God

A bribe they have taken in thee to shed blood, Usury and increase thou hast taken, And cuttest off thy neighbour by oppression, And Me thou hast forgotten, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah!

And lo, I have smitten My hand, Because of thy dishonest gain that thou hast gained, And for thy blood that hath been in thy midst.

Doth thy heart stand--are thy hands strong, For the days that I am dealing with thee? I, Jehovah, have spoken and have done it .

And I have scattered thee among nations, And have spread thee out among lands, And consumed thy uncleanness out of thee.

And thou hast been polluted in thyself Before the eyes of nations, And thou hast known that I am Jehovah.'

And there is a word of Jehovah unto me, saying, `Son of man,

The house of Israel hath been to Me for dross, All of them are brass, and tin, and iron, and lead, In the midst of a furnace--dross hath silver been,

Therefore, thus said the Lord Jehovah: Because of your all becoming dross, Therefore, lo, I am gathering you unto the midst of Jerusalem,

A gathering of silver, and brass, and iron, and lead, and tin, Unto the midst of a furnace--to blow on it fire, to melt it, So do I gather in Mine anger and in My fury, And I have let rest, and have melted you.

And I have heaped you up, And blown on you in the fire of My wrath, And ye have been melted in its midst.

As the melting of silver in the midst of a furnace, So are ye melted in its midst, And ye have known that I, Jehovah, I have poured out My fury upon you.'

And there is a word of Jehovah unto me, saying:

Its priests have wronged My law, And they pollute My holy things, Between holy and common they have not made separation, And between the unclean and the clean they have not made known, And from my sabbaths they have hidden their eyes, And I am pierced in their midst.

And its prophets have daubed for them with chalk, Seeing a vain thing, and divining for them a lie, Saying, `Thus said the Lord Jehovah:' And Jehovah hath not spoken.

And I seek of them a man making a fence, And standing in the breach before Me, In behalf of the land--not to destroy it, And I have not found.

And I pour out on them mine indignation, By fire of My wrath I have consumed them, Their way on their own head I have put, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah!'

And there is a word of Jehovah unto me, saying, `Son of man,

And their names are Aholah the elder, And Aholibah her sister, And they are Mine, and bear sons and daughters. As to their names--Samaria is Aholah, And Jerusalem is Aholibah.

And go a-whoring doth Aholah under Me, And she doteth on her lovers, On the neighbouring Assyrians,

Therefore I have given her into the hand of her lovers, Into the hand of sons of Asshur on whom she doted.

And I see that she hath been defiled, One way is to them both.

And she revealeth her whoredoms, And she revealeth her nakedness, And alienated is My soul from off her, As alienated was My soul from off her sister.

Therefore, O Aholibah, thus said the Lord Jehovah: Lo, I am stirring up thy lovers against thee, From whom thy soul hath been alienated, And have brought them in against thee from round about.

And they have come in against thee, With arms, rider, and wheel, And with an assembly of peoples; Target, and shield, and helmet, They do set against thee round about, And I have set before them judgment, They have judged thee in their Judgments.

And I have set My jealousy against thee, And they have dealt with thee in fury, Thy nose and thine ears they turn aside, And thy posterity by sword falleth, They, thy sons and thy daughters do take away, And thy posterity is devoured by fire.