<p class="bodytext">&#8220;Therefore say to the house of Israel, &#8216;This is what the sovereign <sc>Lordsc> says: Return! Turn from your idols, and turn your faces away from your abominations.

&#8220;What do you mean by quoting this proverb concerning the land of Israel,p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;&#8216;The fathers eat sour grapesp> <p class="poetry">And the children&#8217;s teeth become numb?&#8217;<n id="1" />p>

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;As surely as I live, declares the sovereign <sc>Lordsc>,<n id="1" /> you will not quote this proverb in Israel anymore!

He does not eat pagan sacrifices on the mountains, does not pray to the idols of the house of Israel, does not defile his neighbor&#8217;s wife,

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;Yet you say, &#8216;The Lord&#8217;s conduct<n id="1" /> is unjust!&#8217; Hear, O house of Israel: Is my conduct unjust? Is it not your conduct that is unjust?

Throw away all your sins you have committed and fashion yourselves a new heart and a new spirit!<n id="1" /> Why should you die, O house of Israel?

<p class="poetry">They put him in a collar with hooks;<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">they brought him to the king of Babylon;p> <p class="poetry">they brought him to prison<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">so that his voice would not be heardp> <p class="poetry">any longer on the mountains of Israel.p>

<t /><p class="bodytext">In the seventh year, in the fifth month, on the tenth of the month,<n id="1" /> some of the elders<n id="2" /> of Israel came to seek<n id="3" /> the <sc>Lordsc>, and they sat down in front of me.

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;Therefore say to the house of Israel, &#8216;This is what the sovereign <sc>Lordsc> says: Will you defile yourselves like your fathers<n id="1" /> and engage in prostitution with detestable idols?

I will eliminate from among you the rebels and those who revolt<n id="1" /> against me. I will bring them out from the land where they have been residing, but they will not come to the land of Israel. Then you will know that I am the <sc>Lordsc>.p>

Then you will know that I am the <sc>Lordsc> when I bring you to the land of Israel, to the land I swore<n id="1" /> to give to your fathers.

Then you will know that I am the <sc>Lordsc>, when I deal with you for the sake of my reputation and not according to your wicked conduct and corrupt deeds, O house of Israel, declares the sovereign <sc>Lordsc>.&#8217;&#8221;p>

&#8220;Son of man, turn toward<n id="1" /> Jerusalem<n id="2" /> and speak out against the sanctuaries. Prophesy against the land of Israel

and say to them,<n id="1" /> &#8216;This is what the <sc>Lordsc> says: Look,<n id="2" /> I am against you.<n id="3" /> I will draw my sword<n id="4" /> from its sheath and cut off from you both the righteous and the wicked.<n id="5" />

<p class="poetry">&#8220;&#8216;As for you, profane and wicked prince of Israel,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">whose day has come, the time of final punishment,p>

&#8220;Son of man, the house of Israel has become slag to me. All of them are like bronze, tin, iron, and lead in the furnace;<n id="1" /> they are the worthless slag of silver.

For this is what the sovereign <sc>Lordsc> says: Because you clapped your hands, stamped your feet, and rejoiced with intense scorn<n id="1" /> over the land of Israel,

I will exact my vengeance upon Edom by the hand of my people Israel. They will carry out in Edom my anger and rage; they will experience<n id="1" /> my vengeance, declares the sovereign <sc>Lordsc>.&#8217;&#8221;p>

Judah and the land of Israel were your clients; they traded wheat from Minnith,<n id="1" /> millet, honey, olive oil, and balm for your merchandise.

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;&#8216;No longer will Israel suffer from the sharp briers<n id="1" /> or painful thorns of all who surround and scorn them.<n id="2" /> Then they will know that I am the sovereign <sc>Lordsc>.p>