Ezekiel 22

Sins of Jerusalem

1Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 2“Now, son of man, #Ezek. 20:4will you judge, will you judge #Nah. 3:1the bloody city? Yes, show her all her abominations! 3Then say, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “The city sheds #Ezek. 24:6, 7blood in her own midst, that her time may come; and she makes idols within herself to defile herself. 4You have become guilty by the blood which you have #2 Kin. 21:16; Ezek. 24:7, 8shed, and have defiled yourself with the idols which you have made. You have caused your days to draw near, and have come to the end of your years; #Deut. 28:37; 1 Kin. 9:7; Ezek. 5:14; Dan. 9:16therefore I have made you a reproach to the nations, and a mockery to all countries. 5Those near and those far from you will mock you as infamous and full of tumult.

6“Look, #Is. 1:23; Ezek. 22:27; Mic. 3:1–3; Zeph. 3:3the princes of Israel: each one has used his power to shed blood in you. 7In you they have #Ex. 20:12; Lev. 20:9; Deut. 5:16; 27:16made light of father and mother; in your midst they have #Ex. 22:22; Jer. 5:28; Ezek. 22:25; Mal. 3:5oppressed the stranger; in you they have mistreated the fatherless and the widow. 8You have despised My holy things and #Lev. 19:30profaned My Sabbaths. 9In you are #Lev. 19:16; Jer. 9:4men who slander to cause bloodshed; #Ezek. 18:6, 11in you are those who eat on the mountains; in your midst they commit lewdness. 10In you men #Lev. 18:7, 8uncover their fathers’ nakedness; in you they violate women who are #Lev. 18:19; 20:18; Ezek. 18:6set apart during their impurity. 11One commits abomination #Lev. 18:20; Jer. 5:8; Ezek. 18:11with his neighbor’s wife; #Lev. 18:15another lewdly defiles his daughter-in-law; and another in you violates his sister, his father’s #Lev. 18:9daughter. 12In you #Ex. 23:8; Deut. 16:19; 27:25; Mic. 7:2, 3they take bribes to shed blood; #Ex. 22:25you take usury and increase; you have made profit from your neighbors by extortion, and #Deut. 32:18; Ps. 106:21; Jer. 3:21; Ezek. 23:35have forgotten Me,” says the Lord God.

13“Behold, therefore, I #Ezek. 21:17beat My fists at the dishonest profit which you have made, and at the bloodshed which has been in your midst. 14#Ezek. 21:7Can your heart endure, or can your hands remain strong, in the days when I shall deal with you? #Ezek. 17:24I, the Lord, have spoken, and will do it. 15#Deut. 4:27; Neh. 1:8; Ezek. 20:23; Zech. 7:14I will scatter you among the nations, disperse you throughout the countries, and #Ezek. 23:27, 48remove your filthiness completely from you. 16You shall defile yourself in the sight of the nations; then #Ps. 9:16you shall know that I am the Lord.” ’ ”

Israel in the Furnace

17The word of the Lord came to me, saying, 18“Son of man, #Ps. 119:119; Is. 1:22; Jer. 6:28; Lam. 4:1the house of Israel has become dross to Me; they are all bronze, tin, iron, and lead, in the midst of a #Prov. 17:3; Is. 48:10furnace; they have become dross from silver. 19Therefore thus says the Lord God: ‘Because you have all become dross, therefore behold, I will gather you into the midst of Jerusalem. 20As men gather silver, bronze, iron, lead, and tin into the midst of a furnace, to blow fire on it, to #Is. 1:25; Jer. 9:7melt it; so I will gather you in My anger and in My fury, and I will leave you there and melt you. 21Yes, I will gather you and blow on you with the fire of My wrath, and you shall be melted in its midst. 22As silver is melted in the midst of a furnace, so shall you be melted in its midst; then you shall know that I, the Lord, have #Ezek. 20:8, 33; Hos. 5:10poured out My fury on you.’ ”

Israel’s Wicked Leaders

23And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 24“Son of man, say to her: ‘You are a land that is #Is. 9:13; Jer. 2:30; Ezek. 24:13; Zeph. 3:2not cleansed or rained on in the day of indignation.’ 25#Jer. 11:9; Hos. 6:9The conspiracy of her prophets in her midst is like a roaring lion tearing the prey; they #Matt. 23:14have devoured people; #Mic. 3:11; Zeph. 3:3, 4they have taken treasure and precious things; they have made many widows in her midst. 26#Jer. 32:32; Lam. 4:3; Mal. 2:8Her priests have violated My law and #1 Sam. 2:29profaned My holy things; they have not #Lev. 10:10distinguished between the holy and unholy, nor have they made known the difference between the unclean and the clean; and they have hidden their eyes from My Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them. 27Her #Is. 1:23; Ezek. 22:6; Mic. 3:1–3, 9–11; Zeph. 3:3princes in her midst are like wolves tearing the prey, to shed blood, to destroy people, and to get dishonest gain. 28#Ezek. 13:10Her prophets plastered them with untempered mortar, #Ezek. 13:6, 7seeing false visions, and divining #Jer. 23:25–32; Ezek. 21:29lies for them, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord God,’ when the Lord had not spoken. 29The people of the land have used oppressions, committed robbery, and mistreated the poor and needy; and they wrongfully #Ex. 23:9; Lev. 19:33oppress the stranger. 30#Is. 59:16; 63:5; Jer. 5:1So I sought for a man among them who would #Ezek. 13:5make a wall, and #Ps. 106:23; Jer. 15:1stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found no one. 31Therefore I have #Ezek. 22:22poured out My indignation on them; I have consumed them with the fire of My wrath; and I have recompensed #Ezek. 9:10; (Rom. 2:8, 9)their deeds on their own heads,” says the Lord God.

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Ezekiel 22: NKJV

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