Ezekiel 22:15-23

22:15 I will scatter you among the nations and disperse you among various countries; I will remove your impurity from you. ¹  22:16 You will be profaned within yourself ²  in the sight of the nations; then you will know that I am the Lord.’”

22:17 The word of the Lord came to me: 22:18 “Son of man, the house of Israel has become slag to me. All of them are like bronze, tin, iron, and lead in the furnace; ³  they are the worthless slag of silver. 22:19 Therefore this is what the sovereign Lord says: ‘Because all of you ⁴  have become slag, look out! – I am about to gather you in the middle of Jerusalem. ⁵  22:20 As silver, bronze, iron, lead, and tin are gathered in a furnace so that the fire can melt them, so I will gather you in my anger and in my rage. I will deposit you there ⁶  and melt you. 22:21 I will gather you and blow on you with the fire of my fury, and you will be melted in it. 22:22 As silver is melted in a furnace, so you will be melted in it, and you will know that I, the Lord, have poured out my anger on you.’”

22:23 The word of the Lord came to me:

[22:15]  ¹ sn The ultimate purpose of divine judgment is to purify the covenant community of its sins.

[22:16]  ² tc Several ancient versions read the verb as first person, in which case the Lord refers to how his people’s sin brings disgrace upon him. For a defense of the Hebrew text, see D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 1:712, n. 68, and M. Greenberg, Ezekiel (AB), 2:457-58.

[22:18]  ³ tn For similar imagery, see Isa 1:21-26; Jer 6:27-30.

[22:19]  ⁴ tn The Hebrew second person pronoun is masculine plural here and in vv. 19b-21, indicating that the people are being addressed.

[22:19]  ⁵ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[22:20]  ⁵ tn Heb “I will put.” No object is supplied in the Hebrew, prompting many to emend the text to “I will blow.” See BHS and verse 21.