And he said to me,“ Son of man, I send you to the people of Israel, to nations of rebels, who have rebelled against me. They and their fathers have transgressed against me to this very day.

他对我说：“人子啊，我差你往悖逆的国民以色列人那里去。他们是悖逆我的，他们和他们的列祖违背我，直到今日。

他对我说：“人子啊，我差你往悖逆我的国家，以色列人那里去，他们是悖逆我的。他们和他们的祖先违背我，直到今日。

他对我说：“人子啊，我差你往悖逆我的国家，以色列人那里去，他们是悖逆我的。他们和他们的祖先违背我，直到今日。

“人子啊，我派你去那背叛我的以色列人那里。他们和他们的祖先至今仍背叛我。

他对我说：“人子啊！我差派你到以色列人那里去，就是到那背叛我的叛逆国民那里去！他们和他们的列祖都得罪了我，直到今日。

他對我說：「人子啊，我差你往悖逆的國民以色列人那裏去。他們是悖逆我的，他們和他們的列祖違背我，直到今日。

他對我說：「人子啊，我差你往悖逆我的國家，以色列人那裏去，他們是悖逆我的。他們和他們的祖先違背我，直到今日。

他對我說：「人子啊，我差你往悖逆我的國家，以色列人那裏去，他們是悖逆我的。他們和他們的祖先違背我，直到今日。

「人子啊，我派你去那背叛我的以色列人那裡。他們和他們的祖先至今仍背叛我。

他對我說：“人子啊！我差派你到以色列人那裡去，就是到那背叛我的叛逆國民那裡去！他們和他們的列祖都得罪了我，直到今日。

他對我說：『人子啊，我差遣你去找背叛之國以色列人，就是背叛我的：他們和他們的列祖都悖逆了我、直到今天這日子。

人子歟、我遣爾詣以色列人、彼乃悖逆之邦、悖逆乎我、彼與列祖、獲罪於我、迄至今日、

曰、人子、我遣汝至以色列族、彼所行忤逆、自列祖迄今、干犯罪戾、

諭我曰、人子、我遣爾就以色列人、即悖逆之族、悖逆我者、彼與其列祖獲罪於我、迄於今日、

He said:“ Son of man, I am sending you to the Israelites, to a rebellious nation that has rebelled against me; they and their ancestors have been in revolt against me to this very day.

He said,“ Son of man, I am sending you to the people of Israel. That nation has refused to obey me. They have turned against me. They and their people of long ago have been against me to this day.

“ Son of man,” he said,“ I am sending you to the nation of Israel, a rebellious nation that has rebelled against me. They and their ancestors have been rebelling against me to this very day.

He said to me,“ Son of man, I am sending you to the Israelites, to the rebellious pagans who have rebelled against me. The Israelites and their ancestors have transgressed against me to this day.

Then He said to me,“ Son of man, I am sending you to the sons of Israel, to a rebellious people who have rebelled against Me; they and their fathers have revolted against Me to this very day.

And He said to me:“ Son of man, I am sending you to the children of Israel, to a rebellious nation that has rebelled against Me; they and their fathers have transgressed against Me to this very day.

And he said unto me, Son of man, I send thee to the children of Israel, to nations that are rebellious, which have rebelled against me: they and their fathers have transgressed against me even unto this very day.

He said to me:“ Son of man, I am sending you to the Israelites, to the rebellious pagans who have rebelled against Me. The Israelites and their ancestors have transgressed against Me to this day.

And he said unto me, Son of man, I send thee to the children of Israel, to a rebellious nation that hath rebelled against me: they and their fathers have transgressed against me,[ even] unto this very day.

He said to me,“ Son of man, I am sending you to the house of Israel, to rebellious nations who have rebelled against me; both they and their fathers have revolted against me to this very day.

He said to me,“ Son of man, I send you to the children of Israel, to a nation of rebels who have rebelled against me. They and their fathers have transgressed against me even to this very day.

Let us lie down in our shame, and let our dishonor cover us. For we have sinned against the Lord our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even to this day, and we have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God.”

And the Lord said to Samuel,“ Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them.According to all the deeds that they have done, from the day I brought them up out of Egypt even to this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are also doing to you.

You have been rebellious against the Lord from the day that I knew you.

we have sinned and done wrong and acted wickedly and rebelled, turning aside from your commandments and rules.We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land.To you, O Lord, belongs righteousness, but to us open shame, as at this day, to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to all Israel, those who are near and those who are far away, in all the lands to which you have driven them, because of the treachery that they have committed against you.To us, O Lord, belongs open shame, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against you.To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against himand have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God by walking in his laws, which he set before us by his servants the prophets.All Israel has transgressed your law and turned aside, refusing to obey your voice. And the curse and oath that are written in the Law of Moses the servant of God have been poured out upon us, because we have sinned against him.He has confirmed his words, which he spoke against us and against our rulers who ruled us, by bringing upon us a great calamity. For under the whole heaven there has not been done anything like what has been done against Jerusalem.As it is written in the Law of Moses, all this calamity has come upon us; yet we have not entreated the favor of the Lord our God, turning from our iniquities and gaining insight by your truth.

And I heard the voice of the Lord saying,“ Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said,“ Here I am! Send me.”And he said,“ Go, and say to this people:“‘ Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and blind their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.”

The word of the Lord came to me:“ Son of man, there were two women, the daughters of one mother.They played the whore in Egypt; they played the whore in their youth; there their breasts were pressed and their virgin bosoms handled.Oholah was the name of the elder and Oholibah the name of her sister. They became mine, and they bore sons and daughters. As for their names, Oholah is Samaria, and Oholibah is Jerusalem.“ Oholah played the whore while she was mine, and she lusted after her lovers the Assyrians, warriorsclothed in purple, governors and commanders, all of them desirable young men, horsemen riding on horses.She bestowed her whoring upon them, the choicest men of Assyria all of them, and she defiled herself with all the idols of everyone after whom she lusted.She did not give up her whoring that she had begun in Egypt; for in her youth men had lain with her and handled her virgin bosom and poured out their whoring lust upon her.Therefore I delivered her into the hands of her lovers, into the hands of the Assyrians, after whom she lusted.These uncovered her nakedness; they seized her sons and her daughters; and as for her, they killed her with the sword; and she became a byword among women, when judgment had been executed on her.“ Her sister Oholibah saw this, and she became more corrupt than her sister in her lust and in her whoring, which was worse than that of her sister.She lusted after the Assyrians, governors and commanders, warriors clothed in full armor, horsemen riding on horses, all of them desirable young men.And I saw that she was defiled; they both took the same way.But she carried her whoring further. She saw men portrayed on the wall, the images of the Chaldeans portrayed in vermilion,wearing belts on their waists, with flowing turbans on their heads, all of them having the appearance of officers, a likeness of Babylonians whose native land was Chaldea.When she saw them, she lusted after them and sent messengers to them in Chaldea.And the Babylonians came to her into the bed of love, and they defiled her with their whoring lust. And after she was defiled by them, she turned from them in disgust.When she carried on her whoring so openly and flaunted her nakedness, I turned in disgust from her, as I had turned in disgust from her sister.Yet she increased her whoring, remembering the days of her youth, when she played the whore in the land of Egyptand lusted after her lovers there, whose members were like those of donkeys, and whose issue was like that of horses.Thus you longed for the lewdness of your youth, when the Egyptians handled your bosom and pressed your young breasts.”Therefore, O Oholibah, thus says the Lord God:“ Behold, I will stir up against you your lovers from whom you turned in disgust, and I will bring them against you from every side:the Babylonians and all the Chaldeans, Pekod and Shoa and Koa, and all the Assyrians with them, desirable young men, governors and commanders all of them, officers and men of renown, all of them riding on horses.And they shall come against you from the north with chariots and wagons and a host of peoples. They shall set themselves against you on every side with buckler, shield, and helmet; and I will commit the judgment to them, and they shall judge you according to their judgments.And I will direct my jealousy against you, that they may deal with you in fury. They shall cut off your nose and your ears, and your survivors shall fall by the sword. They shall seize your sons and your daughters, and your survivors shall be devoured by fire.They shall also strip you of your clothes and take away your beautiful jewels.Thus I will put an end to your lewdness and your whoring begun in the land of Egypt, so that you shall not lift up your eyes to them or remember Egypt anymore.“ For thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will deliver you into the hands of those whom you hate, into the hands of those from whom you turned in disgust,and they shall deal with you in hatred and take away all the fruit of your labor and leave you naked and bare, and the nakedness of your whoring shall be uncovered. Your lewdness and your whoringhave brought this upon you, because you played the whore with the nations and defiled yourself with their idols.You have gone the way of your sister; therefore I will give her cup into your hand.Thus says the Lord God:“ You shall drink your sister’s cup that is deep and large; you shall be laughed at and held in derision, for it contains much;you will be filled with drunkenness and sorrow. A cup of horror and desolation, the cup of your sister Samaria;you shall drink it and drain it out, and gnaw its shards, and tear your breasts; for I have spoken, declares the Lord God.Therefore thus says the Lord God: Because you have forgotten me and cast me behind your back, you yourself must bear the consequences of your lewdness and whoring.”The Lord said to me:“ Son of man, will you judge Oholah and Oholibah? Declare to them their abominations.For they have committed adultery, and blood is on their hands. With their idols they have committed adultery, and they have even offered up to them for food the children whom they had borne to me.Moreover, this they have done to me: they have defiled my sanctuary on the same day and profaned my Sabbaths.For when they had slaughtered their children in sacrifice to their idols, on the same day they came into my sanctuary to profane it. And behold, this is what they did in my house.They even sent for men to come from afar, to whom a messenger was sent; and behold, they came. For them you bathed yourself, painted your eyes, and adorned yourself with ornaments.You sat on a stately couch, with a table spread before it on which you had placed my incense and my oil.The sound of a carefree multitude was with her; and with men of the common sort, drunkards were brought from the wilderness; and they put bracelets on the hands of the women, and beautiful crowns on their heads.“ Then I said of her who was worn out by adultery,‘ Now they will continue to use her for a whore, even her!’For they have gone in to her, as men go in to a prostitute. Thus they went in to Oholah and to Oholibah, lewd women!But righteous men shall pass judgment on them with the sentence of adulteresses, and with the sentence of women who shed blood, because they are adulteresses, and blood is on their hands.”For thus says the Lord God:“ Bring up a vast host against them, and make them an object of terror and a plunder.And the host shall stone them and cut them down with their swords. They shall kill their sons and their daughters, and burn up their houses.Thus will I put an end to lewdness in the land, that all women may take warning and not commit lewdness as you have done.And they shall return your lewdness upon you, and you shall bear the penalty for your sinful idolatry, and you shall know that I am the Lord God.”

And the Lord’s anger was kindled against Israel, and he made them wander in the wilderness forty years, until all the generation that had done evil in the sight of the Lord was gone.And behold, you have risen in your fathers’ place, a brood of sinful men, to increase still more the fierce anger of the Lord against Israel!

Remember your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Do not regard the stubbornness of this people, or their wickedness or their sin,

Then they yoked themselves to the Baal of Peor, and ate sacrifices offered to the dead;

And he said to me,“ Son of man, go to the house of Israel and speak with my words to them.For you are not sent to a people of foreign speech and a hard language, but to the house of Israel—not to many peoples of foreign speech and a hard language, whose words you cannot understand. Surely, if I sent you to such, they would listen to you.But the house of Israel will not be willing to listen to you, for they are not willing to listen to me: because all the house of Israel have a hard forehead and a stubborn heart.Behold, I have made your face as hard as their faces, and your forehead as hard as their foreheads.

“ Thus says the Lord: Stand in the court of the Lord’s house, and speak to all the cities of Judah that come to worship in the house of the Lord all the words that I command you to speak to them; do not hold back a word.It may be they will listen, and every one turn from his evil way, that I may relent of the disaster that I intend to do to them because of their evil deeds.You shall say to them,‘ Thus says the Lord: If you will not listen to me, to walk in my law that I have set before you,and to listen to the words of my servants the prophets whom I send to you urgently, though you have not listened,then I will make this house like Shiloh, and I will make this city a curse for all the nations of the earth.’”

“ But they and our fathers acted presumptuously and stiffened their neck and did not obey your commandments.They refused to obey and were not mindful of the wonders that you performed among them, but they stiffened their neck and appointed a leader to return to their slavery in Egypt. But you are a God ready to forgive, gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and did not forsake them.Even when they had made for themselves a golden calf and said,‘ This is your God who brought you up out of Egypt,’ and had committed great blasphemies,

Then Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock, and he said to them,“ Hear now, you rebels: shall we bring water for you out of this rock?”

And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written,“ How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”

From the days of our fathers to this day we have been in great guilt. And for our iniquities we, our kings, and our priests have been given into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, to plundering, and to utter shame, as it is today.

and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.You are witnesses of these things.

When the season came, he sent a servant to the tenants to get from them some of the fruit of the vineyard.And they took him and beat him and sent him away empty-handed.Again he sent to them another servant, and they struck him on the head and treated him shamefully.And he sent another, and him they killed. And so with many others: some they beat, and some they killed.

“ You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you.

“ Take a scroll and write on it all the words that I have spoken to you against Israel and Judah and all the nations, from the day I spoke to you, from the days of Josiah until today.

Jesus said to them again,“ Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.”And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them,“ Receive the Holy Spirit.

The Lord, the God of their fathers, sent persistently to them by his messengers, because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling place.But they kept mocking the messengers of God, despising his words and scoffing at his prophets, until the wrath of the Lord rose against his people, until there was no remedy.

Yet you have been righteous in all that has come upon us, for you have dealt faithfully and we have acted wickedly.Our kings, our princes, our priests, and our fathers have not kept your law or paid attention to your commandments and your warnings that you gave them.Even in their own kingdom, and amid your great goodness that you gave them, and in the large and rich land that you set before them, they did not serve you or turn from their wicked works.

They angered him at the waters of Meribah, and it went ill with Moses on their account,for they made his spirit bitter, and he spoke rashly with his lips.They did not destroy the peoples, as the Lord commanded them,but they mixed with the nations and learned to do as they did.They served their idols, which became a snare to them.They sacrificed their sons and their daughters to the demons;they poured out innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan, and the land was polluted with blood.Thus they became unclean by their acts, and played the whore in their deeds.Then the anger of the Lord was kindled against his people, and he abhorred his heritage;

When men in the camp were jealous of Moses and Aaron, the holy one of the Lord,the earth opened and swallowed up Dathan, and covered the company of Abiram.Fire also broke out in their company; the flame burned up the wicked.They made a calf in Horeb and worshiped a metal image.They exchanged the glory of God for the image of an ox that eats grass.They forgot God, their Savior, who had done great things in Egypt,

then you shall say to them:‘ Because your fathers have forsaken me, declares the Lord, and have gone after other gods and have served and worshiped them, and have forsaken me and have not kept my law,and because you have done worse than your fathers, for behold, every one of you follows his stubborn, evil will, refusing to listen to me.

“ Nevertheless, they were disobedient and rebelled against you and cast your law behind their back and killed your prophets, who had warned them in order to turn them back to you, and they committed great blasphemies.

But the Lord said to me,“ Do not say,‘ I am only a youth’; for to all to whom I send you, you shall go, and whatever I command you, you shall speak.

“ For twenty-three years, from the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, to this day, the word of the Lord has come to me, and I have spoken persistently to you, but you have not listened.You have neither listened nor inclined your ears to hear, although the Lord persistently sent to you all his servants the prophets,saying,‘ Turn now, every one of you, from his evil way and evil deeds, and dwell upon the land that the Lord has given to you and your fathers from of old and forever.Do not go after other gods to serve and worship them, or provoke me to anger with the work of your hands. Then I will do you no harm.’Yet you have not listened to me, declares the Lord, that you might provoke me to anger with the work of your hands to your own harm.

Again the word of the Lord came to me:“ Son of man, make known to Jerusalem her abominations,and say, Thus says the Lord God to Jerusalem: Your origin and your birth are of the land of the Canaanites; your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite.And as for your birth, on the day you were born your cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water to cleanse you, nor rubbed with salt, nor wrapped in swaddling cloths.No eye pitied you, to do any of these things to you out of compassion for you, but you were cast out on the open field, for you were abhorred, on the day that you were born.“ And when I passed by you and saw you wallowing in your blood, I said to you in your blood,‘ Live!’ I said to you in your blood,‘ Live!’I made you flourish like a plant of the field. And you grew up and became tall and arrived at full adornment. Your breasts were formed, and your hair had grown; yet you were naked and bare.“ When I passed by you again and saw you, behold, you were at the age for love, and I spread the corner of my garment over you and covered your nakedness; I made my vow to you and entered into a covenant with you, declares the Lord God, and you became mine.Then I bathed you with water and washed off your blood from you and anointed you with oil.I clothed you also with embroidered cloth and shod you with fine leather. I wrapped you in fine linen and covered you with silk.And I adorned you with ornaments and put bracelets on your wrists and a chain on your neck.And I put a ring on your nose and earrings in your ears and a beautiful crown on your head.Thus you were adorned with gold and silver, and your clothing was of fine linen and silk and embroidered cloth. You ate fine flour and honey and oil. You grew exceedingly beautiful and advanced to royalty.And your renown went forth among the nations because of your beauty, for it was perfect through the splendor that I had bestowed on you, declares the Lord God.“ But you trusted in your beauty and played the whore because of your renown and lavished your whorings on any passerby; your beauty became his.You took some of your garments and made for yourself colorful shrines, and on them played the whore. The like has never been, nor ever shall be.You also took your beautiful jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given you, and made for yourself images of men, and with them played the whore.And you took your embroidered garments to cover them, and set my oil and my incense before them.Also my bread that I gave you— I fed you with fine flour and oil and honey— you set before them for a pleasing aroma; and so it was, declares the Lord God.And you took your sons and your daughters, whom you had borne to me, and these you sacrificed to them to be devoured. Were your whorings so small a matterthat you slaughtered my children and delivered them up as an offering by fire to them?And in all your abominations and your whorings you did not remember the days of your youth, when you were naked and bare, wallowing in your blood.“ And after all your wickedness( woe, woe to you! declares the Lord God),you built yourself a vaulted chamber and made yourself a lofty place in every square.At the head of every street you built your lofty place and made your beauty an abomination, offering yourself to any passerby and multiplying your whoring.You also played the whore with the Egyptians, your lustful neighbors, multiplying your whoring, to provoke me to anger.Behold, therefore, I stretched out my hand against you and diminished your allotted portion and delivered you to the greed of your enemies, the daughters of the Philistines, who were ashamed of your lewd behavior.You played the whore also with the Assyrians, because you were not satisfied; yes, you played the whore with them, and still you were not satisfied.You multiplied your whoring also with the trading land of Chaldea, and even with this you were not satisfied.“ How sick is your heart, declares the Lord God, because you did all these things, the deeds of a brazen prostitute,building your vaulted chamber at the head of every street, and making your lofty place in every square. Yet you were not like a prostitute, because you scorned payment.Adulterous wife, who receives strangers instead of her husband!Men give gifts to all prostitutes, but you gave your gifts to all your lovers, bribing them to come to you from every side with your whorings.So you were different from other women in your whorings. No one solicited you to play the whore, and you gave payment, while no payment was given to you; therefore you were different.“ Therefore, O prostitute, hear the word of the Lord:Thus says the Lord God, Because your lust was poured out and your nakedness uncovered in your whorings with your lovers, and with all your abominable idols, and because of the blood of your children that you gave to them,therefore, behold, I will gather all your lovers with whom you took pleasure, all those you loved and all those you hated. I will gather them against you from every side and will uncover your nakedness to them, that they may see all your nakedness.And I will judge you as women who commit adultery and shed blood are judged, and bring upon you the blood of wrath and jealousy.And I will give you into their hands, and they shall throw down your vaulted chamber and break down your lofty places. They shall strip you of your clothes and take your beautiful jewels and leave you naked and bare.They shall bring up a crowd against you, and they shall stone you and cut you to pieces with their swords.And they shall burn your houses and execute judgments upon you in the sight of many women. I will make you stop playing the whore, and you shall also give payment no more.So will I satisfy my wrath on you, and my jealousy shall depart from you. I will be calm and will no more be angry.Because you have not remembered the days of your youth, but have enraged me with all these things, therefore, behold, I have returned your deeds upon your head, declares the Lord God. Have you not committed lewdness in addition to all your abominations?“ Behold, everyone who uses proverbs will use this proverb about you:‘ Like mother, like daughter.’You are the daughter of your mother, who loathed her husband and her children; and you are the sister of your sisters, who loathed their husbands and their children. Your mother was a Hittite and your father an Amorite.And your elder sister is Samaria, who lived with her daughters to the north of you; and your younger sister, who lived to the south of you, is Sodom with her daughters.Not only did you walk in their ways and do according to their abominations; within a very little time you were more corrupt than they in all your ways.As I live, declares the Lord God, your sister Sodom and her daughters have not done as you and your daughters have done.Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy.They were haughty and did an abomination before me. So I removed them, when I saw it.Samaria has not committed half your sins. You have committed more abominations than they, and have made your sisters appear righteous by all the abominations that you have committed.Bear your disgrace, you also, for you have intervened on behalf of your sisters. Because of your sins in which you acted more abominably than they, they are more in the right than you. So be ashamed, you also, and bear your disgrace, for you have made your sisters appear righteous.“ I will restore their fortunes, both the fortunes of Sodom and her daughters, and the fortunes of Samaria and her daughters, and I will restore your own fortunes in their midst,that you may bear your disgrace and be ashamed of all that you have done, becoming a consolation to them.As for your sisters, Sodom and her daughters shall return to their former state, and Samaria and her daughters shall return to their former state, and you and your daughters shall return to your former state.Was not your sister Sodom a byword in your mouth in the day of your pride,before your wickedness was uncovered? Now you have become an object of reproach for the daughters of Syria and all those around her, and for the daughters of the Philistines, those all around who despise you.You bear the penalty of your lewdness and your abominations, declares the Lord.“ For thus says the Lord God: I will deal with you as you have done, you who have despised the oath in breaking the covenant,yet I will remember my covenant with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish for you an everlasting covenant.Then you will remember your ways and be ashamed when you take your sisters, both your elder and your younger, and I give them to you as daughters, but not on account of the covenant with you.I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall know that I am the Lord,that you may remember and be confounded, and never open your mouth again because of your shame, when I atone for you for all that you have done, declares the Lord God.”

“ Stand in the gate of the Lord’s house, and proclaim there this word, and say, Hear the word of the Lord, all you men of Judah who enter these gates to worship the Lord.

“ As for the offerings that you offered in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, you and your fathers, your kings and your officials, and the people of the land, did not the Lord remember them? Did it not come into his mind?

And they burned their sons and their daughters as offerings and used divination and omens and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger.Therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel and removed them out of his sight. None was left but the tribe of Judah only.Judah also did not keep the commandments of the Lord their God, but walked in the customs that Israel had introduced.And the Lord rejected all the descendants of Israel and afflicted them and gave them into the hand of plunderers, until he had cast them out of his sight.

In the seventh year, in the fifth month, on the tenth day of the month, certain of the elders of Israel came to inquire of the Lord, and sat before me.And the word of the Lord came to me:“ Son of man, speak to the elders of Israel, and say to them, Thus says the Lord God, Is it to inquire of me that you come? As I live, declares the Lord God, I will not be inquired of by you.Will you judge them, son of man, will you judge them? Let them know the abominations of their fathers,and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: On the day when I chose Israel, I swore to the offspring of the house of Jacob, making myself known to them in the land of Egypt; I swore to them, saying, I am the Lord your God.On that day I swore to them that I would bring them out of the land of Egypt into a land that I had searched out for them, a land flowing with milk and honey, the most glorious of all lands.And I said to them,‘ Cast away the detestable things your eyes feast on, every one of you, and do not defile yourselves with the idols of Egypt; I am the Lord your God.’But they rebelled against me and were not willing to listen to me. None of them cast away the detestable things their eyes feasted on, nor did they forsake the idols of Egypt.“ Then I said I would pour out my wrath upon them and spend my anger against them in the midst of the land of Egypt.But I acted for the sake of my name, that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations among whom they lived, in whose sight I made myself known to them in bringing them out of the land of Egypt.So I led them out of the land of Egypt and brought them into the wilderness.I gave them my statutes and made known to them my rules, by which, if a person does them, he shall live.Moreover, I gave them my Sabbaths, as a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord who sanctifies them.But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness. They did not walk in my statutes but rejected my rules, by which, if a person does them, he shall live; and my Sabbaths they greatly profaned.“ Then I said I would pour out my wrath upon them in the wilderness, to make a full end of them.But I acted for the sake of my name, that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations, in whose sight I had brought them out.Moreover, I swore to them in the wilderness that I would not bring them into the land that I had given them, a land flowing with milk and honey, the most glorious of all lands,because they rejected my rules and did not walk in my statutes, and profaned my Sabbaths; for their heart went after their idols.Nevertheless, my eye spared them, and I did not destroy them or make a full end of them in the wilderness.“ And I said to their children in the wilderness,‘ Do not walk in the statutes of your fathers, nor keep their rules, nor defile yourselves with their idols.I am the Lord your God; walk in my statutes, and be careful to obey my rules,and keep my Sabbaths holy that they may be a sign between me and you, that you may know that I am the Lord your God.’But the children rebelled against me. They did not walk in my statutes and were not careful to obey my rules, by which, if a person does them, he shall live; they profaned my Sabbaths.“ Then I said I would pour out my wrath upon them and spend my anger against them in the wilderness.But I withheld my hand and acted for the sake of my name, that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations, in whose sight I had brought them out.Moreover, I swore to them in the wilderness that I would scatter them among the nations and disperse them through the countries,because they had not obeyed my rules, but had rejected my statutes and profaned my Sabbaths, and their eyes were set on their fathers’ idols.Moreover, I gave them statutes that were not good and rules by which they could not have life,and I defiled them through their very gifts in their offering up all their firstborn, that I might devastate them. I did it that they might know that I am the Lord.“ Therefore, son of man, speak to the house of Israel and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: In this also your fathers blasphemed me, by dealing treacherously with me.For when I had brought them into the land that I swore to give them, then wherever they saw any high hill or any leafy tree, there they offered their sacrifices and there they presented the provocation of their offering; there they sent up their pleasing aromas, and there they poured out their drink offerings.( I said to them,‘ What is the high place to which you go?’ So its name is called Bamah to this day.)“ Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: Will you defile yourselves after the manner of your fathers and go whoring after their detestable things?When you present your gifts and offer up your children in fire, you defile yourselves with all your idols to this day. And shall I be inquired of by you, O house of Israel? As I live, declares the Lord God, I will not be inquired of by you.“ What is in your mind shall never happen— the thought,‘ Let us be like the nations, like the tribes of the countries, and worship wood and stone.’“ As I live, declares the Lord God, surely with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm and with wrath poured out I will be king over you.I will bring you out from the peoples and gather you out of the countries where you are scattered, with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and with wrath poured out.And I will bring you into the wilderness of the peoples, and there I will enter into judgment with you face to face.As I entered into judgment with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so I will enter into judgment with you, declares the Lord God.I will make you pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant.I will purge out the rebels from among you, and those who transgress against me. I will bring them out of the land where they sojourn, but they shall not enter the land of Israel. Then you will know that I am the Lord.“ As for you, O house of Israel, thus says the Lord God: Go serve every one of you his idols, now and hereafter, if you will not listen to me; but my holy name you shall no more profane with your gifts and your idols.“ For on my holy mountain, the mountain height of Israel, declares the Lord God, there all the house of Israel, all of them, shall serve me in the land. There I will accept them, and there I will require your contributions and the choicest of your gifts, with all your sacred offerings.As a pleasing aroma I will accept you, when I bring you out from the peoples and gather you out of the countries where you have been scattered. And I will manifest my holiness among you in the sight of the nations.And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I bring you into the land of Israel, the country that I swore to give to your fathers.And there you shall remember your ways and all your deeds with which you have defiled yourselves, and you shall loathe yourselves for all the evils that you have committed.And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I deal with you for my name’s sake, not according to your evil ways, nor according to your corrupt deeds, O house of Israel, declares the Lord God.”And the word of the Lord came to me:“ Son of man, set your face toward the southland; preach against the south, and prophesy against the forest land in the Negeb.Say to the forest of the Negeb, Hear the word of the Lord: Thus says the Lord God, Behold, I will kindle a fire in you, and it shall devour every green tree in you and every dry tree. The blazing flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from south to north shall be scorched by it.All flesh shall see that I the Lord have kindled it; it shall not be quenched.”Then I said,“ Ah, Lord God! They are saying of me,‘ Is he not a maker of parables?’”