Chapter 16
1; And the Word of YAHWEH was to me, saying,
2; Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations,
3; and say, So says Adonai YAHWEH to Jerusalem: Your origin and your birth is of the land of Canaan. Your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite.
4; As for your birth, in the day you were born, your navel was not cut, and you were not washed with water to cleanse you. And you were not salted, and you were not at all swaddled.
5; An eye did not have pity on you to do to you one of these, to have compassion on you. But you were thrown into the face of the field, for your person was loathed in the day you were born.
6; And when I passed by you and saw you squirming in your blood, I said to you in your blood, Live! Yea, I said to you in your blood, Live!
7; As a myriad, as a field shoot, I have made you, and you are grown and are great. And you come in the finest ornaments. Your breasts are formed, and your hair is grown, yet you were naked and bare.
8; And I passed by you, and I looked on you, and, behold, your time was the time of love. And I spread My skirt over you and covered your nakedness. And I swore to you and entered into a covenant with you, declares Adonai YAHWEH. And you became Mine.
9; And I washed you with water; I washed away your blood from you, and I anointed you with oil.
10; And I dressed you with embroidered work, and gave you badger skin sandals to wear. And I wrapped you in fine linen, and I covered you with silk.
11; And I adorned you with ornaments, and I put bracelets on your hands and a chain on your neck.
12; And I gave a jewel for yourself and rings for your ears and a crown of beauty on your head.
13; And you were adorned with gold and silver. And your clothing was fine linen and silk and embroidered work. Fine flour and honey and oil you ate. And you were very, very beautiful. And you advanced to regal estate.
14; And your name went out among the nations, because of your beauty, for it was perfect by My splendor which I had set on you, declares Adonai YAHWEH.
15; But you trusted in your beauty, and you played the harlot because of your name, and poured out your fornications on all who passed by; it was to him!
16; And you took from your clothes and made for you high places of various colors, and fornicated on them, such as had not come, nor shall be.
17; And you have taken beautiful things of My gold and of My silver, which I had given to you, and you made images of males, and fornicated with them.
18; And you took your embroidered clothes and covered them. And My oil and My incense you have given to their face.
19; Also My food which I gave you, fine flour and oil and honey which I fed you, you have given it to their face for a soothing aroma. And it happened, declares Adonai YAHWEH.
20; And you have taken your sons and your daughters whom you have borne to Me, and you sacrificed these to them for food. Are your fornications small?
21; You have slaughtered My sons, and you gave them to cause these to pass through the fire for them.
22; And in all your abominations and your fornications you have not remembered the days of your youth, when you were naked and bare, when you were squirming in your blood.
23; Woe, woe to you, says Adonai YAHWEH! For it happened, after all your evil,
24; Woe to you that you have also built yourself a mound, and you have made yourself a high place in every open place!
25; At the head of every highway you have built your high place, and have made your beauty despised. And you have parted your feet to all who passed by, and have multiplied your fornications.
26; You have whored with the sons of Egypt, your neighbors, great of flesh. And you have multiplied your fornications to provoke Me to anger.
27; And behold, I have stretched out My hand over you, and I drew back your portion. And I gave you to the will of those hating you, the daughters of the Philistines, who are ashamed of your wicked way.
28; You have fornicated with the sons of Assyria without being satisfied. Yea, you fornicated and yet you were not satisfied.
29; And you have multiplied your fornication in the land of Canaan, to the Chaldean, and yet you were not satisfied with this.
30; How weak is your heart, declares Adonai YAHWEH, since you do all these, the work of a woman, an overbearing prostitute,
31; in that you built your mound in the head of every highway, and you make your high place in every open place; yet you have not been as a prostitute, even scorning wages.
32; Like the adulterous wife, instead of her husband, she takes strangers.
33; They give a gift to all harlots, but you give your gifts to all your lovers and bribe them to come to you from all around for your fornication.
34; And in you was the opposite from those women in your fornications, since no one whores after you, and in your giving wages, and hire is not given to you. In this you are opposite.
35; Therefore, O harlot, hear the Word of YAHWEH,
36; So says Adonai YAHWEH: Because your lewdness was poured out, and your nakedness was bared in your fornications with your lovers and with the idols of your abominations, and by the blood of your sons whom you gave to them;
37; therefore, behold, I will gather all your lovers with whom you have been pleased, even all whom you have loved, with all whom you have hated, I will even gather them against you from all around, and will uncover your nakedness to them. Yea, they will see all your nakedness.
38; And I will judge you with judgments of adulteresses, and with shedders of blood. And I will give you blood of fury and jealousy.
39; And I will give you into their hand, and they will tear down your mound, and will demolish your high places. They shall also strip you of your clothes and shall take your beautiful things, and leave you naked and bare.
40; And they will raise an assembly to come up against you, and they shall stone you with stones, and cut you with their swords.
41; And they shall burn your houses with fire and make judgments against you in the sight of many women. And I will make you stop fornicating; and, also, you shall not give hire again.
42; So I will make My fury to rest against you, and My jealousy shall depart from you. And I will be quiet and will not be angry any more.
43; Because you have not remembered the days of your youth, but have troubled Me in all these, so, behold, I also will give your way back on your head, declares Adonai YAHWEH. And you shall not commit the wickedness above all your abominations.
44; Behold, all who use proverbs shall use this proverb against you, saying, As the mother, so is the daughter.
45; You are your mother's daughter who despises her husband and her sons. And you are the sister of your sisters who despise their husbands and their sons. Your mother was a Hittite and your father was an Amorite.
46; And your older sister is Samaria, she and her daughters who are dwelling on your left. And your younger sister from you who dwells on the right is Sodom and her daughters.
47; Yet you have not walked in their ways nor have done according to their abominations. As if it were only a little thing, you were even more corrupted than they in all your ways.
48; As I live, declares Adonai YAHWEH, your sister Sodom, she and her daughters, have not done as you and your daughters have done.
49; Behold, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: pride, fullness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and her daughters. Also, she did not strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.
50; Also, they were haughty and did abomination before My face, so I turned them away as I saw fit.
51; And Samaria has not sinned as much as half your sins, but you have multiplied your abominations more than they, and have justified your sisters in all your abominations which you have done.
52; And you who have judged your sisters must bear your humiliation by your sins which you abominably did more than they; they are more righteous than you. And also you be ashamed and bear your shame, in that you have justified your sisters.
53; When I shall return their captivity, the captivity of Sodom and her daughters, and the captivity of Samaria and her daughters, then also the captivity of your captivity in their midst;
54; so that you may bear your shame and be disgraced from all that you have done, since you are a comfort to them.
55; When your sisters, Sodom and her daughters, shall return to their former state, and Samaria and her daughters shall return to their former state, then you and your daughters shall return to your former state.
56; For your sister Sodom was not to be heard from your mouth in the day of your pride,
57; before your evil was uncovered, as at the time of the reproach of Syria's daughters and all the ones around her, the daughters of the Philistines who hated you from all around.
58; You are bearing your wickedness and your abominations, declares YAHWEH.
59; For so says Adonai YAHWEH: I will even do with you as you have done, who have despised the oath in breaking the covenant.
60; But I will remember My covenant with you in the days of your youth, and I will raise up to you an everlasting covenant.
61; Then you shall remember your ways and be ashamed, when you shall receive your sisters, the older than you to the younger than you, and I will give them to you for daughters, but not by your covenant.
62; And I, even I, will raise up My covenant with you. And you shall know that I am YAHWEH,
63; so that you may remember and be ashamed. And you will not any more
open your mouth, because of your humiliation, when I am propitiated for you for all that you have done, declares Adonai YAHWEH.
Chapter 17
1; And the Word of YAHWEH was to me, saying,
2; Son of man, put forth a riddle and speak a parable to the house of Israel.
3; And say, So says Adonai YAHWEH: A great eagle came to Lebanon, one with great wings, long of pinion, full of feathers, having different colors to him. And he took the top of the cedar.
4; He plucked off the first of its young twigs and brought it into a land of traders. He set it in a city of merchants.
5; He also took of the seed of the land and planted it in a field of seed. He took it by great waters; he set it as a willow.
6; And it sprouted and became a spreading low vine, and it turned its branches to face toward him, and its roots were under him. So it became a vine and made branches, and sent out boughs.
7; Also there was another great eagle with great wings and many feathers. And, behold, this vine bent its roots toward him, and sent out its branches to him, to water it, away from the beds of its planting.
8; It was planted in a good field by great waters to make branches and to bear fruit, to be a splendid vine.
9; Say, So says Adonai YAHWEH: Shall it prosper? Shall he not pull up its roots and cut off its fruit and wither it? All the leaves of its sprouting shall wither, and not with great arm, nor by many people shall any raise it by its roots.
10; And behold, being planted, shall it prosper? Shall it not utterly wither when the east wind touches it? It shall wither in the beds where it sprouted.
11; And the Word of YAHWEH was to me, saying,
12; Say now to the rebellious house, Do you not know what these mean? But speak, Behold, the king of Babylon has come to Jerusalem, and has taken its king and its rulers, and has brought them to himself at Babylon.
13; And he took of the royal seed, and he has cut with him a covenant and has made him enter into an oath. And he took the mighty of the land,
14; that the kingdom might be low, that it might not lift itself up to keep its covenant, that it might stand.
15; But he rebelled against him in sending his messengers to Egypt, to give horses and many people to him. Shall he prosper? Shall he who does these things escape? Or shall he break the covenant and be delivered?
16; As I live, declares Adonai YAHWEH, Surely, in the place of the king who made him king, whose oath he despised and whose covenant he broke, there he shall die with him in the midst of Babylon.
17; And Pharaoh shall not work for him with great army or great company in the war by pouring out mounds and building siege walls to cut off many souls.
18; And he has despised the oath by breaking the covenant. And, behold, he had given his hand, and he has done all these things, he shall not escape.
19; So Adonai YAHWEH says this: As I live, surely My oath that he has despised, and My covenant that he has broken, I will even give it on his head.
20; And I will spread My net over him, and he shall be taken in My snare. And I will bring him to Babylon. And I will judge him there with his treason which he has betrayed against Me.
21; And all his fugitives shall fall by the sword, with all his bands. And those who remain shall be scattered to every wind. And you shall know that I, YAHWEH, have spoken.
22; So says Adonai YAHWEH: I will also take, even I, of the top of the highest cedar and I will set it; I will crop off a tender one from the first of its young twigs, and I will plant it on a high and lofty mountain.
23; I will plant it in a high mountain of Israel. And it will bear boughs and produce fruit and will become a majestic cedar. And every bird of every wing shall dwell under it; they shall dwell in the shadow of its branches.
24; And all the trees of the field shall know that I, YAHWEH, have brought down the high tree. and have exalted the low tree, and have dried up the green tree, and have made the dry tree flourish. I, YAHWEH, have spoken and acted.
Chapter 18
1; And the Word of YAHWEH was to me, saying,
2; What is it to you that you use this proverb concerning the land of Israel, saying, The fathers have eaten sour grapes and the teeth of the sons are dull?
3; As I live, states Adonai YAHWEH, there is not any longer occasion to you to use this proverb in Israel.
4; Behold, they are all My souls. As the soul of the father, also the soul of the son, they are Mine. The soul that sins, it shall die.
5; But a man that is righteous and does what is just and right,
6; who has not eaten on the mountains, and his eyes have not lifted up to the idols of the house of Israel, and has not defiled his neighbor's wife, and has not come near to a menstruating woman,
7; and has not oppressed a man, has given his bread to the hungry, and he has covered the naked with clothing.
8; He has not given on interest, and he has not taken increase; he has turned his hand from injustice, having done true justice between man and man.
9; He has walked in My statutes and has kept My judgments to deal truly; he is righteous. Surely, he shall live, declares Adonai YAHWEH.
10; And if he fathers a violent son, who sheds blood and does to a brother any of these;
11; even if he does not do any of these himself; that also the son he has eaten on the mountains, and has defiled his neighbor's wife;
12; he has oppressed the poor and needy; he has robbed violently; he has not returned the pledge, and has lifted up his eyes to the idols; he has committed abomination;
13; he has given on interest and has taken increase; shall he also live? He shall not live. He has done all these abominations; surely, he shall die; his blood shall be on him.
14; Now, behold! If he fathers a son who sees all his father's sins which he has done, and sees, and does not do like them;
15; he has not eaten on the mountains, and has not lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel; he has not defiled his neighbor's wife,
16; and has not oppressed a man, has not withheld the pledge, and he has not robbed violently; he has given his bread to the hungry, and he has covered the naked with clothing,
17; has turned back his hand off the poor, and has not received interest and increase. He has done My judgments, has walked in My statutes. He shall not die for the iniquity of his father. Surely, he shall live.
18; His father, because he did cruelly oppress, he has robbed his brother violently, and did what is not good among his people, behold, even he shall die in his iniquity.
19; Yet you say, Why? Does not the son bear the iniquity of the father? When the son has done justice and righteousness, he has kept all My statutes and has done them, surely, he shall live.
20; The soul that sins, it shall die. A son shall not bear the iniquity of the father. And a father shall not bear the iniquity of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be on him.
21; But the wicked, if he will turn from all his sins which he has done, and keep all My statutes, and do justice and righteousness, living he shall live; he shall not die.
22; All his transgressions that he has done, they shall not be mentioned to him in his righteousness which he has done; he shall live.
23; Do I take pleasure and delight in the death of the wicked? Declares Adonai YAHWEH. Is it not that he should turn from his ways and live?
24; But when the righteous turns from his righteousness and does injustice, according to all the abominations that the wicked do, he also does, shall he live? All his righteousness that he has done shall not be remembered in his treason that he has betrayed, and in his sin that he has sinned, in them he shall die.
25; Yet you say, The way of YAHWEH, is not fair. Hear now, O house of Israel. Is My way not fair? Are your ways not unfair?
26; When a righteous one turns from his righteousness and does injustice and dies in them, he shall die for his injustice which he has done.
27; And when the wicked turns from his wickedness that he has done and does justice and righteousness, he shall keep his soul alive.
28; Because he sees and turns from all his transgressions that he has done, surely, he shall live; he shall not die.
29; But the house of Israel says, The way of YAHWEH, is not fair. Are My ways not fair, O house of Israel? Is it not your ways that are not fair?
30; I will judge you, each man by his ways, O house of Israel, declares Adonai YAHWEH. Turn and be made to turn from all your transgressions, and iniquity shall not be a stumbling- block to you.
31; Cast away all your transgressions from you by which you have transgressed in them, and make for yourselves a new heart and a new spirit; for why will you die, O house of Israel?
32; For I do not have delight in the death of him who dies, declares Adonai YAHWEH. So turn and live.
Chapter 19
1; And you lift up a lament for the rulers of Israel,
2; and say, What is your mother? A lioness, she lay down among lions, among young lions she multiplied her cubs.
3; And she brought up one of her cubs; he became a young lion and learned to tear the prey; he ate men.
4; And the nations heard of him. He was taken in their pit, and they brought him in chains to the land of Egypt.
5; And when she saw that she had waited, and her hope had been lost, then she took another of her cubs and made him a young lion.
6; And he went about among the lions. He became a young lion and learned to tear the prey; he ate men.
7; And he knew his widows, and he laid their cities waste, and the land and its fullness were desolated from the sound of his roaring.
8; Then the nations set against him on every side from the provinces, and they spread their net over him; he was taken in their pit.
9; And they put him in a cage in chains and brought him to the king of Babylon. They brought him into hunting nets so that his voice should not any longer be heard on the mountains of Israel.
10; Your mother is like a vine in your blood, planted by the waters. She was fruitful and full of branches because of many waters.
11; And there were rods to her, strong for the scepters of rulers, and her stature was exalted among the thick branches. And it was seen in her height, with the multitude of her branches.
12; But she was plucked in fury. She was thrown to the ground, and the east wind dried up her fruit. Her strong rods were torn away and withered; the fire burned her.
13; And now she is planted in the wilderness, in a dry and thirsty ground.
14; And fire has gone out from a rod of her branches, it consumed her fruit, and there is not a strong rod in her to be a scepter to rule. It is a lament, and has become a lament.
Chapter 20
1; And it was in the seventh year, in the fifth month, the tenth of the month, men came from the elders of Israel to inquire of YAHWEH, and sat before me.
2; And the Word of YAHWEH was to me, saying,
3; Son of man, speak to the elders of Israel and say to them, So says Adonai YAHWEH: Have you come to inquire of Me? As I live, declares Adonai YAHWEH, I will not be inquired of by you.
4; Will you judge them, will you judge, son of man? Cause them to know the abominations of their fathers.
5; And say to them, So says Adonai YAHWEH: In the day I chose Israel and lifted My hand to the seed of the house of Jacob, and I was made known to them in the land of Egypt, when I lifted up My hand to them, saying, I am YAHWEH your Elohim.
6; In that day I lifted up My hand to them to bring them out from the land of Egypt into a land flowing with milk and honey that I had searched out for them, the glory of it is to all lands.
7; Then I said to them, Let each man cast away the filthy idols of his eyes, and do not defile yourselves with the idols of Egypt; I am YAHWEH your Elohim.
8; But they rebelled against Me and would not listen to Me. They did not each man throw away the filthy idols of their eyes, and they did not forsake the idols of Egypt. Then I said, I will pour out My fury against them, to complete My anger against them in the midst of the land of Egypt.
9; But I worked for My name's sake, that it should not be profaned in the eyes of the nations among whom they were, for I made Myself known to them in their eyes, by bringing them out of the land of Egypt.
10; I caused them to go out from the land of Egypt, and brought them into the wilderness.
11; And I gave them My statutes, and I made them know My judgments, which if a man does them, he will even live by them.
12; And I also gave them My Sabbaths to be a sign between Me and them, that they might know that I am YAHWEH who sets them apart.
13; But the house of Israel rebelled against Me in the wilderness. They did not walk in My statutes, and they despised My judgments, which if a man does them he will even live by them. And they greatly profaned My Sabbaths. Then I said, I will pour out My fury on them in the wilderness, to consume them.
14; But I worked for My name's sake, that it should not be profaned in the eyes of the nations, before whom I brought them out, in their eyes.
15; And I also lifted up My hand to them in the wilderness, that I would not bring them into the land flowing with milk and honey which I had given; it is the glory to all the lands,
16; because they despised My judgments, and they did not walk in My statutes, and they profaned My Sabbaths; for their heart went after their idols.
17; And My eye spared them, from destroying them, and I did not make an end of them in the wilderness.
18; But I said to their sons in the wilderness, Do not walk in the statutes of your fathers and do not keep their judgments, and do not defile yourselves with their idols.
19; I am YAHWEH your Elohim, walk in My statutes, and keep My judgments, and do them.
20; And guard My Sabbaths to keep them set-apart, and they shall be a sign between Me and you, that you may know that I am YAHWEH your Elohim.
21; But the sons rebelled against Me. They did not walk in My statutes, and they did not keep My judgments, to do them, which if a man does them, he shall live by them. They profaned My Sabbaths. Then I said I would pour out My fury on them, to fulfill My anger against them in the wilderness.
22; But I withdrew My hand and acted for My name's sake, that it should not be profaned in the eyes of the nations, from whom I brought them out in their eyes.
23; And I lifted up My hand to them in the wilderness, to scatter them among the nations and sow them among the lands,
24; because they had not done My judgments and had despised My statutes and had profaned My Sabbaths. And their eyes were after their fathers' idols.
25; Therefore I also gave them statutes that were not good, and judgments by which they could not live.
26; And I defiled them by their own gifts, by making all that open the womb to cross the fire, so that I might waste them, to the end that they might know that I am YAHWEH.
27; So speak to the house of Israel, son of man, and say to them, So says Adonai YAHWEH: Yet in this your fathers have blasphemed Me, by covering up their trespass against Me.
28; When I had brought them into the land for which I lifted up My hand, to give it to them, then they saw every high hill and every leafy tree; and they offered their sacrifices there. And they have their provoking offering there. They also made their soothing aroma there and poured out their drink offerings there.
29; Then I said to them, What is the high place to which you go there? And its name is called Bamah to this day.
30; For this reason, say to the house of Israel, So says Adonai YAHWEH: Are you being defiled in the way of your fathers? And do you go whoring after their filthy idols?
31; For when you lift up your gifts, when you pass your sons through the fire, you defile yourselves with all your idols, even to this day. And I will not be inquired of by you, O house of Israel. As I live, declares Adonai YAHWEH, I will not be inquired of by you.
32; And what comes up on your spirit shall surely not occur, that you say, We will be like the nations, like the families of the lands, to serve wood and stone.
33; As I live, says Adonai YAHWEH, Surely with a mighty hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with fury poured out, I will reign over you.
34; And I will bring you out from the peoples and gather you from the lands in which you are scattered among them with a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm, and with fury poured out.
35; And I will bring you into the wilderness of the peoples, and I will be judging with you there face to face.
36; Just as I was judging your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so I will be judging you, declares Adonai YAHWEH.
37; And I will cause you to pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant.
38; And I will purge from among you the rebels and the transgressors against Me. I will bring them out of the land where they reside, and they shall not enter into the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am YAHWEH.
39; And you, O house of Israel, so says Adonai YAHWEH: Every man go, serve his idols, even hereafter, if you will not listen to Me. But you will not still profane My set-apart name with your gifts and with your idols.
40; For in My set-apart mountain in the mountain height of Israel, declares Adonai YAHWEH, all the house of Israel shall serve Me there, all of them in the land. There I will accept them, and there I will seek your heave offerings and the first-fruits of your offerings, with all your set-apart things.
41; I will accept you with a soothing aroma when I bring you from the peoples and gather you from the lands where you have been scattered in them. And I will be sanctified among you in the eyes of the nations.
42; And you shall know that I am YAHWEH when I bring you into the land of Israel, to the land for which I lifted up My hand to give it to your fathers.
43; And you shall remember there your ways and all your evils by which you have been defiled in them. And you will hate yourselves to your faces for all your evils which you have done.
44; And you shall know that I am YAHWEH when I have worked with you for My name's sake, and not by your evil ways, nor by your evil doings, O house of Israel, declares Adonai YAHWEH.
45; And the Word of YAHWEH was to me, saying,
46; Son of man, set your face the way of the south, and drop a word toward the Negev, and prophesy against the forest of the field of the Negev.
47; And say to the forest of the Negev, Hear the Word of YAHWEH. So says Adonai YAHWEH: Behold, I will kindle a fire in you, and it will eat up every moist tree and every dry tree among you. The glowing of the flame shall not be put out, and by it shall be scorched all the faces from the Negev to the north.
48; And all flesh shall see that I, YAHWEH, have kindled it; it shall not be put out.
49; Then I said, Ah, Adonai YAHWEH! They are saying of me, Does he not speak in parables?