The Book of the Prophet Ezekiel 11 God's Judgment Against the Leaders of the People

 The Book of the Prophet Ezekiel 11

God's Judgment Against the Leaders of the People

1 Then the Spirit lifted me up and brought me to the east gate of the Lord’s house, which faces east. At the entrance of the gate were twenty-five men, including Jaazaniah son of Azzur and Pelatiah son of Benaiah, leaders of the people.

2 He said to me, “Son of man, these are the men who devise wickedness and plot evil in this city.

3 They say, ‘The time has not come to build houses; this city is the pot, and we are the meat.’

4 Therefore prophesy against them; prophesy, son of man.”

5 The Spirit of the Lord came upon me and said to me, “Speak: ‘This is what the Lord says: “This is what you, people of Israel, have said. I know the thoughts of your minds.”

6 You have multiplied your dead in this city, and filled its streets with the slain.

7 Therefore, thus says the Lord God: Your dead, whom you have laid in the midst of it, are the meat, and it is the pot; but I will take you out of the midst of it.

8 You feared the sword, and the sword I will bring upon you, says the Lord God.

9 And I will make you go out of the midst of it, and deliver you into the hand of strangers, and I will execute my judgments among you.

10 You shall fall by the sword; I will judge you on the borders of Israel; and you shall know that I am the Lord.

11 This city shall not be a pot for you, nor shall you be meat in the midst of it; I will judge you on the borders of Israel.

12 And you shall know that I am the Lord, because you have not walked in my statutes, nor have you executed my judgments; Before, you acted according to the judgments of the nations that are around you.

13 And it happened that, while I was prophesying, Pelatiah the son of Benaiah died. Then I fell on my face and cried with a loud voice, and said, “Ah, Lord God! Will you make an end of the remnant of Israel?”

14 Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

15 Son of man, your brothers, your own brothers, the men of your kindred, and all the house of Israel, all of them are those to whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem said, “Depart from us far from the Lord; this land has been given to us as a possession.”

16 Therefore say, “Thus says the Lord God: Though I have cast them far away among the nations, and though I have scattered them throughout the lands, yet I will be a sanctuary for them for a little while in the lands to which they have gone.”

17 Therefore, say: Thus says the Lord God: I will gather you from among the peoples, and I will assemble you from the lands where you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.

18 And they shall come there, and remove from it all its detestable things and all its abominations.

19 And I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them; and I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh, and give them a heart of flesh;

20 That they may walk in my statutes, and keep my judgments, and do them; and they shall be my people, and I will be their God.

21 But as for those whose heart goes after the heart of their detestable things and their abominations, I will bring their way upon their own heads, says the Lord God.

22 Then the cherubim lifted their wings, and the wheels went beside them; And the glory of the God of Israel was above them.

23 And the glory of the Lord went up from the midst of the city, and stood upon the mountain that is east of the city.

24 Then the Spirit lifted me up, and brought me in a vision to Chaldea, to the exiles, by the Spirit of God; and the vision that I had seen departed from me.

25 And I told the exiles all the things that the Lord had shown me.