The Daily Audio Bible

Judah’s Captivity Symbolized

12 The word of the Lord also came to me, saying: ² Son of man, you dwell in the midst of a rebellious house, which has eyes to see but does not see, and ears to hear but does not hear. For they are a rebellious house.

³ Therefore, son of man, prepare baggage for captivity and go into captivity by day in their sight. And you shall go into captivity from your place to another place in their sight. It may be that they understand, though they are a rebellious house. ⁴ You shall bring out your belongings by day in their sight, as baggage for exile; and you shall go out at evening in their sight, as those who go into exile. ⁵ Dig a hole through the wall in their sight, and go out thereby. ⁶ In their sight you shall bear it on your shoulders and carry it out in the twilight. You shall cover your face so that you cannot see the land. For I have set you as a sign to the house of Israel.

⁷ I did so as I was commanded. I brought out my baggage by day as baggage for captivity, and in the evening I dug through the wall with my own hands. I brought it out at twilight, carrying it on my shoulder in their sight.

⁸ In the morning the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ⁹ Son of man, has not the house of Israel, the rebellious house, said to you, “What are you doing?”

¹⁰ Say to them, “Thus says the Lord God: This oracle concerns the prince in Jerusalem and all the house of Israel who are in it.” ¹¹ Say, “I am your sign.

“As I have done, so it shall be done to them. They shall go into exile, into captivity.”

¹² The prince who is among them shall bear his baggage on his shoulder in the twilight and go out. They shall dig through the wall to carry it out thereby. He shall cover his face so that he cannot see the land with his eyes. ¹³ My net also I will spread upon him, and he shall be taken in My snare. And I will bring him to Babylon to the land of the Chaldeans. Yet he shall not see it, though he shall die there. ¹⁴ I will scatter toward every wind all who are about him, his helpers and all his troops. And I will draw out the sword after them.

¹⁵ Then they shall know that I am the Lord when I scatter them among the nations and disperse them among the countries. ¹⁶ But I will spare a few men of them from the sword, from famine, and from pestilence, so that they may declare all their abominations among the nations where they go and know that I am the Lord.

¹⁷ Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ¹⁸ Son of man, eat your bread with quaking, and drink your water with trembling and with anxiety. ¹⁹ And say to the people of the land, Thus says the Lord God concerning the inhabitants of Jerusalem in the land of Israel: They shall eat their bread with carefulness and drink their water with astonishment, because their land shall be desolate from all that is in it, because of the violence of all those who dwell in it. ²⁰ The cities that are inhabited shall be laid waste, and the land shall be desolate. Then you shall know that I am the Lord.

²¹ The word of the Lord came to me, saying: ²² Son of man, what is this proverb that you people have in the land of Israel, saying, “The days are prolonged, and every vision fails”? ²³ Tell them therefore, “Thus says the Lord God: I will make this proverb cease so that they shall no more use it as a proverb in Israel.” But say to them, The days are at hand and the effect of every vision. ²⁴ For there shall be no more any vain vision or flattering divination within the house of Israel. ²⁵ For I the Lord will speak, and the word that I speak shall come to pass. It shall be no more prolonged. For in your days, O rebellious house, I will say the word, and will perform it, says the Lord God.

²⁶ Again the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ²⁷ Son of man, look, the house of Israel says, “The vision that he sees is for many days to come, and he prophesies of the times that are far off.”

²⁸ Therefore say to them, Thus says the Lord God: There shall none of My words be prolonged anymore, but the word which I have spoken shall be done, says the Lord God.

False Prophets Condemned

13 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ² Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel who prophesy, and say to those who prophesy out of their own hearts, “Hear the word of the Lord!” ³ Thus says the Lord God: Woe to the foolish prophets who follow their own spirit and have seen nothing! ⁴ O Israel, your prophets are like the foxes in the ruins. ⁵ You have not gone up into the gaps, nor did you build up the hedge for the house of Israel to stand in the battle on the day of the Lord. ⁶ They have seen vanity and lying divination, saying, “The Lord says,” when the Lord has not sent them. And they have made others to hope for the confirmation of their word. ⁷ Have you not seen a vain vision, and have you not spoken a lying divination when you say, “The Lord says,” yet it is not I who have spoken?

⁸ Therefore thus says the Lord God: Because you have spoken vanity and seen lies, therefore I am against you, says the Lord God. ⁹ Thus My hand shall be against the prophets who see vanity and who divine lies. They shall not have a place in the council of My people, nor shall they be written in the register of the house of Israel, nor shall they enter into the land of Israel so that you may know that I am the Lord God.

¹⁰ It is surely because they have seduced My people, saying, “Peace,” when there was no peace. And when anyone builds up a wall, they daub it with whitewash. ¹¹ Say to those who daub it with whitewash that it shall fall. There shall be an overflowing shower, and you, O great hailstones, shall fall. And a stormy wind shall break it. ¹² When the wall has fallen, will you not be asked, “Where is the whitewash with which you have daubed it?”

¹³ Therefore thus says the Lord God: I will make a violent wind break out in My fury. And there shall be an overflowing shower in My anger, and hailstones in My fury to consume it. ¹⁴ So I will break down the wall that you have daubed with whitewash, and bring it down to the ground so that its foundation is laid bare. And when it falls, you shall be consumed in its midst. And you shall know that I am the Lord. ¹⁵ Thus I will accomplish My wrath upon the wall and upon those who have daubed it with whitewash, and I will say to you, The wall is no more, nor those who daubed it, ¹⁶ along with the prophets of Israel who prophesy concerning Jerusalem and who see visions of peace for her when there is no peace, says the Lord God.

¹⁷ Now you, son of man, set your face against the daughters of your people who prophesy out of their own heart and prophesy against them, ¹⁸ and say, Thus says the Lord God: Woe to the women who sew magic bands on all wrists and make veils on the heads of persons of every stature to hunt souls! Will you hunt the souls of My people but save the souls alive of others for yourselves? ¹⁹ And you pollute Me among My people for handfuls of barley and pieces of bread to slay the souls of those who should not die and to save the souls alive of those who should not live by your lying to My people who hear your lies.

²⁰ Therefore thus says the Lord God: I am against your magic bands with which you hunt the souls there as birds, and I will tear them from your arms, and will let the souls go, even the souls that you hunt as birds. ²¹ Your veils also I will tear off and deliver My people out of your hands, and they shall be no more in your hand to be hunted. And you shall know that I am the Lord. ²² Because with lies you have made the heart of the righteous sad, whom I have not made sad, and strengthened the hands of the wicked that he should not turn from his wicked way and save his life, ²³ therefore you women shall no more see vanity or practice divinations, and I will deliver My people out of your hand. Thus you shall know that I am the Lord.

Idolatrous Elders Condemned

14 Then some of the elders of Israel came to me and sat before me. ² The word of the Lord came to me, saying: ³ Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their heart and put the stumbling block of their iniquity before their face. Should I be inquired of by them at all? ⁴ Therefore speak to them and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Every man of the house of Israel who sets up his idols in his heart, and puts the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and comes to the prophet, I the Lord will answer him who comes according to the multitude of his idols, ⁵ in order to seize the heart of the house of Israel who are estranged from Me through all their idols.

⁶ Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: Repent and turn away from your idols and turn away your faces from all your abominations.

⁷ For every one of the house of Israel or of the stranger who sojourns in Israel who separates himself from Me, and sets up his idols in his heart, and puts the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and comes to the prophet to inquire of Me for himself, I the Lord will answer him by Myself. ⁸ And I will set My face against that man and will make him a sign and a proverb, and I will cut him off from the midst of My people. And you shall know that I am the Lord.

⁹ And if the prophet is deceived when he has spoken a word, I the Lord have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out My hand against him and will destroy him from the midst of My people Israel. ¹⁰ They shall bear the punishment of their iniquity. The punishment of the prophet shall be even as the punishment of him who seeks him ¹¹ in order that the house of Israel may no more go astray from Me or be polluted anymore with all their transgressions. Thus they shall be My people, and I shall be their God, says the Lord God.

The Priestly Order of Melchizedek

7 For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him. ² To him Abraham also gave a tenth part of everything. In the first place, his name is translated “king of righteousness,” and then also he is king of Salem, which means “king of peace.” ³ Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like the Son of God, he continually remains a priest.

⁴ Now consider how great this man was, to whom even the patriarch Abraham gave a tenth of the spoils. ⁵ Surely the sons of Levi, who receive the office of the priesthood, have a command to take tithes of the people according to the law, that is, from their brothers, though they also come from the seed of Abraham. ⁶ But this man, whose descent is not numbered among them, received tithes from Abraham and blessed him who had the promises. ⁷ Without question, the inferior is blessed by the superior. ⁸ In the one case mortal men receive tithes, but in the other he of whom it is witnessed that he is alive receives them. ⁹ One might say that Levi also, who receives tithes, paid tithes through Abraham, ¹⁰ for he was still in the loins of his father when Melchizedek met Abraham.

¹¹ If perfection were attained through the Levitical priesthood (for through it the people received the law), what further need was there that another priest should rise in the order of Melchizedek, rather than established in the order of Aaron? ¹² For a change in the priesthood necessitates a change in the law. ¹³ For the One concerning whom these things are spoken pertains to another tribe, from which no man served at the altar. ¹⁴ For it is evident that our Lord descended from Judah, a tribe concerning which Moses said nothing about priests. ¹⁵ This is far more evident when another priest arises in the likeness of Melchizedek, ¹⁶ who becomes a priest not by a law pertaining to ancestry, but by the power of an endless life. ¹⁷ For He testifies: