The Sins of Jerusalem

Ezekiel is told to judge the bloody city by declaring her abominations. Jerusalem has shed blood, made idols, brought her day near, and become a reproach to the nations. Her princes use their strength for bloodshed; parents, foreigners, orphans, and widows are mistreated; holy things and Sabbaths are despised; slander, sexual immorality, and extortion fill the land; and the LORD is forgotten. Therefore God strikes His hands at her gain and bloodshed, asks whether she can endure the day of His dealing, and announces that He will scatter her and profane her before the nations.

T¹hen the word of the LORD came to me, saying, ²“As for you, son of man, will you judge her? Will you pass judgment on the city of bloodshed? Then confront her with all her abominations ³and tell her that this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘O city who brings her own doom by shedding blood within her walls and making idols to defile herself, ⁴you are guilty of the blood you have shed, and you are defiled by the idols you have made. You have brought your days to a close and have come to the end of your years. Therefore I have made you a reproach to the nations and a mockery to all the lands. ⁵Those near and far will mock you, O infamous city, full of turmoil. ⁶See how every prince of Israel within you has used his power to shed blood. ⁷Father and mother are treated with contempt. Within your walls the foreign resident is exploited, the fatherless and the widow are oppressed. ⁸You have despised My holy things and profaned My Sabbaths. ⁹Among you are slanderous men bent on bloodshed; within you are those who eat on the mountain shrines and commit acts of indecency. ¹⁰In you they have uncovered the nakedness of their fathers; in you they violate women during their menstrual impurity. ¹¹One man commits an abomination with his neighbor’s wife; another wickedly defiles his daughter-in-law; and yet another violates his sister, his own father’s daughter. ¹²In you they take bribes to shed blood. You engage in usury, take excess interest, and extort your neighbors. But Me you have forgotten, declares the Lord GOD. ¹³Now look, I strike My hands together against your unjust gain and against the blood you have shed in your midst. ¹⁴Will your courage endure or your hands be strong in the day I deal with you? I, the LORD, have spoken, and I will act. ¹⁵I will disperse you among the nations and scatter you throughout the lands; I will purge your uncleanness. ¹⁶And when you have defiled yourself in the eyes of the nations, then you will know that I am the LORD.’”