Dual Panel1THIS word of the LORD came to me:
2“O man, will you bring a charge against her? Will you charge the murderous city and bring home to her all her abominable deeds?
3Say to her: The Lord GOD has said: Woe betide the city that sheds blood within her walls and brings her fate on herself, the city that makes idols for herself and is defiled by them!
4You are guilty because of the blood you have shed, you are defiled because of the idols you have made. You have shortened your days by this and hastened your end. This is why I exposed you to the contempt of the nations and the mockery of every country.
5Lands both far and near will taunt you with your infamy and monstrous disorder.
6In you all the rulers of Israel have used their power to shed blood;
7in you fathers and mothers have been treated contemptuously, aliens have been oppressed, the fatherless and the widow have been wronged.
8You have despised what I hold sacred, and desecrated my sabbaths.
9In you, Jerusalem, perjurers have worked to procure bloodshed; in you are men who have feasted at mountain shrines and have committed lewdness.
10In you men have exposed their fathers” nakedness; they have violated women who were menstruating;
11they have committed an outrage with their neighbours' wives and have lewdly defiled their own daughters-in-law; they have ravished their sisters, their own fathers' daughters.
12In you people have accepted bribes to shed blood. You have exacted discount and interest, and have oppressed your fellows for gain. You have committed apostasy. This is the word of the Lord GOD.
13“See, I strike with my clenched fist at your ill-gotten gains and at the bloodshed within your walls.
14Will your courage and strength endure when I deal with you? I, the LORD, have spoken and I shall act.
15I shall disperse you among the nations and scatter you over the earth to rid you of your defilement.
16I shall sift you in the sight of the nations, and you will know that I am the LORD.”
17THIS word of the LORD came to me:
18“O man, to me all Israelites are but an alloy, their silver debased with copper, tin, iron, and lead.
19Therefore, these are the words of the Lord GOD: Because you are all alloyed, I shall gather you into Jerusalem,
20as silver, copper, iron, lead, and tin are gathered into a crucible, where fire is blown to full heat to melt them. So shall I gather you in my anger and wrath, put you in it, and melt you;
21I shall gather you in Jerusalem and fan the fire of my anger until you are melted.
22As silver is melted in a crucible so will you be melted, and you will know that I, the LORD, have poured out my anger on you.”
23THIS word of the LORD came to me:
24“O man, say to Jerusalem: You are like a land on which no rain has fallen, no shower has come in the time of my wrath.
25The princes within her are like lions growling as they tear their prey. They devour the people, and seize their wealth and valuables; they make widows of many women within her.
26Her priests give rulings which violate my law, and profane what is sacred to me. They do not distinguish between sacred and profane, and enforce no distinction between clean and unclean. They disregard my sabbaths, and I am dishonoured among them.
27The city's leaders are like wolves tearing their prey, shedding blood and destroying people's lives to obtain ill-gotten gain.
28Her prophets whitewash over the cracks, their vision is false and their divination a lie. They say, ‘This is the word of the Lord GOD,’ when the LORD has not spoken.
29The common people resort to oppression and robbery; they ill-treat the unfortunate and the poor, they oppress the alien and deny him justice.
30“I looked among them for a man who would build a barricade in the breach and withstand me, to avert the destruction of the land; but I found no such person.
31I poured out my wrath on them and utterly consumed them in my blazing anger. Thus I brought on them the punishment they had deserved. This is the word of the Lord GOD.”