Today's Reading

¹Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

²"You, son of man, will you judge, will you judge the bloody city? Then cause her to know all her abominations.

³You shall say, 'Thus says the Lord God: "A city that sheds blood in the midst of her, that her time may come, and that makes idols against herself to defile her!

⁴You have become guilty in your blood that you have shed, and are defiled in your idols which you have made; and you have caused your days to draw near, and have come even to your years: therefore have I made you a reproach to the nations, and a mocking to all the countries.

⁵Those who are near, and those who are far from you, shall mock you, you infamous one and full of tumult.

⁶"'"Behold, the princes of Israel, everyone according to his power, have been in you to shed blood.

⁷In you have they set light by father and mother; in the midst of you have they dealt by oppression with the foreigner; in you have they wronged the fatherless and the widow.

⁸You have despised my holy things, and have profaned my Sabbaths.

⁹Slanderous men have been in you to shed blood; and in you they have eaten on the mountains: in the midst of you they have committed lewdness.

¹⁰In you have they uncovered their fathers' nakedness; in you have they humbled her who was unclean in her impurity.

¹¹One has committed abomination with his neighbor's wife; and another has lewdly defiled his daughter-in-law; and another in you has humbled his sister, his father's daughter.

¹²In you have they taken bribes to shed blood; you have taken interest and increase, and you have greedily gained of your neighbors by oppression, and have forgotten me,' says the Lord God.

¹³"'"Behold, therefore, I have struck my hand at your dishonest gain which you have made, and at your blood which has been in the midst of you.

¹⁴Can your heart endure, or can your hands be strong, in the days that I shall deal with you? I, the Lord, have spoken it, and will do it.

¹⁵I will scatter you among the nations, and disperse you through the countries; and I will consume your filthiness out of you.

¹⁶You shall be profaned in yourself, in the sight of the nations; and you shall know that I am the Lord."'"

¹⁷The word of the Lord came to me, saying,

¹⁸"Son of man, the house of Israel has become dross to me: all of them are brass and tin and iron and lead, in the midst of the furnace; they are the dross of silver.

¹⁹Therefore thus says the Lord God: 'Because you have all become dross, therefore, behold, I will gather you into the midst of Jerusalem.

²⁰As they gather silver and brass and iron and lead and tin into the midst of the furnace, to blow the fire on it, to melt it; so will I gather you in my anger and in my wrath, and I will lay you there, and melt you.

²¹Yes, I will gather you, and blow on you with the fire of my wrath, and you shall be melted in its midst.

²²As silver is melted in the midst of the furnace, so you will be melted in its midst; and you will know that I, the Lord, have poured out my wrath on you.'"

²³The word of the Lord came to me, saying,

²⁴"Son of man, tell her, 'You are a land that is not cleansed, nor rained on in the day of indignation.'

²⁵There is a conspiracy of her prophets in its midst, like a roaring lion ravening the prey: they have devoured souls; they take treasure and precious things; they have made her widows many in its midst.

²⁶Her priests have done violence to my law, and have profaned my holy things: they have made no distinction between the holy and the common, neither have they caused men to discern between the unclean and the clean, and have hidden their eyes from my Sabbaths, and I am profaned among them.

²⁷Her princes in its midst are like wolves ravening the prey, to shed blood, and to destroy souls, that they may get dishonest gain.

²⁸Her prophets have plastered for them with whitewash, seeing false visions, and divining lies to them, saying, 'Thus says the Lord God,' when the Lord has not spoken.

²⁹The people of the land have used oppression, and exercised robbery; yes, they have troubled the poor and needy, and have oppressed the foreigner wrongfully.

³⁰"I sought for a man among them, who should build up the wall, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found none.

³¹Therefore have I poured out my indignation on them; I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath: their own way have I brought on their heads, says the Lord God."

¹The word of the Lord came again to me, saying,

²"Son of man, there were two women, the daughters of one mother:

³and they played the prostitute in Egypt; they played the prostitute in their youth; there were their breasts pressed, and there was handled the bosom of their virginity.

⁴Their names were Oholah the elder, and Oholibah her sister: and they became mine, and they bore sons and daughters. As for their names, Samaria is Oholah, and Jerusalem Oholibah.

⁵"Oholah played the prostitute when she was mine; and she doted on her lovers, on the Assyrians her neighbors,

⁶who were clothed with blue, governors and rulers, all of them desirable young men, horsemen riding on horses.

⁷She bestowed her prostitution on them, the choicest men of Assyria all of them; and on whoever she doted, with all their idols she defiled herself.

⁸Neither has she left her prostitution since the days of Egypt; for in her youth they lay with her, and they handled the bosom of her virginity; and they poured out their prostitution on her.

⁹Therefore I delivered her into the hand of her lovers, into the hand of the Assyrians, on whom she doted.

¹⁰These uncovered her nakedness; they took her sons and her daughters; and her they killed with the sword: and she became a byword among women; for they executed judgments on her.

¹¹"Her sister Oholibah saw this, yet was she more corrupt in her doting than she, and in her prostitution which were more than the prostitution of her sister.

¹²She doted on the Assyrians, governors and rulers, her neighbors, clothed most gorgeously, horsemen riding on horses, all of them desirable young men.

¹³I saw that she was defiled; they both took one way.

¹⁴She increased her prostitution; for she saw men portrayed on the wall, the images of the Chaldeans portrayed with vermilion,

¹⁵dressed with girdles on their waists, with flowing turbans on their heads, all of them princes to look on, after the likeness of the Babylonians in Chaldea, the land of their birth.

¹⁶As soon as she saw them she doted on them, and sent messengers to them into Chaldea.

¹⁷The Babylonians came to her into the bed of love, and they defiled her with their prostitution, and she was polluted with them, and her soul was alienated from them.

¹⁸So she uncovered her prostitution, and uncovered her nakedness: then my soul was alienated from her, like as my soul was alienated from her sister.

¹⁹Yet she multiplied her prostitution, remembering the days of her youth, in which she had played the prostitute in the land of Egypt.

²⁰She doted on their paramours, whose flesh is as the flesh of donkeys, and whose issue is like the issue of horses.

²¹Thus you called to memory the lewdness of your youth, in the handling of your bosom by the Egyptians for the breasts of your youth.

²²"Therefore, Oholibah, thus says the Lord God: 'Behold, I will raise up your lovers against you, from whom your soul is alienated, and I will bring them against you on every side:

²³the Babylonians and all the Chaldeans, Pekod and Shoa and Koa, and all the Assyrians with them; desirable young men, governors and rulers all of them, princes and men of renown, all of them riding on horses.

²⁴They shall come against you with weapons, chariots, and wagons, and with a company of peoples; they shall set themselves against you with buckler and shield and helmet all around; and I will commit the judgment to them, and they shall judge you according to their judgments.

²⁵I will set my jealousy against you, and they shall deal with you in fury; they shall take away your nose and your ears; and your residue shall fall by the sword: they shall take your sons and your daughters; and your residue shall be devoured by the fire.

²⁶They shall also strip you of your clothes, and take away your beautiful jewels.

²⁷Thus will I make your lewdness to cease from you, and your prostitution brought from the land of Egypt; so that you shall not lift up your eyes to them, nor remember Egypt any more.

²⁸"'For thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will deliver you into the hand of them whom you hate, into the hand of them from whom your soul is alienated;

²⁹and they shall deal with you in hatred, and shall take away all your labor, and shall leave you naked and bare; and the nakedness of your prostitution shall be uncovered, both your lewdness and your prostitution.

³⁰These things shall be done to you, because you have played the prostitute after the nations, and because you are polluted with their idols.

³¹You have walked in the way of your sister; therefore will I give her cup into your hand.'

³²"Thus says the Lord God: 'You will drink of your sister's cup, which is deep and large; you will be ridiculed and held in derision; it contains much.

³³You shall be filled with drunkenness and sorrow, with the cup of astonishment and desolation, with the cup of your sister Samaria.

³⁴You shall even drink it and drain it out, and you shall gnaw the broken pieces of it, and shall tear your breasts; for I have spoken it,' says the Lord God.

³⁵"Therefore thus says the Lord God: 'Because you have forgotten me, and cast me behind your back, therefore you also bear your lewdness and your prostitution.'"

³⁶The Lord said moreover to me: "Son of man, will you judge Oholah and Oholibah? Then declare to them their abominations.

³⁷For they have committed adultery, and blood is in their hands; and with their idols have they committed adultery; and they have also caused their sons, whom they bore to me, to pass through the fire to them to be devoured.

³⁸Moreover this they have done to me: they have defiled my sanctuary in the same day, and have profaned my Sabbaths.

³⁹For when they had slain their children to their idols, then they came the same day into my sanctuary to profane it; and behold, thus have they done in the midst of my house.

⁴⁰"'Furthermore you have sent for men who come from far, to whom a messenger was sent, and behold, they came; for whom you did wash yourself, paint your eyes, and decorate yourself with ornaments,

⁴¹and sit on a stately bed, with a table prepared before it, whereupon you set my incense and my oil.'

⁴²The voice of a multitude being at ease was with her: and with men of the common sort were brought drunkards from the wilderness; and they put bracelets on their hands twain, and beautiful crowns on their heads.

⁴³Then I said of her who was old in adulteries, 'Now will they play the prostitute with her, and she with them.'

⁴⁴They went in to her, as they go in to a prostitute: so went they in to Oholah and to Oholibah, the lewd women.

⁴⁵Righteous men, they shall judge them with the judgment of adulteresses, and with the judgment of women who shed blood; because they are adulteresses, and blood is in their hands.

⁴⁶"For thus says the Lord God: 'I will bring up a company against them, and will give them to be tossed back and forth and robbed.

⁴⁷The company shall stone them with stones, and dispatch them with their swords; they shall kill their sons and their daughters, and burn up their houses with fire.

⁴⁸'Thus will I cause lewdness to cease out of the land, that all women may be taught not to do after your lewdness.

⁴⁹They shall recompense your lewdness on you, and you shall bear the sins of your idols; and you shall know that I am the Lord God.'"

¹Again, in the ninth year, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

²"Son of man, write the name of the day, even of this same day: the king of Babylon drew close to Jerusalem this same day.

³Utter a parable to the rebellious house, and tell them, 'Thus says the Lord God, "Set on the caldron, set it on, and also pour water into it:

⁴gather its pieces into it, even every good piece, the thigh, and the shoulder; fill it with the choice bones.

⁵Take the choice of the flock, and also a pile of wood for the bones under the caldron; make it boil well; yes, let its bones be boiled in its midst."'

⁶"Therefore thus says the Lord God: 'Woe to the bloody city, to the caldron whose rust is therein, and whose rust is not gone out of it! Take out of it piece after piece; No lot is fallen on it.

⁷For her blood is in the midst of her; she set it on the bare rock; she didn't pour it on the ground, to cover it with dust.

⁸That it may cause wrath to come up to take vengeance, I have set her blood on the bare rock, that it should not be covered.'

⁹"Therefore thus says the Lord God: 'Woe to the bloody city! I also will make the pile great.

¹⁰Heap on the wood, make the fire hot, boil well the flesh, and make thick the broth, and let the bones be burned.

¹¹Then set it empty on its coals, that it may be hot, and its brass may burn, and that its filthiness may be molten in it, that its rust may be consumed.

¹²She has wearied herself with toil; yet her great rust doesn't go forth out of her; her rust doesn't go forth by fire.

¹³In your filthiness is lewdness: because I have cleansed you and you weren't cleansed, you shall not be cleansed from your filthiness any more, until I have caused my wrath toward you to rest.

¹⁴I, the Lord, have spoken it: it shall happen, and I will do it: I will not go back, neither will I spare, neither will I repent; according to your ways, and according to your doings, shall they judge you,' says the Lord God."

¹⁵Also the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

¹⁶"Son of man, behold, I will take away from you the desire of your eyes with a stroke: yet you shall neither mourn nor weep, neither shall your tears run down.

¹⁷Sigh, but not aloud, make no mourning for the dead; bind your headdress on you, and put your shoes on your feet, and do not cover your lips, and do not eat men's bread."

¹⁸So I spoke to the people in the morning; and at even my wife died; and I did in the morning as I was commanded.

¹⁹The people said to me, "Won't you tell us what these things are to us, that you do so?"

²⁰Then I said to them, "The word of the Lord came to me, saying,

²¹'Speak to the house of Israel, "Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will profane my sanctuary, the pride of your power, the desire of your eyes, and that which your soul pities; and your sons and your daughters whom you have left behind shall fall by the sword.

²²You shall do as I have done: you shall not cover your lips, nor eat the bread of men.

²³Your turbans shall be on your heads, and your shoes on your feet: you shall not mourn nor weep; but you shall pine away in your iniquities, and moan one toward another.

²⁴Thus Ezekiel shall be a sign to you; according to all that he has done, you will do. When this comes, then you will know that I am the Lord God."'"

²⁵"You, son of man, shall it not be in the day when I take from them their strength, the joy of their glory, the desire of their eyes, and that whereupon they set their heart, their sons and their daughters,

²⁶that in that day he who escapes shall come to you, to cause you to hear it with your ears?

²⁷In that day your mouth will be opened to him who has escaped, and you shall speak, and be no more mute: so you will be a sign to them; and they shall know that I am the Lord."

¹Now faith is assurance of things hoped for, proof of things not seen.

²For by this, the elders obtained testimony.

³By faith, we understand that the universe has been framed by the word of God, so that what is seen has not been made out of things which are visible.

⁴By faith, Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he had testimony given to him that he was righteous, God testifying with respect to his gifts; and through it he, being dead, still speaks.

⁵By faith, Enoch was taken away, so that he would not see death, and he was not found, because God took him away. For he has had testimony given to him that before his translation he had been well pleasing to God.

⁶Without faith it is impossible to be well pleasing to him, for he who comes to God must believe that he exists, and that he is a rewarder of those who seek him.

⁷By faith, Noah, being warned about things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared a ship for the saving of his house, through which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.

⁸By faith, Abraham, when he was called, obeyed to go out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance. He went out, not knowing where he went.

⁹By faith, he lived as a foreigner in the land of promise, as in a land not his own, dwelling in tents, with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise.

¹⁰For he looked for the city which has the foundations, whose builder and maker is God.

¹¹By faith he received power to procreate when he was past age, and Sarah herself was barren. He regarded him faithful who had promised.

¹²Therefore as many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as innumerable as the sand which is by the sea shore, were fathered by one man, and him as good as dead.

¹³These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them and embraced them from afar, and having confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.

¹⁴For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own.

¹⁵If indeed they had been thinking of that country from which they went out, they would have had enough time to return.

¹⁶But now they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed of them, to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.

¹⁷By faith, Abraham, being tested, offered up Isaac. Yes, he who had gladly received the promises was offering up his one and only son;

¹⁸even he to whom it was said, "In Isaac will your seed be called;"

¹⁹concluding that God is able to raise up even from the dead. Figuratively speaking, he also did receive him back from the dead.

²⁰By faith, Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau, even concerning things to come.

²¹By faith, Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, and worshiped, leaning on the top of his staff.

²²By faith, Joseph, when his end was near, made mention of the departure of the children of Israel; and gave instructions concerning his bones.

²³By faith, Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents, because they saw that he was a beautiful child, and they were not afraid of the king's commandment.

²⁴By faith, Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter,

²⁵choosing rather to share ill treatment with God's people, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a time;

²⁶accounting the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he looked to the reward.

²⁷By faith, he left Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible.

²⁸By faith, he kept the Passover, and the sprinkling of the blood, that the destroyer of the firstborn should not touch them.

²⁹By faith, they passed through the Red Sea as on dry land. When the Egyptians tried to do so, they were swallowed up.

³⁰By faith, the walls of Jericho fell down, after they had been encircled for seven days.

³¹By faith, Rahab the prostitute, did not perish with those who were disobedient, having received the spies in peace.

³²What more shall I say? For the time would fail me if I told of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets;

³³who, through faith subdued kingdoms, worked out righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions,

³⁴quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, grew mighty in war, and caused foreign armies to flee.

³⁵Women received their dead by resurrection. Others were tortured, not accepting their deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection.

³⁶Others were tried by mocking and scourging, yes, moreover by bonds and imprisonment.

³⁷They were stoned. They were sawn apart. They were slain with the sword. They went around in sheep skins and in goat skins; being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated

³⁸(of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts, mountains, caves, and the holes of the earth.

³⁹These all, having had testimony given to them through their faith, did not receive the promise,

⁴⁰God having provided some better thing concerning us, so that apart from us they should not be made perfect.

¹He who is often rebuked and stiffens his neck will be destroyed suddenly, with no remedy.

²When the righteous thrive, the people rejoice; but when the wicked rule, the people groan.

³Whoever loves wisdom brings joy to his father; but a companion of prostitutes squanders his wealth.

⁴The king by justice makes the land stable, but he who takes bribes tears it down.

⁵A man who flatters his neighbor spreads a net for his feet.

⁶An evil man is snared by his sin, but the righteous can sing and be glad.

⁷The righteous care about justice for the poor. The wicked aren't concerned about knowledge.

⁸Mockers stir up a city, but wise men turn away anger.

⁹If a wise man goes to court with a foolish man, the fool rages or scoffs, and there is no peace.

¹⁰The bloodthirsty hate a man of integrity; and they seek the life of the upright.

¹¹A fool vents all of his anger, but a wise man brings himself under control.

¹²If a ruler listens to lies, all of his officials are wicked.

¹³The poor man and the oppressor have this in common: The Lord gives sight to the eyes of both.

¹⁴The king who fairly judges the poor, his throne shall be established forever.

¹⁵The rod of correction gives wisdom, but a child left to himself causes shame to his mother.

¹⁶When the wicked increase, sin increases; but the righteous will see their downfall.

¹⁷Correct your son, and he will give you peace; yes, he will bring delight to your soul.

¹⁸Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint; but one who keeps the Law is blessed.

¹⁹A servant can't be corrected by words. Though he understands, yet he will not respond.

²⁰Do you see a man who is hasty in his words? There is more hope for a fool than for him.

²¹He who pampers his servant from youth will have him become a son in the end.

²²An angry man stirs up strife, and a wrathful man abounds in sin.

²³A man's pride brings him low, but one of lowly spirit gains honor.

²⁴Whoever is an accomplice of a thief is an enemy of his own soul. He takes an oath, but dares not testify.

²⁵The fear of man proves to be a snare, but whoever puts his trust in the Lord is kept safe.

²⁶Many seek the ruler's favor, but a man's justice comes from the Lord.

²⁷A dishonest man detests the righteous, and the upright in their ways detest the wicked.