22 1 Jerusalem is reproved for cruelty. 25 Of the wicked doctrine of the false prophets and priests, and of their unsatiable covetousness. 26 The tyranny of rulers. 29 The wickedness of the people.

¹ Moreover, the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,

² Now thou son of man, wilt thou ^[a]judge, wilt thou judge this bloody city? wilt thou show her all her abominations?

³ Then say, Thus saith the Lord God, The city sheddeth blood in the midst of it, that her ^[b]time may come, and maketh idols against ^[c]herself, to pollute herself.

⁴ Thou hast offended in thy blood, that thou hast shed, and hast polluted thyself in thine idols, which thou hast made, and thou hast caused thy days to draw near, and art come unto thy term: therefore have I made thee a reproach to the heathen, and a mocking to all countries.

⁵ Those that be near, and those that be far from thee, shall mock thee, which art vile in ^[d]name and sore in affliction.

⁶ Behold, the princes of Israel everyone in thee was ready to his power, to shed blood.

⁷ In thee have they despised father and mother: in the midst of thee ^[e]have they oppressed the stranger: in thee have they vexed the fatherless and the widow.

⁸ Thou hast despised mine holy things, and hast polluted my Sabbaths.

⁹ In thee are men that carry tales to shed blood: in thee are they that eat upon the mountains: in the midst of thee they commit abomination.

^10 (A)In thee have they discovered their fathers’ shame: in thee have they vexed her that was polluted in her flowers.

¹¹ And everyone ^(B)hath committed abomination with his neighbor’s wife, and everyone hath wickedly defiled his daughter-in-law, and in thee hath every man forced his own sister, even his father’s daughter.

¹² In thee have they taken gifts to shed blood: thou hast taken usury and the increase, and thou hast defrauded thy neighbors by extortion, and hast forgotten me, saith the Lord God.

¹³ Behold, therefore I have ^[f]smitten mine hands upon thy covetousness, that thou hast used, and upon the blood, which hath been in the midst of thee.

¹⁴ Can thine heart endure, or can thine hands ^[g]be strong, in the days that I shall have to do with thee? I the Lord have spoken it, and will do it.

¹⁵ And I will scatter thee among the heathen, and disperse thee in the countries, and will cause thy ^[h]filthiness to cease from thee.

¹⁶ And thou shalt take thine ^[i]inheritance in thyself in the sight of the heathen, and thou shalt know that I am the Lord.

¹⁷ ¶ And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,

¹⁸ Son of man, the house of Israel is unto me as ^[j]dross: all they are brass, and tin, and iron, and lead in the midst of the furnace: they are even the dross of silver.

¹⁹ Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Because ye are all as dross, behold, therefore I will gather you in the midst of Jerusalem.

²⁰ As they gather silver and brass, and iron, and lead, and tin into the midst of the furnace, to blow the fire upon it to melt it, so will I gather you in mine anger and in my wrath, and will put you there ^[k]and melt you.

²¹ I will gather you, I say, and blow the fire of my wrath upon you, and you shall be melted in the midst thereof.

²² As silver is melted in the midst of the furnace, so shall ye be melted in the midst thereof, and ye shall know that I the Lord have poured out my wrath upon you.

²³ And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,

²⁴ Son of man, say unto her, Thou art the land, that is unclean, ^[l]and not rained upon in the day of wrath.

²⁵ There is a conspiracy ^[m]of her prophets in the midst thereof like a roaring lion, ravening the prey: they have devoured souls: they have taken the riches and precious things: they have made her many widows in the midst thereof.

²⁶ Her Priests have broken my Law, and have defiled mine holy things: they have put no difference between the holy and profane, neither discerned between the unclean and the clean, and have hid their ^[n]eyes from my Sabbaths, and I am profaned among them.

²⁷ Her princes in ^(C)the midst thereof are like wolves, ravening the prey to shed blood, and to destroy souls for their own covetous lucre.

²⁸ And her ^[o]prophets have daubed them with untempered mortar, seeing vanities, and divining lies unto them, saying, Thus saith the Lord God, when the Lord had not spoken.

²⁹ The people of the land have violently oppressed by spoiling and robbing, and have vexed the poor and the needy: yea, they have oppressed the stranger against right.

³⁰ And I sought for a man among them, that should ^[p]make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it, but I found none.

³¹ Therefore have I poured out mine indignation upon them, and consumed them with the fire of my wrath: their own ways have I rendered upon their heads, saith the Lord God.