Judgment On Evil Rulers

¹ And the Spirit lifted me up, and it brought me to the eastern gate, the one facing east, of the temple¹ of Yahweh. And look, there were twenty-five men in the doorway of the gate, and I saw Jaazaniah the son of Azzur in the midst of them, and Pelatiah the son of Benaiah, the commanders of the people.

1. Or “house”

² And he said to me, “Son of man,¹ these are the men ⌞who devise mischief⌟,² and who are offering bad counsel in this city,

1. Or “mortal,” or “son of humankind”
2. Literally “the ones devising mischief”

³ who are saying, “The building of houses is not near; the city is the pot, and we are the flesh.

⁴ Therefore prophesy against them! Prophesy, son of man!”¹

1. Or “mortal,” or “son of humankind”

⁵ And the Spirit of Yahweh fell on me, and he said to me, “Say, ‘thus says Yahweh: “This is what you think, house of Israel, and I myself know them,¹ the thoughts of your spirit.

1. Hebrew “it”

⁶ You made your slain ones numerous in this city, and you have filled its streets with slain ones.” ’¹

1. Hebrew “slain one”

⁷ Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Your slain ones whom you put in its midst, they are the flesh, and it is the pot, and I¹ will bring you out from its midst.

1. Hebrew “he”

⁸ The sword you have feared, and the sword I will bring against you!” ⌞declares⌟¹ the Lord Yahweh.

1. Literally “declaration of”

⁹ “And I will bring you out from its midst, and I will give you into the hand of strangers, and I will execute judgments against you.

¹⁰ By the sword you will fall at the border of Israel; I will judge you, and you will know that I am Yahweh.

¹¹ It will not be as a pot to you, and so you would be¹ in the midst of it as flesh, for at the border of Israel I will judge you.

1. Or “will be”

¹² And you will know that I am Yahweh, whose¹ rules you did not follow, and whose² regulations you did not do, but according to the regulations of the nations that are around you, you acted.” ’³

1. Hebrew “which”
2. Hebrew “my”
3. Or “did”

¹³ And it happened that ⌞as I was prophesying⌟,¹ Pelatiahu the son of Benaiahu died! And I fell on my face, and I cried with a loud voice, and I said, “Ah, Lord Yahweh, you are making a complete destruction of the remnant of Israel!”

1. Literally “at my prophesying”

¹⁴ And the word of Yahweh ⌞came⌟¹ to me, ⌞saying⌟,²

1. Literally “was”
2. Or “to say”

¹⁵ “Son of man,¹ your brothers, your brothers, the men of your redemption, and all of the house of Israel, all of it, ⌞who said concerning the inhabitants of Jerusalem⌟,² ‘They are far from Yahweh, therefore to us this land was given as a possession.’

1. Or “mortal,” or “son of humankind”
2. Literally “which they said concerning them the inhabitants of Jerusalem”

¹⁶ Therefore say, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Though I have removed them far away among the nations and though I have scattered them among the countries, yet I was a sanctuary to them for a little while in the countries ⌞to which they have gone⌟.’ ”¹

1. Literally “which they came there”

¹⁷ Therefore say, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “And I will assemble you from the peoples, and I will gather you from the countries to which you were scattered among them, and I will give the land of Israel to you.

¹⁸ And when they come there, then they will remove all of its vile idols and all of its detestable things from it.

¹⁹ And I will give to them one heart, and a new spirit I will give¹ in their inner parts. And I will remove their² heart of stone from their body, and I will give to them a heart of flesh,

1. Or “put”
2. Hebrew “the”

²⁰ so that they may walk in my statutes, and they will keep my regulations, and they will do them, and they will be to me a people, and I myself will be to them as God.

²¹ But to¹ the heart of their abominations and the detestable things their heart is going. I will bring their way on their head,” ⌞declares⌟² the Lord Yahweh.’ ”

1. Or “and to”
2. Literally “declaration of”

²² Then¹ the cherubim lifted up their wings, and their² wheels were beside them, and the glory of the God of Israel ⌞was over them⌟.³

1. Or “And”
2. Or “the”
3. Literally “from to above”

²³ And the glory of Yahweh went up from the midst of the city, and it stood still on the mountain that is to the east of the city.

²⁴ And the Spirit lifted me up, and it brought me to Chaldea, to the exiles,¹ in the vision by the spirit of God; and the vision that I had seen ⌞left me⌟.²

1. Hebrew “exile”
2. Literally “went up from being upon me”

²⁵ And I spoke to the exiles¹ all of the words of Yahweh that he had shown me.

1. Hebrew “exile”