This is what the sovereign Lord says: No foreigner, who is uncircumcised in heart and flesh among all the foreigners who are among the people of Israel, will enter into my sanctuary. ¹ 

“Also for your part lie on your left side and place the iniquity ¹  of the house of Israel on it. For the number of days you lie on your side you will bear their iniquity.

Then my anger will be fully vented; I will exhaust my rage on them, and I will be appeased. ¹  Then they will know that I, the Lord, have spoken in my jealousy ²  when I have fully vented my rage against them.

He said to me, “Son of man, do you see what they are doing – the great abominations that the people ¹  of Israel are practicing here, to drive me far from my sanctuary? But you will see greater abominations than these!”

Seventy men from the elders of the house of Israel ¹  (with Jaazaniah son of Shaphan standing among them) were standing in front of them, each with a censer in his hand, and fragrant ²  vapors from a cloud of incense were swirling upward.

Bring out your belongings packed for exile during the day while they are watching. And go out at evening, while they are watching, as if for exile.

Tell the ones who coat it with whitewash that it will fall. When there is a deluge of rain, hailstones ¹  will fall and a violent wind will break out. ² 

I will set my face against that person and will make him an object lesson and a byword ¹  and will cut him off from among my people. Then you will know that I am the Lord.

When you built your chamber at the head of every street and put up your pavilion in every public square, you were not like a prostitute, because you scoffed at payment. ¹ 

You are the daughter of your mother, who detested her husband and her sons, and you are the sister of your sisters who detested their husbands and their sons. Your mother was a Hittite and your father an Amorite.

But it was plucked up in anger; it was thrown down to the ground. The east wind ¹  dried up its fruit; its strong branches broke off and withered – a fire consumed them.

I also swore ¹  to them in the wilderness that I would not bring them to the land I had given them – a land flowing with milk and honey, the most beautiful of all lands.

It is sharpened for slaughter, it is polished to flash like lightning! “‘Should we rejoice in the scepter of my son? No! The sword despises every tree! ¹ 

“You, son of man, mark out two routes for the king of Babylon’s sword to take; both of them will originate in a single land. Make a signpost and put it at the beginning of the road leading to the city.

But those in Jerusalem ¹  will view it as a false omen. They have sworn solemn oaths, ²  but the king of Babylon ³  will accuse them of violations ⁴  in order to seize them. ⁵ 

“As for you, son of man, prophesy and say, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says concerning the Ammonites and their coming humiliation; ¹  say: “‘A sword, a sword drawn for slaughter, polished to consume, ²  to flash like lightning –

“‘Therefore this is what the sovereign Lord says: Woe to the city of bloodshed, the pot whose rot ¹  is in it, whose rot has not been removed ²  from it! Empty it piece by piece. No lot has fallen on it. ³ 

I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, and I will place my sword in his hand, but I will break the arms of Pharaoh, and he will groan like the fatally wounded before the king of Babylon. ¹ 

The water made it grow; underground springs made it grow tall. Rivers flowed all around the place it was planted, while smaller channels watered all the trees of the field. ¹ 

The cedars in the garden of God could not eclipse it, nor could the fir trees ¹  match its boughs; the plane trees were as nothing compared to its branches; no tree in the garden of God could rival its beauty.