Ezekiel 7

¹ The word of Yahweh was addressed to me as follows,

² ‘Son of man, say, “The Lord Yahweh says this to the land of Israel: Finished! The end is coming for the four quarters of the land.

³ Now all is over with you; I mean to unleash my anger on you, and judge you as your conduct deserves and force you to answer for all your filthy practices.

⁴ I mean to show you no pity, I will not spare you; I am going to call you to account for your conduct and for the filthy practices that you parade; and so you will learn that I am Yahweh.

⁵ The Lord Yahweh says this: Now disaster is going to follow on disaster.

⁶ The end is coming, the end is coming for you; it is coming now.

⁷ Now, it is your turn, you who live in this country. The time has come, the day is near; no joy now, only tumult, on the mountains.

⁸ Soon I am going to pour out my fury on you and exhaust my anger at you; I will judge you as your conduct deserves and call you to account for all your filthy practices.

⁹ I mean to show you neither pity nor mercy, since I am going to call you to account for your conduct and for the filthy practices which you parade; and so you will learn that I am Yahweh, and that I strike.

¹⁰ Here is the day! It has come; your turn has come, the scourge is ready, pride is at its peak.

¹¹ Violence has risen to become the scourge of wickedness…

¹² The time has come and the day is near. Let neither buyer rejoice, nor seller regret, for anger rages against all alike.

¹³ The seller will not recover what he has sold; they will all carry on sinning and be none the stronger for it.

¹⁴ The trumpet will sound, all will be ready; but no one will go into battle, since my anger rages against all alike.

¹⁵ Outside, the sword; inside, plague and famine. Anyone who is found in the countryside will die by the sword; anyone who is found in the city will be devoured by famine and plague.

¹⁶ Their fugitives will run away and make for the mountains; I shall slaughter them all like doves of the valleys, each for his sin.

¹⁷ With limp hands and quaking knees,

¹⁸ they will put on sackcloth; and shudder all over. All their faces will be red with shame and every head will be shaved.

¹⁹ They will throw their silver down in the streets and their gold will fill them with horror. Never again will they have enough to eat, never again will they fill their bellies, since this has been the cause of their crimes.

²⁰ They used to pride themselves on the beauty of their jewellery, out of which they made their loathsome images and idols. That is why I mean to make it an object of horror to them.

²¹ I intend to hand it over to be the plunder of foreigners and loot for local brigands, who will profane it.

²² I shall turn my face from them; my treasury will be profaned; barbarians will force their way in and profane it.

²³ Forge yourself a chain; for the country is filled with bloody murders, the city is full of violent crime.

²⁴ I am going to summon the cruellest of the nations to seize their houses. I will break the pride of their grandees; their sanctuaries will be profaned.

²⁵ Anguish is on its way: they will look for peace and there will be none.

²⁶ Disaster will follow on disaster, rumour on rumour; they will pester the prophet for a vision; the priest will be at a loss over the law and the elders on how to advise.

²⁷ The king will go into mourning, the prince be plunged in grief, the hands of the country people tremble. I mean to treat them as their conduct deserves, and judge them as their own verdicts merit; and so they will learn that I am Yahweh.”‘