31-EZK-ENG[B]CPDV2009[pd].p.sfm

\id EZK ENG (p.sfm) - CPDV The Sacred Bible: Catholic Public Domain Version ☩
\ide UTF-8
\h Ezekiel
\toc1 The Prophecy of Ezekiel
\toc2 Ezekiel
\toc3 Ezk
\toc4 48
\mt1 The Prophecy of Ezekiel
\im EZEKIEL, whose name signifies the STRENGTH OF GOD, was of the priestly race; and of the number of captives that were carried away to Babylon with king JOACHIN. He was contemporary with JEREMIAH, and prophesied to the same effect in Babylon, as JEREMIAH did in Jerusalem; and is said to have ended his days in like manner, by martyrdom.
\c 1
\cl Ezekiel 1
\cd The time of Ezekiel’s prophecy: he sees a glorious vision.
\p
\v 1 ¶ And it happened that, in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, on the fifth of the month, when I was in the midst of the captives beside the river Chebar, the heavens were opened, and I saw the visions of God.\f + \fr 1:1 \fk The thirtieth year: \ft Either of the age of Ezekiel; or, as others will have it, from the solemn covenant made in the eighteenth year of the reign of Josias. 4 Kings 23.\fl (Challoner)\f*
\v 2 On the fifth of the month, the same is the fifth year of the transmigration of king Joachin,
\v 3 the word of the Lord came to Ezekiel, a priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans, next to the river Chebar. And the hand of the Lord was over him there.
\p
\v 4 ¶ And I saw, and behold, a whirlwind arrived from the north. And a great cloud, wrapped in fire and brightness, was all around it. And from its midst, that is, from the midst of the fire, there was something with the appearance of amber.
\v 5 And in its midst, there was the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance: the likeness of a man was in them.\f + \fr 1:5 \fk Living creatures: \ft Cherubims (as appears from Ecclesiasticus 49.10) represented to the prophet under these mysterious shapes, as supporting the throne of God, and as it were drawing his chariot. All this chapter appeared so obscure, and so full of mysteries to the ancient Hebrews, that, as we learn from St. Jerome, (Ep. ad Paulin.,) they suffered none to read it before they were thirty years old.\fl (Challoner)\f*
\v 6 Each one had four faces, and each one had four wings.
\v 7 Their feet were straight feet, and the sole of their foot was like the sole of the foot of a calf, and they sparkled with the appearance of glowing brass.
\v 8 And they had the hands of a man under their wings on the four sides. And they had faces with the wings on the four sides.
\v 9 And their wings were joined to one another. They did not turn as they went. Instead, each one advanced before his face.
\v 10 But as for the likeness of their face, there was the face of a man, and the face of a lion on the right of each of the four, then the face of an ox on the left of each of the four, and the face of an eagle above each of the four.
\v 11 Their faces and their wings were extended above: two wings of each one were joined together, and two covered their bodies.
\v 12 And each one of them advanced before his face. Wherever the impetus of the spirit was to go, there they went. And they did not turn as they advanced.
\v 13 And as for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like that of burning coals of fire, and like the appearance of lamps. This was the vision dashing in the midst of the living creatures, a bright fire, with lightning going forth from the fire.
\v 14 And the living creatures went and returned like flashes of lightning.
\p
\v 15 ¶ And as I beheld the living creatures, there appeared above the earth, next to the living creatures, one wheel having four faces.
\v 16 And the appearance of the wheels and their work was like the appearance of the sea. And each of the four were similar to one another. And their appearance and work was like a wheel in the center of a wheel.
\v 17 Going forth, they went by means of their four parts. And they did not turn as they went.\f + \fr 1:17 \ft The wheels were turning, but the whole did not turn to the right or to the left, since it had a face in each of four directions.\fl (Conte)\f*\f + \fr 1:17 \fk When they went, they went by their four parts: \ft That is, indifferently to any of their sides either forward or backward: to the right or to the left.\fl (Challoner)\f*
\v 18 Also, the size and height and appearance of the wheels was dreadful. And the entire body was full of eyes all around each of the four.
\v 19 And when the living creatures advanced, the wheels advanced together with them. And when the living creatures were lifted up from the earth, the wheels, too, were lifted up at the same time.
\v 20 Wherever the spirit went, as the spirit was going forth to that place, the wheels, too, were lifted up together, so as to follow them. For the spirit of life was in the wheels.
\v 21 When going forth, they went forth, and when standing still, they stood still. And when they were lifted up from the earth, the wheels, too, were lifted up together, so as to follow them. For the spirit of life was in the wheels.
\v 22 And above the heads of the living creatures was the likeness of a firmament: similar to crystal, but dreadful to behold, and extending over their heads from above.
\v 23 And their wings were straight under the firmament, one toward the other. One of them was covered by two wings on his body, and the other was covered similarly.
\v 24 And I heard the sound of their wings, like the sound of many waters, like the sound of the sublime God. When they walked, it was like the sound of a multitude, like the sound of an army. And when they stood still, their wings were let down.
\v 25 For when a voice came from above the firmament, which was over their heads, they stood still, and they put down their wings.
\p
\v 26 ¶ And above the firmament, which was suspended over their heads, there was the likeness of a throne, with the appearance of the sapphire stone. And over the likeness of the throne, there was a likeness with the appearance of a man above it.
\v 27 And I saw something with the appearance of amber, with the likeness of fire within it and all around it. And from his waist and upward, and from his waist downward, I saw something with the appearance of fire shining all around.
\v 28 There was the appearance of the rainbow, as when it is in a cloud on a rainy day. This was the appearance of the splendor on every side.
\c 2
\cl Ezekiel 2
\cd The prophet receives his commission.
\p
\v 1 ¶ This was the vision of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. And I saw, and I fell on my face, and I heard the voice of someone speaking. And he said to me: “Son of man, stand on your feet, and I will speak with you.”
\v 2 And after this was spoken to me, the Spirit entered into me, and he set me on my feet. And I heard him speaking to me,
\v 3 and saying: “Son of man, I am sending you to the sons of Israel, to an apostate nation, which has withdrawn from me. They and their fathers have betrayed my covenant, even to this day.
\v 4 And those to whom I am sending you are sons with a hard face and an unyielding heart. And you shall say to them: ‘Thus says the Lord God.’
\v 5 Perhaps it may be that they will hear, and perhaps they may be quieted. For they are a provoking house. And they shall know that there has been a prophet in their midst.
\p
\v 6 ¶ But as for you, son of man, you should not fear them, and you should not dread their words. For you are among unbelievers and subversives, and you are living with scorpions. You should not fear their words, and you should not dread their faces. For they are a provoking house.
\v 7 Therefore, you shall speak my words to them, so that perhaps they may hear and be quieted. For they are provoking.
\v 8 But as for you, son of man, listen to all that I say to you. And do not choose to be provoking, as that house is a provoker. Open your mouth, and eat whatever I give to you.”
\p
\v 9 ¶ And I looked, and behold: a hand was put forth toward me; there was a scroll rolled up in it. And he spread it out before me, and there was writing on the inside and on the outside. And there were written in it lamentations, and verses, and woes.
\c 3
\cl Ezekiel 3
\cd The prophet eats the book, and receives further instructions: the office of a watchman.
\p
\v 1 ¶ And he said to me: “Son of man, eat whatever you will find; eat this scroll, and, going forth, speak to the sons of Israel.”\f + \fr 3:1 \fk Eat this book, and go speak to the children of Israel: \ft By this eating of the book was signified the diligent attention and affection with which we are to receive, and embrace the word of God; and to let it, as it were, sink into our interior by devout meditation.\fl (Challoner)\f*
\v 2 And I opened my mouth, and he fed me that scroll.
\v 3 And he said to me: “Son of man, your stomach shall eat, and your interior shall be filled with this scroll, which I am giving to you.” And I ate it, and in my mouth it became as sweet as honey.
\p
\v 4 ¶ And he said to me: “Son of man, go to the house of Israel, and you shall speak my words to them.
\v 5 For you will be sent, not to a people of profound words or of an unknown language, but to the house of Israel,
\v 6 and not to many peoples of profound words or of an unknown language, whose words you would not be able to understand. But if you were sent to them, they would listen to you.
\v 7 Yet the house of Israel is not willing to listen to you. For they are not willing to listen to me. Certainly, the entire house of Israel has a brazen forehead and a hardened heart.
\v 8 Behold, I have made your face stronger than their faces, and your forehead harder than their foreheads.
\v 9 I have made your face like hardened iron and like flint. You should not fear them, and you should not have dread before their face. For they are a provoking house.”
\v 10 And he said to me: “Son of man, listen with your ears, and take into your heart, all my words, which I am speaking to you.
\v 11 And go forth and enter to those of the transmigration, to the sons of your people. And you shall speak to them. And you shall say to them: ‘Thus says the Lord God.’ Perhaps it may be that they will listen and be quieted.”
\v 12 And the Spirit took me up, and I heard behind me the voice of a great commotion, saying, “Blessed is the glory of the Lord from his place,”
\v 13 and the voice of the wings of the living creatures striking against one another, and the voice of the wheels following the living creatures, and the voice of a great commotion.
\v 14 Then the Spirit lifted me and took me away. And I went forth in bitterness, with the indignation of my spirit. For the hand of the Lord was with me, strengthening me.
\p
\v 15 ¶ And I went to those of the transmigration, to the stockpile of new crops, to those who were living beside the river Chebar. And I sat where they were sitting. And I remained there for seven days, while mourning in their midst.\f + \fr 3:15 \fk The heap of new corn: \ft It was the name of a place: in Hebrew, tel abib.\fl (Challoner)\f*
\v 16 Then, when seven days had passed, the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
\v 17 “Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel. And so, you shall listen to the word from my mouth, and you shall announce it to them from me.
\v 18 If, when I say to the impious man, ‘You shall certainly die,’ you do not announce it to him, and you do not speak so that he may turn aside from his impious way and live, then the same impious man will die in his iniquity. But I will attribute his blood to your hand.\f + \fr 3:18 \ft This is an example of a sin of omission.\fl (Conte)\f*
\v 19 But if you announce it to the impious man, and he is not converted from his impiety and from his impious way, then indeed he will die in his iniquity. But you will have delivered your own soul.
\v 20 Moreover, if the just man turns aside from his justice and commits iniquity, I will place a stumbling block before him. He shall die, because you have not announced to him. He shall die in his sin, and his justices that he did shall not be remembered. Yet truly, I will attribute his blood to your hand.
\v 21 But if you announce to the just man, so that the just man may not sin, and he does not sin, then he shall certainly live, because you have announced to him. And you will have delivered your own soul.”
\p
\v 22 ¶ And the hand of the Lord was over me. And he said to me: “Rise up, and go out to the plain, and there I will speak with you.”
\v 23 And I rose up, and I went out to the plain. And behold, the glory of the Lord was standing there, like the glory that I saw beside the river Chebar. And I fell upon my face.
\v 24 And the Spirit entered into me, and set me upon my feet. And he spoke to me, and he said to me: “Enter and enclose yourself in the midst of your house.
\v 25 And as for you, son of man, behold: they shall put chains upon you and bind you with them. And you shall not go out from their midst.
\v 26 And I will cause your tongue to adhere to the roof of your mouth. And you will be mute, not like a man who reproaches. For they are a provoking house.
\v 27 But when I will speak to you, I will open your mouth, and you shall say to them: ‘Thus says the Lord God.’ Whoever is listening, let him hear. And whoever is quieted, let him be quieted. For they are a provoking house.”
\c 4
\cl Ezekiel 4
\cd A prophetic description of the siege of Jerusalem, and the famine that shall reign there.
\p
\v 1 ¶ “And as for you, son of man, take up for yourself a tablet, and you shall set it before you. And you shall draw upon it the city of Jerusalem.
\v 2 And you shall set up a blockade against it, and you shall build fortifications, and you shall put together a rampart, and you shall encamp opposite it, and you shall place battering rams around it.
\v 3 And you shall take up for yourself an iron frying pan, and place it as an iron wall between you and the city. And harden your face against it, and it shall be under a siege, and you shall surround it. This is a sign to the house of Israel.
\v 4 And you shall sleep on your left side. And you shall place the iniquities of the house of Israel on it by the number of days that you will sleep on it. And you shall take upon yourself their iniquity.
\v 5 For I have given to you the years of their iniquity, by the number of the days: three hundred and ninety days. And you shall bear the iniquity of the house of Israel.\f + \fr 4:5 \ft Three hundred and ninety years is the exact length of time from the end of the first part of the tribulation, in early 2040 A.D. to the beginning of the Antichrist’s rise to world domination in 2430 A.D.\fl (Conte)\f*
\v 6 And when you will have completed this, you shall sleep a second time, on your right side, and you shall assume the iniquity of the house of Judah for forty days: one day for each year; one day, I say, for each year, have I given to you.\f + \fr 4:6 \ft The Forty Years is a figurative reference to the first part of the tribulation. Centuries later, in the second part of the tribulation, the Antichrist rises to world domination, and he reigns for nearly seven years. And then Jesus Christ returns at the end of his reign. This entire time period is like a siege of the Christian Faith (represented by the figures of Israel and Judah and Jerusalem).\fl (Conte)\f*
\v 7 And you shall turn your face toward the siege of Jerusalem, and your arm shall be extended. And you shall prophesy against it.
\v 8 Behold, I have surrounded you with chains. And you shall not turn yourself from one side to the other side, until you have completed the days of your siege.
\p
\v 9 ¶ And you shall take for yourself wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentils, and millet, and vetch. And you shall set them in one vessel, and you shall make for yourself bread by the number of days that you will sleep upon your side: three hundred and ninety days shall you shall eat from it.
\v 10 But your food, which you will eat, shall be in weight twenty staters a day. You shall eat it from time to time.\f + \fr 4:10 \ft A stater weighed about a half ounce; Ezekiel was to eat it ‘from time to time,’ i.e. he was to divide each day’s food allotment into two meals.\fl (Conte)\f*
\v 11 And you shall drink water by measure, one sixth part of a hin. You shall drink it from time to time.\f + \fr 4:11 \fk Hin: \ft That is, a measure of liquids containing about ten pints.\fl (Challoner)\f*
\v 12 And you shall eat it like barley bread baked under ashes. And you shall cover it, in their sight, with the dung that goes out of a man.”
\v 13 And the Lord said: “So shall the sons of Israel eat their bread, polluted among the Gentiles, to whom I will cast them out.”
\v 14 And I said: “Alas, alas, alas, O Lord God! Behold, my soul has not been polluted, and from my infancy even until now, I have not eaten anything that has died of itself, nor that which has been torn up by beasts, and no unclean flesh at all has entered into my mouth.”
\v 15 And he said to me: “Behold, I have given to you cow manure in place of human dung, and you shall make your bread with it.”
\v 16 And he said to me: “Son of man, behold: I will crush the staff of bread in Jerusalem. And they will eat bread by weight and with anxiety. And they will drink water by measure and with anguish.
\v 17 So then, when bread and water fail, each one may fall against his brother. And they shall waste away in their iniquities.”
\c 5
\cl Ezekiel 5
\cd The judgments of God upon the Jews are foretold under the type of the prophet’s hair.
\p
\v 1 ¶ “And as for you, son of man, obtain for yourself a sharp knife for shaving hair, and you shall take it and draw it across your head and across your beard. And you shall obtain for yourself a balance for weighing, and you shall divide the hair.
\v 2 A third part you shall burn with fire in the midst of the city, according to the completion of the days of the siege. And you shall take a third part, and you shall cut it with the knife all around. Yet truly, the other third, you shall scatter to the wind, for I will unsheathe the sword after them.
\v 3 And you shall take from there a small number. And you shall bind them in the end of your cloak.
\v 4 And again, you shall take from them, and you shall throw them into the midst of the fire, and you shall burn them with fire. And from it, there shall go forth a fire to the entire house of Israel.”
\p
\v 5 ¶ Thus says the Lord God: “This is Jerusalem. I have placed her in the midst of the Gentiles and of the lands all around her.
\v 6 And she has despised my judgments, so as to be more impious than the Gentiles, and my precepts, more so than the lands that are all around her. For they have cast aside my judgments, and they have not walked in my precepts.”
\v 7 For this reason, thus says the Lord God: “Since you have surpassed the Gentiles who are all around you, and have not walked in my precepts, and have not accomplished my judgments, and have not even acted in accord with the judgments of the Gentiles who are all around you:
\v 8 therefore, thus says the Lord God: Behold, I am against you, and I myself will accomplish judgments in your midst, in the sight of the Gentiles.
\v 9 And I will do in you what I have not done before, and the likes of which I will not do again, because of all your abominations.
\v 10 Therefore, the fathers shall consume the sons in your midst, and the sons shall consume their fathers. And I will execute judgments in you, and I will winnow your entire remnant in every wind.
\v 11 Therefore, as I myself live says the Lord God, because you have violated my sanctuary with all your offenses and with all your abominations, I also will break into pieces, and my eye will not be lenient, and I will not take pity.
\p
\v 12 ¶ One third part of you will die by pestilence or be consumed by famine in your midst. And one third part of you will fall by the sword all around you. Yet truly, one third part of you I will scatter to every wind, and I will unsheathe the sword after them.
\v 13 And I will fulfill my fury, and I will cause my indignation to rest upon them, and I will be consoled. And they shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken in my zeal, when I will have fulfilled my indignation in them.
\v 14 And I will make you desolate, and a disgrace among the Gentiles, who are all around you, in the sight of all who pass by.
\v 15 And you shall be a disgrace and a blasphemy, an example and an astonishment, among the Gentiles, who are all around you, when I will have executed judgments in you, in fury and in indignation and with rebukes of wrath.
\v 16 I, the Lord, have spoken. At that time, I will send among them the most grievous arrows of famine, which shall bring death, and which I will send so that I may destroy you. And I will gather a famine over you, and I will crush the staff of bread among you.
\v 17 And I will send among you famine and very harmful beasts, even unto utter ruin. And pestilence and blood shall pass through you. And I will bring the sword over you. I, the Lord, have spoken.”
\c 6
\cl Ezekiel 6
\cd The punishment of Israel for their idolatry: a remnant shall be saved.
\p
\v 1 ¶ And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
\v 2 “Son of man, set your face toward the mountains of Israel, and you shall prophesy against them,
\v 3 and you shall say: O mountains of Israel, listen to the word of the Lord God! Thus says the Lord God to the mountains and hills and cliffs and valleys: Behold, I will lead over you the sword. And I will destroy your exalted places.
\v 4 And I will demolish your altars. And your graven images will be broken apart. And I will throw down your slain before your idols.
\v 5 And I will lay the dead bodies of the sons of Israel before the face of your idols. And I will scatter your bones around your altars.
\v 6 In all of your habitations, the cities will be made desolate, and the exalted places will be torn down and scattered. And your altars will be broken and destroyed. And your idols will cease to exist. And your shrines will be crushed. And your works will be wiped away.
\v 7 And the slain will fall in your midst. And you shall know that I am the Lord.
\v 8 And I will leave among you those who will escape the sword among the Gentiles, when I will have dispersed you upon the earth.
\v 9 And your liberated shall remember me among the nations to which they were led away as captives. For I have crushed their heart, which fornicated and withdrew from me, and their eyes, which fornicated after their idols. And they will be displeased with themselves over the evils that they have done by all their abominations.
\v 10 And they shall know that I, the Lord, have not spoken in vain, that I would do this evil to them.”
\p
\v 11 ¶ Thus says the Lord God: “Strike with your hand, and stomp with your foot, and say: ‘Alas, to all the abominations of the evils of the house of Israel!’ For they will fall by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence.
\v 12 Whoever is far away will die of pestilence. But whoever is near will fall by the sword. And whoever remains and is besieged will die by famine. And I will fulfill my indignation among them.
\v 13 And you shall know that I am the Lord, when your slain will be in the midst of your idols, all around your altars, on every exalted hill, and on the summits of all the mountains, and under every dense tree, and under every leafy oak: the places where they burned sweet-smelling incense to all their idols.
\v 14 And I will extend my hand over them. And I will make the earth desolate and destitute: from the desert of Riblah to all their dwelling places. And they shall know that I am the Lord.”
\c 7
\cl Ezekiel 7
\cd The final desolation of Israel: from which few shall escape.
\p
\v 1 ¶ And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
\v 2 “And as for you, son of man: Thus says the Lord God to the land of Israel: The end is coming, the end is coming, over the four regions of the earth.
\v 3 Now the end is over you, and I will send my fury upon you. And I will judge you according to your ways. And I will place all your abominations before you.
\v 4 And my eye will not be lenient over you, and I will not take pity. Instead, I will set your ways upon you, and your abominations will be in your midst. And you shall know that I am the Lord.”
\p
\v 5 ¶ Thus says the Lord God: “One affliction, behold, one affliction is approaching.
\v 6 The end is coming, the end is coming. It has been vigilant against you. Behold, it is approaching.
\v 7 Destruction is coming over you, who live upon the earth. The time is approaching, the day of slaughter is near, and it is not of the glory of the mountains.
\v 8 Now, very soon, I will pour out my wrath upon you, and I will fulfill my fury in you. And I will judge you according to your ways, and I will set upon you all your crimes.
\v 9 And my eye will not be lenient, nor will I take pity. Instead, I will place your ways upon you, and your abominations will be in your midst. And you shall know that I am the Lord, who is striking.
\v 10 Behold, the day! Behold, it approaches! Destruction has gone forth, the rod has blossomed, arrogance has germinated.
\v 11 Iniquity has risen up into a rod of impiety. There shall be nothing left of them, and of their people, and of the sound of them. And there shall be no rest for them.
\v 12 The time is approaching; the day is very near. Whoever buys should not rejoice. And whoever sells should not mourn. For wrath is over all of their people.
\v 13 For whoever sells will not return to what he has sold, but as yet their life will be among the living. For the vision concerning their entire multitude will not turn back. And man will not be strengthened in the iniquity of his life.
\v 14 Sound the trumpet! Let everyone be prepared! And yet there is no one who may go to battle. For my wrath is over all their people.
\v 15 The sword is outside, and the pestilence and the famine are inside. Whoever is in the field will die by the sword. And whoever is in the city will be devoured by the pestilence and the famine.
\p
\v 16 ¶ And those who flee from among them will be saved. And they will be among the mountains, like doves in steep valleys, with every one of them trembling, each one because of his iniquity.
\v 17 All hands will be weakened, and all knees will flow with water.
\v 18 And they will wrap themselves with haircloth, and dread will cover them. And shame will be upon every face, and baldness will be upon all of their heads.
\v 19 Their silver will be thrown away, and their gold will be like a dunghill. Their silver and their gold will have no power to free them in the day of the fury of the Lord. They will not satisfy their soul, and their bellies will not be filled, because of the scandal of their iniquity.
\p
\v 20 ¶ And they have set arrogance as the ornament of their necklaces, and they have made images of their abominations and graven idols. Because of this, I have let it be an uncleanness for them.
\v 21 And I will give it into the hands of foreigners as a spoil, and to the impious of the earth as a prey, and they will defile it.
\v 22 And I will avert my face from them, and they will violate my place of mystery. And untamed persons will enter into it, and they will defile it.\f + \fr 7:22 \fk Secret place, etc: \ft Viz., the inward sanctuary, the holy of holies.\fl (Challoner)\f*
\p
\v 23 ¶ Cause it to be closed. For the land has been filled with the judgment of blood, and the city is full of iniquity.\f + \fr 7:23 \fk Make a shutting up: \ft In Hebrew, a chain, viz., for imprisonment and captivity.\fl (Challoner)\f*
\v 24 And I will lead in the most sinful among the Gentiles, and they will possess their houses. And I will cause the arrogance of the powerful to be quieted. And they will possess their sanctuaries.
\v 25 When anguish overwhelms them, they will seek peace, and there will be none.
\v 26 Disturbance will follow after disturbance, and rumor after rumor. And they will seek the vision of the prophet, and the law will perish from the priest, and counsel will perish from the elders.
\v 27 The king will mourn, and the prince will be clothed with grief, and the hands of the people of the earth will be greatly disturbed. I will act toward them in accord with their own way, and I will judge them in accord with their own judgments. And they shall know that I am the Lord.”
\c 8
\cl Ezekiel 8
\cd The prophet sees in a vision the abominations committed in Jerusalem; which determine the Lord to spare them no longer.
\p
\v 1 ¶ And it happened that, in the sixth year, in the sixth month, on the fifth of the month, I was sitting in my house, and the elders of Judah were sitting before me, and the hand of the Lord God fell upon me there.
\v 2 And I saw, and behold, there was an image with the appearance of fire. From the appearance of his waist, and downward, there was fire. And from his waist, and upward, there was the appearance of splendor, like the sight of amber.\f + \fr 8:2 \ft The word ‘electri’ can refer to amber, or to an alloy of gold and silver (which has roughly the same color as amber). The word ‘lumbis’ does not literally refer to the loins. It refers to the lower back, but is used to refer to the waistline, and also sometimes to the loins.\fl (Conte)\f*
\v 3 And as the image of a hand went out, it took hold of me by a lock of my head. And the Spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven. And he brought me into Jerusalem, within a vision of God, next to the inner gate that looked toward the north, where there was stationed an idol of rivalry, so as to provoke an envious emulation.
\v 4 And behold, the glory of the God of Israel was there, in accord with the vision that I had seen in the plain.
\p
\v 5 ¶ And he said to me: “Son of man, lift up your eyes to the way of the north.” And I lifted up my eyes to the way of the north. And behold, from the north of the gate of the altar was the idol of rivalry, at the same entrance.
\v 6 And he said to me: “Son of man, you see what these ones are doing, the great abominations that the house of Israel is committing here. Do you not think, then, that I should withdraw far away from my own sanctuary? But if you turn again, you will see even greater abominations.”
\p
\v 7 ¶ And he led me in by the door of the atrium. And I saw, and behold, there was an opening in the wall.
\v 8 And he said to me: “Son of man, dig in the wall.” And when I had dug in the wall, there appeared one door.
\v 9 And he said to me: “Enter and see the most wicked abominations which they are committing here.”
\v 10 And entering, I saw, and behold, every kind of image of reptiles and animals, the abominations, and all of the idols of the house of Israel were depicted on the wall all around, throughout the entire place.
\v 11 And there were seventy men out of the elders of the house of Israel, with Jaazaniah, the son of Shaphan, standing in their midst, and they stood before the pictures. And each one had a censer in his hand. And a cloud of smoke rose up from the incense.
\v 12 And he said to me: “Certainly, son of man, you see what the elders of the house of Israel are doing in the darkness, each one while hidden in his chamber. For they say: ‘The Lord does not see us. The Lord has forsaken the earth.’ ”
\p
\v 13 ¶ And he said to me: “If you turn again, you will see even greater abominations, which these ones are committing.”
\v 14 And he led me in through the door of the gate of the Lord’s house, which looked toward the north. And behold, women were sitting there, mourning for Adonis.\f + \fr 8:14 \fk Adonis: \ft The favourite of Venus, slain by a wild boar, as feigned by the heathen poets, and which being here represented by an idol, is lamented by the female worshippers of that goddess. In the Hebrew, the name is Tammuz.\fl (Challoner)\f*
\p
\v 15 ¶ And he said to me: “Certainly, son of man, you have seen. But if you turn again, you will see even greater abominations than these.”
\v 16 And he led me into the inner atrium of the house of the Lord. And behold, at the door of the temple of the Lord, between the vestibule and the altar, there were about twenty-five men with their backs toward the temple of the Lord, and their faces toward the east. And they were adoring toward the rising of the Sun.
\p
\v 17 ¶ And he said to me: “Certainly, son of man, you have seen. Can this be so trivial to the house of Judah, when they commit these abominations, just as they have committed here, that, having filled the earth with iniquity, they now turn to provoke me? And behold, they are applying a branch to their nose.
\v 18 Therefore, I also will act toward them in my fury. My eye will not be lenient, nor will I take pity. And when they will have cried out to my ears with a loud voice, I will not heed them.”
\c 9
\cl Ezekiel 9
\cd All are ordered to be destroyed that are not marked in their foreheads. God will not be entreated for them.
\p
\v 1 ¶ And he cried out in my ears with a loud voice, saying: “The visitations of the city have drawn near, and each one has equipment for killing in his hand.”
\v 2 And behold, six men were approaching from the way of the upper gate, which looks to the north. And each one had equipment for killing in his hand. Also, one man in their midst was clothed with linen, and an instrument for writing was at his waist. And they entered and stood beside the bronze altar.
\v 3 And the glory of the Lord of Israel was taken up, from the cherub upon which he was, to the threshold of the house. And he called out to the man who was clothed with linen and had an instrument for writing at his waist.
\v 4 And the Lord said to him: “Cross through the middle of the city, in the center of Jerusalem, and seal a Tau upon the foreheads of the grieving men, who are mourning over all the abominations which are being committed in its midst.”\f + \fr 9:4 \ft This sealing of foreheads over those Jews who remained faithful is a foreshadowing of the Seal (Rev 7:3; 14:1) given by God to assist the faithful during the first and second parts of the tribulation.\fl (Conte)\f*\f + \fr 9:4 \fk Mark Thau: \ft Thau, or Tau, is the last letter in the Hebrew alphabet, and signifies a sign, or a mark; which is the reason why some translators render this place set a mark, or mark a mark without specifying what this mark was. But St. Jerome, and other interpreters, conclude it was the form of the letter Thau, which in the ancient Hebrew character, was the form of a cross.\fl (Challoner)\f*
\p
\v 5 ¶ And he said to the others, in my hearing: “Cross through the city after him, and strike! Your eye shall not be lenient, and you shall not take pity.
\v 6 Kill, even to utter destruction, old men, young men, and virgins, little ones, and women. But all upon whom you see the Tau, you shall not kill. And begin from my sanctuary.” Therefore, they began with the men among the elders, who were before the face of the house.
\v 7 And he said to them: “Defile the house, and fill its courts with the slain! Go forth!” And they went forth and struck down those who were in the city.
\v 8 And when the slaughter was completed, I remained. And I fell upon my face, and crying out, I said: “Alas, alas, alas, O Lord God! Will you now destroy the entire remnant of Israel, by pouring out your fury upon Jerusalem?”
\v 9 And he said to me: “The iniquity of the house of Israel, and of Judah, is vast and exceedingly great, and the land has been filled with blood, and the city has been filled with what is abhorrent. For they have said: ‘The Lord has forsaken the earth,’ and, ‘The Lord does not see.’\f + \fr 9:9 \ft The expression “magna est nimis valde” is so strong in the Latin that it is difficult to express in English.\fl (Conte)\f*
\v 10 Therefore, my eye will not be lenient, and I will not take pity. I will repay their own way upon their head.”
\v 11 And behold, the man who was clothed with linen, who had a writing instrument at his back, responded a word, saying: “I have done just as you instructed me.”
\c 10
\cl Ezekiel 10
\cd Fire is taken from the midst of the wheels under the cherubims, and scattered over the city. A description of the cherubims.
\p
\v 1 ¶ And I saw, and behold, in the firmament that was over the heads of the cherubim, there appeared above them something like the sapphire stone, with the sight of the likeness of a throne.
\v 2 And he spoke to the man who was clothed with linen, and he said: “Enter, between the wheels that are under the cherubim, and fill your hand with the coals of fire that are between the cherubim, and pour them upon the city.” And he entered, in my sight.
\v 3 Now the cherubim were standing before the right side of the house, when the man entered. And a cloud filled the inner court.
\v 4 And the glory of the Lord was lifted up, from above the cherubim, to the threshold of the house. And the house was filled with the cloud. And the court was filled with the splendor of the glory of the Lord.
\v 5 And the sound of the wings of the cherubim was heard even in the outer court, like the voice of Almighty God speaking.
\v 6 And when he had instructed the man who was clothed with linen, saying, “Take fire from the midst of the wheels that are between the cherubim,” he entered and stood next to the wheel.
\v 7 And one cherub extended his hand, from the midst of the cherubim, to the fire that was between the cherubim. And he took and gave it into the hands of the one who was clothed with linen, and he accepted it and went forth.
\p
\v 8 ¶ And there appeared amid the cherubim the likeness of the hand of a man, under their wings.
\v 9 And I saw, and behold, there were four wheels beside the cherubim. One wheel was next to one cherub, and another wheel was next to another cherub. And the appearance of the wheels was like the sight of the chrysolite stone.
\v 10 And in their appearance, each one of the four were similar, as if a wheel were in the midst of a wheel.
\v 11 And when they went, they advanced in four parts. And they did not turn as they went. Instead, to the place to which they were inclined to go at first, the rest also followed, and they did not turn back.\f + \fr 10:11 \fk By four ways: \ft That is, by any of the four ways, forward, backward, to the right or to the left.\fl (Challoner)\f*
\v 12 And their entire body, with their necks and their hands and their wings and the circles, were full of eyes all around the four wheels.
\v 13 And in my hearing, he called these wheels: “constantly changing.”\f + \fr 10:13 \fk Voluble: \ft That is, rolling wheels, galgal.\fl (Challoner)\f*
\v 14 Now each one had four faces. One face was the face of a cherub, and the second face was the face of a man, and in the third was the face of a lion, and in the fourth was the face of an eagle.
\v 15 And the cherubim were lifted up. This is the living creature, which I had seen beside the river Chebar.
\v 16 And when the cherubim advanced, the wheels also went beside them. And when the cherubim lifted up their wings in order to be raised up from the earth, the wheels did not remain behind, but they also were beside them.
\v 17 When they were standing, these stood still. And when they were lifted up, these were lifted up. For the spirit of life was in them.
\v 18 And the glory of the Lord went forth from the threshold of the temple, and stood above the cherubim.
\v 19 And the cherubim, lifting up their wings, were raised up from the earth in my sight. And as they went away, the wheels also followed. And it stood at the entrance to the east gate of the house of the Lord. And the glory of the God of Israel was over them.
\v 20 This is the living creature, which I saw under the God of Israel beside the river Chebar. And I understood that they were cherubim.
\v 21 Each one had four faces, and each one had four wings. And the likeness of the hand of a man was under their wings.
\v 22 And, concerning the appearance of their faces, these were the same faces that I had seen beside the river Chebar, and the gaze and force of each one of them was to go before his face.
\c 11
\cl Ezekiel 11
\cd A prophecy against the presumptuous assurance of the great ones. A remnant shall be saved, and receive a new spirit, and a new heart.
\p
\v 1 ¶ And the Spirit lifted me up, and he brought me to the east gate of the house of the Lord, which looks toward the rising of the sun. And behold, at the entrance to the gate were twenty-five men. And I saw, in their midst, Jaazaniah, the son of Azzur, and Pelatiah, the son of Benaiah, leaders of the people.
\v 2 And he said to me: “Son of man, these are men who devise iniquity. And they offer a wicked counsel in this city,
\v 3 saying: ‘Was it so long ago that houses were being built? This city is a cooking pot, and we are the meat.’\f + \fr 11:3 \fk Were not houses lately built, etc: \ft These men despised the predictions and threats of the prophets; who declared to them from God, that the city should be destroyed, and the inhabitants carried into captivity: and they made use of this kind of argument against the prophets, that the city, so far from being like to be destroyed, had lately been augmented by the building of new houses; from whence they further inferred, by way of a proverb, using the similitude of a cauldron, out of which the flesh is not taken, till it is thoroughly boiled, and fit to be eaten, that they should not be carried away out of their city, but there end their days in peace.\fl (Challoner)\f*
\p
\v 4 ¶ Therefore, prophesy against them, prophesy, O son of man.”
\v 5 And the Spirit of the Lord fell upon me, and he said to me: “Speak: Thus says the Lord: So have you spoken, O house of Israel. And I know the thoughts of your heart.
\v 6 You have killed very many in this city, and you have filled its streets with the slain.
\v 7 Because of this, thus says the Lord God: Your slain, whom you have placed in its midst, these are the meat, and this city is the cooking pot. And I will draw you out of its midst.
\v 8 You have dread the sword, and so I will lead the sword over you, says the Lord God.
\v 9 And I will cast you out of its midst, and I will give you over to the hand of the enemies, and I will execute judgments among you.
\v 10 You will fall by the sword. I will judge you within the borders of Israel. And you shall know that I am the Lord.\f + \fr 11:10 \fk In the borders of Israel: \ft They pretended that they should die in peace in Jerusalem; God tells them it should not be so; but that they should be judged and condemned, and fall by the sword in the borders of Israel: viz., in Reblatha in the land of Emath, where all their chief men were put to death by Nabuchodonosor. 4 Kings 25., and Jer. 52.10, 27.\fl (Challoner)\f*
\v 11 This city will not be a cooking pot for you, and you will not be like meat in its midst. I will judge you within the borders of Israel.
\v 12 And you shall know that I am the Lord. For you have not walked in my precepts, and you have not accomplished my judgments. Instead, you have acted in accord with the judgments of the Gentiles, who are all around you.”
\p
\v 13 ¶ And it happened that, when I prophesied, Pelatiah, the son of Benaiah, died. And I fell upon my face, and I cried out with a loud voice, and I said: “Alas, alas, alas, O Lord God! Will you cause the consummation of the remnant of Israel?”
\v 14 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
\v 15 “Son of man, your brothers, the men among your close relatives, your brothers and the entire house of Israel, are all among those to whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said: ‘Withdraw far from the Lord; the earth has been given to us as a possession.’\f + \fr 11:15 \fk Thy brethren, etc: \ft He speaks of them that had been carried away captives before; who were despised by them that remained in Jerusalem: but as the prophet here declares to them from God, should be in a more happy condition than they, and after some time return from their captivity.\fl (Challoner)\f*
\v 16 Because of this, thus says the Lord God: Since I have caused them to be far away, among the Gentiles, and since I have dispersed them among the lands, I will be a little sanctuary for them within the lands to which they have gone.
\v 17 Because of this, say to them: Thus says the Lord God: I will gather you from among the peoples, and I will unite you, from the lands into which you were dispersed, and I will give the soil of Israel to you.
\v 18 And they shall go to that place, and they shall remove all the offenses and all its abominations from that place.
\v 19 And I will give them one heart. And I will distribute a new spirit to their interior. And I will take away the heart of stone from their body. And I will give them a heart of flesh.
\v 20 So may they may walk in my precepts, and observe my judgments, and accomplish them. And so may they be my people, and I will be their God.
\v 21 But as for those whose heart walks after their offenses and abominations, I will set their own way upon their head, says the Lord God.”
\p
\v 22 ¶ And the cherubim lifted up their wings, and the wheels with them. And the glory of the God of Israel was above them.
\v 23 And the glory of the Lord ascended from the midst of the city and stood above the mountain, which is to the east of the city.
\p
\v 24 ¶ And the Spirit lifted me up, and he brought me into Chaldea, to those of the transmigration, in a vision, in the Spirit of God. And the vision that I had seen was raised up, away from me.
\v 25 And I spoke, to those of the transmigration, all the words of the Lord that he had revealed to me.
\c 12
\cl Ezekiel 12
\cd The prophet forsees, by signs, the captivity of Sedecias, and the desolation of the people: all which shall quickly come to pass.
\p
\v 1 ¶ And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
\v 2 “Son of man, you live in the midst of a provoking house. They have eyes to see, and they do not see; and ears to hear, and they do not hear. For they are a provoking house.
\v 3 As for you, then, son of man, prepare for yourself the supplies for traveling far away, and travel away in the daytime in their sight. And you shall travel from your place to another place in their sight, so that perhaps they may consider it. For they are a provoking house.
\v 4 And you shall carry your supplies outside, like the supplies of one who is traveling far away, in the daytime in their sight. Then you shall go forth in the evening in their presence, just as one goes forth who is moving far away.
\v 5 Dig for yourself through the wall, before their eyes. And you shall go out through it.
\v 6 In their sight, you shall be carried on shoulders, you shall be carried in the dark. You shall cover your face, and you shall not see the ground. For I have appointed you as a portent for the house of Israel.”\f + \fr 12:6 \ft When the next Pope flees from Vatican City during the war, he will be carried out through an opening in the wall, on shoulders, in the darkness. Other translations have Ezekiel carrying his baggage, but the Latin clearly and repeatedly says ‘shall be carried’ and ‘being carried’ in the passive tense. Also, if Ezekiel is covering his face so that he cannot see the land, then he could not carry his own baggage, as he would trip and fall. But if he is being carried, then his face can be covered.\fl (Conte)\f*
\v 7 Therefore, I did just as he had instructed me. I brought out my supplies in the daytime, like the supplies of one who is moving far away. And in the evening, I dug myself through the wall by hand. And I went out in the dark, and I was carried on shoulders, in their sight.
\p
\v 8 ¶ And the word of the Lord came to me, in the morning, saying:
\v 9 “Son of man, has not the house of Israel, the provoking house, said to you: ‘What are you doing?’
\v 10 Say to them: Thus says the Lord God: This is the burden concerning my leader who is in Jerusalem, and concerning the entire house of Israel, who are in their midst.
\v 11 Say: I am your portent. Just as I have done, so shall it be done to them. They will be taken captive and moved far away.
\v 12 And the leader who is in their midst will be carried on shoulders; he will go forth in darkness. They will dig through the wall, so that they may lead him away. His face will be covered, so that he may not see the land with his eye.
\v 13 And I will extend my net over him, and he will be captured in my dragnet. And I will lead him to Babylon, into the land of the Chaldeans, but he himself will not see it. And there he shall die.\f + \fr 12:13 \fk He shall not see it: \ft Because his eyes shall be put out by Nabuchodonosor.\fl (Challoner)\f*
\v 14 And all who are around him, his guards and his companies, I will scatter into every wind. And I will unsheathe the sword after them.\f + \fr 12:14 \ft The word agmina (agmen) can refer to a stream, or to a flock or herd, or to troops. What all these things have in common, at which the word is aiming, is that they all go forth in a procession or in an orderly column. The agmina of the Pope, then, would be his faithful flock, those who are following him, who are like his troops or his herd.\fl (Conte)\f*
\v 15 And they shall know that I am the Lord, when I will have dispersed them among the Gentiles, and will have sowed them among the lands.
\v 16 And I will leave behind a few men of them, apart from the sword, and the famine, and the pestilence, so that they may declare all their wicked deeds among the Gentiles, to whom they will go. And they shall know that I am the Lord.”
\p
\v 17 ¶ And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
\v 18 “Son of man, eat your bread in consternation. Moreover, drink your water hurriedly and in sorrow.
\v 19 And say to the people of the land: Thus says the Lord God, to those who are living in Jerusalem, in the land of Israel: They shall eat their bread in anxiety, and drink their water in desolation, so that the land may be desolate before its multitude, because of the iniquity of all who are living in it.
\v 20 And cities that are now inhabited will become desolate, and the land will be forsaken. And you shall know that I am the Lord.”
\p
\v 21 ¶ And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
\v 22 “Son of man, what is this proverb that you have in the land of Israel? saying: ‘The days shall be extended in length, and every vision shall perish.’
\v 23 Therefore, say to them: Thus says the Lord God: I will cause this proverb to cease, and it shall no longer be a common saying in Israel. And tell them that the days are approaching, and the word of every vision.
\v 24 For there shall no longer be any empty visions, nor any ambiguous divination in the midst of the sons of Israel.
\v 25 For I, the Lord, will speak. And whatever word I will speak, it shall be done, and it shall not be delayed any more. Instead, in your days, O provoking house, I will speak a word and do it, says the Lord God.”
\p
\v 26 ¶ And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
\v 27 “Son of man, behold the house of Israel, those who are saying: ‘The visions that this one sees is many days away,’ and, ‘This man prophesies about times that are far away.’
\v 28 Because of this, say to them: Thus says the Lord God: No word of mine will be delayed any longer. The word that I will speak will be fulfilled, says the Lord God.”
\c 13
\cl Ezekiel 13
\cd God declares against false prophets and prophetesses, that deceive the people with lies.
\p
\v 1 ¶ And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
\v 2 “Son of man, prophesy to the prophets of Israel who are prophesying, and you shall say to those who prophesy from their own heart: Hear the word of the Lord:
\v 3 Thus says the Lord God: Woe to the foolish prophets, who are following their own spirit, and who see nothing.
\v 4 Your prophets, O Israel, were like foxes in the deserts.
\v 5 You have not gone up against the adversary, and you have not established a wall for the house of Israel, so as to stand in battle on the day of the Lord.
\v 6 They see emptiness, and they foretell falsehoods, saying, ‘The Lord says,’ though the Lord has not sent them. And they continued to affirm what they said.
\v 7 Have you not seen a futile vision and spoken a lying divination? And yet you say, ‘The Lord says,’ though I have not spoken.
\v 8 Because of this, thus says the Lord God: Since you have spoken emptiness and have seen falsehoods, therefore: behold, I am against you, says the Lord God.
\v 9 And my hand will be over the prophets who are seeing emptiness and divining lies. They shall not be in the council of my people, and they shall not be written in the writing of the house of Israel. Neither shall they enter into the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am the Lord God.
\v 10 For they have deceived my people, saying, ‘Peace,’ and there is no peace. And they have built a wall, but they have covered it in clay without straw.
\v 11 Say to those who spread mortar without mixing, that it will fall apart. For there will be an inundating rain, and I will cause full-grown hailstones to rush down from above, and a windstorm to dissipate it.
\v 12 So then, behold: when the wall has fallen, will it not be said to you: ‘Where is the mortar with which you covered it?’
\v 13 Because of this, thus says the Lord God: And I will cause a violent wind to burst forth in my indignation, and there will be an inundating rain in my fury, and great hailstones in wrath, to consume.
\v 14 And I will destroy the wall that you have covered without tempering it. And I will level it to the ground, and its foundation will be revealed. And it will fall and be consumed in its midst. And you shall know that I am the Lord.
\v 15 And I will fulfill my indignation against the wall, and against those who cover it without mixing the mortar, and I will say to you: The wall is no more, and those who covered it are no more:
\v 16 the prophets of Israel, who prophesy to Jerusalem, and who see visions of peace for her when there is no peace, says the Lord God.
\p
\v 17 ¶ And as for you, son of man, set your face against the daughters of your people, who prophesy from their own heart. And prophesy about them,
\v 18 and say: Thus says the Lord God: Woe to those who sew together little pillows under every forearm, and who make little cushions for the heads of every stage of life, in order to capture souls. And when they have seized the souls of my people, they became the life of their souls.\f + \fr 13:18 \fk Sew cushions, etc: \ft Viz., by making people easy in their sins, and promising them impunity.\fl (Challoner)\f*\f + \fr 13:18 \fk They gave life to their souls: \ft That is, they flattered them with promises of life, peace, and security.\fl (Challoner)\f*
\v 19 And they violated me among my people, for the sake of a handful of barley and a fragment of bread, so that they would kill the souls that should not die, and enliven the souls that should not live, lying to my people who believe in falsehoods.\f + \fr 13:19 \fk Violated me: \ft That is, dishonoured and discredited me.\fl (Challoner)\f*\f + \fr 13:19 \fk To kill souls, etc: \ft That is, to sentence souls to death, which are not to die; and to promise life to them who are not to live.\fl (Challoner)\f*
\v 20 Because of this, thus says the Lord God: Behold, I am against your little pillows, with which you catch flying souls. And I will tear them away from your arms. And I will release the souls that you are capturing, the souls that should fly.
\v 21 And I will tear away your little cushions. And I will free my people from your hand. And they shall no longer be a prey in your hands. And you shall know that I am the Lord.
\v 22 For by deception you have caused the heart of the just to grieve, whom I would not sadden. And I have strengthened the hands of the impious, so that he would not be turned back from his evil way and live.
\v 23 Therefore, you shall not see emptiness, and you shall not divine divinations, any more. And I will rescue my people from your hand. And you shall know that I am the Lord.”
\c 14
\cl Ezekiel 14
\cd God suffers the wicked to be deceived in punishment of their wickedness. The evils that shall come upon them for their sins: for which they shall not be delivered by the prayers of Noe, Daniel, and Job. But a remnant shall be preserved.
\p
\v 1 ¶ And men among the elders of Israel came to me, and they sat down before me.
\v 2 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
\v 3 “Son of man, these men have placed their uncleanness in their hearts, and they have stationed the scandal of their iniquities before their face. So why should I respond when they inquire of me?\f + \fr 14:3 \fk Uncleanness: \ft That is, their filthy idols, upon which they have set their hearts: and which are a stumblingblock to their souls.\fl (Challoner)\f*
\v 4 Because of this, speak to them, and you shall say to them: Thus says the Lord God: The man, the man of the house of Israel, who places his uncleanness in his heart, and who stations the scandal of his iniquities before his face, and who approaches a prophet, so as to inquire of me through him: I, the Lord, will respond to him in accord with the multitude of his uncleannesses,\f + \fr 14:4 \fk Man, man: \ft That is, every man, an Hebrew expression.\fl (Challoner)\f*
\v 5 so that the house of Israel may be seized within their own heart, by which they have withdrawn from me to all their idols.
\p
\v 6 ¶ Because of this, say to the house of Israel: Thus says the Lord God: Be converted, and withdraw from your idols, and turn your faces away from all your abominations.
\v 7 For the man, the man of the house of Israel, and the new arrival among the converts who may be in Israel, if he is alienated from me, and he sets his idols in his heart, and he stations the scandal of his iniquity before his face, and he approaches the prophet, so that he may inquire of me through him: I, the Lord, will respond to him through myself.
\v 8 And I will set my face against that man, and I will make him an example and a proverb. And I will perish him from the midst of my people. And you shall know that I am the Lord.
\v 9 And when a prophet has gone astray and has spoken a word: I, the Lord, have deceived that prophet. And I will extend my hand over him, and I will wipe him away from the midst of my people, Israel.\f + \fr 14:9 \fk The prophet shall err, etc: \ft He speaks of false prophets, answering out of their own heads and according to their own corrupt inclinations.\fl (Challoner)\f*\f + \fr 14:9 \fk I have deceived that prophet: \ft God Almighty deceives false prophets, partly by withdrawing his light from them; and abandoning them to their own corrupt inclinations, which push them on to prophesy such things as are agreeable to those who consult them: and partly by disappointing them, and causing all thing to happen contrary to what they have said.\fl (Challoner)\f*
\v 10 And they shall bear their iniquity. In accord with the iniquity of the one who inquires, so shall the iniquity of the prophet be.
\v 11 So may the house of Israel no longer go astray from me, nor be polluted by all their transgressions. Instead, may they be my people, and may I be their God, says the Lord of hosts.”
\p
\v 12 ¶ And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
\v 13 “Son of man, when a land will have sinned against me, so that it transgresses grievously, I will extend my hand over it, and I will crush the staff of its bread. And I will send a famine upon it, and I will destroy from it both man and beast.
\v 14 And if these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they would deliver their own souls by their justice, says the Lord of hosts.
\p
\v 15 ¶ And if I also lead in very harmful beasts upon the land, so that I devastate it, and it becomes impassable, so that no one may cross through it because of the beasts,
\v 16 if these three men were in it, as I live, says the Lord God, they will deliver neither sons, nor daughters. But only they themselves will be delivered, for the land shall be desolated.
\p
\v 17 ¶ Or if I lead in the sword upon that land, and if I say to the sword, ‘Pass through the land,’ and so I destroy from it both man and beast,
\v 18 and if these three men were in its midst, as I live, says the Lord God, they will deliver neither sons, nor daughters, but only they themselves will be delivered.
\v 19 Then, if I also send the pestilence upon that land, and I pour out my indignation upon it with blood, so that I take away from it both man and beast,
\v 20 and if Noah, and Daniel, and Job were in its midst, as I live, says the Lord God, they will deliver neither son, nor daughter, but they will deliver only their own souls by their justice.
\v 21 For thus says the Lord God: Even though I will send upon Jerusalem my four most grievous judgments, sword and famine and harmful beasts and pestilence, so that I destroy from it both man and beast,
\p
\v 22 ¶ yet still there shall be left within it some who will be saved, who shall lead away their own sons and daughters. Behold, they will enter to you, and you will see their way and their accomplishments. And you shall be consoled concerning the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem, concerning all the things that I have brought to bear upon it.
\v 23 And they shall console you, when you see their ways and their accomplishments. And you shall know that I have not acted to no purpose in all that I have done within it, says the Lord God.”
\c 15
\cl Ezekiel 15
\cd As a vine cut down is fit for nothing but the fire; so it shall be with Jerusalem, for her sins.
\p
\v 1 ¶ And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
\v 2 “Son of man, what can be made from the stalk of a vine, compared to all the plants of the woods that are among the trees of the forests?
\v 3 Can any wood be taken from it, so that it may be made into a work, or formed into a peg so as to hang some kind of vessel upon it?
\v 4 Behold, it is used in the fire as fuel. The fire consumes both its ends; and its middle is reduced to ashes. So how can it be useful for any work?
\v 5 Even when it was whole, it was unsuitable for a work. How much more so, when fire has devoured it and burned it up, will nothing of it be useful?
\p
\v 6 ¶ Therefore, thus says the Lord God: Like the stalk of the vine among the trees of the forests, which I have given to be devoured by fire, so will I deliver the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
\v 7 And I will set my face against them. They will go away from fire, and yet fire will consume them. And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I will have set my face against them,
\v 8 and when I will have made their land impassable and desolate. For they have stood forth as transgressors, says the Lord God.”
\c 16
\cl Ezekiel 16
\cd Under the figure of an unfaithful wife, God upbraids Jerusalem with her ingratitude and manifold disloyalties: but promises mercy by a new covenant.
\p
\v 1 ¶ And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
\v 2 “Son of man, make known to Jerusalem her abominations.\f + \fr 16:2 \fk Make known to Jerusalem: \ft That is, by letters, for the prophet was then in Babylon.\fl (Challoner)\f*
\v 3 And you shall say: Thus says the Lord God to Jerusalem: Your root and your lineage is from the land of Canaan; your father was an Amorite, and your mother was a Cethite.
\v 4 And when you were born, on the day of your nativity, your umbilical cord was not cut, and you were not washed with water for health, nor salted with salt, nor wrapped with cloths.
\v 5 No eye took pity on you, so as to do even one of these things to you, out of compassion for you. Instead, you were cast upon the face of the earth, in the abjection of your soul, on the day when you were born.
\p
\v 6 ¶ But, passing by you, I saw that you were wallowing in your own blood. And I said to you, when you were in your blood: ‘Live.’ I tell you that I said to you, in your blood: ‘Live.’
\v 7 I multiplied you like the seedling of the field. And you were multiplied and became great, and you advanced and arrived at the ornament of a woman. Your breasts rose up, and your hair grew. And you were naked and full of shame.
\v 8 And I passed by you and saw you. And behold, your time was the time of lovers. And I spread my garment over you, and I covered your disgrace. And I swore to you, and I entered into a covenant with you, says the Lord God, and you became mine.
\v 9 And I washed you with water, and I cleansed you of your blood. And I anointed you with oil.
\v 10 And I covered you with embroidery, and I put violet shoes upon you, and I wrapped you in fine linen, and I clothed you with delicate garments.
\v 11 I adorned you with ornaments, and I put bracelets upon your hands and a necklace around your neck.\f + \fr 16:11 \fk I decked you also with ornaments, etc: \ft That is, with spiritual benefits, giving you a law with sacrifices, sacraments, and other holy rites.\fl (Challoner)\f*
\v 12 And I put gold upon your face, and earrings in your ears, and a beautiful crown upon your head.
\v 13 And you were adorned with gold and silver, and you were clothed in fine linen, woven with many colors. You ate fine flour, and honey, and oil. And you became very beautiful. And you advanced to royal power.
\v 14 And your renown went forth among the Gentiles, because of your beauty. For you were perfected by my beauty, which I had placed upon you, says the Lord God.
\p
\v 15 ¶ But, having confidence in your own beauty, you fornicated in your fame. And you presented your fornication to every passer-by, so as to become his.
\v 16 And taking from your garments, you made for yourself exalted things, having sewed together disparate pieces. And you fornicated upon them, in a way that has not been done before, nor will be in the future.\f + \fr 16:16 \ft The phrase ‘hinc inde’ translates roughly as ‘from this and from that.’ In other words, they put together disparate pieces of cloth upon which to fornicate. This figure represents disparate ideas being joined together as the basis for a heresy, or set of heresies, or even a false religion.\fl (Conte)\f*
\v 17 And you took your beautiful items, made of my gold and my silver, which I gave to you, and you made for yourself images of men, and you fornicated with them.
\v 18 And you used your multicolored vestments to cover these things. And you placed my oil and my incense before them.
\v 19 And my bread, which I gave to you, the fine flour, and the oil, and the honey, by which I nourished you, you placed in their sight as a sweet fragrance. And so it was done, says the Lord God.
\v 20 And you took your sons and your daughters, whom you bore for me, and you immolated them to be devoured. Is your fornication a small matter?
\v 21 You have immolated my sons, and you have consecrated and delivered my sons to them.\f + \fr 16:21 \fk You have sacrificed, etc: \ft As there is nothing more base and abominable than the crimes mentioned throughout this chapter; so the infidelities of the Israelites in forsaking God, and sacrificing even their children to idols, are strongly figured by these allegories.\fl (Challoner)\f*
\v 22 And after all your abominations and fornications, you have not remembered the days of your youth, when you were naked and full of shame, wallowing in your own blood.
\p
\v 23 ¶ And it happened that, after all your wickedness, (woe, woe to you, says the Lord God)
\v 24 you built for yourself a brothel, and you made for yourself a place of prostitution in every street.
\v 25 At the head of every way, you set up a banner of your prostitution. And you caused your beauty to become abominable. And you distributed your feet to every passer-by. And you multiplied your fornications.
\v 26 And you fornicated with the sons of Egypt, your neighbors, who have large bodies. And you multiplied your fornications, so as to provoke me.
\v 27 Behold, I will extend my hand over you, and I will take away your justification. And I will give you to the souls of those who hate you, the daughters of the Philistines, who are ashamed of your wicked way.
\v 28 You also fornicated with the sons of the Assyrians, for you were not yet done. And after you fornicated, even then, you were not satisfied.
\v 29 And you multiplied your fornications in the land of Canaan with the Chaldeans. And even then, you were not satisfied.
\p
\v 30 ¶ With what can I cleanse your heart, says the Lord God, since you do all these things, the works of a woman who is a shameless prostitute?
\v 31 For you have built your brothel at the head of every way, and you have made your exalted place on every street. And you have not even been like a choosy prostitute, increasing her price,
\v 32 but instead like a woman who is an adulteress, who prefers strangers to her own husband.
\v 33 Wages are given to all prostitutes. But you have given wages to all your lovers, and you have given gifts to them, so that they would enter to you from every side, in order to fornicate with you.
\v 34 And it is done with you, in your fornications, contrary to the custom of women, and even after you, there will be no such fornication. For in as much as you have given payment, and not taken payment, what has been done in you is the contrary.”\f + \fr 16:34 \ft Israel is comparable to a prostitute. But even worse, Israel does not take payment for its spiritual prostitutions, but instead pays for the same.\fl (Conte)\f*
\p
\v 35 ¶ Because of this, O harlot, listen to the word of the Lord.
\v 36 Thus says the Lord God: “Because your money has been poured out, and your disgrace has been uncovered, in your fornications with your lovers and with the idols of your abominations, in the blood of your sons, whom you gave to them:
\v 37 Behold, I will gather all your lovers, with whom you have united, and all those whom you have loved, together with all those whom you have hated. And I will gather them together against you on every side. And I will uncover your disgrace before them, and they will see all your indecency.
\v 38 And I will judge you with the judgment of adulteresses and of those who shed blood. And I will give you over to blood, in fury and in zeal.
\v 39 And I will deliver you into their hands. And they will destroy your brothel and demolish your place of prostitution. And they will strip you of your vestments. And they will take away the ornaments of your beauty. And they will leave you behind, naked and full of disgrace.
\v 40 And they will lead over you a multitude. And they will stone you with stones, and massacre you with their swords.
\v 41 And they will burn up your houses with fire, and they will carry out judgments against you in the sight of many women. And you will cease from fornication, and no longer give payment.
\v 42 And my indignation will be quieted in you. And my zeal will be taken from you. And I will rest, and no longer be angry.
\v 43 For you have not remembered the days of your youth, and you have provoked me in all these things. Because of this, I also have delivered all your ways upon your head, says the Lord God, but I have not acted in accord with your wickedness in all your abominations.
\p
\v 44 ¶ Behold, all who speak a common proverb will take this up against you, saying: ‘Like the mother, so also is her daughter.’
\v 45 You are your mother’s daughter, for she cast away her husband and her children. And you are the sister of your sisters, for they cast away their husbands and their children. Your mother was a Cethite, and your father was an Amorite.
\v 46 And your older sister is Samaria, she and her daughters are those who live to your left. But your younger sister, who lives to your right, is Sodom and her daughters.
\v 47 But neither have you walked in their ways. For you have done only a little less compared to their wickedness. You have acted almost more wickedly, in all your ways, than they have acted.\f + \fr 16:47 \ft In some ways, on some points of morality, the neighboring cities around Israel have been more wicked, and Israel a little less wicked. But as we learn in subsequent verses, in other ways, Israel has been much more wicked. The greater wickedness of Israel is perhaps due to their greater gifts; of those to whom more is given, more will be expected. Also, since Israel knows the one true God, when Israel commits idolatry, it is a much greater offense, even though the external acts might be a little less wicked.\fl (Conte)\f*
\p
\v 48 ¶ As I live, says the Lord God, your sister Sodom herself, and her daughters, have not done as you and your daughters have done.
\v 49 Behold, this was the iniquity of Sodom, your sister: arrogance, indulgence in bread and abundance, and the idleness of her and her daughters; and they did not reach out their hand to the needy and the poor.\f + \fr 16:49 \fk This was the iniquity of Sodom, etc: \ft That is, these were the steps by which the Sodomites came to fall into those abominations for which they were destroyed. For pride, gluttony, and idleness are the highroad to all kinds of lust; especially when they are accompanied with a neglect of the works of mercy.\fl (Challoner)\f*
\v 50 And they were exalted, and they committed abominations before me. And so I took them away, just as you have seen.
\v 51 But Samaria has not committed even half of your sins. For you have exceeded them in your wickedness, and you have justified your sisters by all your abominations, which you have wrought.
\v 52 Therefore, you also bear your shame, for you have exceeded your sisters with your sins, acting more wickedly than they did. So they have been justified above you. By this also, you are confounded, and you bear your disgrace, for you have justified your sisters.
\v 53 But I will convert and restore them, by converting Sodom with her daughters, and by converting Samaria and her daughters. And I will convert your return in their midst.\f + \fr 16:53 \fk I will bring back, etc: \ft This relates to the conversion of the Gentiles out of all nations, and of many of the Jews, to the church of Christ.\fl (Challoner)\f*
\v 54 So may you bear your disgrace and be confounded over all that you have done, consoling them.
\v 55 And your sister Sodom and her daughters will return to their ancient state. And Samaria and her daughters will return to their ancient state. And you and your daughters will be returned to your ancient state.\f + \fr 16:55 \fk Ancient state: \ft That is, to their former state of liberty, and their ancient possessions. In the spiritual sense, to the true liberty, and the happy inheritance of the children of God, through faith in Christ.\fl (Challoner)\f*
\v 56 Your sister Sodom was not heard from your mouth, then, in the day of your pride,
\v 57 before your malice was revealed, as it is at this time, with the reproach of the daughters of Syria and of all the daughters of Palestine, who surround you, who encircle you on every side.
\v 58 You have borne your wickedness and your disgrace, says the Lord God.”
\v 59 For thus says the Lord God: “I will act toward you, just as you have despised the oath, so that you would make void the covenant.
\p
\v 60 ¶ And I will remember my covenant with you in the days of your youth. And I will raise up for you an everlasting covenant.
\v 61 And you shall remember your ways and be confounded, when you will have received your sisters, your elder with your younger. And I will give them to you as daughters, but not by your covenant.
\v 62 And I will raise up my covenant with you. And you shall know that I am the Lord.
\v 63 So may you remember and be confounded. And it will no longer be for you to open your mouth, because of your shame, when I will have been pacified toward you over all that you have done, says the Lord God.”
\c 17
\cl Ezekiel 17
\cd The parable of the two eagles and the vine. A promise of the cedar of Christ and his church.
\p
\v 1 ¶ And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
\v 2 “Son of man, propose an enigma and describe a parable to the house of Israel,
\v 3 and you shall say: Thus says the Lord God: A large eagle, with great wings and elongated pinions, full of feathers with many colors, came to Lebanon. And he took the kernel of the cedar.\f + \fr 17:3 \fk A large eagle: \ft Nabuchodonosor, king of Babylon.\fl (Challoner)\f*\f + \fr 17:3 \fk Came to Libanus: \ft That is, to Jerusalem.\fl (Challoner)\f*\f + \fr 17:3 \fk Took away the marrow of the cedar: \ft King Jechonias.\fl (Challoner)\f*
\v 4 He tore off the summit of its branches, and he transported it to the land of Canaan; he placed it in a city of merchants.\f + \fr 17:4 \fk Chanaan: \ft This name, which signifies traffic, is not taken here for Palestine, but for Chaldea: and the city of merchants here mentioned is Babylon.\fl (Challoner)\f*
\v 5 And he took from the seed of the land and placed it in the ground for seed, so that it might take firm root above many waters; he placed it at the surface.\f + \fr 17:5 \fk Of the seed of the land, etc: \ft Viz., Sedecias, whom he made king.\fl (Challoner)\f*
\v 6 And when it had germinated, it increased into a more extensive vine, low in height, with its branches facing toward itself. And its roots were underneath it. And so, it became a vine, and sprouted branches, and produced shoots.\f + \fr 17:6 \fk Towards him: \ft Nabuchodonosor, to whom Sedecias swore allegiance.\fl (Challoner)\f*
\v 7 And there was another large eagle, with great wings and many feathers. And behold, this vine seemed to bend its roots towards him, extending its branches toward him, so that he might irrigate it from the garden of its germination.\f + \fr 17:7 \fk Another large eagle: \ft Viz., the king of Egypt.\fl (Challoner)\f*
\v 8 It had been planted in a good land, above many waters, so that it would produce branches and bear fruit, so that it would become a large vine.
\p
\v 9 ¶ Speak: Thus says the Lord God: What if it does not prosper? Should he not pull up its roots, and strip off its fruit, and dry up all the branches that it has produced, and let it wither, though he is without a strong arm and without many people to pull it up by the root?
\v 10 Behold, it has been planted. What if it does not prosper? Should it not be dried up when the burning wind touches it, and should it not wither in the garden of its germination?”
\p
\v 11 ¶ And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
\v 12 “Say to the provoking house: Do you not know what these things signify? Say: Behold, the king of Babylon arrives in Jerusalem. And he will take away its king and princes, and he will lead them away to himself in Babylon.\f + \fr 17:12 \fk Shall take away: \ft Or, has taken away, etc., for all this was now done.\fl (Challoner)\f*
\v 13 And he will take one from the offspring of the king, and he will strike a pact with him and receive an oath from him. Moreover, he will take away the strong ones of the land,
\v 14 so that it may be a lowly kingdom, and may not lift itself up, and may instead keep his pact and serve it.
\v 15 But, withdrawing from him, he sent messengers to Egypt, so that it would give him horses and many people. Should he who has done these things prosper and obtain safety? And should he who has broken the pact go free?
\v 16 As I live, says the Lord God, in the place of the king, who appointed him as king, whose oath he has made void, and whose pact he has broken, under which he was living with him, in the midst of Babylon, he shall die.
\v 17 And not with a great army, nor with many people will Pharaoh undertake a battle against him, when he will cast up ramparts and build defenses, in order to put to death many souls.
\v 18 For he has despised an oath, in that he broke the pact. And behold, he had given his hand. And so, since he has done all these things, he shall not escape.\f + \fr 17:18 \ft He gave his hand in the sense that he swore an oath. This is comparable to the practice today, of raising one’s right hand in order to swear to something.\fl (Conte)\f*
\p
\v 19 ¶ Because of this, thus says the Lord God: As I live, I will place upon his head the oath that he has spurned and the pact that he has betrayed.
\v 20 And I will spread my net over him, and he will be captured in my dragnet. And I will lead him into Babylon, and I will judge him there for the transgression by which he has despised me.
\v 21 And all his fugitives, with all his procession, will fall by the sword. Then the remainder will be scattered into every wind. And you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken.”
\p
\v 22 ¶ Thus says the Lord God: “I myself will take from the kernel of the exalted cedar, and I will establish it. I will tear off a tender twig from the top of its branches, and I will plant it on a mountain, lofty and exalted.\f + \fr 17:22 \fk Of the marrow of the high cedar, etc: \ft Of the royal stock of David.\fl (Challoner)\f*\f + \fr 17:22 \fk A tender twig: \ft Viz., Jesus Christ, whom God has planted in mount Sion, that is, the high mountain of his church, to which all nations flow.\fl (Challoner)\f*
\v 23 On the sublime mountains of Israel, I will plant it. And it shall spring forth in buds and bear fruit, and it shall be a great cedar. And all the birds will live under it, and every bird will make its nest under the shadow of its branches.
\v 24 And all the trees of the regions will know that I, the Lord, have brought low the sublime tree, and have exalted the lowly tree, and have dried up the green tree, and have caused the dry tree to flourish. I, the Lord, have spoken and acted.”
\c 18
\cl Ezekiel 18
\cd One man shall not bear the sins of another, but every one his own; if a wicked man truly repent, he shall be saved; and if a just man leave his justice, he shall perish.
\p
\v 1 ¶ And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
\v 2 “Why is it that you circulate among yourselves this parable, as a proverb in the land of Israel, saying: ‘The fathers ate a bitter grape, and the teeth of the sons have been affected.’
\v 3 As I live, says the Lord God, this parable shall no longer be a proverb for you in Israel.
\v 4 Behold, all souls are mine. Just as the soul of the father is mine, so also is the soul of the son. The soul that sins, the same shall die.
\p
\v 5 ¶ And if a man is just, and he accomplishes judgment and justice,
\v 6 and if he does not eat upon the mountains, nor lift up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, and if he has not violated the wife of his neighbor, nor approached a menstruating woman,\f + \fr 18:6 \fk Not eaten upon the mountains: \ft That is, of the sacrifices there offered to idols.\fl (Challoner)\f*
\v 7 and if he has not grieved any man, but has restored the collateral to the debtor, if he has seized nothing by violence, has given his bread to the hungry, and has covered the naked with a garment,
\v 8 if he has not lent upon usury, nor taken any increase, if he has averted his hand from iniquity, and has executed true judgment between man and man,
\v 9 if he has walked in my precepts and kept my judgments, so that he acts in accord with truth, then he is just; he shall certainly live, says the Lord God.\f + \fr 18:9 \fk To do truth: \ft That is, to act according to truth; for the Hebrews called everything that was just, truth.\fl (Challoner)\f*
\v 10 But if he raises a son who is a robber, who sheds blood, and who does any of these things,
\v 11 (even though he himself does not do any of these things,) and who eats upon the mountains, and who defiles the wife of his neighbor,
\v 12 who grieves the needy and the poor, who seizes with violence, who does not restore the collateral, and who lifts up his eyes to idols, committing abomination,
\v 13 who lends upon usury, and who takes an increase, then shall he live? He shall not live. Since he has done all these detestable things, he shall certainly die. His blood shall be upon him.
\p
\v 14 ¶ But if he raises a son, who, seeing all his father’s sins that he has done, is afraid and so does not act in a way similar to him,
\v 15 who does not eat upon the mountains, nor lift up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, and who does not violate the wife of his neighbor,
\v 16 and who has not grieved any man, nor withheld the collateral, nor seized by violence, but instead has given his bread to the hungry, and has covered the naked with a garment,
\v 17 who has averted his hand from injuring the poor, who has not taken usury and an overabundance, who has acted according to my judgments and walked in my precepts, then this one shall not die for the iniquity of his father; instead, he shall certainly live.
\v 18 As for his father, because he oppressed and did violence to his brother, and worked evil in the midst of his people, behold, he has died by his own iniquity.
\p
\v 19 ¶ And you say, ‘Why has not the son borne the iniquity of the father?’ Clearly, since the son has worked judgment and justice, has observed all my precepts, and has done them, he shall certainly live.
\v 20 The soul that sins, the same shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, and the father shall not bear the iniquity of the son. The justice of the just man shall be upon himself, but the impiety of the impious man shall be upon himself.
\v 21 But if the impious man does penance for all his sins which he has committed, and if he keeps all my precepts, and accomplishes judgment and justice, then he shall certainly live, and he shall not die.
\v 22 I will not remember all his iniquities, which he has worked; by his justice, which he has worked, he shall live.
\v 23 How could it be my will that an impious man should die, says the Lord God, and not that he should be converted from his ways and live?
\p
\v 24 ¶ But if a just man turns himself away from his justice, and does iniquity in accord with all the abominations that the impious man so often does, why should he live? All his justices, which he has accomplished, shall not be remembered. By the transgression, in which he has transgressed, and by his sin, in which he has sinned, by these he shall die.
\p
\v 25 ¶ And you have said, ‘The way of the Lord is not fair.’ Therefore, listen, O house of Israel. How could it be that my way is not fair? And is it not instead your ways that are perverse?
\v 26 For when the just man turns himself away from his justice, and commits iniquity, he shall die by this; by the injustice that he has worked, he shall die.
\v 27 And when the impious man turns himself away from his impiety, which he has done, and accomplishes judgment and justice, he shall cause his own soul to live.
\v 28 For by considering and turning himself away from all his iniquities, which he has worked, he shall certainly live, and he shall not die.
\v 29 And yet the sons of Israel say, ‘The way of the Lord is not fair.’ How could it be that my ways are not fair, O house of Israel? And is it not instead your ways that are perverse?
\v 30 Therefore, O house of Israel, I will judge each one according to his ways, says the Lord God. Be converted, and do penance for all your iniquities, and then iniquity will not be your ruin.
\p
\v 31 ¶ Cast all your transgressions, by which you have transgressed, away from you, and make for yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. And then why should you die, O house of Israel?
\v 32 For I do not desire the death of one who dies, says the Lord God. So return and live.”
\c 19
\cl Ezekiel 19
\cd The parable of the young lions, and of the vineyard that is wasted.
\p
\v 1 ¶ “And as for you, take up a lament over the leaders of Israel,
\v 2 and you shall say: Why did your mother, the lioness, recline among the male lions, and raise her little ones in the midst of young lions?\f + \fr 19:2 \fk Thy mother the lioness: \ft Jerusalem.\fl (Challoner)\f*
\v 3 And she led away one of her little ones, and he became a lion. And he learned to seize prey and to consume men.\f + \fr 19:3 \fk One of her whelps: \ft Viz., Joachaz, alias Sellum.\fl (Challoner)\f*
\v 4 And the Gentiles heard about him, and they seized him, but not without receiving wounds. And they led him away in chains to the land of Egypt.
\v 5 Then, when she had seen that she was weakened, and that her hope had perished, she took one of her little ones, and appointed him as a lion.\f + \fr 19:5 \fk One of her young lions: \ft Joakim.\fl (Challoner)\f*
\v 6 And he advanced among the lions, and he became a lion. And he learned to seize prey and to devour men.
\v 7 He learned to make widows, and to lead their citizens into the desert. And the land, with its plenitude, was made desolate by the voice of his roaring.
\v 8 And the Gentiles came together against him, on every side, from the provinces, and they spread their net over him; by their wounds, he was captured.
\v 9 And they put him into a cage; they led him in chains to the king of Babylon. And they cast him into a prison, so that his voice would no longer be heard upon the mountains of Israel.
\p
\v 10 ¶ Your mother is like a vine, in your blood, planted by the water; her fruit and her branches have increased because of many waters.
\v 11 And her strong branches were made into scepters for the rulers, and her stature was exalted among the branches. And she saw her own loftiness among the multitude of her branches.
\v 12 But she was uprooted in wrath, and cast upon the ground. And the burning wind dried up her fruit. Her robust branches withered and were dried up. A fire consumed her.
\v 13 And now she has been transplanted into the desert, into a land impassable and dry.
\v 14 And a fire has gone forth from a rod of her branches, which has consumed her fruit. And there is no strong branch in her to become a scepter for the rulers. This is a lamentation, and it shall be a lamentation.”
\c 20
\cl Ezekiel 20
\cd God refuses to answer the ancients of Israel inquiring by the prophet: but by him sets his benefits before their eyes, and their heinous sins: threatening yet greater punishments: but still mixed with mercy.
\p
\v 1 ¶ And it happened that, in the seventh year, in the fifth month, on the tenth of the month, men from the elders of Israel arrived, so that they might inquire of the Lord, and they sat before me.
\v 2 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
\v 3 “Son of man, speak to the elders of Israel, and you shall say to them: Thus says the Lord God: Have you arrived in order to inquire of me? As I live, I will not answer you, says the Lord God.
\v 4 If you judge them, if you judge, O son of man, reveal to them the abominations of their fathers.\f + \fr 20:4 \fk If you judge them: \ft Or, if you will enter into the cause and plead against them.\fl (Challoner)\f*
\p
\v 5 ¶ And you shall say to them: Thus says the Lord God: In the day when I chose Israel, and I lifted up my hand on behalf of the stock of the house of Jacob, and I appeared to them in the land of Egypt, and I lifted up my hand on their behalf, saying, ‘I am the Lord your God,’
\v 6 in that day, I lifted up my hand for their sake, so that I would lead them away from the land of Egypt, into a land which I had provided for them, flowing with milk and honey, which was singular among all lands.
\v 7 And I said to them: ‘Let each one cast away the offenses of his eyes, and do not choose to defile yourselves with the idols of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.’\f + \fr 20:7 \fk Scandals, etc: \ft Offensiones. That is, the abominations or idols, to the worship of which they were allured by their eyes.\fl (Challoner)\f*
\v 8 But they provoked me, and they were not willing to listen to me. Each one of them did not cast away the abominations of his eyes, nor did they leave behind the idols of Egypt. And so, I said that I would pour out my indignation upon them, and fulfill my wrath against them, in the midst of the land of Egypt.
\v 9 But I acted for the sake of my name, so that it would not be violated in the sight of the Gentiles, in the midst of whom they were, and among whom I appeared to them, so that I might lead them away from the land of Egypt.
\p
\v 10 ¶ Therefore, I cast them out of the land of Egypt, and I led them away into the desert.
\v 11 And I gave them my precepts, and I revealed to them my judgments, which, if a man does them, he shall live by them.
\v 12 Moreover, I also gave to them my Sabbaths, so that these would be a sign between me and them, and so that they would know that I am the Lord, who sanctifies them.
\v 13 But the house of Israel provoked me in the desert. They did not walk in my precepts, and they cast aside my judgments, which, if a man does them, he shall live by them. And they grievously violated my Sabbaths. Therefore, I said that I would pour out my fury upon them in the desert, and that I would consume them.
\v 14 But I acted for the sake of my name, lest it be violated before the Gentiles, from whom I cast them out, in their sight.
\v 15 And so I lifted up my hand over them in the desert, so as not to lead them into the land that I had given to them, flowing with milk and honey, the foremost of all lands.
\v 16 For they cast aside my judgments, and they did not walk in my precepts, and they violated my Sabbaths. For their heart went after idols.
\v 17 Yet my eye was lenient concerning them, so that I did not utterly destroy them, nor did I consume them in the desert.
\v 18 Then I said to their sons in the wilderness: ‘Do not choose to advance by the precepts of your fathers, nor should you observe their judgments. And do not be defiled by their idols.
\v 19 I am the Lord your God. Walk in my precepts, and observe my judgments, and accomplish them.
\v 20 And sanctify my Sabbaths, so that these may be a sign between me and you, and so that you may know that I am the Lord your God.’
\p
\v 21 ¶ But their sons provoked me. They did not walk in my precepts. And they did not observe my judgments, so as to do them; for if a man does them, he shall live by them. And they violated my Sabbaths. And so, I threatened that I would pour out my fury upon them, and that I would fulfill my wrath among them in the desert.
\v 22 But I turned aside my hand, and I acted for the sake of my name, so that it would not be violated before the Gentiles, from whom I cast them out, before their eyes.
\v 23 Again, I lifted up my hand against them, in the wilderness, so that I would disperse them among the nations, and scatter them among the lands.
\v 24 For they had not accomplished my judgments, and they had rejected my precepts, and they had violated my Sabbaths. And their eyes had been after the idols of their fathers.
\v 25 Therefore, I also gave them precepts that were not good, and judgments by which they shall not live.\f + \fr 20:25 \fk Statutes that were not good, etc: \ft Viz., the laws and ordinances of their enemies; or those imposes upon them by that cruel tyrant the devil, to whose power they were delivered up for their sins.\fl (Challoner)\f*
\v 26 And I defiled them by their own gifts, when they offered everything that opened the womb, because of their offenses. And they shall know that I am the Lord.\f + \fr 20:26 \fk I polluted them, etc: \ft That is, I gave them up to such blindness in punishment of their offences, as to pollute themselves with the blood of all their firstborn, whom they offered up to their idols in compliance with their wicked devices.\fl (Challoner)\f*
\p
\v 27 ¶ For this reason, son of man, speak to the house of Israel, and you shall say to them: Thus says the Lord God. Yet also in this did your fathers blaspheme me, after they had spurned and despised me,
\v 28 though I had led them into the land, about which I lifted up my hand, so that I might give it to them: They saw every lofty hill and every leafy tree, and there they immolated their victims, and there they presented the provocation of their oblations, and there they stationed their sweet fragrances, and poured out their libations.
\v 29 And I said to them, ‘What is exalted about the place to which you go?’ And yet its name is called ‘Exalted,’ even to this day.
\v 30 Because of this, say to the house of Israel: Thus says the Lord God: Certainly, you are defiled by the way of your fathers, and you have fornicated after their stumbling blocks.
\v 31 And you are being defiled by all of your idols, even to this day, by the oblation of your gifts, when you lead your sons through the fire. And should I respond to you, O house of Israel? As I live, says the Lord God, I will not answer you.
\v 32 And the plan of your mind will not occur, saying: ‘We will be like the Gentiles, and like the families of the earth, so that we worship what is wood and stone.’
\p
\v 33 ¶ As I live, says the Lord God, I will reign over you with a strong hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with fury poured forth.
\v 34 And I will lead you away from the peoples. And I will gather you from the lands into which you were dispersed. I will reign over you with a powerful hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with fury poured out.
\v 35 And I will lead you into the desert of the peoples, and there I will enter into judgment with you, face to face.\f + \fr 20:35 \fk The wilderness of people: \ft That is, a desert in which there are no people.\fl (Challoner)\f*
\v 36 Just as I contended in judgment against your fathers in the desert of the land of Egypt, so also will I enter into judgment with you, says the Lord God.
\v 37 And I will subject you to my scepter, and I will lead you into the bonds of the covenant.
\v 38 And I will select, from among you, the transgressors and the impious. And I will lead them away from the land of their sojourn, but they shall not enter into the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am the Lord.
\v 39 And as for you, house of Israel: thus says the Lord God: Walk, each one of you, after your idols and serve them. But if in this also you will not listen to me, and you continue to defile my holy name with your gifts and with your idols,\f + \fr 20:39 \fk Walk ye every one, etc: \ft It is not an allowance, much less a commandment to serve idols; but a figure of speech, by which God would have them to understand that if they would walk after their idols, they must not pretend to serve him at the same time: for that he would by no means suffer such a mixture of worship.\fl (Challoner)\f*
\v 40 on my holy mountain, on the exalted mountain of Israel, says the Lord God, there all the house of Israel shall serve me; all of them, I say, in the land in which they shall please me, and there I will require your first-fruits, and the foremost of your tithes, with all your sanctifications.\f + \fr 20:40 \fk In my holy mountain, etc: \ft The foregoing verse, to make the sense complete, must be understood so as to condemn and reject that mixture of worship which the Jews then followed. In this verse, God promises to the true Israelites, especially to those of the Christian church, that they shall serve him in another manner, in his holy mountain, the spiritual Sion: and shall by accepted of by him.\fl (Challoner)\f*
\v 41 I will receive from you a fragrance of sweetness, when I will have led you away from the peoples, and gathered you from the lands into which you were dispersed. And I will be sanctified in you before the eyes of the nations.
\v 42 And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I will have led you into the land of Israel, into the land about which I lifted up my hand, so that I would give it to your fathers.
\v 43 And there you shall remember your ways and all your wickedness, by which you have been defiled. And you will be displeased with yourselves in your own sight, over all your evil deeds which you did.
\v 44 And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I will have acted well toward you for the sake of my name, and not according to your evil ways, nor according to your very great wickedness, O house of Israel, says the Lord God.”
\p
\v 45 ¶ And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
\v 46 “Son of man, set your face against the way of the south, and pour in drops toward Africa, and prophesy against the forest of the field of the meridian.\f + \fr 20:46 \fk Of the south: \ft Jerusalem lay towards the south of Babylon, (where the prophet then was,) and is here called the forest of the south field, and is threatened with utter desolation.\fl (Challoner)\f*
\v 47 And you shall say to the meridian forest: Listen to the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will kindle a fire in you, and I will burn up within you every green tree and every dry tree. The flame of the kindling will not be extinguished. And every face will be burned up within it, from the south, even to the north.
\v 48 And all flesh will see that I, the Lord, have kindled it, and that it will not be extinguished.”
\v 49 And I said: “Alas, alas, alas, O Lord God! They are saying about me: ‘Does this man not speak except through parables?’ ”
\c 21
\cl Ezekiel 21
\cd The destruction of Jerusalem by the sword is further described: the ruin also of the Ammonites is fortold. And finally Babylon, the destroyer of others, shall be destroyed.
\p
\v 1 ¶ And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
\v 2 “Son of man, set your face toward Jerusalem, and pour in drops toward the sanctuaries, and prophesy against the soil of Israel.
\v 3 And you shall say to the land of Israel: Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I am against you, and I will cast my sword from its sheath, and I will slay the just and the impious among you.\f + \fr 21:3 \ft The word ‘occidam’ refers to killing, not merely to cutting.\fl (Conte)\f*
\v 4 But in as much as I have slain among you the just and the impious, for this reason my sword will go forth from its sheath against all flesh, from the south even to the north.
\v 5 So may all flesh know that I, the Lord, have led my sword out of its sheath irrevocably.
\v 6 And as for you, son of man, groan in the breaking of your back, and groan in bitterness before them.
\v 7 And when they will say to you, ‘Why are you groaning?’ you shall say: ‘On behalf of the report, for it is approaching. And every heart will waste away, and every hand will be broken, and every spirit will be weakened, and water will flow across every knee.’ Behold, it is approaching and it will happen, says the Lord God.”
\p
\v 8 ¶ And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
\v 9 “Son of man, prophesy, and you shall say: Thus says the Lord God: Speak: The sword! The sword has been sharpened and polished!
\v 10 It has been sharpened, so that it may cut down victims! It has been polished, so that it may shine! You are disturbing the scepter of my son. You have cut down every tree.\f + \fr 21:10 \fk You remove the sceptre of my son: \ft He speaks (according to St. Jerome) to the sword of Nabuchodonosor: which was about to remove the sceptre of Israel, whom God here calls his son.\fl (Challoner)\f*
\v 11 And I have sent it to be made smooth, so that it may be handled. This sword has been sharpened, and it has been polished, so that it may be in the hand of the one who kills.
\p
\v 12 ¶ Cry out and wail, O son of man! For this has been done among my people, this is among all the leaders of Israel, who have fled. They have been handed over to the sword, with my people. Therefore, slap your thigh,
\v 13 for it has been tested. And this one, when he will have overthrown the scepter, will not be, says the Lord God.
\v 14 You therefore, O son of man, prophesy, and strike hand against hand, and let the sword be doubled, and let the sword of the slain be tripled. This is the sword of the great slaughter, which causes them to be utterly stupefied,
\v 15 and to waste away in heart, and which multiplies ruin. At all their gates, I have presented the consternation of the sword, which has been sharpened and polished so as to shine, which has been dressed for the slaughter.
\v 16 Be sharpened! Go to the right or to the left, whichever way is the desire of your face.
\v 17 And then I will clap hand against hand, and I will fulfill my indignation. I, the Lord, have spoken.”
\p
\v 18 ¶ And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
\v 19 “And as for you, son of man, set for yourself two ways, so that the sword of the king of Babylon may approach. Both shall go forth from one land. And with a hand, he will grasp and cast lots; he will cast at the head of the way of the community.
\v 20 You shall appoint a way, so that the sword may approach to Rabbah of the sons of Ammon, or to Judah, into Jerusalem, greatly fortified.
\v 21 For the king of Babylon stood at the fork, at the head of the two ways, seeking divination, shuffling arrows; he inquired of idols, and he consulted entrails.
\v 22 To his right was set the divination over Jerusalem, to place battering rams so as to open a mouth for the slaughter, to lift up the voice of wailing, to place battering rams opposite the gates, to cast up a rampart, to build fortifications.
\v 23 And he shall be, in their eyes, like someone consulting an oracle in vain, or imitating the leisure of Sabbaths. But he will call to mind iniquities, so that it will be captured.
\v 24 Therefore, thus says the Lord God: Because you have been remembered in your iniquities, and you have revealed your betrayals, and your sins have appeared within all your plans, because, I say, you have been remembered, you will be captured by a hand.
\v 25 But as for you, O impious leader of Israel, whose day has arrived that was predetermined at the time of iniquity:\f + \fr 21:25 \fk You profane, etc: \ft He speaks to king Sedecias, who had broken his oath, and was otherwise a wicked prince.\fl (Challoner)\f*
\v 26 Thus says the Lord God: Take away the diadem, remove the crown. Is this not what has exalted the lowly one, and brought low the sublime one?\f + \fr 21:26 \fk Is it not this that has exalted the low one: \ft The royal crown of Juda had exalted Sedecias from a private state and condition to the sovereign power, as the loss of it had brought down Jechonias, etc.\fl (Challoner)\f*
\v 27 Iniquity, iniquity, iniquity I will make it. And this was not done until the one arrived to whom judgment belongs, and I will hand it over to him.\f + \fr 21:27 \fk I will show it to be iniquity, etc: \ft Or, I will overturn it, viz., the crown of Juda for the manifold iniquities of the kings: but it shall not be utterly removed, till Christ come whose right it is: and who shall reign in the spiritual house of Jacob, that is, in his church, for evermore.\fl (Challoner)\f*
\v 28 And as for you, son of man, prophesy, and say: Thus says the Lord God to the sons of Ammon, and to their disgrace, and you shall say: O sword, O sword, unsheathe yourself so as to slay; polish yourself so as to kill and to shine,\f + \fr 21:28 \fk Concerning their reproach: \ft By which they had reproached and insulted over the Jews, at the time of the destruction of Jerusalem.\fl (Challoner)\f*
\v 29 while they look upon you in vain, and they divine lies, so that you may be given over to the necks of the wounded impious, whose day has arrived that was predetermined at the time of iniquity.
\v 30 Be returned to your sheath! I will judge you in the place where you were created, in the land of your nativity.\f + \fr 21:30 \fk Return into thy sheath, etc: \ft The sword of Babylon, after raging against many nations, was shortly to be judged and destroyed at home by the Medes and Persians.\fl (Challoner)\f*
\v 31 And I will pour out upon you my indignation. In the fire of my fury, I will fan you, and I will give you over to the hands of cruel men, who have devised destruction.
\v 32 You will be food for the fire; your blood will be in the midst of the land; you will be delivered to oblivion. For I, the Lord, have spoken.”
\c 22
\cl Ezekiel 22
\cd The general corruption of the inhabitants of Jerusalem: for which God will consume them as dross in his furnace.
\p
\v 1 ¶ And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
\v 2 “And you, son of man, should you not judge, should you not judge the city of blood?
\v 3 And you shall reveal to her all her abominations. And you shall say: Thus says the Lord God: This is the city which sheds blood in her midst, so that her time may come, and which has made idols against herself, so that she may be defiled.
\v 4 You have offended by your blood, which you shed from yourself. And you have been defiled by your idols which you yourself made. And you have caused your days to approach, and you have brought on the time of your years. Because of this, I have made you a disgrace to the Gentiles, and a derision to all the lands.
\v 5 Those that are near and those that are far from you will triumph over you. You are filthy, infamous, great in destruction.
\v 6 Behold, the leaders of Israel have each used his arm to shed blood within you.
\v 7 They have abused father and mother within you. The new arrival has been oppressed in your midst. They have grieved the orphan and the widow among you.
\v 8 You have spurned my sanctuaries, and you have defiled my Sabbaths.
\v 9 Maligning men were within you, in order to shed blood, and they have eaten upon the mountains within you. They have worked wickedness in your midst.
\v 10 They have uncovered the nakedness of their father within you. They have debased the uncleanness of the menstruous woman within you.
\v 11 And each one has committed abomination with the wife of his neighbor. And the father-in-law has heinously defiled his daughter-in-law. The brother has oppressed his sister, the daughter of his father, within you.
\v 12 They have accepted bribes among you to shed blood. You have received usury and superabundance, and in avarice you have oppressed your neighbors. And you have forgotten me, says the Lord God.
\p
\v 13 ¶ Behold, I have clapped my hands over your avarice, which you have worked, and over the blood that has been shed in your midst.
\v 14 How can your heart endure, or your hands prevail, in the days that I will bring upon you? I, the Lord, have spoken, and I will act.
\v 15 And I will disperse you among the nations, and I will scatter you among the lands, and I will cause your uncleanness to fade away from you.
\v 16 And I will possess you in the sight of the Gentiles. And you shall know that I am the Lord.”
\v 17 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
\v 18 “Son of man, the house of Israel has become like dross to me. All these are brass, and tin, and iron, and lead in the midst of the furnace; they have become like the dross of silver.
\v 19 Because of this, thus says the Lord God: Since you have all turned into dross, therefore, behold, I will gather you together in the midst of Jerusalem,
\v 20 just as they gather silver, and brass, and tin, and iron, and lead in the midst of the furnace, so that I may kindle in it a fire to melt it. So will I gather you together in my fury and in my wrath, and I will be quieted, and I will melt you down.
\v 21 And I will gather you together, and I will burn you in the fire of my fury, and you will be melted in its midst.
\p
\v 22 ¶ Just as silver is melted in the midst of the furnace, so will you be in its midst. And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I will have poured out my indignation upon you.”
\v 23 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
\v 24 “Son of man, say to her: You are a land unclean and not rained upon, in the day of fury.
\v 25 There is a conspiracy of prophets in her midst. Like a lion, roaring and seizing the prey, they have devoured souls. They have taken riches and a price. They have multiplied widows in her midst.
\v 26 Her priests have despised my law, and they have defiled my sanctuaries. They have held no distinction between holy and profane. And they have not understood the difference between defiled and clean. And they have averted their eyes from my Sabbaths. And I was profaned in their midst.
\v 27 Her leaders in her midst are like wolves seizing the prey: to shed blood, and to perish souls, and to continually pursue profit with avarice.
\v 28 And her prophets have covered them without tempering the mortar, seeing emptiness, and divining lies for them, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord God,’ when the Lord has not spoken.
\v 29 The people of the land have oppressed with slander and have seized with violence. They have afflicted the needy and the poor, and they have oppressed the new arrival by accusations without judgment.
\v 30 And I sought among them for a man who might set up a hedge, and stand in the gap before me on behalf of the land, so that I might not destroy it; and I found no one.
\v 31 And so I poured out my indignation upon them; in the fire of my wrath I consumed them. I have rendered their own way upon their head, says the Lord God.”
\c 23
\cl Ezekiel 23
\cd Under the names of the two harlots, Oolla and Ooliba, are described the manifold disloyalties of Samaria and Jerusalem, with the punishment of them both.
\p
\v 1 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
\v 2 “Son of man, two women were daughters of one mother,
\v 3 and they fornicated in Egypt; they committed fornication in their youth. In that place, their breasts were conquered; the breasts of their adolescence were subdued.\f + \fr 23:3 \ft This verse is about cities and nations and peoples, using a figure of two women who committed fornication; therefore, the translation uses conquered and subdued, putting the meaning of the verse above its figure. Notice that the verb in the Latin is in the passive tense; this speaks to the difference between men and women in sexuality.\fl (Conte)\f*\f + \fr 23:3 \fk Committed fornication: \ft That is, idolatry.\fl (Challoner)\f*
\v 4 Now their names were Oholah, the elder, and Oholibah, her younger sister. And I held them, and they bore sons and daughters. As for their names: Oholah is Samaria, and Oholibah is Jerusalem.\f + \fr 23:4 \fk Oolla and Ooliba: \ft God calls the kingdom of Israel Oolla, which signifies their own habitation, because they separated themselves from his temple: and the kingdom of Juda, Ooliba, which signifies his habitation in her, because of his temple among them in Jerusalem.\fl (Challoner)\f*
\v 5 And then, Oholah committed fornication against me, and she acted madly with her lovers, with the Assyrians who approached her,\f + \fr 23:5 \fk On the Assyraians, etc: \ft That is, the idols of the Assyrians: for all that is said in this chapter of the fornications of Israel and Juda, is to be understood in a spiritual sense, of their disloyalty to the Lord, by worshipping strange gods.\fl (Challoner)\f*
\v 6 who were clothed with hyacinth: rulers and magistrates, passionate youths and all of the horsemen, mounted on horses.
\v 7 And she distributed her fornications to those chosen men, all of them sons of the Assyrians. And she defiled herself with the uncleanness of all those whom she madly desired.
\v 8 Moreover, she also did not abandon her fornications, which she had done in Egypt. For they also slept with her in her youth, and they bruised the breasts of her virginity, and they poured out their fornication upon her.
\p
\v 9 Because of this, I have delivered her into the hands of her lovers, into the hands of the sons of the Assur, whom she has lustfully desired.\f + \fr 23:9 \ft Assur was a false god of the Assyrians, and is also a figure of the Antichrist, a false god from the region of Assyria.\fl (Conte)\f*
\v 10 They uncovered her shame; they took away her sons and daughters; and they slew her with the sword. And they became infamous women. And they carried out judgments in her.
\p
\v 11 And when her sister, Oholibah, had seen this, she was even more mad with lust than the other. And her fornication was beyond the fornication of her sister.
\v 12 She shamelessly offered herself to the sons of the Assyrians, to the rulers and magistrates who brought themselves to her clothed with colorful garments, to the horsemen who were carried by horses, and to the youths, all of them exceptional in appearance.
\v 13 And I saw that she had been defiled, and that they both took the same path.
\v 14 And she increased her fornications. And when she had seen men depicted on the wall, the images of the Chaldeans, expressed in colors,
\v 15 with belts wrapped around the waist, and with dyed headdresses on their heads, having seen the appearance of all the rulers, the likenesses of the sons of Babylon and of the land of the Chaldeans in which they were born,
\v 16 she became mad for them with the desire of her eyes, and she sent messengers to them in Chaldea.
\v 17 And when the sons of Babylon had gone to her, to the bed of breasts, they defiled her with their fornications, and she was polluted by them, and her soul was gorged by them.
\v 18 Also, her fornications were uncovered, and her shame was revealed. And my soul withdrew from her, as my soul had withdrawn from her sister.
\v 19 For she multiplied her fornications, remembering the days of her youth, in which she fornicated in the land of Egypt.
\v 20 And she was mad with lust after lying with them, whose flesh is like the flesh of donkeys, and whose flow is like the flow of horses.\f + \fr 23:20 \ft Notice the poetic elements in the Latin phrasing: ‘quorum carnes’ versus ‘carnes asinorum’ and also ‘fluxus equorum’ versus ‘fluxus eorum.’\fl (Conte)\f*
\p
\v 21 And you have revisited the crimes of your youth, when your breasts were conquered in Egypt, and the breasts of your adolescence were subdued.
\v 22 Because of this, Oholibah, thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will raise up against you all of your lovers, with whom your soul has been gorged. And I will gather them together against you all around:
\v 23 the sons of Babylon, and all the Chaldeans, the nobles, the sovereigns and princes, all the sons of the Assyrians, youths of exceptional form, all the rulers and magistrates, the leaders among leaders, and the renowned riders of horses.
\v 24 And they will overwhelm you, well-equipped with chariot and wheel, a multitude of peoples. They will be armed against you on every side with armor and shield and helmet. And I will give judgment to their eyes, and they will judge you with their judgments.
\v 25 And against you, I will set my zeal, which they will execute upon you with fury. They will cut off your nose and your ears. And what remains will fall by the sword. They will seize your sons and your daughters, and your youngest will be devoured by fire.
\v 26 And they will strip you of your vestments, and take away the articles of your glory.
\v 27 And I will cause your wickedness to cease from you, and your fornication to cease from the land of Egypt. Neither shall you lift up your eyes toward them, and you shall no longer remember Egypt.
\v 28 For thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will deliver you into the hands of those whom you have hated, into the hands by which your soul has been gorged.
\v 29 And they will act toward you with hatred, and they will take away all your labors, and they will send you away naked and filled with disgrace. And the shame of your fornication will be revealed: your crimes and your fornications.
\v 30 They have done these things to you, because you have fornicated after the Gentiles, among whom you were defiled by their idols.
\v 31 You have walked in the way of your sister, and so I will give her chalice into your hand.
\p
\v 32 Thus says the Lord God: You will drink the chalice of your sister, deep and wide. You will be held in derision and in ridicule, to a very great extent.
\v 33 You will be filled with inebriation and sorrow, by the chalice of grief and sadness, by the chalice of your sister Samaria.
\v 34 And you will drink it, and you will empty it, even to the dregs. And you will consume even its particles. And you will wound your own breasts. For I have spoken, says the Lord God.
\v 35 Because of this, thus says the Lord God: Since you have forgotten me, and you have cast me behind your body, so also will you bear your wickedness and your fornications.”
\p
\v 36 And the Lord spoke to me, saying: “Son of man, should you not judge Oholah and Oholibah, and announce to them their crimes?
\v 37 For they are adulteresses, and blood is in their hands, and they have fornicated with their idols. Moreover, they have offered even their children, whom they bore for me, to them to be devoured.
\v 38 But they have done even this to me: They have defiled my sanctuary on the same day, and they have profaned my Sabbaths.
\v 39 And when they immolated their children to their idols, they also entered my sanctuary on the same day, so that they defiled it. They have done these things, even in the midst of my house.
\p
\v 40 They sent for men who were coming from far away, to whom they had sent a messenger. And so, behold, they arrived, those for whom you washed yourself, and smeared cosmetics around your eyes, and were adorned with feminine ornaments.
\v 41 You sat upon a very beautiful bed, and a table was adorned before you, on which you placed my incense and my ointment.
\v 42 And the voice of a multitude was exulting within her. And concerning certain men, who were being led out of a multitude of persons, and who were arriving from the desert, they placed bracelets on their hands and beautiful crowns on their heads.
\v 43 And I said about her, as she was being worn away by her adulteries, ‘Even now, she continues in her fornication!’
\v 44 And they entered to her, as if to a kept woman. So did they enter to Oholah and Oholibah, nefarious women.
\v 45 But there are just men; these shall judge them with the judgment of adulteresses and with the judgment of those who shed blood. For they are adulteresses, and blood is on their hands.
\p
\v 46 For thus says the Lord God: Lead upon them a multitude, and hand them over to tumult and to pillaging.
\v 47 And may they be stoned with the stones of the peoples, and may they be pierced with their own swords. They will put to death their sons and daughters, and they will burn their houses with fire.
\v 48 And I will take away wickedness from the land. And all women shall learn not to act according to their wickedness.
\v 49 And they will set your own crimes upon you, and you will bear the sins of your idols. And you shall know that I am the Lord God.”
\c 24
\cl Ezekiel 24
\cd Under the parable of a boiling pot is shown the utter destruction of Jerusalem: for which the Jews at Babylon shall not dare to mourn.
\p
\v 1 ¶ And the word of the Lord came to me, in the ninth year, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, saying:
\v 2 “Son of man, write for yourself the name of this day, on which the king of Babylon was confirmed against Jerusalem today.
\v 3 And you shall speak, through a proverb, a parable to the inciting house. And you shall say to them: Thus says the Lord God: Set out a cooking pot; set it out, I say, and put water into it.
\v 4 Pile together within it every morsel, every good piece, the thigh and the shoulder, the choice pieces and those full of bones.
\v 5 Take the fattest from the flock, and arrange also a heap of bones under it. Its cooking has boiled over, and its bones in its midst have been thoroughly cooked.
\p
\v 6 ¶ Because of this, thus says the Lord God: Woe to the city of blood, to the cooking pot that has rust in it, and whose rust has not gone out of it! Cast it out piece by piece! No lot has fallen upon it.
\v 7 For her blood is in her midst; she has shed it upon the smoothest rock. She has not shed it upon the ground, so that it could be covered with dust.
\v 8 So shall I bring my indignation over her, and take my vengeance. I have presented her blood upon the smoothest rock, so that it would not be covered.
\v 9 Because of this, thus says the Lord God: Woe to the city of blood, out of which I will make a great funeral pyre.
\v 10 Pile together the bones, which I will burn with fire. The flesh shall be consumed, and the entire composition shall be boiled, and the bones shall deteriorate.
\v 11 Also, place it empty on burning coals, so that it may be heated, and its brass may melt. And let the filth of it be melted in its midst, and let its rust be consumed.
\v 12 There has been much sweat and labor, and yet its extensive rust has not gone out of it, not even by fire.
\v 13 Your uncleanness is execrable. For I wanted to cleanse you, and you have not been cleansed from your filth. So then, neither will you be cleansed before I cause my indignation over you to cease.
\v 14 I, the Lord, have spoken. It shall happen, and I will act. I will not pass over, nor be lenient, nor be placated. I will judge you according to your ways and according to your intentions, says the Lord.”
\p
\v 15 ¶ And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
\v 16 “Son of man, behold, I am taking away from you, with a stroke, the desire of your eyes. And you shall not lament, and you shall not weep. And your tears shall not flow down.
\v 17 Groan silently; you shall make no mourning for the dead. Let the band of your crown be on you, and let your shoes be on your feet. And you shall not cover your face, nor shall you eat the food of those who mourn.”
\v 18 Therefore, I spoke to the people in the morning. And my wife died in the evening. And in the morning, I did just as he had instructed me.
\p
\v 19 ¶ And the people said to me: “Why won’t you explain to us what these things signify, which you are doing?”
\v 20 And I said to them: “The word of the Lord came to me, saying:
\v 21 ‘Speak to the house of Israel: Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will defile my sanctuary, the pride of your realm, and the desire of your eyes, and the dread of your soul. Your sons and your daughters, whom you have forsaken, will fall by the sword.’
\v 22 And so, you shall do just as I have done. You shall not cover your faces, and you shall not eat the food of those who mourn.
\v 23 You shall have crowns on your heads, and shoes on your feet. You shall not lament, and you shall not weep. Instead, you will waste away in your iniquities, and each one will groan to his brother.
\v 24 ‘And Ezekiel shall be a portent for you. In accord with all that he has done, so shall you do, when this will happen. And you shall know that I am the Lord God.’ ”
\v 25 “And as for you, son of man, behold, in the day when I will take away from them their strength, and the joy of their dignity, and the desire of their eyes, in which their souls find rest: their sons and their daughters,
\v 26 in that day, when one who is fleeing will come to you, so that he may report to you,
\v 27 in that day, I say, your mouth shall be opened to him who has fled. And you shall speak, and you shall no longer be silent. And you shall be for them a portent. And you shall know that I am the Lord.”
\c 25
\cl Ezekiel 25
\cd A prophecy against the Ammonites, Moabites, Edomites, and Philistines, for their malice against the Israelites.
\p
\v 1 ¶ And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
\v 2 “Son of man, set your face against the sons of Ammon, and you shall prophesy about them.
\v 3 And you shall say to the sons of Ammon: Listen to the word of the Lord God: Thus says the Lord God: Because you have said, ‘Well, well!’ over my sanctuary, when it was profaned, and over the land of Israel, when it was desolated, and over the house of Judah, when they were led into captivity,
\v 4 therefore, I will deliver you to the sons of the East, as an inheritance. And they will arrange their fences within you, and they will place their tents within you. They will eat your crops, and they will drink your milk.
\v 5 And I will make Rabbah into the habitation of camels, and the sons of Ammon into the resting place of cattle. And you shall know that I am the Lord.\f + \fr 25:5 \fk Rabbath: \ft The capital city of the Ammonites: it was afterwards called Philadelphia.\fl (Challoner)\f*
\v 6 For thus says the Lord God: Because you have clapped your hands and stomped your foot, and have rejoiced with all your heart against the land of Israel,
\v 7 therefore, behold, I will extend my hand over you, and I will deliver you as a spoil of the Gentiles. And I will destroy you from the peoples, and I will perish you from the lands, and I will crush you. And you shall know that I am the Lord.
\p
\v 8 ¶ Thus says the Lord God: Because Moab and Seir have said, ‘Behold, the house of Judah is like all the Gentiles!’
\v 9 therefore, behold, I will open the shoulder of Moab from the cities, from his cities, I say, and from his borders, the famous cities of the land of Beth-Jesimoth, and Baal-meon, and Kiriathaim,
\v 10 with the sons of Ammon, to the sons of the East, and I will give it to them as an inheritance, so that there may no longer be a remembrance of the sons of Ammon among the Gentiles.
\v 11 And I will execute judgments in Moab. And they shall know that I am the Lord.
\p
\v 12 ¶ Thus says the Lord God: Because Idumea has taken vengeance, so as to vindicate herself against the sons of Judah, and has sinned grievously, and has sought revenge against them,
\v 13 therefore, thus says the Lord God: I will extend my hand over Idumea, and I will take from it both man and beast, and I will make it desolate from the south. And those who are in Dedan will fall by the sword.
\v 14 And I will issue my vengeance upon Idumea, by the hand of my people, Israel. And they shall act in Idumea in accord with my wrath and my fury. And they shall know my vengeance, says the Lord God.
\p
\v 15 ¶ Thus says the Lord God: Because the Philistines have taken vengeance, and have revenged themselves with all their soul, destroying, and fulfilling ancient hostilities,
\v 16 because of this, thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will extend my hand over the Philistines, and I will destroy those who destroy, and I will perish the remnant of the maritime regions.
\v 17 And I will execute great vengeance against them, reproving them in fury. And they shall know that I am the Lord, when I will send my vengeance upon them.”
\c 26
\cl Ezekiel 26
\cd A prophecy of the destruction of the famous city of Tyre by Nabuchodonosor.
\p
\v 1 ¶ And it happened that, in the eleventh year, on the first of the month, the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
\v 2 “Son of man, because Tyre has said about Jerusalem: ‘It is Well! The gates of the peoples have been broken! She has been turned toward me. I will be filled. She will be deserted!’
\v 3 because of this, thus says the Lord God: Behold, I am against you, O Tyre, and I will cause many nations to rise up against you, just as the waves of the sea rise up.
\v 4 And they will break apart the walls of Tyre, and they will destroy its towers. And I will scrape her dust from her, and I will make her into the barest rock.
\v 5 She will be a drying place for nets from the midst of the sea. For I have spoken, says the Lord God. And she will be a spoil for the Gentiles.
\v 6 Likewise, her daughters who are in the field will be slain by the sword. And they shall know that I am the Lord.
\p
\v 7 ¶ For thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will lead into Tyre: Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, a king among kings, from the north, with horses, and chariots, and horsemen, and companies, and a great people.
\v 8 Your daughters who are in the field, he will kill with the sword. And he will surround you with fortifications, and he will put together a rampart on all sides. And he will lift up a shield against you.
\v 9 And he will combine moveable shelters and battering rams before your walls, and he will destroy your towers with his armaments.\f + \fr 26:9 \ft The word ‘vineas’ refers to vines, to rows of vines in a vineyard, but also to a moveable shelter. The latter meaning is applicable to a siege, the former meanings are not. A moveable shelter would be used in a siege because the city can attack the besiegers from the wall, so they need a shelter that they can move in order to operate the siege engines.\fl (Conte)\f*
\v 10 He will cover you with the inundation of his horses and with their dust. Your walls will shake at the sound of horsemen and wheels and chariots, when they will have entered your gates, as if through the entrance of a city that has been broken open.
\v 11 With the hoofs of his horses, he will trample all your streets. He will cut down your people with the sword, and your noble statues will fall to the ground.
\v 12 They will lay waste to your wealth. They will despoil your businesses. And they will tear down your walls and overturn your eminent houses. And they will put your stones and your timber and your dust into the midst of the waters.
\v 13 And I will cause the multitude of your songs to cease. And the sound of your stringed instruments will no longer be heard.
\v 14 And I will make you like the barest rock; you will be a drying place for nets. And you will no longer be built up. For I have spoken, says the Lord God.”
\p
\v 15 ¶ Thus says the Lord God to Tyre: “Will not the islands shake at the sound of your ruin and at the groans of your slain, when they will have been cut down in your midst?
\v 16 And all the leaders of the sea will descend from their thrones. And they will cast aside their outer garments and their colorful clothing, and they will be clothed in stupor. They will sit on the ground, and they will wonder with astonishment at your sudden downfall.
\v 17 And taking up a lamentation over you, they will say to you: ‘How could you have perished, you who live in the sea, the famous city that was strong in the sea, with your inhabitants, of whom the whole world was in dread?’
\p
\v 18 ¶ Now the ships will be stupefied, in the day of your terror. And the islands of the sea will be disturbed, because no one goes out from you.
\v 19 For thus says the Lord God: When I will have made you a desolate city, like the cities that are uninhabited, and when I will have led the abyss over you, and many waters will have covered you,
\v 20 and when I will have dragged you down with those who descend into the pit to the everlasting people, and when I will have assembled you in the lowest parts of the earth, like the desolate places of antiquity, with those who have been brought down into the pit, so that you will be uninhabited, and moreover, when I will have given glory to the land of the living:
\v 21 I will reduce you to nothing, and you shall not be, and if you are sought, you will no longer be found, in perpetuity, says the Lord God.”
\c 27
\cl Ezekiel 27
\cd A description of the glory and riches of Tyre: and of her irrecoverable fall.
\p
\v 1 ¶ And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
\v 2 “You, therefore, son of man, take up a lamentation over Tyre.
\v 3 And you shall say to Tyre, which lives at the entrance to the sea, which is the marketplace of the peoples for the many islands: Thus says the Lord God: O Tyre, you have said, ‘I am of perfect beauty,
\v 4 for I have been positioned at the heart of the sea!’ Your neighbors, who built you, have filled up your beauty.
\v 5 They constructed you with spruce from Senir, with all the planks of the sea. They have taken cedars from Lebanon, so that they might make a mast for you.\f + \fr 27:5 \fk Sea planks: \ft That is, timber brought by sea to build the city.\fl (Challoner)\f*
\v 6 They have formed your oars from the oaks of Bashan. And they have made your crossbeams from Indian ivory, and the pilothouse is from the islands of Italy.
\v 7 Colorful fine linen from Egypt was woven for you as a sail to be placed upon the mast; hyacinth and purple from the islands of Elishah were made into your covering.
\v 8 The inhabitants of Sidon and of Arwad were your rowers. Your wise ones, O Tyre, were your navigators.
\v 9 The elders of Gebal and its experts were considered as sailors making use of your diverse equipment. All the ships of the sea and their sailors were your merchants among the people.
\v 10 The Persians, and the Lydians, and the Libyans were your men of war in your army. They suspended shield and helmet within you for your adornment.
\v 11 The sons of Arwad were with your army upon your walls all around. And even the Gammadim, who were in your towers, suspended their quivers on your walls on all sides; they completed your beauty.\f + \fr 27:11 \fk Pygmeans: \ft That is, strong and valiant men. In Hebrew, Gammadim.\fl (Challoner)\f*
\v 12 The Carthaginians, your merchants, supplied your festivals with a multitude of diverse riches, with silver, iron, tin, and lead.
\v 13 Greece, Tubal, and Meshech, these were your peddlers; they traveled to your people with slaves and with brass vessels.
\v 14 From the house of Togarmah, they brought horses, and horsemen, and mules to your market.
\v 15 The sons of Dedan were your merchants. The many islands were the marketplace of your hand. They traded teeth of ivory and of ebony for your price.
\v 16 The Syrian was your merchant. Because of the multitude of your works, they offered jewels, and purple, and patterned cloth, and fine linen, and silk, and other valuables in your market.\f + \fr 27:16 \ft The meaning of ‘chodchod’ is not clear. Some say it refers to some types of gem stone, but the first item in this list of valuable goods is a general word referring to precious stones, so it would not make sense to end the list with a very similar word. Since it is the last item in the list and is vague in meaning (by all accounts), it likely means ‘other valuables’.\fl (Conte)\f*\f + \fr 27:16 \fk Chodchod: \ft It is the Hebrew name for some precious stone; but of what kind in particular interpreters are not agreed.\fl (Challoner)\f*
\v 17 Judah and the land of Israel, these were your peddlers of the best grain; they offered balsam, and honey, and oil, and resins at your festivals.
\v 18 The Damascene was your trader in the multitude of your works, in greatly diverse wealth, in rich wine, in wool with the finest coloring.
\v 19 Dan, and Greece, and Mosel have offered works made of iron at your festivals. Storax ointment and sweet flag were in your marketplace.\f + \fr 27:19 \ft Storax and sweet flag both have medicinal uses; sweet flag was once thought to be an aphrodisiac, and in large doses it is an hallucinogen. The meaning is that their market place has both good and bad drugs: medicines, but also recreational drugs.\fl (Conte)\f*
\v 20 The men of Dedan were your peddlers of tapestries used as seats.
\v 21 Arabia and all the leaders of Kedar, these were the merchants at your hand. Your merchants came to you with lambs, and rams, and young goats.
\v 22 The vendors of Sheba and Raamah, these were your merchants, with all the finest aromatics, and precious stones, and gold, which they offered in your marketplace.
\v 23 Haran, and Canneh, and Eden were your merchants. Sheba, Assur, and Chilmad were your sellers.
\v 24 These were your merchants in many places, with windings of hyacinth and of colorful weavings, and with precious treasures, which were wrapped and bound with cords. Also, they had works of cedar among your merchandise.
\v 25 The ships of the sea were important to your business dealings. For you were replenished and exceedingly glorified in the heart of the sea.
\p
\v 26 ¶ Your rowers have brought you into many waters. The south wind has worn you down in the heart of the sea.
\v 27 Your riches, and your treasures, and your versatile equipment, your sailors and your navigators, who handle your goods and who were first among your people, likewise your men of war, who were among you, and your entire multitude that is in your midst: they will fall in the heart of the sea on the day of your ruin.
\v 28 Your fleets will be disturbed by the sound of an outcry from your navigators.
\v 29 And all who were handling the oar will descend from their ships; the sailors and all the navigators of the sea will stand upon the land.
\v 30 And they will howl over you with a great voice, and they will cry out with bitterness. And they will cast dust upon their heads, and they will be sprinkled with ashes.
\v 31 And they will shave their heads because of you, and they will be wrapped in haircloth. And they will weep for you with bitterness of soul, with a very bitter weeping.
\v 32 And they will take up a mournful verse over you, and they will lament you: ‘What city is like Tyre, which has become mute in the midst of the sea?’
\v 33 For by the going forth of your merchandise by sea, you supplied many peoples; by the multitude of your riches and of your people, you enriched the kings of the earth.
\v 34 Now you have been worn away by the sea, your opulence is in the depths of the waters, and your entire multitude that was in your midst has fallen.
\v 35 All the inhabitants of the islands have been stupefied over you; and all their kings, having been struck by the tempest, have changed their expression.
\v 36 The merchants of the peoples have hissed over you. You have been reduced to nothing, and you shall not be again, even forever.”
\c 28
\cl Ezekiel 28
\cd The king of Tyre, who affected to be like to God, shall fall under the like sentence with Lucifer. The judgment of Sidon. The restoration of Israel.
\p
\v 1 ¶ And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
\v 2 “Son of man, say to the leader of Tyre: Thus says the Lord God: Because your heart has been exalted, and you have said, ‘I am God, and I sit in the chair of God, in the heart of the sea,’ though you are a man, and not God, and because you have presented your heart as if it were the heart of God:
\v 3 Behold, you are wiser than Daniel; no secret is concealed from you.\f + \fr 28:3 \fk You are wiser than Daniel: \ft Viz., in thy own conceit. The wisdom of Daniel was so much celebrated in his days, that it became a proverb amongst the Chaldeans, when any one would express an extraordinary wisdom, to say he was as wise as Daniel.\fl (Challoner)\f*
\v 4 By your wisdom and prudence, you have made yourself strong, and you have acquired gold and silver for your storehouses.
\v 5 By the multitude of your wisdom, and by your business dealings, you have multiplied strength for yourself. And your heart has been exalted by your strength.
\v 6 Therefore, thus says the Lord God: Because your heart has been exalted as if it were the heart of God,
\v 7 for this reason, behold, I will lead over you foreigners, the most robust among the Gentiles. And they will bare their swords over the beauty of your wisdom, and they will defile your beauty.
\v 8 They will destroy you and pull you down. And you will die the death of those slain in the heart of the sea.
\v 9 So then, will you speak, in the presence of those who are destroying you, before the hand of those who are killing you, saying, ‘I am God,’ though you are a man, and not God?
\v 10 You will die the death of the uncircumcised at the hand of foreigners. For I have spoken, says the Lord God.”
\p
\v 11 ¶ And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: “Son of man, take up a lamentation over the king of Tyre,
\v 12 and you shall say to him: Thus says the Lord God: You were the seal of similitudes, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.\f + \fr 28:12 \fk You were the seal of resemblance: \ft The king of Tyre, by his dignity and his natural perfections, bore in himself a certain resemblance to God, by reason of which he might be called the seal of resemblance, etc. But what is here said to him is commonly understood of Lucifer, the king over all the children of pride.\fl (Challoner)\f*
\v 13 You were with the delights of the Paradise of God. Every precious stone was your covering: sardius, topaz, and jasper, chrysolite, and onyx, and beryl, sapphire, and garnet, and emerald. The work of your beauty was of gold, and your fissures were ready in the day when you were formed.\f + \fr 28:13 \ft The term ‘foramina’ refers to openings or to fissures. In this context, it refers to the veins of gold and of precious stones found in the earth, referred to earlier in the same verse. So, during the time when you were being formed in the womb, these precious stones and also gold, was waiting for you in the fissures of the earth.\fl (Conte)\f*
\v 14 You were a cherub, stretched out and protecting, and I stationed you on the holy mountain of God. You have walked in the midst of stones containing fire.\f + \fr 28:14 \fk A cherub stretched out: \ft That is, thy wings extended. This alludes to the figure of the cherubims in the sanctuary, which with stretched out wings covered the ark.\fl (Challoner)\f*\f + \fr 28:14 \fk The stones of fire: \ft That is, bright and precious stones which sparkle like fire.\fl (Challoner)\f*
\v 15 You were perfect in your ways, from the day of your formation, until iniquity was found in you.
\v 16 By the multitude of your business dealings, your interior was filled with iniquity, and you sinned. And I cast you away from the mountain of God, and I perished you, O protecting cherub, from the midst of the stones containing fire.
\v 17 And your heart was exalted by your beauty; you have destroyed your own wisdom by your beauty. I have cast you to the ground. I have presented you before the face of kings, so that they may examine you.
\v 18 You have defiled your sanctuaries, by the multitude of your iniquities and by the iniquity of your business dealings. Therefore, I will produce a fire from your midst, which will consume you, and I will make you into ashes upon the earth, in the sight of all who are watching you.
\v 19 All who gaze upon you among the Gentiles will be stupefied over you. You were made out of nothing, and you shall not be, forever.”
\p
\v 20 ¶ And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
\v 21 “Son of man, set your face against Sidon, and you shall prophesy about it.
\v 22 And you shall say: Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I am against you, Sidon, and I will be glorified in your midst. And they shall know that I am the Lord, when I will have executed judgments in her, and when I will have been sanctified in her.
\v 23 And I will send a pestilence upon her, and there will be blood in her streets. And they will fall, slain by the sword, on every side in her midst. And they shall know that I am the Lord.
\p
\v 24 ¶ And the house of Israel will no longer be a stumbling block of bitterness, nor a thorn bringing pain everywhere around them, to those who turn against them. And they shall know that I am the Lord God.”
\v 25 Thus says the Lord God: “When I will have gathered together the house of Israel, from the peoples among whom they have been dispersed, I shall be sanctified in them in the sight of the Gentiles. And they shall live in their own land, which I gave to my servant Jacob.
\v 26 And they shall live within it securely. And they shall build houses and plant vineyards. And they shall live in confidence, when I will have executed judgments upon all those who turn against them on every side. And they shall know that I am the Lord their God.”
\c 29
\cl Ezekiel 29
\cd The king of Egypt shall be overthrown, and his kingdom wasted: it shall be given to Nabuchodonosor for his service against Tyre.
\p
\v 1 ¶ In the tenth year, in the tenth month, on the eleventh day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
\v 2 “Son of man, set your face against Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, and you shall prophesy about him and about all of Egypt.
\v 3 Speak, and you shall say: Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I am against you, Pharaoh, king of Egypt, you great dragon, who rests in the midst of your rivers. And you say: ‘Mine is the river, and I have made myself.’
\v 4 But I will place a bridle in your jaws. And I will adhere the fish of your rivers to your scales. And I will draw you out of the midst of your rivers, and all your fish will adhere to your scales.
\v 5 And I will cast you into the desert, with all the fish of your river. You will fall upon the surface of the earth; you will not be taken up, nor gathered together. I have given you to the beasts of the earth and to the birds of the air, to be devoured.
\v 6 And all the inhabitants of Egypt shall know that I am the Lord. For you have been a staff made of reed to the house of Israel.\f + \fr 29:6 \ft A good staff is sturdy and useful for many purposes, including to support one’s weight when walking, if one is tired or ill. But a staff made of reed is useless; it is too weak to support the one who wields it.\fl (Conte)\f*
\v 7 When they took hold of you with the hand, you broke, and so you wounded all of their shoulders. And when they leaned on you, you shattered, and so you injured all of their lower backs.
\p
\v 8 ¶ Because of this, thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will lead the sword over you, and I will destroy both man and beast from among you.
\v 9 And the land of Egypt will be a desert and a wilderness. And they shall know that I am the Lord. For you have said, ‘The river is mine, and I have made it.’
\v 10 Therefore, behold, I am against you and against your rivers. And I will make the land of Egypt into a wilderness, destroyed by the sword from the tower of Syene all the way to the borders of Ethiopia.
\v 11 The foot of man will not pass through it, and the foot of cattle will not walk in it. And it will be uninhabited for forty years.
\v 12 And I will set the land of Egypt in desolation, in the midst of desolate lands, and its cities in the midst of overturned cites. And they will be desolate for forty years. And I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and I will disperse them among the lands.
\p
\v 13 ¶ For thus says the Lord God: After the end of forty years, I will gather the Egyptians from the peoples among whom they had been scattered.
\v 14 And I will lead back the captivity of Egypt, and I will collect them in the land of Pathros, in the land of their nativity. And in that place, they will be a lowly kingdom.
\v 15 It will be the lowest among the other kingdoms, and it will no longer be exalted above the nations. And I will diminish them, lest they rule over the Gentiles.
\v 16 And they will no longer be the confidence of the house of Israel, teaching iniquity, so that they may flee and follow them. And they shall know that I am the Lord God.”
\p
\v 17 ¶ And it happened that, in the twenty-seventh year, in the first month, on the first of the month, the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
\v 18 “Son of man, Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, has caused his army to serve with great servility against Tyre. Every head was shaven, and every shoulder was stripped of hair. And wages have not been paid to him, nor to his army, for Tyre, for the service by which he served for me against it.
\v 19 Because of this, thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will station Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, in the land of Egypt. And he will take its multitude, and he will prey upon its profits, and he will plunder its spoils. And this shall be the wages for his army\f + \fr 29:19 \ft The ‘manubias’ is the general’s share of the plunder.\fl (Conte)\f*
\v 20 and for the work by which he has served against it. I have given to him the land of Egypt, because he has labored for me, says the Lord God.
\p
\v 21 ¶ In that day, a horn will spring forth for the house of Israel, and I will give to you an open mouth in their midst. And they shall know that I am the Lord.”
\c 30
\cl Ezekiel 30
\cd The desolation of Egypt and her helpers: all her cities shall be wasted.
\p
\v 1 ¶ And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
\v 2 “Son of man, prophesy and say: Thus says the Lord God: Wail: ‘Woe, woe to the day!’
\v 3 For the day is near, and the day of the Lord is approaching! It is a day of gloom; it will be the time of the Gentiles.\f + \fr 30:3 \ft In the Catholic understanding of the Old Testament, the term Gentiles can be a figure comparing Christians to non-believers, rather than comparing Jews to non-Jews.\fl (Conte)\f*
\v 4 And the sword will come to Egypt. And there will be dread in Ethiopia, when the wounded will have fallen in Egypt, and its multitude will have been taken away, and its foundations will have been destroyed.
\v 5 Ethiopia, and Libya, and Lydia, and all the rest of the common people, and Chub, and the sons of the land of the covenant, will fall with them by the sword.\f + \fr 30:5 \ft The sons of the land of the covenant (or pact) could refer to the Israelites, or to their descendents living abroad, or to some other land that made a pact with Egypt.\fl (Conte)\f*
\p
\v 6 ¶ Thus says the Lord God: And those who prop up Egypt will fall, and the arrogance of its reign will be brought down. They will fall in it by the sword, before the tower of Syene, says the Lord, the God of hosts.
\v 7 And they will be scattered into the midst of desolate lands, and its cities will be in the midst of cities that have been deserted.
\v 8 And they shall know that I am the Lord, when I will have brought a fire into Egypt, and when all its helpers will have been worn away.
\v 9 In that day, messengers will go forth from my face in Greek warships, in order to crush the confidence of Ethiopia. And there will be dread among them in the day of Egypt; for without doubt, it will happen.
\v 10 Thus says the Lord God: By the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, I will cause the multitude of Egypt to cease.
\v 11 He, and his people with him, the strongest of the Gentiles, will be brought forth in order to destroy the land. And they will draw their swords over Egypt. And they will fill the land with the slain.
\v 12 And I will cause the channels of the rivers to dry up. And I will deliver the land into the hand of the most wicked. And by the hands of foreigners, I will utterly destroy the land and its plenitude. I, the Lord, have spoken.
\p
\v 13 ¶ Thus says the Lord God: And I will destroy the graven images, and I will cause the idols of Memphis to cease. And there will no longer be a commander of the land of Egypt. And I will send terror upon the land of Egypt.
\v 14 And I will destroy the land of Pathros, and I will send a fire upon Tahpanhes, and I will execute judgments in Alexandria.\f + \fr 30:14 \fk Alexandria: \ft In the Hebrew, No: which was the ancient name of that city, which was afterwards rebuilt by Alexander the Great, and from his name called Alexandria.\fl (Challoner)\f*
\v 15 And I will pour out my indignation upon Pelusium, the strength of Egypt, and I will kill the multitude of Alexandria.
\v 16 And I will send a fire upon Egypt. Pelusium will be in pain, like a woman giving birth. And Alexandria will be utterly destroyed. And in Memphis, there will be anguish every day.
\v 17 The young men of Heliopolis and Pibeseth will fall by the sword, and the young women will be led into captivity.
\v 18 And in Tahpanhes, the day will grow black, when, in that place, I will break the scepters of Egypt. And the arrogance of her authority will fail within her; a gloom will cover her. Then her daughters will be led into captivity.
\v 19 And I will execute judgments in Egypt. And they shall know that I am the Lord.”
\p
\v 20 ¶ And it happened that, in the eleventh year, in the first month, on the seventh of the month, the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
\v 21 “Son of man, I have broken the arm of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. And behold, it has not been wrapped, so that it might be restored to health; it has not been bound with cloths, or bandaged with linen, so that, having recovered strength, it would be able to hold the sword.
\v 22 Because of this, thus says the Lord God: Behold, I am against Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, and I will shatter his strong arm, which has already been broken. And I will cast the sword away from his hand.
\v 23 And I will disperse Egypt among the nations, and I will scatter them among the lands.
\v 24 And I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon. And I will put my sword into his hand. And I will break the arms of Pharaoh. And they will groan acutely, when they are slain before his face.
\v 25 And I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon. And the arms of Pharaoh will fall. And they shall know that I am the Lord, when I will have given my sword into the hand of the king of Babylon, and when he will have extended it over the land of Egypt.
\v 26 And I will disperse Egypt among the nations, and I will scatter them among the lands. And they shall know that I am the Lord.”
\c 31
\cl Ezekiel 31
\cd The Assyrian empire fell for their pride: the Egyptian shall fall in like manner.
\p
\v 1 ¶ And it happened that, in the eleventh year, in the third month, on the first of the month, the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
\v 2 “Son of man, speak to Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, and to his people: To whom can you be compared in your greatness?
\p
\v 3 ¶ Behold, Assur is like the cedar of Lebanon, with fair branches, and full of leaves, and of high stature, and his summit has been elevated above the thick branches.
\v 4 The waters have nourished him. The abyss has exalted him. Its rivers have flowed around his roots, and it has sent forth its streams to all the trees of the regions.
\v 5 Because of this, his height was exalted above all the trees of the regions, and his groves were multiplied, and his own branches were elevated, because of the many waters.
\v 6 And when he had extended his shadow, all the birds of the air made their nests in his branches, and all the beasts of the forest conceived their young under his foliage, and an assembly of the many peoples lived under his shadow.
\v 7 And he was most beautiful in his greatness and in the expansion of his groves. For his root was near many waters.
\v 8 The cedars in the Paradise of God were not higher than he was. The spruce trees were not equal to his summit, and the plane trees were not equal to his fullness. No tree in the Paradise of God was similar to him or to his beauty.
\v 9 For I made him beautiful, and dense with many branches. And all the trees of delight, which were in the Paradise of God, were jealous of him.
\p
\v 10 ¶ Because of this, thus says the Lord God: Since he was sublime in height, and he made his summit green and dense, and his heart was exalted because of his height,
\v 11 I have delivered him into the hands of the most powerful one among the Gentiles, so that he will deal with him. I have cast him out, in accord with his impiety.\f + \fr 31:11 \fk I have delivered: \ft Here the time past is put for the future, i. e., I shall deliver.\fl (Challoner)\f*\f + \fr 31:11 \fk The mighty one, etc: \ft Viz., Nabuchodonosor, who conquered both the Assyrians and Egyptians.\fl (Challoner)\f*
\v 12 And foreigners, and the most cruel among the nations, will cut him down. And they will cast him on the mountains. And his branches will fall in every steep valley, and his grove will be broken apart on every cliff of the earth. And all the peoples of the earth will withdraw from his shadow, and abandon him.
\v 13 All the birds of the air lived upon his ruins, and all the beasts of the countryside were among his branches.
\v 14 For this reason, none of the trees among the waters will exalt themselves because of their height, nor will they place their summits above the thick branches and foliage, nor will any of those that are irrigated stand out because of their height. For they have all been delivered unto death, to the lowest part of the earth, into the midst of the sons of men, those who descend into the pit.
\p
\v 15 ¶ Thus says the Lord God: In the day when he descended into hell, I led in grieving. I covered him with the abyss. And I held back its rivers, and I restrained the many waters. Lebanon was saddened over him, and all the trees of the field were struck together.
\v 16 I shook the Gentiles with the sound of his ruin, when I led him down to hell, with those who were descending into the pit. And all the trees of delights, the finest and best in Lebanon, all that were irrigated with waters, were consoled in the deepest parts of the earth.
\v 17 For they, too, will descend with him into hell, to those who have been slain by the sword. And the arm of each one will reside under his shadow, in the midst of the nations.
\p
\v 18 ¶ To whom can you be compared, O famous and sublime one, among the trees of pleasure? Behold, you have been brought down, with the trees of pleasure, to the lowest part of the earth. You will sleep in the midst of the uncircumcised, with those who have been slain by the sword. This is Pharaoh, and all his multitude, says the Lord God.”\f + \fr 31:18 \ft The uncircumcised, in the Christian understanding of the text, are not non-Jews, but the unbaptized, that is, those who die without obtaining either a formal or non-formal Baptism, who therefore die in a culpable state of original sin.\fl (Conte)\f*
\c 32
\cl Ezekiel 32
\cd The prophet’s lamentation for the king of Egypt.
\p
\v 1 ¶ And it happened that, in the twelfth year, in the twelfth month, on the first of the month, the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
\v 2 “Son of man, take up a lamentation over Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, and you shall say to him: You are like the lion of the Gentiles, and like the dragon that is in the sea. And you brandished a horn among your rivers, and you disturbed the waters with your feet, and you trampled upon their rivers.
\v 3 Because of this, thus says the Lord God: I will spread my net over you, with the multitude of many peoples, and I will draw you into my dragnet.
\v 4 And I will throw you upon the land. I will cast you upon the surface of the field. And I will cause all the birds of the air to live upon you. And I will satiate the beasts of the entire earth with you.
\v 5 And I will place your flesh upon the mountains. And I will fill up your hills with your decaying flesh.
\v 6 And I will irrigate the earth with your rotting blood upon the mountains. And the valleys will be filled with you.
\v 7 And I will cover heaven, when you will have been extinguished. And I will cause its stars to grow dark. I will shroud the sun with gloom, and the moon will not give her light.
\v 8 I will cause all the lights of heaven to grieve over you. And I will bring darkness upon your land, says the Lord God, when your wounded will have fallen in the midst of the land, says the Lord God.
\v 9 And I will provoke the heart of many peoples to anger, when I will have led in your destruction among the Gentiles, over the lands that you have not known.
\v 10 And I will cause many peoples to be stupefied over you. And their kings will be afraid, with great horror, over you, when my sword will begin to fly above their faces. And suddenly, they will be struck with astonishment, each one concerning his own life, on the day of their ruination.
\p
\v 11 ¶ For thus says the Lord God: The sword of the king of Babylon will come to you.
\v 12 By the swords of the strong, I will cast down your multitude. All these nations are invincible, and they will lay waste to the arrogance of Egypt, and so its multitude will be destroyed.
\v 13 And I will perish all its cattle, which were above the many waters. And the foot of man will no longer disturb them, and the hoof of cattle will no longer trouble them.
\v 14 Then I will cause their waters to be very pure, and their rivers to be like oil, says the Lord God,
\v 15 when I will have set the land of Egypt in desolation. And the land will be deprived of her plenitude, when I will have struck all its inhabitants. And they shall know that I am the Lord.
\v 16 This is the lamentation. And they shall lament it. The daughters of the Gentiles shall lament it. They shall lament it over Egypt and over its multitude, says the Lord God.”
\p
\v 17 ¶ And it happened that, in the twelfth year, on the fifteenth of the month, the word of the Lord came to me saying:
\v 18 “Son of man, sing mournfully over the multitude of Egypt. And cast her down, both her and the daughters of the robust nations, to the lowest part of the earth, with those who descend into the pit.
\v 19 Whom do you exceed in beauty? Descend and sleep with the uncircumcised!
\v 20 They will fall by the sword in the midst of the slain. The sword has been given. They have dragged her down, with all her people.
\v 21 The most powerful among the strong will speak to him from the midst of hell, those who descended with his helpers and who went to sleep uncircumcised, slain by the sword.\f + \fr 32:21 \ft Figuratively, going to sleep uncircumcised means dying without sanctifying grace.\fl (Conte)\f*
\p
\v 22 ¶ Assur is in that place, with all his multitude. Their graves are all around him: all of the slain and those who fell by the sword.
\v 23 Their graves have been placed in the lowest parts of the pit. And his multitude was stationed on all sides of his grave: all of the slain, and those who fell by the sword, who formerly spread terror in the land of the living.
\p
\v 24 ¶ Elam is in that place, with all his multitude, on all sides of his grave, all those who were slain or who fell by the sword, who descended uncircumcised to the lowest part of the earth, who caused their terror in the land of the living. And they have borne their disgrace, with those who descend into the pit.
\v 25 They have appointed him a place to lie among all his people, in the midst of the slain. Their graves are all around him. All these are uncircumcised and were slain by the sword. For they spread their terror in the land of the living, and they have borne their disgrace, with those who descend into the pit. They have been stationed in the midst of the slain.
\p
\v 26 ¶ Meshech and Tubal are in that place, with all their multitude. Their graves are all around him: all these are uncircumcised, and they were slain and fell by the sword. For they spread their terror in the land of the living.
\v 27 But they shall not sleep with the strong, and with those who also fell uncircumcised, who descended to hell with their weapons, and who placed their swords under their heads, while their iniquities were in their bones. For they were the terror of the strong in the land of the living.\f + \fr 32:27 \ft These ones have been given a different place in Hell, not with the strong who also are in Hell.\fl (Conte)\f*
\v 28 Therefore, you also will be broken in the midst of the uncircumcised, and you will sleep with those who were slain by the sword.
\p
\v 29 ¶ Idumea is in that place, with her kings and all her commanders, who with their army have been given to those who were slain by the sword. And they have slept with the uncircumcised and with those who descend into the pit.
\p
\v 30 ¶ All the leaders of the north are in that place, with all the hunters, who were brought down with the slain, fearful and confounded in their strength, who have gone to sleep uncircumcised, with those who were slain by the sword. And they have borne their disgrace, with those who descend into the pit.\f + \fr 32:30 \ft These hunters did not hunt game, but hunted down human persons who opposed the sinful reign of the leader of the north.\fl (Conte)\f*
\p
\v 31 ¶ Pharaoh saw them, and he was consoled over all his multitude, which was slain by the sword, even Pharaoh and all his army, says the Lord God.\f + \fr 32:31 \ft Even in the midst of Hell, there is a certain consolation given to the wicked, for in God justice and mercy are the same.\fl (Conte)\f*
\v 32 For I have spread my terror in the land of the living, and he has gone to sleep in the midst of the uncircumcised, with those who were slain by the sword, even Pharaoh and all his multitude, says the Lord God.”
\c 33
\cl Ezekiel 33
\cd The duty of the watchman appointed by God: the justice of God’s ways: his judgments upon the Jews.
\p
\v 1 ¶ And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
\v 2 “Son of man, speak to the sons of your people, and you shall say to them: Concerning the land, when I will have led the sword over it: if the people of the land take a man, one of their least, and appoint him over themselves as a watchman,
\v 3 and if he sees the sword approaching over the land, and he sounds the trumpet, and he announces to the people,
\v 4 then, having heard the sound of the trumpet, whoever he is, if he also does not take care of himself, and the sword arrives and takes him: his blood will be upon his own head.
\v 5 He heard the sound of the trumpet, and he did not take care of himself, so his blood will be upon him. But if he guards himself, he will save his own life.
\v 6 And if the watchman sees the sword approaching, and he does not sound the trumpet, and so the people do not guard themselves, and the sword arrives and takes some of their lives, certainly these have been taken due to their own iniquity. But I will attribute their blood to the hand of the watchman.
\p
\v 7 ¶ And as for you, son of man, I have made you a watchman to the house of Israel. Therefore, having heard the word from my mouth, you shall announce it to them from me.
\v 8 When I say to the impious, ‘O impious man, you will die a death,’ if you have not spoken so that the impious man will keep himself from his way, then that impious man will die in his iniquity. But I will attribute his blood to your hand.
\v 9 But if you have announced to the impious man, so that he may be converted from his ways, and he has not converted from his way, then he will die in his iniquity. Yet you will have freed your own soul.
\v 10 You, therefore, O son of man, say to the house of Israel: You have spoken in this way, saying: ‘Our iniquities and our sins are upon us, and we waste away in them. So then, how would we be able to live?’
\v 11 Say to them: As I live, says the Lord God, I do not desire the death of the impious, but that the impious should convert from his way and live. Be converted, be converted from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Israel?
\v 12 And as for you then, son of man, say to the sons of your people: The justice of the just man will not deliver him, on whatever day he will have sinned. And the impiety of the impious man will not harm him, on whatever day he will have been converted from his impiety. And the just man will not be able to live by his justice, on whatever day he will have sinned.
\v 13 Even now, if I say to the just man that he shall certainly live, and so, with confidence in his justice, he commits iniquity, all his justices will be delivered into oblivion, and by his iniquity, which he has done, by this he shall die.
\v 14 And if I say to the impious man, ‘You shall certainly die,’ and yet he repents from his sin, and he does judgment and justice,
\v 15 and if that impious man returns the collateral, and repays what he has taken by force, and if he walks in the commandments of life, and does not do anything unjust, then he shall certainly live, and he shall not die.
\v 16 None of his sins, which he has committed, will be imputed to him. He has done judgment and justice, so he shall certainly live.
\p
\v 17 ¶ And the sons of your people have said, ‘The way of the Lord is not a fair balance,’ even while their own way is unjust.
\v 18 For when the just man will have withdrawn from his justice, and committed iniquities, he shall die by these.
\v 19 And when the impious man will have withdrawn from his impiety, and have done judgment and justice, he shall live by these.
\p
\v 20 ¶ And yet you say, ‘The way of the Lord is not right.’ But I shall judge each one of you according to his own ways, O house of Israel.”
\p
\v 21 ¶ And it happened that, in the twelfth year of our transmigration, in the tenth month, on the fifth of the month, one who had fled from Jerusalem arrived saying, “The city has been laid waste.”
\v 22 But the hand of the Lord had been upon me in the evening, before the one who had fled arrived. And he opened my mouth, until he came to me in the morning. And since my mouth had been opened, I was no longer silent.
\v 23 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
\v 24 “Son of man, as for those who live in these ruinous ways on the soil of Israel, when speaking, they say: ‘Abraham was one man, and he possessed the land as an inheritance. But we are many; the land has been given to us as a possession.’
\v 25 Therefore, you shall say to them: Thus says the Lord God: You who eat even the blood, and who lift up your eyes to your uncleannesses, and who shed blood: will you possess the land as an inheritance?
\v 26 You stood by your swords, you committed abominations, and each one has defiled his neighbor’s wife. And will you possess the land as an inheritance?
\v 27 You shall say these things to them: So says the Lord God: As I live, those who live in ruinous ways will fall by the sword. And whoever is in the field will be delivered over to wild beasts to be devoured. But those who are in fortresses and in caves will die of the pestilence.
\v 28 And I will make the land into a wilderness and a desert. And its arrogant strength will fail. And the mountains of Israel will be desolate; for there will be no one who crosses through them.
\v 29 And they shall know that I am the Lord, when I will have made their land desolate and deserted, because of all their abominations, which they have worked.
\p
\v 30 ¶ And as for you, O son of man: the sons of your people speak about you beside the walls and in the doorways of houses. And they speak to one another, each man to his neighbor, saying: ‘Come, and let us hear what may be the word going forth from the Lord.’
\v 31 And they come to you, as if the people were entering, and my people sit before you. And they listen to your words, but they do not do them. For they turn them into a song for their mouth, but their heart pursues their own avarice.
\v 32 And you are to them like a verse set to music, which is sung with a sweet and pleasing voice. And they hear your words, but they do not do them.
\v 33 And when what has been predicted occurs, for behold it is approaching, then they shall know that a prophet was among them.”
\c 34
\cl Ezekiel 34
\cd Evil pastors are reproved. Christ the true pastor shall come, and gather together his flock from all parts of the earth, and preserve it for ever.
\p
\v 1 ¶ And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
\v 2 “Son of man, prophesy about the shepherds of Israel. Prophesy, and you shall say to the shepherds: Thus says the Lord God: Woe to the shepherds of Israel who feed themselves! Should not the flocks be fed by the shepherds?\f + \fr 34:2 \fk Shepherds: \ft That is, princes, magistrates, chief priests, and scribes.\fl (Challoner)\f*
\v 3 You consumed the milk, and you covered yourselves with the wool, and you killed what was fattened. But my flock you did not feed.
\v 4 What was weak, you have not strengthened, and what was sick, you have not healed. What was broken, you have not bound, and what was cast aside, you have not led back again, and what was lost, you have not sought. Instead, you ruled over them with severity and with power.
\v 5 And my sheep were scattered, because there was no shepherd. And they became devoured by all the wild beasts of the field, and they were dispersed.
\v 6 My sheep have wandered to every mountain and to every exalted hill. And my flocks have been scattered across the face of the earth. And there was no one who sought them; there was no one, I say, who sought them.
\p
\v 7 ¶ Because of this, O shepherds, listen to the word of the Lord:
\v 8 As I live, says the Lord God, since my flocks have become a prey, and my sheep have been devoured by all the wild beasts of the field, since there was no shepherd, for my shepherds did not seek my flock, but instead the shepherds fed themselves, and they did not feed my flocks:
\v 9 because of this, O shepherds, listen to the word of the Lord:
\v 10 Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I myself will be over the shepherds. I will require my flock at their hand, and I will cause them to cease, so that they no longer refrain from feeding the flock. Neither will the shepherds feed themselves any more. And I will deliver my flock from their mouth; and it will no longer be food for them.
\p
\v 11 ¶ For thus says the Lord God: Behold, I myself will seek my sheep, and I myself will visit them.
\v 12 Just as a shepherd visits his flock, in the day when he will be in the midst of his sheep that were scattered, so will I visit my sheep. And I will deliver them from all the places to which they had been scattered in the day of gloom and darkness.
\v 13 And I will lead them away from the peoples, and I will gather them from the lands, and I will bring them into their own land. And I will pasture them on the mountains of Israel, by the rivers, and in all the settlements of the land.
\v 14 I will feed them in very fertile pastures, and their pastures will be on the lofty mountains of Israel. There they will rest on the green grass, and they will be fed in the fat pastures, on the mountains of Israel.
\v 15 I will feed my sheep, and I will cause them to lie down, says the Lord God.
\v 16 I will seek what had been lost. And I will lead back again what had been cast aside. And I will bind up what had been broken. And I will strengthen what had been infirm. And I will preserve what was fat and strong. And I will feed them on judgment.
\v 17 But as for you, O my flocks, thus says the Lord God: Behold, I judge between cattle and cattle, among rams and among he-goats.
\v 18 Was it not enough for you to feed upon good pastures? For you even trample with your feet upon the remainder of your pastures. And when you drank the purist water, you disturbed the remainder with your feet.
\v 19 And my sheep were pastured from what you had trampled with your feet, and they drank from what your feet had disturbed.
\p
\v 20 ¶ Because of this, thus says the Lord God to you: Behold, I myself am judging between the fat cattle and the lean.
\v 21 For you have pushed with your sides and shoulders, and you have threatened all the weak cattle with your horns, until they were scattered abroad.
\v 22 I will save my flock, and it will no longer be a prey, and I will judge between cattle and cattle.
\v 23 And I will raise up over them ONE SHEPHERD, who will feed them, my servant David. He himself will feed them, and he will be their shepherd.\f + \fr 34:23 \ft Jesus Christ is here spoken of under the figure of David, since he was a king and faithful to God.\fl (Conte)\f*\f + \fr 34:23 \fk David: \ft Christ, who is of the house of David.\fl (Challoner)\f*
\v 24 And I, the Lord, will be their God. And my servant David will be the leader in their midst. I, the Lord, have spoken.
\v 25 And I will make a covenant of peace with them. And I will cause the very harmful beasts to cease from the land. And those who are living in the desert will sleep securely in the forests.
\v 26 And I will make them a blessing all around my hill. And I will send the rain in due time; there will be showers of blessing.
\v 27 And the tree of the field will yield its fruit, and the land will yield its crop. And they will be in their own land without fear. And they shall know that I am the Lord, when I will have crushed the chains of their yoke, and when I will have rescued them from the hand of those who rule over them.
\v 28 And they will no longer be a prey to the Gentiles, nor will the wild beasts of the earth devour them. Instead, they will live in confidence without any terror.
\v 29 And I will raise up for them a renowned branch. And they will be no longer be diminished by famine in the land, nor will they carry any longer the reproach of the Gentiles.\f + \fr 34:29 \fk A bud of renown: \ft Germen nominatum. He speaks of Christ our Lord, the illustrious bud of the house of David, renowned over all the earth. See Jer. 33.15.\fl (Challoner)\f*
\v 30 And they shall know that I, the Lord their God, am with them, and that they are my people, the house of Israel, says the Lord God.
\v 31 For you are my flocks; the flocks of my pasture are men. And I am the Lord your God, says the Lord God.”
\c 35
\cl Ezekiel 35
\cd The judgment of mount Seir, for their hatred of Israel.
\p
\v 1 ¶ And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
\v 2 “Son of man, set your face against mount Seir, and you shall prophesy about it, and you shall say to it:
\v 3 Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I am against you, mount Seir, and I will extend my hand over you, and I will make you desolate and deserted.
\v 4 I will tear down your cities, and you will be deserted. And you shall know that I am the Lord.
\v 5 For you have been a continual adversary, and you have enclosed the sons of Israel, by the hands of the sword, in the time of their affliction, in the time of extreme iniquity.
\v 6 Because of this, as I live, says the Lord God, I will hand you over to blood, and blood will pursue you. Even though you have hated blood, blood will pursue you.
\v 7 And I will make mount Seir desolate and deserted. And I will take away from it the one who departs and the one who returns.
\v 8 And I will fill up its mountains with its slain. In your hills, and in your valleys, as well as in your torrents, the slain will fall by the sword.
\v 9 I will hand you over to everlasting desolations, and your cities will not be inhabited. And you shall know that I am the Lord God.
\v 10 For you have said, ‘Two nations and two lands will be mine, and I will possess them as an inheritance,’ though the Lord was in that place.\f + \fr 35:10 \ft The Lord was in one land, amid one nation, but they wanted to be a part of the land and nation (and culture and society) of the unbelievers, as well as to have what the Lord had given.\fl (Conte)\f*
\v 11 Because of this, as I live, says the Lord God, I will act in accord with your own wrath, and in accord with your own zeal, by which you have acted with hatred toward them. And I will be made known by them, when I will have judged you.
\v 12 And you shall know that I, the Lord, have heard all your disgraces, which you have spoken about the mountains of Israel, saying: ‘They are deserted. They have been given to us to devour.’
\v 13 And you rose up against me with your mouth, and you disparaged against me with your words. I have heard.
\v 14 Thus says the Lord God: When the whole earth will rejoice, I will reduce you to solitude.
\v 15 Just as you have rejoiced over the inheritance of the house of Israel, when it was laid waste, so will I act toward you. You will be laid waste, O mount Seir, with all of Idumea. And they shall know that I am the Lord.”
\c 36
\cl Ezekiel 36
\cd The restoration of Israel, not for their merits, but by God’s special grace. Christ’s baptism.
\p
\v 1 ¶ “But as for you, son of man, prophesy over the mountains of Israel, and you shall say: O mountains of Israel, listen to the word of the Lord.
\v 2 Thus says the Lord God: Because the enemy has said about you: ‘It is well! The everlasting heights have been given to us as an inheritance!’
\v 3 because of this, prophesy and say: Thus says the Lord God: Because you have been made desolate, and you have been trampled on every side, and you have been made into an inheritance for the remainder of the nations, and because you rose up, over the tip of the tongue and over the shame of the people,
\v 4 because of this, O mountains of Israel, listen to the word of the Lord God. Thus says the Lord God to the mountains, and to the hills, to the torrents, and to the valleys, and to the deserts, and to the ruins, and to the forsaken cities, which have been depopulated and ridiculed by the remainder of the nations all around:
\v 5 Because of this, thus says the Lord God: In the fire of my zeal, I have spoken about the remainder of the nations, and about all of Idumea, who have given my land to themselves, joyfully, as an inheritance, and with all the heart and mind, and who have cast it out, so that they may lay waste to it.
\v 6 Therefore, prophesy over the soil of Israel, and you shall say to the mountains, and to the hills, to the ridges, and to the valleys: Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I have spoken in my zeal and in my fury, because you have endured the shame of the Gentiles.
\v 7 Therefore, thus says the Lord God: I have lifted up my hand, so that the Gentiles, who are all around you, will themselves bear their shame.
\p
\v 8 ¶ But as for you, O mountains of Israel, spring forth your branches, and bear your fruit, to my people Israel. For they are close to their advent.
\v 9 For behold, I am for you, and I will turn to you, and you will be plowed, and you will receive seed.
\v 10 And I will multiply men among you and among all the house of Israel. And the cities shall be inhabited, and the ruinous places shall be restored.
\v 11 And I will fill you again with men and with cattle. And they will be multiplied, and they will increase. And I will cause you to live as from the beginning, and I will give you even greater gifts than those you had from the start. And you shall know that I am the Lord.
\v 12 And I will lead men over you, over my people Israel, and they will possess you as an inheritance. And you shall be to them as an inheritance. And you shall no longer be permitted to be without them.
\v 13 Thus says the Lord God: Because they are saying about you, ‘You are a woman who devours men, and you are strangling your own nation,’
\v 14 because of this, you shall no longer consume men, and you shall no longer harm your own nation, says the Lord God.
\v 15 Neither will I permit men to discover in you the shame of the Gentiles any more. And you shall never again bear the reproach of the peoples. And you shall not send your people away any more, says the Lord God.”\f + \fr 36:15 \fk Nor lose thy nation any more: \ft This whole promise principally relates to the church of Christ, and God’s perpetual protection of her: for as the carnal Jews, they have been removed out of their land these sixteen hundred years.\fl (Challoner)\f*
\p
\v 16 ¶ And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
\v 17 “Son of man, the house of Israel lived on their own soil, and they defiled it with their ways and with their intentions. Their way, in my sight, became like the uncleanness of a menstruous woman.
\v 18 And so I poured out my indignation upon them, because of the blood which they shed upon the land, and because they defiled it with their idols.
\v 19 And I dispersed them among the Gentiles, and they have been scattered among the lands. I have judged them according to their ways and their plans.
\v 20 And when they walked among the Gentiles, to whom they had entered, they defiled my holy name, though it was being said about them: ‘This is the people of the Lord,’ and ‘They went forth from his land.’
\p
\v 21 ¶ But I have spared my holy name, which the house of Israel has defiled among the Gentiles, to whom they entered.
\v 22 For this reason, you shall say to the house of Israel: Thus says the Lord God: I will act, not for your sake, O house of Israel, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have defiled among the Gentiles, to whom you entered.
\v 23 And I will sanctify my great name, which was defiled among the Gentiles, which you have defiled in their midst. So may the Gentiles know that I am the Lord, says the Lord of hosts, when I will have been sanctified in you, before their eyes.
\v 24 Certainly, I will take you away from the Gentiles, and I will gather you together from all the lands, and I will lead you into your own land.
\p
\v 25 ¶ And I will pour clean water over you, and you shall be cleansed from all your filth, and I will cleanse you from all your idols.
\v 26 And I will give to you a new heart, and I will place in you a new spirit. And I will take away the heart of stone from your body, and I will give to you a heart of flesh.
\v 27 And I will place my Spirit in your midst. And I will act so that you may walk in my precepts and keep my judgments, and so that you may fulfill them.
\v 28 And you shall live in the land that I gave to your fathers. And you shall be my people, and I will be your God.
\v 29 And I will save you from all your filth. And I will call for grain, and I will multiply it, and I will not impose a famine upon you.
\v 30 And I will multiply the fruit of the tree and the produce of the field, so that you may no longer bear the disgrace of famine among the nations.
\v 31 And you shall remember your very wicked ways and your intentions, which were not good. And you will be displeased by your own iniquities and your own crimes.
\v 32 It is not for your sakes that I will act, says the Lord God; let this be known to you. Be confounded and ashamed over your own ways, O house of Israel.
\v 33 Thus says the Lord God: In the day when I will have cleansed you from all your iniquities, and when I will have caused the cities to be inhabited, and when I will have restored the ruinous places,
\v 34 and when the deserted land will have been cultivated, which previously was desolate to the eyes of all who passed by,
\v 35 then they shall say: ‘This uncultivated land has become a garden of delight, and the cities, which were deserted and destitute and overturned, have been settled and fortified.’
\v 36 And the Gentiles, those who remain around you, shall know that I, the Lord, have built up what was destroyed, and have planted what was uncultivated. I, the Lord, have spoken and acted.
\v 37 Thus says the Lord God: Even in this time, the house of Israel shall find me, so that I may act for them. I will multiply them like a flock of men,
\v 38 like a holy flock, like the flock of Jerusalem in her solemnities. So shall the deserted cities be filled with flocks of men. And they shall know that I am the Lord.”
\c 37
\cl Ezekiel 37
\cd A vision of the resurrection of dry bones, foretelling the deliverance of the people from their captivity. Juda and Israel shall be all one kingdom under Christ. God’s everlasting covenant with the church.
\p
\v 1 ¶ The hand of the Lord was set upon me, and he led me away in the Spirit of the Lord, and he released me in the midst of a plain which was full of bones.
\v 2 And he led me around, through them, on every side. Now they were very many upon the face of the plain, and they were exceedingly dry.
\v 3 And he said to me, “Son of man, do you think that these bones will live?” And I said, “O Lord God, you know.”
\v 4 And he said to me, “Prophesy about these bones. And you shall say to them: Dry bones, listen to the word of the Lord!
\v 5 Thus says the Lord God to these bones: Behold, I will send spirit into you, and you shall live.\f + \fr 37:5 \fk Spirit: \ft That is, soul, life, and breath.\fl (Challoner)\f*
\v 6 And I will set sinews upon you, and I will cause flesh to grow over you, and I will extend skin over you. And I will give you spirit, and you shall live. And you shall know that I am the Lord.”
\v 7 And I prophesied, just as he had instructed me. But a noise occurred, as I was prophesying, and behold: a commotion. And the bones joined together, each one at its joint.
\v 8 And I saw, and behold: sinews and flesh rose up over them; and skin was extended over them. But they had no spirit within them.
\v 9 And he said to me: “Prophesy to the spirit! Prophesy, O son of man, and you shall say to the spirit: Thus says the Lord God: Approach, O spirit, from the four winds, and blow across these ones who were slain, and revive them.”
\v 10 And I prophesied, just as he had instructed me. And spirit entered into them, and they lived. And they stood upon their feet, an exceedingly great army.
\p
\v 11 ¶ And he said to me: “Son of man: All these bones are the house of Israel. They say: ‘Our bones are dried out, and our hope has perished, and we have been cut off.’
\v 12 Because of this, prophesy, and you shall say to them: Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will open your tombs, and I will lead you away from your sepulchers, O my people. And I will lead you into the land of Israel.
\v 13 And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I will have opened your sepulchers, and when I will have led you away from your tombs, O my people.
\v 14 And I will place my Spirit within you, and you shall live. And I will cause you to rest upon your own soil. And you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken and acted, says the Lord God.”
\p
\v 15 ¶ And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
\v 16 “And as for you, son of man, take up a piece of wood for yourself, and write upon it: ‘For Judah, and for the sons of Israel, his companions.’ And take up another piece of wood, and write upon it: ‘For Joseph, the wood of Ephraim, and for the entire house of Israel, and for his companions.’
\v 17 And join these, one to the other, for yourself, as one piece of wood. And they will be united in your hand.
\v 18 Then, when the sons of your people will speak to you, saying: ‘Will you not tell us what you intend by this?’
\v 19 you shall say to them: Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will take up the wood of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel, which are joined to him, and I will put them together with the wood of Judah, and I will make them one piece of wood. And they will be one in his hand.
\v 20 Then the pieces of wood, on which you have written, will be in your hand, before their eyes.
\v 21 And you shall say to them: Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will take up the sons of Israel, from the midst of the nations to which they have gone, and I will gather them together on every side, and I will lead them onto their own soil.
\v 22 And I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel, and one king will be ruler over all. And they will no longer be two nations, nor will they be divided any more into two kingdoms.
\v 23 And they will no longer be defiled by their idols, and by their abominations, and by all their iniquities. And I will save them, out of all the settlements in which they have sinned, and I will cleanse them. And they will be my people, and I will be their God.
\v 24 And my servant David shall be the king over them, and they shall have one shepherd. They shall walk in my judgments, and they shall keep my commandments, and they shall do them.
\v 25 And they shall live upon the land that I gave to my servant Jacob, in which your fathers lived. And they shall live upon it, they and their sons, and the sons of their sons, even for all time. And David, my servant, shall be their leader, in perpetuity.
\v 26 And I will strike a covenant of peace with them. This will be an everlasting covenant for them. And I will establish them, and multiply them. And I will set my sanctuary in their midst, unceasingly.
\v 27 And my tabernacle shall be among them. And I will be their God, and they will be my people.
\v 28 And the Gentiles shall know that I am the Lord, the Sanctifier of Israel, when my sanctuary will be in their midst, forever.”
\c 38
\cl Ezekiel 38
\cd Gog shall persecute the church in the latter days. He shall be overthrown.
\p
\v 1 ¶ And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
\v 2 “Son of man, set your face against Gog, the land of Magog, the prince of the head of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy about him.\f + \fr 38:2 \fk Gog: \ft This name, which signifies hidden or covered, is taken in this place, either for the persecutors of the church of God in general, or some arch-persecutor in particular: such as Antichrist shall be in the latter days. See Apoc. 20.8. And what is said of the punishment of Gog, is verified by the unhappy ends of persecutors.\fl (Challoner)\f*\f + \fr 38:2 \fk Magog: \ft Scythia or Tartary, from whence the Turks, and other enemies of the church of Christ, originally sprung.\fl (Challoner)\f*
\v 3 And you shall say to him: Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I am against you, O Gog, prince of the head of Meshech and Tubal.
\v 4 And I will turn you around, and I will place a bit in your jaws. And I will lead you away, with all your army, the horses and the horsemen all clothed in armor, a great multitude, equipped with spears and light shields and swords,
\v 5 the Persians, the Ethiopians, and the Libyans with them, all with heavy shields and helmets,
\v 6 Gomer, and all his companies, the house of Togarmah, the northern parts, and all his strength, and the many peoples with you.
\v 7 Prepare and equip yourself, with all your multitude which has been assembled to you. And you shall be like a commandment to them.
\p
\v 8 ¶ After many days, you will be visited. At the end of the years, you will arrive at the land which was turned back by the sword, and which has been gathered from many peoples to the mountains of Israel that have been continually abandoned. These ones have been led away from the peoples, and all of them will be living confidently within it.
\v 9 But you will ascend and arrive like a tempest and like a cloud, so that you may cover the land, you and all your companies, and the many peoples with you.
\v 10 Thus says the Lord God: In that day, words will climb into your heart, and you will invent a most wicked plan.
\v 11 And you will say: ‘I will ascend to the land without a wall. I will go to those who are resting and dwelling securely. All these live without a wall; they have no bars or gates.’
\v 12 Thus, you will plunder spoils, and you will take possession of prey, so that you may lay your hand upon those who had been abandoned, and afterwards were restored, and upon a people who were gathered away from the Gentiles, a people who have begun to possess, and to be the inhabitants of, the navel of the earth.
\v 13 Sheba, and Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish, and all its lions will say to you: ‘Could you have arrived in order to purchase from the spoils? Behold, you have gathered your multitude in order to plunder a prey, so that you may take silver and gold, and carry away equipment and substance, and plunder immeasurable wealth.’\f + \fr 38:13 \ft The term ‘sumenda’ refers to taking something, but often in a limited manner, such as selecting some from many, or purchasing particular items. So the question is asked as to whether he has arrived to take select spoils. The answer is no, because his plundering is very extensive.\fl (Conte)\f*
\p
\v 14 ¶ Because of this, son of man, prophesy, and you shall say to Gog: Thus says the Lord God: How is it that you do not know of that day, when my people, Israel, will be living in confidence?
\v 15 And you will advance from your place, from the parts of the north, you and the many peoples with you, all of them riding on horses, a great assembly and an immense army.
\v 16 And you will rise up over my people, Israel, like a cloud, so that you may cover the earth. In the latter days, you will be. And I will lead you over my own land, so that the Gentiles may know me, when I will have been sanctified in you, O Gog, before their eyes.
\v 17 Thus says the Lord God: Therefore, you are the one, about whom I spoke in the days of antiquity, by the hand of my servants the prophets of Israel, who prophesied in the days of those times that I would lead you over them.
\v 18 And this shall be in that day, in the day of the advent of Gog over the land of Israel, says the Lord God: my indignation will rise up in my fury.
\v 19 And I have spoken, in my zeal and in the fire of my wrath, that there shall be a great commotion over the land of Israel, in that day.
\v 20 And before my face there shall be stirred up: the fish of the sea, and the flying things of the air, and the beasts of the field, and every crawling thing that moves across the soil, and all the men who are upon the face of the earth. And the mountains will be overturned, and the hedges will fall, and every wall will fall in ruin to the ground.
\v 21 And I will call for the sword against him on all my mountains, says the Lord God. Each one’s sword will be directed toward his brother.
\v 22 And I will judge him by pestilence, and blood, and violent rainstorms, and immense hailstones. I will rain fire and brimstone upon him, and upon his army, and upon the many peoples who are with him.
\v 23 And I will be magnified and sanctified. And I will be known in the eyes of the many nations. And they shall know that I am the Lord.”
\c 39
\cl Ezekiel 39
\cd God’s judgments upon Gog. God’s people were punished for their sins: but shall be favoured with everlasting kindness.
\p
\v 1 ¶ “But as for you, son of man, prophesy against Gog, and you shall say: Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I am above you, O Gog, prince of the head of Meshech and Tubal.
\v 2 And I will turn you around, and I will lead you away, and I will cause you to rise up from the parts of the north. And I will bring you over the mountains of Israel.
\v 3 And I will strike your bow in your left hand, and I will cast away your arrows from your right hand.
\v 4 You will fall upon the mountains of Israel, you and all your companies, and your peoples who are with you. I have given you over to the wild animals, to the birds, and to every flying thing, and to the beasts of the earth, in order to be devoured.
\v 5 You will fall upon the face of the field. For I have spoken, says the Lord God.
\v 6 And I will send a fire upon Magog, and upon those who are living confidently in the islands. And they shall know that I am the Lord.
\v 7 And I will make known my holy name in the midst of my people, Israel, and my holy name will no longer be defiled. And the Gentiles shall know that I am the Lord, the Holy One of Israel.
\v 8 Behold, it approaches, and it is done, says the Lord God. This is the day, about which I have spoken.
\v 9 And the inhabitants from the cities of Israel will go forth, and they will kindle and burn the weapons, the shields and the spears, the bows and the arrows, and the staff and the lance. And they will kindle fires with them for seven years.
\v 10 And they will not carry wood from the countryside, and they will not cut from the forests. For they will kindle the weapons with fire. And they will prey upon those who had preyed upon them, and they will plunder those who had plundered them, says the Lord God.
\v 11 And this shall be in that day: I will give Gog a renowned place as a sepulcher in Israel, the valley of the wayfarers to the east of the sea, which will cause astonishment in those who pass by. And in that place, they will bury Gog and all his multitude, and it will be called the valley of the multitude of Gog.
\v 12 And the house of Israel will bury them, so that they may cleanse the land, for seven months.
\v 13 Then all the people of the earth will bury them, and this shall be for them a renowned day, on which I have been glorified, says the Lord God.
\v 14 And they shall appoint men to continually examine the earth, so that they may seek out and bury those who have remained on the surface of the earth, so that they may cleanse it. Then, after seven months, they will begin to seek.
\v 15 And they will go around, traveling the earth. And when they will have seen the bone of a man, they will station a marker beside it, until the undertakers may bury it in the valley of the multitude of Gog.
\v 16 And the name of the city will be: the Multitude. And they shall cleanse the earth.
\v 17 As for you, then, son of man, thus says the Lord God: Say to every flying thing, and to all the birds, and to all the beasts of the field: Assemble! Hurry! Rush together from every side to my victim, which I have immolated for you, a great victim upon the mountains of Israel, so that you may consume flesh, and drink blood!
\v 18 You shall eat the flesh of the powerful, and you shall drink the blood of the princes of the earth, of rams and lambs and he-goats and bulls, and of fattened birds and all that is fat.
\v 19 And you shall consume the fat unto satiation, and you shall drink the blood unto inebriation, from the victim that I will immolate for you.
\v 20 And you shall be satiated, upon my table, from horses and powerful horsemen, and from all the men of war, says the Lord God.
\v 21 And I will set my glory among the Gentiles. And all the nations shall see my judgment, which I have accomplished, and my hand, which I have laid upon them.
\v 22 And the house of Israel shall know that I am the Lord, their God, from that day and thereafter.
\v 23 And the Gentiles shall know that the house of Israel was taken captive because of their own iniquity, because they abandoned me. And so I concealed my face from them, and I delivered them into the hands of their enemies, and they all fell by the sword.
\v 24 I have acted toward them in accord with their uncleanness and wickedness, and so I concealed my face from them.
\v 25 Because of this, thus says the Lord God: Now I will lead back the captivity of Jacob, and I will take pity upon the entire house of Israel. And I will act with zeal on behalf of my holy name.
\v 26 And they shall bear their shame and all their transgression, by which they betrayed me, though they were living in their own land confidently, dreading no one.
\v 27 And I will lead them back from among the peoples, and I will gather them together from the lands of their enemies, and I will be sanctified in them, in the sight of the many nations.
\v 28 And they shall know that I am the Lord, their God, because I carried them away to the nations, and I gathered them upon their own land, and I did not abandon any of them there.
\v 29 And I will no longer conceal my face from them, for I have poured out my Spirit upon the entire house of Israel, says the Lord God.”
\c 40
\cl Ezekiel 40
\cd The prophet sees in a vision the rebuilding of the temple: the dimensions of several parts thereof.
\p
\v 1 ¶ In the twenty-fifth year of our transmigration, at the beginning of the year, on the tenth of the month, in the fourteenth year after the city was struck, on this very day, the hand of the Lord was placed upon me, and he brought me to that place.\f + \fr 40:1 \ft The beginning of the year would be either Tishri (in the autumn), for the civil calendar year, or Nisan (in the spring), for the sacred calendar year. The tenth of the month of Tishri is Yom Kippur, a significant event in the Jewish religious calendar.\fl (Conte)\f*
\v 2 In the visions of God, he brought me into the land of Israel, and he released me on an exceedingly high mountain, on which there was something like the edifice of a city, verging toward the south.
\v 3 And he led me into that place. And behold, there was a man, whose appearance was like the appearance of brass, with a linen rope in his hand, and a measuring reed in his hand. And he was standing at the gate.
\v 4 And the same man said to me: “Son of man, look with your eyes, and listen with your ears, and set your heart upon all that I will reveal to you. For you have been brought to this place, so that these things may be revealed to you. Announce all that you see to the house of Israel.”
\v 5 And behold, there was a wall outside of the house, encircling it all around, and in the man’s hand was a measuring reed of six cubits and a palm. And he measured the width of the edifice with one reed; likewise, the height with one reed.\f + \fr 40:5 \ft In other words, the length of each cubit was the usual cubit with one palm width added, also called the royal cubit.\fl (Conte)\f*
\p
\v 6 ¶ And he went to the gate which looked toward the east, and he ascended by its steps. And he measured the width of the threshold of the gate as one reed, that is, one threshold was one reed in width.
\v 7 And a chamber was one reed in length and one reed in width. And between the chambers, there were five cubits.
\v 8 And the threshold of the gate, next to the inner vestibule of the gate, was one reed.\f + \fr 40:8 \ft A reed is six cubits, and each cubit is the royal cubit, which is longer by one palm width than the usual cubit.\fl (Conte)\f*
\v 9 And he measured the vestibule of the gate as eight cubits, and its front as two cubits. But the vestibule of the gate was inside.
\v 10 Moreover, the chambers of the gate, toward the way of the east, were three from one side to the other. The three were of one measure, and the fronts were of one measure, on both sides.
\v 11 And he measured the width of the threshold of the gate as ten cubits, and the length of the gate as thirteen cubits.
\v 12 And before the chambers, the border was one cubit. And on both sides, the border was one cubit. But the chambers were six cubits, from one side to the other.
\v 13 And he measured the gate, from the roof of one chamber to the roof of another, twenty-five cubits in width, from door to door.
\v 14 And he found the fronts to be sixty cubits. And at the front, there was a court for the gate on every side all around.
\v 15 And before the face of the gate, which extended even to the face of the vestibule of the gate of the interior, there were fifty cubits.
\v 16 And there were slanting windows in the chambers and at their fronts, which were within the gate on every side all around. And similarly, there were also windows in the vestibules all around the interior, and there were images of palm trees before the fronts.
\v 17 And he led me away to the outer court, and behold, there were storerooms and a layer of pavement stones throughout the court. Thirty storerooms encircled the pavement.\f + \fr 40:17 \fk There were chambers: \ft Gazophylacia, so called, because the priests and Levites kept in them the stores and vessels that belonged to the temple.\fl (Challoner)\f*
\v 18 And the pavement in front of the gates, along the length of the gates, was lower.
\v 19 And he measured the width, from the face of the lower gate to the front of the outer part of the inner court, to be one hundred cubits, to the east and to the north.
\p
\v 20 ¶ Likewise, he measured the gate of the outer court, which looked to the way of the north, to be as much in length as in width.
\v 21 And its chambers were three from one side to the other. And its front and its vestibule, in accord with the measure of the former gate, were fifty cubits in its length and twenty-five cubits in width.
\v 22 Now its windows, and the vestibule, and the engravings were in accord with the measure of the gate which looked to the east. And its ascent was by seven steps, and a vestibule was before it.
\v 23 And the gate of the inner court was opposite the gate of the north, and that of the east. And he measured from gate to gate as one hundred cubits.
\p
\v 24 ¶ And he led me to the way of the south, and behold, there was a gate which looked toward the south. And he measured its front and its vestibule to be the same as the measures above.
\v 25 And its windows and the vestibule all around were like the other windows: fifty cubits in length and twenty-five cubits in width.
\v 26 And there were seven steps to ascend to it, and a vestibule before its doors. And there were engraved palm trees, one on each side, at its front.
\v 27 And there was a gate at the inner court, on the way to the south. And he measured from one gate to another, on the way to the south, to be one hundred cubits.
\v 28 And he led me into the inner court, to the south gate. And he measured the gate to be in accord with the measures above.
\v 29 Its chamber, and its front, and its vestibule had the same measures. And its windows and its vestibule all around were fifty cubits in length, and twenty-five cubits in width.
\v 30 And the vestibule all around was twenty-five cubits in length, and five cubits in width.
\v 31 And its vestibule was toward the outer court, and its palm trees were at the front. And there were eight steps to ascend to it.
\v 32 And he led me into the inner court, along the way of the east. And he measured the gate to be in accord with the measures above.
\v 33 Its chamber, and its front, and its vestibule were as above. And its windows and its vestibules all around were fifty cubits in length, and twenty-five cubits in width.
\v 34 And it had a vestibule, that is, at the outer court. And the engraved palm trees at its front were on one side and the other. And its ascent was by eight steps.
\p
\v 35 ¶ And he led me to the gate which looked toward the north. And he measured it to be in accord with the measures above.
\v 36 Its chamber, and its front, and its vestibule, and its windows all around were fifty cubits in length, and twenty-five cubits in width.
\v 37 And its vestibule looked toward the outer court. And an engraving of palm trees at its front was on one side and the other. And its ascent was by eight steps.
\v 38 And at each one of the storerooms, there was a door at the front of the gates. There, they washed the holocaust.
\p
\v 39 ¶ And at the vestibule of the gate, there were two tables on one side, and two tables on the other side, so that the holocaust, and the offering for sin, and the offering for transgression could be immolated upon them.
\v 40 And at the outer side, which ascends to the door of the gate that goes toward the north, there were two tables. And at the other side, before the vestibule of the gate, there were two tables.
\v 41 Four tables were on one side, and four tables were on the other side; along the sides of the gate, there were eight tables, upon which they immolated.
\v 42 Now the four tables for the holocausts were constructed of square stones: one and a half cubit in length, and one and a half cubits in width, and one cubit in height. Upon these, they placed the vessels, in which the holocaust and the victim were immolated.
\v 43 And their edges were one palm in width, turned inward all around. And the flesh of the oblation was on the tables.
\p
\v 44 ¶ And outside the interior gate, there were storerooms for the cantors, in the inner court, which was beside the gate that looks toward the north. And their face was opposite the way to the south; one was beside the east gate, which looked toward the way of the north.
\v 45 And he said to me: “This is the storeroom that looks toward the south; it shall be for the priests who keep watch for the protection of the temple.
\v 46 Moreover, the storeroom that looks toward the north will be for the priests who keep watch over the ministry of the altar. These are the sons of Zadok, those among the sons of Levi who may draw near to the Lord, so that they may minister to him.”
\v 47 And he measured the court to be one hundred cubits in length, and one hundred cubits in width, with four equal sides. And the altar was before the face of the temple.
\p
\v 48 ¶ And he led me into the vestibule of the temple. And he measured the vestibule to be five cubits on one side, and five cubits on the other side. And the width of the gate was three cubits on one side, and three cubits on the other side.
\v 49 Now the length of the vestibule was twenty cubits, and the width was eleven cubits, and there were eight steps to ascend to it. And there were pillars at the front, one on this side and another on that side.
\c 41
\cl Ezekiel 41
\cd A description of the temple, and of all the parts of it.
\p
\v 1 ¶ And he led me into the temple, and he measured the front to be six cubits in width on one side, and six cubits in width on the other side, which is the width of the tabernacle.\f + \fr 41:1 \fk The temple: \ft This plan of a temple, which was here shown to the prophet in a vision, partly had relation to the material temple, which was to be rebuilt: and partly, in a mystical sense, to the spiritual temple of God, the church of Christ.\fl (Challoner)\f*
\v 2 And the width of the gate was ten cubits. And the sides of the gate were five cubits on one side, and five cubits on the other side. And he measured its length to be forty cubits, and the width to be twenty cubits.
\v 3 And proceeding inward, he measured the front of the gate to be two cubits. And the gate was six cubits, and the width of the gate was seven cubits.
\v 4 And he measured its length to be twenty cubits, and its width to be twenty cubits, before the face of the temple. And he said to me, “This is the Holy of Holies.”
\v 5 And he measured the wall of the house to be six cubits, and the width of the sides to be four cubits, all around the house on every side.
\v 6 Now the side chambers were side by side, and twice thirty-three. And they projected outward, so that they might enter along the wall of the house, on the sides all around, in order to contain, but not touch, the wall of the temple.\f + \fr 41:6 \fk One by another: \ft Or one over another; literally, side to side, or side upon side.\fl (Challoner)\f*
\v 7 And there was a broad circular path, rising upward by winding, and it led to the cenacle of the temple by a circular course. As a result, the temple was wider in the higher parts. And so, from the lower parts, they rose up to the higher parts, in the center.
\v 8 And in the house, I saw the height all around the foundations of the side chambers, which were the measure of a reed, the space of six cubits.
\v 9 And the width of the exterior wall for the side chambers was five cubits. And the inner house was within the side chambers of the house.\f + \fr 41:9 \fk And the inner house was within the side chambers of the house: \ft Because these side chambers were in the very walls of the temple all round. Or, it may also be rendered (more agreeably to the Hebrew) so as to signify that the thickness of the wall for the side chamber within, was the same as that of the wall without; that is, equally five cubits.\fl (Challoner)\f*
\v 10 And between the storerooms, there was the width of twenty cubits, all around the house on every side.
\v 11 And the door of the side chambers was toward the place of prayer. One door was toward the way of the north, and one door was toward the way of the south. And the width of the place for prayer was five cubits all around.
\v 12 And the edifice, which was separate, and which verged toward the way looking toward the sea, was seventy cubits in width. But the wall of the edifice was five cubits in width on all sides, and its length was ninety cubits.
\v 13 And he measured the length of the house to be one hundred cubits, and the edifice, which was separate, with its walls, to be one hundred cubits in length.
\v 14 Now the width before the face of the house, and of that which was separate facing the east, was one hundred cubits.
\v 15 And he measured the length of the edifice opposite its face, which was separated at the back, and the porticos on both sides, to be one hundred cubits, with the inner temple and the vestibules of the court.
\v 16 The thresholds, and the oblique windows, and the porticoes, encircling it on three sides, were opposite the threshold of each one, and were floored with wood throughout the entire area. But the floor reached even to the windows, and the windows were closed above the doors;
\v 17 and it reached even to the inner house, and to the exterior, throughout the entire wall, all around the interior and exterior, for the entire extent.
\v 18 And there were cherubim and palm trees wrought, and each palm tree was between one cherub and another, and every cherub had two faces.
\v 19 The face of a man was closest to the palm tree on one side, and the face of a lion was closest to the palm tree on the other side. This was depicted throughout the entire house all around.
\v 20 From the floor, even to the upper parts of the gate, there were cherubim and palm trees engraved in the wall of the temple.
\v 21 The square threshold and the face of the sanctuary were one sight facing the other.\f + \fr 41:21 \ft In other words, the front of the sanctuary was aligned with the threshold, so that the sanctuary could be seen through the threshold.\fl (Conte)\f*\f + \fr 41:21 \fk The threshold was foursquare: \ft That is, the gate of the temple was foursquare: and so placed as to answer the gate of the sanctuary within.\fl (Challoner)\f*
\v 22 The altar of wood was three cubits in height, and its length was two cubits. And its corners, and its length, and its walls were of wood. And he said to me, “This is the table in the sight of the Lord.”
\v 23 And there were two doors in the temple and in the sanctuary.
\v 24 And in the two doors, on both sides, were two little doors, which were folded within each other. For two doors were on both sides of the doors.
\v 25 And cherubim were engraved in the same doors of the temple, with the figures of palm trees, as were depicted also on the walls. For this reason also, the boards were thicker in the front of the vestibule on the exterior.
\v 26 Upon these were the oblique windows, with the representation of palm trees on one side as well as on the other, at the sides of the vestibule, in accord with the sides of the house, and the width of the walls.
\c 42
\cl Ezekiel 42
\cd A description of the courts, chambers, and other places belonging to the temple.
\p
\v 1 ¶ And he led me into the outer court by the way that leads to the north, and he led me into the storeroom that was opposite the separate edifice, and opposite the shrine that verges toward the north.
\v 2 The length of the face of the north gate was one hundred cubits, and the width was fifty cubits.
\v 3 Opposite the twenty cubits of the interior court, and opposite the layer of pavement stones in the outer court, in that place, there was a portico joined to a triple portico.
\v 4 And before the storerooms, there was a walkway of ten cubits in width, looking toward the interior along a way of one cubit. And their doors were toward the north.
\v 5 In that place, there were storerooms in the upper part of the lower level. For they supported the porticos, which projected from them out of the lower level, and out of the middle of the building.
\v 6 For they were of three levels, and they did not have pillars, as they were like the pillars of the courts. Because of this, they projected from the lower levels and from the middle, fifty cubits from the ground.
\v 7 And the exterior enclosing wall, adjacent to the storerooms that were along the way of the exterior court in front of the storerooms, was fifty cubits long.
\v 8 For the length of the storerooms of the exterior court was fifty cubits, and the length before the face of the temple was one hundred cubits.
\v 9 And under these storerooms, there was an entrance from the east, for those who were entering into it from the outer court.
\v 10 In the width of the enclosing wall of the court that was opposite the way of the east, at the face of the separate edifice, there were also storerooms, before the edifice.
\v 11 And the way before their face was in accord with the form of the storerooms which were along the way of the north. As was their length, so also was their width. And the entire entrance, and the likenesses, and their doors
\v 12 were in accord with the doors of the storerooms that were on the way looking toward the Renown. There was a door at the head of the way, and the way was before a separate vestibule, along the way entering toward the east.
\p
\v 13 ¶ And he said to me: “The storerooms of the north, and the storerooms of the south, which are before the separate edifice, these are holy storerooms, in which the priests, who draw near to the Lord in the Holy of Holies, shall eat. There they shall station the Holy of Holies, and the offering for sin, and for trespasses. For it is a holy place.
\v 14 And when the priests will have entered, they shall not depart from the holy places into the outer court. And in that place, they shall set their vestments, in which they minister, for they are holy. And they shall be clothed with other vestments, and in this manner they shall go forth to the people.”
\v 15 And when he had completed measuring the inner house, he led me out along the way of the gate that looked toward the way of the east. And he measured it on every side all around.
\v 16 Then he measured facing the east wind with the measuring reed: five hundred reeds with the measuring reed throughout the course.
\v 17 And he measured facing the wind of the north: five hundred reeds with the measuring reed throughout the course.
\v 18 And toward the south wind, he measured five hundred reeds with the measuring reed throughout the course.
\p
\v 19 ¶ And toward the west wind, he measured five hundred reeds with the measuring reed.
\v 20 By the four winds, he measured its wall, on every side throughout the course: five hundred cubits in length and five hundred cubits in width, dividing between the sanctuary and the place of the common people.
\c 43
\cl Ezekiel 43
\cd The glory of God returns to the new temple. The Israelites shall no more profane God’s name by idolatry: the prophet is commanded to show them the dimensions, and form of the temple, and of the altar, with the sacrifices to be offered thereon.
\p
\v 1 ¶ And he led me to the gate which looked toward the way of the east.
\v 2 And behold, the glory of the God of Israel entered along the way of the east. And his voice was like the voice of many waters. And the earth was resplendent before his majesty.
\v 3 And I saw a vision in accord with the form that I had seen when he arrived so that he might destroy the city. And the form was in accord with the sight that I had seen beside the river Chebar. And I fell upon my face.
\v 4 And the majesty of the Lord advanced into the temple, along the way of the gate which looked toward the east.
\v 5 And the Spirit lifted me up and brought me into the inner court. And behold, the house was filled with the glory of the Lord.
\v 6 And I heard someone speaking to me from the house, and the man who was standing beside me
\p
\v 7 ¶ said to me: “Son of man, the place of my throne, and the place of the steps of my feet, is where I live: in the midst of the sons of Israel forever. And the house of Israel, they and their kings, shall no longer defile my holy name by their fornications, and by the ruinous ways of their kings, and by exalted places.
\v 8 They have fabricated their threshold beside my threshold, and their doorposts beside my doorposts. And there was a wall between me and them. And they defiled my holy name by the abominations which they committed. Because of this, I consumed them in my wrath.
\v 9 Now therefore, let them drive away their fornications, and the ruinous ways of their kings, from before me. And I will live in their midst forever.
\p
\v 10 ¶ But as for you, son of man, reveal the temple to the house of Israel, and let them be confounded by their iniquities, and let them measure the fabrication,
\v 11 and let them be ashamed at all the things that they have done. Reveal to them the form and the fabrication of the house, its exits and entrances, and its entire description, and all of its precepts, and its entire order, and all of its laws. And you shall write in their sight, so that they may observe its entire description and its precepts, and so that they may accomplish them.”
\v 12 This is the law of the house at the summit of the mountain, with all its parts all around. It is the Holy of Holies. Therefore, this is the law of the house.
\p
\v 13 ¶ Now these are the measures of the altar by the most true cubit, which has a cubit and a palm. Its bend was a cubit, and it was a cubit in width. And its boundary, even to its edge and all around, was the width of one palm. The trough of the altar was like this also.
\v 14 And from the bend at the floor even to the furthest rim was two cubits, and the width was one cubit. And from the lesser rim even to the greater rim was four cubits, and the width was one cubit.
\v 15 Now the hearth itself was four cubits. And from the hearth going upward, there were four horns.\f + \fr 43:15 \fk The Ariel: \ft That is, the altar itself, or rather the highest part of it, upon which the burnt offerings were laid. In the Hebrew it is Harel, that is, the mountain of God: but in the following verse Haariel, that is, the lion of God; a figure, from its consuming, and as it were devouring the sacrifices, as a lion devours its prey.\fl (Challoner)\f*
\v 16 And the hearth was twelve cubits in length by twelve cubits in width, foursquare, with equal sides.
\v 17 And the rim was fourteen cubits in length, by fourteen cubits in width, at its four corners. And the crown all around it was one half cubit, and its bend was one cubit all around. And its steps turned toward the east.
\p
\v 18 ¶ And he said to me: “Son of man, thus says the Lord God: These are the rituals of the altar, in whatever day it will be made, so that holocausts may be offered upon it, and blood may be poured out.
\v 19 And you shall present these to the priests and to the Levites, who are of the offspring of Zadok, those who draw near to me, says the Lord God, so that they may offer to me a calf from the herd on behalf of sin.
\v 20 And you shall take from its blood, and you shall place it on its four horns, and on the four corners of the rim, and on the crown all around. And so shall you cleanse and expiate it.
\v 21 And you shall take the calf, which will be offered for sin, and you shall burn it in a separate place in the house, outside of the sanctuary.
\v 22 And on the second day, you shall offer an immaculate he-goat from among the she-goats on behalf of sin. And they shall expiate the altar, just as they expiated it with the calf.
\v 23 And when you will have completed expiating it, you shall offer an immaculate calf from the herd and an immaculate ram from the flock.
\v 24 And you shall offer them in the sight of the Lord. And the priests shall sprinkle salt over them, and they shall offer them as a holocaust to the Lord.
\v 25 For seven days, you shall offer daily a he-goat on behalf of sin. Also, they shall offer a calf from the herd, and a ram from the flock, ones that are immaculate.
\v 26 For seven days, they shall expiate the altar, and they shall cleanse it, and they shall fill its hand.\f + \fr 43:26 \fk Consecrate it: \ft Literally, fill its hand, that is, dedicate and apply it to holy service.\fl (Challoner)\f*
\v 27 Then, when the days have been completed, on the eighth day and thereafter, the priests shall offer your holocausts upon the altar along with the peace offering. And I will be pleased with you, says the Lord God.”
\c 44
\cl Ezekiel 44
\cd The east gate of the sanctuary shall be always shut. The uncircumcised shall not enter into the sanctuary: nor the Levites that have served idols: but the sons of Sadoc shall do the priestly functions, who stood firm in the worst of times.
\p
\v 1 ¶ And he turned me back, toward the way of the gate of the outer sanctuary, which looked toward the east. And it was closed.
\v 2 And the Lord said to me: “This gate will be closed; it will not be opened. And man shall not cross through it. For the Lord, the God of Israel, has entered through it, and it shall be closed
\v 3 to the prince. The prince himself will sit at it, so that he may eat bread before the Lord; he will enter by the way of the vestibule of the gate, and he will depart by the same way.”
\p
\v 4 ¶ And he led me in, along the way of the north gate, in the sight of the house. And I saw, and behold, the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord. And I fell upon my face.
\v 5 And the Lord said to me: “Son of man, set within your heart, and see with your eyes, and hear with your ears all that I am speaking to you about all the ceremonies of the house of the Lord and about all its laws. And set your heart upon the ways of the temple, along all the exits of the sanctuary.
\v 6 And you shall say to the house of Israel, which provokes me: Thus says the Lord God: Let all your wicked deeds be sufficient for you, O house of Israel.
\v 7 For you bring in foreign sons, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, so that they may be in my sanctuary and may defile my house. And you offer my bread, the fat, and the blood, yet you have broken my covenant by all your wicked deeds.
\v 8 And you have not observed the precepts of my sanctuary, yet you have stationed observers of my vigil in my sanctuary for yourselves.
\p
\v 9 ¶ Thus says the Lord God: Any foreigner, any foreign son who is in the midst of the sons of Israel, who is uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, shall not enter into my sanctuary.
\v 10 And as for the Levites, they have withdrawn far away from me, in the errors of the sons of Israel, and they have gone astray from me after their idols, and they have borne their iniquity.
\v 11 They will be caretakers in my sanctuary, and doorkeepers at the gates of the house, and ministers to the house. They will slay the holocausts and the victims of the people. And they will stand before them, so that they may minister to them.
\v 12 But because they ministered to them in the sight their idols, and they became a stumbling block of iniquity to the house of Israel, for this reason, I have lifted up my hand against them, says the Lord God, and they will bear their iniquity.
\v 13 And they shall not draw near to me, so as to exercise the priesthood for me, and they shall not approach to any of my holy things, which are near the Holy of Holies. Instead, they will bear their shame and their wicked deeds, which they committed.
\v 14 And I will make them doorkeepers of the house, for all its ministries and for all that will be done within it.
\p
\v 15 ¶ But the priests and the Levites who are the sons of Zadok, who observed the ceremonies of my sanctuary when the sons of Israel went astray from me, these shall draw near to me, so that they may minister for me. And they shall stand in my sight, so that they may offer to me the fat and the blood, says the Lord God.
\v 16 They shall enter into my sanctuary, and they shall draw near to my table, so that they may minister for me, and so that they may observe my ceremonies.
\p
\v 17 ¶ And when they enter the gates of the inner court, they shall be clothed with linen garments. Neither shall anything woolen be placed over them, when they minister within the gates of the inner and the outer court.
\v 18 They shall have linen bands on their heads, and linen undergarments over their loins, and they shall not be girded so as to sweat.
\v 19 And when they go forth to the outer court to the people, they shall strip off their vestments, in which they ministered, and they shall place them in the storeroom of the sanctuary, and they shall clothe themselves with other garments. And they shall not sanctify the people in their vestments.\f + \fr 44:19 \fk Shall not sanctify the people with their vestments: \ft By exposing them to the danger of touching the sacred vestments, which none were to touch but they that were sanctified.\fl (Challoner)\f*
\v 20 Now they shall not shave their heads, and they shall not grow long hair. Instead, they shall trim the hair of their heads.
\v 21 And no priest shall drink wine, when he will be entering into the inner court.
\v 22 And they shall not take as wife a widow or one who has been divorced. Instead, they shall take virgins from the offspring of the house of Israel. But they may also take a widow, if she is the widow of a priest.
\v 23 And they shall teach my people the difference between holy and defiled, and they shall distinguish for them between clean and unclean.
\v 24 And when there has been a controversy, they shall stand in my judgments, and they shall judge. They shall observe my laws and my precepts, in all my solemnities, and they shall sanctify my Sabbaths.
\p
\v 25 ¶ And they shall not enter to a dead person, lest they be defiled, except to father or mother, or son or daughter, or brother, or to a sister who does not have another man. By these, they may become unclean.
\v 26 And after he will have been cleansed, they shall number for him seven days.
\v 27 And on the day when he enters into the sanctuary, to the inner court, so that he may minister to me in the sanctuary, he shall make an offering because of his offense, says the Lord God.
\v 28 And there shall be no inheritance for them. I am their inheritance. And you shall not give them any possession in Israel. For I am their possession.
\v 29 They shall eat the victim both for sin and for offenses. And every vowed offering in Israel shall be theirs.
\v 30 And the first-fruits of all the firstborn, and all the libations out of all that is offered, shall belong to the priests. And you shall give the first-fruits of your foods to the priest, so that he may return a blessing to your house.
\v 31 The priests shall not consume anything which has died on its own, or which was seized by a beast, whether from the fowl or the cattle.”
\c 45
\cl Ezekiel 45
\cd Portions of land for the sanctuary, for the city, and for the prince. Ordinances for the prince.
\p
\v 1 ¶ “And when you will begin to divide the land by lot, separate as first-fruits for the Lord a sanctified portion of the land, in length twenty-five thousand and in width ten thousand. It will be holy within all its borders all around.\f + \fr 45:1 \fk Twenty-five thousand: \ft Viz., reeds or cubits.\fl (Challoner)\f*
\v 2 And there shall be, out of the entire region, a sanctified portion of five hundred by five hundred, foursquare all around, with fifty cubits for its suburbs on all sides.
\v 3 And with this measure, you shall measure a length of twenty-five thousand, and a width of ten thousand, and within it shall be the temple and the Holy of Holies.
\v 4 The sanctified portion of the land shall be for the priests, the ministers of the sanctuary, who approach for the ministry of the Lord. And it shall be a place for their houses, and for the holy place of the sanctuary.
\v 5 Now twenty-five thousand in length, and ten thousand in width shall be for the Levites, who minister in the house. They shall possess twenty storerooms.
\p
\v 6 ¶ And you shall appoint a possession in the city of five thousand in width, and twenty-five thousand in length, in accord with the separation of the sanctuary, for the entire house of Israel.
\p
\v 7 ¶ Appoint the same for the prince, on one side and on the other, in the separation of the sanctuary, and in the possession of the city, opposite the face of the separation of the sanctuary, and opposite the face of the possession of the city, from the side of the sea even to the sea, and from the side of the east even to the east. And the length shall be just as in each part, from the western border even to the eastern border.
\v 8 A portion of the land in Israel shall be for him. And the princes shall no longer plunder my people. Instead, they shall give the land to the house of Israel according to their tribes.
\p
\v 9 ¶ Thus says the Lord God: Let this be sufficient for you, O princes of Israel! Cease from iniquity and robberies, and execute judgment and justice. Separate your confines from my people, says the Lord God.
\v 10 You shall have just scales, and a just unit of dry measure, and a just unit of liquid measure.
\v 11 The units of dry and liquid measure shall be one uniform measure, so that a bath contains one tenth part of a cor, and an ephah contains one tenth part of a cor; each shall be of equal volume in accord with the measure of a cor.\f + \fr 45:11 \fk The ephi and the bate: \ft These measures were of equal capacity, but the bate served for liquids, and the ephi for dry things.\fl (Challoner)\f*
\v 12 Now the shekel consists of twenty obols. Furthermore, twenty shekels, and twenty-five shekels, and fifteen shekels makes one mina.
\v 13 And these are the first-fruits that you shall take: a sixth part of an ephah from each cor of wheat, and a sixth part of an ephah from each cor of barley.
\v 14 Likewise, a measure of oil, a bath of oil, is one tenth part of a cor. And ten baths make one cor. For ten baths complete one cor.
\v 15 And take one ram from each flock of two hundred, out of those that Israel tends for sacrifice and holocausts and peace offerings, in order to make an expiation for them, says the Lord God.
\v 16 All the people of the land will take hold of these first-fruits for the prince in Israel.
\v 17 And concerning the prince, there shall be holocausts and sacrifice and libations, on solemnities and new moons and Sabbaths, and on all the solemnities of the house of Israel. He himself shall offer the sacrifice for sin, and the holocaust, and the peace offerings, in order to make expiation for the house of Israel.
\p
\v 18 ¶ Thus says the Lord God: In the first month, on the first of the month, you shall take an immaculate calf from the herd, and you shall expiate the sanctuary.
\v 19 And the priest shall take from the blood that will be for the sin offering. And he shall place it on the doorposts of the house, and on the four corners of the rim of the altar, and on the posts of the gate of the inner court.
\v 20 And so shall you do on the seventh day of the month, on behalf of each one who was ignorant or who was deceived by error. And you shall make expiation for the house.\f + \fr 45:20 \ft If you commit an offense against God, without knowing that it was an offense, the act itself is still wrong. You may have some guilt due to culpable ignorance, or due to an error obtained by a less than entirely sincere search for truth. But even if your offense is one of invincible ignorance, the act itself was still a disorder, contrary to the will and plan of God. And so sacrifices are offered even for such offenses.\fl (Conte)\f*
\v 21 In the first month, the fourteenth day of the month shall be for you the solemnity of the Passover. For seven days, unleavened bread shall be eaten.
\v 22 And on that day, the prince shall offer, on behalf of himself and on behalf of all the people of the land, a calf for sin.
\v 23 And during the solemnity of the seven days, he shall offer a holocaust to the Lord of seven immaculate calves and seven immaculate rams, daily for seven days, and a he-goat from among the she-goats, daily for sin.
\v 24 And he shall offer the sacrifice of an ephah for each calf, and an ephah for each ram, and a hin of oil for every ephah.
\v 25 In the seventh month, on the fifteenth day of the month, during the solemnities, he shall do just as was said above for the seven days, as much for the sin offering, as for the holocaust and sacrifice and oil.”
\c 46
\cl Ezekiel 46
\cd Other ordinances for the prince and for the sacrifices.
\p
\v 1 ¶ Thus says the Lord God: “The gate of the inner court which looks toward the east shall be closed for the six days on which work is done. Then, on the Sabbath day, it shall be opened. But also on the day of the new moon, it shall be opened.
\v 2 And the prince shall enter from outside, by the way of the vestibule of the gate, and he shall stand at the threshold of the gate. And the priests shall offer his holocaust and his peace offerings. And he shall adore upon the threshold of the gate, and then depart. But the gate shall not be closed until evening.
\v 3 And the people of the land shall adore at the entrance of the same gate, on the Sabbaths and on the new moons, in the sight of the Lord.
\v 4 Now this holocaust, which the prince shall offer to the Lord on the Sabbath day, shall be six immaculate lambs, and one immaculate ram.
\v 5 The sacrifice shall be one ephah for each ram. But for the lambs, the sacrifice shall be whatever his hand shall give. And there shall be one hin of oil for each ephah.
\v 6 Then, on the day of the new moon, he shall offer one immaculate calf from the herd. Both the six lambs and the rams shall be immaculate.
\v 7 And he shall offer the sacrifice of one ephah for each calf, and also one ephah for each ram. But for the lambs, it shall be just as his hand will find. And there shall be one hin of oil for each ephah.
\v 8 And when the prince will enter, let him enter by the way of the vestibule of the gate, and let him go out by the same way.
\p
\v 9 ¶ And when the people of the land will enter in the sight of the Lord on the solemnities, whoever enters by the north gate so that he may adore, shall depart by the way of the south gate. And whoever enters by the way of the south gate shall depart by the way of the north gate. He shall not return by way of the gate through which he entered. Instead, he shall depart from the direction opposite to it.
\v 10 But the prince in their midst shall enter when they enter, and he shall depart when they depart.
\v 11 And during the feasts and the solemnities, there shall be the sacrifice of one ephah for each calf, and one ephah for each ram. But for the lambs, the sacrifice shall be just as his hand will find. And there shall be one hin of oil for each ephah.
\v 12 But when the prince will offer a voluntary holocaust or a voluntary peace offering to the Lord, the gate which looks toward the east shall be opened to him. And he shall offer his holocaust and his peace offerings, just as is usually done on the Sabbath day. And he shall depart, and the gate shall be closed after he has gone out.
\v 13 And daily he shall offer, as a holocaust to the Lord, an immaculate lamb of the same age. He shall offer it always in the morning.
\v 14 And he shall offer as a sacrifice with it, morning after morning, one sixth part of an ephah, and one third part of a hin of oil, to be mixed with the fine flour, as a sacrifice to the Lord, by a continual and everlasting ordinance.
\v 15 He shall offer the lamb and the sacrifice and the oil, morning after morning, as an everlasting holocaust.
\p
\v 16 ¶ Thus says the Lord God: If the prince grants a gift to any of his sons, the inheritance of it will go to his sons; they shall possess it as an inheritance.
\v 17 But if he grants a legacy from his inheritance to one of his servants, it shall be his only until the year of remission, and then it shall be returned to the prince. For his inheritance shall go to his sons.
\v 18 And the prince shall not take from the inheritance of the people by force, nor from their possession. Instead, from his own possession, he shall give an inheritance to his sons, so that my people will not be scattered, each one from his possession.”
\v 19 And he led me in by the entrance which was at the side of the gate, into the storerooms of the sanctuary for the priests, which looked toward the north. And there was a place there which verged toward the west.
\v 20 And he said to me: “This is the place where the priests will cook the offering for sin and the offering for trespasses. Here, they shall cook the sacrifice, so that they need not carry it to the outer court, and so that the people may be sanctified.”
\v 21 And he led me away to the outer court, and he led me around by the four corners of the court. And behold, there was a little atrium at the corner of the court; a little atrium was at each corner of the court.
\v 22 At the four corners of the court, little atriums were positioned, forty cubits in length, and thirty in width; each of the four were of the same measure.
\v 23 And there was a wall all around, encircling the four little atriums. And kitchens had been constructed under the porticos on all sides.
\v 24 And he said to me: “This is the house of the kitchens, in which the ministers of the house of the Lord will cook the victims of the people.”
\c 47
\cl Ezekiel 47
\cd The vision of the holy waters issuing out from under the temple: the borders of the land to be divided among the twelve tribes.
\p
\v 1 ¶ And he turned me back to the gate of the house. And behold, waters went out, from under the threshold of the house, toward the east. For the face of the house looked toward the east. But the waters descended on the right side of the temple, toward the south of the altar.\f + \fr 47:1 \fk Waters: \ft These waters are not to be understood literally (for there were none such that flowed from the temple); but mystically, of the baptism of Christ, and of his doctrine and his grace: the trees that grow on the banks are Christian virtues: the fishes are Christians, that spiritually live in and by these holy waters, the fishermen are the apostles, and apostolic preachers: the fenny places, where there is no health, are such as by being out of the church are separated from these waters of life.\fl (Challoner)\f*
\v 2 And he led me out, along the way of the north gate, and he turned me back toward the way outside the exterior gate, the way which looked toward the east. And behold, the waters overflowed on the right side.
\v 3 Then the man who held the rope in his hand departed toward the east, and he measured one thousand cubits. And he led me forward, through the water, up to the ankles.
\v 4 And again he measured one thousand, and he led me forward, through the water, up to the knees.
\v 5 And he measured one thousand, and he led me forward, through the water, up to the waist. And he measured one thousand, into a torrent, through which I was not able to pass. For the waters had risen to become a profound torrent, which was not able to be crossed.
\p
\v 6 ¶ And he said to me: “Son of man, certainly you have seen.” And he led me out, and he turned me back to the bank of the torrent.
\v 7 And when I had turned myself around, behold, on the bank of the torrent, there were very many trees on both sides.
\v 8 And he said to me: “These waters, which go forth toward the hillocks of sand to the east, and which descend to the plains of the desert, will enter the sea, and will go out, and the waters will be healed.
\v 9 And every living soul that moves, wherever the torrent arrives, will live. And there will be more than enough fish, after these waters have arrived there, and they will be healed. And all things will live, where the torrent arrives.
\v 10 And fishermen will stand over these waters. There will be the drying of nets, from Engedi even to Eneglaim. There will be very many kinds of fish within it: a very great multitude, like the fish of the great sea.
\v 11 But on its shore and in the marshes, they will not be healed. For these will be made into salt pits.
\v 12 And above the torrent, on its banks on both sides, every kind of fruit tree will rise up. Their foliage will not fall away, and their fruit will not fail. Every single month they will bring forth first-fruits. For its waters will go forth from the sanctuary. And its fruits will be for food, and its leaves will be for medicine.”
\p
\v 13 ¶ Thus says the Lord God: “This is the border, by which you shall possess the land, in accord with the twelve tribes of Israel. For Joseph shall have a double portion.\f + \fr 47:13 \ft The phrase ‘duplicem funiculum’ literally refers to a double rope, i.e. the rope or line used to measure each portion.\fl (Conte)\f*
\v 14 And you shall possess it, each one in equal manner as his brother. I lifted up my hand over it, so that I might give it to your fathers. And this land shall fall to you as a possession.
\v 15 Now this is the border of the land toward the northern region, from the great sea, by the way of Hethlon, arriving at Zedad:
\v 16 Hamath, Berothah, Sibraim, which is between the border of Damascus and the confines of Hamath, the house of Ticon, which is beside the border of Hauran,
\v 17 and the border will be from the sea, even to the entrance of Enon, at the border of Damascus, and from the north to the north, at the border of Hamath, on the northern side.
\v 18 Moreover, the eastern region will be from the midst of Hauran, and from the midst of Damascus, and from the midst of Gilead, and from the midst of the land of Israel, to the Jordan, marking the boundary to the eastern sea. For so shall you measure the eastern region.
\v 19 Now the southern region, toward the meridian, will be from Tamar, even to the Waters of Contradiction at Kadesh, and from the Torrent, even to the great sea. And this is the southern region, toward the meridian.
\v 20 And the region toward the sea will have its confines from the great sea continuing directly until one arrives at Hamath. This is the region of the sea.
\v 21 And you shall divide this land among yourselves according to the tribes of Israel.
\p
\v 22 ¶ And you shall distribute it by lot as an inheritance, for yourselves and for the new arrival who will be added to you, who will conceive sons in your midst. And they shall be to you as the indigenous among the sons of Israel. They shall divide the possession with you, in the midst of the tribes of Israel.
\v 23 And in whatever tribe the new arrival will be, there you shall give a possession to him, says the Lord God.”
\c 48
\cl Ezekiel 48
\cd The portions of the twelve tribes, of the sanctuary, of the city, and of the prince. The dimensions and gates of the city.
\p
\v 1 ¶ “And these are the names of the tribes, from the parts of the north, beside the way of Hethlon, continuing on to Hamath, at the entrance of Enon, to the border of Damascus toward the north, beside the way of Hamath. And from the region of the east to the sea, there will be one portion for Dan.
\v 2 And beyond the border of Dan, from the eastern region, even to the region of the sea, there shall be one portion for Asher.
\v 3 And beyond the border of Asher, from the eastern region, even to the region of the sea, there shall be one portion for Naphtali.
\v 4 And beyond the border of Naphtali, from the eastern region, even to the region of the sea, there shall be one portion for Manasseh.
\v 5 And beyond the border of Manasseh, from the eastern region, even to the region of the sea, there shall be one portion for Ephraim.
\v 6 And beyond the border of Ephraim, from the eastern region, even to the region of the sea, there shall be one portion for Reuben.
\v 7 And beyond the border of Reuben, from the eastern region, even to the region of the sea, there shall be one portion for Judah.
\p
\v 8 ¶ And beyond the border of Judah, from the eastern region, even to the region of the sea, there shall be the first-fruits, which you shall separate, twenty-five thousand in width, and in length, the same as each one of the portions from the eastern region, even to the region of the sea. And the sanctuary shall be in its midst.
\v 9 The first-fruits, which you shall separate to the Lord, shall be, in length, twenty-five thousand, and in width, ten thousand.
\v 10 And these shall be the first-fruits for the sanctuary of the priests: toward the north, in length, twenty-five thousand, and toward the sea, in width, ten thousand, but also, toward the east, in width, ten thousand, and toward the south, in length, twenty-five thousand. And the sanctuary of the Lord shall be in its midst.
\v 11 The sanctuary shall be for the priests from the sons of Zadok, who observed my ceremonies and did not go astray, when the sons of Israel went astray, just as the Levites also went astray.\f + \fr 48:11 \ft The sons of Zadok are not literally the descendents of Zadok, but rather all those priests and Levites who remained faithful to the ordinances of the Lord when so many others went astray. The name Zadok means ‘righteous.’ A number of different persons are called Zadok in Scripture. These individual were perhaps given the name ‘Zadok’ by Scripture because their behavior was righteous; they were not necessarily given the name Zadok from childhood.\fl (Conte)\f*
\v 12 And so the foremost of the first-fruits of the land, the Holy of Holies, beside the border of the Levites, shall be for them.
\v 13 But also the Levites, similarly, shall have, beside the borders of the priests, twenty-five thousand in length, and ten thousand in width. The entire length shall be twenty-five thousand, and the width shall be ten thousand.
\v 14 And they shall not sell from it, nor exchange, and the first-fruits of the land shall not be transferred. For these have been sanctified to the Lord.
\p
\v 15 ¶ But the five thousand that is left over, out of the twenty-five thousand in width, will be a profane place of the city for dwelling and for the suburbs. And the city shall be in the center.
\v 16 And these shall be its measurements: on the northern side, four thousand and five hundred; and on the southern side, four thousand and five hundred; and on the eastern side, four thousand and five hundred; and on the western side, four thousand and five hundred.
\v 17 But the suburbs of the city shall be: to the north, two hundred and fifty; and to the south, two hundred and fifty; and to the east, two hundred and fifty; and to the sea, two hundred and fifty.
\v 18 Now what will remain of the length, in accord with the first-fruits of the sanctuary, ten thousand in the east, and ten thousand in the west, shall be as the first-fruits of the sanctuary. And its produce will be for the bread of those who serve the city.
\v 19 And those who serve the city will be taken from all the tribes of Israel.
\v 20 All the first-fruits, of the twenty-five thousand by twenty-five thousand square, shall be separated as the first-fruits of the sanctuary and as the possession of the city.
\p
\v 21 ¶ And what will remain shall be for the prince out of every portion of the first-fruits of the sanctuary and of the possession of the city, from the region of the twenty-five thousand of the first-fruits, even to the eastern border. But also to the sea from the region of the twenty-five thousand, even to the border of the sea, similarly shall be the portion of the prince. And the first-fruits of the sanctuary, and the sanctuary of the temple, shall be in its center.
\v 22 Now from the possession of the Levites, and from the possession of the city, which are in the midst of the prince’s portions, whatever is between the border of Judah and the border of Benjamin, shall also belong to the prince.
\v 23 And for the remainder of the tribes, from the eastern region, even to the western region, there shall be one portion for Benjamin.
\v 24 And opposite the border of Benjamin, from the eastern region, even to the western region, there shall be one portion for Simeon.
\v 25 And beyond the border of Simeon, from the eastern region, even to the western region, there shall be one portion for Issachar.
\v 26 And beyond the border of Issachar, from the eastern region, even to the western region, there shall be one portion for Zebulun.
\v 27 And beyond the border of Zebulun, from the eastern region, even to the region of the sea, there shall be one portion for Gad.
\v 28 And beyond the border of Gad, toward the southern region, in the meridian, the last part shall be from Tamar, even to the Waters of Contradiction at Kadesh, as the inheritance opposite the great sea.
\v 29 This is the land that you shall distribute by lot to the tribes of Israel, and these shall be their portions, says the Lord God.
\p
\v 30 ¶ And these shall be the exits of the city: from the northern region, you shall measure four thousand and five hundred.
\v 31 And the gates of the city shall be according to the names of the tribes of Israel. There shall be three gates from the north: the gate of Reuben one, the gate of Judah one, the gate of Levi one.
\v 32 And to the eastern region, there shall be four thousand and five hundred. And there shall be three gates: the gate of Joseph one, the gate of Benjamin one, the gate of Dan one.
\v 33 And to the southern region, you shall measure four thousand and five hundred. And there shall be three gates: the gate of Simeon one, the gate of Issachar one, the gate of Zebulun one.
\v 34 And to the western region, there shall be four thousand and five hundred, and their three gates: the gate of Gad one, the gate of Asher one, the gate of Naphtali one.
\v 35 Along the circumference, there shall be eighteen thousand. And the name of the city, from that day, shall be: ‘The Lord is in that very place.’ ”\f + \fr 48:35 \fk The Lord is there: \ft This name is here given to the city, that is, to the church of Christ: because the Lord is always with her till the end of the world. Matt. 28.20.\fl (Challoner)\f*
\mte9 The Prophecy of Ezekiel