Ezekiel 22
Israel’s Shedding of Blood
And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 2 “And you, ason of man, bwill you judge, will you judge cthe bloody city? dThen declare to her all her abominations. 3 You shall say, Thus says the Lord God: A city that sheds blood in her midst, so that aher time may come, and that makes idols to defile herself! 4 You have become guilty aby the blood that you have shed, and defiled by the idols that you have made, and you have brought byour days near, the appointed time of your years has come. cTherefore I have made you a reproach to the nations, and a mockery to all the countries. 5 Those who are near and those who are far from you will mock you; ayour name is defiled; byou are full of tumult.
6 “Behold, athe princes of Israel in you, every one according to his power, have been bent on shedding blood. 7 Father and mother aare treated with contempt in you; the sojourner bsuffers extortion in your midst; the fatherless and the widow bare wronged in you. 8 aYou have despised my holy things and bprofaned my Sabbaths. 9 aThere are men in you who slander to shed blood, and people in you bwho eat on the mountains; cthey commit lewdness in your midst. 10 In you amen uncover their fathers’ nakedness; in you they violate women who are unclean in their menstrual impurity. 11 aOne commits abomination with his neighbor’s wife; banother lewdly defiles his daughter-in-law; canother in you violates his sister, his father’s daughter. 12 In you athey take bribes to shed blood; byou take interest and profit and make gain of your neighbors by extortion; but cme you have forgotten, declares the Lord God.
13 “Behold, aI strike my hand at bthe dishonest gain that you have made, and at cthe blood that has been in your midst. 14 aCan your courage endure, or can your hands be strong, in the days that I shall deal with you? bI the Lord have spoken, and I will do it. 15 aI will scatter you among the nations and disperse you through the countries, and bI will consume your uncleanness out of you. 16 And ayou shall be profaned by your own doing bin the sight of the nations, cand you shall know that I am the Lord.”
17 And the word of the Lord came to me: 18 a“Son of man, the house of Israel has become bdross to me; all of them are cbronze and tin and iron and lead in the furnace; they are ddross of silver. 19 Therefore thus says the Lord God: Because you have all become dross, therefore, behold, I will gather you into the midst of Jerusalem. 20 As one gathers silver and bronze and iron and lead and tin into a furnace, ato blow the fire on it in order to melt it, so I will gather you bin my anger and in my wrath, and I will put you in and melt you. 21 I will gather you and blow on you with the fire of my wrath, and you shall be melted in the midst of it. 22 As silver is melted in a furnace, so you shall be melted in the midst of it, and you shall know that I am the Lord; aI have poured out my wrath upon you.”
23 And the word of the Lord came to me: 24 “Son of man, say to her, You are a land that is anot cleansed bor rained upon in the day of indignation. 25 aThe conspiracy of her prophets in her midst is blike a roaring lion ctearing the prey; they have devoured human lives; they have taken treasure and precious things; they have made many widows in her midst. 26 aHer priests bhave done violence to my law and chave profaned my holy things. dThey have made no distinction between the holy and the common, neither have they taught the difference between the unclean and the clean, and ethey have disregarded my Sabbaths, fso that I am profaned among them. 27 aHer princes in her midst are like wolves btearing the prey, cshedding blood, destroying lives to get dishonest gain. 28 And aher prophets have smeared whitewash for them, bseeing false visions and divining lies for them, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord God,’ when the Lord has not spoken. 29 The people of the land ahave practiced extortion and committed robbery. They have oppressed the poor and needy, and ahave extorted from the sojourner without justice. 30 aAnd I sought for a man among them bwho should build up the wall band stand in the breach before me for the land, that I should not destroy it, but I found none. 31 Therefore aI have poured out my indignation upon them. I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath. I have returned btheir way upon their heads, declares the Lord God.”
The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway,
a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. ESV Text Edition: 2025.