19Further, O mortal, prophesy, striking hand against hand. Let the sword strike a second time and yet a third time; it is a sword for massacre, a sword for great carnage, that pressesc upon them. 20Thus hearts shall lose courage and many shall fall. At all their gates I have appointed slaughterc by the sword. Ah! it is made to flash brilliantly, it is honedc for slaughter. 21Be united,d go to the right, turn left; whither are you bound? 22I, too, will strike hand against hand and will satisfy My fury upon you; I the LORD have spoken.
23The word of the LORD came to me: 24And you, O mortal, choose two roads on which the sword of the king of Babylon may advance, both issuing from the same country; and select a spot, select it where roads branch off to [two] cities. 25Choose a way for the sword to advance on Rabbah of the Ammonites or on fortified Jerusalem in Judah. 26For the king of Babylon has stood at the fork of the road, where two roads branch off, to perform divination: He has shaken arrows, consulted teraphim, and inspected the liver.e 27In his right hand came up the omen against Jerusalem—to set battering rams, to proclaim murder, to raise battle shouts, to set battering rams against the gates, to cast up mounds, to erect towers.
28fIn their eyes, the oaths they had sworn to them were like empty divination; but this shall serve to recall their guilt, for which they shall be taken to task. 29Assuredly, thus said the Lord God: For causing your guilt to be recalled, your transgressions to be uncovered, and your sins to be revealed—all your misdeeds—because you have brought yourselves to [My] mind, you shall be taken to task.
30And to you, O dishonored wicked prince of Israel, whose day has come—the time set for your punishment—31thus said the Lord God: Remove the turban and lift off the crown! This shall not remain as it is; exalt the low and abase the high. 32Ruin, an utter ruin I will make it. e-It shall be no more-e until he comes to whom it rightfully belongs; and I will give it to him.
33Further, O mortal, prophesy and say: Thus said the Lord GOD concerning the Ammonites and their blasphemies: Proclaim: O sword! O sword unsheathed for slaughter, polished to the utmost, to a flashing brilliance! 34Because they have prophesied falsely about you and have divined deceitfully concerning you, you shall be wielded over the necks of the dishonored wicked ones, for their day has come, the time c-set for their punishment.-c
35g-Return it to its sheath!-g In the place where you were created, in the land of your origin, I will judge you. 36I will pour out My indignation upon you, I will blow upon you with the fire of My wrath; and I will deliver you into the hands of barbarians, craftsmen of destruction. 37You shall be fuel for the fire, your blood shall sink into the earth, you shall not be remembered, for I the LORD have spoken.
22 The word of the LORD came to me: 2Further, O mortal, a-arraign, arraign-a the city of bloodshed; declare to her all her abhorrent deeds! 3Say: Thus said the Lord GOD: O city in whose midst blood is shed, so that your hour is approaching; within which fetishes are made, so that you have become unclean! 4You stand guilty of the blood you have shed, defiled by the fetishes you have made. You have brought on your day; b-you have reached your year.-b Therefore I will make you the mockery of the nations and the scorn of all the lands. 5Both the near and the far shall scorn you, O besmirched of name, O laden with iniquity!
6Every one of the princes of Israel in your midst used his strength for the shedding of blood. 7Fathers and mothers have been humiliated within you; strangers have been cheated in your midst; orphans and widows have been wronged within you. 8You have despised My holy things and profaned My sabbaths.
9Basec men in your midst were intent on shedding blood; in you they have eaten d-upon the mountains;-d and they have practiced depravity in your midst. 10In you they have uncovered their fathers’ nakedness;e in you they have ravished women during their impurity. 11They have committed abhorrent acts with other men’s wives; in their depravity they have defiled their own daughters-in-law; in you they have ravished their own sisters, daughters of their fathers. 12They have taken bribes within you to shed blood. You have taken advance and accrued interest;f you have defrauded your countrymen to your profit. You have forgotten Me—declares the Lord GOD.
13Lo, I will strike My hands over the ill-gotten gains that you have amassed, and over the bloodshed that has been committed in your midst. 14Will your courage endure, will your hands remain firm in the days when I deal with you? I the LORD have spoken and I will act. 15I will scatter you among the nations and disperse you through the lands; I will consume the uncleanness out of you. 16You shall be dishonored in the sight of nations, and you shall know that I am the LORD.
17The word of the LORD came to me: 18O mortal, the House of Israel has become dross to Me; they are all copper, tin, iron, and lead. c-But in a crucible, the dross shall turn into silver.-c 19Assuredly, thus said the Lord GOD: Because you have all become dross, I will gather you into Jerusalem. 20As silver, copper, iron, lead, and tin are gathered into a crucible to blow the fire upon them, so as to melt them, so will I gather you in My fierce anger and cast you [into the fire] and melt you. 21I will gather you and I will blow upon you the fire of My fury, and you shall be melted in it. 22As silver is melted in a crucible, so shall you be melted in it. And you shall know that I the LORD have poured out My fury upon you.
23The word of the LORD came to me: 24O mortal, say to her: You are an uncleansed land, c-not to be washed with rain-c on the day of indignation. 25g-Her gang of prophets-g are like roaring lions in her midst, rending prey. They devour human beings; they seize treasure and wealth; they have widowed many women in her midst. 26Her priests have violated My Teaching: they have profaned what is sacred to Me, they have not distinguished between the sacred and the profane, they have not taught the difference between the unclean and the clean, and they have closed their eyes to My sabbaths. I am profaned in their midst. 27Her officials are like wolves rending prey in her midst; they shed blood and destroy lives to win ill-gotten gain. 28Her prophets, too, daub the wall for them with plaster:h They prophesy falsely and divine deceitfully for them; they say, “Thus said the Lord GOD,” when the LORD has not spoken. 29And the people of the land have practiced fraud and committed robbery; they have wronged the poor and needy, have defrauded the stranger without redress. 30And I sought a man among them to repair the wall or to stand in the breach before Me in behalf of this land, that I might not destroy it; but I found none. 31I have therefore poured out My indignation upon them; I will consume them with the fire of My fury. I will repay them for their conduct—declares the Lord GOD.
23 The word of the LORD came to me: 2O mortal, once there were two women, daughters of one mother. 3They played the whore in Egypt; they played the whore while still young. There their breasts were squeezed, and there their virgin nipples were handled. 4Their names were: the elder one, Oholah;a and her sister, Oholibah.b They became Mine, and they bore sons and daughters. As for their names, Oholah is Samaria, and Oholibah is Jerusalem.
5Oholah whored while she was Mine, and she lusted after her lovers, after the Assyrians, warriorsc 6clothed in blue, governors and prefects, horsemen mounted on steeds—all of them handsome young fellows. 7She bestowed her favors upon them—upon all the pick of the Assyrians—and defiled herself with all their fetishes after which she lusted. 8She did not give up the whoring she had begun with the Egyptians; for they had lain with her in her youth, and they had handled her virgin nipples and had poured out their lust upon her. 9Therefore I delivered her into the hands of her lovers, into the hands of the Assyrians after whom she lusted. 10They exposed her nakedness; they seized her sons and daughters, and she herself was put to the sword. And because of the punishment inflicted upon her, she became a byword among women.
11Her sister
