Israel’s Shedding of Blood

1 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 2 “And you, ^yson of man, ^zwill you judge, will you judge ^athe bloody city? ^bThen declare to her all her abominations. 3 You shall say, Thus says the Lord God: A city that sheds blood in her midst, so that ^cher time may come, and that makes idols to defile herself! 4 You have become guilty ^aby the blood that you have shed, and defiled by the idols that you have made, and you have brought ^cyour days near, the appointed time of¹ your years has come. ^dTherefore I have made you a reproach to the nations, and a mockery to all the countries. 5 Those who are near and those who are far from you will mock you; ^eyour name is defiled; ^fyou are full of tumult.

6 “Behold, ^gthe princes of Israel in you, every one according to his power, have been bent on shedding blood. 7 Father and mother ^hare treated with contempt in you; the sojourner ⁱsuffers extortion in your midst; the fatherless and the widow ⁱare wronged in you. 8 ^jYou have despised my holy things and ^kprofaned my Sabbaths. 9 ^lThere are men in you who slander to shed blood, and people in you ^mwho eat on the mountains; ⁿthey commit lewdness in your midst. 10 In you ^omen uncover their fathers’ nakedness; in you they violate women who are unclean in their menstrual impurity. 11 ^pOne commits abomination with his neighbor’s wife; ^qanother lewdly defiles his daughter-in-law; ^ranother in you violates his sister, his father’s daughter. 12 In you ^sthey take bribes to shed blood; ^tyou take interest and profit² and make gain of your neighbors by extortion; but ^ume you have forgotten, declares the Lord God.

13 “Behold, ^vI strike my hand at ^wthe dishonest gain that you have made, and at ^xthe blood that has been in your midst. 14 ^yCan your courage endure, or can your hands be strong, in the days that I shall deal with you? ^zI the Lord have spoken, and I will do it. 15 ^aI will scatter you among the nations and disperse you through the countries, and ^bI will consume your uncleanness out of you. 16 And ^cyou shall be profaned by your own doing ^din the sight of the nations, ^eand you shall know that I am the Lord.”

17 And the word of the Lord came to me: 18 ^f“Son of man, the house of Israel has become ^gdross to me; all of them are ^hbronze and tin and iron and lead in the furnace; they are ⁱdross of silver. 19 Therefore thus says the Lord God: Because you have all become dross, therefore, behold, I will gather you into the midst of Jerusalem. 20 As one gathers silver and bronze and iron and lead and tin into a furnace, ^jto blow the fire on it in order to melt it, so I will gather you ^kin my anger and in my wrath, and I will put you in and melt you. 21 I will gather you and blow on you with the fire of my wrath, and you shall be melted in the midst of it. 22 As silver is melted in a furnace, so you shall be melted in the midst of it, and you shall know that I am the Lord; ^lI have poured out my wrath upon you.”

23 And the word of the Lord came to me: 24 “Son of man, say to her, You are a land that is ^mnot cleansed ⁿor rained upon in the day of indignation. 25 ^oThe conspiracy of her prophets in her midst is ^plike a roaring lion ^qtearing the prey; they have devoured human lives; they have taken treasure and precious things; they have made many widows in her midst. 26 ^rHer priests ^shave done violence to my law and ^thave profaned my holy things. ^uThey have made no distinction between the holy and the common, neither have they taught the difference between the unclean and the clean, and ^vthey have disregarded my Sabbaths, ^wso that I am profaned among them. 27 ^xHer princes in her midst are like wolves ^ytearing the prey, ^zshedding blood, destroying lives to get dishonest gain. 28 And ^aher prophets have smeared whitewash for them, ^bseeing false visions and divining lies for them, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord God,’ when the Lord has not spoken. 29 The people of the land ^chave practiced extortion and committed robbery. They have oppressed the poor and needy, and ^chave extorted from the sojourner without justice. 30 ^dAnd I sought for a man among them ^ewho should build up the wall ^eand stand in the breach before me for the land, that I should not destroy it, but I found none. 31 Therefore ^fI have poured out my indignation upon them. I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath. I have returned ^gtheir way upon their heads, declares the Lord God.”

Oholah and Oholibah

1 The word of the Lord came to me: 2 ^h“Son of man, there were ⁱtwo women, the daughters of one mother. 3 ^jThey played the whore in Egypt; ^jthey played the whore ^kin their youth; there their breasts were pressed and their virgin bosoms³ handled. 4 Oholah was the name of the elder and Oholibah the name of her sister. ^lThey became mine, and they ^mbore sons and daughters. As for their names, Oholah is ⁿSamaria, and Oholibah is Jerusalem.

5 “Oholah played the whore ^owhile she was mine, and ^pshe lusted after her lovers ^qthe Assyrians, warriors 6 clothed in purple, ^rgovernors and commanders, ^sall of them desirable young men, ^thorsemen riding on horses. 7 She bestowed her whoring upon them, the choicest men of Assyria all of them, and she defiled herself with all the idols of everyone after whom she lusted. 8 She did not give up her whoring ^uthat she had begun in Egypt; for in her youth men had lain with her and handled her virgin bosom and poured out their whoring lust upon her. 9 Therefore ^vI delivered her into the hands of her lovers, into the hands of the Assyrians, after whom she lusted. 10 ^wThese uncovered her nakedness; ^xthey seized her sons and her daughters; and as for her, they killed her with the sword; and she became ^ya byword among women, ^zwhen judgment had been executed on her.

11 ^a“Her sister Oholibah saw this, and she became ^bmore corrupt than her sister⁴ in her lust and in her whoring, which was worse than that of her sister. 12 She lusted after the Assyrians, governors and commanders, warriors clothed in full armor, horsemen riding on horses, ^sall of them desirable young men. 13 And I saw that she was defiled; they both took the same way. 14 But she carried her whoring further. She saw men ^cportrayed on the wall, the ^dimages of ^ethe Chaldeans portrayed in vermilion, 15 wearing belts on their waists, with flowing turbans on their heads, all of them having the appearance of officers, a likeness of Babylonians whose native land was Chaldea. 16 When she saw them, she lusted after them and ^fsent messengers to them ^ein Chaldea. 17 And the Babylonians came to her ^ginto the bed of love, and they defiled her with their whoring lust. And after she was defiled by them, ^hshe turned from them in disgust. 18 When she carried on her whoring so openly and flaunted her nakedness, I turned in disgust from her, as I had turned in disgust from her sister. 19 Yet she increased her whoring, ⁱremembering the days of her youth, when she played the whore in the land of Egypt 20 and lusted after her lovers there, whose members were like those of donkeys, and whose issue was like that of horses. 21 Thus you longed for the lewdness of your youth, when the Egyptians handled your bosom and pressed⁵ your young breasts.”

14 ^sStrive for peace with everyone, and for the ^tholiness ^uwithout which no one will see the Lord. 15 See to it that no one ^vfails to obtain the grace of God; that no ^w“root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled; 16 that no one is ^xsexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. 17 For you know that ^yafterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears.

A Kingdom That Cannot Be Shaken

18 For you have not come to ^zwhat may be touched, a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest 19 and ^athe sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words ^bmade the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them. 20 For they could not endure the order that was given, ^c“If even a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned.” 21 Indeed, ^dso terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I tremble with fear.” 22 But you have come to ^eMount Zion and to the city of the living God, ^fthe heavenly Jerusalem, and to ^ginnumerable angels in festal gathering, 23 and to ^hthe assembly¹ of the firstborn who are ⁱenrolled in heaven, and to ^jGod, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, 24 and to Jesus, ^kthe mediator of a new covenant, and to ^lthe sprinkled blood ^mthat speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

25 See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For ⁿif they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven. 26 At that time ^ohis voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, ^p“Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” 27 This phrase, “Yet once more,” indicates ^qthe removal of things that are shaken—that is, things that have been made—in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. 28 Therefore let us be grateful for receiving ^ra kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus ^slet us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, 29 for our ^tGod is a consuming fire.

They Have Afflicted Me from My Youth

A Song of ^mAscents.