Through the Bible – Day 323

₁One day, some of Israel's leaders came to me and asked for a message from the LORD. ₂While they were there, the LORD said:

₃Ezekiel, son of man, these men have started worshipping idols, though they know it will cause them to sin even more. So I refuse to give them a message!

₄Tell the people of Israel that if they sin by worshipping idols and then go to a prophet to find out what I say, I will give them the answer their sins deserve. ₅When they hear my message, perhaps they will see that they need to turn back to me and stop worshipping those idols.

₆Now, Ezekiel, tell everyone in Israel:

₁₂The LORD God said:

₁₃Ezekiel, son of man, suppose an entire nation sins against me, and I punish it by destroying the crops and letting its people and livestock starve to death. ₁₄Even if Noah, Daniel, and Job were living in that nation, their faithfulness would not save anyone but themselves.

₁₅Or suppose I punish a nation by sending wild animals to eat people and scare away every passer-by, so that the land becomes a barren desert. ₁₆As 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.

₁₇Or suppose I send an enemy to attack a sinful nation and kill its people and livestock. ₁₈If these three men were in that nation when I punished it, not even their children would be spared. Only the three men would live.

₁₉And suppose I am so angry that I send a deadly disease to wipe out the people and livestock of a sinful nation. ₂₀Again, 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.

₂₁I am the LORD God, and I promise to punish Jerusalem severely. I will send war, starvation, wild animals, and deadly disease to slaughter its people and livestock. ₂₂And those who survive will be taken from their country and led here to Babylonia. Ezekiel, when you see how sinful they are, you will know why I did all these things to Jerusalem. ₂₃You will be convinced that I, the LORD God, was right in doing what I did.

₁Some time later, the LORD said:

₂Ezekiel, son of man, what happens to the wood of a grapevine after the grapes have been picked? It isn't like other trees in the forest, ₃because the wood of a grapevine can't be used to make anything, not even a small peg to hang things on. ₄It can only be used as firewood. But after its ends are burnt and its middle is charred, it can't be used for anything. ₅The wood is useless before it is burnt, and afterwards, it is completely worthless.

₆I, the LORD God, promise that just as the wood of a grapevine is burnt as firewood, ₇I will punish the people of Jerusalem with fire. Some of them have escaped one destruction, but soon they will be completely burnt. And when that happens, you, Ezekiel, will know that I am the LORD. ₈I will make their country an empty wasteland, because they have not been loyal to me. I, the LORD God, have spoken.

₁The LORD said:

₂Ezekiel, son of man, remind the people of Jerusalem of their disgusting sins ₃and tell them that I, the LORD God, am saying:

Jerusalem, you were born in the country where Canaanites lived. Your father was an Amorite, and your mother was a Hittite. ₄When you were born, no one cut you loose from your mother or washed your body. No one rubbed your skin with salt and olive oil, and wrapped you in warm blankets. ₅Not one person loved you enough to do any of these things, and no one even felt sorry for you. You were despised, thrown into a field, and forgotten.

₆I saw you lying there, rolling around in your own blood, and I couldn't let you die. ₇I took care of you, like someone caring for a tender, young plant. You grew up to be a beautiful young woman with perfect breasts and long hair, but you were still naked.

₈When 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.

₉I washed the blood off you and rubbed your skin with olive oil. ₁₀I gave you the finest clothes and the most expensive robes, as well as sandals made from the best leather. ₁₁I gave you bracelets, a necklace, ₁₂a ring for your nose, some earrings, and a beautiful crown. ₁₃Your jewellery was gold and silver, and your clothes were made of only the finest material and embroidered linen. Your bread was baked from fine flour, and you ate honey and olive oil. You were as beautiful as a queen, ₁₄and everyone on earth knew it. I, the LORD God, had helped you become a lovely young woman.

₁₅You learnt that you were attractive enough to have any man you wanted, so you offered yourself to every passer-by. ₁₆You made shrines for yourself and decorated them with some of your clothes. That's where you took your visitors to have sex with them. These things should never have happened! ₁₇You made idols out of the gold and silver jewellery I gave you, then you sinned by worshipping those idols. ₁₈You dressed them in the clothes you got from me, and you offered them the olive oil and incense I gave you. ₁₉I supplied you with fine flour, olive oil, and honey, but you sacrificed it all as offerings to please those idols. I, the LORD God, watched this happen.

₂₀But you did something even worse than that—you sacrificed your own children to those idols! ₂₁You slaughtered my children, so you could offer them as sacrifices. ₂₂You 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.

₂₃Now I, the LORD God, say you are doomed! Not only did you do these evil things, ₂₄but you also built places on every street corner ₂₅where you disgraced yourself by having sex with anyone who walked by. And you did that more and more every day! ₂₆To make me angry, you even offered yourself to Egyptians, who were always ready to sleep with you.

₂₇So I punished you by letting those greedy Philistine enemies take over some of your territory. But even they were offended by your disgusting behaviour.

₂₈You couldn't get enough sex, so you chased after Assyrians and slept with them. You still weren't satisfied, ₂₉so you went after Babylonians. But those merchants could not satisfy you either.

₃₀I, the LORD God, say that you were so disgusting that you would have done anything to get what you wanted. ₃₁You had sex on every street corner, and when you finished, you refused to accept money. That's worse than being a prostitute! ₃₂You are nothing but an unfaithful wife who would rather have sex with strangers than with your own husband. ₃₃Prostitutes accept money for having sex, but you bribe men from everywhere to have sex with you. ₃₄You're not like other prostitutes. Men don't ask you for sex—you offer to pay them!

₃₅Jerusalem, you prostitute, listen to me. ₃₆You chased after lovers, then took off your clothes and had sex. You even worshipped disgusting idols and sacrificed your own children as offerings to them. ₃₇So I, the LORD God, will gather every one of your lovers, those you liked and those you hated. They will stand around you, and I will rip off your clothes and let all those lovers stare at your nakedness. ₃₈I will find you guilty of being an unfaithful wife and a murderer, and in my fierce anger I will sentence you to death! ₃₉Then I will hand you over to your lovers, who will tear down the places where you had sex. They will take your clothes and jewellery, leaving you naked and empty-handed.

₄₀Your lovers and an angry mob will stone you to death; they will cut your dead body into pieces ₄₁and burn down your houses. Other women will watch these terrible things happen to you. I promise to stop you from being a prostitute and paying your lovers for sex.

₄₂Only then will I calm down and stop being angry and jealous. ₄₃You made me furious by doing all these disgusting things and by forgetting how I took care of you when you were young. Then you made things worse by acting like a prostitute. You must be punished! I, the LORD God, have spoken.

₁You rich people should cry and weep! Terrible things are going to happen to you. ₂Your treasures have already rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. ₃Your money has rusted, and the rust will be evidence against you, as it burns your body like fire. Yet you keep on storing up wealth in these last days. ₄You refused to pay the people who worked in your fields, and now their unpaid wages are shouting out against you. The Lord All-Powerful has heard the cries of the workers who harvested your crops.

₅While here on earth, you have thought only of filling your own stomachs and having a good time. But now you are like fat cattle on their way to be butchered. ₆You have condemned and murdered innocent people, who couldn't even fight back.

₇My friends, be patient until the Lord returns. Think of farmers who wait patiently for the spring and summer rains to make their valuable crops grow. ₈Be patient like those farmers and don't give up. The Lord will soon be here! ₉Don't grumble about each other or you will be judged, and the judge is just outside the door.

₁₀My friends, follow the example of the prophets who spoke for the Lord. They were patient, even when they had to suffer. ₁₁In fact, we praise the ones who endured the most. You remember how patient Job was and how the Lord finally helped him. The Lord did this because he is so merciful and kind.

₁₂My friends, above all else, don't take an oath. You must not swear by heaven or by earth or by anything else. “Yes” or “No” is all you need to say. If you say anything more, you will be condemned.

₁₃If you are having trouble, you should pray. And if you are feeling good, you should sing praises. ₁₄If you are sick, ask the church leaders to come and pray for you. Ask them to put olive oil on you in the name of the Lord. ₁₅If you have faith when you pray for sick people, they will get well. The Lord will heal them, and if they have sinned, he will forgive them.

₁₆If you have sinned, you should tell each other what you have done. Then you can pray for one another and be healed. The prayer of an innocent person is powerful, and it can help a lot. ₁₇Elijah was just as human as we are, and for three and a half years his prayers kept the rain from falling. ₁₈But when he did pray for rain, it fell from the skies and made the crops grow.

₁₉My friends, if any followers have wandered away from the truth, you should try to lead them back. ₂₀If you turn sinners from the wrong way, you will save them from death, and many of their sins will be forgiven.