Ezekiel 22:12-30

New International Version

¹² In you are people who accept bribes^(A) to shed blood; you take interest^(B) and make a profit from the poor. You extort unjust gain from your neighbors.^(C) And you have forgotten^(D) me, declares the Sovereign Lord.^(E)

¹³ “‘I will surely strike my hands^(F) together at the unjust gain^(G) you have made and at the blood^(H) you have shed in your midst.^{(I) 14} Will your courage endure^(J) or your hands^(K) be strong in the day I deal with you? I the Lord have spoken,^(L) and I will do it.^{(M) 15} I will disperse you among the nations and scatter^(N) you through the countries; and I will put an end to^(O) your uncleanness.^{(P) 16} When you have been defiled^[a] in the eyes of the nations, you will know that I am the Lord.’”

¹⁷ Then the word of the Lord came to me: ¹⁸ “Son of man, the people of Israel have become dross^(Q) to me; all of them are the copper, tin, iron and lead left inside a furnace.^(R) They are but the dross of silver.^{(S) 19} Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: ‘Because you have all become dross,^(T) I will gather you into Jerusalem. ²⁰ As silver, copper, iron, lead and tin are gathered into a furnace to be melted with a fiery blast, so will I gather you in my anger and my wrath and put you inside the city and melt you.^{(U) 21} I will gather you and I will blow^(V) on you with my fiery wrath, and you will be melted inside her.^{(W) 22} As silver is melted^(X) in a furnace, so you will be melted inside her, and you will know that I the Lord have poured out my wrath^(Y) on you.’”^(Z)

²³ Again the word of the Lord came to me: ²⁴ “Son of man, say to the land, ‘You are a land that has not been cleansed or rained on in the day of wrath.’^{(AA) 25} There is a conspiracy^(AB) of her princes^[b] within her like a roaring lion^(AC) tearing its prey; they devour people,^(AD) take treasures and precious things and make many widows^(AE) within her. ²⁶ Her priests do violence to my law^(AF) and profane my holy things; they do not distinguish between the holy and the common;^(AG) they teach that there is no difference between the unclean and the clean;^(AH) and they shut their eyes to the keeping of my Sabbaths, so that I am profaned^(AI) among them.^{(AJ) 27} Her officials^(AK) within her are like wolves^(AL) tearing their prey; they shed blood and kill people^(AM) to make unjust gain.^{(AN) 28} Her prophets whitewash^(AO) these deeds for them by false visions and lying divinations.^(AP) They say, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says’—when the Lord has not spoken.^{(AQ) 29} The people of the land practice extortion and commit robbery;^(AR) they oppress the poor and needy and mistreat the foreigner,^(AS) denying them justice.^(AT)

³⁰ “I looked for someone among them who would build up the wall^(AU) and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found no one.^(AV)