I will lay waste your cities; and you will become desolate. Then you will know that I am the Lord!

“‘But you, mountains of Israel, will grow your branches, and bear your fruit for my people Israel; for they will arrive soon. ¹ 

He said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” I said to him, “Sovereign Lord, you know.”

“‘Be ready and stay ready, you and all your companies assembled around you, and be a guard for them. ¹ 

But you, son of man, do not fear them, and do not fear their words – even though briers ¹  and thorns ²  surround you and you live among scorpions – do not fear their words and do not be terrified of the looks they give you, ³  for they are a rebellious house!

“As for you, take wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and spelt, ¹  put them in a single container, and make food ²  from them for yourself. For the same number of days that you lie on your side – 390 days ³  – you will eat it.

“‘Therefore, this is what the sovereign Lord says: Take note ¹  that I am against your wristbands with which you entrap people’s lives ²  like birds. I will tear them from your arms and will release the people’s lives, which you hunt like birds.

So now, bear your disgrace, because you have given your sisters reason to justify their behavior. ¹  Because the sins you have committed were more abominable than those of your sisters; they have become more righteous than you. So now, be ashamed and bear the disgrace of making your sisters appear righteous.

For you are not being sent to a people of unintelligible speech ¹  and difficult language, ²  but ³  to the house of Israel –

“And you, son of man, take a brick ¹  and set it in front of you. Inscribe ²  a city on it – Jerusalem.

“You, son of man – this is what the sovereign Lord says to the land of Israel: An end! The end is coming on the four corners of the land! ¹ 

This city will not be a cooking pot for you, and you will not ¹  be meat within it; I will judge you at the border of Israel.

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 made you plentiful like sprouts in a field; you grew tall and came of age so that you could wear jewelry. Your breasts had formed and your hair had grown, but you were still naked and bare.

All prostitutes receive payment, ¹  but instead you give gifts to every one of your lovers. You bribe them to come to you from all around for your sexual favors!

As surely as I live, declares the sovereign Lord, your sister Sodom and her daughters never behaved as wickedly as you and your daughters have behaved.

As for your sisters, Sodom and her daughters will be restored to their former status, Samaria and her daughters will be restored to their former status, and you and your daughters will be restored to your former status.

“What do you mean by quoting this proverb concerning the land of Israel, “‘The fathers eat sour grapes And the children’s teeth become numb?’ ¹ 

So I said to them, What is this high place you go to?’” (So it is called “High Place” ¹  to this day.)

“‘What you plan ¹  will never happen. You say, “We will be ²  like the nations, like the clans of the lands, who serve gods of wood and stone.” ³