Study Desk

And the word of Yahweh came unto me, saying:

Thou therefore son of man, Wt thou judge wt thou judge the city of bloodshed; and cause her to know all her abominations?

Thou shalt say then Thus saith My Lord. Yahweh, A city shedding blood in her own midst That her time might come, Therefore hath she been making manufactured gods for herself, to be defiled.

Because of the blood which thou hast shed, hast thou become guilty. And with the manufactured gods which thou hast made, hast thou defiled thyself, Thus hast thou brought near thy days, And hast come unto thy years, - For this cause, have I delivered thee As a reproach to the nations, And as a derision to all the lands.

They who are near and they who are far off from thee shall shew themselves derisive over these, - O thou of impure name, abounding in confusion!

Lo! the princes of Israel, very man for his own arm, have they been in thee, For the sake of shedding blood.

Father and mother, have they despised in thee, To the sojourner, have they dealt with oppression in the midst of thee, - The fatherless and the widow, have they maltreated in thee:

My holy things, hast thou despised,- And my sabbaths, hast thou profaned:

Slanders, have arisen in thee For the sake of shedding blood,- And unto the mountains, have they eaten in thee, Lewdness, have they practised in the midst of thee:

A father's shame hath been uncovered in thee, Her that was unclean in her removal, have they humbled in thee;

And, one man, with the wife of his neighbour, hath wrought abomination, And another hath defiled this daughter-in- law by shameful deed, - And another! his own sister daughter of his own father, hath humbled in thee:

Bribes, have they accepted in thee, For the sake of shedding blood,-Interest and increase, hast thou accepted And thou hast overreached thy neighbour by oppression, And me, hast thou forgotten, Declareth My Lord Yahweh.

Lo! therefore I have smitten my hand, At thine unjust gain which thou hast made - And over thy bloodshed, which they have caused in thy midst.

Can thy heart endure or can thy hands be strong in the days when I am dealing with thee? I. Yahweh have spoken and will perform.

Therefore will I disperse thee among the nations, And scatter thee throughout the lands, - And will cause to cease thine impurity out of thee;

So shalt thou be profaned in thyself, before the eyes of nations, Thus shalt thou know that, I, am Yahweh.