MELTING POINT

Judgment on Jerusalem’s Sins

22 The word of the Lord came to me:

² “Son of man, will you judge her? Will you judge this city of bloodshed? Then confront her with all her detestable practices ³ and say: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: You city that brings on herself doom by shedding blood in her midst and defiles herself by making idols, ⁴ you have become guilty because of the blood you have shed and have become defiled by the idols you have made. You have brought your days to a close, and the end of your years has come. Therefore I will make you an object of scorn to the nations and a laughingstock to all the countries. ⁵ Those who are near and those who are far away will mock you, you infamous city, full of turmoil.

⁶ “‘See how each of the princes of Israel who are in you uses his power to shed blood. ⁷ In you they have treated father and mother with contempt; in you they have oppressed the foreigner and mistreated the fatherless and the widow. ⁸ You have despised my holy things and desecrated my Sabbaths. ⁹ In you are slanderers who are bent on shedding blood; in you are those who eat at the mountain shrines and commit lewd acts. ¹⁰ In you are those who dishonor their father’s bed; in you are those who violate women during their period, when they are ceremonially unclean. ¹¹ In you one man commits a detestable offense with his neighbor’s wife, another shamefully defiles his daughter-in-law, and another violates his sister, his own father’s daughter. ¹² In you are people who accept bribes to shed blood; you take interest and make a profit from the poor. You extort unjust gain from your neighbors. And you have forgotten me, declares the Sovereign Lord.

¹³ “‘I will surely strike my hands together at the unjust gain you have made and at the blood you have shed in your midst. ¹⁴ Will your courage endure or your hands be strong in the day I deal with you? I the Lord have spoken, and I will do it. ¹⁵ I will disperse you among the nations and scatter you through the countries; and I will put an end to your uncleanness. ¹⁶ When you have been defiled^[a] in the eyes of the nations, you will know that I am the Lord.’”

¹⁷ Then the word of the Lord came to me: ¹⁸ “Son of man, the people of Israel have become dross to me; all of them are the copper, tin, iron and lead left inside a furnace. They are but the dross of silver. ¹⁹ Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: ‘Because you have all become dross, I will gather you into Jerusalem. ²⁰ As silver, copper, iron, lead and tin are gathered into a furnace to be melted with a fiery blast, so will I gather you in my anger and my wrath and put you inside the city and melt you. ²¹ I will gather you and I will blow on you with my fiery wrath, and you will be melted inside her. ²² As silver is melted in a furnace, so you will be melted inside her, and you will know that I the Lord have poured out my wrath on you.’”

²³ Again the word of the Lord came to me: ²⁴ “Son of man, say to the land, ‘You are a land that has not been cleansed or rained on in the day of wrath.’ ²⁵ There is a conspiracy of her princes^[b] within her like a roaring lion tearing its prey; they devour people, take treasures and precious things and make many widows within her. ²⁶ Her priests do violence to my law and profane my holy things; they do not distinguish between the holy and the common; they teach that there is no difference between the unclean and the clean; and they shut their eyes to the keeping of my Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them. ²⁷ Her officials within her are like wolves tearing their prey; they shed blood and kill people to make unjust gain. ²⁸ Her prophets whitewash these deeds for them by false visions and lying divinations. They say, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says’—when the Lord has not spoken. ²⁹ The people of the land practice extortion and commit robbery; they oppress the poor and needy and mistreat the foreigner, denying them justice.

³⁰ “I looked for someone among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found no one. ³¹ So I will pour out my wrath on them and consume them with my fiery anger, bringing down on their own heads all they have done, declares the Sovereign Lord.”