Study Desk

"Son of man, say to the leader of Tyre, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: "Because your heart was haughty, and you said, ‘I am a god; I sit in the seat of the gods, I sit in the heart of the seas!' But you are a human, not a god, and you gave your heart to be like the heart of a god.

"Son of man, Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, he made his army labor hard against Tyre. Every head was rubbed bare, and every shoulder was rubbed raw, but a wage was not paid for him and for his army from Tyre for the labor that he did against it."

For he heard the sound of the horn and he did not take warning; his blood will be on him. But if he took warning, he saved his life.

And as for the watchman, if he sees the sword coming and he does not blow the horn, and the people are not warned, and the sword comes and it takes their lives, he will be taken through his guilt, but his blood from the hand of the watchman I will seek.'

When I say to the wicked, ‘Wicked one, you will certainly die,' and you did not speak to warn the wicked from his way, he, the wicked, will die by his guilt, but his blood I will seek from your hand.

But, you, if you warn the wicked from his way, to turn from it, and he does not turn from his way, he will die by his guilt, and you will have saved your life.

And when I say to the wicked, ‘Certainly you will die,' but he returns from his sin and he does justice and righteousness—

And they come to you as people do, and they sit before you, and my people hear your words, and they do not do them, for they are showing passion in their mouth, but their heart is going after ill-gotten gain.

Now, look! You are to them like a sensual song, beautiful of voice and played well on an instrument, and they hear your words, but they are not doing them.

The fat you eat, and you clothe yourself with the wool; the well-nourished animals you slaughter, but you do not feed the flock.

The weak you have not strengthened, and the sick you have not healed, and with respect to the hurt you have not bound them up, and you have not brought back the scattered, and you have not sought the lost, but rather you ruled over them with force and with ruthlessness.

"As I live," declares the Lord Yahweh, "Surely because my flock have become as plunder, and my flock became as food to all the animals of the field, since there was not a shepherd, since my shepherds have not sought my flock, but the shepherds fed themselves, and they fed not my flock,'"

"‘"But you, mountains of Israel, your branch you will shoot, and your fruit you will carry for my people Israel, for they are soon to come.

"Therefore thus say to the house of Israel, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: "Not for your sake am I about to act, house of Israel, but for my holy name, which you defiled among the nations to which you went.

But not for your sake am I acting," declares the Lord Yahweh. "Let it be known to you, be ashamed, and be put to shame because of your ways, house of Israel.

And I looked, and indeed, sinews were on them, and flesh went up, and skin covered over them upward, but breath was not in them.

After many days you will be mustered; in the last years you will come to a restored land from the sword, gathered from many peoples on the mountains of Israel which were as permanent ruins but from peoples it was brought out, and they will dwell in safety, all of them.

And you did not observe the responsibility of my sanctuary, but you appointed them as the keepers of my responsibility in my sanctuary for you."

But the Levites who removed themselves from me at the going astray of Israel, who went astray from me and went after their idols, as a result they will bear their guilt.

But the Levitical priests, the descendants of Zadok, who cared for the responsibility of my sanctuary when the Israelites went astray from me, they will approach me to serve me, and they will stand before me to offer to me fat and blood," declares the Lord Yahweh.