The Babylonian Exile

The nakedness of a father hath one uncovered in thee, The defiled of impurity they humbled in thee.

And each with the wife of his neighbour hath done abomination, And each his daughter-in-law hath defiled through wickedness, And each his sister, his father's daughter, hath humbled in thee.

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:

`Son of man, say to it, Thou art a land, It is not cleansed nor rained on in a day of indignation.

A conspiracy of its prophets is in its midst, as a roaring lion tearing prey; The soul they have devoured, Wealth and glory they have taken, Its widows have multiplied in its midst.

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.

Its princes in its midst are as wolves, Tearing prey, to shed blood, to destroy souls, For the sake of gaining dishonest gain.

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.

The people of the land have used oppression, And have taken plunder violently away, And humble and needy have oppressed, And the sojourner oppressed--without judgment.

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,

Two women were daughters of one mother,

And they go a-whoring in Egypt, In their youth they have gone a-whoring, There they have bruised their breasts, And there they have dealt with the loves of their virginity.