Jerusalem Will Be Destroyed
1 “And you, aO son of man, take a bsharp sword. Use it as ca barber’s razor and dpass it over your head and your beard. Then take balances for weighing and divide the hair. 2 eA third part you shall burn in the fire fin the midst of the city, gwhen the days of the siege are completed. And a third part you shall take and strike with the sword all around the city. hAnd a third part you shall scatter to the wind, and iI will unsheathe the sword after them. 3 jAnd you shall take from these a small number and bind them in the skirts of your robe. 4 kAnd of these again you shall take some and cast them into the midst of the fire and burn them in the fire. From there a fire will come out into all the house of Israel.
5 “Thus says the Lord God: lThis is Jerusalem. I have set her min the center of the nations, with countries all around her. 6 And she has rebelled against my rules by doing wickedness nmore than the nations, and against my statutes more than mthe countries all around her; for they have rejected my rules and have not walked in my statutes. 7 Therefore thus says the Lord God: Because you are omore turbulent than the nations that are all around you, pand have not walked in my statutes or obeyed my rules, qand have not1 even acted according to the rules of the nations that are all around you, 8 therefore thus says the Lord God: Behold, I, even I, ram against you. sAnd I will execute judgments2 in your midst tin the sight of the nations. 9 And because of all your abominations I will do with you uwhat I have never yet done, and the like of which I will never do again. 10 Therefore vfathers shall eat their sons in your midst, and sons shall eat their fathers. sAnd I will execute judgments on you, wand any of you who survive I will scatter to all the winds. 11 Therefore, xas I live, declares the Lord God, surely, ybecause you have defiled my sanctuary zwith all your detestable things and with all your aabominations, btherefore I will withdraw.3 cMy eye will not spare, and I will have no pity. 12 dA third part of you shall die of pestilence and be consumed with famine in your midst; da third part shall fall by the sword all around you; dand a third part I will scatter to all the winds and will unsheathe the sword after them.
13 e“Thus shall my anger spend itself, and I will vent my fury upon them and satisfy myself. And they shall know that fI am the Lord—that I have spoken in my jealousy—ewhen I spend my fury upon them. 14 Moreover, I will make you ga desolation and han object of reproach among ithe nations all around you and in the sight of all who pass by. 15 You shall be4 a reproach and a taunt, a warning jand a horror, to ithe nations all around you, kwhen I execute judgments on you in anger and fury, and lwith furious rebukes—I am the Lord; I have spoken— 16 when I send against you5 mthe deadly arrows of famine, arrows for destruction, which I will send to destroy you, and when I bring more and more famine upon nyou and break your supply6 of bread. 17 I will send famine and owild beasts against you, pand they will rob you of your children. Pestilence and qblood shall pass through you, and I will bring the sword upon you. I am the Lord; I have spoken.”
Judgment Against Idolatry
1 The word of the Lord came to me: 2 r“Son of man, sset your face toward tthe mountains of Israel, and uprophesy against them, 3 and say, vYou mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord God! Thus says the Lord God to wthe mountains and xthe hills, to ythe ravines and the valleys: Behold, I, even I, will bring a sword upon you, zand I will destroy your high places. 4 zYour altars shall become desolate, and your aincense altars shall be broken, and I will cast down your slain before your idols. 5 zAnd I will lay the dead bodies of the people of Israel before their idols, band I will scatter your bones around your altars. 6 Wherever you dwell, cthe cities shall be waste and dthe high places ruined, so that your altars will be waste and ruined,7 your idols broken and destroyed, your aincense altars cut down, and your works wiped out. 7 And the slain shall fall in your midst, and you shall know that I am the Lord.
8 e“Yet I will leave some of you alive. When you have among the nations fsome who escape the sword, and when you are scattered through the countries, 9 then those of you who escape gwill remember me among the nations where they are carried captive, how hI have been broken over their whoring heart that has departed from me and over their eyes ithat go whoring after their idols. gAnd they will be loathsome in their own sight for the evils that they have committed, for all their abominations. 10 And they shall know that I am the Lord. jI have not said in vain that I would do this evil to them.”
11 Thus says the Lord God: k“Clap your hands land stamp your foot and say, Alas, because of all the evil abominations of the house of Israel, mfor they shall fall by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence. 12 nHe who is far off shall die of pestilence, and he who is near shall fall by the sword, and he who is left and is preserved shall die of famine. oThus I will spend my fury upon them. 13 And you shall know that I am the Lord, pwhen their slain lie among their idols around their altars, qon every high hill, ron all the mountaintops, sunder every green tree, and under tevery leafy oak, wherever uthey offered pleasing aroma to all their idols. 14 And vI will stretch out my hand against them and wmake the land desolate and waste, xin all their dwelling places, from the wilderness to yRiblah.8 Then zthey will know that I am the Lord.”
The Day of the Wrath of the Lord
1 The word of the Lord came to me: 2 “And you, aO son of man, thus says the Lord God to the land of Israel: bAn end! The end has come upon the four corners of the land.9 3 Now bthe end is upon you, and cI will send my anger upon you; dI will judge you according to your ways, and I will punish you for all your abominations. 4 eAnd my eye will not spare you, nor will I have pity, but fI will punish you for your ways, while your abominations are in your midst. gThen you will know that I am the Lord.
5 “Thus says the Lord God: Disaster hafter disaster!10 Behold, it comes. 6 bAn end has come; the end has come; it has awakened against you. Behold, it comes. 7 iYour doom11 has come to you, O inhabitant of the land. jThe time has come; the day is near, a day of tumult, and not kof joyful shouting on the mountains. 8 Now I will soon lpour out my wrath upon you, and mspend my anger against you, dand judge you according to your ways, and I will punish you for all your abominations. 9 eAnd my eye will not spare, nor will I have pity. I will punish you according to your ways, while your abominations are in your midst. nThen you will know that I am the Lord, who strikes.
10 o“Behold, the day! Behold, it comes! pYour doom has come; qthe rod has blossomed; pride has budded. 11 rViolence has grown up into qa rod of wickedness. sNone of them shall remain, nor their abundance, nor their wealth; neither shall there be preeminence among them.12 12 jThe time has come; the day has arrived. Let not tthe buyer rejoice, nor tthe seller mourn, ufor wrath is upon all their multitude.13 13 For vthe seller shall not return to what he has sold, while they live. wFor the vision concerns all their multitude; it shall not turn back; and because of his iniquity, none can maintain his life.14
14 “They have blown the trumpet and made everything ready, but none goes to battle, xfor my wrath is upon all their multitude. 15 yThe sword is without; pestilence and famine are within. zHe who is in the field dies by the sword, zand him who is in the city famine and pestilence devour. 16 aAnd if any survivors escape, they will be on the mountains, like bdoves of the valleys, all of them moaning, each one over his iniquity. 17 cAll hands are feeble, and all knees turn to water. 18 dThey put on sackcloth, and ehorror covers them. Shame is on all faces, and fbaldness on all their heads. 19 They cast their silver into the streets, and their gold is like an unclean thing. gTheir silver and gold are not able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the Lord. They cannot satisfy their hunger or fill their stomachs with it. hFor it was ithe stumbling block of their iniquity. 20 jHis beautiful ornament they used for pride, and kthey made their abominable images and their detestable things of it. Therefore lI make it an unclean thing to them. 21 And I will give it into the hands of mforeigners for prey, nand to the wicked of the earth for spoil, and lthey shall profane it. 22 I will turn my face from them, and lthey shall profane my treasured15 place. Robbers shall enter land profane it.
23 o“Forge a chain!16 pFor the land is full of bloody crimes qand the city is full of violence. 24 I will bring rthe worst of the nations to take possession of their houses. sI will put an end to the pride of the strong, tand their holy places17 shall be profaned. 25 uWhen anguish comes, vthey will seek peace, but there shall be none. 26 wDisaster comes upon disaster; xrumor follows rumor. yThey seek a vision from the prophet, while zthe law18 perishes from the priest and acounsel from the elders. 27 The king mourns, the prince is wrapped in despair, and the hands of the people of the land are paralyzed by terror. According to their way bI will do to them, and according to their judgments I will judge them, cand they shall know that I am the Lord.”
Some Will Depart from the Faith
1 Now xthe Spirit expressly says that yin later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to zdeceitful spirits and teachings of demons, 2 through the insincerity of aliars whose consciences are seared, 3 bwho forbid marriage and crequire abstinence from foods dthat God created eto be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. 4 For feverything created by God is good, and gnothing is to be rejected if it is ereceived with thanksgiving, 5 for it is made holy hby the word of God and prayer.
A Good Servant of Christ Jesus
6 iIf you put these things before the brothers,1 you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, being trained in the words of the faith and of the good doctrine that you have jfollowed. 7 Have nothing to do with irreverent, ksilly myths. Rather ltrain yourself for godliness; 8 for while mbodily training is of some value, godliness nis of value in every way, as oit holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. 9 The saying is ptrustworthy and deserving of full acceptance. 10 For to this end we toil and strive,2 because we have our hope set on the living God, qwho is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe.
11 Command and teach rthese things. 12 sLet no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers tan example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. 13 Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching. 14 uDo not neglect the gift you have, which was given you vby prophecy when the council of elders wlaid their hands on you. 15 Practice these things, immerse yourself in them,3 so that xall may see your progress. 16 yKeep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save zboth yourself and ayour hearers.
