Punishment for Wickedness Foretold

¹Moreover, the word of the Lord came to me saying, ² “And you, son of man, thus says the Lord ^[a]God to the land of Israel, ‘An end! The end is coming on the four corners of the land. ³ Now the end is upon you, and I will send My anger against you; I will judge you according to your ways and bring all your abominations upon you. ⁴ For My eye will have no pity on you, nor will I spare you, but I will bring your ways upon you, and your abominations will be among you; then you will know that I am the Lord!’

⁵ “Thus says the Lord ^[b]God, ‘A disaster, unique disaster, behold it is coming! ⁶ An end is coming; the end has come! It has awakened against you; behold, it has come! ⁷ Your doom has come to you, O inhabitant of the land. The time has come, the day is near—tumult rather than joyful shouting on the mountains. ⁸ Now I will shortly pour out My wrath on you and spend My anger against you; judge you according to your ways and bring on you all your abominations. ⁹ My eye will show no pity nor will I spare. I will ^[c]repay you according to your ways, while your abominations are in your midst; then you will know that I, the Lord, do the smiting.

¹⁰ ‘Behold, the day! Behold, it is coming! Your doom has gone forth; the rod has budded, arrogance has blossomed. ¹¹ Violence ^[d]has grown into a rod of wickedness. None of them shall remain, none of their people, none of their wealth, nor anything eminent among them. ¹² The time has come, the day has arrived. Let not the buyer rejoice nor the seller mourn; for wrath is against all their multitude. ¹³ Indeed, the seller will not ^[e]regain ^[f]what he sold as long as ^[g]they both live; for the vision regarding all their multitude will not ^[h]be averted, nor will any of them maintain his life by his iniquity.

¹⁴ ‘They have blown the trumpet and made everything ready, but no one is going to the battle, for My wrath is against all ^[i]their multitude. ¹⁵ The sword is outside and the plague and the famine are within. He who is in the field will die by the sword; famine and the plague will also consume those in the city. ¹⁶ Even when their survivors escape, they will be on the mountains like doves of the valleys, all of them ^[j]mourning, each over his own iniquity. ¹⁷ All hands will hang limp and all knees will ^[k]become like water. ¹⁸ They will gird themselves with sackcloth and shuddering will overwhelm them; and shame will be on all faces and baldness on all their heads. ¹⁹ They will fling their silver into the streets and their gold will become an abhorrent thing; their silver and their gold will not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the Lord. They cannot satisfy their ^[l]appetite nor can they fill their stomachs, for their iniquity has become an occasion of stumbling.

The Temple Profaned

²⁰ They transformed the beauty of His ornaments into pride, and they made the images of their abominations and their detestable things with it; therefore I will make it an abhorrent thing to them. ²¹ I will give it into the hands of the foreigners as plunder and to the wicked of the earth as spoil, and they will profane it. ²² I will also turn My face from them, and they will profane My secret place; then robbers will enter and profane it.

²³ ‘Make the chain, for the land is full of ^[m]bloody crimes and the city is full of violence. ²⁴ Therefore, I will bring the worst of the nations, and they will possess their houses. I will also make the pride of the strong ones cease, and their holy places will be profaned. ²⁵ When anguish comes, they will seek peace, but there will be none. ²⁶ Disaster will come upon disaster and rumor will be added to rumor; then they will seek a vision from a prophet, but the law will be lost from the priest and counsel from the elders. ²⁷ The king will mourn, the prince will be clothed with horror, and the hands of the people of the land will ^[n]tremble. According to their conduct I will deal with them, and by their judgments I will judge them. And they will know that I am the Lord.’”