: none of them shall remain, nor of their multitude, nor of any of their's: neither shall there be wailing for them.

^7:12 The time has come, the day draws near: let not the buyer rejoice, nor the seller mourn: for wrath is upon all the multitude thereof.

^7:13 For the seller shall not return to that which is sold, although they were yet alive: for the vision is concerning the whole multitude thereof, which shall not return; neither shall any strengthen himself in the iniquity of his life.

^7:14 They have blown the trumpet, even to make all ready; but none goes to the battle: for my wrath is upon all the multitude thereof.

^7:15 The sword is without, and the pestilence and the famine within: he that is in the field shall die with the sword; and he that is in the city, famine and pestilence shall devour him.

^7:16 But they that escape of them shall escape, and shall be on the mountains like doves of the valleys, all of them mourning, every one for his iniquity.

^7:17 All hands shall be feeble, and all knees shall be weak as water.

^7:18 They shall also gird themselves with sackcloth, and horror shall cover them; and shame shall be upon all faces, and baldness upon all their heads.

^7:19 They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed: their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD: they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels: because it is the stumbling block of their iniquity.

^7:20 As for the beauty of his ornament, he set it in majesty: but they made the images of their abominations and of their detestable things therein: therefore have I set it far from them.

^7:21 And I will give it into the hands of the strangers for a prey, and to the wicked of the earth for a spoil; and they shall pollute it.

^7:22 My face will I turn also from them, and they shall pollute my secret place: for the robbers shall enter into it, and defile it.

^7:23 Make a chain: for the land is full of bloody crimes, and the city is full of violence.

^7:24 Wherefore I will bring the worst of the heathen, and they shall possess their houses: I will also make the pomp of the strong to cease; and their holy places shall be defiled.

^7:25 Destruction comes; and they shall seek peace, and there shall be none.

^7:26 Mischief shall come upon mischief, and rumour shall be upon rumour; then shall they seek a vision of the prophet; but the law shall perish from the priest, and counsel from the ancients.

^7:27 The king shall mourn, and the prince shall be clothed with desolation, and the hands of the people of the land shall be troubled: I will do unto them after their way, and according to their deserts will I judge them; and they shall know that I am the LORD.

^8:1 And it came to pass in the sixth year, in the sixth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I sat in mine house, and the elders of Judah sat before me, that the hand of the Lord GOD fell there upon me.

^8:2 Then I beheld, and lo a likeness as the appearance of fire: from the appearance of his loins even downward, fire; and from his loins even upward, as the appearance of brightness, as the colour of amber.

^8:3 And he put forth the form of an hand, and took me by a lock of mine head; and the spirit lifted me up between the earth and the heaven, and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem, to the door of the inner gate that looks toward the north; where was the seat of the image of jealousy, which provokes to jealousy.

^8:4 And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel was there, according to the vision that I saw in the plain.

^8:5 Then said he unto me, Son of man, lift up yours eyes now the way toward the north. So I lifted up mine eyes the way toward the north, and behold northward at the gate of the altar this image of jealousy in the entry.

^8:6 He said furthermore unto me, Son of man, see you what they do? even the great abominations that the house of Israel commits here, that I should go far off from my sanctuary? but turn you yet again, and you shall see greater abominations.

^8:7 And he brought me to the door of the court; and when I looked, behold a hole in the wall.

^8:8 Then said he unto me, Son of man, dig now in the wall: and when I had dug in the wall, behold a door.

^8:9 And he said unto me, Go in, and behold the wicked abominations that they do here.

^8:10 So I went in and saw; and behold every form of creeping things, and abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel, portrayed upon the wall round about.

^8:11 And there stood before them seventy men of the ancients of the house of Israel, and in the midst of them stood Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan, with every man his censer in his hand; and a thick cloud of incense went up.

^8:12 Then said he unto me, Son of man, have you seen what the ancients of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the chambers of his imagery? for they say, the LORD sees us not; the LORD has forsaken the earth.

^8:13 He said also unto me, Turn you yet again, and you shall see greater abominations that they do.

^8:14 Then he brought me to the door of the gate of the LORD's house which was toward the north; and, behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz.

^8:15 Then said he unto me, Have you seen this, O son of man? turn you yet again, and you shall see greater abominations than these.

^8:16 And he brought me into the inner court of the LORD's house, and, behold, at the door of the temple of the LORD, between the porch and the altar, were about five and twenty men, with their backs toward the temple of the LORD, and their faces toward the east; and they worshipped the sun toward the east.

^8:17 Then he said unto me, Have you seen this, O son of man? Is it a light thing to the house of Judah that they commit the abominations which they commit here? for they have filled the land with violence, and have returned to provoke me to anger: and, lo, they put the branch to their nose.

^8:18 Therefore will I also deal in fury: mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity: and though they cry in mine ears with a loud voice, yet will I not hear them.

^9:1 He cried also in mine ears with a loud voice, saying, Cause them that have charge over the city to draw near, even every man with his destroying weapon in his hand.

^9:2 And, behold, six men came from the way of the higher gate, which lies toward the north, and every man a slaughter weapon in his hand; and one man among them was clothed with linen, with a writer's ink holder by his side: and they went in, and stood beside the brazen altar.

^9:3 And the glory of the God of Israel was gone up from the cherub, whereupon he was, to the threshold of the house. And he called to the man clothed with linen, which had the writer's ink holder by his side;

^9:4 And the LORD said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof.

^9:5 And to the others he said in mine hearing, Go all of you after him through the city, and strike: let not your eye spare, neither have all of you pity:

^9:6 Slay utterly old and young, both maids, and little children, and women: but come not near any man upon whom is the mark; and begin at my sanctuary. Then they began at the ancient men which were before the house.

^9:7 And he said unto them, Defile the house, and fill the courts with the slain: go all of you forth. And they went forth, and slew in the city.

^9:8 And it came to pass, while they were slaying them, and I was left, that I fell upon my face, and cried, and said, Ah Lord GOD! will you destroy all the residue of Israel in your pouring out of your fury upon Jerusalem?

^9:9 Then said he unto me, The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is exceeding great, and the land is full of blood, and the city full of perverseness: for they say, The LORD has forsaken the earth, and the LORD sees not.

^9:10 And as for me also, mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity, but I will recompense their way upon their head.

^9:11 And, behold, the man clothed with linen, which had the ink holder by his side, reported the matter, saying, I have done as you have commanded me.

^10:1 Then I looked, and, behold, in the firmament that was above the head of the cherubims there appeared over them as it were a sapphire stone, as the appearance of the likeness of a throne.

^10:2 And he spoke unto the man clothed with linen, and said, Go in between the wheels, even under the cherub, and fill yours hand with coals of fire from between the cherubims, and scatter them over the city. And he went in in my sight.

^10:3 Now the cherubims stood on the right side of the house, when the man went in; and the cloud filled the inner court.

^10:4 Then the glory of the LORD went up from the cherub, and stood over the threshold of the house; and the house was filled with the cloud, and the court was full of the brightness of the LORD's glory.

^10:5 And the sound of the cherubims' wings was heard even to the outer court, as the voice of the Almighty God when he speaks.

^10:6 And it came to pass, that when he had commanded the man clothed with linen, saying, Take fire from between the wheels, from between the cherubims; then he went in, and stood beside the wheels.

^10:7 And one cherub stretched forth his hand from between the cherubims unto the fire that was between the cherubims, and took thereof, and put it into the hands of him that was clothed with linen: who took it, and went out.

^10:8 And there appeared in the cherubims the form of a man's hand under their wings.

^10:9 And when I looked, behold the four wheels by the cherubims, one wheel by one cherub, and another wheel by another cherub: and the appearance of the wheels was as the colour of a beryl stone.

^10:10 And as for their appearances, they four had one likeness, as if a wheel had been in the midst of a wheel.

^10:11 When they went, they went upon their four sides; they turned not as they went, but to the place where the head looked they followed it; they turned not as they went.

^10:12 And their whole body, and their backs, and their hands, and their wings, and the wheels, were full of eyes round about, even the wheels that they four had.

^10:13 As for the wheels, it was cried unto them in my hearing, O wheel.

^10:14 And every one had four faces: the first face was the face of a cherub, and the second face was the face of a man, and the third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle.

^10:15 And the cherubims were lifted up. This is the living creature that I saw by the river of Chebar.

^10:16 And when the cherubims went, the wheels went by them: and when the cherubims lifted up their wings to mount up from the earth, the same wheels also turned not from beside them.

^10:17 When they stood, these stood; and when they were lifted up, these lifted up themselves also: for the spirit of the living creature was in them.

^10:18 Then the glory of the LORD departed from off the threshold of the house, and stood over the cherubims.

^10:19 And the cherubims lifted up their wings, and mounted up from the earth in my sight: when they went out, the wheels also were beside them, and every one stood at the door of the east gate of the LORD's house; and the glory of the God of Israel was over them above.

^10:20 This is the living creature that I saw under the God of Israel by the river of Chebar; and I knew that they were the cherubims.

^10:21 Every one had four faces apiece, and every one four wings; and the likeness of the hands of a man was under their wings.

^10:22 And the likeness of their faces was the same faces which I saw by the river of Chebar, their appearances and themselves: they went every one straight forward.

^11:1 Moreover the spirit lifted me up, and brought me unto the east gate of the LORD's house, which looks eastward: and behold at the door of the gate five and twenty men; among whom I saw Jaazaniah the son of Azur, and Pelatiah the son of Benaiah, princes of the people.

^11:2 Then said he unto me, Son of man, these are the men that devise mischief, and give wicked counsel in this city:

^11:3 Which say, It is not near; let us build houses: this city is the caldron, and we be the flesh.

^11:4 Therefore prophesy against them, prophesy, O son of man.

^11:5 And the Spirit of the LORD fell upon me, and said unto me, Speak; Thus says the LORD; Thus have all of you said, O house of Israel: for I know the things that come into your mind, every one of them.

^11:6 All of you have multiplied your slain in this city, and all of you have filled the streets thereof with the slain.

^11:7 Therefore thus says the Lord GOD; Your slain whom all of you have laid in the midst of it, they are the flesh, and this city is the caldron: but I will bring you forth out of the midst of it.

^11:8 All of you have feared the sword; and I will bring a sword upon you, says the Lord GOD.

^11:9 And I will bring you out of the midst thereof, and deliver you into the hands of strangers, and will execute judgments among you.

^11:10 All of you shall fall by the sword; I will judge you in the border of Israel; and all of you shall know that I am the LORD.

^11:11 This city shall not be your caldron, neither shall all of you be the flesh in the midst thereof; but I will judge you in the border of Israel:

^11:12 And all of you shall know that I am the LORD: for all of you have not walked in my statutes, neither executed my judgments, but have done after the manners of the heathen that are round about you.

^11:13 And it came to pass, when I prophesied, that Pelatiah the son of Benaiah died. Then fell I down upon my face, and cried with a loud voice, and said, Ah Lord GOD! will you make a full end of the remnant of Israel?

^11:14 Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

^11:15 Son of man, your brethren, even your brethren, the men of your kindred, and all the house of Israel wholly, are they unto whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, Get you far from the LORD: unto us is this land given in possession.

^11:16 Therefore say, Thus says the Lord GOD; Although I have cast them far off among the heathen, and although I have scattered them among the countries, yet will I be to them as a little sanctuary in the countries where they shall come.

^11:17 Therefore say, Thus says the Lord GOD; I will even gather you from the people, and assemble you out of the countries where all of you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.

^11:18 And they shall come thither, and they shall take away all the detestable things thereof and all the abominations thereof from thence.

^11:19 And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh:

^11:20 That they may walk in my statutes, and keep mine ordinances, and do them: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God.

^11:21 But as for them whose heart walks after the heart of their detestable things and their abominations, I will recompense their way upon their own heads, says the Lord GOD.

^11:22 Then did the cherubims lift up their wings, and the wheels beside them; and the glory of the God of Israel was over them above.

^11:23 And the glory of the LORD went up from the midst of the city, and stood upon the mountain which is on the east side of the city.

^11:24 Afterwards the spirit took me up, and brought me in a vision by the Spirit of God into Chaldea, to them of the captivity. So the vision that I had seen went up from me.

^11:25 Then I spoke unto them of the captivity all the things that the LORD had showed me.

^12:1 The word of the LORD also came unto me, saying,

^12:2 Son of man, you dwell in the midst of a rebellious house, which have eyes to see, and see not; they have ears to hear, and hear not: for they are a rebellious house.

^12:3 Therefore, you son of man, prepare you stuff for removing, and remove by day in their sight; and you shall remove from your place to another place in their sight: it may be they will consider, though they be a rebellious house.

^12:4 Then shall you bring forth your stuff by day in their sight, as stuff for removing: and you shall go forth at even in their sight, as they that go forth into captivity.

^12:5 Dig you through the wall in their sight, and carry out thereby.

^12:6 In their sight shall you bear it upon your shoulders, and carry it forth in the twilight: you shall cover your face, that you see not the ground: for I have set you for a sign unto the house of Israel.

^12:7 And I did so as I was commanded: I brought forth my stuff by day, as stuff for captivity, and in the even I dug through the wall with mine hand; I brought it forth in the twilight, and I bare it upon my shoulder in their sight.

^12:8 And in the morning came the word of the LORD unto me, saying,

^12:9 Son of man, has not the house of Israel, the rebellious house, said unto you, What do you?

^12:10 Say you unto them, Thus says the Lord GOD; This burden concerns the prince in Jerusalem, and all the house of Israel that are among them.

^12:11 Say, I am your sign: like I have done, so shall it be done unto them: they shall remove and go into captivity.

^12:12 And the prince that is among them shall bear upon his shoulder in the twilight, and shall go forth: they shall dig through the wall to carry out thereby: he shall cover his face, that he see not the ground with his eyes.

^12:13 My net also will I spread upon him, and he shall be taken in my snare: and I will bring him to Babylon to the land of the Chaldeans; yet shall he not see it, though he shall die there.

^12:14 And I will scatter toward every wind all that are about him to help him, and all his bands; and I will draw out the sword after them.

^12:15 And they shall know that I am the LORD, when I shall scatter them among the nations, and disperse them in the countries.

^12:16 But I will leave a few men of them from the sword, from the famine, and from the pestilence; that they may declare all their abominations among the heathen where they come; and they shall know that I am the LORD.

^12:17 Moreover the word of the LORD came to me, saying,

^12:18 Son of man, eat your bread with quaking, and drink your water with trembling and with carefulness;

^12:19 And say unto the people of the land, Thus says the Lord GOD of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and of the land of Israel; They shall eat their bread with carefulness, and drink their water with astonishment, that her land may be desolate from all that is therein, because of the violence of all them that dwell therein.

^12:20 And the cities that are inhabited shall be laid waste, and the land shall be desolate; and all of you shall know that I am the LORD.

^12:21 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

^12:22 Son of man, what is that proverb that all of you have in the land of Israel, saying, The days are prolonged, and every vision fails?

^12:23 Tell them therefore, Thus says the Lord GOD; I will make this proverb to cease, and they shall no more use it as a proverb in Israel; but say unto them, The days are at hand, and the effect of every vision.

^12:24 For there shall be no more any vain vision nor flattering divination within the house of Israel.

^12:25 For I am the LORD: I will speak, and the word that I shall speak shall come to pass; it shall be no more prolonged: for in your days, O rebellious house, will I say the word, and will perform it, says the Lord GOD.

^12:26 Again the word of the LORD came to me, saying.

^12:27 Son of man, behold, they of the house of Israel say, The vision that he sees is for many days to come, and he prophesies of the times that are far off.

^12:28 Therefore say unto them, Thus says the Lord GOD; There shall none of my words be prolonged any more, but the word which I have spoken shall be done, says the Lord GOD.

^13:1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

^13:2 Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel that prophesy, and say you unto them that prophesy out of their own hearts, Hear all of you the word of the LORD;

^13:3 Thus says the Lord GOD; Woe unto the foolish prophets, that follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing!

^13:4 O Israel, your prophets are like the foxes in the deserts.

^13:5 All of you have not gone up into the gaps, neither made up the hedge for the house of Israel to stand in the battle in the day of the LORD.

^13:6 They have seen vanity and lying divination, saying, The LORD says: and the LORD has not sent them: and they have made others to hope that they would confirm the word.

^13:7 Have all of you not seen a vain vision, and have all of you not spoken a lying divination, whereas all of you say, The LORD says it; although it be I have not spoken?

^13:8 Therefore thus says the Lord GOD; Because all of you have spoken vanity, and seen lies, therefore, behold, I am against you, says the Lord GOD.

^13:9 And mine hand shall be upon the prophets that see vanity, and that divine lies: they shall not be in the assembly of my people, neither shall they be written in the writing of the house of Israel, neither shall they enter into the land of Israel; and all of you shall know that I am the Lord GOD.

^13:10 Because, even because they have seduced my people, saying, Peace; and there was no peace; and one built up a wall, and, lo, others daubed it with plaster:

^13:11 Say unto them which daub it with plaster, that it shall fall: there shall be an overflowing shower; and all of you, O great hailstones, shall fall; and a stormy wind shall rend it.

^13:12 Lo, when the wall is fallen, shall it not be said unto you, Where is the daubing wherewith all of you have daubed it?

^13:13 Therefore thus says the Lord GOD; I will even rend it with a stormy wind in my fury; and there shall be an overflowing shower in mine anger, and great hailstones in my fury to consume it.

^13:14 So will I break down the wall that all of you have daubed with plaster, and bring it down to the ground, so that the foundation thereof shall be discovered, and it shall fall, and all of you shall be consumed in the midst thereof: and all of you shall know that I am the LORD.

^13:15 Thus will I accomplish my wrath upon the wall, and upon them that have daubed it with plaster, and will say unto you, The wall is no more, neither they that daubed it;

^13:16 To know, the prophets of Israel which prophesy concerning Jerusalem, and which see visions of peace for her, and there is no peace, says the Lord GOD.

^13:17 Likewise, you son of man, set your face against the daughters of your people, which prophesy out of their own heart; and prophesy you against them,

^13:18 And say, Thus says the Lord GOD; Woe to the women that sew pillows to all armholes, and make kerchiefs upon the head of every stature to hunt souls! Will all of you hunt the souls of my people, and will all of you save the souls alive that come unto you?

^13:19 And will all of you pollute me among my people for handfuls of barley and for pieces of bread, to slay the souls that should not die, and to save the souls alive that should not live, by your lying to my people that hear your lies?

^13:20 Wherefore thus says the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against your pillows, wherewith all of you there hunt the souls to make them fly, and I will tear them from your arms, and will let the souls go, even the souls that all of you hunt to make them fly.

^13:21 Your kerchiefs also will I tear, and deliver my people out of your hand, and they shall be no more in your hand to be hunted; and all of you shall know that I am the LORD.

^13:22 Because with lies all of you have made the heart of the righteous sad, whom I have not made sad; and strengthened the hands of the wicked, that he should not return from his wicked way, by promising him life:

^13:23 Therefore all of you shall see no more vanity, nor divine divinations: for I will deliver my people out of your hand: and all of you shall know that I am the LORD.

^14:1 Then came certain of the elders of Israel unto me, and sat before me.

^14:2 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

^14:3 Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their heart, and put the stumbling block of their iniquity before their face: should I be enquired of at all by them?

^14:4 Therefore speak unto them, and say unto them, Thus says the Lord GOD; Every man of the house of Israel that sets up his idols in his heart, and puts the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and comes to the prophet; I the LORD will answer him that comes according to the multitude of his idols;

^14:5 That I may take the house of Israel in their own heart, because they are all cut off from me through their idols.

^14:6 Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord GOD; Repent, and turn yourselves from your idols; and turn away your faces from all your abominations.

^14:7 For every one of the house of Israel, or of the stranger that sojourns in Israel, which separates himself from me, and sets up his idols in his heart, and puts the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and comes to a prophet to enquire of him concerning me; I the LORD will answer him by myself:

^14:8 And I will set my face against that man, and will make him a sign and a proverb, and I will cut him off from the midst of my people; and all of you shall know that I am the LORD.

^14:9 And if the prophet be deceived when he has spoken a thing, I the LORD have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand upon him, and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel.

^14:10 And they shall bear the punishment of their iniquity: the punishment of the prophet shall be even as the punishment of him that seeks unto him;

^14:11 That the house of Israel may go no more astray from me, neither be polluted any more with all their transgressions; but that they may be my people, and I may be their God, says the Lord GOD.

^14:12 The word of the LORD came again to me, saying,

^14:13 Son of man, when the land sins against me by trespassing grievously, then will I stretch out mine hand upon it, and will break the staff of the bread thereof, and will send famine upon it, and will cut off man and beast from it:

^14:14 Though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness, says the Lord GOD.

^14:15 If I cause dangerous beasts to pass through the land, and they spoil it, so that it be desolate, that no man may pass through because of the beasts:

^14:16 Though these three men were in it, as I live, says the Lord GOD, they shall deliver neither sons nor daughters; they only shall be delivered, but the land shall be desolate.

^14:17 Or if I bring a sword upon that land, and say, Sword, go through the land; so that I cut off man and beast from it:

^14:18 Though these three men were in it, as I live, says the Lord GOD, they shall deliver neither sons nor daughters, but they only shall be delivered themselves.

^14:19 Or if I send a pestilence into that land, and pour out my fury upon it in blood, to cut off from it man and beast:

^14:20 Though Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, as I live, says the Lord GOD, they shall deliver neither son nor daughter; they shall but deliver their own souls by their righteousness.

^14:21 For thus says the Lord GOD; How much more when I send my four sore judgments upon Jerusalem, the sword, and the famine, and the dangerous beast, and the pestilence, to cut off from it man and beast?

^14:22 Yet, behold, therein shall be left a remnant that shall be brought forth, both sons and daughters: behold, they shall come forth unto you, and all of you shall see their way and their doings: and all of you shall be comforted concerning the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem, even concerning all that I have brought upon it.

^14:23 And they shall comfort you, when all of you see their ways and their doings: and all of you shall know that I have not done without cause all that I have done in it, says the Lord GOD.

^15:1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

^15:2 Son of man, what is the vine tree more than any tree, or than a branch which is among the trees of the forest?

^15:3 Shall wood be taken thereof to do any work? or will men take a pin of it to hang any vessel thereon?

^15:4 Behold, it is cast into the fire for fuel; the fire devours both the ends of it, and the midst of it is burned. Is it meet for any work?

^15:5 Behold, when it was whole, it was meet for no work: how much less shall it be meet yet for any work, when the fire has devoured it, and it is burned?

^15:6 Therefore thus says the Lord GOD; As the vine tree among the trees of the forest, which I have given to the fire for fuel, so will I give the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

^15:7 And I will set my face against them; they shall go out from one fire, and another fire shall devour them; and all of you shall know that I am the LORD, when I set my face against them.

^15:8 And I will make the land desolate, because they have committed a trespass, says the Lord GOD.

^16:1 Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

^16:2 Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations,

^16:3 And say, Thus says the Lord GOD unto Jerusalem; Your birth and your nativity is of the land of Canaan; your father was an Amorite, and your mother an Hittite.

^16:4 And as for your nativity, in the day you were born your navel was not cut, neither were you washed in water to clean you; you were not salted at all, nor swaddled at all.

^16:5 None eye pitied you, to do any of these unto you, to have compassion upon you; but you were cast out in the open field, to the loathing of your person, in the day that you were born.

^16:6 And when I passed by you, and saw you polluted in yours own blood, I said unto you when you were in your blood, Live; yea, I said unto you when you were in your blood, Live.

^16:7 I have caused you to multiply as the bud of the field, and you have increased and becoming great, and you are come to excellent ornaments: your breasts are fashioned, and yours hair is grown, whereas you were naked and bare.

^16:8 Now when I passed by you, and looked upon you, behold, your time was the time of love; and I spread my skirt over you, and covered your nakedness: yea, I swore unto you, and entered into a covenant with you, says the Lord GOD, and you became mine.

^16:9 Then washed I you with water; yea, I thoroughly washed away your blood from you, and I anointed you with oil.

^16:10 I clothed you also with broidered work, and shod you with badgers' skin, and I girded you about with fine linen, and I covered you with silk.

^16:11 I decked you also with ornaments, and I put bracelets upon your hands, and a chain on your neck.

^16:12 And I put a jewel on your forehead, and earrings in yours ears, and a beautiful crown upon yours head.

^16:13 Thus were you decked with gold and silver; and your raiment was of fine linen, and silk, and broidered work; you did eat fine flour, and honey, and oil: and you were exceeding beautiful, and you did prosper into a kingdom.

^16:14 And your renown went forth among the heathen for your beauty: for it was perfect through my loveliness, which I had put upon you, says the Lord GOD.

^16:15 But you did trust in yours own beauty, and played the harlot because of your renown, and poured out your fornications on every one that passed by; his it was.

^16:16 And of your garments you did take, and decked your high places with divers colours, and played the harlot thereupon: the like things shall not come, neither shall it be so.

^16:17 You have also taken your fair jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given you, and made to yourself images of men, and did commit whoredom with them,

^16:18 And took your broidered garments, and covered them: and you have set mine oil and mine incense before them.

^16:19 My food also which I gave you, fine flour, and oil, and honey, wherewith I fed you, you have even set it before them for a sweet savour: and thus it was, says the Lord GOD.

^16:20 Moreover you have taken your sons and your daughters, whom you have borne unto me, and these have you sacrificed unto them to be devoured. Is this of your whoredoms a small matter,

^16:21 That you have slain my children, and delivered them to cause them to pass through the fire for them?

^16:22 And in all yours abominations and your whoredoms you have not remembered the days of your youth, when you were naked and bare, and were polluted in your blood.

^16:23 And it came to pass after all your wickedness, (woe, woe unto you! says the LORD GOD;)

^16:24 That you have also built unto you an eminent place, and have made you an high place in every street.

^16:25 You have built your high place at every head of the way, and have made your beauty to be abhorred, and have opened your feet to every one that passed by, and multiplied your whoredoms.

^16:26 You have also committed fornication with the Egyptians your neighbours, great of flesh; and have increased your whoredoms, to provoke me to anger.

^16:27 Behold, therefore I have stretched out my hand over you, and have diminished yours ordinary food, and delivered you unto the will of them that hate you, the daughters of the Philistines, which are ashamed of your lewd way.

^16:28 You have played the whore also with the Assyrians, because you were insatiable; yea, you have played the harlot with them, and yet could not be satisfied.

^16:29 You have moreover multiplied your fornication in the land of Canaan unto Chaldea; and yet you were not satisfied therewith.

^16:30 How weak is yours heart, says the LORD GOD, seeing you do all these things, the work of an domineering whorish woman;

^16:31 In that you build yours eminent place in the head of every way, and make yours high place in every street; and have not been as an harlot, in that you scorn hire;

^16:32 But as a wife that commits adultery, which takes strangers instead of her husband!

^16:33 They give gifts to all whores: but you give your gifts to all your lovers, and hire them, that they may come unto you on every side for your whoredom.

^16:34 And the contrary is in you from other women in your whoredoms, whereas none follows you to commit whoredoms: and in that you give a reward, and no reward is given unto you, therefore you are contrary.

^16:35 Wherefore, O harlot, hear the word of the LORD:

^16:36 Thus says the Lord GOD; Because your filthiness was poured out, and your nakedness discovered through your whoredoms with your lovers, and with all the idols of your abominations, and by the blood of your children, which you did give unto them;

^16:37 Behold, therefore I will gather all your lovers, with whom you have taken pleasure, and all them that you have loved, with all them that you have hated; I will even gather them round about against you, and will discover your nakedness unto them, that they may see all your nakedness.

^16:38 And I will judge you, as women that violate marriage bond and shed blood are judged; and I will give you blood in fury and jealousy.

^16:39 And I will also give you into their hand, and they shall throw down yours eminent place, and shall break down your high places: they shall strip you also of your clothes, and shall take your fair jewels, and leave you naked and bare.

^16:40 They shall also bring up a company against you, and they shall stone you with stones, and thrust you through with their swords.

^16:41 And they shall burn yours houses with fire, and execute judgments upon you in the sight of many women: and I will cause you to cease from playing the harlot, and you also shall give no hire any more.

^16:42 So will I make my fury toward you to rest, and my jealousy shall depart from you, and I will be quiet, and will be no more angry.

^16:43 Because you have not remembered the days of your youth, but have fretted me in all these things; behold, therefore I also will recompense your way upon yours head, says the Lord GOD: and you shall not commit this lewdness above all yours abominations.

^16:44 Behold, every one that uses proverbs shall use this proverb against you, saying, As is the mother, so is her daughter.

^16:45 You are your mother's daughter, that detests her husband and her children; and you are the sister of your sisters, which loathed their husbands and their children: your mother was an Hittite, and your father an Amorite.

^16:46 And yours elder sister is Samaria, she and her daughters that dwell at your left hand: and your younger sister, that dwells at your right hand, is Sodom and her daughters.

^16:47 Yet have you not walked after their ways, nor done after their abominations: but, as if that were a very little thing, you were corrupted more than they in all your ways.

^16:48 As I live, says the Lord GOD, Sodom your sister has not done, she nor her daughters, as you have done, you and your daughters.

^16:49 Behold, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom, pride, fullness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.

^16:50 And they were haughty, and committed abomination before me: therefore I took them away as I saw good.

^16:51 Neither has Samaria committed half of your sins; but you have multiplied yours abominations more than they, and have justified your sisters in all yours abominations which you have done.

^16:52 You also, which have judged your sisters, bear yours own shame for your sins that you have committed more abominable than they: they are more righteous than you: yea, be you confounded also, and bear your shame, in that you have justified your sisters.

^16:53 When I shall bring again their captivity, the captivity of Sodom and her daughters, and the captivity of Samaria and her daughters, then will I bring again the captivity of your captives in the midst of them:

^16:54 That you may bear yours own shame, and may be confounded in all that you have done, in that you are a comfort unto them.

^16:55 When your sisters, Sodom and her daughters, shall return to their former estate, and Samaria and her daughters shall return to their former estate, then you and your daughters shall return to your former estate.

^16:56 For your sister Sodom was not mentioned by your mouth in the day of your pride,

^16:57 Before your wickedness was discovered, as at the time of your reproach of the daughters of Syria, and all that are round about her, the daughters of the Philistines, which despise you round about.

^16:58 You have borne your lewdness and yours abominations, says the LORD.

^16:59 For thus says the Lord GOD; I will even deal with you as you have done, which have despised the oath in breaking the covenant.

^16:60 Nevertheless I will remember my covenant with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish unto you an everlasting covenant.

^16:61 Then you shall remember your ways, and be ashamed, when you shall receive your sisters, yours elder and your younger: and I will give them unto you for daughters, but not by your covenant.

^16:62 And I will establish my covenant with you; and you shall know that I am the LORD:

^16:63 That you may remember, and be confounded, and never open your mouth any more because of your shame, when I am pacified toward you for all that you have done, says the Lord GOD.

^17:1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

^17:2 Son of man, put forth a riddle, and speak a parable unto the house of Israel;

^17:3 And say, Thus says the Lord GOD; A great eagle with great wings, long pinions, full of feathers, which had divers colours, came unto Lebanon, and took the highest branch of the cedar:

^17:4 He cropped off the top of his young twigs, and carried it into a land of trade; he set it in a city of merchants.

^17:5 He took also of the seed of the land, and planted it in a fruitful field; he placed it by great waters, and set it as a willow tree.

^17:6 And it grew, and became a spreading vine of low stature, whose branches turned toward him, and the roots thereof were under him: so it became a vine, and brought forth branches, and shot forth sprigs.

^17:7 There was also another great eagle with great wings and many feathers: and, behold, this vine did bend her roots toward him, and shot forth her branches toward him, that he might water it by the furrows of her plantation.

^17:8 It was planted in a good soil by great waters, that it might bring forth branches, and that it might bear fruit, that it might be a goodly vine.

^17:9 Say you, Thus says the Lord GOD; Shall it prosper? shall he not pull up the roots thereof, and cut off the fruit thereof, that it wither? it shall wither in all the leaves of her spring, even without great power or many people to pluck it up by the roots thereof.

^17:10 Yea, behold, being planted, shall it prosper? shall it not utterly wither, when the east wind touches it? it shall wither in the furrows where it grew.

^17:11 Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

^17:12 Say now to the rebellious house, Know all of you not what these things mean? tell them, Behold, the king of Babylon has come to Jerusalem, and has taken the king thereof, and the princes thereof, and led them with him to Babylon;

^17:13 And has taken of the king's seed, and made a covenant with him, and has taken an oath of him: he has also taken the mighty of the land:

^17:14 That the kingdom might be base, that it might not lift itself up, but that by keeping of his covenant it might stand.

^17:15 But he rebelled against him in sending his ambassadors into Egypt, that they might give him horses and much people. Shall he prosper? shall he escape that does such things? or shall he break the covenant, and be delivered?

^17:16 As I live, says the Lord GOD, surely in the place where the king dwells that made him king, whose oath he despised, and whose covenant he brake, even with him in the midst of Babylon he shall die.

^17:17 Neither shall Pharaoh with his mighty army and great company make for him in the war, by casting up mounts, and building forts, to cut off many persons:

^17:18 Seeing he despised the oath by breaking the covenant, when, lo, he had given his hand, and has done all these things, he shall not escape.

^17:19 Therefore thus says the Lord GOD; As I live, surely mine oath that he has despised, and my covenant that he has broken, even it will I recompense upon his own head.

^17:20 And I will spread my net upon him, and he shall be taken in my snare, and I will bring him to Babylon, and will plead with him there for his trespass that he has trespassed against me.

^17:21 And all his fugitives with all his bands shall fall by the sword, and they that remain shall be scattered toward all winds: and all of you shall know that I the LORD have spoken it.

^17:22 Thus says the Lord GOD; I will also take of the highest branch of the high cedar, and will set it; I will crop off from the top of his young twigs a tender one, and will plant it upon an high mountain and eminent:

^17:23 In the mountain of the height of Israel will I plant it: and it shall bring forth boughs, and bear fruit, and be a goodly cedar: and under it shall dwell all fowl of every wing; in the shadow of the branches thereof shall they dwell.

^17:24 And all the trees of the field shall know that I the LORD have brought down the high tree, have exalted the low tree, have dried up the green tree, and have made the dry tree to flourish: I the LORD have spoken and have done it.

^18:1 The word of the LORD came unto me again, saying,

^18:2 What mean all of you, that all of you use this proverb concerning the land of Israel, saying, The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge?

^18:3 As I live, says the Lord GOD, all of you shall not have occasion any more to use this proverb in Israel.

^18:4 Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sins, it shall die.

^18:5 But if a man be just, and do that which is lawful and right,

^18:6 And has not eaten upon the mountains, neither has lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, neither has defiled his neighbour's wife, neither has come near to a menstruous woman,

^18:7 And has not oppressed any, but has restored to the debtor his pledge, has spoiled none by violence, has given his bread to the hungry, and has covered the naked with a garment;

^18:8 He that has not given forth upon interest, neither has taken any increase, that has withdrawn his hand from iniquity, has executed true judgment between man and man,

^18:9 Has walked in my statutes, and has kept my judgments, to deal truly; he is just, he shall surely live, says the Lord GOD.

^18:10 If he brought forth a son that is a robber, a shedder of blood, and that does the like to any one of these things,

^18:11 And that does not any of those duties, but even has eaten upon the mountains, and defiled his neighbour's wife,

^18:12 Has oppressed the poor and needy, has spoiled by violence, has not restored the pledge, and has lifted up his eyes to the idols, has committed abomination,

^18:13 Has given forth upon interest, and has taken increase: shall he then live? he shall not live: he has done all these abominations; he shall surely die; his blood shall be upon him.

^18:14 Now, lo, if he brought forth a son, that sees all his father's sins which he has done, and considers, and does not such like,

^18:15 That has not eaten upon the mountains, neither has lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, has not defiled his neighbour's wife,

^18:16 Neither has oppressed any, has not withheld the pledge, neither has spoiled by violence, but has given his bread to the hungry, and has covered the naked with a garment,

^18:17 That has taken off his hand from the poor, that has not received interest nor increase, has executed my judgments, has walked in my statutes; he shall not die for the iniquity of his father, he shall surely live.

^18:18 As for his father, because he cruelly oppressed, spoiled his brother by violence, and did that which is not good among his people, lo, even he shall die in his iniquity.

^18:19 Yet say all of you, Why? does not the son bear the iniquity of the father? When the son has done that which is lawful and right, and has kept all my statutes, and has done them, he shall surely live.

^18:20 The soul that sins, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.

^18:21 But if the wicked will turn from all his sins that he has committed, and keep all my statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die.

^18:22 All his transgressions that he has committed, they shall not be mentioned unto him: in his righteousness that he has done he shall live.

^18:23 Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? says the Lord GOD: and not that he should return from his ways, and live?

^18:24 But when the righteous turns away from his righteousness, and commits iniquity, and does according to all the abominations that the wicked man does, shall he live? All his righteousness that he has done shall not be mentioned: in his trespass that he has trespassed, and in his sin that he has sinned, in them shall he die.

^18:25 Yet all of you say, The way of the LORD is not equal. Hear now, O house of Israel; Is not my way equal? are not your ways unequal?

^18:26 When a righteous man turns away from his righteousness, and commits iniquity, and dies in them; for his iniquity that he has done shall he die.

^18:27 Again, when the wicked man turns away from his wickedness that he has committed, and does that which is lawful and right, he shall save his soul alive.

^18:28 Because he considers, and turns away from all his transgressions that he has committed, he shall surely live, he shall not die.

^18:29 Yet says the house of Israel, The way of the LORD is not equal. O house of Israel, are not my ways equal? are not your ways unequal?

^18:30 Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, says the Lord GOD. Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin.

^18:31 Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby all of you have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit: for why will all of you die, O house of Israel?

^18:32 For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dies, says the Lord GOD: wherefore turn yourselves, and live all of you.

^19:1 Moreover take you up a lamentation for the princes of Israel,

^19:2 And say, What is your mother? A lioness: she lay down among lions, she nourished her whelps among young lions.

^19:3 And she brought up one of her whelps: it became a young lion, and it learned to catch the prey; it devoured men.

^19:4 The nations also heard of him; he was taken in their pit, and they brought him with chains unto the land of Egypt.

^19:5 Now when she saw that she had waited, and her hope was lost, then she took another of her whelps, and made him a young lion.

^19:6 And he went up and down among the lions, he became a young lion, and learned to catch the prey, and devoured men.

^19:7 And he knew their desolate palaces, and he laid waste their cities; and the land was desolate, and the fullness thereof, by the noise of his roaring.

^19:8 Then the nations set against him on every side from the provinces, and spread their net over him: he was taken in their pit.

^19:9 And they put him in ward in chains, and brought him to the king of Babylon: they brought him into holds, that his voice should no more be heard upon the mountains of Israel.

^19:10 Your mother is like a vine in your blood, planted by the waters: she was fruitful and full of branches by reason of many waters.

^19:11 And she had strong rods for the sceptres of them that bare rule, and her stature was exalted among the thick branches, and she appeared in her height with the multitude of her branches.

^19:12 But she was plucked up in fury, she was cast down to the ground, and the east wind dried up her fruit: her strong rods were broken and withered; the fire consumed them.

^19:13 And now she is planted in the wilderness, in a dry and thirsty ground.

^19:14 And fire is gone out of a rod of her branches, which has devoured her fruit, so that she has no strong rod to be a sceptre to rule. This is a lamentation, and shall be for a lamentation.

^20:1 And it came to pass in the seventh year, in the fifth month, the tenth day of the month, that certain of the elders of Israel came to enquire of the LORD, and sat before me.

^20:2 Then came the word of the LORD unto me, saying,

^20:3 Son of man, speak unto the elders of Israel, and say unto them, Thus says the Lord GOD; Are all of you come to enquire of me? As I live, says the Lord GOD, I will not be enquired of by you.

^20:4 Will you judge them, son of man, will you judge them? cause them to know the abominations of their fathers:

^20:5 And say unto them, Thus says the Lord GOD; In the day when I chose Israel, and lifted up mine hand unto the seed of the house of Jacob, and made myself known unto them in the land of Egypt, when I lifted up mine hand unto them, saying, I am the LORD your God;

^20:6 In the day that I lifted up mine hand unto them, to bring them out of the land of Egypt into a land that I had espied for them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands:

^20:7 Then said I unto them, Cast all of you away every man the abominations of his eyes, and defile not yourselves with the idols of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.

^20:8 But they rebelled against me, and would not hearken unto me: they did not every man cast away the abominations of their eyes, neither did they forsake the idols of Egypt: then I said, I will pour out my fury upon them, to accomplish my anger against them in the midst of the land of Egypt.

^20:9 But I wrought for my name's sake, that it should not be polluted before the heathen, among whom they were, in whose sight I made myself known unto them, in bringing them forth out of the land of Egypt.

^20:10 Wherefore I caused them to go forth out of the land of Egypt, and brought them into the wilderness.

^20:11 And I gave them my statutes, and showed them my judgments, which if a man do, he shall even live in them.

^20:12 Moreover also I gave them my sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the LORD that sanctify them.

^20:13 But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness: they walked not in my statutes, and they despised my judgments, which if a man do, he shall even live in them; and my sabbaths they greatly polluted: then I said, I would pour out my fury upon them in the wilderness, to consume them.

^20:14 But I wrought for my name's sake, that it should not be polluted before the heathen, in whose sight I brought them out.

^20:15 Yet also I lifted up my hand unto them in the wilderness, that I would not bring them into the land which I had given them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands;

^20:16 Because they despised my judgments, and walked not in my statutes, but polluted my sabbaths: for their heart went after their idols.

^20:17 Nevertheless mine eye spared them from destroying them, neither did I make an end of them in the wilderness.

^20:18 But I said unto their children in the wilderness, Walk all of you not in the statutes of your fathers, neither observe their judgments, nor defile yourselves with their idols:

^20:19 I am the LORD your God; walk in my statutes, and keep my judgments, and do them;

^20:20 And hallow my sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between me and you, that all of you may know that I am the LORD your God.

^20:21 Notwithstanding the children rebelled against me: they walked not in my statutes, neither kept my judgments to do them, which if a man do, he shall even live in them; they polluted my sabbaths: then I said, I would pour out my fury upon them, to accomplish my anger against them in the wilderness.

^20:22 Nevertheless I withdrew mine hand, and wrought for my name's sake, that it should not be polluted in the sight of the heathen, in whose sight I brought them forth.

^20:23 I lifted up mine hand unto them also in the wilderness, that I would scatter them among the heathen, and disperse them through the countries;

^20:24 Because they had not executed my judgments, but had despised my statutes, and had polluted my sabbaths, and their eyes were after their fathers' idols.

^20:25 Wherefore I gave them also statutes that were not good, and judgments whereby they should not live;

^20:26 And I polluted them in their own gifts, in that they caused to pass through the fire all that opens the womb, that I might make them desolate, to the end that they might know that I am the LORD.

^20:27 Therefore, son of man, speak unto the house of Israel, and say unto them, Thus says the Lord GOD; Yet in this your fathers have blasphemed me, in that they have committed a trespass against me.

^20:28 For when I had brought them into the land, for the which I lifted up mine hand to give it to them, then they saw every high hill, and all the thick trees, and they offered there their sacrifices, and there they presented the provocation of their offering: there also they made their sweet savour, and poured out there their drink offerings.

^20:29 Then I said unto them, What is the high place unto which all of you go? And the name whereof is called Bamah unto this day.

^20:30 Wherefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord GOD; Are all of you polluted after the manner of your fathers? and commit all of you whoredom after their abominations?

^20:31 For when all of you offer your gifts, when all of you make your sons to pass through the fire, all of you pollute yourselves with all your idols, even unto this day: and shall I be enquired of by you, O house of Israel? As I live, says the Lord GOD, I will not be enquired of by you.

^20:32 And that which comes into your mind shall not be at all, that all of you say, We will be as the heathen, as the families of the countries, to serve wood and stone.

^20:33 As I live, says the Lord GOD, surely with a mighty hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with fury poured out, will I rule over you:

^20:34 And I will bring you out from the people, and will gather you out of the countries wherein all of you are scattered, with a mighty hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with fury poured out.

^20:35 And I will bring you into the wilderness of the people, and there will I plead with you face to face.

^20:36 Like I pleaded with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so will I plead with you, says the Lord GOD.

^20:37 And I will cause you to pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant:

^20:38 And I will purge out from among you the rebels, and them that transgress against me: I will bring them forth out of the country where they sojourn, and they shall not enter into the land of Israel: and all of you shall know that I am the LORD.

^20:39 As for you, O house of Israel, thus says the Lord GOD; Go all of you, serve all of you every one his idols, and hereafter also, if all of you will not hearken unto me: but pollute all of you my holy name no more with your gifts, and with your idols.

^20:40 For in mine holy mountain, in the mountain of the height of Israel, says the Lord GOD, there shall all the house of Israel, all of them in the land, serve me: there will I accept them, and there will I require your offerings, and the first-fruits of your oblations, with all your holy things.

^20:41 I will accept you with your sweet savour, when I bring you out from the people, and gather you out of the countries wherein all of you have been scattered; and I will be sanctified in you before the heathen.

^20:42 And all of you shall know that I am the LORD, when I shall bring you into the land of Israel, into the country for the which I lifted up mine hand to give it to your fathers.

^20:43 And there shall all of you remember your ways, and all your doings, wherein all of you have been defiled; and all of you shall loathe yourselves in your own sight for all your evils that all of you have committed.

^20:44 And all of you shall know that I am the LORD when I have wrought with you for my name's sake, not according to your wicked ways, nor according to your corrupt doings, O all of you house of Israel, says the Lord GOD.

^20:45 Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

^20:46 Son of man, set your face toward the south, and drop your word toward the south, and prophesy against the forest of the south field;

^20:47 And say to the forest of the south, Hear the word of the LORD; Thus says the Lord GOD; Behold, I will kindle a fire in you, and it shall devour every green tree in you, and every dry tree: the flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be burned therein.

^20:48 And all flesh shall see that I the LORD have kindled it: it shall not be quenched.

^20:49 Then said I, Ah Lord GOD! they say of me, Does he not speak parables?

^21:1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

^21:2 Son of man, set your face toward Jerusalem, and drop your word toward the holy places, and prophesy against the land of Israel,

^21:3 And say to the land of Israel, Thus says the LORD; Behold, I am against you, and will draw forth my sword out of his sheath, and will cut off from you the righteous and the wicked.

^21:4 Seeing then that I will cut off from you the righteous and the wicked, therefore shall my sword go forth out of his sheath against all flesh from the south to the north:

^21:5 That all flesh may know that I the LORD have drawn forth my sword out of his sheath: it shall not return any more.

^21:6 Sigh therefore, you son of man, with the breaking of your loins; and with bitterness sigh before their eyes.

^21:7 And it shall be, when they say unto you, Wherefore sigh you? that you shall answer, For the tidings; because it comes: and every heart shall melt, and all hands shall be feeble, and every spirit shall faint, and all knees shall be weak as water: behold, it comes, and shall be brought to pass, says the Lord GOD.

^21:8 Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

^21:9 Son of man, prophesy, and say, Thus says the LORD; Say, A sword, a sword is sharpened, and also furbished:

^21:10 It is sharpened to make a sore slaughter; it is furbished that it may glitter: should we then make delight? it despises the rod of my son, as every tree.

^21:11 And he has given it to be furbished, that it may be handled: this sword is sharpened, and it is furbished, to give it into the hand of the slayer.

^21:12 Cry and wail, son of man: for it shall be upon my people, it shall be upon all the princes of Israel: terrors by reason of the sword shall be upon my people: strike therefore upon your thigh.

^21:13 Because it is a trial, and what if the sword contemn even the rod? it shall be no more, says the Lord GOD.

^21:14 You therefore, son of man, prophesy, and strike yours hands together. and let the sword be doubled the third time, the sword of the slain: it is the sword of the great men that are slain, which enters into their privy chambers.

^21:15 I have set the point of the sword against all their gates, that their heart may faint, and their ruins be multiplied: ah! it is made bright, it is wrapped up for the slaughter.

^21:16 Go you one way or other, either on the right hand, or on the left, anywhere your face is set.

^21:17 I will also strike mine hands together, and I will cause my fury to rest: I the LORD have said it.

^21:18 The word of the LORD came unto me again, saying,

^21:19 Also, you son of man, appoint you two ways, that the sword of the king of Babylon may come: both two shall come forth out of one land: and choose you a place, choose it at the head of the way to the city.

^21:20 Appoint a way, that the sword may come to Rabbath of the Ammonites, and to Judah in Jerusalem the defenced.

^21:21 For the king of Babylon stood at the parting of the way, at the head of the two ways, to use divination: he made his arrows bright, he consulted with images, he looked in the liver.

^21:22 At his right hand was the divination for Jerusalem, to appoint captains, to open the mouth in the slaughter, to lift up the voice with shouting, to appoint battering rams against the gates, to cast a mount, and to build a f