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.