God's Punishment of the Rebellious

¹The Lord said, “I was ready to answer my people's prayers, but they did not pray. I was ready for them to find me, but they did not even try. The nation did not pray to me, even though I was always ready to answer, ‘Here I am; I will help you.’

²I have always been ready to welcome my people, who stubbornly do what is wrong and go their own way.

³They shamelessly keep on making me angry. They offer pagan sacrifices at sacred gardens and burn incense on pagan altars.

⁴At night they go to caves and tombs to consult the spirits of the dead. They eat pork and drink broth made from meat offered in pagan sacrifices.

⁵And then they say to others, ‘Keep away from us; we are too holy for you to touch!’ I cannot stand people like that—my anger against them is like a fire that never goes out.

⁶“I have already decided on their punishment, and their sentence is written down. I will not overlook what they have done, but will repay them

⁷for their sins and the sins of their ancestors. They have burned incense at pagan hill shrines and spoken evil of me. So I will punish them as their past deeds deserve.”

⁸The Lord says, “No one destroys good grapes; instead, they make wine with them. Neither will I destroy all my people—I will save those who serve me.

⁹I will bless the Israelites who belong to the tribe of Judah, and their descendants will possess my land of mountains. My chosen people, who serve me, will live there.

¹⁰They will worship me and will lead their sheep and cattle to pasture in the Plain of Sharon in the west and in Trouble Valley in the east.

¹¹“But it will be different for you that forsake me, who ignore Zion, my sacred hill, and worship Gad and Meni, the gods of luck and fate.

¹²It will be your fate to die a violent death, because you did not answer when I called you or listen when I spoke. You chose to disobey me and do evil.

¹³And so I tell you that those who worship and obey me will have plenty to eat and drink, but you will be hungry and thirsty. They will be happy, but you will be disgraced.

¹⁴They will sing for joy, but you will cry with a broken heart.

¹⁵My chosen people will use your name as a curse. I, the Sovereign Lord, will put you to death. But I will give a new name to those who obey me.

¹⁶Anyone in the land who asks for a blessing will ask to be blessed by the faithful God. Whoever takes an oath will swear by the name of the faithful God. The troubles of the past will be gone and forgotten.”

The New Creation

¹⁷The Lord says, “I am making a new earth and new heavens. The events of the past will be completely forgotten.

¹⁸Be glad and rejoice forever in what I create. The new Jerusalem I make will be full of joy, and her people will be happy.

¹⁹I myself will be filled with joy because of Jerusalem and her people. There will be no weeping there, no calling for help.

²⁰Babies will no longer die in infancy, and all people will live out their life span. Those who live to be a hundred will be considered young. To die before that would be a sign that I had punished them.

^21-22People will build houses and get to live in them—they will not be used by someone else. They will plant vineyards and enjoy the wine—it will not be drunk by others. Like trees, my people will live long lives. They will fully enjoy the things that they have worked for.

²³The work they do will be successful, and their children will not meet with disaster. I will bless them and their descendants for all time to come.

²⁴Even before they finish praying to me, I will answer their prayers.

²⁵Wolves and lambs will eat together; lions will eat straw, as cattle do, and snakes will no longer be dangerous. On Zion, my sacred hill, there will be nothing harmful or evil.”

The Sinful Sisters

¹The Lord spoke to me.

²“Mortal man,” he said, “there were once two sisters.

³When they were young, living in Egypt, they lost their virginity and became prostitutes.

⁴The older one was named Oholah (she represents Samaria), and the younger one was named Oholibah (she represents Jerusalem). I married both of them, and they bore me children.

⁵Although she was mine, Oholah continued to be a prostitute and was full of lust for her lovers from Assyria.

⁶They were soldiers in uniforms of purple, noblemen and high-ranking officers; all of them were handsome young cavalry officers.

⁷She was the whore for all the Assyrian officers, and her lust led her to defile herself by worshiping Assyrian idols.

⁸She continued what she had begun as a prostitute in Egypt, where she lost her virginity. From the time she was a young woman, men slept with her and treated her like a prostitute.

⁹So I handed her over to her Assyrian lovers whom she wanted so much.

¹⁰They stripped her naked, seized her sons and daughters, and then killed her with a sword. Women everywhere gossiped about her fate.

¹¹“Even though her sister Oholibah saw this, she was wilder and more of a prostitute than Oholah had ever been.

¹²She too was full of lust for the Assyrian noblemen and officers—soldiers in bright uniforms—and for the cavalry officers, all of those handsome young men.

¹³I saw that she was completely immoral, that the second sister was as bad as the first.

^14-15“She sank deeper and deeper in her immorality. She was attracted by the images of high Babylonian officials carved into the wall and painted bright red, with sashes around their waists and fancy turbans on their heads.

¹⁶As soon as she saw them, she was filled with lust and sent messengers to them in Babylonia.

¹⁷The Babylonians came to have sex with her. They used her and defiled her so much that finally she became disgusted with them.

¹⁸She exposed herself publicly and let everyone know she was a whore. I was as disgusted with her as I had been with her sister.

¹⁹She became more of a prostitute than ever, acting the way she did as a young woman, when she was a prostitute in Egypt.

²⁰She was filled with lust for oversexed men who had all the lustfulness of donkeys or stallions.”

²¹(Oholibah, you wanted to repeat the immorality you were guilty of as a young woman in Egypt, where men played with your breasts and you lost your virginity.)

God's Judgment on the Younger Sister

²²“Now then, Oholibah, this is what I, the Sovereign Lord, am saying to you. You are tired of those lovers, but I will make them angry with you and bring them to surround you.

²³I will bring all the Babylonians and Chaldeans, men from Pekod, Shoa, and Koa, and all the Assyrians. I will gather all those handsome young noblemen and officers, all those important officials and high-ranking cavalry officers.

²⁴They will attack you from the north, bringing a large army with chariots and supply wagons. Protected by shields and helmets, they will surround you. I will hand you over to them, and they will judge you by their own laws.

²⁵Because I am angry with you, I will let them deal with you in their anger. They will cut off your nose and your ears and kill your children. Yes, they will take your sons and daughters from you and burn them alive.

²⁶They will tear off your clothes and take your jewels.

²⁷I will put a stop to your lust and to the obscenities you have committed ever since you were in Egypt. You won't look at any more idols or think about Egypt any more.”

²⁸This is what the Sovereign Lord says: “I will hand you over to people you hate and are disgusted with.

²⁹And because they hate you, they will take away everything you have worked for and leave you stripped naked, exposed like a prostitute. Your lust and your prostitution

³⁰have brought this on you. You were a prostitute for the nations and defiled yourself with their idols.

³¹You followed in your sister's footsteps, and so I will give you the same cup of punishment to drink.”

³²The Sovereign Lord says, “You will drink from your sister's cup; it is large and deep. Everyone will scorn and mock you; the cup is full.

³³It will make you miserable and drunk, that cup of fear and ruin, your sister Samaria's cup.

³⁴You will drink and drain it dry, and with its broken pieces tear your breast. I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken.”

³⁵Now this is what the Sovereign Lord is saying: “Because you forgot me and turned your back on me, you will suffer for your lust and your prostitution.”

God's Judgment on Both Sisters

³⁶The Lord said to me, “Mortal man, are you ready to judge Oholah and Oholibah? Accuse them of the disgusting things they have done.

³⁷They have committed adultery and murder—adultery with idols and murder of the children they bore me. They sacrificed my children to their idols.

³⁸And that is not all they did. They profaned my Temple and broke the Sabbath, which I had established.

³⁹The very day that they killed my children as sacrifices to idols, they came to my Temple and profaned it!

⁴⁰“Again and again they sent messengers to invite men to come from a great distance, and the men came. The two sisters would bathe and put on eye shadow and jewelry.

⁴¹They would sit on a beautiful couch, and in front of them they would have a table covered with good things, including the incense and the olive oil that I had given them.

⁴²The sound of a carefree crowd could be heard, a group of men brought in from the desert. They put bracelets on the women's arms and beautiful crowns on their heads.

⁴³And I said to myself that they were using as a prostitute a woman worn out by adultery.

⁴⁴They went back to these prostitutes again and again. They went back to Oholah and Oholibah, those immoral women.

⁴⁵Righteous men will condemn them on the charge of adultery and murder, because they practice adultery and their hands are stained with blood.”

⁴⁶This is what the Sovereign Lord says: “Bring a mob to terrorize them and rob them.

⁴⁷Let the mob stone them and attack them with swords, kill their children, and burn down their houses.

⁴⁸Throughout the land I will put a stop to immorality, as a warning to every woman not to commit adultery as they did.

⁴⁹And you two sisters—I will punish you for your immorality and your sin of worshiping idols. Then you will know that I am the Sovereign Lord.”

The Corroded Cooking Pot

¹On the tenth day of the tenth month of the ninth year of our exile, the Lord spoke to me.

²“Mortal man,” he said, “write down today's date, because this is the day that the king of Babylonia is beginning the siege of Jerusalem.

³Tell my rebellious people this parable that I, the Sovereign Lord, have for them: Set the pot on the fire and fill it up with water.

⁴Put in the best pieces of meat— the shoulders and the legs— fill it with choice bony pieces too.

⁵Use the meat of the finest sheep; pile the wood under the pot. Let the water boil; boil the bones and the meat.”

⁶This is what the Sovereign Lord is saying: “The city of murderers is doomed! It is like a corroded pot that is never cleaned. Piece after piece of meat is taken out, and not one is left.

⁷There was murder in the city, but the blood was not spilled on the ground where the dust could hide it; it was spilled on a bare rock.

⁸I have left the blood there, where it cannot be hidden, where it demands angry revenge.”

⁹This is what the Sovereign Lord is saying: “The city of murderers is doomed! I myself will pile up the firewood.

¹⁰Bring more wood! Fan the flames! Cook the meat! Boil away the broth! Burn up the bones!

¹¹Now set the empty bronze pot on the coals and let it get red-hot. Then the pot will be ritually pure again after the corrosion is burned off,

¹²although all that corrosion will not disappear in the flames.

¹³Jerusalem, your immoral actions have defiled you. Although I tried to purify you, you remained defiled. You will not be pure again until you have felt the full force of my anger.

¹⁴I, the Lord, have spoken. The time has come for me to act. I will not ignore your sins or show pity or be merciful. You will be punished for what you have done.” The Sovereign Lord has spoken.

The Death of the Prophet's Wife

¹⁵The Lord spoke to me.

¹⁶“Mortal man,” he said, “with one blow I am going to take away the person you love most. You are not to complain or cry or shed any tears.

¹⁷Don't let your sobbing be heard. Do not go bareheaded or barefoot as a sign of mourning. Don't cover your face or eat the food that mourners eat.”

¹⁸Early in the day I was talking with the people. That evening my wife died, and the next day I did as I had been told.

¹⁹The people asked me, “Why are you acting like this?”

²⁰So I said to them, “The Lord spoke to me and told me

²¹to give you Israelites this message: You are proud of the strength of the Temple. You like to look at it and to visit it, but the Lord is going to profane it. And the younger members of your families who are left in Jerusalem will be killed in war.

²²Then you will do what I have done. You will not cover your faces or eat the food that mourners eat.

²³You will not go bareheaded or barefoot or mourn or cry. You will waste away because of your sins, and you will groan to one another.

²⁴Then I will be a sign to you; you will do everything I have done. The Lord says that when this happens, you will know that he is the Sovereign Lord.”

²⁵The Lord said, “Now, mortal man, I will take away from them the strong Temple that was their pride and joy, which they liked to look at and to visit. And I will take away their sons and daughters.

²⁶On the day that I do this, some who escape the destruction will come and tell you about it.

²⁷That same day you will get back the power of speech which you had lost, and you will talk with them. In this way you will be a sign to the people, and they will know that I am the Lord.”

²¹Trouble follows sinners everywhere, but righteous people will be rewarded with good things.

²²Good people will have wealth to leave to their grandchildren, but the wealth of sinners will go to the righteous.

²³Unused fields could yield plenty of food for the poor, but unjust people keep them from being farmed.

²⁴If you don't punish your children, you don't love them. If you do love them, you will correct them.

²⁵The righteous have enough to eat, but the wicked are always hungry.