22:1 The word of the Lord came to me: 22:2 “As for you, son of man, are you willing to pronounce judgment,1 are you willing to pronounce judgment on the bloody city?2 Then confront her with all her abominable deeds. 22:3 Then say, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: A city stained by blood must be punished; she is defiled by the idols she makes.3 22:4 You are guilty because of the blood you shed and defiled by the idols you made. You have hastened the day of your death;4 the end of your life has come.5 Therefore I will make6 you an object of scorn to the nations and reproach to all lands. 22:5 Those both near and far from you will mock you, you of ill repute,7 full of turmoil.
22:6 “‘See how each of the princes of Israel living within you has used his authority to shed blood.8 22:7 They have treated father and mother with contempt9 within you; they have oppressed the foreigner among you; they have wronged the orphan and the widow10 within you. 22:8 You have despised my holy things and desecrated my Sabbaths! 22:9 Slanderous men shed blood within you.11 Those who live within you eat pagan sacrifices on the mountains;12 they commit obscene acts among you.13 22:10 Within you they have sex with their father’s wife;14 within you they violate women during their period.15 22:11 Within you one16 commits an abominable act with his neighbor’s wife; another obscenely defiles his daughter-in-law; another violates17 his sister, his father’s daughter.18 22:12 Within you they take bribes to shed blood. You engage in usury and charge interest;19 you extort money from your neighbors. You have forgotten me,20 declares the Sovereign Lord.21
22:13 “‘See, I clap my hands22 at the dishonest profit you have made, and at the bloodshed23 within you. 22:14 Can your heart endure,24 or can your hands be strong when I deal with you?25 I, the Lord, have spoken, and I will do it. 22:15 I will scatter you among the nations and disperse you among various countries; I will remove your impurity from you.26 22:16 I will be profaned by you27 in the sight of the nations; then you will know that I am the Lord.’”
22:17 The word of the Lord came to me: 22:18 “Son of man, the house of Israel has become dross to me. All of them are like bronze, tin, iron, and lead in the furnace;28 they are the dross of silver. 22:19 Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: ‘Because all of you29 have become dross, I will gather you in the middle of Jerusalem.30 22:20 As silver, bronze, iron, lead, and tin are gathered in a furnace so that the fire can melt them, so I will gather you in my anger and in my rage. I will deposit you there31 and melt you. 22:21 I will gather you and blow on you with the fire of my fury, and you will be melted in it. 22:22 As silver is melted in a furnace, so you will be melted in it; and you will know that I, the Lord, have poured out my anger on you.’”
22:23 The word of the Lord came to me: 22:24 “Son of man, say to her: ‘You are a land that receives no rain32 or showers in the day of my anger.’33 22:25 Her princes34 within her are like a roaring lion tearing its prey; they have devoured lives. They take away riches and valuable things; they have made women widows35 within it. 22:26 Her priests do violence to my law and have desecrated my holy things. They do not distinguish between the holy and the profane, or recognize any distinction between the unclean and the clean. They ignore36 my Sabbaths and I am profaned in their midst. 22:27 Her officials are like wolves tearing their prey within her; they shed blood, destroying lives to get dishonest profit. 22:28 Her prophets coat their messages with whitewash.37 They see false visions and announce lying omens for them, saying, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says,’ when the Lord has not spoken. 22:29 The people of the land have practiced extortion and committed robbery. They have wronged the poor and needy; they have oppressed the foreigner who lives among them and denied them justice.38
22:30 “I looked for a man from among them who would repair the wall and stand in the gap before me on behalf of the land, so that I would not destroy it; but I found no one.39 22:31 So I have poured my anger on them, and destroyed them with the fire of my fury. I have repaid them for what they have done,40 declares the Sovereign Lord.”
Two Sisters