Ezekiel
Chapter 11

22

¹ Then the cherubim lifted their wings, and the wheels went along with them, while up above them was the glory of the God of Israel.

23

And the glory of the LORD rose from the city and took a stand on the mountain which is to the east of the city.

1

Spirit lifted me up and brought me to the east gate of the temple. At the entrance of the gate I saw twenty-five men, among whom were Jaazaniah, son of Azzur, and Pelatiah, son of Benaiah, princes of the people.

2

The LORD said to me: Son of man, these are the men who are planning evil and giving wicked counsel in this city.

3

² "Shall we not," they say, "be building houses soon? The city is the kettle, and we are the meat."

4

Therefore prophesy against them, son of man, prophesy!

5

Then the spirit of the LORD fell upon me, and he told me to say: Thus says the LORD: This is the way you talk, house of Israel, and what you are plotting I well know.

6

You have slain many in this city and have filled its streets with your slain.

7

Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Your slain whom you have placed within it, they are the meat, and the city is the kettle; but you I will take out of it.

8

You fear the sword, but the sword I will bring upon you, says the Lord GOD.

9

I will bring you out of the city, and hand you over to foreigners, and inflict punishments upon you.

10

By the sword you shall fall; at the boundaries of Israel I will judge you; thus you shall know that I am the LORD.

11

The city shall not be a kettle for you, nor shall you be the meat within it. At the boundaries of Israel I will judge you,

12

and you shall know that I am the LORD, by whose statutes you have not lived, and whose ordinances you have not kept; rather, you have acted according to the ordinances of the nations around you.

13

While I was prophesying, Pelatiah, the son of Benaiah, died. I fell prone and cried out in a loud voice: "Alas, Lord GOD! will you utterly wipe out what remains of Israel?"

14

Thus the word of the LORD came to me:

15

³ Son of man, it is about your kinsmen, your fellow exiles, and the whole house of Israel that the inhabitants of Jerusalem say, "They are far away from the LORD; to us the land of Israel has been given as our possession."

16

Therefore say: Thus says the Lord GOD: Though I have removed them far among the nations and scattered them over foreign countries--and was for a while their only sanctuary in the countries to which they had gone--

17

I will gather you from the nations and assemble you from the countries over which you have been scattered, and I will restore to you the land of Israel.

18

They shall return to it and remove from it all its detestable abominations.

19

I will give them a new heart and put a new spirit within them; I will remove the stony heart from their bodies, and replace it with a natural heart,

20

so that they will live according to my statutes, and observe and carry out my ordinances; thus they shall be my people and I will be their God.

21

But as for those whose hearts are devoted to their detestable abominations, I will bring down their conduct upon their heads, says the Lord GOD.

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Footnotes

¹ [22-23] These verses have been transposed from Ezekial 11.

² [3] These words reflect the false confidence of the inhabitants of Jerusalem in the face of the Chaldean invasion. Jerusalem, they think, is like an iron kettle protecting the meat within it from harm; but cf Ezekiel 24:3-6.

³ [15-21] Like Jeremiah (cf Ezekial 29), Ezekiel knows that no reform is to be expected from the men of Judah who remained in Palestine; but the exiles will be the ones to form the new Israel. The new, spiritual covenant will replace the former covenant; cf Jeremiah 24:7.

New American Bible Copyright © 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC. All rights reserved. Neither this work nor any part of it may be reproduced, distributed, performed or displayed in any medium, including electronic or digital, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

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