I also gave ¹  them decrees ²  which were not good and regulations by which they could not live.

The prince will not take away any of the people’s inheritance by oppressively removing them from their property. He will give his sons an inheritance from his own possessions so that my people will not be scattered, each from his own property.’”

He said to me, “Son of man, eat what you see in front of you ¹  – eat this scroll – and then go and speak to the house of Israel.”

Then for your part take an iron frying pan ¹  and set it up as an iron wall between you and the city. Set your face toward it. It is to be under siege; you are to besiege it. This is a sign ²  for the house of Israel.

A wind ¹  lifted me up and brought me to the east gate of the Lord’s temple that faces the east. There, at the entrance of the gate, I noticed twenty-five men. Among them I saw Jaazaniah son of Azzur and Pelatiah son of Benaiah, officials of the people. ² 

“‘When you allot the land as an inheritance, you will offer an allotment ¹  to the Lord, a holy portion from the land; the length will be eight and a quarter miles ²  and the width three and one-third miles. ³  This entire area will be holy. ⁴ 

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.

I will make a covenant of peace with them; it will be a perpetual covenant with them. ¹  I will establish them, ²  increase their numbers, and place my sanctuary among them forever.

The property of the Levites and of the city will be in the middle of that which belongs to the prince. The portion between the border of Judah and the border of Benjamin will be for the prince.

I will make your tongue stick to the roof of your mouth so that you will be silent and unable to reprove ¹  them, for they are a rebellious house.

The sound of the wings of the cherubim could be heard from the outer court, like the sound of the sovereign God ¹  when he speaks.

You engaged in prostitution with the Assyrians because your sexual desires were insatiable; you prostituted yourself with them and yet you were still not satisfied.

As they wail they will lament over you, chanting: “Who was like Tyre, like a tower ¹  in the midst of the sea?”

I will save you from all your uncleanness. I will call for the grain and multiply it; I will not bring a famine on you.

They must not sell or exchange any of it; they must not transfer this choice portion of land, for it is set apart ¹  to the Lord.

I will send famine and wild beasts against you and they will take your children from you. ¹  Plague and bloodshed will overwhelm you, ²  and I will bring a sword against you. I, the Lord, have spoken!”

I will dry up the waterways and hand the land over to ¹  evil men. I will make the land and everything in it desolate by the hand of foreigners. I, the Lord, have spoken!

I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit within you. I will remove the heart of stone ¹  from your body and give you a heart of flesh. ² 

“As for you, son of man, take one branch, and write on it, ‘For Judah, and for the Israelites associated with him.’ Then take another branch and write on it, ‘For Joseph, the branch of Ephraim and all the house of Israel associated with him.’

The four tables for the burnt offering were of carved stone, 32 inches ¹  long, 32 inches ²  wide, and 21 inches ³  high. They would put the instruments which they used to slaughter the burnt offering and the sacrifice on them.