The prophetic book of Ezekiel
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Verse by verse, account of the book of Ezekiel.

Ezekiel: chapter 1

Ezekiel's first vision of God, before captivity.

¹As I was in the thirteenth year the fifth day of the forth month, of my priestly duties, standing among the Israelites that had been taken captive in Babylonia. The heavens were opened to me and I saw these visions of God. (NOTE: Priests started their duties at the age of 30, thus Ezekiel would be about 43 years of age). ²It was the fifth year and the fifth day of the month, of Judah's captivity, (year 593bc) ³At that time, the Word of the LORD became known to Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar. For the hand of the LORD was upon him.

⁴As I looked, I saw a whirlwind coming out of the north. A great cloud, with fire around it, for a brightness was all about it and in the midst of it was the color of polished bronze. ⁵Out of the midst of it also came what looked like four living creatures, having an appearance of a man. ⁶Each creature had four faces and four wings. ⁷They had straight legs, however, their feet were hoofed as a calf's foot and they sparkled with the color of polished brass. ⁸Under their wings on all four sides they had the hands of a man, having both faces and wings. ⁹Each one's wings were joined to the another. For they did not turn as they traveled, but simply went straight forward.

¹⁰Each of the four had a face of a man in the front, the face of a lion on the right side, the face of an ox on the left side and the face of an eagle in the back. ¹¹Their wings were stretched upward and joined one to another and two wings covered their bodies. ¹²For each one went straight forward as the spirit directed them to go, turning not as they went.

¹³The appearance of the living creatures were as burning coals of fire, with the appearance of a torch that was continually circling among them, with lightning going forth from them. ¹⁴And the living creatures moved as fast as a flash of lightning.

¹⁵As I looked on I saw, a wheel on the earth by each of the living creatures, with its four faces. ¹⁶all the wheels seemed to be alike having the color of polished chrome, giving the appearance of all four wheels within the one outer wheel. ¹⁷Nether did the wheels turn as they went. ¹⁸The rims of the wheels were so immense and high that they were dreadful, for all four rims had eyes all around. ¹⁹And when the living creatures went, the wheels went with them. Also when the living creatures were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up with them.

²⁰Wherever the spirit went, the living creatures also went and their spirit went with them. As the wheels were lifted up, also were the living creatures lifted up, for their spirit was within the wheels. ²¹Whatever the wheels did, the living creatures did, whether they moved, stood or were lifted up from the earth. For the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels. ²²Over the heads of the living creatures was what looked like a glass dome. ²³Under the dome, each creature had their wings stretched out straight one toward the other. Two wings that covered one side and two covered the other side of their bodies.

²⁴As they moved, the noise of their wings was as a great waterfall, much like the voice of the Almighty and they let down their wings as they stood. ²⁵Then a voice came from overhead, where they stood. ²⁶Above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, having the appearance of a sapphire stone and upon the throne was the likeness of a Man on it. ²⁷The Man on the throne had the appearance of glowing bronze, from His waist up and His waist down the appearance of fire, with brightness all round. ²⁸Just as the appearance of a rainbow, so was the brightness of the glory of the LORD. And when I saw it, I fell on my face and heard a voice speaking.

Ezekiel: chapter 2

Ezekiel sent to the house of Israel, as a prophet.

¹And He said to me; Ezekiel, son of man; Stand up and I shall speak to you. ²When I heard the voice, the Spirit entered me, setting me on my feet and saying;

³Ezekiel, son of man; I am sending you to the children of Israel, to a rebellious nation that has rebelled against Me, even to this very day. ⁴They are stubborn, undisciplined and have hardened their hearts. I will send you to them and you shall speak My Words to them. ⁵Whether this rebellious group will listen or refuse to listen, they will, nonetheless, know that a prophet has been among them.

⁶So do not be afraid of their looks or their words. Though it may seem as if briers and thorns are all around you and you dwell among scorpions, do not be afraid for they are a rebellious people. ⁷You shall speak My Words to this rebellious people, regardless of whether they listen or not. ⁸But you, Ezekiel, listen to what I tell you. Do not be rebellious as they are. But, take My Words to heart.

⁹I then looked and a hand was stretched out towards me holding a scroll. ¹⁰He unrolled it before me and there were writings on both sides, within and without, lamentations, mourning and woes.

Ezekiel: chapter 3

¹He then said to me; Ezekiel, son of man; Eat this scroll, then go and speak to the house of Israel. ²So I opened my mouth and He caused me to eat the scroll. ³Saying to me; Ezekiel, son of man; As you eat this scroll, take it into your heart. So I ate the scroll and as it was in my mouth, it was sweet like honey.

⁴He again said to me; Ezekiel, son of man; With My Words shall you speak to the house of Israel. ⁵For I have not sent you to a people who speak a difficult foreign language, but to the house of Israel. ⁶If I had sent you to a foreign people, they would have listened to you. ⁷But the house of Israel will not listen to you, nor do they listen to Me. For the entire house of Israel is stubborn, undisciplined and has hardened their hearts. ⁸For I have made you as strong and bold as they are. ⁹ Harder than flint have I made your forehead. So do not fear them, neither be dismayed at their looks, for they are a rebellious house.

¹⁰He also said to me; Ezekiel, son of man; Hear the Words that I speak to you and receive them into your heart. ¹¹Now go to your people, the children of the captivity. And regardless of whether they will hear you, speak My Words.

¹²The Spirit then lifted me up and I heard from the LORD's sanctuary a great voice, saying; Blessed, be the glory of the LORD. ¹³I then heard the noise from the wings of the living creatures that touched one another and the noise of a great rushing as the wheels went with them. ¹⁴Then the Spirit brought me back and the vision was over. And I was bitter and disappointed, having anger in my spirit. But, the hand of the LORD was strong upon me.

¹⁵I then went to the captive Israelites who dwelt at the place of Tel-abib, by the river of Chebar in Babylonia. There I sat and listened to the people for seven days and was astonished and overwhelmed with grief because of their sins. ¹⁶After the seven days, the Word of the LORD came to me, saying; ¹⁷Ezekiel, son of man; I have made you to be a watchman for the house of Israel. Therefore, listen to My Words and warn the people for Me. ¹⁸For if the wicked die in their wicked ways and you do not give them warning to turn from their wicked ways, so as to save their life. You shall be guilty of their blood. ¹⁹But if you warn the wicked, even though he does not turn from his wicked ways, leaving him to die in his iniquity. You shall be guiltless.

²⁰I say again, that if a righteous man turns from his righteousness, committing iniquities because I have laid a stumbling block before him, he shall die in his sin. Because he has not been warned, neither shall the righteousness that he had done be remembered and you shall be guilty of his blood. ²¹But if you warn the righteous man not to fall into sin and he heeds the warning, he shall live because he has been warned and you shall be guiltless.

²²And the hand of the LORD was upon me and He said to me; Go into the plains and there I shall talk to you. ²³So I went into the plains and the glory of the LORD stood there, as it did when I saw it at the river of Chebar and I fell on my face. ²⁴The Spirit then entered into me, equipping me to go and said to me; Shut yourself within your house. ²⁵For the Spirit said; Ezekiel, son of man; You shall be bound with ropes, so that you cannot go out among the people. ²⁶I will then make your tongue stick to the roof of your mouth and you shall be dumb, unable to reprove this rebellious people. ²⁷But when I speak to you, I will open your mouth and you shall give them My Words, if they hear you, good, but if they refuse to hear, allow this, for they are a rebellious people.

Ezekiel: chapter 4

¹Also, Ezekiel, son of man; Make a model of the city of Jerusalem and place it before you. ²And make a plan against it, build a fort against it and set your attack against it, complete with camps and battering rams around it. ³Then take a sheet of iron and make a wall of iron between you and the city. And setting your face against the city, lay siege on it and it shall be besieged. And this shall be a sign to the house of Israel.

⁴Also you shall lie on your left side, so as to lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon that side. All the days that you lay on that side you shall bear their iniquity. ⁵For I have laid upon you the years of their iniquity, 390 days you shall bear the iniquity of the house of Israel. ⁶When you have completed the 390 days, lie on your right side and you shall bear the iniquity of the house of Judah for 40 days. For each day represents one year. ⁷Therefore your arm shall be against Jerusalem, as you lay siege on it, by prophesying against it. ⁸ And, I shall cause you to turn not, until you have completed the days of your siege.

⁹Take the grains and beans that you will eat during the 390 days that you shall lie upon your side. ¹⁰Measure out a half pound of food per day to eat, at certain set times. ¹¹You shall also drink water by measure, 1 pint at a set time per day. ¹²You shall eat the grains as barley cakes, prepared in the sight of the people, using human waste as fuel to cook with. (NOTE: Using human waste to cook with was repulsive and thus the LORD calls it defiled bread).

¹³The children of Israel shall also eat defiled bread, in the land among the Gentiles, where I have driven them.

¹⁴I then replied; Lord GOD! I have not polluted my soul from my youth by eating of anything that defiles food, or of any food forbidden by the law, no unclean flesh has entered my mouth. ¹⁵The LORD then said, to Ezekiel; Thus, you may use cow's dung instead of man's dung, to prepare your bread with. ¹⁶Moreover Ezekiel, I shall cut off the supply of bread in Jerusalem, to where they eat bread by weight and water by measure, even to their own astonishment. ¹⁷To the point where they lack food and water, wasting away due to their iniquities.

Ezekiel: chapter 5

¹Ezekiel, son of man; Take a barber's razor and shave your head and your beard, then divide the hair into three parts. ²After the days of the siege are fulfilled, burn one part in the midst of the city. Another part you shall strike with the sword and the last part you shall scatter in the wind. For I will draw a sword against them. ³You shall also take a small number of the hairs and slip them into the pockets of your garment. ⁴To later take these again and throw them into the fire, for a fire shall come into the entire house of Israel.

⁵For this is a telling of Jerusalem. For I have set her in the midst of the nations. ⁶She does not walk in My judgments and statutes, changing them into wickedness, even more so than the other nations that are around her. ⁷Therefore, since she has multiplied her sins more than the other nations around her. Neither keeping My judgments or walking in My statutes, nor have they even kept the judgments of the pagan nations that are around them. ⁸Therefore, I am against them and will execute My judgments on them, in the sight of the other nations. ⁹Doing to them what I have not done before, nor will do again, because of all their abominations. ¹⁰The famine and the immorality shall be so great that the fathers will eat their sons in public display and the sons shall eat their fathers. And I will execute My judgments, scattering the remaining remnant in every direction.

¹¹Because they have defiled My sanctuary with their detestable things and have filled it with their abominations. As sure as I live, I will withdraw from them, nor will I have any pity on them. ¹²A third of them shall die from famine and disease, a third shall die in battle and I will scatter a third of them in every direction, chased by the sword. ¹³After My anger is spent, I will then be comforted and they shall know that I the LORD have made My judgment known. ¹⁴I shall also make them a reproach among the surrounding nations, in the sight of all that pass by.

¹⁵So much so that when I execute My judgments, they shall be a reproach, a mockery and even seen as an example to the nations that are around them. ¹⁶When I shall cut off their bread and bring the evils of famine upon them, which will bring about their destruction. ¹⁷Yes, I will put famine upon them, with wild beasts to harm them. Pestilence shall pass through their lands and I shall bring a sword upon them. I the LORD have spoken.

Ezekiel: chapter 6

¹Again the Word of the LORD came to me, saying; ²Ezekiel, son of man; Now set your face toward the mountains of Israel and prophesy against them, ³Saying, to the mountains, hills, rivers and valleys of Israel hear the Word of the Lord GOD. I will even bring a sword against you and destroy your high places. ⁴I shall desolate your altars and break your images, slaying the men who bow down before your false gods. ⁵Laying dead bodies of the children of Israel before their false gods, scattering their bones around your altars. ⁶All of your lands shall be laid waste, your high places and altars shall be desolate, your idols shall be broken and your images cut down and all of your works shall be abolished. ⁷The slain shall fall in your very midst and all shall know that I am LORD.

⁸Even still I will allow a remnant of Israelites to escape the sword and they shall be scattered among the nations. ⁹And they that escape, shall remember Me when they are taken captive among the nations. For I am devastated because they have departed from Me due to their whorish heart, lusting after their idols. They shall learn to loathe themselves for the evils which they have done, wallowing in their abominations. ¹⁰They shall then realize that I am the LORD, knowing that I did not say in vain, that I would do this evil to them.

¹¹Thus I say to you, strike with your fist, stamp with your foot and say, because of their evil abominations, the house of Israel shall falter by the sword, by famine and by disease. ¹²He that is far away shall die of disease, while he that is near shall fall by the sword and those who remain shall die by famine. Thus My wrath will be fulfilled upon them. ¹³They shall then know that I am the LORD, when they see their slain men among every altar of their false gods. ¹⁴Yes, I will stretch out My hand and make their land desolate and they shall realize that I am the LORD.

Ezekiel: chapter 7

¹Moreover, the Word of the LORD came unto me, saying; ²An end is coming upon the entire land of Israel. ³The end has come upon you, for I will send My anger upon you. Judging you according to your ways, setting against you all your abominations. ⁴My eye shall not have pity on you or spare you, for I will place your evil ways and abominations against you, until you understand that I am the LORD. ⁵Yes, I the LORD God, says to you; A terrible evil is coming and it shall be only evil. ⁶After you have been complacent for so long, be assured, the end has come, watch for it. ⁷The beginning of the day of trouble has come to you who dwell in the land, there shall no longer be shouts of joy. ⁸For I will shortly pour out My wrath on you and quench My anger on you. Judging you according to your own ways and repaying you for all your abominations. ⁹I will not show pity, neither will My eyes spare you. You shall be paid back according to your ways and abominations that you openly practice, then you shall realize that I am the LORD, whom smites you. ¹⁰For the day has come, your doom is near! Your core of wickedness has blossomed and your pride has grown. ¹¹Violence and wickedness has become your way, all of such shall perish and there shall be wailing for them. ¹²Yes, the time has come! It is an end to all business as usual, for wrath is on the entire multitude. ¹³The business man shall not return to his business, even if he does survive. For this shall touch the whole multitude and they shall not return from their captivity, neither will there be any hope of regaining his strength after having fallen into his iniquities. ¹⁴They have sounded the trumpet, so as to prepare themselves. But, no one has taken action, for My wrath has the whole multitude paralyzed. ¹⁵He that is within the city shall die by famine and disease and he that is in the field shall die by the sword.

¹⁶Those that escape shall flee to the mountains and mourn there like doves, each one mourning because of their own sins. ¹⁷Everyone there shall be weak and feeble. ¹⁸They will shave their heads, putting on sackcloth and horror and shame shall come upon them. ¹⁹Their silver and gold they shall discard, as an unclean thing, for it is not able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD. The sin craving of their soul shall not be satisfied, for their wealth has become a stumbling block to them. ²⁰As for their beautiful jewels, that they have used to honor their false gods. They are detestable thing and abominations and I have made them to be an unclean thing to them. ²¹These false trinkets I shall give to their wicked enemies in battle as spoil and they shall further defile them. ²²I shall even turn My face away from their captors, so I shall not see them rob, violate and defile My people.

²³And the captors land shall be an endless chain of bloodshed, violence and imprisonment. ²⁴For I will call the worst of the heathen nations to possess their houses. The pride of their arrogant will cease and their holy places will be defiled. ²⁵When destruction comes, they shall seek safety, but find none. ²⁶Disaster shall come upon disaster, with one bad report after another. The Israelites shall then seek a prophet and his vision, but the priests shall have no Words. ²⁷The king of Judah shall mourn and the prince shall be clothed with garments of despair and all the people shall be troubled. I will do to them according to their own ways and by their judgments, I shall judge them, then they shall know that I am the LORD.

Ezekiel: chapter 8

Ezekiel's vision of abomination in the temple, (year 592bc).

¹While yet being captive in Babylonia, on the fifth day, the sixth month of the sixth year, as I sat in my house with the elders of Judah before me. The hand of the Lord GOD fell upon me. (NOTE: this was a year and two months after Ezekiel's first vision). ²And I saw a likeness, having the appearance of fire from the waist downward and from the waist upward the appearance of glowing bronze. ³He reached out with the form of a hand, picking me up by a lock of hair and the Spirit brought me to the place where I saw God's visions of Jerusalem at the door of the temple's inner gate facing north. Where I saw the an idol of jealousy, provoking the LORD to jealousy. ⁴For the glory of the God of Israel was also there.

⁵He then said to me; Ezekiel, son of man; lift up your eyes and look towards the north and there at the gate of the altar was the image of jealousy of the false god. ⁶Then He said to me; Look at the great abominations that the house of Israel commits in this place, that I might be far removed from My sanctuary. But, turn and look yet again and you shall see even greater abominations.

⁷He brought me to the gate of the temple court and I looked through a hole in the wall. ⁸And there He said to me; Dig through the wall and when I had, I came to a door. ⁹And He said; Go inside and see the wicked abominations that are done here. ¹⁰So I went in and I saw pictures of reptiles, abominable beasts and all the idols of the house of Israel, portrayed upon the walls. ¹¹Right there stood seventy elders of the house of Israel, with their leader. Every man with a censer in his hand with incense coming from it. ¹²Then He said to me; Now you have seen what the elders of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man before his personal favorite idol. For they have said: The LORD has forsaken us and our land. ¹³But turn yet again and you shall see even greater abominations.

¹⁴He brought me then to the opening of the gate of the LORD's house that faces north and there sat women weeping for Tammuz, (NOTE: a Babylonian mythology deity). ¹⁵Then He said to me; You have seen these things, but turn again for there are even greater abominations than these.

¹⁶He then brought me into the inner court of the LORD's house and at the door of the temple were about twenty-five men, with their backs toward the temple of the LORD and they faced the east worshiping the morning sun. ¹⁷He then said to me; Have you seen all these abominations that the house of Judah commits? They have filled the land with violence and have provoked Me to anger. ¹⁸Therefore I will deal with them in My wrath, not showing pity or sparring them. Even though they cry with a loud voice to Me, I will not hear them.

Ezekiel: chapter 9

¹He then cried in my ears with a loud voice, saying; Cause Israel's enemies that have right over the city of Israel to draw near, every man with his destructive weapon in his hand. ²In the vision, six men then appeared at the Upper Gate, that faces the temple. One man among them was clothed in linen, with a writing board by his side, each man having a destructive weapon. And they went in and stood beside the bronze altar. ³Now, the glory of the God of Israel ascended from the cherub, to the entire foundation of the temple. And He called to the man clothed in linen, carrying the writers board by his side.

⁴And the LORD said to him; Go through the city of Jerusalem and place a mark on the foreheads of the men that are bewildered by the abominations that are being done in the city. ⁵To the other men He said; Follow behind this man through the city and destroy, do not have pity or spare. ⁶Slay all those without a mark, old and young, maids, woman and little children, but do not touch those that have the mark. Begin with My sanctuary, then onto the elders of Israel and then to the people of Israel.

⁷He further told the men to; Defile the temple, fill its courts with the bodies of the slain. So the men went throughout the city slaying the people. ⁸As they were slaying the people, I fell on my face, crying out to the Lord God and said; Will Your wrath on Jerusalem destroy everyone who is left in Israel? ⁹And He said to me; The sins of the house of Israel and Judah are exceeding great, the land is full of blood and the city full of perversion. For they have said; The LORD has forsaken us, He does not see us. ¹⁰Therefore I will neither spare them or have pity, but will recompense their wicked ways upon their own head.

¹¹Just then the man clothed in linen, carrying the writing board by his side, returned and said; I have done all as You have commanded me.

Ezekiel: chapter 10

¹As I was looking at the sky above the cherubim, it appeared that there was a sapphire stone in the likeness of a throne over them. ²The LORD then spoke to the man clothed in linen, saying; Fill your hand with hot coals from under the cherubim, between the whirling wheels and scatter them over the city. And he did such.

³Now the cherubim stood on the right side of the temple and when the men went in, a cloud of glory filled the inner court. ⁴Then the glory of the LORD ascended from the cherub and stood over the foundation of the house, filling the house with the brightness and the glory of the LORD. ⁵And the sound of the wings of the cherubim could be heard even into the outer court, just as the voice of the Almighty God is heard when He speaks.

⁶Now as the LORD had commanded, the man clothed in linen to gather a handful of hot coals from under the cherubim, between the warring wheels. So the man entered in and stood beside the wheels. ⁷A cherub then took a handful of hot coals and put them into the hands of the man clothed in linen and he then departed. ⁸For there appeared to be on the cherubim a man's hand under their wings.

⁹As I looked at the four wheels by each of the cherubim, together the wheels had the color of a beryl stone. ¹⁰The appearances of the four wheels had one likeness, as of a wheel within a wheel. ¹¹As they traveled, they went in either of the four directions, according to their four faces. Not turning, but going to the place where one of the four faces's looked. ¹²Their entire body, backs, hands, wings and the wheels, were full of eyes all around. ¹³And in my hearing the wheels were called, the whirling wheels. ¹⁴Everyone had four faces: the first face was the face of a cherub, the second face was of a man, the third face was of a lion and the fourth face was of an eagle. ¹⁵And the cherubim were lifted up. These are the living creatures that I saw by the river of Chebar, in my first vision.

¹⁶When the cherubim moved, the wheels went beside them and when the cherubim lifted up from the earth, the wheels also went with them. ¹⁷The wheels were one with the cherubim, for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels.

¹⁸Just then the glory of the LORD departed from the foundation of the temple and stood over the cherubim. ¹⁹And the cherubim lifted up their wings and departed from the earth, as they went up, the wheels also went up. Everyone stood at the door of the LORD's house, watching the glory of the God of Israel over them. ²⁰These are the living creatures, the cherubim that I saw in my first vision of the God of Israel by the river of Chebar. ²¹Each had four faces and four wings, with what appeared to be a man's hands under their wings. ²²Their faces were the same that I saw by the river of Chebar and each one went straight forward.

Ezekiel: chapter 11

¹Moreover, the Spirit lifted me up and brought me to the east gate of the LORD's temple. There at the door were twenty-five men, among whom were the leaders and influential business leaders of the people. ²The Spirit then said to me; Ezekiel, son of man; These are the men that scheme of new ways to sin and give wicked counsel in this city. ³Whom say, the time is not yet right to settle down and build houses, for this city is reaching its boiling point and we shall all be destroyed. ⁴Therefore, Ezekiel, prophesy against them.

⁵Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon me and said to me; Say to the men, The Lord says; you have spoken rightly, for He know the thoughts of your mind. ⁶You have multiplied the slain in the streets of the city. ⁷Therefore, the slain that have laid in the city streets are as flesh in a melting pot, but I will judge you outside of Israel. ⁸You fear war, yet war is what I am going to bring upon you. ⁹I will bring you out of your perils, yet I will execute judgment on you and deliver you into the hands of strangers. ¹⁰I shall judge you on the battle fields of Israel and you will perish by the sword, then shall you know that I am the LORD. ¹¹The people of the city shall not bring you the fatal blow, but I will judge you on the battle fields of Israel: ¹²Then you shall understand that I am the LORD, for you do not walk in My statutes, or keep My judgments, but have followed after the ways of the heathen that are around you.

Even though Israel has fallen into captivity, God will restore them.

¹³As I was yet prophesying, Pelatiah the son of Benaiah (one of Israel's influential leaders), died. I then fell on my face, crying with a loud voice, saying; Lord will You completely destroy what is left of the people of Israel? ¹⁴Again the Word of the LORD came to me and said; ¹⁵Ezekiel, son of man; Your fellow Israelites, (from within their captivity), your very own kindred of Jerusalem have said; we have removed ourselves very far from the LORD and this land He has given us for a possession. ¹⁶Therefore speak this to them; Even though I have scattered them among the nations, yet I will be to them as a little sanctuary in the lands where they are captive. ¹⁷Also say to them; I will gather you back from the people and the countries where you have been scattered, giving you again the land of Israel. ¹⁸When your enemy comes into your land, they shall take away all the detestable things. So that on the Israelite's return, there shall be no unclean things. ¹⁹For I will give them a unified heart, putting a new spirit within them. I will replace their stony heart with a sensitive and responsive heart to God. ²⁰So they may walk in My statutes, keeping and obeying My ordinances, then they shall be My people and I shall be their God. ²¹But those whose heart follows after their idols, detestable things and abominations, I will recompense their ways back to them, for I am the Lord GOD.

²²The cherubim then lifted their wings, along with the wheels beside them and the glory of the God of Israel was over them. ²³And the glory of the LORD rose up from the center of the city and rested on a mountain that was east of the city. ²⁴Afterwards the Spirit brought me in a vision by the Spirit of God of Chaldea, where the Israelites were in their captivity. Then the vision left me. ²⁵So I spoke of all the things that the LORD had shown me to the people of the captivity.

Ezekiel: chapter 12

¹The Word of the LORD came to me, saying; ²Ezekiel, son of man; You dwell among a bunch of rebellious people, they have eyes and ears, but they do not see or hear. ³Therefore, pack your belonging in preparation for going into exile, do this day by day in plain sight of all the people. Perhaps when they see this, they will realize that they are a rebellious people. ⁴You shall pack up your goods each day in their sight, in preparation for exile. And in the evening you shall act as if you are marching into exile. ⁵In the sight of the people, burrow through the wall of the city and carry your goods out. ⁶While yet in their sight, carry your goods off in the dark and cover your face, so that you cannot see the ground. For I have placed you to be a sign to the house of Israel.

⁷Thus I did so as I was commanded: I packed my goods by day and in the evening I burrowed through the city wall, by hand. Leaving at dusk with my goods in the sight of the people.

⁸In the morning the Word of the LORD came to me, saying; ⁹Ezekiel, son of man; When the rebellious people of Israel ask you, what you are doing? ¹⁰Say to them; This is what the Lord God says; This hardship concerns the prince of Jerusalem and all the people within the house of Israel. ¹¹I, (Ezekiel) am your sign. What I have done, shall also be done to you. You shall be removed from your land and taken into captivity. ¹²Your prince shall carry his goods off at dusk, the people shall burrow through the city wall, as if to escape and carry out their goods. And the prince shall cover his face, so as not to see the land he is leaving with his eyes. ¹³But the LORD will spread His net upon him and he shall be taken to Babylon, the land of the Chaldeans. Even though he will not see that land, he shall die in that land, 2^nd Kings 25:1-7. ¹⁴And those whom attempt to help him, the LORD will scatter them in every direction, running from the sword. ¹⁵When they are scattered among the nations, then shall they realize that the LORD is their God.

¹⁶Only a few men will escape the famine, disease and sword. So that they may confess all of their abominations among the heathen, in the foreign land that they dwell in, then shall they realize that I am the LORD.

¹⁷Again the Word of the LORD came to me, saying; ¹⁸Ezekiel, son of man; Eat your bread and water with fearfulness and trembling. ¹⁹Say to the people; Concerning the people of Jerusalem and the land of Israel, the LORD God says to you; Eat your food with fearfulness and great astonishment, for your land shall be stripped and plundered of all it fullness, because of the violence of all the people. ²⁰The cities shall be laid waste and the lands shall become desolate. Then shall you realize that I am the LORD.

²¹The Word of the LORD again came to me, saying; ²²Ezekiel, son of man; There is a saying in the land of Israel, that the days go on and on and that all vision comes to not. ²³Tell the people that this saying will cease, but shall now be used as a sign to them that the days are at hand and every vision shall be fulfilled. ²⁴For all visions shall come to pass and there shall be no more flattering words spoken within the house of Israel. ²⁵For I am the LORD and the Word that I speak shall come to pass. It shall not be any longer prolonged, it shall be in your days of this rebellious house.

²⁶Again the Word of the LORD came to me, saying; ²⁷Ezekiel, son of man; The people of Israel are saying, that the fulfillment of the vision that you had, is far off in the future. ²⁸Therefore, say to them; The Lord GOD, says, that none of His Words shall be prolonged any more, but shall come to pass.

Ezekiel: chapter 13

¹The Word of the LORD came to me, saying; ²Ezekiel, son of man; Prophesy against the prophets of Israel, they speak, thus says the LORD, but they speak of their own thoughts. Tell them to hear the Words of the LORD. ³The Lord God says; Woe to the foolish prophets, that speak words according to their own spirit, without revelation! ⁴Israel, your prophets are like jackals in a wasteland. ⁵They have not stood in the gap, nether have they build up Israel, that her house might stand in the day of the LORD. ⁶You false prophets speak out falsehoods and lying words, saying, thus says the LORD, when I have not given them Words. ⁷You have seen a false vision and you speak lying words. Saying, these words have come from the LORD, but I have not spoken them. ⁸Since you have spoken empty words and have seen lying visions. Therefore, The Lord God is against you. ⁹My hand shall be against the prophets that see empty and false visions, speaking lying prophecies. They shall not be in the council or assembly of My people. They shall not be written in the registries of the house of Israel, neither shall they enter into the land given to Israel until they realize that, I am the Lord GOD. ¹⁰For they have aided in seducing My people, proclaiming peace, when there is no peace. And when one builds a flimsy wall, they come to it and daub it with whitewash. ¹¹Say to them which daub it with whitewash, there shall be great winds and hailstones and it shall fall. ¹²And when the wall has fallen, will you prophets not be asked, where is the blessing that you blessed it with? ¹³Therefore, says the Lord God, In My wrath, I shall break it with a harsh wind and hailstones shall destroy it. ¹⁴Breaking down the wall that you have daubed with whitewash to the ground, so that its foundation is exposed. And you shall be consumed in the midst of it and you shall realize that I am the LORD. ¹⁵Thus I will fulfill My wrath upon the wall and those who have whitewashed it. ¹⁶The false prophets of Israel who prophesy concerning Jerusalem, seeing visions of peace for her, when there is no peace.

¹⁷Likewise, Ezekiel, son of man; Speak against the daughters of the people, that prophesy according to their own heart. ¹⁸Say to them; The Lord God says, woe to the women that speaks flattering platitudes within all situations so as to hunt and capture human souls. They hunt the souls of My people to keep their own soul alive. ¹⁹They have profaned My name among My people, all for deceitful gain. They have slain souls that should not have died and saved souls that should not have lived, by lying to My people. ²⁰Therefore, I am against them and their charming words that they use to hunt down souls. Therefore, the souls they have captured, I will release from their grasp and set them free, ²¹I shall also remove the deceptive veils that you deceive My people with and deliver them from your hand. Then you shall know that I am the LORD. ²²For with lies they have made the heart of the righteous sad, whom I have not made sad. And they have strengthened the hands of the wicked, that are set in their wicked ways, by giving them a false promise of life. ²³Therefore you shall see no more visions, or the ability to perform witchcraft. For I will deliver My people out of your hand and you shall know that I am the LORD.

Ezekiel: chapter 14

¹Then some of the elders of Israel came and sat before me. ²And the Word of the LORD came to me, saying; ³Ezekiel, son of man; These men have taken their idols into their heart, putting a stumbling block before them. Should I even allow Myself to be inquired of them? ⁴Therefore, tell them this is what the LORD has spoken, that every Israelite that harbors idols in his heart, putting a stumbling block of iniquity before him, I will speak to him as he is able to hear, according to the multitude of his idols; ⁵So that I may hold Israel accountable for the thoughts of their own heart, for they are all estranged from Me through their idols. ⁶Therefore tell the entire house of Israel, that the LORD says; Repent! And turn from your idols and abominations.

⁷Every Israelite, or stranger that walks in the land of Israel. Having separated himself from Me through idolatry, thus putting a stumbling block of his iniquity before his path. And now coming to a prophet for answers, tell him, the LORD will answer him directly. ⁸I will set My face against that man and make him a sign and an example. I will cut him off from My people, then he will realize that I am the LORD.

⁹And if a prophet, being deceived, speaks out of turn, he allows himself to be party to that persons sin. I the LORD have deceived that prophet and I will stretch out My hand, destroying him from the midst of My people of Israel. ¹⁰Those false prophets shall bear the punishment of their iniquity, it shall even be the same as the punishment of the one who is seeking the prophet. ¹¹So that the house of Israel does not become further polluted with more transgressions going even further astray from Me, rather they shall be My people and I shall be their God.

¹²The Word of the LORD came again to me, saying; ¹³Ezekiel, son of man; When the people of the land trespass and sin against Me, I will then stretch out My hand upon it, breaking the staff of bread, sending famine and both man and beast shall be cut off from the land. ¹⁴Even powerful men of God, such as Noah, Daniel and Job, even they cannot deliver the people, except for their very own soul. ¹⁵For if I cause wild beasts to spoil the land, leaving it desolate. ¹⁶Even if these three men were alive in that day, they alone would be delivered. ¹⁷Or if I bring war to that land, cutting off both man and beast. ¹⁸Yes, even if these three men were in these days, as I live, says the Lord GOD. They could not deliver anyone, except for themselves. ¹⁹Or if I send disease into that land, pouring out My fury and cutting off man and beast from it. ²⁰These three men still could not deliver the land, but only deliver their own souls by their righteousness.

²¹For The Lord God says; How much more shall it be when I send My entire four judgments upon Jerusalem, the sword, the famine, the wild beast and disease, to cut off man and beast. ²²Yet, even with this, there shall be left a remnant of both sons and daughters. They shall be in captivity with you and when you see their evil ways, you shall be consoled concerning the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem. ²³When you see their rebellious ways, you shall realize that I have not done these things without cause, says the Lord GOD.

Ezekiel: chapter 15

Parable of the vine compared to the people of Israel, Israel as the vine is referred to in Psalm 80:8-13.

¹Again the Word of the LORD came to me, saying; ²Ezekiel, son of man; Compare the wood of a vine to any wood from the trees in the forest, what makes the wood of a vine better? ³Is any of its wood used in building or construction? ⁴Is it not cast into the fire for fuel. And after the fire, is it profitable for building? ⁵Even when it was whole, it was not meant for building or construction, how much less shall it be when it is burnt. ⁶Therefore The Lord God says; As the vine tree is among the trees of the forest, which I have given to the fire for fuel, so I will do the same with the inhabitants of Jerusalem. ⁷I will set My face against them and they shall go from one fire to another, until they are devoured. Then when I set My face against them, they shall know that I am the LORD. ⁸The land shall be made desolate, because of their trespasses, says the Lord GOD.

Ezekiel: chapter 16

¹Again the Word of the LORD came to me, saying; ²Ezekiel, son of man; Let Jerusalem know and understand that her abominations are disgusting and shameful. ³Tell them; The Lord GOD says to Jerusalem, You were born in the land of Canaan and your father and mother were both foreigners. ⁴And on the day you were born, you were not cared for at all. ⁵No one pitied you, or showed you any compassion, they despised the child and cast you out in the open field to die.

⁶As I passed and saw you left to die, in your own blood, I spoke to you and said, Live! ⁷Yes, I have caused you, Israel, to blossom and multiply, you have increased and become great, yet in the beginning you were naked and bare. ⁸When you had matured, I looked and your time was right for love. So I spread My skirt over you and covered your nakedness. I, the Lord God, then entered into a covenant with you and you became Mine. ⁹I then thoroughly washed the blood from you with water and anointed you with oil. ¹⁰Clothing you with the finest of linens and putting sandals on your feet. ¹¹I provided you with jewels for your hands and neck. ¹²Putting a jewel on your forehead, earrings in your ears and a crown on your head. ¹³You had the finest of garments, gold and silver and you ate fine flour, honey and oil. And you were exceeding beautiful and you grew into a royal kingdom. ¹⁴Because of your beauty, your name became known among the nations, for your beauty was made perfect with the beauty of the Lord God.

¹⁵But you became arrogant, trusting in yourself and have played the harlot, gladly pouring out your fornications on all who passed by. ¹⁶You took your fine garments and used them to adorn your high places where you fornicated on them, such a thing should not be. ¹⁷You have also taken beautiful things of My gold and silver and made molded images out of them, only to play the harlot with them. ¹⁸You have taken your fine garments, along with the oil and incense I gave you and set them before your idols. ¹⁹Also the meat, fine flour, oil and honey that I fed you with, you have set before them to give a sweet fragrance and so it did, says the Lord GOD. ²⁰Moreover you have taken your sons and daughters, that were born to Me and sacrificed them to these idols, destroying them. Your whoredoms are not a trivial matter. ²¹For you having slain My children, causing them to pass through the fire because of your idolatries. ²²Because of all of your abominations and whoredoms you have forgotten of your youth, when you were naked and bare, squirming in your own blood.

²³Even after this wickedness, (woe upon woe). ²⁴You have built yourselves high places in every prominent street corner. ²⁵Thus making your beauty to be abhorred. Spreading wide your legs to everyone that passes by, thus multiplying your whoredoms. ²⁶You have also played the harlot with the Egyptians by adopting their gods, even further increasing your whoredoms, so as to provoke Me to anger.

²⁷Therefore I have stretched out My hand over you and have diminished even your ordinary food, delivering you up to the Philistines, who hate you, even they are ashamed of your lewd ways. ²⁸Because you are unstable, you have also played the harlot with the Assyrians, yet even this did not satisfy you. ²⁹Moreover you have multiplied your harlotry with the Chaldea, while carrying out business, but neither did this satisfied you. ³⁰How weak is your heart, says the Lord GOD, the work of a very domineering whore.

³¹You have built your high places on every prominent corner, however, unlike a true harlot you would not accept payment. ³²Rather you were as a wife that commits adultery, whom receives strangers instead of her husband! ³³Men give gifts to all whores, however you give gifts to your lovers, bribing the nations that you may be aligned with them on every border, through your whoredoms and unfaithfulness to God. ³⁴Unlike a whore that men seek out and pay wages to, no one goes a-whoring after you, nor does anyone pay wages to you, but you pay wages to be a whore.

³⁵Therefore, O whore, (Israel), hear the Words of the LORD God; ³⁶Because you poured out your filthiness and your nakedness was revealed through your whoredoms. With your lovers and filthy idols along with the blood of your children. ³⁷Therefore, I will gather all of your lovers, together also with those you have hated, round about you. And will disclose your nakedness to them, that they may plainly see all of your nakedness. ³⁸I, the Lord will then judge you, as an adulteress woman also responsible for shedding blood. ³⁹I will then turn you over into the hands of your enemies and they will tear down your high places. They will strip you of your clothes, robbing you of your fair jewels, leaving you naked and exposed. ⁴⁰Then they shall call an assembly against you, stoning you, only later to thrust their swords through you. ⁴¹They will burn your houses with fire, executing judgment on you in the sight of many nations. Then you shall cease from playing the harlot, neither shall you give gifts when playing the whore. ⁴²After this My wrath and jealousy shall be quenched and I will no longer be angry. ⁴³Even though you have not remembered the days of your youth, but you have troubled Me with these things. I will bring your deeds upon your own heads, bringing an end to your wickedness and abominations.

⁴⁴And this saying shall be used against you, "as the mother is, so is her daughter". ⁴⁵You are just like your mother. Your mother despises her husband and her sons and you are your mother's daughter who also despises her husband and her sons, for both your parents were pagans. ⁴⁶Your older sister, who dwells at your left hand is Samaria. And your younger sister, who dwells at your right hand is Sodom. ⁴⁷Even though you have not walked according to their ways, nor committed the abominations they have. Yet, in all your ways, you are more corrupted than they are. ⁴⁸For even as I live, says the Lord God, Sodom your sister has not done anything such as what you have done. ⁴⁹The sins of your sister Sodom, were: pride, an over abundance of food and ease in prosperity, nor did she care for the poor and the afflicted. ⁵⁰And Sodom was haughty, committing abomination before Me, Therefore I destroyed them, as I saw fit. ⁵¹Neither has Samaria committed half the sins you have. For you have multiplied your abominations far above their's and you also justified your sister's abominations which you also do. ⁵²Since you have condoned your sister's sins, you also bear their iniquities, plus you bear your own shame for your sins, which are more abominable than their's. For in comparison they are more righteous than you are and this is to your own shame.

⁵³When I restore Israel from her captivity, it shall be in the midst of the lands of Sodom and Samaria whose people were taken captive. ⁵⁴That seeing their devastation, you may be compelled to bear your own shame and disgrace, knowing that your abominations far exceeded theirs. ⁵⁵When your sisters, Sodom and Samaria return to their former state, then I shall return you to your former state. ⁵⁶For in the day of your pride, you had nothing good to say about Sodom. ⁵⁷This was before your own wickedness was discovered, but now you are despised by the woman of Syria and the Philistines woman, along with all their neighbors. ⁵⁸You are bearing your wickedness and your abominations, says the Lord God. ⁵⁹For I will deal with you as you have dealt with Me, despising My oath and breaking My covenant.

The Lord will establish an everlasting covenant with Israel.

⁶⁰Nevertheless I will remember My covenant with you and will establish an everlasting covenant with you. ⁶¹Then you shall remember and be ashamed of your past ways, when you receive your sisters, Sodom and Samaria. And they shall be daughters to you, however, not part of My covenant. ⁶²And I will establish My covenant with you and you shall know and understand that I am the LORD. ⁶³So that you may remember and be ashamed of your past shame. Yet you shall not speak about your shame, for I have forgiven all that you have done, says the Lord God.

Ezekiel: chapter 17

¹And the Word of the LORD came unto me, saying; ²Ezekiel, son of man; Speak this parable unto the house of Israel. ³Tell them the Lord GOD says; A great and powerful eagle (the king of Babylon), came to the peaceful mountains of Palestine and took captive the highest branch of the cedars (the kingdom of Judah). ⁴He plucked off the top of his tender twig and carried it into his land, placing it into a city of merchants. ⁵He took the seed of the land (NOTE: the remnant of the people left in Judah) and planted it in a fruitful field ⁶And it grew and became a prosperous vine of low stature, whose branches turned toward him, for its roots were under him, (placing a high tax on them). ⁷There was also another great and powerful eagle (the Egyptian king) and the vine bent its roots toward him, reaching out her branches toward him, that he might water it along with his own plants. ⁸And it was nurtured in good soil and by great waters, to bear much fruit and it became an excellent vine. ⁹Ask them; Will it prosper? Will the king of Babylon not pull it up by the roots, cutting off the fruit and allowing it to wither? Israel shall wither away in her prime and it will not even take great power or multitudes of people to do so. ¹⁰It was transplanted (exiled into Babylon), but it shall wither away when foreign powers touch it.

¹¹Moreover, the Word of the LORD came to me, saying; ¹²Ask the rebellious house of Israel, if they know what this parable means? Tell them; that the king of Babylon will come into Jerusalem, taking your king and his nobles captive and will led them into Babylon. ¹³For he has made a covenant with one of the royal family (Zedekiah), placing him under his allegiance, also controlling the mighty of the land. ¹⁴Knowing the kingdom of Israel would remain weak and powerless, but in keeping of this covenant it might stand. ¹⁵But he (Zedekiah) rebelled against the king of Babylon and sent ambassadors to Egypt, for military aid. Do you think he will be blessed? Will he be successful and break the covenant? ¹⁶As sure as I live, this man that made the covenant with the king, the very covenant that he now despises and broke, shall surly die in the midst of Babylon. ¹⁷Neither shall the Pharaoh of Egypt, having a mighty army give him any aid. ¹⁸And since he has given his oath, later only to break this covenant, he shall not escape.

¹⁹Therefore, says the Lord GOD; As I live, the oath and covenant that he has made in My name and broken, I will repay it upon his own head. ²⁰I will set a trap for him, he will be taken to Babylon and there he will plead with the king there because of the trespass and treason he has committed against Me. ²¹All of the fugitives and men who are with him, shall fall by the sword and those that remain shall be scattered in all directions. Then shall you know and understand that the LORD has spoken it.

²²I will also take of the highest branch a tender cedar, (symbolic for the Messiah) and will plant it on a high mountain. ²³In the mountain height of Israel I will plant it and it shall branch out and bring forth much fruit, becoming a goodly cedar. And in the shadow of its branches shall dwell birds of every kind. ²⁴And all the trees of the field shall know and understand that the Lord has brought down the high (the proud) trees, having exalted the low tree and has dried up the green (the powerful) trees, having made the dry tree to flourish. For I the Lord have spoken and will do this.

Ezekiel: chapter 18

¹The Word of the LORD came to me again, saying; ²What do the children of Israel mean, referring to the land of Israel by the proverb; "The fathers ate sour grapes, setting the children's teeth on edge"? (NOTE: This means that, The fathers willfully sinned and the children of Israel inherited the father sin, implying they themselves were blameless) ³As the Lord lives, there shall no longer be occasion to use this proverb in Israel. ⁴For all souls are Mine, the father's and the son's and the soul that sins shall die. ⁵But if a man is just, doing what is lawful and right. ⁶Not having eaten from the shrines of the idols, or having worshiped the idols of Israel, not having seduced a neighbor's wife, or having come near to an unclean thing. ⁷Who has not wronged anyone, but makes good his pledge. Neither a man of violence, but one who gives his bread to the hungry and covers the naked with a garment. ⁸One who does not charge interest on what he lends and can withdraw his hand from iniquity, for this man has executed true judgment between men. ⁹This man deals truly with others and is just. For he has walked in My statutes and has kept My judgments, he shall surely live, says the Lord GOD.

¹⁰But if this man has a child who becomes a robber, a murderer or practices any such thing. ¹¹Not following the ways of his father, but going his own way. Eating at the shrines of the idols, or defiling his neighbor's wife. ¹²Oppressing the poor and needy, becoming a man of violence, not keeping his pledge and having worshiped the idols, thus having committed abomination. ¹³Requiring interest payments of increase from his own brethren, shall this person live? After having done all, he shall surly die and he shall be held responsible for his own death. ¹⁴But, if the son, sees and considers all his father's sins, refusing to walk in his father's ways. ¹⁵Not having eaten at the shrines of the idols, or having worshiped the idols of the house of Israel and had not defiled his neighbor's wife. ¹⁶Nor had he oppressed any man, or defaulted on his pledge. Who is not a man of violence, but has given his bread to the hungry and covered the naked with a garment. ¹⁷Whom does not receive interest or increase. This man has executed My judgments and has walked in My statutes. He shall live and shall not die for the iniquity of his father. ¹⁸As for the father whom cruelly oppressed and did what was not good to his brother by violence, he shall die in his iniquity.

¹⁹Yet you ask, Why does not the son bear the iniquity of the father? Because the son has done what is lawful and right, having kept My statutes and he shall live. ²⁰For the sinful soul shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son. For whether a man is righteousness or wicked, he shall bear the fruit of his own actions. ²¹But if the wicked will turn from their sins and keep My statutes, doing what is lawful and right, he shall surely live. ²²None of his transgressions shall be remembered, while he is in his righteousness and he shall live. ²³Do I, the Lord God take any pleasure in the death of the wicked? Rather I want him to turn from his wicked ways and live.

²⁴Now when the righteous man turns away from his righteousness, committing the iniquities and abominations of the wicked, shall he live? His past righteousness shall not be remembered while he is in his trespass and in his sin, he shall die. ²⁵Yet you say to Me, The way of the Lord is not just and fair. O house of Israel, hear Me; Is not My way fair and just? are not your ways unfair and unjust? ²⁶When a righteous man turns away from his righteousness, committing iniquity, he shall die in his iniquities. ²⁷And when the wicked man turns away from his wickedness and does what is lawful and right, he shall save his life. ²⁸Because he considered his ways and turned away from his transgressions, therefore, he shall live and not die. ²⁹Yet, the house of Israel says to Me; The way of the Lord is not fair and just. But, My ways are fair and just, it is your ways that are unfair and unjust.

³⁰Therefore I will judge the house of Israel, everyone according to his ways. Repent! And turn from your transgressions, so that your iniquities will not be your ruin. ³¹Cast away all your transgressions and I shall give you a new heart and a new spirit, for why should you die, O house of Israel? ³²For I, the Lord God take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, so turn from your ways and live.

Ezekiel: chapter 19

¹Now take up a lamentation for the princes of Israel, ²And say: Your mother, (Judah & Jerusalem) was a great lioness. She lay down among lions and multiplied her cubs among young lions. ³One of her cubs, (Jehoahaz, king of northern Israel) became a young lion and learned to catch prey and devour men. ⁴The nations also heard of him and planted a trap for him, then taking him bound with chains down to the land of Egypt, 2^nd Chronicles 36:1-4.

⁵Now when the mother saw that her hope was lost, she then took another of her cubs, (Jehoiachin) and made him a young lion. ⁶He also went up and down among the lions and learned to catch prey and devour men. ⁷He knew their defenses and ravaged their cities, destroying their lands, for they were all terrorized by his roar. ⁸The nations then set traps against him, spread their net over him and took him in their pit. ⁹Bound him with chains and brought him to the king of Babylon. Keeping him in holds, that his voice should no longer be heard on the mountains of Israel.

¹⁰Your mother, (Jerusalem) is like a fruitful vine that runs through your blood, for she was planted by many waters. ¹¹And she ruled with a strong and royal hand and even the mighty exalted her. ¹²But she was plucked up by God's wrath and was cast down to the ground and the east wind dried up her fruit, (NOTE: taken captive by the Babylonian empire). Her strong and royal rods were broken, for the fire of God's judgment consumed them. ¹³And now she is planted in the wilderness, in a dry and thirsty ground, (Babylonian). ¹⁴And fire has gone out from a rod, (Zedekiah) of her branches, spoiling her fruit so that there is no strength left in her to rule. This is to be mourned and is a lamentation.

Ezekiel: chapter 20

¹On the tenth day of the fifth month of the seventh year, certain elders of Israel sat before me and inquired of the LORD. ²Then the Word of the LORD came to me, saying; ³Ezekiel, son of man; Speak to the elders of Israel and say to them; You have come now to inquire of Me? As I live, I shall not be questioned by you. ⁴Ezekiel, you judge them and cause them to see their abominations.

⁵Say to them, the Lord God says; The day when I lifted up the house of Jacob, choosing Israel, I made Myself known to them in the land of Egypt, that I am the LORD their God. ⁶That day that I lifted up My hand to them, to bring them out of the land of Egypt into a land flowing with milk and honey, that I had searched out for them, a choice land among lands. ⁷I then told every man not to defile himself with the idols of Egypt, throw away every abominable thing, for I am the LORD your God. ⁸But they rebelled against Me, they did not throw away their abominable things, neither did they forsake the idols of Egypt. And I said to them, I will pour out My wrath against you, right there in Egypt, that My anger might be quenched. ⁹But, so that My name should not be profaned among the heathen in Egypt, In whose sight I later made Myself known to them, by bringing the Israelites out of their land.

¹⁰Therefore I caused them to come out of the land of Egypt and brought them into the wilderness. ¹¹Giving them My statutes and judgments. ¹²I also I gave them My feast days, as a sign between Me and them, that they might know and understand that I am the LORD that has set them apart. ¹³Even in the wilderness the house of Israel rebelled against Me, walking not in My statutes and despising My judgments, that provide life. They also defiled My feast days and I again said, I would pour out My wrath upon them in the wilderness and consume them. ¹⁴But, so that My name should not be profaned among the heathen in whose sight I brought them out of the land of Egypt. ¹⁵I swore to them in the wilderness, that I would not bring them into the promise land flowing with milk and honey. ¹⁶Because they did not walk in My statutes, they despised My judgments and defiled My feast days, for their heart was set on their idols. ¹⁷Nevertheless I did not destroy them in the wilderness.

¹⁸So I instructed their children, the next generation, in the wilderness. Not to walk in the ways of their fathers and not to defile themselves with their father's idols. ¹⁹For I am the LORD your God, you shall walk in My statutes, obey My judgments. ²⁰And keep My sacred days holy as a sign between Me and you, so that you might know and understand that I am the LORD your God. ²¹Nevertheless the sons of that generation also rebelled against Me. They did not walk in My statutes or keep My judgments, that brings life, but they defiled My sacred days. At this I considered pouring out My indignation upon them, to fulfill My anger against them in the wilderness. ²²But, so that My name would not be not be profaned by the heathen nations that knew about Me bringing the Israelites out of Egypt, I did not take My wrath out on them. ²³However while they were in the wilderness, I did swear that I would later scatter them among the heathen nations. ²⁴Because they were not walking in My judgments, they despised My statutes and had defiled My sacred days, for they lusted after their fathers' idols. ²⁵Therefore I complied with their wishes and gave them statutes that were not good and judgments that do not bring life. ²⁶And I allowed them to be defiled by their own gifts, taking away their firstborns, letting them waste away, so that they might know that I am the LORD.

²⁷Therefore, Ezekiel, son of man; Tell the house of Israel, that the Lord God says that their fathers have blasphemed and committed a trespass against Me. ²⁸For when I brought them into the promise land. They immediately had visions of temples for all of their false gods on every high hill. And they gave these idols sacrifices and drink offerings, that provoked My anger along with My sadness. ²⁹So I asked them; What are these places where you go called? And they are called the high places to this very day. ³⁰Therefore, say to the house of Israel, they are defiling themselves after the manor of their fathers, committing the same whoredom and abominations. ³¹When they offer their gifts on the altars, at their children's expense, they defile themselves with their idols and this is their current practice unto today. Shall I then be inquired of by them? As I live, I will not be inquired of by them. ³²However it shall not happen as you are thinking, that you shall be as the heathen nations merely serving gods of wood and stone.

³³For as sure as I live, I will be King over you with a mighty out stretched hand and My wrath poured out among you. ³⁴I will gather you together from the people and nations that have oppressed you, with a mighty hand, an out stretched arm and with My wrath poured out. ³⁵Bringing you into a dry time where I can then plead with you face to face. ³⁶As I also pleaded with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt. ³⁷Carefully noting all My people, I will then constrain you under the covenant that you are permanently bond by. ³⁸From among you, I will purge out the rebels and those who transgress against Me. Bringing them out of the country where they sojourn, however they shall not enter into the land of Israel, then shall you know that I am the LORD.

³⁹As for the house of Israel, those who do not listen to Me, go and serve your idols, but do not defile My holy name any more with your gifts and your idols. ⁴⁰For, the house of Israel shall serve Me at My holy mountain. There I will accept the people and require offerings from them, and there I will require your offerings, firstfruits and your holy things. ⁴¹There, I will accept you with your offering, when I gather you from the nations of your oppression, then shall the nations see My sanctification in you. ⁴²Then you shall know that I am the LORD, when I bring you back into the land of Israel, the promise land that I gave to your fathers. ⁴³There you shall look upon your ways and your doings, that have defiled you. Then you will despise yourselves for all the past evils you have done. ⁴⁴You shall then realize that I have dealt with the house of Israel out of mercy because of My name sake and not according to your wicked ways or corrupt actions.

⁴⁵Again the Word of the LORD came to me, saying; ⁴⁶Ezekiel, son of man; Turn towards the south and prophesy against the forest of the south field, (the lands of Judah & Jerusalem). ⁴⁷Say to that unfruitful field; Hear the Word of the LORD; I will kindle a fire that will not be quenched and all will be consumed. ⁴⁸Everyone will see that I the LORD have kindled it, for it will not be quenched. ⁴⁹And they say of Me, is He not speaking in parables?

Ezekiel: chapter 21

¹Then the Word of the LORD came to me, saying; ²Ezekiel, son of man; Set your face toward Jerusalem and prophesy against the land of Israel, ³Say to the land of Israel, The LORD is against you, He will draw His sword and will cut off both the righteous and the wicked. ⁴Thus shall My sword come against all. ⁵And all living shall know and realize that the LORD has drawn His sword from His sheath, for it shall not return into the sheath any more. ⁶Therefore, Ezekiel, groan and with great bitterness sigh before the people. ⁷And it will be that when they say to you, Why do you sigh? You shall say, Because of the coming report that will come. Every heart will melt, every hand will be feeble, every spirit shall faint and every knee will become limp.

⁸Again the Word of the LORD came to me, saying; ⁹Ezekiel, son of man; Prophesy and tell the people; A sword is sharpened and polished. ¹⁰Its been sharpened to make quick the slaughter. It is polished that it may flash and glitter as lightning, with such calamity at hand, how can you then be merry? ¹¹The sword of Babylon is sharpened and polished and placed into the hand of the slayer.

¹²Ezekiel, cry and howl and beat your breast in dismay, for the sword and terror is against My people and all the princes of Israel. ¹³Do not despise discipline, there is no way around it, says the Lord. ¹⁴Therefore Ezekiel prophesy, clap your hands together and double the intensity of the sword, so that none can escape, the mighty men or they that hide in secret places. ¹⁵The sword has been set against all their gates, that their hearts may faint and the slaughter and ruins shall be great. ¹⁶The double edge sword shall cut either to the left or the right, whatever way it pleases. ¹⁷Then I will put My hands together and cause My wrath to rest, says the LORD.

¹⁸Again the Word of the LORD came to me, saying; ¹⁹Ezekiel, map out two routes that the sword of the king of Babylon can come into the city, make a signpost and mark the head of the city. ²⁰Mark the way for the battle to enter into the Ammonite city of Rabbah, into the city of Judah and into the fortified city of Jerusalem. ²¹For the king of Babylon stands at a fork in the road, seeking to use divination and his false gods to show him the way. ²²The decision has been set for Jerusalem, to appoint captains to head the slaughter and battering rams against the gates. ²³The battle will take them by surprise and seem to those who had sworn an oath with Nebuchadnezzar to be as a broken alliance. But, the Lord will remember iniquity and all will be taken.

²⁴Therefore, says the Lord GOD; Because you have put your iniquity out in the open for all to see, you shall be taken with the sword. ²⁵And for the wicked king of Israel, (Zedekiah), his day has come, his final reckoning is here.

²⁶The Lord God says; Remove the current priestly leadership and the current succession of kings, this order shall not be. For they that are low shall be exalted and he that is held high shall be abased. ²⁷I will overturn this!, until the Rightful One comes. ²⁸Now Ezekiel, prophesy the Words of the Lord God concerning the reproach of the Ammonites. Tell them that the sword is drawn and polished for the slaughter and it will devour. ²⁹While they see false visions, while they speak lies and heap disdain on the prophets of God, their iniquity will bring them to their end. ³⁰I shall now return the sword into its sheath and will judge the people of Israel in the land of their origin. ³¹I will pour out My indignation against the sons of Ammon and with the fire of My wrath, deliver them into the hands of mighty men, skilful in destroying. ³²You shall be as fuel in the fire. Your blood shall be in the midst of the land and you shall be remembered no more. For the LORD has spoken it!

Ezekiel: chapter 22

¹Moreover, the Word of the LORD came to me, saying; ²Ezekiel, son of man; Will you judge the bloody city of Jerusalem and cause the people to see all of their abominations. ³Tell them what I, the Lord GOD says; That they shed blood in the midst of the city, they make idols, thereby defiling themselves, thus Israel's time of doom is coming. ⁴You have become guilty in the shedding of blood and have defiled yourself by the idols you have made, shorting your days and years. Therefore, have I made you a reproach to the heathen nations and a people to be mocked by all countries. ⁵Everyone shall mock you, those near and far, for your filthy reputation shall precede you along with much chaos.

⁶Not only is it the princes of Israel, but every official according to their own power has shed blood. ⁷The people have treated their father and mother lightly and have oppressed the stranger, also taking advantage of the fatherless and the widows. ⁸For you have despised My holy things and profaned My Sabbaths. ⁹Within these are men that lie in order to shed blood, they eat in high places, food offered to idols and in the mists of this, they commit lewdness. ¹⁰By this they have uncovered their father's nakedness, or have humbled the woman set apart in her impurity. ¹¹They have committed abomination with their neighbor's wife, while others have lewdly defiled their daughter-in-law, or humbled their father's sister. ¹²Within their city, they have taken bribes to direct the shedding of blood, they have oppressed their neighbor and have forgotten the Lord their God.

¹³Therefore, I will come against your dishonest gain at the expense of other's blood. ¹⁴Will your heart endure, or your hands be strong, in the days that I shall deal with you? For the LORD has spoken and will do it. ¹⁵I will scatter you among the heathen nations, until I have consumed all the uncleanness from you. ¹⁶When you see yourself dishonored and defiled in front of the heathen nations, then you shall know and understand that I am the LORD.

¹⁷And the Word of the LORD came to me, saying; ¹⁸Ezekiel, son of man; The house of Israel has become to Me as dross. As impurities in a furnace, they are as the dross of silver. ¹⁹Therefore, since they are as dross, I will gather them in the midst of Jerusalem. ²⁰And the fury of My anger will melt them. ²¹Yes, I will blow upon you with the fire of My wrath and you shall be melted. ²²Just as silver is melted in a furnace, so shall you be melted, then you shall know and understand that the LORD has poured out His fury upon you.

²³And the Word of the LORD came to me, saying; ²⁴Ezekiel, Son of man, say to Israel; You are an impure land and in the day of your indignation you shall not be rained upon. ²⁵There is a conspiracy of Israel's false prophets, much like a roaring lion seeking its prey. They have devoured souls and have taken many precious things, leaving widows in their wake. ²⁶Her priests have violated My law and profaned My holy things. They do not discern between what is holy and the common, or between what is clean and unclean. They have ignored My sacred days and among themselves, they actually profane My name. ²⁷Her princes are actually like wolves ravening the prey, shedding blood and destroy souls, all to archive dishonest gain. ²⁸Their false prophets give the people empty fables, saying to them, thus says the Lord GOD, when the LORD has not spoken it. ²⁹The people have oppressed the stranger wrongfully, they have exercised robbery and taken advantage of the poor and needy. ³⁰And I looked for a man among them who would build up their defenses and stand in the gap before Me, so that I would not destroy the land, but I found none. ³¹Therefore, My indignation is poured out upon them and I have consumed them with the fire of My wrath. And I have recompensed their own way upon their head.

Ezekiel: chapter 23

¹Again the Word of the LORD came to me, saying; ²Ezekiel, son of man; There were two daughters of the same mother. ³Both committed whoredoms in Egypt, within their youth and lost their virginity. ⁴The names of the woman were Aholah, (meaning: her own tent) , the elder and Aholibah, (meaning: my tent is in her) and they were both the Lord's, as they also bore sons and daughters. Symbolically the names of the daughters stand for Samaria which is Aholah and Jerusalem which is Aholibah.

⁵Aholah played the harlot while she was the Lords, she doted on her neighbors the Assyrians, men of military might. ⁶Clothed with blue uniforms, captains and rulers, all of them desirable young men riding on horses. ⁷Thus she committed her whoredoms with them, all the men of Assyria that she chose and with all their idols, she defiled herself. ⁸Even as she left Egypt, she took her whoredoms with her. For they were from her youth when she lost her virginity and her lovers poured their whoredom upon her. ⁹So I have delivered her into the hand of her lovers, the Assyrians. ¹⁰They uncovered her nakedness and shame, they took her sons and her daughters and then killed her with the sword. And her name became a byword among women, for judgment and shame was upon her.

¹¹When her sister Aholibah saw this, she became even more corrupt in her whoredoms with her lovers, than her sister. ¹²Her lovers were also her neighbors the Assyrians, captains and rulers, all of them desirable young men riding on horses. ¹³When I saw that she was defiled, I knew that both women were pursuing this same path. ¹⁴For Aholibah carried her whoredoms even further when she saw figures on the walls of the Chaldeans. ¹⁵Pictures of Babylonian men, in beautiful array, heads wraps, all being princess, whose native land was Chaldea. ¹⁶And as soon as she saw the sketches of them, she lusted after them, sending messengers to Chaldea. ¹⁷The Babylonians then came into her bedchamber, defiled her with their whoredom and she became polluted with them. After she was defiled, she lost interest in them and became alienated from them. ¹⁸So she then openly disclosed her whoredoms and exposed her nakedness. At this My mind was alienated from her, as it also was from her sister. ¹⁹Yet she multiplied her whoredoms even more, as she thought about the days of her youth when she had played the harlot in the land of Egypt. ²⁰For she was obsessive over the sensuality of the flesh. ²¹As she thought back upon her the lewdness of her youth, when her breasts were still firm and attractive.

²²Therefore, Aholibah, the Lord GOD, will set your lovers against you. ²³The Babylonians, all the Chaldeans and all the Assyrians with them, all of your renowned lovers. ²⁴This assembly shall come against you in battle and they shall judge you according to My judgments. ²⁵My jealousy shall be against you and they shall deal furiously with you. They shall cut off your nose and ears, enslaving your sons and daughters and burning the rest of you with fire. ²⁶But they shall first strip you of your clothes and remove your jewels. ²⁷Thus I will end your whoredom that you carried with you from the land of Egypt. So that you will not desire nor remember Egypt any more.

²⁸The Lord God says; I will deliver you into the hands of them that you now hate and despise. ²⁹They will deal with you harshly, taking away all your wealth. Leaving you naked and bare, with all your whoredoms exposed. ³⁰I will do these things to you, because you have gone whoring after the heathen and you are now defiled with their idols. ³¹You have walked in the way of your sister, (Samaria), therefore, the cup she drinks shall also be fitting for you.

³²You shall drink deeply of your sister's cup and be laughed to scorn and greatly mocked. ³³Samaria, your sister's cup shall fill you with drunkenness and sorrow, astonishment from all of your desolation. ³⁴You shall drink all of it, smashing the cup and in your drunken state even cut off your own breasts, for I have spoken it, says the Lord GOD. ³⁵Since you have cast Me into the background, as your husband, you must now bear the consequences of your lewdness and your whoredoms.

³⁶Moreover, the LORD said to me; Ezekiel, son of man; Will you judge Aholah and Aholibah and declare to them their abominations? ³⁷For they have committed adultery, blood is in their hands, with their idols they have also committed spiritual adultery and their sons, whom they bore to Me, they have sacrificed them, thus destroying them. ³⁸Also they have defiled My sanctuary and within the same day profaned My Sabbaths. ³⁹For the same day they sacrificed their children to their idols, they then came into My sanctuary to profane it. ⁴⁰Furthermore they have sent for men from afar, (foreign delegates) and have gone to extremes to adorn themselves with jewels, ⁴¹They sit on stately beds, having foods prepared and scented with the finest of perfumes. ⁴²These men were greatly welcomed and were at ease with her. And in their drunken state they made an alliance and put crowns on their heads. ⁴³Since she was now so worn out as an adulteress. I wondered if they would now commit whoredoms with her and she with them? ⁴⁴But they went into both sisters, (Aholah and unto Aholibah), as one would enter a common harlot. ⁴⁵But the righteous men shall judge them to be an adulteress and a woman that sheds blood. ⁴⁶And I, the Lord GOD says; I will hand them over to a company to be removed from their place and spoiled. ⁴⁷This company shall stone them and kill them with the sword. Slay their sons and daughters and burn their houses. ⁴⁸I will put an end to wickedness in the land, teaching all women not to go after wickedness. ⁴⁹For their own lewdness and wickedness shall come back upon them and they shall bear the sins of their idolatries. Then shall they know and understand, that I am the Lord GOD.

Ezekiel: chapter 24

Babylon captivity begins, (588 BC). an 18 month siege of Jerusalem, Jeremiah 39:1-2.

¹Now, the tenth day of the tenth month of the ninth year, the Word of the LORD came to me, saying; (NOTE: This is approximately four years and nine months after Ezekiel's first vision). ²Ezekiel, son of man; Make note of this date, for the king of Babylon has set himself against Jerusalem on this very day. ³Also, speak this parable to the rebellious house of Judah; So says the Lord GOD, Prepare the pot and fill it with water. ⁴Gather its ingredients, the thigh and the shoulder. Fill it with every good piece and the choice bones. ⁵Take the choice of the flock, burn the bones under it and allow it to boil well.

⁶I, the Lord God says; Woe to this bloody city, the pot whose scum that has not boiled out of it! Empty it out piece by piece. ⁷For Israel's blood she shed remains on her, she poured it upon the top of a rock, rather than pouring it on the ground and covering it with dust. ⁸They have set blood out uncovered in public view, to provoke My wrath and I will take vengeance.

⁹Therefore says the Lord GOD; Woe to that bloody city! I will pour the fuel onto the heap to be burnt. ¹⁰Giving it an abundance of wood, kindle the fire, let it consume the flesh and burn the bones. ¹¹Then set the empty pot on the hot coals, until even the pot itself glows hot, to burn off any uncleanness that may be retained within the pot. ¹²For she has deceived herself with so many lies and the abundance of her uncleanness does not leave her, even in the fire. ¹³Her defilement is her wickedness. For I have cleansed you and you were not cleansed, you shall now not be cleansed from your filthiness until My wrath rests upon you. ¹⁴The LORD has spoken it and it shall come to pass. I will not relent, nor will I spare. According to their ways and their deeds shall they be judged.

¹⁵ Also the Word of the LORD came to me, saying; ¹⁶Ezekiel, son of man; I have taken away from you the desire of your eyes, (your wife). Yet, neither shall you mourn nor weep. ¹⁷In private mourn, but in public be silent, there shall be no mourning for the dead. Go about your business as usual, do not mourn with the other men. ¹⁸So in the morning I spoke to the people and in the evening my wife died. And the next morning I did as I was commanded. ¹⁹The people then questioned my behavior and asked me; What the things I do, are to mean to them?

²⁰I then answered them, The Word of the LORD came to me, saying; ²¹Tell the house of Israel, that the Lord GOD says; I will defile My sanctuary, that you take so much pride in and your sons and daughters that are dearer to you than the Lord is and they shall fall by the sword. ²²When this happens, you shall do as I have done. ²³You shall not mourn or weep, but shall dress as usual, but due to your grief you shall waste away because of all of your iniquities and you shall mourn for one another. ²⁴I, Ezekiel am a sign to you. According to what I have done, you also shall do. And after this happens, you shall know and understand that He is the Lord God.

²⁵Also, Ezekiel, it shall be in the day when these things happen. ²⁶They whom escape in that day shall come to you, telling you of the destruction of Jerusalem and you shall hear it for yourself. ²⁷In that day you shall speak to him and be a sign to him, for you shall no longer be silent. Then shall they know and understand that I am the LORD.

Ezekiel: chapter 25

¹Again the Word of the LORD came to me, saying; ²Ezekiel, son of man; Prophesy against the Ammonites. ³Say to them; Hear the Word of the Lord GOD; Because you were glad when My sanctuary was defiled, when the land of Israel was ruined and the house of Judah when into captivity. ⁴I will deliver you to the people of the east and they shall make their dwellings in your land, eating your fruit and drinking your milk. ⁵I will make Rabbah, (your major city), a stable for camels and your villages a pasture land for livestock. Then will you realize that I am the LORD. ⁶Yes, because you have outwardly applauded this and rejoiced in your heart. ⁷I will hand you over as a prey to the heathen nations, you shall be separated from your people and you shall perish out of the countries you are in. Then will you know and understand that I am the LORD.

⁸Since the people of Moab and Seir, [Edom] say; The house of Judah is like all the other heathen nations. ⁹Moab will therefore, be invaded from its neighboring cities, the glory of the land. ¹⁰I will give them over to the men of the east, along with their possession of the Ammonites. ¹¹And I will execute judgments upon Moab and they shall know and understand that I am the LORD.

¹²Since Edom has taken vengeance against the house of Judah after also greatly offending them. ¹³I will stretch out My hand and cut off man and beast from Edom, it shall be desolate and the men of the cities shall fall by the sword. ¹⁴My vengeance will be upon Edom, by the hand of My people Israel. And they shall do to Edom according to My anger and wrath. Then shall they know My vengeance.

¹⁵Because the Philistines have taken revenge and vengeance having nothing but hatred in their heart. ¹⁶I will stretch out My hand and cut off the Cretans and destroy any who remain on the sea coast. ¹⁷I will execute great vengeance upon them with furious rebukes, then they shall know that I am the LORD.

Ezekiel: chapter 26

¹Now, on the first day of the month in the eleventh year, the Word of the LORD came to me, saying; ²Ezekiel, son of man; Because Tyre has rejoiced at Jerusalem demise, seeking business advantage from her downfall. ³I am against you and will cause many nations to come against you. ⁴They shall destroy your walls and break down your towers, I will also wash away the soil and leave the land as bare rock. ⁵It shall be a place for the spreading of nets in the midst of the sea. I, the Lord God have spoken and it shall come to pass. ⁶The daughters that are in the field shall be killed by the sword and they shall know and understand that I am the LORD.

⁷I will bring upon the land of Tyre a king from the north. Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, a mighty king of kings who is more powerful than he is. Having great armies of people with horses and chariots. ⁸He shall slay with the sword their daughters in the field and lay siege against your cities. ⁹He shall break your walls down with battering rams and with axes cut down your towers. ¹⁰Because of the abundance of his horses, their dust alone shall cover you. The city gates shall shake at all the noise of the horsemen and the chariots wheels, as the breach of the city begins. ¹¹The hoofs of the horses shall tread down all your streets and he shall kill your people by the sword, even your mighty armies shall be defeated. ¹²They shall loot your city, break down its walls, destroying the houses and they shall throw the rubble from the city into the water making a causeway. ¹³And your music and your joy shall depart from you. ¹⁴Thus shall the land of Tyre be barren as a rock, a place to spread nets. Nor will the land ever be built on again, for I the LORD God have spoken it.

¹⁵Tyre; When you fall, even the isles around you will be affected from the loss of your commerce. ¹⁶Then all the rulers of the neighboring lands shall come down to you, putting aside their royal robes and they shall sit and tremble in amazement. ¹⁷They shall mourn for you and wonder, how this renowned and strong seafaring city whose people reigned terror on all, could fall. ¹⁸Yes, the coast lands shall tremble in the day of your fall.

¹⁹The day when I make your cities desolate and the waters of the sea cover you. ²⁰I will bring you down as a dead man long buried and you shall silently rot away underground and be forgotten about, that you shall never show your glory in the land of the living again. ²¹I will send terrors your way and you will be no more. Even though people may search for you, they shall never find you, says the Lord God.

Ezekiel: chapter 27

¹Again the Word of the LORD came to me, saying; ²Ezekiel, son of man; Be in mourning for Tyre. ³And say to them; You are placed at the entrance of the sea, a merchant for many of the coast lands. However, you have said in your boasting, I am of perfect beauty. ⁴Your borders reach out to the midst of the seas, all has been crafted for beauty. ⁵The ships timbers are of the finest woods. ⁶The oars are made of oak and precision craftsmen have made your benches of ivory. ⁷Fine linen with embroidered work from Egypt are what your sails and your ships flag are made of. ⁸Also the very best and wise were your seamen. ⁹The best craftsmen were your ship builders and the wise for your crew, all to exchange your merchandise. ¹⁰Your army was of the finest elite troops, they helped you make a name for yourself. ¹¹The warriors guarding your city walls, hung their shields on the walls all around, thus making the beauty of the city perfect.

¹²The wealthy and powerful merchants were the people you dealt with in riches of silver, iron, tin and lead. ¹³Greece, Tubal and Meshech, were your merchants in the slave trade of men, exchanged for vessels of brass in your market place. ¹⁴The house of Togarmah traded horses and horsemen and mules. ¹⁵The men of many neighboring isles were your merchants in horns of ivory and ebony. ¹⁶Syria was your merchant for your general wares, they traded with emeralds, agates, purple textiles, embroidered work, fine linen and coral. ¹⁷Judah and the land of Israel, were your merchants in wheat, honey, oil and balm. ¹⁸Damascus was your merchant for your general wares they traded in wine and white wool. ¹⁹The tribe of Dan was your merchant for your wares and traded in smooth iron, perfume and sweet cane. ²⁰Dedan was your merchant in precious clothes for chariots. ²¹Arabia and the princes of Kedar, were your merchants in lambs, rams and goats. ²²Sheba and Raamah were your merchants in spices and traded with precious stones and gold. ²³Haran, Canneh and Eden, from Assyria, also were your merchants. ²⁴These were your merchants in all kinds of merchandise.

²⁵Your great ships were your traveling marketplace. Yes, trading on the seas gave you much greatness. ²⁶Your sailors brought you into great waters. However, the east wind has torn apart your ship in the depth of the sea. ²⁷And all of your riches, merchandise, the ship's crew and all of your men of war, in the ship shall fall into the midst of the seas in the day of your ruin. ²⁸Even the countryside quakes at the distant and hopeless cries of your sailors. ²⁹Other mariners on shore shall leave their ships, they shall stand on the land. ³⁰And weep bitterly, putting dust upon their heads, as they wallow covered in ashes. ³¹They shall shave their heads and put on sackcloth, as they weep and wail with bitterness felt in their soul. ³²Yet even in their wailing they shall mourn over the city of Tyre, saying; There is no other quite like Tyre in the midst of the sea! ³³For as you traded over the seas, you supplied many people with goods and enriched the kings of the earth. ³⁴But now you are crushed in the depths of the seas, your goods and all your sailors have fallen into the sea. ³⁵Every neighboring isle shall be astonished and their kings shall tremble. ³⁶However, your merchants shall hiss at you, for had been a terror and now you are no more.

Ezekiel: chapter 28

¹Again the Word of the LORD came to me, saying; ²Ezekiel, son of man; Say to the prince of Tyre; The Lord GOD says that; Because within your heart you are proud and have said, I am a God and you sit in the seat of God over the seas, even though you are just a man, having set your heart as God. ³Are you envisioning yourself to be wiser than Daniel, is there is no secret that is hidden from you? ⁴With your wisdom and understanding you have gotten riches of gold and silver. ⁵And by your great wisdom and through your trading you have increased that wealth and your heart has become proud.

⁶Therefore since you have set your heart as the heart of God. ⁷I shall bring the most terrible of nations upon you. They shall bring your wisdom low and make your very name a mockery. ⁸They shall bring you down to the pit of destruction and you shall die the same common death of them that died in the midst of the seas. ⁹Will you have the audacity to say before your assassins, 'I am God'? ¹⁰You shall die the death of a dog by the hand of strangers, for I the Lord God have spoken it.

This Word to Ezekiel is also be symbolic of Lucifer's pride and fall, Isaiah 14:12.

¹¹Moreover the Word of the LORD came to me, saying; ¹²Ezekiel, son of man; Take up mourning for the king of Tyre and say to him; You truly had everything going for you. ¹³You were in Eden, (the garden of God), every precious stone was your covering and this garment was prepared for you on the day of your creation. ¹⁴You were the anointed cherub that I set to overshadow and you walked on the holy mountain of God. ¹⁵You were perfect in your ways from the very day that you were created, until the day iniquity was found in you. ¹⁶Through the multitude of your goods, you have sinned and filled yourself with violence. Therefore, I will cast you out of the mountain of God as a profane thing and destroy you. ¹⁷Your heart became proud because of your beauty, therefore, corrupting your wisdom. So I will cast you to the ground and lay you before kings that they may gloat over you. ¹⁸Through the many iniquities of your trade, you have profaned your sanctuaries. So I kindled a fire from within and it shall devour you, leaving you as ashes on the earth, before all to see. ¹⁹Everyone who knows you shall be astonished, for you have met your end and shall not be again.

²⁰Again the Word of the LORD came to me, saying; ²¹Ezekiel, son of man; Prophesy against Sidon. ²²Say, The Lord is against you and I will be glorified in your midst. You shall know that I am the LORD, when I execute My judgments, then shall you set My name apart. ²³For I will send you disease, your blood shall flow in your streets and the wounded shall be judged with the sword. Then shall they know and understand that I am the LORD. ²⁴Thus the prickly brier and painful thorn of their enemies, will be removed from the house of Israel. Then shall they know and understand that I am the Lord God.

²⁵When I've gathered the house of Israel, from among the nations where they are scattered. They shall set Me apart, for My holiness shall be made apparent in them in the sight of the heathen. Then they shall dwell in their own land that I gave to My servant Jacob. ²⁶They shall dwell safely and in confidence in the land in their houses and with their vineyards. When I have executed My judgments on all those surrounding them, that despise them, then shall they know and understand that I am the LORD their God.

Ezekiel: chapter 29

¹On the twelfth day of the tenth month of the tenth year, the Word of the Lord came to me, saying; ²Ezekiel, son of man; Prophesy against Pharaoh, the king of Egypt and against all of Egypt. ³Say to the Pharaoh king of Egypt; the Lord God is against you. You are as a great dragon laying in the midst of the Nile river, who has said, God's river is mine, I have made it. ⁴I shall drag you up out of your river, (uprooting your kingdom) and all the fish of your rivers shall stick to your scales, (NOTE: all of your servants shall cling to you). ⁵I will then leave you exposed in the wilderness, along with all the fish of your rivers. Left as food for the beasts of the field and the birds of the air. ⁶Then all the people of Egypt shall know that I am the LORD, for they have been a deceitful ally to the house of Israel. ⁷For they promised Israel their alliance. However, when Israel leaned on you, you let them down, forcing them to stand alone.

⁸Therefore, I will bring a sword against you, cutting off both man and beast. ⁹And the land of Egypt shall be desolate and a wasteland, then they shall know and understand that I am the Lord. ¹⁰Therefore I am against both your rivers and lands of Egypt, throughout all your borders I shall make your lands as a waste heap. ¹¹No one shall pass through it, neither man nor beast and it shall not be occupied for forty years. ¹²For I will make the land of Egypt desolate beyond all other lands that are desolate, for the land shall lie waste for forty years and I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations.

¹³And at the end of forty years I will gather the Egyptians from out of the nations where they were scattered. ¹⁴And they shall return to their homeland of Egypt. However, they shall have a low and weak kingdom. ¹⁵The kingdom shall be the basest of kingdoms. It shall not exalt itself, or rule over other nations, for I will keep them low. ¹⁶Israel shall no longer be in alliance or have any confidence in Egypt, for Israel's iniquities will be brought back to remembrance, whenever they look at Egypt and Israel shall know that I am the Lord GOD.

¹⁷On the first day of the first month of the twenty-seventh year, the Word of the Lord came to me, saying; ¹⁸Ezekiel, son of man; Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon has fought against Tyre, losing many men and achieving little. ¹⁹Therefore, I will give the land of Egypt into Nebuchadnezzar hands and he shall take her multitude and take her spoil, thus shall it be the wages for his army. ²⁰I have given him the land of Egypt for his labors, because they are working for Me. ²¹In that day, I will make the house of Israel, desire to hear My Words and I will open your mouth Ezekiel, to speak in their midst. Then they shall know and understand that I am God.

Ezekiel: chapter 30

¹Again the Word of the LORD came to me, saying; ²Ezekiel, son of man; Prophesy and cry out and say; Thus says the Lord God, Woe is the day! ³For the day of the LORD is near, a cloudy day and the time of the heathen nations. ⁴A sword shall come against Egypt, whereby even neighboring lands shall feel great pains, when the people are killed in Egypt. For they shall take away her wealth and break down her foundations. ⁵The surrounding countries of Ethiopia, Libya, Lydia and the men who have aligned themselves with Egypt, shall also be killed by the sword.

⁶All they who have aligned themselves with Egypt shall fall and the pride of her power shall come to an end. ⁷And Egypt shall be the most desolate of all the surrounding countries desolation. ⁸After I have set fire to Egypt and all of her allies are destroyed, then shall they know and understand that I am the LORD. ⁹In that day I will send out messengers in ships to terrify the smug Ethiopians and they shall fear and tremble, just as the Egyptians did in their day.

¹⁰I will also make the multitude of Egypt to suffer and be destroyed by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. ¹¹He and his army, the most brutal of all the nations, shall destroy the land. They shall draw their swords against Egypt and fill the land with the slain. ¹²I shall make their rivers dry and the land a wasteland. The hand of wicked strangers shall reign, for I the LORD have spoken it. ¹³I will destroy their idols, they shall be no more. There shall no longer be a prince of the land of Egypt, for I will send fear into all the land of Egypt. ¹⁴Northern Egypt will become desolate, fire will burn in ancient Egypt and southern Egypt shall be judged. ¹⁵I will pour out My fury upon Egypt's strongholds and I will cut off the royal city. ¹⁶I will set Egypt on fire, their strongholds shall be broken down and there shall be Chaos and sorrow in the land. ¹⁷The young men shall fall by the sword and the cities shall go into captivity. ¹⁸It shall also be a dark day for the queen of Egypt, for no strength shall remain in her and a cloud of calamities shall cover her, as her daughters go into captivity. ¹⁹Thus I will execute My judgments in Egypt, then they shall know that I am the LORD.

²⁰Now on the seventh day of the first month in the eleventh year, the Word of the Lord came to me, saying; ²¹Ezekiel, son of man; I have broken the arm, (power and the will) of Pharaoh the king of Egypt and it shall not heal, to where he can hold a sword. ²²For I am against Pharaoh the king of Egypt and will cause the sword to fall out of his hand. ²³I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations. ²⁴And will strengthen the king of Babylon, putting My sword in his hand and Pharaoh shall groan before him. ²⁵When I put My sword into the hand of the king of Babylon and it is used against the land of Egypt, then shall Egypt know and understand that I am the LORD. ²⁶When the Egyptians are scattered among the nations, they shall know that I am the LORD.

Ezekiel: chapter 31

¹Now on the first day of the third month in the eleventh year, the Word of the Lord came to me, saying; ²Ezekiel, son of man; Speak to Pharaoh the king of Egypt and his people, ask them, who they think they are like in all of their flamboyancy and greatness? ³For the nation of Assyria was a strong cedar in a beautiful land with fair branches, that provided shade, reaching even to the heavens. ⁴The deep waters made him great and the rivers ran around its plantings, reaching out to even nourish the other nations. ⁵Its height was exalted above all the trees and its branches were numerous and long. ⁶And the birds of the air made their nests in its branches, as also the beasts of the field brought forth their young in the shade it provided. For in its shadow dwelt all the great nations. ⁷Thus was he fair in his greatness, in the length of his branches, (outreach), for his root, (wisdom) was by great waters. ⁸Not one tree in God's garden could overshadow his beauty. ⁹And I made this tree beautiful so that all the trees in the garden of Eden, envied him.

¹⁰But you have exalted yourself in your stature and your heart is proud. ¹¹Therefore, I have delivered you into the hands of a mighty heathen nation. He will deal with you. ¹²Assyria has fallen, strangers have destroyed it. The once fearful of the nations, is now left broken and in pieces. And all the people have gone from his shadow. ¹³Yet even the ruins of Assyria will provide nests for the birds of the air and its branches shall provide cover for the beasts of the field. ¹⁴So shall they exalt themselves until the end. For all who do so are given over to death, with those who go down into the pit.

¹⁵In the day when Assyria went down to the pit. I caused a mourning, holding back the great waters the land mourned and all the other nations fainted in fear, viewing this also as their own destiny. ¹⁶All the choice and best trees of Eden trembled at the sound of his fall, when I cast him, (Assyria) down into the pit of hell. ¹⁷All the multitude and his mighty armies that were slain with the sword, also went down into hell with him.

¹⁸Now tell Me; To whom O Egypt, are you like in glory and in greatness among the trees of Eden? You shall also be brought down with the trees of Eden unto the lower parts of the earth. There you shall lie with the uncircumcised that were slain by the sword. This is how it shall be with Pharaoh and all his multitude, says the Lord GOD.

Ezekiel: chapter 32

¹On the first day of the twelfth month of the twelfth year, the Word of the Lord came to me, saying; ²Ezekiel, son of man; Mourn for Pharaoh the king of Egypt and say to him; He has likened himself to a young lion a leader of the nations, but you are as a monster in the seas who came and troubled the source of the people's prosperity. ³Therefore I, the Lord God will spread out My net over you and a company of many people shall haul you in, within My net. ⁴And I will leave you exposed on the land of Egypt. Letting the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth feed off you. ⁵I will scatter your flesh across the mountains and fill the valleys with the innocent you have slain. ⁶I will fill the entire landscape and the rivers with your blood. ⁷The day when I blot you out, I will cover the heaven and make the sun, moon and stars dark. ⁸All the bright lights of the heavens shall be dark over all Egypt. ⁹Many people of the nations shall be troubled when you are carried into captivity among the nations. ¹⁰Yes, the people shall be amazed at you and all the kings shall continually tremble, every man for his own life, in the day when you fall. ¹¹For the sword of the king of Babylon will come upon you.

¹²Through the swords of the mighty I will cause the most terrible of the nations to fall, they shall deflate the pride of Egypt and destroy your multitudes. ¹³I shall destroy even the beasts from beside the great waters and the land shall no longer be troubled by man or beast. ¹⁴Then shall the waters and the rivers be quiet and become clear, running slowly and smoothly, says the Lord GOD. ¹⁵When I smite Egypt and make the land desolate, then shall they know that I am the LORD. ¹⁶This is the mourning of Egypt. The daughters of the nations shall mourn and all of her multitude, says the Lord God.

¹⁷Also, in the fifteenth day of the month of the twelfth year, the Word of the Lord came to me, saying; ¹⁸Ezekiel, son of man; Wail for the multitude of Egypt, even as it is brought down, along with the daughters of the majestic nations. As it goes down into the lower parts of the earth, with those who go down to the pit. ¹⁹What nation do you believe you surpass in beauty? As you go down and are laid with the uncircumcised. ²⁰They shall also fall in the midst of them that are slain by the sword, she and all her multitudes shall be delivered to the sword. ²¹The strong men among the mighty that were slain by the sword, shall speak of Pharaoh out of the midst of hell with those who had help him, as they all lie uncircumcised. ²²Assyria and all of her company is there, their graves all around, all of them slain by the sword. ²³Their graves are set in the sides of the pit, for they had caused terror in the land of the living. ²⁴Elam is there, having aligned themselves with Assyria, with all her multitudes around her grave, all of them slain by the sword. Having gone down with the uncircumcised into the lower parts of the earth, for they had also caused terror in the land of the living and thus bore the same shame as the Assyrians. ²⁵Yes, all their multitudes have made their beds in the midst of the slain and the uncircumcised, having terrorized the land of the living, now bearing their shame with those who go down to the pit.

²⁶Then there are Assyria's neighboring allies, Meshech, Tubal and all of their multitudes. Their graves are also around about his, they are also of the uncircumcised slain by the sword, having caused terror in the land of the living. ²⁷However they shall not lie with the mighty of the uncircumcised, even though their swords are laid, (with honors) under their heads. Their iniquities shall still be upon their bones, for they were the terror of the mighty in the land of the living. ²⁸Yes, you shall also be broken and lie with them who were slain by the sword, in the midst of the uncircumcised.

²⁹Edom is there, along with her kings and princes, all going down to the pit. ³⁰The princes of the north is there and all the Sidonians, bear their shame with them that go down to the pit. ³¹And Pharaoh shall see them all and take comfort over his multitude. ³²For I have caused My terror to be in the land of the living and Pharaoh and his multitude shall be laid in the midst of the uncircumcised, says the Lord GOD.

Ezekiel: chapter 33

¹Again the Word of the LORD came to me, saying; ²Ezekiel, son of man; Tell your people, the captives of Israel in Babylon. That before I bring a sword against the land, They are to choose a man from among them and make him their watchman. ³So that, when he sees the battle coming, he shall sound the alert and warn the people. ⁴Then, it shall be that whosoever hears the alarm, yet does not head the warning, if he falls by the sword, he shall be responsible for the shedding of his own blood. ⁵He that does not take the warning, shall be responsible for his own life, but he that takes the warning shall deliver his own life. ⁶However, if the watchman sees the battle coming and fails to sound the alert, so that the people are not warned. And some of the people get taken by the sword, the watchman will bear this guilt and he shall be responsible for the shed blood of the people.

⁷So Ezekiel, I have made you as a watchman over the house of Israel. You shall hear from Me and warn the people. ⁸When I point out to the people their wicked ways and say to them, you shall surely die. If you do not warn them as such, that wicked man shall die unaware, in his sins and you shall be responsible for his life. ⁹But if the wicked man is warned of his ways and does not turn from them, when he dies in his sin, you shall not be responsible for his life.

¹⁰Therefore, Ezekiel, son of man; Speak to the house of Israel and say to them; Since your sins and transgressions are upon you and you are wasting away in them, how then do you expect to live? ¹¹Tell them that; As sure as I live, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked. Rather I wish the wicked to turn from their evil ways and live, for why should the people of the house of Israel perish?

¹²Therefore, Ezekiel, say to your people; The goodness of the righteous will not justify them in the day of their transgression. Nor shall the wicked fall from their past evil in the day when they turn from their wickedness. ¹³Even when I have said to the righteous, they shall surely live. If he trusts then in his own righteousness and falls into sin. All of his past righteousness and good deeds shall not be remembered and he shall die in his sins. ¹⁴And again, when I say to the wicked, you shall surely die. If that man turns from his sin, doing what is lawful and right. ¹⁵Restoring his pledges and making good what he has robbed and walking upright, he shall surely live and not die. ¹⁶None of his past sins that he committed shall be brought up, for he has now done that which is lawful and right, therefore, he shall live.

¹⁷Yet, the people of Israel say, The way of the Lord is not just, actually, their way is not just. ¹⁸For if the righteous turns from their righteousness and fall into sin, he shall die through his sin. ¹⁹But if the wicked turns from their wickedness and does what is lawful and right, they shall live. ²⁰Yet they still say; The way of the Lord is not just. House of Israel, I will judge everyone of you after his own way.

²¹On the fifth day of the tenth month of the twelfth year of our captivity in Babylon, a man who had escaped out of Jerusalem came to me, (Ezekiel), telling me of how the city was taken. ²²And in the evening, before the man came to me, the hand of the LORD came upon me. The Lord opened my mouth, so I could speak to the people, making an end to my silence.

²³Then the Word of the LORD came to me, saying; ²⁴Ezekiel, son of man; Those who are still dwelling back in the ruins of Israel are saying that Abraham being only one man, inherited the land. But, since we are many the land shall surly be given to us as an inheritance. ²⁵Therefore say to them; The Lord God knows that you eat your meat with its blood, you worship your idols and you shed innocent blood. And you then say we shall possess the land? ²⁶You depend upon your sword as a way of life, you work abominations and you defile your neighbor's wife. And then you say, we shall possess the land?

²⁷Say this to them; As I, the Lord God lives, you that are dwelling back in the ruins of Israel shall surely fall by the sword. He that is in the open field shall be eaten by the beasts of the field and he that has taken cover in forts and caves shall die of disease. ²⁸And I will have the land to lay desolate and the pride of her strength shall cease. And the mountains of Israel shall be so desolate, that no one shall dare to pass over them. ²⁹When I have made the land desolate, because of all their abominations, then shall they know that I am the LORD.

³⁰Also, Ezekiel, son of man; When your people speak of you, they say to one another. Come let's hear the Word that comes forth from the LORD. ³¹Then they come and sit before you, as My people and hear My Words. However, they refuse to do them, for they speak loving words, but their hearts run after ill gotten gain. ³²You are to them as a pleasant voice singing a very lovely song and they hear your words, but they do not heed them. ³³But when My Word comes to pass and it will come to pass, they shall then know that a prophet has been among them.

Ezekiel: chapter 34

¹And the Word of the LORD came to me, saying; ²Ezekiel, son of man; Prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, (the leaders and the priests) and say to them; Thus says the Lord GOD, Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that feed themselves! Should not the shepherds feed the flocks? ³You indulge your appetite with the best of the land, you clothes yourself in the finest of garments and you do not feed the flock. ⁴You have not strengthened the diseased, neither have you healed the sick, or bound the broken, nor do you go after those who have been driven away and lost. Rather you rule over them with force and cruelty. ⁵The people were scattered, because there is no true shepherd and thus they became food to all the beasts of the field. ⁶Even as My people wandered throughout the land, no one sought after them.

⁷Therefore, hear the Word of the LORD, you shepherds; ⁸As I live, says the Lord GOD, because you have neglected My flock allowing them to become prey and you have indulged yourselves. ⁹Therefore, hear My Word! ¹⁰I am against the shepherds and they shall be held accountable for My people. I will cause them to cease from feeding the flock, neither shall they feed themselves off My people.

¹¹For I, Myself will search and seek out My sheep. ¹²As a true shepherd seeks for his flock when he is among them. I will seek them and deliver them out of the places where they have been scattered. ¹³And I will gather them from the countries and bring them into their own land, feeding them by the rivers and mountains of Israel. ¹⁴I shall feed them in a good pasture and their fold shall be upon the high mountains of Israel. There shall they lie down in a good fold and of a fair pasture land. ¹⁵There shall I feed My flock and cause them to lie down, says the Lord GOD. ¹⁶I will seek the lost, bringing back those that were driven away, binding up what was broken and will strengthen the weak and the sick. But, I will destroy the fat and the strong, feeding them with judgment.

¹⁷And as for My people, I will personally judge between the good and the bad. ¹⁸How is it that a select few have eaten up the good pasture, leaving the remains to be trample down by the rest? Also having drunk the clear waters, leaving the muddy and murky waters for the rest? ¹⁹For My flock eats and drinks what you have trodden down with your feet.

²⁰Therefore, says the Lord GOD; I will also judge between the fat and the impoverished of you. ²¹Because the stronger of you have pushed the weaker and the diseased out, until they are now scattered abroad. ²²Therefore, I will rescue My flock and they shall no longer be your prey and I shall judge them. ²³I shall place one Shepherd over them and He shall feed them, even My servant David. ²⁴And the LORD shall be their God and My servant David a prince among them. Just as I have spoken. ²⁵I will make a covenant of peace with them and will cause the evil beasts to be removed from the land. Then they shall dwell safely in the land and sleep in the woods. ²⁶I will make them and their dwelling places round about My hill a blessing. I will cause the rains and the showers to come down in their season and they shall be a blessing. ²⁷The trees of the field shall yield their fruit and the earth her increase. The people shall dwell in safety in their land, knowing that I am the LORD.

²⁸They shall no longer be prey to the heathen nations, neither shall the beast of the fields devour them. For they shall dwell in safely and no one shall make them afraid. ²⁹I shall raise up for them rich and fertile gardens, taking away hunger in the land. ³⁰And they shall know that the LORD their God is with the house of Israel and they are My people, says the Lord God. ³¹Yes, you are My flock, the people of My pasture and I am your God.

Ezekiel: chapter 35

¹Moreover, the Word of the LORD came to me, saying; ²Ezekiel, son of man; Prophesy against Mount Seir, (Edom). ³And say; The Lord God is against you. He will stretch out His hand and make you a ruin and a wasteland. ⁴I will reduce your cities to rubble and you shall be desolate, then shall you know and understand that I am the LORD.

⁵I do this because, you (the people of Esau) have had a perpetual hatred towards the children of Israel. You attacked them with the sword when they were suffering in their Babylonian conquest. ⁶Therefore, as sure as I live, I will prepare for you a real bloodbath. Since you have not hated war, war shall pursue you. ⁷Mount Seir will become most desolate and no one shall come or go from it. ⁸I will fill the mountains with slain men, also the hills, valleys and rivers shall overflow with the slain, who have fallen by the sword. ⁹And you shall be forever desolate, your cities shall not be rebuilt, then shall you know and understand that I am the LORD.

¹⁰Because Edom has said; These two nations (Israel and Judah), shall be ours, we shall possess it, even though the Lord was there. ¹¹Therefore, as I live, I will do according as your anger and your envy, that has come out of the hatred you have for them. And I will make Myself known among you, when I have judged you. ¹²You shall then know that I am the LORD, for I have heard all the blasphemies that you have spoken against the lands of Israel, saying to yourself; Their land is desolate and has been given to us to consume. ¹³You have spoken this boast and magnified your words against Me.

¹⁴When I make you into a wasteland, the whole earth shall rejoice. ¹⁵For you rejoiced at the desolation of the house of Israel, so shall others rejoice at your desolation. Then shall you know and understand that I am the LORD.

Ezekiel: chapter 36

¹Ezekiel, son of man; Prophesy to the lands of Israel and say; Hear the Word of the LORD. ²Because the enemy has spoken against you, saying; All the land is now our possession. ³Therefore prophesy and say; Because you have been swallowing up on all sides of you the nations around you as a possession, you have become the evil gossip of the people. ⁴Therefore, hear My Words, all the mountains, hills, rivers and the valleys, even the desolate places and the cities that are deserted of Israel, have become a prey and a mockery to the rest of the nations around you..

⁵Therefore, surely in the heat of My jealousy I have spoken against the rest of the heathen and against all of Edom. For they have laid claim on My land and brought it into their possession, with joyfulness of heart and contempt that they might pillage the land. ⁶Therefore, prophesy to the land of Israel and say; The Lord has spoken in His jealousy and in His fury, because you have been shamed by the heathen nations. ⁷Thus I have lifted up My hand and have spoken that the heathen nations around you shall now bear their shame. ⁸But now the lands of Israel, shall furnish and yield its fruit to My people of Israel, for they are soon to arrive home.

⁹For indeed, I am for you and the land shall become plowed and planted. ¹⁰The house of Israel shall be populated in the land, the cities shall be inhabited and the waste places shall be rebuilt. ¹¹I will multiply both man and beast in the land and they shall increase and prosper, as it was before. I will do better for you than at your beginnings and you shall know and understand that I am the LORD. ¹² Yes, I will cause men and My people Israel to again walk on you. They shall possess you and you shall be their inheritance, no longer shall you bereave them.

¹³Because they have said to you; This land consumes men with child sacrifices, thus bereaving the nations. ¹⁴Therefore you shall not devour men no more, neither shall you bereave the nations any longer, says the Lord GOD. ¹⁵You shall not be shamed by the nations any more, nor bear the shame of the people any more, or cause your nation to fall any more, says the Lord God.

¹⁶Moreover, the Word of the LORD came to me, saying; ¹⁷Ezekiel, son of man; Before when the house of Israel dwelt in their own land, they defiled it through their own ways and deeds. Their ways were before Me as the uncleanness of a woman during her impurity. ¹⁸So I poured out My fury upon them, because of the blood that they poured out on the land and how they polluted the land with their idols. ¹⁹I then scattered them among the heathen nations and I judged them according to their ways and deeds. ²⁰Wherever they went into captivity, they profaned My holy name. For men said of them, These are the Lord's people and yet they were driven out of His land. ²¹But I was concerned about My holy name, that the house of Israel had profaned among the heathen, wherever they went.

²²Therefore say to the house of Israel; I the Lord, do this for My holy name sake which you have profaned among the heathen nations and not for your sakes. ²³I will sanctify My great name, that you have profaned among the heathen and the heathen shall also know and understand that I am the LORD, when they shall see My holiness revealed through you. ²⁴For I will gather you from among the heathen nations and will bring you into your own land. ²⁵And cleanse you from the filthiness of all your idols. ²⁶I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you. Taking away your heart of stone and giving you a heart of flesh. ²⁷I will put My spirit within you, causing you to walk in My statutes and you shall keep My judgments. ²⁸Then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, as My people and I will be your God. ²⁹I shall deliver them from all their uncleanness and will call forth the grain of the fields, no more famine shall be laid upon you. ³⁰I will multiply the fruit of the tree, the land shall produce its increase and no longer shall the heathen reproach you because of famine. ³¹At that time, you will remember your own evil ways and deeds and shall despise yourselves because of your iniquities and abominations. ³²Again I say, I do not do this for your sakes, rather for My holy name sake. But, may the house of Israel be ashamed and confounded for their own wicked ways.

³³In the day when I cleanse you from all your iniquities. I shall also cause Israel to dwell in the cities and the ruins shall be rebuilt. ³⁴The desolate land shall be tilled and cared for, it shall not remain desolate to those that passed by. ³⁵And they that pass by shall comment, that the once barren land now appears as a great garden and the cities are fenced and occupied. ³⁶The heathen that are around you will then know that I the LORD have built the ruined places and planted what was desolate. I have spoken it and will do it.

³⁷I will do as the house of Israel has sought Me to do. I will increase their populations as a flock. ³⁸As the holy flock of Jerusalem in partaking in their solemn feasts and the once desolate cities shall be filled with multitudes of men and they shall know that I am the LORD.

Ezekiel: chapter 37

¹Now the hand of the LORD was upon me and the Spirit of the Lord carried me out and set me down in the midst of a valley that was full of bones. ²Causing me to pass among all of them, for there were very many in the valley and the bones were very dry. ³And the Lord said to me, Ezekiel, son of man; Can these bones live? And I answered, Lord GOD, only You know that. ⁴Again the Lord said to me; Prophesy upon these bones and say to them, you dry bones, hear the Word of the LORD. ⁵The Lord God says, I will cause breath to enter into you and you shall live. ⁶I will bring flesh upon you and cover you with skin, putting breath in you. You shall then live, knowing and understanding that I am the LORD.

⁷When I prophesied as I was commanded, there was a noise, the bones were shaken and they came together, bone to its very bone. ⁸And when I looked, flesh came up upon them and the bones were covered with skin, but there was no breath in them. ⁹The Lord then said to me; Ezekiel, prophesy to the breath of the Spirit and say; The Lord God says; Spirit, come from the four winds and breath on these dead ones so that they may live. ¹⁰So I prophesied as the Lord had commanded me and breath came into them. An exceeding great army then stood on its feet.

¹¹The Lord then said to me; Ezekiel, son of man; These bones are the whole house of Israel. The people say; Our bones are dried and our hope is lost, we are completely cut off. ¹²Therefore prophesy to them, saying; The Lord God says; I will open your graves of My people, causing you to come forth and will bring you into the land of Israel. ¹³After I have opened the graves of My people, you will then know and understand that I am the LORD. ¹⁴I will put My Spirit in you and you shall live. I shall place you in your own land, then shall you know that I the LORD have spoken it and performed it.

¹⁵Again the Word of the LORD came to me, saying; ¹⁶Ezekiel, son of man; Take a stick and write on it, for Judah and his companions, the children of Israel. Then take another stick and write on it, for Joseph, (the stick of Ephraim) and his companions, all the house of Israel. ¹⁷Then join them together, as one stick and they shall become one in your hands. ¹⁸And when the sons of your people ask you, what is meant by these things? ¹⁹Say to them; The Lord God will take the stick of Joseph and the tribes of Israel his companions. And will put them with the stick of Judah, making them one stick in the hands of the Lord. ²⁰Then take the sticks you have written on and set them before the people's eyes. ²¹And say to the people; The Lord will gather the children of Israel from among the heathen nations and bring them into their own land: ²²And He will make them one nation in the land of Israel. There shall be one king over them all, they shall no longer be two nations, divided into two kingdoms. (NOTE: the northern kingdom, 'Israel' and the southern kingdom, 'Judah') ²³They will not defile themselves any more with their idols, nor with their detestable things, or by any of their past transgressions. For I will save them out of all of these things and will cleanse them. Then they will be My people and I will be their God.

²⁴And David My servant shall be king over them. They will all have one Shepherd and will walk in My judgments, keeping My statutes. ²⁵They and all their children's generations shall dwell in the land, where your fathers dwelt, the land that I gave to Jacob My servant and My servant David shall be their ruler forever. ²⁶Moreover I shall make an everlasting covenant of peace with them. I shall bless them and multiply them and My sanctuary shall be at the center of their lives for evermore. ²⁷Also My tabernacle shall be with them and I will be their God and they shall be My people. ²⁸And when My sanctuary appears in the midst of them, then shall the heathen know and understand that the LORD is the one whom has set Israel apart.

Ezekiel: chapter 38

¹And the Word of the LORD came to me, saying; ²Ezekiel, son of man; Prophesy against Gog, of the land of Magog, the chief prince of the people of Meshech and Tubal. ³And say, The Lord is against you, O Gog. ⁴He will turn you around, put hooks into your jaws and bring you forth. Even your entire great army, of horses and horsemen, outfitted with armor, shields and swords. ⁵Together with the nations of Persia, Ethiopia will all bring their arms. ⁶The armies of Gomer and the house of Togarmah will be with you, many multitudes shall be with you.

⁷So be prepared Gog, prepare yourself and tell all the armies with you to be on guard. ⁸After much time I will recruit you for service. In later years you and your multitudes shall gather on mountains of Israel. The land that once laid desolate, but now the people shall dwell in it secure. ⁹You shall descend and cover the land like a great storm, all your armies and their multitudes. ¹⁰Right at that time, thoughts shall come to your mind and you shall devise an evil scheme. ¹¹For you shall plan to go to the villages without defenses, to them who are at peace. ¹²So as to take the spoil and to take captives, to again turn the inhabited places into desolate places. ¹³Sheba, Dedan together with the merchants of Tarshish and all of their trading posts. Will inquire if the armies have come to take a great spoil?

¹⁴Therefore, Ezekiel, prophesy to Gog and say; Thus says the Lord GOD, In that day when My people of Israel dwell safely in the land and are blessed, you shall know of it? ¹⁵For you will come from your lands of the north and many multitudes with you, a great company and mighty armies all riding on horses. ¹⁶To battle against My people of Israel in the latter days. I will then bring you against My land, so that the heathen may know and understand Me, when I am sanctified through you, O Gog, before everyone's eyes. ¹⁷Are you the great destroyer that many of My prophets have spoken of in former days?

¹⁸And it shall happen that when Gog comes against the land of Israel, My wrath shall rise up. ¹⁹For I have spoken in My jealousy and wrath, that day, there shall indeed be a great quaking in the land of Israel. ²⁰So intense shall it be that the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the beasts of the field, all creeping things and all men on the earth, shall shake at My presence. For the mountains will be thrown down and every natural or artificial wall shall fall to the ground. ²¹And I will bring a sword against Gog throughout all My lands, every man's sword shall be against his brother. ²²I shall judge the multitudes with both disease and with bloodshed, raining upon them great hailstones, fire and brimstone. ²³Thus I shall magnify and sanctify Myself, then many nations will know that I am the LORD.

Ezekiel: chapter 39

¹Therefore, Ezekiel, son of man; Prophesy against Gog, saying; The Lord God says He is against you, O Gog, the chief prince of the people of Meshech and Tubal. ²I will entice you and lead you out to the mountains of Israel, for destruction. ³I shall then unarm your forces. ⁴And your entire company shall fall upon the mountains of Israel. I shall then turn you over to the ravenous birds of every sort and to the beasts of the field to be devoured. ⁵This will happen, for I have spoken it, says the Lord GOD. ⁶I will also send a fire on Magog and those that dwell carelessly in the neighboring isles. Then they shall know that I am the LORD. ⁷Thus, I will make My holy name known in the midst of My people Israel, for I will not let them defile My holy name any more. And the heathen nations shall also know that I am the LORD, the Holy One of Israel. ⁸Yes, this will all come to pass, for this is the day when I have spoken it. ⁹They that dwell in the cities of Israel shall burn and destroy every weapon and they shall burn them as fuel for the fire for seven years. ¹⁰And they will not need to get wood from the field, or cut down lumber from the forests, for they shall use their weapons as fuel for the fire. Also, the Israelites shall spoil their nations, just as they themselves were once spoiled.

¹¹In that day, I will assign to Gog a place, a grave there in Israel east of the sea. And all those who pass by shall be speechless as they look at the graves where Gog and his multitude are buried. And they will call it, The valley of Hamon-gog, (meaning: Valley of the Multitude of Gog). ¹²There will be such a multitude of bodies, it will take the house of Israel seven months to bury all of them, so that Israel may cleanse the land. ¹³All the people of the land shall bury them. Leading up to the great day when I, the Lord God am glorified.

¹⁴There shall be constant employment for those who pass through the land, in burying the dead. At the end of seven months there shall be a final search of the land. ¹⁵And they that pass through the land, shall mark any human remains for burial, so they that bury can take them away to the valley of Hamon-gog. ¹⁶ And also the name of the city shall be Hamonah. Thus shall they cleanse the land.

¹⁷Now Ezekiel, son of man; Speak to every bird of prey and every beast of the field. Have them come together for a great sacrifice that I shall provide for them on the mountains of Israel. ¹⁸There you shall eat of the flesh of the mighty and drink the blood of the princes of the earth, the choicest of meats that the earth has to offer. ¹⁹And you shall eat until full and drink blood until you are satisfied, of My sacrifice which I have prepared for you. ²⁰Thus shall you be filled and satisfied at My table partaking in the victory of war, says the Lord God. ²¹For I have placed My glory among the nations and all the nations shall see My judgments which I have done among them.

²²And the house of Israel shall know that I am the LORD their God from that day forward. ²³Also the heathen will know and understand that because the house of Israel trespassed against Me by their iniquities, they went into captivity. Therefore, I hid My face from them and gave them into the hand of their enemies, to fall by the sword. ²⁴Yes, according to their uncleanness and their transgressions I dealt with them and hid My face from them.

²⁵Therefore says the Lord GOD; I will reverse the captivity of Jacob, having mercy on the entire house of Israel and be zealous for My holy name. ²⁶And after they have forgotten their shame, from all their trespasses against Me. They shall dwell safely in their land and no one shall make them afraid. ²⁷When I have gathered the people out of the lands of their enemies and have sanctified them in the sight of many nations. ²⁸It shall then be apparent, that I am the LORD their God. Which cause them to be taken captive by the heathen nations, but I then also gathered all of them back unto their own land. ²⁹Neither shall I hide My face any more from them, for My Spirit has been poured out upon the house of Israel.

Ezekiel: chapter 40

Ezekiel's vision of the temple.

¹In the beginning of the twenty-fifth year of our captivity, the tenth day of the month of the fourteenth year after the city of Jerusalem had fallen. That day the hand of the LORD was upon me and brought me to the place. ²In the vision, God brought me into the land of Israel and set me upon a very high mountain, what seemed to be the foundation of the southern city. ³There I saw a man, (an angel) whose appearance was of bronze, he stood in the gate holding a cord and a measuring rod.

⁴The man said to me, son of man; See and hear and focus on all that I show you, for that is why I brought you here. That you may declare all that you see to the house of Israel. ⁵Now there was a wall all around the outside of the house and in the man's hand was a measuring rod 10.5 feet long. And he measured the walls, their thickness was one rod and the walls height was one rod.

⁶He then passed through the eastern gate and went up its seven steps. There he measured the threshold of the gate of one rod wide and the inside threshold was also one rod wide. ⁷All of the small guard chambers were one rod square and between the little chambers were dividers of 7.5 feet thick. And the inside threshold of the gate from the side of the porch of the gate, which was also one rod. ⁸And the porch of the gate was one rod. ⁹The porch of the gate was 12 feet, plus the posts of that were 3 feet each, for the gate opened inward towards the courtyard. ¹⁰There were three small guard chambers on each side of the east entrance, the three were of one measure, as were also the posts on either side. ¹¹The width of the entry of the gateway was 15 feet and 19.5 feet in length. ¹²The space before the small chambers was 18 inches on the front and the back and were spaced 9 feet apart on either side. ¹³The gate from the roof of one small chamber to the roof of another, the distance was 37.5 feet, also from one door to the other door. ¹⁴The posts of the court round about the gate were 90 feet apart. ¹⁵From the entrance of the gate to the beginning of the inner porch was 75 feet. ¹⁶And closed windows were in the small chambers all around, separated by their pillars of palm trees.

¹⁷He then brought me into the outer court and there were thirty chambers round about the paved outer court. ¹⁸And the lower pavement ran along the length of the gates. ¹⁹And the width from the front of the lower gate to the front of the inner court was 150 feet, going from east to north.

²⁰And he measured the length and width of the gate of the outer court facing north. ²¹There were also three small chambers on either side of the entrance. The posts and arches had the same measurements of the first gate, its length was 75 feet and its width was 37.5 feet. ²²Also the windows, arches and the palm trees, had the same measurements as did the eastern gate. There were seven steps going up to the northern gate having arches over them. ²³The northern gate of the inner court was aligned with the northern outer gate, just as the inner court also had a gate that aligned with the outer eastern gate and the distance between each gate was 150 feet.

²⁴He then brought me to the south gate and the posts and the arches had the same measure. ²⁵There were windows in it covering a span of 75 feet by 37.5 feet and arches were around about. ²⁶There were also seven steps going up from the south gate to it, with arches and palm trees. ²⁷There was also a gate in the inner court that aligned with the outer southern gate and the distance between the two was 159 feet.

²⁸He then brought me through the south entrance of the inner court and he measured the gate, it had the same measurements according to the other gates. ²⁹The small chambers, the posts and the arches were according to the measurements of the other side. There were also windows, arches round about, they were 75 feet long by 37.5 feet wide. ³⁰The arches round about were 37.5 feet long and 7.5 feet wide. ³¹The arches faced towards the outer court with palm trees upon the posts on both sides of the gate and there were eight steps going up.

³²He then brought me through the east entrance of the inner court and he measured the gate, it had the same measurements according to the other gates. ³³The small chambers, the posts and the arches were according to the measurements of the other side. There were also windows, arches round about, they were 75 feet long by 37.5 feet wide. ³⁴The arches faced towards the outer court with palm trees upon the posts on both sides of the gate and there were eight steps going up.

³⁵He then brought me through the north entrance of the inner court and he measured the gate, it had the same measurements according to the other gates. ³⁶The small chambers, the posts and the arches were according to the measurements of the other side. There were also windows, arches round about, they were 75 feet long by 37.5 feet wide. ³⁷The arches faced towards the outer court with palm trees upon the posts on both sides of the gate and there were seven steps going up.

³⁸In the inner court, there was a chamber where the burnt offering was to be washed. ³⁹And in the porch of the gate were two tables on each side, to slay either the burnt offering, the sin offering or the trespass offering. ⁴⁰As you entered further into the inner court going towards the door of the north gate, there were two tables and on the opposite side were two more tables. ⁴¹Four tables were on one side and four tables on the other side, eight tables in all for the killing of sacrifices. ⁴²Four of the tables were of hewn stone for the burnt offering, 2.25 feet square and 19 inches high. Also, the instruments needed for the offering and sacrifice were kept on the tables. ⁴³The meat hooks were fastened on the walls round about, for the tables were used to hold the flesh of the offering.

⁴⁴Inside the inner court were the chambers of the singers, one by the north wall and the other by the south wall, each one facing the opposite direction. ⁴⁵The angel then showed me a chamber facing south, for the priests, the keepers of the house. ⁴⁶And the chamber facing north, for the priests, the keepers of the altar. These are the sons of Zadok among the sons of Levi, the only sons of Levi allowed to minister unto the Lord.

⁴⁷The angel then measured the court, it was 150 feet square and the altar was the focal point of the house. ⁴⁸Then he brought me to the porch of the house, measuring each post of the porch, 7.5 feet on both sides and the width of the gate was 4.5 feet on both sides. ⁴⁹The entrance to the inner court was 30 feet long and 16.5 feet wide.

Ezekiel: chapter 41

¹After this he brought me to the temple and measured the doorposts, 9 feet wide on both sides, which was the width of the tabernacle or tent, (later called the temple). ²The width of the door was 15 feet, with the door side being 7.5 feet thick. With the tabernacle having a total length of 60 feet by 30 feet. ³Being an angel and able to go into the inner room of the tabernacle, he went inside alone and measured the doorposts that were both 3 feet thick, the door of 9 feet and the measure of the door of 10.5 feet. ⁴The inside of the room was 30 feet square and when he came out, he said to me, This is the Most Holy place, (the Holy of Holies).

⁵He then measured the wall of the temple, it was 9 feet thick and the width of the chambers around the room was 6 feet. ⁶There were three chambers in all, stacked on top of each other, each chamber having thirty compartments. The chambers were attached to the wall and entered into the taper of the wall, but was not supported by the wall. ⁷As the wall of the temple rose in height, it tapered and so the chambers increased in their depth as they went higher. ⁸The foundation of the wall where the lower side chambers were was 9 feet thick. ⁹The thickness of the wall where the second side chamber was 7.5 feet. ¹⁰Between the chambers was a span of 30 feet, all around the temple on every side. ¹¹The doors to the attached side chambers opened into the open area, one door toward the north, the other door toward the south, leaving a width between them of 7.5 feet around.

¹²The building that was at the west end had an inside space of 105 feet and the walls of the building were 7.5 feet thick and the length 135 feet. ¹³The house measured to be 150 feet long, together with the courtyard. ¹⁴And the width of the house, along with the courtyard to the east, was 150 feet. ¹⁵The angel measured the length of the building, from the courtyard side, also 150 feet. Containing the inner temple and the porches of the court. ¹⁶The door posts, the narrow windows and the galleries, all the way around, from the ground up to the windows was covered with wood paneling. ¹⁷Everything was covered, from above the door, the inner house, inside and outside, along with the other walls.

¹⁸The covering was made with images of cherubim and palm trees. Where a palm tree was between a each cherub and every cherub had two faces. ¹⁹Where the man's face was toward the palm tree on one side and the face of a young lion looks toward the palm tree on the other side, this pattern ran through the whole house. ²⁰From the floor to the ceiling was the pattern of cherubim and palm trees and on the walls of the temple.

²¹The posts of the temple were square, having a symmetrical appearance from all sides. ²²The altar of wood was 4.5 feet high and 3 feet square, covered completely with wood. The angel then said to me, this table is before the LORD.

²³There were two doors to the temple and the sanctuary. ²⁴And both doors had two splits and hinged leaves to them. ²⁵On the leaves of the doors, was also the same pattern of cherubim and palm trees. ²⁶And there were narrow windows and palm trees all around, on the sides of the porch and on the side of the chambers of the house, with thick planks of wood for the canopy of the house.

Ezekiel: chapter 42

¹The angel then brought me into the outer court and into the chamber on the north. ²A length of a 150 feet was before the north door and the width was 75 feet. ³Across the pavement of the outer court, the inner court ran 30 feet in length and the building was made up of room upon room, three stories high. ⁴Before the chambers, lining the outside was a walk having a width of 15 feet and 150 feet long. With the entrance to the small chambers facing north. ⁵Now the upper chambers were narrower, for they were in the center of the building. ⁶The building had three stories, but did not have main outer pillars, for all three levels of the building were tapered. ⁷There was a wall that ran parallel with the small chambers lining the outside, facing the outer court that was 75 feet long. ⁸For the length of the small chambers that were in the outer court spanned 75 feet in length. For the width of the temple was 150 feet. ⁹Underneath the chambers was the east entrance, opening from the outer court. ¹⁰ The chambers were recessed in the wall of the east court, facing into the outer court. ¹¹Having a passage way in front of them and lining the outside wall of the building. The small chambers on the east had the same measurements as the chambers on the north. ¹²Likewise, the chambers on the south, along with its entrance was the same as the chambers and entrance on the east.

¹³The angel then said to me; The north chambers and the south chambers facing into the outer court are holy chambers. The priests that go before the LORD shall eat the most holy things there. They shall lay the most holy things, the offerings, the sin offering and the trespass offering there. ¹⁴When the priests enter into the chambers, they shall not go out into the outer court, until they set aside their clothes that they minister in. For those garments are holy and they shall put on other garments before they approach the people.

¹⁵When the angel had finished measuring the inner house, he brought me out through the east gate and measured it. ¹⁶He measured the east side with the measuring rod, of 10.5 feet, 500 rods, (approximately one mile) ¹⁷The north side was 500 rods. ¹⁸The south side was 500 rods. ¹⁹The west side was 500 rods. ²⁰An area covering 1 square mile to form separation between the holy sanctuary and the common place.

Ezekiel: chapter 43

¹The angel then brought me to the gate that faced east. ²Right then the glory of the God of Israel came from the east, His voice was like the sound of many waters and the earth shined with His glory. ³The vision that I saw was according to my earlier vision when I came to observe and foretell the destruction of the city. And was also like the vision that I saw by the river Chebar and I fell upon my face. ⁴And the glory of the Lord came into the house, by the way, of the east gate. ⁵Then the Spirit took me up, bringing me into the inner court and the glory of the Lord filled the house.

⁶And I heard Him speaking to me from the Temple and a Man stood by me. ⁷And the Lord said to me; Son of man, this is the place of My throne and where I shall dwell in the midst of the children of Israel forever. My holy name shall no longer be defiled by the house of Israel, not by the people nor by their kings, through whoredoms, or by dead bodies as trophies to their kings. ⁸For when they set up their idolatrous worship places by My holy thresholds, with only a thin wall between Me and them. They defiled My holy name through their abominations that they have committed and I have consumed them in My anger. ⁹Therefore let them put away their whoredom and let their kings cease their violence, then I shall dwell in the midst of them forever.

¹⁰Thou son of man, show the temple to the house of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities and let them measure the pattern. ¹¹If they are ashamed of all that they have done, show them the structure of the house. Its entrances and exits, its statues, laws and proceedings. Make known to them all these things and write them before their eyes, so they may observe its entire form. ¹²For this is the law of the house and of the Lord; The whole area on top of the mountain shall be most holy! This is the law of the house. ¹³These are the royal measurements of the altar. The base shall be 1.75 feet, the width 1.75 feet and its border around the edges shall be 9 inches. This is the height of the altar. ¹⁴From the base on the ground to the lower ledge is 3.5 feet, having a width of 1.75 feet. From the smaller ledge to the greater ledge shall be 7 feet, with a width 1.75 feet. ¹⁵The altar therefore, shall be 7 feet high, with 4 horns pointing upward. ¹⁶The altar shall be 21 feet square. ¹⁷The frame of the altar shall be 24.5 feet square, with 10.5 inches as a border around it. With 21 inches on the bottom, having stairs on the east side of the altar.

¹⁸The angel then said to me; Son of man; The Lord God says: These are the ordinances of the altar in the day when they shall make it, to offer burnt offerings on and to sprinkle blood on. ¹⁹You shall assign to the priests, the Levites that are of the line of Zadok to minister to Me. They shall offer to Me a young bullock for a sin offering. ²⁰Taking of its blood, they shall put some of it on the four horns of the altar and the parts of the altar, to cleanse and purge it.

²¹They shall then take the bull of the sin offering and burn it in the appointed place, outside of the sanctuary. ²²On the second day you shall offer a young goat without blemish again as a sin offering, to cleanse the altar, as was done with the bull. ²³When you have finished cleansing the altar, you shall offer a young bull without blemish and a ram without blemish. ²⁴They shall be offered before the Lord and the priests shall sprinkle salt on them. ²⁵For seven consecutive days a goat shall be prepared as a sin offering and a young bull and a ram, without blemish shall be prepared. ²⁶The altar shall be purged and purified for seven days, thus shall the priests consecrate and set it apart to receive offerings. ²⁷After the seven days, on the eighth day and thereafter. I will accept the burnt and peace offerings the priests offer on the altar, says the Lord GOD.

Ezekiel: chapter 44

¹The angel then brought me back by way of the gate of the outer sanctuary facing east and the gate was shut. ²The Lord then said to me; This gate shall remain shut, it shall not be opened and no man shall enter in through it, because the LORD God of Israel has entered in by it. ³It shall be for the prince, he shall sit there and eat bread before the Lord, entering and exiting, by the way, of the porch of that gate.

⁴He then brought me through the north gate to the front of the temple. And when I looked, the glory of the Lord filled the house and I fell upon my face. ⁵And the Lord said to me; son of man; Note well and let your heart comprehend all that I say to you, concerning the ordinances of the house of the Lord. The laws of the house and know who is allowed to enter the sanctuary and who is not to. ⁶And say to that rebellious house of Israel; The Lord GOD of Israel says; May all of your previous abominations be enough for you, do not repeat them. ⁷For you have brought strangers, (uncircumcised in both heart and flesh), into My sanctuary and have profaned it. In addition they offer My bread, the fat and the blood to these idols and have broken My covenant with their further abominations. ⁸Nor have they kept the charge of My holy things, but they have put keepers in charge of My sanctuary to relieve them of the burden. ⁹I tell you that no stranger among the children of Israel, (uncircumcised in heart or flesh), shall enter into My sanctuary, where only the priests shall enter.

¹⁰The Levites who walked far away from Me, when Israel went lusting after their idols, they too shall bear their iniquity. ¹¹Yet they shall be ministers in My sanctuary, keeping charge of the gates of the house. They shall also minister in the house, they shall slay the burnt offerings, the sacrifices for the people, acting as aids to the priests. ¹²Because the priests had ministered to the people while still keeping idols, causing the house of Israel to also fall into iniquity. I have therefore, lifted up My hand against them and they shall bear their iniquity. ¹³However they shall not come near unto me, or serve Me in the office of a priest, or come near any of My holy things in the most holy place. For they shall bear their shame and abominations that they have committed. ¹⁴They shall be appointed as caretakers over the temple and all of its service done in the temple.

¹⁵But the priests the Levites, the sons of Zadok, that kept the charge of My sanctuary when the children of Israel went astray, they shall come near to Me and minister to Me. Standing before Me, offering the fat and the blood of the offering to Me. ¹⁶They shall enter into My sanctuary and come near to My table, ministering unto Me and thus they shall keep My charge. ¹⁷When they do enter into the inner court of the temple, they shall be clothed in a linen garment, they shall wear no wool while they minister within. ¹⁸Bleached linen turbans shall be on their heads and they shall wear bleached linen undergarments. They shall not wear anything that causes them to sweat. ¹⁹And when they go into the outer court to the people, they shall remove their garments that they ministered in and place them in the holy chambers, putting on other garments. ²⁰They shall not shave their heads, nor grow their hair long, but shall routinely trim their hair. ²¹Priest shall not drink wine, when they enter into the inner court. ²²They shall not take as a wife a widow, or a divorced woman, rather they shall take a young woman of the house of Israel, or a widow that had been married to a priest before. ²³And they shall teach My people to discern between the holy and common and the clean and the unclean. ²⁴In disputes they shall stand in judgment, judging according to My judgments, statutes and laws and they shall keep My Sabbaths holy. ²⁵They shall not defile themselves by coming near to a dead body. However, for a family member, (a father, mother, son, daughter, brother or a sister that had no husband), they may defile themselves. ²⁶If so, after the priest has been cleansed, he shall wait seven more days before returning to their temple duties. ²⁷The day when that priest returns to minister in the inner court of the sanctuary, he shall offer his sin offering.

²⁸And the priest's ministry to Me shall be their inheritance and their possession, for I am their inheritance and their possession. You shall not give them any land inheritance in Israel, for I am their possession, (NOTE: this same tenet is seen in Numbers 18:20 and Joshua 13:14). ²⁹They shall eat of the meat offering, the sin offering and the trespass offering and everything that the people of Israel dedicate to God shall be theirs. ³⁰all the firstfruits shall be theirs, along with every sacrificial offering shall be the priest's. The people shall also give the priests the first of their meal and grains, so that the priest may cause the blessing to rest upon their homes. ³¹And the priests shall not eat of any beast or fowl that had died naturally, or has been torn apart.

Ezekiel: chapter 45

¹Now when you divide up the land as your inheritance. You shall set apart an offering of land to the Lord, to be used for holy purposes. The land shall be approximately 8.5 miles by 6.5 miles, even the boarders of the land shall be holy. ²Of this land, 750 square feet shall be for the sanctuary, with 75 feet around its borders as open space. ³Within the general area 8.5 miles by 3.25 miles shall be allotted for the temple building, the sanctuary and the most holy place. ⁴This land shall be for the priests that minister in the sanctuary unto the LORD, a place for their houses and the holy sanctuary. The land shall be a holy portion unto the Lord. ⁵The remaining land of this portion of 8.5 miles by 3.25 miles shall be for the Levites, the ministers of the house and they shall possess it as a place to live.

⁶You shall set aside a measure of land 8.5 miles by 1.7 miles for the holy city, it shall be for the whole house of Israel. ⁷Of this plot of land there shall be a portion for the ruler of Israel on either ends of the land, set aside as a holy section of the city. And the length of the land shall border the other parcel of land. ⁸The land shall be the possession of the ruler in Israel and no more shall he oppress My people. The rest of the land shall be given to the house of Israel according to their tribes.

⁹May this land appease you, is it enough for you O ruler of Israel? Therefore, stop the violence and oppression of My people and execute judgment and justice, says the Lord GOD. ¹⁰You shall keep correct weights and measures. ¹¹The same measures shall apply for both liquid measures and dry measures, that they shall be based on a fair and an incremental standard. ¹²So shall your money be incrementally based, you shall have an honest wage.

¹³This will be the offering that you give: You shall offer one-sixteenth part of your wheat and barley harvest. ¹⁴And you shall offer one-hundredth part of your oil. ¹⁵to make reconciliation for the people they shall offer a lamb out of every two hundred that they have, to provide as a meat offering, or a burnt offering, or a peace offering. ¹⁶All the people shall give this offering for the prince in Israel. ¹⁷And the ruler shall be required to give burnt offerings, grain offering and drink offering, at all the appointed feasts of Israel to make reconciliation for the house of Israel.

¹⁸The first day of the first month, you shall take a young bull without blemish and cleanse the sanctuary. ¹⁹The priest shall take the blood of the sin offering and put it upon the doorposts of the temple, the four corners of the frame of the altar and on the posts of the gate of the inner court. ²⁰You shall also do this on the seventh of the month for every man who has gone astray and for him who has been deceived, thus making atonement for the house. ²¹Now on the fourteenth day of the first month, you shall eat the Passover, unleavened bread shall be eaten for those seven days. ²²On that day the ruler of Israel shall prepare for himself and for all the people of the land a bull as a sin offering. ²³Each of the seven days of the feast, he shall prepare a burnt offering to the LORD of 7 bulls and 7 rams without blemish, also a young goat daily as a sin offering. ²⁴And he shall prepare a grain offering of 5.5 gallons of grain with a bull, or a ram and a gallon of oil. ²⁵On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, the ruler of Israel shall do as he did during the feast lasting seven days. Making offerings according to the sin offering, the burnt offering, the grain offering, using the same amount of oil.

Ezekiel: chapter 46

¹The gate of the inner court facing east shall be kept closed the six working days, but opened on the Sabbath and on the day of the new moon. ²The ruler of Israel shall enter from the outside through the porch of the gate. The ruler shall then stand at the post of the gate, as the priests prepare his burnt and peace offerings and he shall worship at the threshold of the gate. And the gate shall remain open until evening. ³Likewise the people shall worship at the door of this gate before the LORD on the Sabbaths and on the days of the new moons. ⁴The burnt offering that the ruler offers to the LORD on the Sabbath day shall be 6 lambs and a ram, without blemish. ⁵The grain offering shall be 5.5 gallons of grain along with the ram, but with each lamb it shall be as he is able to give and a gallon of oil for every 5.5 gallons of grain. ⁶When there is a new moon, the offering shall be: A young bull, 6 lambs and a ram, all without blemish. ⁷And a grain offering shall be prepared of 5.5 gallons of grain for the bull and a ram and for the lambs a grain offering shall be as much as he is able and willing to bring and for every 5.5 gallons of grain, a gallon of oil shall be offered. ⁸And the ruler of Israel shall enter and exit through the porch of the east gate.

⁹But when the people come before the LORD to worship during the solemn feasts, they that enter from the north gate shall exit by the south gate and they that enter in by the south gate shall exit by the north gate. ¹⁰And when the people go in to worship until they leave, the ruler of Israel shall also be among them. ¹¹And in the appointed feasts the food offering shall be 5.5 gallons of grain for a bull, or a ram, but for the lambs it shall be as he is able and willing to give and a gallon of oil for every 5.5 gallons of grain.

¹²When the ruler of Israel shall prepare a voluntary burnt offering or peace offering to the LORD. The east gate shall be opened for him and he shall prepare his burnt offering and his peace offering, as he did on the Sabbath day. And when he leaves the gate will be shut. ¹³Every morning you shall prepare a burnt offering to the LORD, a lamb of the first year without blemish. ¹⁴Along with a grain offering each morning of 3.5 quarts of grain with 22 ounces of oil. For this offering, by perpetual ordinance, shall be continually before the LORD. ¹⁵Of a lamb, a grain offering and the oil, shall be prepared every morning as a continual burnt offering.

¹⁶If the ruler of Israel gives a gift to any of his sons out of his inheritance, it shall then be his son's possession by inheritance. ¹⁷But if the ruler gives a gift of his inheritance to one of his servants, then it shall be his only up to the year of Jubilee, (when all possessions are restored), after which it shall return to the ruler of Israel. ¹⁸Moreover the ruler of Israel shall not take the people's inheritance through oppression, rather he shall give his son's inheritance from his own possessions. So that My people shall not be scattered from their own possessions.

¹⁹Then he brought me through the entry at the side of the gate, into the holy chambers of the priests, facing north. And there was a room on the west side. ²⁰Then he said to me; This is the place where the priests shall boil the trespass offering and the sin offering and they shall bake the grain offering. So that the people might not need to venture into the outer court, if they were not sanctified. ²¹He then brought me into the outer court, causing me to pass by all four corners of the court and in each corner of the court, there was a small inner court. ²²Each court in the four corners was 60 feet long by 45 feet wide. ²³All around the inside walls of the courts were shelves and beneath the shelves were hearths for cooking. ²⁴He then said to me; These are the places where the ministers shall boil the sacrifices for the people.

Ezekiel: chapter 47

¹After that my guide brought me to the entrance of the temple that faced east. And I saw water flowing from the right side of the foundation of the temple eastward at the south side of the altar. ²He then brought me out through the north gate, around the outside to the outer east gate and water was flowing there from the right side. ³The man standing on the east side measured 150 feet and he caused me to pass through the water that was up to my ankles. ⁴He again measured 150 feet and led me through the water, that was now up to my knees. Again he measured 150 feet and led me through water that was now waist deep. ⁵Again he measured 150 feet. And now the waters had risen and had become a river I could not pass over, but had to swim through. ⁶Then he said to me: Son of man; Remember all of this. After that he led me back to the bank of the river.

⁷When I had returned, there were many trees now on both sides of the riverbank, (NOTE: symbolizing new growth from the river). ⁸And he said to me; These waters are flowing towards the east, going down to the Jordan valley and into the Dead Sea. When the waters get to the sea, they shall make the polluted waters of the Dead Sea, wholesome. ⁹It shall be that wherever this river flows, everything that lives and moves shall flourish. There shall be great multitude of fish and everything shall live wherever the river flows. ¹⁰The fishermen will spread their nets on all sides of the Dead Sea. For there shall be as many kinds of fish in it as in the Great Sea. ¹¹But the swamps and marshes shall not support life, they shall be further given over and encrusted with salt. ¹²And the trees on both sides of the river shall bring forth their fruit, its leaf shall not wither, nor shall its fruit fail, because it is nourished from the sanctuary. Its fruit shall be for food and its leaf for healing.

¹³This shall define the borders of the land of Canaan that the twelve tribes shall inherit and the tribe of Joseph shall have two portions. (NOTE: The land within Canaan to inherit was between the waters. The tribe of Joseph split into two tribes, his two sons: Manasseh and Ephraim) ¹⁴This land shall be the tribes of Israel's inheritance, as I had sworn to give to your fathers.

¹⁵The northern border shall be from the great sea, along the mountain pass of Hethlon to the tower of Zedad. ¹⁶Passing by the cities of Hamath, Berothah, Sibraim, between the borders of Damascus and Hamath, to the coast of Hauran. ¹⁷From the Mediterranean sea at Hazar-enan at the northern border of Damascus and the northern border of Hamath. ¹⁸The eastern border shall be between Hauran and Damascus, starting at Gilead, following the Jordan river east to the Dead sea. ¹⁹The southern border shall be from the city of Tamar, running as far as the waters of strife in Kadesh, to the great Mediterranean Sea. ²⁰The western border shall be from the great sea to the city of Hamath.

²¹This is the land inheritance and you are to divide the land according to the tribes of Israel. ²²You shall allocate the land by proportion to the tribes of Israel, along with the non-Israelites that dwell among you and have had children among you. You shall view them as native to the country and they shall also have land inheritance. ²³For whatever tribe the non-Israelite dwells in, his inheritance shall be in their lot.

Ezekiel: chapter 48

Division of the land inheritance for the twelve tribes of Israel.

¹These are the names of the tribes and the orders of the portions of their lands. Within the boundary lines, beginning at the north, from the north border to the coast of Hethlon, going to the city of Hamath, to the village of Hazar-enan, following the border of Damascus northward, to the coast of Hamath.

• The tribe of Dan shall have the top portion.
• ²The tribe of Asher shall have the next portion under the southern border from the east to the west border.
• ³The tribe of Naphtali shall have the next portion under the southern border from the east to the west border.
• ⁴The half tribe of Manasseh shall have the next portion under the southern border from the east to the west border.
• ⁵The half tribe of Ephraim shall have the next portion under the southern border from the east to the west border.
• ⁶The tribe of Reuben shall have the next portion under the southern border from the east to the west border.
• ⁷The tribe of Judah shall have the next portion under the southern border from the east to the west border.

The holy offering of land shall be between the tribes.

⁸Under the southern border from the east corner to the west corner, shall be the holy offering of land. Approximately 1.7 miles in width and the length shall be as the other lots, from the east corner to the west corner and the sanctuary shall be placed in the midst of it. ⁹This portion that you offer to the LORD shall be 8.5 miles in length by 3.25 miles in width. ¹⁰And shall be for the priests and the sanctuary of the Lord shall be in the middle of it, ¹¹Set-apart for the sanctified priests of the sons of Zadok. That stayed true to Me and did not go astray when the children of Israel and the rest of the Levites went astray. ¹²This lot of land that is offered to the Lord shall be most holy to the priests, that borders the other land for the Levites. ¹³Bordering the land of the priests, the Levites shall have 8.5 miles in length and 3.25 miles in width. ¹⁴This land shall not be sold or exchange, nor transfer the deed of this land, for it is holy to the LORD. ¹⁵The remaining land the strip of land shall be for the city. ¹⁶The holy city shall be approximately 1.5 square miles. ¹⁷With a border of open land around all sides of it, of 125 yards. ¹⁸And the remainder of the land, approximately 3.5 miles on the east and 3.5 miles on the west ends of the lot, shall be used for growing food for those that serve in the city. ¹⁹And people from every tribe of Israel shall work the lands. ²⁰The entire portion of land set-apart as an offering to God, the land of the sanctuary and of the holy city, shall be 8.5 miles square. ²¹With the unallocated land within the entire holy plot, given to the ruler of Israel. ²²This entire square of land, divided into the portion for the Levites and the portion for the holy city. Shall lie between the borders of Judah on the north and Benjamin on the south.

• ²³The tribe of Benjamin shall have the next portion under the southern border from the east to the west border.
• ²⁴The tribe of Simeon shall have the next portion under the southern border from the east to the west border.
• ²⁵The tribe of Issachar shall have the next portion under the southern border from the east to the west border.
• ²⁶The tribe of Zebulum shall have the next portion under the southern border from the east to the west border.
• ²⁷The tribe of Gad shall have the next portion under the southern border from the east to the west border.
• ²⁸The tribe of Glad shall have the last portion and their southern border shall extend to the land of Tamar on the east, to the waters of strife in Kadesh, ending at the Great Sea, (the Mediterranean Sea).

²⁹This is the inheritance that shall be divided by lot to the tribes of Israel.

³⁰The border of the holy city is approximately 1.5 miles square. ³¹There shall be twelve gates to the city and each gate shall be named after one of the tribes of Israel. The north border shall have three gates: One gate shall be Reuben, one gate Judah and one gate Levi. ³²The east border shall have three gates: One gate shall be Joseph, one gate Benjamin and one gate Dan. ³³The south border shall have three gates: One gate shall be Simeon, one gate Issachar and one gate Zebulun. ³⁴The west border shall have three gates: One gate shall be Gad, one gate Asher and one gate Naphtali. ³⁵The total distance around the city shall be 6 miles, (4 * 1.5 miles). And the name of the city from that day and always shall be, "THE LORD IS THERE".