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And there is a word of YHWH to me, saying,
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“And you, son of man, do you judge? Do you judge the city of blood? Then you have caused it to know all its abominations,
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and you have said, Thus said Lord YHWH: The city is shedding blood in its midst, || For the coming in of its time, || And it has made idols on it for defilement.
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You have been guilty by your blood that you have shed, || And you have been defiled by your idols that you have made, || And you cause your days to draw near, || And have come to your years, || Therefore I have given you [for] a reproach to nations, || And a derision to all the lands.
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The near and the far-off from you scoff at you, || O defiled of name—abounding in trouble.
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Behold, princes of Israel—each according to his arm || Have been in you to shed blood.
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They have made light of father and mother in you, || They dealt oppressively to a sojourner in your midst, || They oppressed fatherless and widow in you.
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You have despised My holy things, || And you have defiled My Sabbaths.
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Men of slander have been in you to shed blood, || And they have eaten on the mountains in you, || They have done wickedness in your midst.
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One has uncovered the nakedness of a father in you, || They humbled the menstruous woman in you.
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And each has done abomination with the wife of his neighbor, || And each has defiled his daughter-in-law through wickedness, || And each has humbled his sister, his father’s daughter, in you.
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They have taken a bribe to shed blood in you, || You have taken usury and increase, || And cut off your neighbor by oppression, || And you have forgotten Me, || A declaration of Lord YHWH!
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And behold, I have struck My hand, || Because of your dishonest gain that you have gained, || And for your blood that has been in your midst.
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Does your heart stand—are your hands strong, || For the days that I am dealing with you? I, YHWH, have spoken and have done [it].
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And I have scattered you among nations, || And have spread you out among lands, || And consumed your uncleanness out of you.
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And you have been defiled in yourself || Before the eyes of nations, || And you have known that I [am] YHWH.”
The Refining Furnace
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And there is a word of YHWH to me, saying,
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“Son of man, the house of Israel has been for dross to Me, || All of them [are] bronze, and tin, and iron, and lead, || In the midst of a furnace—silver has been dross,
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Therefore, thus said Lord YHWH: Because you have all become dross, || Therefore, behold, I am gathering you into the midst of Jerusalem,
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A gathering of silver, and bronze, and iron, and lead, and tin, || Into the midst of a furnace—to blow fire on it, to melt it, || So I gather in My anger and in My fury, || And I have let rest, and have melted you.
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And I have heaped you up, || And blown on you in the fire of My wrath, || And you have been melted in its midst.
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As the melting of silver in the midst of a furnace, || So you are melted in its midst, || And you have known that I, YHWH, have poured out My fury on you.”
Israel’s Wicked Leaders
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And there is a word of YHWH to me, saying,
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“Son of man, say to it, You [are] a land, || It [is] not cleansed nor rained on in a day of indignation.
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A conspiracy of its prophets [is] in its midst, || As a roaring lion tearing prey; They have devoured the soul, || They have taken wealth and glory, || Its widows have multiplied in its midst.
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Its priests have wronged My law, || And they defile My holy things, || They have not made separation between holy and common, || And they have not made known [the difference] between the unclean and the clean, || And they have hidden their eyes from My Sabbaths, || And I am pierced in their midst.
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Its princes [are] as wolves in its midst, || Tearing prey, to shed blood, to destroy souls, || For the sake of gaining dishonest gain.
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And its prophets have coated with chalk for them, || Seeing a vain thing, and divining a lie for them, || Saying, Thus said Lord YHWH, || And YHWH has not spoken.
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The people of the land have used oppression, || And have taken plunder away violently, || And have oppressed humble and needy, || And oppressed the sojourner without judgment.
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And I seek from them a man making a wall, || And standing in the breach before Me, || In behalf of the land—not to destroy it, || And I have found none.
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And I pour out My indignation on them, || I have consumed them by [the] fire of My wrath, || I have put their way on their own head, || A declaration of Lord YHWH!”
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