Study Desk

But here is what I want you to tell the Israelites in Babylonia: It's true that I, the Lord God, have forced you out of your own country and made you live among foreign nations. But for now, I will be with you wherever you are, so that you can worship me.

So before it gets dark, here is what I want you to do. Pack a few things as though you were going to be taken away as a prisoner. Then go outside where everyone can see you and walk around from place to place. Maybe as they watch, they will realize what rebels they are.

Lift the bag to your shoulders, and with your face covered, take it into the darkness, so that you cannot see the land you are leaving. All of this will be a warning for the people of Israel.

So he sent me back to tell them: The Lord God has a message for the leader of Jerusalem and everyone living there!

The leader of Jerusalem will lift his own bag to his shoulders at sunset and leave through a hole that the others have dug in the wall of his house. He will cover his face, so he can't see the land he is leaving.

So tell them that my words will soon come true, just as I have warned. I, the Lord , have spoken.

So I am going to punish those lying prophets for deceiving the people of Israel with false messages.

That wall is the city of Jerusalem. And I, the Lord God, am so angry that I will send strong winds, rainstorms, and hailstones to destroy it.

Ezekiel, son of man, these men have started worshiping idols, though they know it will cause them to sin even more. So I refuse to give them a message!

I will do this, so that you will come back to me and stop destroying yourselves with these disgusting sins. So turn back to me! Then I will be your God, and you will be my people. I, the Lord God, make this promise.

Or suppose I punish a nation by sending wild animals to eat people and scare away every passerby, so that the land becomes a barren desert.

And suppose I am so angry that I send a deadly disease to wipe out the people and livestock of a sinful nation.

When I saw you again, you were old enough to have sex. So I covered your naked body with my own robe. Then I solemnly promised that you would belong to me and that I, the Lord God, would take care of you.

You learned that you were attractive enough to have any man you wanted, so you offered yourself to every passerby.

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

You were so busy sinning and being a prostitute that you refused to think about the days when you were young and were rolling around naked in your own blood.

So I punished you by letting those greedy Philistine enemies take over some of your territory. But even they were offended by your disgusting behavior.

You couldn't get enough sex, so you chased after Assyrians and slept with them. You still weren't satisfied,

so you went after Babylonians. But those merchants could not satisfy you either.

I, the Lord God, say that you were so disgusting that you would have done anything to get what you wanted.