Study Desk

My eyes are red from crying, my stomach is in knots, and I feel sick all over. My people are being wiped out, and children lie helpless in the streets of the city.

Jerusalem Speaks: Think about it, Lord ! Have you ever been this cruel to anyone before? Is it right for mothers to eat their children, or for priests and prophets to be killed in your temple?

When you were angry, Lord , you invited my enemies like guests for a party. No one survived that day; enemies killed my children, my own little ones.

Babies are so thirsty that their tongues are stuck to the roof of the mouth. Children go begging for food, but no one gives them any.

Life in the city is so bad that loving mothers have boiled and eaten their own children.

We are like children whose mothers are widows.

Parents will be so desperate for food that they will eat their own children, and children will eat their parents. Those who survive this horror will be scattered in every direction.

Starvation and wild animals will kill your children. I'll punish you with horrible diseases, and your enemies will strike you down with their swords. I, the Lord , have spoken.

He turned to the other six men and said, "Follow him and put to death everyone who doesn't have a mark on their forehead. Show no mercy or pity! Kill men and women, parents and children. Begin here at my temple and be sure not to harm those who are marked." The men immediately killed the leaders who were standing there.

As surely as I live, I promise that even if these three men lived in that nation, their own children would not be spared. The three men would live, but the land would be an empty desert.

If these three men were in that nation when I punished it, not even their children would be spared. Only the three men would live.

Again, even if Noah, Daniel, and Job were living there, I, the Lord , promise that the children of these faithful men would also die. Only the three of them would be spared.

But you did something even worse than that—you sacrificed your own children to those idols!

You slaughtered my children, so you could offer them as sacrifices.

You chased after lovers, then took off your clothes and had sex. You even worshiped disgusting idols and sacrificed your own children as offerings to them.

You are just like your mother, who hated her husband and her own children. You are also like your sisters, who hated their husbands and children. Your father was an Amorite, and your mother was a Hittite.

Ezekiel, I hear the people of Israel using the old saying, "Sour grapes eaten by parents leave a sour taste in the mouths of their children."

The lives of all people belong to me—parents as well as children. Only those who sin will be put to death.

Only those who sin will be put to death. Children won't suffer for the sins of their parents, and parents won't suffer for the sins of their children. Good people will be rewarded for what they do, and evil people will be punished for what they do.

So I warned the children not to act like their parents or follow their evil ways or worship their idols.