Evil Rulers to Be Judged

¹Moreover, the Spirit lifted me up and brought me to the gate of the Lord’s house, which faced eastward. And behold, at the entrance of the gate there were twenty-five men; and I saw among them Jaazaniah the son of Azzur and Pelatiah the son of Benaiah, princes of the people. ² Then the Spirit said to me, “Son of man, these are the men who devise evil and give wicked advice in this city, ³ who say, ‘Is not the time near to build houses? This city is [secure just like] the pot and we are the meat [in it].’ ⁴ Therefore, prophesy against them; prophesy, son of man!”

⁵ Then the Spirit of the Lord fell upon me, and He said to me, “Say, ‘Thus says the Lord, “This is what you think, house of Israel, for I know your thoughts. ⁶ You have multiplied your slain in this city, and you have filled its streets with the corpses [of righteous men].” ⁷ Therefore, thus says the Lord God, “Your dead whom you have laid in the midst of your city are the meat and this city is the pot; but I shall force you out of [the security of] it. ⁸ You have feared the sword; so I will bring a sword upon you,” says the Lord God. ⁹ “And I will bring you out of the midst of the city and hand you over to strangers and execute judgment against you. ¹⁰ You will fall by the sword; I will judge and punish you [in front of your neighbors] at the border of [the land of] Israel; and you will know [without any doubt] that I am the Lord. ¹¹ This city will not be a pot for you, nor will you be meat [safe] in it, but I will judge you at the border of Israel. ¹² And you will know [without any doubt] that I am the Lord; for you have not walked in My statutes nor have you executed My ordinances, but you have acted in accordance with the ordinances of the nations around you.”’”

¹³ Now it came about while I was prophesying, that Pelatiah the son of Benaiah died. Then I fell face downward and cried out loudly, “Alas, Lord God! Will You bring the remnant of Israel to a complete end?”

Promise of Restoration

¹⁴ Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ¹⁵ “Son of man, your brothers, your relatives, your fellow exiles and the whole house of Israel, all of them, are those to whom the [present] inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, ‘Go far away from the Lord; this land has been given to us as a possession.’ ¹⁶ Therefore say, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “Though I had removed Israel far away among the nations and though I had scattered them among the countries, yet I have been a sanctuary for them for a little while in the countries to which they had gone.”’ ¹⁷ Therefore say, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “I will gather you from the peoples and assemble you out of the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give [back] to you the land of Israel.”’ ¹⁸ When they return there, they will remove from it all [traces of] its detestable things and all its repulsive things (remnants of paganism). ¹⁹ And I will give them one heart [a new heart], and put a new spirit within them. I will take from them the heart of stone, and will give them a heart of flesh [that is responsive to My touch], ²⁰ that they may walk in My statutes and keep My ordinances and do them. Then they shall be My people, and I will be their God. ²¹ But as for those whose heart longs for and follows after their detestable things and their repulsive things [associated with idolatry], on their own head I will repay [them in full for] their [vile] conduct,” says the Lord God.

²² Then the cherubim lifted up their wings with the wheels beside them, and the [Shekinah] glory of the God of Israel hovered over them. ²³ Then the glory and brilliance of the Lord went up from the midst of the city and paused over the mountain, [the Mount of Olives] which is east of the city. ²⁴ And the Spirit lifted me up and brought me in a vision by the Spirit of God to the exiles in Chaldea (Babylonia). Then the vision that I had seen left me. ²⁵ Then I told the exiles everything that the Lord had shown me.