Jerusalem's Corruption and the Search for a Righteous Remnant
Ezekiel 22:1-31
1The word of the LORD came to me, saying,2You, son of man, will you judge the city of blood? Will you make her know all her abominations?3You shall say, Thus says the Lord GOD: A city that pours blood within her when her time comes, and that has made idols upon her to defile herself.4By the blood you poured you became guilty, and by the idols you made you became defiled; you brought your days near and the years came upon you; therefore I gave you up to reproach among the nations and to derision among all the lands.5Those near and those far from you will mock you; the name is unclean, and the tumult is great.6Behold, the leaders of Israel, each one according to his power, were in you for the sake of shedding blood.7They treated father and mother with contempt in you; they dealt oppressively with the sojourner in your midst; they wronged the orphan and the widow in you.8You despised my holy things and profaned my Sabbaths.9Slanderous men were in you for the sake of shedding blood, and they ate upon the mountains in you; they committed wickedness in your midst.10The nakedness of a father they uncovered in you; they afflicted you with the uncleanness of impurity.11A man committed abomination with the wife of his neighbor; a man defiled his daughter-in-law in wickedness; a man afflicted his sister, the daughter of his father, in you.12They took bribes in you for the sake of shedding blood; you took interest and increase and cut off your neighbors by oppression, and you forgot me, declares the Lord GOD.13Behold, I struck my hand against your unjust gain that you made and against the blood that was in your midst.14Will your heart endure, or will your hands remain strong, in the days when I deal with you? I the LORD have spoken and will act.15I will scatter you among the nations and disperse you throughout the lands, and I will remove your uncleanness from you.16You will be profaned in the sight of the nations, and you will know that I am the LORD.17The word of the LORD came to me, saying,18Son of man, the house of Israel has become dross to me; all of them are bronze and tin and iron and lead in the midst of a furnace; they are the dross of silver.19Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Because you have all become dross, behold, I am gathering you into the midst of Jerusalem.20As men gather silver and bronze and iron and lead and tin into the midst of a furnace to blow fire upon it for melting, so I will gather you in my anger and in my wrath, and I will set you down and pour you out.21I will gather you and blow upon you with the fire of my fury, and you will be melted in her midst.22As silver is melted in the midst of a furnace, so you will be melted in her midst, and you will know that I am the LORD; I have poured out my wrath upon you.23The word of the LORD came to me, saying,24Son of man, say to her: You are a land that is not cleansed; rain does not fall upon you in the day of indignation.25Her prophets within her are a conspiracy like a roaring lion tearing prey; they have devoured lives; they seize wealth and precious things; they have multiplied her widows within her.26Her priests have done violence to my law and have profaned my holy things; they have made no distinction between the holy and the common, nor have they taught the difference between the unclean and the clean; they have hidden their eyes from my Sabbaths, and I am profaned among them.27Her rulers in her midst are like wolves tearing prey, shedding blood and destroying lives to gain dishonest profit.28Her prophets have smeared whitewash for them, seeing false visions and divining lies for them, saying, Thus says the Lord GOD, when the LORD has not spoken.29The people of the land have practiced extortion and committed robbery; they have oppressed the poor and needy and have wronged the sojourner without justice.30I sought among them a man who would build up the wall and stand in the breach before me on behalf of the land, so that it would not be destroyed, but I found none.31Therefore I have poured out my indignation upon them; with the fire of my wrath I have consumed them; I have returned their conduct upon their heads, declares the Lord GOD.