Disaster Is Near
1 The Lord God said:
2 Ezekiel, son of man, tell the people of Israel that I am saying:
Israel will soon come to an end! Your whole country is about to be destroyed 3 as punishment for your disgusting sins. I, the Lord, am so angry 4 that I will show no pity. I will punish you for the evil you've done, and you will know that I am the Lord.
5 There's never been anything like the coming disaster. 6 And when it comes, your life will be over. 7 You people of Israel are doomed! Soon there will be panic on the mountaintops instead of celebration. 8 I will let loose my anger and punish you for the evil things you've done. You'll get what you deserve. 9 Your sins are so terrible, that you'll get no mercy from me. Then you will know that I, the Lord, have punished you.
10 Disaster is near! Injustice and arrogance are everywhere, 11 and violent criminals run free. None of you will survive the disaster, and everything you own and value will be shattered. 12 The time is coming when everyone will be ruined. Buying and selling will stop, 13 and people who sell property will never get it back, because all of you must be punished for your sins. And I won't change my mind!
14 A signal has been blown on the trumpet, and weapons are prepared for battle. But no one goes to war, because in my anger I will strike down everyone in Israel.
Israel Is Surrounded
The Lord said to the people of Israel:
15 War, disease, and starvation are everywhere! People who live in the countryside will be killed in battle, and those who live in towns will die from starvation or deadly diseases. 16 Anyone who survives will escape into the hills, like doves who leave the valleys to find safety.
All of you will moan because of your sins. 17 Your hands will tremble, and your knees go limp. 18 You will put on sackcloth to show your sorrow, but terror will overpower you. Shame will be written all over your faces, and you will shave your heads in despair. 19 Your silver and gold will be thrown into the streets like garbage, because those are the two things that led you into sin, and now they cannot save you from my anger. They are not even worth enough to buy food. 20 You took great pride in using your beautiful jewelry to make disgusting idols of foreign gods. So I will make your jewelry worthless.
21 Wicked foreigners will rob and disgrace you. 22 They will break into my temple and leave it unfit as a place to worship me, but I will look away and let it happen.
23 Your whole country is in confusion! Murder and violence are everywhere in Israel, 24 so I will tell the most wicked nations to come and take over your homes. They will put an end to the pride you have in your strong army, and they will make your places of worship unfit to use. 25 You will be terrified and will desperately look for peace—but there will be no peace. 26 One tragedy will follow another, and you'll hear only bad news. People will beg prophets to give them a message from me. Priests will stop teaching my Law, and wise leaders won't be able to give advice. 27 Even your king and his officials will lose hope and cry in despair. Your hands will tremble with fear.
I will punish you for your sins and treat you the same way you have treated others. Then you will know that I am the Lord.
1 Moreover the word of the Lord came vnto me, saying, 2 Also thou sonne of man, thus saith the Lord God, An ende is come vnto the lande of Israel: the ende is come vpon the foure corners of the lande. 3 Nowe is the ende come vpon thee, and I wil sende my wrath vpon thee, and will iudge thee according to thy wayes, and will laye vpon thee all thine abominations. 4 Neither shall mine eye spare thee, neither will I haue pitie: but I will laye thy waies vpon thee: and thine abomination shall bee in the middes of thee, and yee shall knowe that I am the Lord. 5 Thus saith the Lord God, Beholde, one euil, euen one euill is come. 6 An ende is come, the end is come, it watched for thee: beholde, it is come. 7 The morning is come vnto thee, that dwellest in the lande: the time is come, the day of trouble is neere, and not the sounding againe of the mountaines. 8 Now I will shortly powre out my wrath vpon thee, and fulfil mine anger vpon thee: I will iudge thee according to thy wayes, and will lay vpon thee all thine abominations. 9 Neither shall mine eie spare thee, neither will I haue pitie, but I will laye vpon thee according to thy wayes, and thine abominations shalbe in the middes of thee, and ye shall knowe that I am the Lord that smiteth. 10 Beholde, the day, beholde, it is come: the morning is gone forth, the rod florisheth: pride hath budded. 11 Crueltie is risen vp into a rod of wickednes: none of them shall remaine, nor of their riches, nor of any of theirs, neither shall there bee lamentation for them. 12 The time is come, the day draweth neere: let not the byer reioyce, nor let him that selleth, mourne: for the wrath is vpon al the multitude thereof. 13 For hee that selleth, shall not returne to that which is solde, although they were yet aliue: for the vision was vnto al the multitude thereof, and they returned not, neither doeth any encourage himselfe in the punishment of his life. 14 They haue blowen the trumpet, and prepared all, but none goeth to the battel: for my wrath is vpon all the multitude thereof. 15 The sword is without, and the pestilence, and the famine within: he that is in the field, shall dye with the sword, and he that is in the citie, famine and pestilence shall deuoure him. 16 But they that flee away from them, shall escape, and shalbe in the mountaines, like the doues of the valleis: all they shall mourne, euery one for his iniquitie. 17 All handes shalbe weake, and all knees shall fall away as water. 18 They shall also girde them selues with sackecloth, and feare shall couer them, and shame shalbe vpon all faces, and baldnes vpon their heads. 19 They shall cast their siluer in the streetes, and their golde shalbe cast farre off: their siluer and their gold can not deliuer them in the day of the wrath of the Lord: they shall not satisfie their soules, neither fill their bowels: for this ruine is for their iniquitie. 20 He had also set the beautie of his ornament in maiestie: but they made images of their abominations, and of their idoles therein: therefore haue I set it farre from them. 21 And I will giue it into the handes of the strangers to be spoyled, and to the wicked of the earth to be robbed, and they shall pollute it. 22 My face will I turne also from them, and they shall pollute my secret place: for the destroyers shall enter into it, and defile it. 23 Make a chaine: for the lande is full of the iudgement of blood, and the citie is full of crueltie. 24 Wherefore I will bring the most wicked of the heathen, and they shall possesse their houses: I will also make the pompe of the mightie to cease, and their holie places shalbe defiled. 25 When destruction commeth, they shall seeke peace, and shall not haue it. 26 Calamitie shall come vpon calamitie, and rumour shall bee vpon rumour: then shall they seeke a vision of the Prophet: but the Lawe shall perish from the Priest, and counsel from the Ancient. 27 The King shall mourne, and the prince shall be clothed with desolation, and the handes of the people in the land shall be troubled: I wil doe vnto them according to their waies, and according to their iudgements will I iudge them, and they shall knowe that I am the Lord.