7:1 The word of the Lord came to me: 7:2 “You, son of man—this is what the Sovereign Lord says to the land of Israel: An end!1 The end is coming on the four corners of the land!2 7:3 The end is now upon you, and I will release my anger against you; I will judge3 you according to your behavior,4 I will hold you accountable for5 all your abominable practices. 7:4 My eye will not pity you; I will not spare you.6 For I will hold you responsible for your behavior, and you will suffer the consequences of your abominable practices.7 Then you will know that I am the Lord!
7:5 “This is what the Sovereign Lord says: A disaster8—a one-of-a-kind9 disaster—is coming! 7:6 An end has come;10 the end has come, the end is upon you. Look, it is coming! 7:7 Doom is coming upon you, you who live in the land! The time is coming, the day11 is near. There are sounds of tumult, not shouts of joy, on the mountains. 7:8 Soon now I will pour out my rage12 on you; I will fully vent my anger against you. I will judge you according to your behavior. I will hold you accountable for all your abominable practices. 7:9 My eye will not pity you; I will not spare you. For your behavior I will hold you accountable,13and you will suffer the consequences of your abominable practices. Then you will know that it is I, the Lord, who is striking you.
7:10 “Look, the day! Look, it is coming! Doom has gone out. The staff has budded, pride has blossomed! 7:11 Violence14 has grown into a staff that supports wickedness. Not one of them will be left—not from that crowd, not from their wealth, not from their prominence.15 7:12 The time has come; the day has arrived! Let not the buyer rejoice, nor the seller mourn; for their whole crowd will experience divine wrath.16 7:13 The seller will not regain what he has sold while both parties are alive, for the vision concerning their whole crowd17 will not be revoked. Not one of those sinners will preserve his life.18
7:14 “They have blown the trumpet and everyone is ready, but no one goes to battle, because my wrath is upon the whole crowd.19 7:15 The sword is outside; pestilence and famine are inside the house. Whoever is in the open field will die by the sword, and famine and pestilence will consume everyone in the city. 7:16 Their survivors will escape to the mountains and become like doves of the valleys; all of them will moan—each one over his sins. 7:17 All of their hands will grow weak, their knees will be wet with urine.20 7:18 They will wear sackcloth, terror will cover them; shame will be on all their faces, and all of their heads will be shaved bald. 7:19 They will discard their silver in the streets, and their gold will be treated as an unclean thing.21 Their silver and gold will not be able to deliver them on the day of the of the Lord’s fury. Their hunger will not be satisfied and their stomachs will not be full, because their wealth22 was the stumbling block which made them sin.23 7:20 They were proud of their beautiful ornaments,24 but they made them into their abominable images—their detestable idols. Therefore I will make their wealth25 into something unclean for them. 7:21 I will give it all to foreigners as loot, to the wicked of the earth as plunder; and they will desecrate it. 7:22 I will turn my face away from them and they will desecrate my treasured place.26 Robbers will enter it and desecrate it.
7:23 “Make a chain,27 because the land is full of murder28 and the city is full of violence. 7:24 I will bring the most wicked of the nations and they will take possession of their houses.29 I will put an end to the arrogance of the strong, and their sanctuaries will be desecrated. 7:25 Terror30 is coming! They will seek peace, but find none. 7:26 Disaster after disaster will come, and one rumor after another. They will seek a vision from a prophet; priestly instruction will disappear, along with counsel from the elders. 7:27 The king will mourn and the prince will be clothed with desolation; the hands of the people of the land will shake with fear. According to their behavior I will deal with them, and according to their standard of justice31 I will judge them. Then they will know that I am the Lord!”
A Desecrated Temple