Judgment on Wicked Counselors

¹sThe Spirit lifted me up and brought me to tthe east gate of the house of the Lord, which faces east. And behold, at the entrance of the gateway there were utwenty-five men. And I saw among them Jaazaniah vthe son of Azzur, and wPelatiah the son of Benaiah, princes of the people. ²And he said to me, x“Son of man, these are the men who devise iniquity and who give wicked counsel in this city; ³ywho say, z‘The time is not near1 to build houses. aThis city is the cauldron, and we are the meat.’ ⁴Therefore prophesy against them; prophesy, O son of man.”

⁵And bthe Spirit of the Lord fell upon me, and he said to me, “Say, Thus says the Lord: So you think, O house of Israel. cFor I know the things that come into your mind. ⁶dYou have multiplied your slain in this city and have filled its streets with the slain. ⁷Therefore thus says the Lord God: eYour slain whom you have laid in the midst of it, athey are the meat, and athis city is the cauldron, but you shall be brought out of the midst of it. ⁸fYou have feared the sword, and I will bring the sword upon you, declares the Lord God. ⁹And I will bring you out of the midst of it, and ggive you into the hands of foreigners, and hexecute judgments upon you. ¹⁰iYou shall fall by the sword. I will judge you at the border of Israel, jand you shall know that I am the Lord. ¹¹kThis city shall not be your cauldron, nor shall you be the meat in the midst of it. I will judge you at the border of Israel, ¹²and you shall know that I am the Lord. For you have not walked in my statutes, nor obeyed my rules, lbut have acted according to the rules of the nations that are around you.”

¹³And it came to pass, while I was prophesying, mthat nPelatiah the son of Benaiah died. oThen I fell down on my face and cried out with a loud voice and said, o“Ah, Lord God! pWill you make a full end of the remnant of Israel?”

Israel's New Heart and Spirit

¹⁴And the word of the Lord came to me: ¹⁵q“Son of man, your brothers, even your brothers, your kinsmen,2 the whole house of Israel, all of them, are those of whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, r‘Go far from the Lord; to us this land is given for a possession.’ ¹⁶Therefore say, ‘Thus says the Lord God: Though I removed them far off among the nations, and though I scattered them among the countries, yet sI have been a sanctuary to them for a while3 in the countries where they have gone.’ ¹⁷Therefore say, ‘Thus says the Lord God: tI will gather you from the peoples and assemble you out of the countries where you have been scattered, tand I will give you the land of Israel.’ ¹⁸And when they come there, uthey will remove from it all its vdetestable things and all its abominations. ¹⁹wAnd I will give them one heart, and xa new spirit I will put within them. yI will remove the heart of stone from their flesh zand give them a heart of flesh, ²⁰athat they may walk in my statutes and keep my rules and obey them. bAnd they shall be my people, and I will be their God. ²¹cBut as for those whose heart goes after their detestable things and their abominations, dI will4 bring their deeds upon their own heads, declares the Lord God.”

²²eThen the cherubim lifted up their wings, with the wheels beside them, eand the glory of the God of Israel was over them. ²³And the glory of the Lord went up from the midst of the city and fstood on the mountain that is on the east side of the city. ²⁴gAnd the Spirit lifted me up and brought me hin the vision by the Spirit of God iinto Chaldea, to the exiles. Then the vision that I had seen went up from me. ²⁵And I told the exiles all the things that the Lord had shown me.