Ezekiel 22:26-31

22:26 Her priests abuse my law and have desecrated my holy things. They do not distinguish between the holy and the profane, ¹  or recognize any distinction between the unclean and the clean. They ignore ²  my Sabbaths and I am profaned in their midst. 22:27 Her officials are like wolves in her midst rending their prey – shedding blood and destroying lives – so they can get dishonest profit. 22:28 Her prophets coat their messages with whitewash. ³  They see false visions and announce lying omens for them, saying, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says,’ when the Lord has not spoken. 22:29 The people of the land have practiced extortion and committed robbery. They have wronged the poor and needy; they have oppressed the foreigner who lives among them and denied them justice. ⁴ 

22:30 “I looked for a man from among them who would repair the wall and stand in the gap before me on behalf of the land, so that I would not destroy it, but I found no one. ⁵  22:31 So I have poured my anger on them, and destroyed them with the fire of my fury. I hereby repay them for what they have done, ⁶  declares the sovereign Lord.”

[22:26]  ¹ tn Or “between the consecrated and the common.”

[22:26]  ² tn Heb “hide their eyes from.” The idiom means to disregard or ignore something or someone (see Lev 20:4; 1 Sam 12:3; Prov 28:27; Isa 1:15).

[22:28]  ³ tn Heb “her prophets coat for themselves with whitewash.” The expression may be based on Ezek 13:10-15.

[22:29]  ⁴ tn Heb “and the foreigner they have oppressed without justice.”

[22:30]  ⁵ tn Heb “I did not find.”

[22:31]  ⁶ tn Heb “their way on their head I have placed.”