Chapter 22

The Sins of Jerusalem. ¹ This word of the Lord came to me: ² Son of man, are you ready to judge? Will you judge this city renowned for its bloodshed and confront her with all of her abominable deeds?

³ Say to her: Thus says the Lord: Woe to the city that sheds blood within itself. You thus hasten your doom, having made idols and thereby defiling yourself. ⁴ You have incurred guilt by the blood that you have shed, and you have become defiled by the gods that you have fashioned. Thus, you have shortened your lifespan; the end of your years are at hand. This is why you are now regarded by the nations as a disgrace. You have become a laughingstock to all foreign lands. ⁵ Those who are near you and those who are far off shall mock you because you have become infamous for your great perversity.

⁶ The princes of Israel who dwell in your land are there only for the purpose of shedding blood. ⁷ The fathers and the mothers within your borders are treated with contempt. The resident aliens are forced to endure extortion. Orphans and widows are oppressed. ⁸ You have spurned what is holy to me, and you have profaned my Sabbaths.

⁹ In you are those whose slander incites to bloodshed; in you are those who eat^[a] on the mountains and revel in their lewdness. ¹⁰ In you are men who have exposed the nakedness of their fathers and who violate women during their menstrual periods. ¹¹ In you are men who engage in abominable practices with their neighbors’ wives and lewdly defile their daughters-in-law. Still others among you ravish their sisters, the daughters of their fathers. ¹² In you are those who take bribes to shed blood. Others lend for profit and charge interest. Still others profit from extortion against their neighbors. You have forgotten about me, says the Lord God.

¹³ I will strike my hands together because of the unjust profits you have made and the unending bloodshed in your midst. ¹⁴ Will your courage endure and your hands remain strong in the days when I will deal with you? I, the Lord, have spoken, and I intend to act. ¹⁵ I will scatter you among the nations and disperse you throughout foreign countries, and I will thereby purge you of your filthiness. ¹⁶ When I shall be profaned through you in the sight of the nations, you will know that I am the Lord.

¹⁷ Then the word of the Lord came to me: ¹⁸ Son of man, the house of Israel has become dross in my eyes; all of them are nothing more than copper and tin, iron and lead, that have become dross in the midst of a furnace.

¹⁹ Therefore, thus says the Lord God: Because all of you have become dross, I will gather you together inside Jerusalem. ²⁰ As one gathers silver, bronze, iron, lead, and tin and smelts it in a blazing furnace, so I will gather you in my furious wrath and cause you to be melted down. ²¹ When I have assembled you, I will blow upon you with the fire of my wrath, and you shall be melted down within the city. ²² As silver is smelted in a furnace, so shall you be melted down within the city, and you will know that I, the Lord, have poured forth my wrath upon you.

²³ This word of the Lord came to me: ²⁴ Son of man, say to the land: You are a land that has not been cleansed or rained upon in the day of my anger. ²⁵ Your princes have been like a roaring lion tearing apart its prey. They have devoured people, absconded with their wealth and precious treasures, and caused many women within it to become widows.

²⁶ Your priests have violated my law and made profane my holy things. They have failed to make any distinction between the sacred and the profane, nor have they taught the difference between the clean and the unclean. They have completely ignored my Sabbaths, and I have been profaned in their midst. ²⁷ Your priests are like wolves tearing apart their prey, shedding blood, and killing people in the pursuit of dishonest gain. ²⁸ Your prophets whitewash their deeds by revealing false visions and offering lying prophecies asserting that the Lord God has spoken when the Lord has not spoken. ²⁹ Meanwhile the people of the land practice extortion and commit robbery. They have oppressed the poor and needy and forced resident aliens to submit to injustice.

³⁰ I searched among my people for someone who could build a barricade and stand before me in the breach to keep me from destroying the land, but I found no one. ³¹ Therefore, I poured forth my fury upon them and consumed them with my fiery wrath. I have brought down their conduct upon their heads, says the Lord God.