They say to their mothers, “Where is grain and wine?” As they faint like a wounded man In the streets of the city, As their life is poured out On their mothers’ bosom.
All who pass along the way Clap their hands in derision at you; They hiss and shake their heads At the daughter of Jerusalem, “Is this the city of which they said, ‘The perfection of beauty, A joy to all the earth’?”
Their heart cried out to the Lord, “O wall of the daughter of Zion, Let your tears run down like a river day and night; Give yourself no relief, Let your eyes have no rest.
He is to me like a bear lying in wait, Like a lion in secret places.
He bent His bow And set me as a target for the arrow.
I have become a laughingstock to all my people, Their mocking song all the day.
It is good for a man that he should bear The yoke in his youth.
To deprive a man of justice In the presence of the Most High,
To defraud a man in his lawsuit-- Of these things the Lord does not approve.
You have covered Yourself with a cloud So that no prayer can pass through.
My enemies without cause Hunted me down like a bird;
They have silenced me in the pit And have placed a stone on me.
The precious sons of Zion, Weighed against fine gold, How they are regarded as earthen jars, The work of a potter’s hands!
For the iniquity of the daughter of my people Is greater than the sin of Sodom, Which was overthrown as in a moment, And no hands were turned toward her.
The LORD has accomplished His wrath, He has poured out His fierce anger; And He has kindled a fire in Zion Which has consumed its foundations.
Yet our eyes failed, Looking for help was useless; In our watching we have watched For a nation that could not save.
We have become orphans without a father, Our mothers are like widows.
We have to pay for our drinking water, Our wood comes to us at a price.
As I looked, behold, a storm wind was coming from the north, a great cloud with fire flashing forth continually and a bright light around it, and in its midst something like glowing metal in the midst of the fire.
Their legs were straight and their feet were like a calf’s hoof, and they gleamed like burnished bronze.
As for the form of their faces, each had the face of a man; all four had the face of a lion on the right and the face of a bull on the left, and all four had the face of an eagle.
I also heard the sound of their wings like the sound of abundant waters as they went, like the voice of the Almighty, a sound of tumult like the sound of an army camp; whenever they stood still, they dropped their wings.
And there came a voice from above the expanse that was over their heads; whenever they stood still, they dropped their wings.
Now above the expanse that was over their heads there was something resembling a throne, like lapis lazuli in appearance; and on that which resembled a throne, high up, was a figure with the appearance of a man.
Then I noticed from the appearance of His loins and upward something like glowing metal that looked like fire all around within it, and from the appearance of His loins and downward I saw something like fire; and there was a radiance around Him.
As the appearance of the rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the appearance of the surrounding radiance. Such was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. And when I saw it, I fell on my face and heard a voice speaking.
Then He said to me, “Son of man, I am sending you to the sons of Israel, to a rebellious people who have rebelled against Me; they and their fathers have transgressed against Me to this very day.
As for them, whether they listen or not--for they are a rebellious house--they will know that a prophet has been among them.
And you, son of man, neither fear them nor fear their words, though thistles and thorns are with you and you sit on scorpions; neither fear their words nor be dismayed at their presence, for they are a rebellious house.
Then I looked, and behold, a hand was extended to me; and lo, a scroll was in it.
For you are not being sent to a people of unintelligible speech or difficult language, but to the house of Israel,
Like emery harder than flint I have made your forehead. Do not be afraid of them or be dismayed before them, though they are a rebellious house.”
Then the Spirit lifted me up, and I heard a great rumbling sound behind me, “Blessed be the glory of the LORD in His place.”
And I heard the sound of the wings of the living beings touching one another and the sound of the wheels beside them, even a great rumbling sound.
“Son of man, I have appointed you a watchman to the house of Israel; whenever you hear a word from My mouth, warn them from Me.
Again, when a righteous man turns away from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and I place an obstacle before him, he will die; since you have not warned him, he shall die in his sin, and his righteous deeds which he has done shall not be remembered; but his blood I will require at your hand.
Moreover, I will make your tongue stick to the roof of your mouth so that you will be mute and cannot be a man who rebukes them, for they are a rebellious house.
But when I speak to you, I will open your mouth and you will say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD.’ He who hears, let him hear; and he who refuses, let him refuse; for they are a rebellious house.
“Now you son of man, get yourself a brick, place it before you and inscribe a city on it, Jerusalem.
Then lay siege against it, build a siege wall, raise up a ramp, pitch camps and place battering rams against it all around.
Then get yourself an iron plate and set it up as an iron wall between you and the city, and set your face toward it so that it is under siege, and besiege it. This is a sign to the house of Israel.
For I have assigned you a number of days corresponding to the years of their iniquity, three hundred and ninety days; thus you shall bear the iniquity of the house of Israel.
When you have completed these, you shall lie down a second time, but on your right side and bear the iniquity of the house of Judah; I have assigned it to you for forty days, a day for each year.
Your food which you eat shall be twenty shekels a day by weight; you shall eat it from time to time.
The water you drink shall be the sixth part of a hin by measure; you shall drink it from time to time.
You shall eat it as a barley cake, having baked it in their sight over human dung.”
“As for you, son of man, take a sharp sword; take and use it as a barber’s razor on your head and beard. Then take scales for weighing and divide the hair.
One third you shall burn in the fire at the center of the city, when the days of the siege are completed. Then you shall take one third and strike it with the sword all around the city, and one third you shall scatter to the wind; and I will unsheathe a sword behind them.
Take also a few in number from them and bind them in the edges of your robes.
Take again some of them and throw them into the fire and burn them in the fire; from it a fire will spread to all the house of Israel.
New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995
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