Ezekiel
11
- Then the Spirit lifted me up and brought
me to the gate of the house of the LORD that faces east. There at the entrance
to the gate were twenty-five men, and I saw among them Jaazaniah son of Azzur
and Pelatiah son of Benaiah, leaders of the people.
- The LORD said to me, "Son of man, these
are the men who are plotting evil and giving wicked advice in this city.
- They say, 'Will it not soon be time to build
houses? This city is a cooking pot, and we are the meat.'
- Therefore prophesy against them; prophesy,
son of man."
- Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon me,
and he told me to say: "This is what the LORD says: That is what you
are saying, O house of Israel, but I know what is going through your mind.
- You have killed many people in this city
and filled its streets with the dead.
- "Therefore this is what the Sovereign
LORD says: The bodies you have thrown there are the meat and this city is
the pot, but I will drive you out of it.
- You fear the sword, and the sword is what
I will bring against you, declares the Sovereign LORD.
- I will drive you out of the city and hand
you over to foreigners and inflict punishment on you.
- You will fall by the sword, and I will execute
judgment on you at the borders of Israel. Then you will know that I am the
LORD.
- This city will not be a pot for you, nor
will you be the meat in it; I will execute judgment on you at the borders
of Israel.
- And you will know that I am the LORD, for
you have not followed my decrees or kept my laws but have conformed to the
standards of the nations around you."
- Now as I was prophesying, Pelatiah son of
Benaiah died. Then I fell facedown and cried out in a loud voice, "Ah,
Sovereign LORD! Will you completely destroy the remnant of Israel ?"
- The word of the LORD came to me:
- "Son of man, your brothers -- your
brothers who are your blood relatives and the whole house of Israel -- are
those of whom the people of Jerusalem have said, 'They are far away from the
LORD; this land was given to us as our possession.'
- "Therefore say: 'This is what the Sovereign
LORD says: Although I sent them far away among the nations and scattered them
among the countries, yet for a little while I have been a sanctuary for them
in the countries where they have gone.'
- "Therefore say: 'This is what the Sovereign
LORD says: I will gather you from the nations and bring you back from the
countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you back the land
of Israel again.'
- "They will return to it and remove
all its vile images and detestable idols.
- I will give them an undivided heart and
put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and
give them a heart of flesh.
- Then they will follow my decrees and be
careful to keep my laws. They will be my people, and I will be their God.
- But as for those whose hearts are devoted
to their vile images and detestable idols, I will bring down on their own
heads what they have done, declares the Sovereign LORD."
- Then the cherubim, with the wheels beside
them, spread their wings, and the glory of the God of Israel was above them.
- The glory of the LORD went up from within
the city and stopped above the mountain east of it.
- The Spirit lifted me up and brought me to
the exiles in Babylonia in the vision given by the Spirit of God. Then the
vision I had seen went up from me,
- and I told the exiles everything the LORD
had shown me.
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