wall there, and build a stronghold.

But they shall think such divination false, that he may swear as much as he pleaseth. But he shall think of iniquity, that he may gain it.

Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because ye are remembered for your iniquity, and your rebellion is made manifest, and your sin is seen in all your doings; yea, because ye are remembered, ye shall be taken with violence.

And thou, O ruler of Israel, who art condemned and condemned, when the day cometh, when iniquity is ended,

Thus saith the Lord GOD; Take off thy hat, and lift up thy crown. For neither the hat nor the crown shall remain: but he that is exalted shall be humbled, and he that is brought low shall be exalted.

I will bring the crown to nought, to nought, to nought, until he come that shall have it: to him will I give it.

And thou, son of man, prophesy, and say, Thus saith the LORD GOD concerning the children of Ammon, and concerning their reproach; and say, The sword, the sword is drawn, that it may slay; it is swept, that it may choke, and it shall flash, 29. Because thou hast caused false visions to be told thee, and hast prophesied lies, that thou also mightest be delivered up among the slain of the wicked, to whom their day came, when iniquity was at an end.

Though it be put again into the sheath, yet will I judge thee in the place wherein thou wast made, and in the land wherein thou wast born.

And I will pour out my wrath upon thee, and I will puff up the fire of my fury upon thee, and I will deliver thee unto men that can burn and destroy.

Thou shalt be food for the fire, and thy blood shall be shed in the land; and thou shalt be remembered no more. For I the LORD have spoken it.
(Ezekial)
Chapter 22
The sins of the Jews a cause of their captivity and other punishments.

And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying:

Son of man, wilt thou not punish the murderous city, and shew her all her abominations?

Say, Thus saith the LORD GOD; O city, that thou shedest the blood of thine own, that thy time may come, and that thou makest idols among thyself, to defile thyself!

Thou art guilty of the blood which thou hast shed, and thou hast defiled thyself with the idols which thou hast made: thou hast brought thy days, and thou hast made thy years to come.
Therefore will I make thee a mockery among the nations, And a scorn in all lands.

Both near and far shall they mock thee; and thou shalt have a vile report, and great mourning.

Behold the princes of Israel! Every one of them is mighty with thee to shed blood.

They despise the father and the mother; they do violence and wrong to the stranger; they oppress the widow and the fatherless.

Thou despisest my sanctuaries, and desecratest my sabbaths.

Traitors are in thee, that they may shed blood. They eat upon the mountains, and act wantonly in thee;

They blaspheme the shame of the fathers, and compel the women in their sickness.

And they commit abominations among themselves, friend with friend’s wife; they defile their own cords with all wantonness; they ravish their own sisters, their father’s daughters; 12. They take gifts, that they may shed blood; they usurp and overreach one another, and do covetousness against their neighbour, and do violence one to another, and so forget me, saith the LORD GOD.

Behold, I smite my hands together for the covetousness which thou hast done, and for the blood which is shed in thee.

But thinkest thou that thine heart shall suffer it, or that thine hands shall bear it, in the day that I shall do it unto thee? I the LORD have spoken it, and will do it.

And I will scatter thee among the heathen, and cast thee out into the countries, and will make an end of thy filthiness,

That thou shouldest be accursed among the heathen, and know that I am the LORD.

And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying:

Son of man, the house of Israel is become foam unto me: all their brass, and their tin, and their iron, and their lead, is become silver foam in the furnace.

Therefore thus saith the LORD GOD; Because ye are all foamed, behold, I will gather you all together unto Jerusalem.

As silver, brass, iron, lead, and tin, are gathered together in a furnace, and a fire is kindled under them, and they are melted: so will I gather you together in mine anger and my fury, and will put them in and melt them.

Yea, I will gather you together, and will blow up the fire of my wrath among you, and ye shall melt within.

As silver melts in the furnace, so shall ye melt within, and ye shall know that I the LORD
have poured out my wrath upon you.

And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying:

Son of man, say to them: You are a land not to be cleansed, as one that is not watered in the time of wrath.

The prophets that are within are ready to devour souls, as a roaring lion when it spoileth: they take goods and money, and make widows much within.

Their priests have transgressed my law, and have profaned my sanctuary; they have made no distinction between the holy and the unholy, neither have they taught me that which is clean or that which is unclean, neither have they kept my sabbaths: and I am profaned among them.

Their princes are within, as the ravening wolves, to shed blood, and to slay souls, for their avarice’s sake.

And their prophets whitewash them with loose lime, and preach loose teidings, and prophesy lies unto them, saying, Thus saith the LORD GOD; when the LORD hath not spoken it.

The people of the land do violence, and spoil, and rob, and afflict the poor and the miserable, and do violence and injustice to strangers.

I sought among them if any man would make himself a wall, and stand against the breach before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none.

Therefore I poured out mine indignation upon them, and with the fire of my wrath I made an end of them, and gave them their reward upon their head, saith the LORD GOD.
(Ezekial)
Chapter 23
Comparing the kingdoms of Judah and Israel to two harlots.

And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying:

Son of man, there were two women, daughters of one mother.

They committed fornication in Egypt in their youth: there they made their breasts to be grasped, and the teats of their virginity to be felt.

The name of the great one is Ahalah, and her sister’s name is Ahalibah. And I took them in marriage, and they begat me sons and daughters. And Ahalah’s name is Samaria, and Ahalibah’s name is Jerusalem.

And Ahalah committed fornication when I had taken her, and burned against her lovers, even against the Assyrians that came unto her,

Against the princes, and against the lords clothed in silk, and against all the young lovelies, even against the horsemen and chariots.

And booed with all the fair fellows of Assyria, and defiled herself with all their idols, where she burned upon one.

Neither forsook she her fornication with Egypt, which had lain with her from her youth, and had touched the breasts of her virginity, and had committed great fornication with her.

And I delivered her into the hand of her lovers, the children of Assyria, against whom she burned with lust.

And they uncovered their shame, and took away their sons and their daughters, and slew them with the sword. And it came to pass, that these women were punished.

And when Ahalibah her sister saw it, she was more enraged than she, and did more fornication than her sister.

And she burned against the children of Assyria, namely, the princes and the lords that came unto her well clothed, horsemen and chariots, and all the young men that were lovely.

And I saw that they were both defiled alike.

But this woman did more fornication. For there she saw painted men on the wall in red paint, the images of the Chaldeans,

Girded about their loins, and coloured tapers upon their heads, and all like unto mighty men to look upon, as the children of Babylon and the Chaldeans bear in their fatherland, 16. And she was aroused against them as soon as she knew them, and sent tidings unto them into Chaldea.

And when the children of Babylon came unto her to lie with her after love, they defiled her with their fornication, and she defiled herself with them, that she was weary of them.

And when both their fornication and their shame were so manifest, I was weary of them also, as I had been weary of their sister.

And she committed her whoredom more and more, and remembered the days of her youth, when she committed whoredom in the land of Egypt,

And they burned against their lovers, whose heat was as the heat of the ass, and as the heat of the stallions.

And thou hast appointed thy fornication as in thy youth, when they that were in Egypt took hold of thy breasts, and touched thy teats.

Therefore, O Ahalibah, thus saith the LORD GOD; Behold, I will raise up against thee thine enemies, of whom thou art weary, and will bring them against thee round about, 23. Namely, the children of Babylon, and all the Chaldeans with captains, and princes, and lords, and all the Assyrians with them, and the fair