“Prepare chains for my people, for the land is bloodied by terrible crimes. Jerusalem is filled with violence.

“But I came by and saw you there, helplessly kicking about in your own blood. As you lay there, I said, ‘Live!’

“Then I bathed you and washed off your blood, and I rubbed fragrant oils into your skin.

In all your years of adultery and detestable sin, you have not once remembered the days long ago when you lay naked in a field, kicking about in your own blood.

I will punish you for your murder and adultery. I will cover you with blood in my jealous fury.

You will be fuel for the fire, and your blood will be spilled in your own land. You will be utterly wiped out, your memory lost to history, for I, the Lord, have spoken!”

you are guilty because of the blood you have shed. You are defiled because of the idols you have made. Your day of destruction has come! You have reached the end of your years. I will make you an object of mockery throughout the world.

“But now I clap my hands in indignation over your dishonest gain and bloodshed.

For the blood of her murders is splashed on the rocks. It isn’t even spilled on the ground, where the dust could cover it!

So I will splash her blood on a rock for all to see, an expression of my anger and vengeance against her.

The Arabians and the princes of Kedar sent merchants to trade lambs and rams and male goats in exchange for your goods.

I will send a plague against you, and blood will be spilled in your streets. The attack will come from every direction, and your people will lie slaughtered within your walls. Then everyone will know that I am the Lord.

I will drench the earth with your gushing blood all the way to the mountains, filling the ravines to the brim.

So tell these people, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: You eat meat with blood in it, you worship idols, and you murder the innocent. Do you really think the land should be yours?

As surely as I live, says the Sovereign Lord, since you show no distaste for blood, I will give you a bloodbath of your own. Your turn has come!

I will punish you and your armies with disease and bloodshed; I will send torrential rain, hailstones, fire, and burning sulfur!

“And now, son of man, this is what the Sovereign Lord says: Call all the birds and wild animals. Say to them: Gather together for my great sacrificial feast. Come from far and near to the mountains of Israel, and there eat flesh and drink blood!

Eat the flesh of mighty men and drink the blood of princes as though they were rams, lambs, goats, and bulls—all fattened animals from Bashan!

Gorge yourselves with flesh until you are glutted; drink blood until you are drunk. This is the sacrificial feast I have prepared for you.

Then he said to me, “Son of man, this is what the Sovereign Lord says: These will be the regulations for the burning of offerings and the sprinkling of blood when the altar is built.

You will take some of its blood and smear it on the four horns of the altar, the four corners of the upper ledge, and the curb that runs around that ledge. This will cleanse and make atonement for the altar.

You have brought uncircumcised foreigners into my sanctuary—people who have no heart for God. In this way, you defiled my Temple even as you offered me my food, the fat and blood of sacrifices. In addition to all your other detestable sins, you have broken my covenant.

“However, the Levitical priests of the family of Zadok continued to minister faithfully in the Temple when Israel abandoned me for idols. These men will serve as my ministers. They will stand in my presence and offer the fat and blood of the sacrifices, says the Sovereign Lord.

The priest will take blood from this sin offering and put it on the doorposts of the Temple, the four corners of the upper ledge of the altar, and the gateposts at the entrance to the inner courtyard.

“Each Sabbath day the prince will present to the Lord a burnt offering of six lambs and one ram, all with no defects.