“Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: Will you defile yourselves like your fathers ¹  and engage in prostitution with detestable idols?

Because I will cut off from you both the righteous and the wicked, my sword will go out from its sheath against everyone ¹  from the south ²  to the north.

Then say, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: O city, who spills blood within herself (which brings on her doom), ¹  and who makes herself idols (which results in impurity),

So look, I am about to open up Moab’s flank, ¹  eliminating the cities, ²  including its frontier cities, ³  the beauty of the land – Beth Jeshimoth, Baal Meon, and Kiriathaim.

“This is what the sovereign Lord says: ‘The Philistines ¹  have exacted merciless revenge, ²  showing intense scorn ³  in their effort to destroy Judah ⁴  with unrelenting hostility. ⁵ 

“‘Therefore this is what the sovereign Lord says: Because it was tall in stature, and its top reached into the clouds, and it was proud of its height,

Then they will know that I am the Lord when I turn the land into a desolate ruin because of all the abominable deeds they have committed.’ ¹ 

Therefore, as surely as I live, declares the sovereign Lord, I will subject you to bloodshed, and bloodshed will pursue you. Since you did not hate bloodshed, bloodshed will pursue you.

So this is what the sovereign Lord says: I vow ¹  that the nations around you will endure insults as well.

“‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: Because they are saying to you, “You are a devourer of men, and bereave your nation of children,”

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 

He said to me, “Son of man, feed your stomach and fill your belly with this scroll I am giving to you.” So I ate it, ¹  and it was sweet like honey in my mouth.

“As for you, son of man, take a sharp sword and use it as a barber’s razor. ¹  Shave off some of the hair from your head and your beard. ²  Then take scales and divide up the hair you cut off.

Therefore fathers will eat their sons within you, Jerusalem, ¹  and sons will eat their fathers. I will execute judgments on you, and I will scatter any survivors ²  to the winds. ³ 

You will be ¹  an object of scorn and taunting, ²  a prime example of destruction ³  among the nations around you when I execute judgments against you in anger and raging fury. ⁴  I, the Lord, have spoken!

I will shoot against them deadly, ¹  destructive ²  arrows of famine, ³  which I will shoot to destroy you. ⁴  I will prolong a famine on you and will remove the bread supply. ⁵ 

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!”

They rendered the beauty of his ornaments into pride, ¹  and with it they made their abominable images – their detestable idols. Therefore I will render it filthy to them.

I will bring the most wicked of the nations and they will take possession of their houses. I will put an end to the arrogance of the strong, and their sanctuaries ¹  will be desecrated.

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!”