But its swamps and its marshes will not become fresh; they will remain salty.

For seven days they will make atonement for the altar and cleanse it, so they will consecrate it. ¹ 

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.

Foreigners from the most terrifying nations have cut it down and left it to lie there on the mountains. In all the valleys its branches have fallen, and its boughs lie broken in the ravines of the land. All the peoples of the land ¹  have departed ²  from its shade and left it.

An end comes ¹  – the end comes! ²  It has awakened against you ³  – the end is upon you! Look, it is coming! ⁴ 

The altar was of wood, 5¼ feet ¹  high, with its length 3½ feet; ²  its corners, its length, ³  and its walls were of wood. He said to me, “This is the table that is before the Lord.”

“‘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 break down the wall you coated with whitewash and knock it to the ground so that its foundation is exposed. When it falls you will be destroyed beneath it, ¹  and you will know that I am the Lord.

Then he brought me to the north gate, and he measured it; it had the same dimensions as the others –

so it would be a lowly kingdom which could not rise on its own but must keep its treaty with him in order to stand.

“‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: On the day it ¹  went down to Sheol I caused observers to lament. ²  I covered it with the deep and held back its rivers; its plentiful water was restrained. I clothed Lebanon in black for it, and all the trees of the field wilted because of it.

A total ruin I will make it! ¹  It will come to an end when the one arrives to whom I have assigned judgment.’ ² 

Return it to its sheath! ¹  In the place where you were created, ²  in your native land, I will judge you.

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 

You will drain it dry, ¹  gnaw its pieces, ²  and tear out your breasts, ³  for I have spoken, declares the sovereign Lord.

Its length was 175 feet ¹  on the north side, ²  and its width 87½ feet. ³ 

“Son of man, suppose a country sins against me by being unfaithful, and I stretch out my hand against it, cut off its bread supply, ¹  cause famine to come on it, and kill both people and animals.

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

“‘There was another great eagle ¹  with broad wings and thick plumage. Now this vine twisted its roots toward him and sent its branches toward him to be watered from the soil where it was planted.

There were windows all around it and its porches, like the windows of the others; ¹  87½ feet ²  long and 43¾ feet ³  wide.