the book of Ezekiel chapter 2. And he said unto me, Son of man, stand upon thy feet, and I will speak unto thee. And the Spirit entered into me, when he spake unto me, and he set me upon my feet. Then I heard him that spake unto me. And he said to me, Son of man, I send you to the children of Israel, to a rebellious nation that has rebelled against me. They and their fathers have transgressed against me. Even to this very day, for they are impudent children and stiff-hearted, I do send you to them, and you shall say to them, Thus saith the Lord God, and they, whether they will hear or whether they will forbear, for they are a rebellious house. Ye shall know that there has been a prophet among them, and you, son of man, be not afraid of them, neither be afraid of their words, though briars and thorns be with you, and you dwell among scorpions. Be not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, though they are a rebellious house. You shall speak my words to them, whether they will hear or whether they will forbear. For they are most rebellious. But you, son of man, hear what I say to you. Do not be rebellious like that rebellious house. Open your mouth and eat that I give you. And when I looked, behold a hand was sent to me. And, love, a roll of a book was therein. And he spread it before me. And it was written within and without. and who has written therein lamentations and mourning and woe. Chapter 3 Moreover he said to me, Son of man, eat what you find, eat this roll, and go speak to the house of Israel. So I opened my mouth, and he caused me to eat that roll. And he said to me, Son of man, cause your belly to eat, and fill your bowels with this roll that I give you. Then I did eat it, and it was in my mouth as honey for sweetness. And he said to me, Son of man, go, get you to the house of Israel, and speak with my words to them. For you are not sent to a people of a strange speech and of a hard language, but to the house of Israel. not to many people of a strange speech, and of a hard language whose words you cannot understand. Surely, had I sent you to them, they would have hearkened to you. But the house of Israel will not hearken to you, for they will not hearken to me. For all the house of Israel are impotent and hard-hearted. Behold, I've made your face strong against their faces, and your forehead strong against their foreheads. As an adamant harder than flint have I made your forehead, do not fear them, neither be dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious house. Moreover said to me, Son of Man, all my words that I shall speak to you receive in your heart, and hear with your ears, and go, get you to them of the captivity, to the children of your people, and speak to them, and tell them, thus says the Lord God, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear. Then the Spirit took me up, And I heard behind me a voice of a great rushing, saying, Blessed be the glory of the Lord from his place. I heard also the noise of the wings of the living creatures that touch one another, and the noise of the wheels over against them, and the noise of a great rushing. So the Spirit lifted me up and took me away, and I went in bitterness. in the heat of my spirit. But the hand of the Lord was strong upon me. Then I came to them at the captivity of Tel-Aviv, that dwelt by the river Shabar. And I sat where they sat, and remained there astonished among them seven days. And it came to pass at the end of seven days that the word of the Lord came to me, saying, Son of man, I have made you a watchman to the house of Israel. Therefore, hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me when I say to the wicked, you shall surely die. And you give him not warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life. The same wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood will I require at your hand. Yet, if you warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity. But you have delivered your soul. Again, when the righteous man turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die. Because you have not given him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he has done shall not be remembered, but his blood will I require at your hand. Nevertheless, if you warn the righteous man that the righteous sin not, and he does not sin, he shall surely live, because he is warned. Also, you have delivered your soul, And a hand of the Lord was there upon me, and he said to me, Arise, go forth into the plain, and I will there talk with you. Then I arose and went forth into the plain, and behold, the glory of the Lord stood there. It's a glory which I saw by the river Shevar. And I fell on my face, and the Spirit entered into me, and set me upon my feet, and spake with me, and said to me, Go, shut yourself within your house. But you, O son of man, behold, they shall put bands on you, and shall bind you with them, and you shall not go out among them. and I will make your tongue cleave to the roof of your mouth, that you shall be dumb, and shall not be to them a reprover, for they are a rebellious house. But when I speak with you, I will open your mouth, and you shall say to them, Thus saith the Lord God. He that hears, let him hear, and he that forbears, let him forbear, for they are a valious house. Chapter 4 You also, son of man, take you a tile, and lay it before you, and portray upon it a city, even Jerusalem, and lay siege against it, and pill the fort against it, and cast a mount against it, set the camp also against it, and set battering rams against it round about. Moreover, take to yourself an iron pan, and set it for a wall of iron between you and the city, and set your face against it, and it shall be besieged, and you shall lay siege against it. This shall be a sign to the house of Israel, and lie upon your left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel on it, according to the number of the days that you shall lie on it, shall bear their iniquity. for I have laid upon you the years of their iniquity. According to the number of the days, three hundred and ninety days, so shall you bear the iniquity of the house of Israel. And when you have accomplished them, lie again on thy right side, and I shall bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days. I have appointed you each day for a year. Therefore you shall set your face toward the siege of Jerusalem, and your arms shall be uncovered, and you shall prophesy against it. And behold, I will lay bands on you, And ye shall not turn you from one side to another till ye have ended the days of your siege. Take ye also to you wheat and barley and beans, and lentils and millet and fitches, and put them in one vessel, and make thee bread thereof, according to the number of the days that ye shall lie upon your side. Three hundred and ninety days shall you eat of it, and your meat, which you shall eat, shall be by weight twenty shekels a day from time to time shall you eat it. You shall drink also water by measure, the sixth part of an hen from time to time shall you drink, and you shall eat it as barley cakes, and you shall bake it with the dung that comes out of man. in their sight. And the Lord said, Even thus shall the children of Israel eat their defiled bread among the Gentiles, where I will drive them. Then I said, O Lord God, behold, my soul has not been polluted, for from my youth up even until now have I not eaten of that which dies of itself. or is torn in pieces, neither can their abominable flesh into my mouth. And he said to me, Lo, I have given you cow's dung for man's dung, and you shall prepare your bread with it. Moreover, he said to me, Son of man, behold, I will break the staff of bread in Jerusalem, and you shall eat bread by weight and with care, and they shall drink water by measure, and with astonishment, that they may well lack bread and water, and be astonished one with another, and consume away for their iniquity. Chapter 5 And you, son of man, take a sharp knife, take a barber's razor, and cause it to pass over your head and upon your beard, and take the balances away, and divide the hair You shall burn with fire a third part in the midst of the city, when the days of the siege are fulfilled. And you shall take a third part and smite about it with a knife. And a third part you shall scatter in the wind, and I will draw out a sword after them. You shall also take thereof a few in number, and bind them in nice skirts. Then take of them again, and cast them into the midst of the fire. and burn them in the fire. For thereof shall a fire come forth into all the house of Israel. Thus saith the Lord God. This is Jerusalem. I have set it in the midst of the nations and countries that are round about her. and she has changed my judgments into wickedness more than the nations, and my statutes more than the countries that are round about her. For they have refused my judgments and my statutes. They have not walked in them. Therefore, thus saith the Lord God, because you multiplied more than the nations that are round about you. and have not walked in my statues, neither have kept my judgments, neither have done according to the judgments of the nations that are round about you. Therefore, thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I, even I, am against you, and will execute judgments in the midst of you, in the sight of the nations. And I will do in you that which I have not done, and whereunto I will not do any more the like, because of all your abominations. Therefore the Father shall eat the sons in the midst of you, and the sons shall eat their fathers, and I will execute judgments in you, and the whole remnant of you will I scatter into all the winds. Wherefore, as I live, saith the Lord God, surely, because you have defiled my sanctuary, with all your detestable things, and with all your abominations. Therefore will I also diminish you. Neither shall my spare. Neither will I have any pity. A third part of you shall die with the pestilence, and with famine shall they be consumed in the midst of you. And a third part shall fall by the sword round about you. and I will scatter a third part into all the winds, and I will draw out a sword after them. Thus shall mine anger be accomplished, and I will cause my fury to rest upon them, and I will be comforted, and they shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken it in my zeal, when I have accomplished my fury in them. Moreover, I will make you waste in a reproach among the nations that are round about you. in the sight of all that pass by. So it shall be a reproach, and a taunt, an instruction, and an astonishment to the nations that are round about you, when I shall execute judgments in you, in anger, and in fury, and in furious rebukes. I, the Lord, have spoken it. when I shall send upon them the evil arrows of famine, which shall be for their destruction. And when I shall send to destroy you, and I will increase the famine upon you, and will break your staff of bread. So will I send on you famine and evil beasts, and they shall bereave you, and pestilence and blood shall pass through you, and I'll bring the sword upon you. I, the Lord, have spoken it. Chapter 6 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, Son of man, Set your face toward the mountains of Israel, and prophesy against them, ye mountains of Israel. Hear the word of the Lord God. Thus saith the Lord God to the mountains, and to the hills, to the rivers, and to the valleys. Behold, I, even I, will bring a sword upon you, and I'll destroy your high places, and your altars shall be desolate, and your images shall be broken, and I will cast down your slain men before your idols. And I will lay the dead carcasses of the children of Israel before the idols. And I will scatter your bones round about your altars. And all your dwelling places, the cities, shall be laid waste. And the high places shall be desolate, that your altars may be laid waste and made desolate. And your idols may be broken and cease. And your images may be cut down. and your works may be abolished, and the slain shall fall in the midst of you, and you shall know that I am the Lord. Yet while I leave a remnant, that you may have some that shall escape the sword among the nations. when ye shall be scattered through the countries, and they that escape of you shall remember me among the nations, where they shall be carried captives, because I am broken with their whorish heart, which is departed from me, and with their eyes which go a-whoring after their idols, and they shall loathe themselves for the evils which they have committed in all their abominations. and they shall know that I am the Lord, and that I have not said in vain that I would do this evil unto them. Thus saith the Lord God, smite with your hand, and stamp with your foot, and say, Alas, for all the evil abominations of the house of Israel, for they shall fall by the sword. By the famine and by the pestilence, he that is far off shall die of the pestilence, and he that is near shall fall by the sword, and he that remains and is besieged shall die by the famine. Thus will I accomplish my fury on them. Then shall you know that I am the Lord, when their slain men shall be among their idols round about their altars upon every high hill. in all the tops of the mountains, and under every green tree, and under every thick oak, the place where they did offer sweet savour to all their idols. So will I stretch out my hand upon them, and make the land desolate, yea, more desolate than the wilderness towards the Blath. in all their habitations, and they shall know that I am the LORD. Chapter 7 Moreover, the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Also, you, son of man, thus says the LORD GOD to the land of Israel. An end, the end has come, upon the four corners of the land. Now is the end come upon you, and I will send mine anger on you, and will judge you according to your ways, and will recompense on you all your abominations, and my eye will not spare you, neither will I have pity. But I will recompense your ways on you, and your abomination shall be in the midst of you, and you shall know that I am the Lord. Thus saith the Lord God, and evil And only evil, behold, has come. An end has come. The end has come. It watches for you. Behold, it has come. The morning has come to you, O you that dwell in the land. The time has come. The day of trouble is near, and not the sounding again of the mountains. How will I shortly pour out my fury on you, and accomplish my anger on you? And I will judge you according to your ways, and will recompense you for all your abominations. And mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity. I will recompense you according to your ways. and your abominations that are in the midst of you, and you shall know that I am the Lord of Smites. Behold the day, behold it has come, the morning has gone forth, Dorad has blossomed, pride has budded. Violence has risen up into a rod of wickedness. None of them shall remain, nor their multitude, nor of any of theirs, neither shall there be welling for them. The time has come, the day draws near, but not to buy or rejoice, nor to sell or mourn for wrath. It's upon all the multitude of it. For the seller shall not return to that which is sold, although they were yet alive. For the vision is touching the whole multitude of it, which shall not return. Neither shall any strengthen himself in the iniquity of his life. They have blown the trumpet, even to make all ready, but none goes to the battle. For my wrath is upon all the multitude of it. The sword is without, and the pestilence and the famine within. He that is in the field, die with the sword. And he that is in the city, famine and pestilence shall devour him. But they that escape of them shall escape, and shall be on the mountains like doves of the valleys. all of them mourning, every one for his iniquity. All hands shall be feeble, and all knees shall be weak as water. They shall also gird themselves with sackcloth, and horror shall cover them, and shame shall be upon all faces. and boldness upon all their heads. They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed. Their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in a day of the wrath of the Lord. They shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels. because it is the stumbling block of their iniquity for the beauty of its ornament. He said it in majesty, but they made the images of their abominations and of their detestable things therein. Therefore have I set it far from them, and I will give it into the hands of the strangers for a prey. into the wicked of the earth for a spoil, and they shall pollute it. My face will I turn also from them, and they shall pollute my secret place, for the robbers shall enter into it and defile it. Make a chain, for the land is full of bloody crimes, and the city is full of violence. Therefore will I bring the worst of the heathen. and they shall possess their houses. And I will also make the pomp of the strong to cease, and their holy places shall be defiled. They shall seek peace, and there shall be none. Mischief shall come upon mischief. and rumor shall be upon rumor. Then shall they seek a vision of the prophet, but the law shall perish from the priest, and counsel from the ancients. The king shall mourn, and the prince shall be closed with desolation, and the hands of the people of the land shall be troubled. I will do to them after their way, and according to their deserves will I judge them, and they shall know that I am the Lord. Chapter 8. And it came to pass in the sixth year and the sixth month and the fifth day of the month, as I sat in mine house, and the elders of Judah sat before me, that the hand of the Lord God fell there upon me. Then I beheld, and, lo, a likeness is the appearance of fire, from the appearance of its lines even downward. Fire. And from his loins even upward is the appearance of brightness as the color of amber. And he put forth the form of an hand, and took me by the lock of my head, and the spirit lifted me up between the earth and the heaven. and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem, to the door of the inner gate that looks toward the north, where was the seed of the image of jealousy, which provokes the jealousy. And behold, the glory of the God of Israel was there, according to the vision that I saw on the plain. Then said he to me, Son of man, lift up your eyes now the way toward the north. So I lifted up mine eyes away toward the north and behold northward at the gate of the altar this image of jealousy in the entry. He said furthermore to me, Son of man, do you see what they do? Even the great abominations that the house of Israel commits here. that I should go far off from my sanctuary, but turn you yet again, and you shall see greater abominations. And he brought me to the door of the court, and when I looked, behold, a hole in the wall. And he said to me, Son of Man, dig now in the wall. And when I digged in the wall, behold, a door. And he said to me, Go in. And behold the wicked abominations that they do here. So I went in and saw, and behold every form of creeping things, and abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel portrayed upon the wall round about. And there stood before them seventy men of the ancients of the house of Israel. And in the midst of them stood Jeazaniah, the son of Shaphan, with a remanded censer in his hand, and a thick cloud of incense went up. Then he said to me, Son of man, have you seen what the ancients of the house of Israel do in the dark? every man in the chambers of his imagery, for they say, The Lord does not see us. The Lord has forsaken the earth. He said also to me, Turn ye yet again, and ye shall see greater abominations that they do. Then he brought me to the door of the gate of the Lord's house, which was toward the north, and behold, There sat women weeping for Thamuz. Then he said to me, Have you seen this, O son of man? Turn you yet again, and you shall see greater abominations than these. And he brought me into the inner court of the Lord's house. And behold, at the door of the temple of the Lord, between the porch and the altar, were about five and twenty men, with their backs towards the temple of the Lord, and their faces toward the east. They worshipped the sun toward the east. Then he said to me, Have you seen this, O son of man? Is it a light thing to the house of Judah, Did they commit the abominations which they commit here? For they have filled the land with violence, and have returned to provoke me to anger and love. They put the branch to their nose. Therefore will I also deal in fury. Mine eye shall not spare. Neither will I have pity. And though they cry in mine ears with a loud voice, yet Will I not hear them?