Ezekiel 22
I Sought a Man to Stand in the Gap and Found None
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The City Shedding Blood
22:1The Lord’s word came to me, saying,
22:2“And you, son of man, will you judge the city of bloodshed? Display all her lawless deeds to her,
22:3and say, ‘Thus says the Lord, the Lord: O city shedding blood within her so that her time may come, making reflections against herself to defile herself!
22:4Through their blood that you shed you have transgressed, and through your reflections that you made you were defiled. You brought your days near and brought the season of your years. Therefore I have made you a reproach to the nations and a mockery to all the countries
22:5near you and far away from you. They will mock you: “Unclean, the famous one, abundant in lawless deeds!”
22:6Behold, the leaders of Israel’s house mingled themselves in you, each with his relatives, in order to shed blood.
22:7They reviled father and mother in you and dealt unjustly with the sojourner in you. They oppressed the orphan and widow in you.
22:8They despised My holy things and profaned My Sabbaths in you.
22:9Robbers are in you in order to shed blood in you. They ate upon the mountains in you; they committed unholy acts within you.
22:10They uncovered a father’s shame in you, and they violated a woman sitting apart in uncleanness in you.
22:11Each acted lawlessly with his neighbor’s wife; each defiled his daughter-in-law with impiety; each violated his sister, his father’s daughter, in you.
22:12They took gifts in you in order to shed blood; they took interest and increase in you. You brought your evil in oppression to its full completion, but you forgot Me, says the Lord.
22:13But if I strike My hand against My hand over what you have completed, what you did, and over your bloodshed that occurred within you,
22:14will your heart hold out? Will your hands prevail in the days when I act within you? I, the Lord, have spoken and will act.
22:15I will scatter you among the nations and disperse you among the countries, and your uncleanness will cease from you.
22:16I will take possession in you before the nations’ eyes, and you will know that I am the Lord.’”
Israel Has Become Dross
22:17The Lord’s word came to me, saying,
22:18“Son of man, behold, Israel’s house has become mixed to Me, all of them with copper, iron, tin and lead; it is mixed amid silver.
22:19Therefore say, ‘Thus says the Lord: Because all of you became one mixture, therefore I am receiving you into Jerusalem.
22:20As silver, copper, iron, tin and lead are received into a furnace to blow fire into it to melt it, so I will receive you in My anger, gather you and melt you,
22:21and blow upon you with the fire of My anger, and you will be melted within her.
22:22As silver is melted within a furnace, so you will be melted within her. You will recognize that I, the Lord, have poured My wrath upon you.’”
A Land Not Watered
22:23The Lord’s word came to me, saying,
22:24“Son of man, say to her, ‘You are a land not wetted, nor did rain come upon you on the day of wrath.
22:25Her leaders within her are like roaring lions seizing prey, devouring lives with power, taking payments unjustly, and your widows have multiplied within you.
22:26Her priests set aside My law and profaned My holy things. They did not distinguish between holy and profane, nor distinguish between unclean and clean. They covered their eyes from My Sabbaths, and I was profaned among them.
22:27Her rulers within her are like wolves seizing prey to shed blood, so that in greed they may gain more.
22:28Her prophets, coating them, will fall, seeing vain things, divining falsehoods, saying, “Thus says the Lord,” when the Lord has not spoken,
22:29oppressing the people of the land unjustly and seizing plunder, oppressing the poor and needy and not dealing justly with the sojourner.
22:30I sought among them a man conducting himself rightly and standing wholly before Me at the land’s time, so that I would not utterly wipe her out, but I found none.
22:31I poured My wrath upon her in the fire of My anger to bring an end. I brought their ways upon their own heads, says the Lord, the Lord.’”
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Saints Translation · Liturgical reading edition · V1 · working draft awaiting specialist review.