The general corruption of the inhabitants of Jerusalem: for which God
will consume them as dross in his furnace.
22:1. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
22:2. And thou son of man, dost thou not judge, dost thou not judge the
city of blood?
22:3. And thou shalt shew her all her abominations, and shalt say: Thus
saith the Lord God: This is the city that sheddeth blood in the midst
of her, that her time may come: and that hath made idols against
herself, to defile herself.
22:4. Thou art become guilty in thy blood which thou hast shed: and
thou art defiled in thy idols which thou hast made: and thou hast made
thy days to draw near, and hast brought on the time of thy years:
therefore have I made thee a reproach to the Gentiles, and a mockery to
all countries.
22:5. Those that are near, and those that are far from thee, shall
triumph over thee: thou filthy one, infamous, great in destruction.
22:6. Behold the princes of Israel, every one hath employed his arm in
thee to shed blood.
22:7. They have abused father and mother in thee, they have oppressed
the stranger in the midst of thee, they have grieved the fatherless and
widow in thee.
22:8. Thou hast despised my sanctuaries, and profaned my sabbaths.
22:9. Slanderers have been in thee to shed blood, and they have eaten
upon the mountains in thee, they have committed wickedness in the midst
of thee.
22:10. They have discovered the nakedness of their father in thee, they
have humbled the uncleanness of the menstruous woman in thee.
22:11. And every one hath committed abomination with his neighbour’s
wife, and the father in law hath wickedly defiled his daughter in law,
the brother hath oppressed his sister the daughter of his father in
thee.
22:12. They have taken gifts in thee to shed blood: thou hast taken
usury and increase, and hast covetously oppressed thy neighbours: and
thou hast forgotten me, saith the Lord God.
22:13. Behold, I have clapped my hands at thy covetousness, which thou
hast exercised: and at the blood that hath been shed in the midst of
thee.
22:14. Shall thy heart endure, or shall thy hands prevail in the days
which I will bring upon thee: I the Lord have spoken, and will do it.
22:15. And I will disperse thee in the nations, and will scatter thee
among the countries, and I will put an end to thy uncleanness in thee.
22:16. And I will possess thee in the sight of the Gentiles, and thou
shalt know that I am the Lord.
22:17. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
22:18. Son of man, the house of Israel is become dross to me: all these
are brass, and tin, and iron, and lead, in the midst of the furnace:
they are become the dross of silver.
22:19. Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Because you are all turned
into dross, therefore behold I will gather you together in the midst of
Jerusalem.
22:20. As they gather silver, and brass, and tin, and iron, and lead in
the midst of the furnace: that I may kindle a fire in it to melt it: so
will I gather you together in my fury and in my wrath, and will take my
rest, and I will melt you down.
22:21. And will gather you together, and will burn you in the fire of
my wrath, and you shall be melted in the midst thereof.
22:22. As silver is melted in the midst of the furnace, so shall you be
in the midst thereof: and you shall know that I am the Lord, when I
have poured out my indignation upon you.
22:23. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
22:24. Son of man, say to her: Thou art a land that is unclean, and not
rained upon in the day of wrath.
22:25. There is a conspiracy of prophets in the midst thereof: like a
lion that roareth and catcheth the prey, they have devoured souls, they
have taken riches and hire, they have made many widows in the midst
thereof.
22:26. Her priests have despised my law, and have defiled my
sanctuaries: they have put no difference between holy and profane: nor
have distinguished between the polluted and the clean: and they have
turned away their eyes from my sabbaths, and I was profaned in the
midst of them.
22:27. Her princes in the midst of her, are like wolves ravening the
prey to shed blood, and to destroy souls, and to run after gains
through covetousness.
22:28. And her prophets have daubed them without tempering the mortar,
seeing vain things, and divining lies unto them, saying: Thus saith the
Lord God: when the Lord hath not spoken.
22:29. The people of the land have used oppression, and committed
robbery: they afflicted the needy and poor, and they oppressed the
stranger by calumny without judgment.
22:30. And I sought among them for a man that might set up a hedge, and
stand in the gap before me in favour of the land, that I might not
destroy it: and I found none.
22:31. And I poured out my indignation upon them, in the fire of my
wrath I consumed them: I have rendered their way upon their own head,
saith the Lord God.