Christian Standard Bible | New Living Translation |
1The word of the LORD came to me: | 1Now this message came to me from the LORD: |
2"As for you, son of man, will you pass judgment? Will you pass judgment against the city of blood? Then explain all her detestable practices to her. | 2“Son of man, are you ready to judge Jerusalem? Are you ready to judge this city of murderers? Publicly denounce her detestable sins, |
3You are to say, 'This is what the Lord GOD says: A city that sheds blood within her walls so that her time of judgment has come and who makes idols for herself so that she is defiled! | 3and give her this message from the Sovereign LORD: O city of murderers, doomed and damned—city of idols, filthy and foul— |
4You are guilty of the blood you have shed, and you are defiled from the idols you have made. You have brought your judgment days near and have come to your years of punishment. Therefore, I have made you a disgrace to the nations and a mockery to all the lands. | 4you are guilty because of the blood you have shed. You are defiled because of the idols you have made. Your day of destruction has come! You have reached the end of your years. I will make you an object of mockery throughout the world. |
5Those who are near and those far away from you will mock you, you infamous one full of turmoil. | 5O infamous city, filled with confusion, you will be mocked by people far and near. |
6"'Look, every prince of Israel within you has used his strength to shed blood. | 6“Every leader in Israel who lives within your walls is bent on murder. |
7Father and mother are treated with contempt, and the resident alien is exploited within you. The fatherless and widow are oppressed in you. | 7Fathers and mothers are treated with contempt. Foreigners are forced to pay for protection. Orphans and widows are wronged and oppressed among you. |
8You despise my holy things and profane my Sabbaths. | 8You despise my holy things and violate my Sabbath days of rest. |
9There are men within you who slander in order to shed blood. People who live in you eat at the mountain shrines; they commit depraved acts within you. | 9People accuse others falsely and send them to their death. You are filled with idol worshipers and people who do obscene things. |
10Men within you have sexual intercourse with their father's wife and violate women during their menstrual impurity. | 10Men sleep with their fathers’ wives and force themselves on women who are menstruating. |
11One man within you commits a detestable act with his neighbor's wife; another defiles his daughter-in-law with depravity; and yet another violates his sister, his father's daughter. | 11Within your walls live men who commit adultery with their neighbors’ wives, who defile their daughters-in-law, or who rape their own sisters. |
12People who live in you accept bribes in order to shed blood. You take interest and profit on a loan and brutally extort your neighbors. You have forgotten me. This is the declaration of the Lord GOD. | 12There are hired murderers, loan racketeers, and extortioners everywhere. They never even think of me and my commands, says the Sovereign LORD. |
13"'Now look, I clap my hands together against the dishonest profit you have made and against the blood shed among you. | 13“But now I clap my hands in indignation over your dishonest gain and bloodshed. |
14Will your courage endure or your hands be strong in the days when I deal with you? I, the LORD, have spoken, and I will act. | 14How strong and courageous will you be in my day of reckoning? I, the LORD, have spoken, and I will do what I said. |
15I will disperse you among the nations and scatter you among the countries; I will purge your uncleanness. | 15I will scatter you among the nations and purge you of your wickedness. |
16You will be profaned in the sight of the nations. Then you will know that I am the LORD.'" | 16And when I have been dishonored among the nations because of you, you will know that I am the LORD.” The LORD’s Refining Furnace |
17The word of the LORD came to me: | 17Then this message came to me from the LORD: |
18"Son of man, the house of Israel has become merely dross to me. All of them are copper, tin, iron, and lead inside the furnace; they are just dross from silver. | 18“Son of man, the people of Israel are the worthless slag that remains after silver is smelted. They are the dross that is left over—a useless mixture of copper, tin, iron, and lead. |
19Therefore, this is what the Lord GOD says: Because all of you have become dross, I am about to gather you into Jerusalem. | 19So tell them, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Because you are all worthless slag, I will bring you to my crucible in Jerusalem. |
20Just as one gathers silver, copper, iron, lead, and tin into the furnace to blow fire on them and melt them, so I will gather you in my anger and wrath, put you inside, and melt you. | 20Just as silver, copper, iron, lead, and tin are melted down in a furnace, I will melt you down in the heat of my fury. |
21Yes, I will gather you together and blow on you with the fire of my fury, and you will be melted within the city. | 21I will gather you together and blow the fire of my anger upon you, |
22As silver is melted inside a furnace, so you will be melted inside the city. Then you will know that I, the LORD, have poured out my wrath on you." | 22and you will melt like silver in fierce heat. Then you will know that I, the LORD, have poured out my fury on you.’” The Sins of Israel’s Leaders |
23The word of the LORD came to me: | 23Again a message came to me from the LORD: |
24"Son of man, say to her, 'You are a land that has not been cleansed, that has not received rain in the day of indignation.' | 24“Son of man, give the people of Israel this message: In the day of my indignation, you will be like a polluted land, a land without rain. |
25The conspiracy of her prophets within her is like a roaring lion tearing its prey: they devour people, seize wealth and valuables, and multiply the widows within her. | 25Your princes plot conspiracies just as lions stalk their prey. They devour innocent people, seizing treasures and extorting wealth. They make many widows in the land. |
26Her priests do violence to my instruction and profane my holy things. They make no distinction between the holy and the common, and they do not explain the difference between the clean and the unclean. They close their eyes to my Sabbaths, and I am profaned among them. | 26Your priests have violated my instructions and defiled my holy things. They make no distinction between what is holy and what is not. And they do not teach my people the difference between what is ceremonially clean and unclean. They disregard my Sabbath days so that I am dishonored among them. |
27"Her officials within her are like wolves tearing their prey, shedding blood, and destroying lives in order to make profit dishonestly. | 27Your leaders are like wolves who tear apart their victims. They actually destroy people’s lives for money! |
28Her prophets plaster for them with whitewash by seeing false visions and lying divinations, saying, 'This is what the Lord GOD says,' when the LORD has not spoken. | 28And your prophets cover up for them by announcing false visions and making lying predictions. They say, ‘My message is from the Sovereign LORD,’ when the LORD hasn’t spoken a single word to them. |
29The people of the land have practiced extortion and committed robbery. They have oppressed the poor and needy and unlawfully exploited the resident alien. | 29Even common people oppress the poor, rob the needy, and deprive foreigners of justice. |
30I searched for a man among them who would repair the wall and stand in the gap before me on behalf of the land so that I might not destroy it, but I found no one. | 30“I looked for someone who might rebuild the wall of righteousness that guards the land. I searched for someone to stand in the gap in the wall so I wouldn’t have to destroy the land, but I found no one. |
31So I have poured out my indignation on them and consumed them with the fire of my fury. I have brought their conduct down on their own heads." This is the declaration of the Lord GOD. | 31So now I will pour out my fury on them, consuming them with the fire of my anger. I will heap on their heads the full penalty for all their sins. I, the Sovereign LORD, have spoken!” |
The Christian Standard Bible. Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. | Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. |
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