The Holy Bible

Part 48 out of 74



midst of them Jezonias the son of Azur, and Pheltias the son of
Banaias, princes of the people.

11:2. And he said to me: Son of man, these are the men that study
iniquity, and frame a wicked counsel in this city,

11:3. Saying: Were not houses lately built? This city is the caldron,
and we the flesh.

Were not houses lately built, etc. . .These men despised the predictions
and threats of the prophets; who declared to them from God, that the
city should be destroyed, and the inhabitants carried into captivity:
and they made use of this kind of argument against the prophets, that
the city, so far from being like to be destroyed, had lately been
augmented by the building of new houses; from whence they further
inferred, by way of a proverb, using the similitude of a cauldron, out
of which the flesh is not taken, till it is thoroughly boiled, and fit
to be eaten, that they should not be carried away out of their city,
but there end their days in peace.

11:4. Therefore prophesy against them, prophesy, thou son of man.

11:5. And the spirit of the Lord fell upon me, and said to me: Speak:
Thus saith the Lord: Thus have you spoken, O house of Israel, for I
know the thoughts of your heart.

11:6. You have killed a great many in this city, and you have filled
the streets thereof with the slain.

11:7. Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Your slain, whom you have laid
in the midst thereof, they are the flesh, all this is the caldron: and
I will bring you forth out of the midst thereof.

11:8. You have feared the sword, and I will bring the sword upon you,
saith the Lord God.

11:9. And I will cast you out of the midst thereof, and I will deliver
you into the hand of the enemies, and I will execute judgments upon
you.

11:10. You shall fall by the sword: I will judge you in the borders of
Israel, and you shall know that I am the Lord.

In the borders of Israel. . .They pretended that they should die in
peace in Jerusalem; God tells them it should not be so; but that they
should be judged and condemned, and fall by the sword in the borders of
Israel: viz., in Reblatha in the land of Emath, where all their chief
men were put to death by Nabuchodonosor. 4 Kings 25., and Jer. 52.10,
27.

11:11. This shall not be as a caldron to you, and you shall not be as
flesh in the midst thereof: I will judge you in the borders of Israel.

11:12. And you shall know that I am the Lord: because you have not
walked in my commandments, and have not done my judgments, but you have
done according to the judgments of the nations that are round about
you.

11:13. And it came to pass, when I prophesied, that Pheltias the son of
Banaias died: and I fell down upon my face, and I cried with a loud
voice: and said: Alas, alas, alas, O Lord God: wilt thou make an end
of all the remnant of Israel?

11:14. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

11:15. Son of man, thy brethren, thy brethren, thy kinsmen, and all the
house of Israel, all they to whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have
said: Get ye far from the Lord, the land is given in possession to us.

Thy brethren, etc. . .He speaks of them that had been carried away
captives before; who were despised by them that remained in Jerusalem:
but as the prophet here declares to them from God, should be in a more
happy condition than they, and after some time return from their
captivity.

11:16. Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Because I have removed them
far off among the Gentiles, and because I have scattered them among the
countries: I will be to them a little sanctuary in the countries
whither they are come.

11:17. Therefore speak to them: Thus saith the Lord God: I will gather
you from among the peoples, and assemble you out of the countries
wherein you are scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.

11:18. And they shall go in thither, and shall take away all the
scandals, and all the abominations thereof from thence.

11:19. And I will give them one heart, and will put a new spirit in
their bowels: and I will take away the stony heart out of their flesh,
and will give them a heart of flesh:

11:20. That they may walk in my commandments, and keep my judgments,
and do them: and that they may be my people, and I may be their God.

11:21. But as for them whose heart walketh after their scandals and
abominations, I will lay their way upon their head, saith the Lord God.

11:22. And the cherubims lifted up their wings, and the wheels with
them: and the glory of the God of Israel was over them.

11:23. And the glory of the Lord went up from the midst of the city,
and stood over the mount that is on the east side of the city.

11:24. And the spirit lifted me up, and brought me into Chaldea, to
them of the captivity, in vision, by the spirit of God: and the vision
which I had seen was taken up from me.

11:25. And I spoke to them of the captivity all the words of the Lord,
which he had shewn me.



Ezechiel Chapter 12


The prophet forsheweth, by signs, the captivity of Sedecias, and the
desolation of the people: all which shall quickly come to pass.

12:1. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

12:2. Son of man, thou dwellest in the midst of a provoking house: who
have eyes to see, and see not: and ears to hear, and hear not: for they
are a provoking house.

12:3. Thou, therefore, O son of man, prepare thee all necessaries for
removing, and remove by day into their sight: and thou shalt remove out
of thy place to another place in their sight, if so be they will regard
it: for they are a provoking house.

12:4. And thou shalt bring forth thy furniture as the furniture of one
that is removing by day in their sight: and thou shalt go forth in the
evening in their presence, as one goeth forth that removeth his
dwelling.

12:5. Dig thee a way through the wall before their eyes: and thou shalt
go forth through it.

12:6. In their sight thou shalt be carried out upon men's shoulders,
thou shalt be carried out in the dark: thou shalt cover thy face, and
shalt not see the ground: for I have set thee for a sign of things to
come to the house of Israel.

12:7. I did therefore as he had commanded me: I brought forth my goods
by day, as the goods of one that removeth: and in the evening I digged
through the wall with my hand, and I went forth in the dark, and was
carried on men's shoulders in their sight.

12:8. And the word of the Lord came to me in the morning, saying:

12:9. Son of man, hath not the house of Israel, the provoking house,
said to thee: What art thou doing?

12:10. Say to them: Thus saith the Lord God: This burden concerneth my
prince that is in Jerusalem, and all the house of Israel, that are
among them.

12:11. Say: I am a sign of things to come to you: as I have done, so
shall it be done to them: they shall be removed from their dwellings,
and go into captivity.

12:12. And the prince that is in the midst of them, shall be carried on
shoulders, he shall go forth in the dark: they shall dig through the
wall to bring him out: his face shall be covered, that he may not see
the ground with his eyes.

12:13. And I will spread my net over him, and he shall be taken in my
net: and I will bring him into Babylon, into the land of the Chaldeans,
and he shall not see it, and there he shall die.

He shall not see it. . .Because his eyes shall be put out by
Nabuchodonosor.

12:14. And all that are about him, his guards, and his troops I will
scatter into every wind: and I will draw out the sword after them.

12:15. And they shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall have
dispersed them among the nations, and scattered them in the countries.

12:16. And I will leave a few men of them from the sword, and from the
famine, and from the pestilence: that they may declare all their wicked
deeds among the nations whither they shall go: and they shall know that
I am the Lord.

12:17. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

12:18. Son of man, eat thy bread in trouble and drink thy water in
hurry and sorrow.

12:19. And say to the people of the land: Thus saith the Lord God to
them that dwell in Jerusalem in the land of Israel: They shall eat
their bread in care, and drink their water in desolation: that the land
may become desolate from the multitude that is therein, for the
iniquity of all that dwell therein.

12:20. And the cities that are now inhabited shall be laid waste, and
the land shall be desolate: and you shall know that I am the Lord.

12:21. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

12:22. Son of man, what is this proverb that you have in the land of
Israel? saying: The days shall be prolonged, and every vision shall
fail.

12:23. Say to them therefore: Thus saith the Lord God: I will make this
proverb to cease, neither shall it be any more a common saying in
Israel: and tell them that the days are at hand, and the effect of
every vision.

12:24. For there shall be no more any vain visions, nor doubtful
divination in the midst of the children of Israel.

12:25. For I the Lord will speak: and what word soever I shall speak,
it shall come to pass, and shall not be prolonged any more: but in your
days, ye provoking house, I will speak the word, and will do it, saith
the Lord God.

12:26. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

12:27. Son of man, behold the house of Israel, they that say: The
visions that this man seeth, is for many days to come: and this man
prophesieth of times afar off.

12:28. Therefore say to them: Thus saith the Lord God: not one word of
mine shall be prolonged any more: the word that I shall speak shall be
accomplished, saith the Lord God.



Ezechiel Chapter 13


God declares against false prophets and prophetesses, that deceive the
people with lies.

13:1. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

13:2. Son of man, prophesy thou against the prophets of Israel that
prophesy: and thou shalt say to them that prophesy out of their own
heart: Hear ye the word of the Lord:

13:3. Thus saith the Lord God: Woe to the foolish prophets that follow
their own spirit, and see nothing.

13:4. Thy prophets, O Israel, were like foxes in the deserts.

13:5. You have not gone up to face the enemy, nor have you set up a
wall for the house of Israel, to stand in battle in the day of the
Lord.

13:6. They see vain things, and they foretell lies, saying: The Lord
saith: whereas the Lord hath not sent them: and they have persisted to
confirm what they have said.

13:7. Have you not seen a vain vision and spoken a lying divination:
and you say: The Lord saith: whereas I have not spoken.

13:8. Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Because you have spoken vain
things, and have seen lies: therefore behold I come against you, saith
the Lord God.

13:9. And my hand shall be upon the prophets that see vain things, and
that divine lies: they shall not be in the council of my people, nor
shall they be written in the writing of the house of Israel, neither
shall they enter into the land of Israel, and you shall know that I am
the Lord God.

13:10. Because they have deceived my people, saying: Peace, and there
is no peace: and the people built up a wall, and they daubed it with
dirt without straw.

13:11. Say to them that daub without tempering, that it shall fall: for
there shall be an overflowing shower, and I will cause great hailstones
to fall violently from above, and a stormy wind to throw it down.

13:12. Behold, when the wall is fallen: shall it not be said to you:
Where is the daubing wherewith you have daubed it?

13:13. Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Lo, I will cause a stormy
wind to break forth in my indignation, and there shall be an
overflowing shower in my anger: and great hailstones in my wrath to
consume.

13:14. And I will break down the wall that you have daubed with
untempered mortar: and I will make it even with the ground, and the
foundation thereof shall be laid bare: and it shall fall, and shall be
consumed in the midst thereof: and you shall know that I am the Lord.

13:15. And I will accomplish my wrath upon the wall, and upon them that
daub it without tempering the mortar, and I will say to you: The wall
is no more, and they that daub it are no more.

13:16. Even the prophets of Israel that prophesy to Jerusalem, and that
see visions of peace for her: and there is no peace, saith the Lord
God.

13:17. And thou, son of man, set thy face against the daughters of thy
people that prophesy out of their own heart: and do thou prophesy
against them,

13:18. And say: Thus saith the Lord God: Woe to them that sew cushions
under every elbow: and make pillows for the heads of persons of every
age to catch souls: and when they caught the souls of my people, they
gave life to their souls.

Sew cushions, etc. . .Viz., by making people easy in their sins, and
promising them impunity.--Ibid. They gave life to their souls. . .That
is, they flattered them with promises of life, peace, and security.

13:19. And they violated me among my people, for a handful of barley,
and a piece of bread, to kill souls which should not die, and to save
souls alive which should not live, telling lies to my people that
believe lies.

Violated me. . .That is, dishonoured and discredited me. Ibid. To kill
souls, etc. . .That is, to sentence souls to death, which are not to
die; and to promise life to them who are not to live.

13:20. Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Behold I declare against your
cushions, wherewith you catch flying souls: and I will tear them off
from your arms: and I will let go the soul that you catch, the souls
that should fly.

13:21. And I will tear your pillows, and will deliver my people out of
your hand, neither shall they be any more in your hands to be a prey:
and you shall know that I am the Lord.

13:22. Because with lies you have made the heart of the just to mourn,
whom I have not made sorrowful: and have strengthened the hands of the
wicked, that he should not return from his evil way, and live.

13:23. Therefore you shall not see vain things, nor divine divinations
any more, and I will deliver my people out of your hand: and you shall
know that I am the Lord.



Ezechiel Chapter 14


God suffers the wicked to be deceived in punishment of their
wickedness. The evils that shall come upon them for their sins: for
which they shall not be delivered by the prayers of Noe, Daniel, and
Job. But a remnant shall be preserved.

14:1. And some of the ancients of Israel came to me, and sat before me.

14:2. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

14:3. Son of man, these men have placed their uncleannesses in their
hearts, and have set up before their face the stumblingblock of their
iniquity: and shall I answer when they inquire of me?

Uncleanness. . .That is, their filthy idols, upon which they have set
their hearts: and which are a stumblingblock to their souls.

14:4. Therefore speak to them, and say to them: Thus saith the Lord
God: Man, man of the house of Israel that shall place his uncleannesses
in his heart, and set up the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his
face, and shall come to the prophet inquiring of me by him: I the Lord
will answer him according to the multitude of his uncleannesses:

Man, man. . .That is, every man, an Hebrew expression.

14:5. That the house of Israel may be caught in their own heart, with
which they have departed from me through all their idols.

14:6. Therefore say to the house of Israel: Thus saith the Lord God: Be
converted, and depart from your idols, and turn away your faces from
all your abominations.

14:7. For every man of the house of Israel, and every stranger among
the proselytes in Israel, if he separate himself from me, and place his
idols in his heart, and set the stumblingblock of his iniquity before
his face, and come to the prophet to inquire of me by him: I the Lord
will answer him by myself.

14:8. And I will set my face against that man, and will make him an
example, and a proverb, and will cut him off from the midst of my
people: and you shall know that I am the Lord.

14:9. And when the prophet shall err, and speak a word: I the Lord have
deceived that prophet: and I will stretch forth my hand upon him, and
will cut him off from the midst of my people Israel.

The prophet shall err, etc. . .He speaks of false prophets, answering
out of their own heads and according to their own corrupt
inclinations.--Ibid. I have deceived that prophet. . .God Almighty
deceives false prophets, partly by withdrawing his light from them; and
abandoning them to their own corrupt inclinations, which push them on
to prophesy such things as are agreeable to those who consult them: and
partly by disappointing them, and causing all thing to happen contrary
to what they have said.

14:10. And they shall bear their iniquity: according to the iniquity of
him that inquireth, so shall the iniquity of the prophet be.

14:11. That the house of Israel may go no more astray from me, nor be
polluted with all their transgressions: but may be my people, and I may
be their God, saith the Lord of hosts.

14:12. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

14:13. Son of man, when a land shall sin against me, so as to
transgress grievously, I will stretch forth my hand upon it, and will
break the staff of the bread thereof: and I will send famine upon it,
and will destroy man and beast out of it.

14:14. And if these three men, Noe, Daniel, and Job, shall be in it:
they shall deliver their own souls by their justice, saith the Lord of
hosts.

14:15. And if I shall bring mischievous beasts also upon the land to
waste it, and it be desolate, so that there is none that can pass
because of the beasts:

14:16. If these three men shall be in it, as I live, saith the Lord,
they shall deliver neither sons nor daughters: but they only shall be
delivered, and the land shall be made desolate.

14:17. Or if I bring the sword upon that land, and say to the sword:
Pass through the land: and I destroy man and beast out of it:

14:18. And these three men be in the midst thereof: as I live, saith
the Lord God, they shall deliver neither sons nor daughters, but they
themselves alone shall be delivered.

14:19. Or if I also send the pestilence upon that land, and pour out my
indignation upon it in blood, to cut off from it man and beast:

14:20. And Noe, and Daniel, and Job be in the midst thereof: as I live,
saith the Lord God, they shall deliver neither son nor daughter: but
they shall only deliver their own souls by their justice.

14:21. For thus saith the Lord: Although I shall send in upon Jerusalem
my four grievous judgments, the sword, and the famine, and the
mischievous beasts, and the pestilence, to destroy out of it man and
beast,

14:22. Yet there shall be left in it some that shall be saved, who
shall bring away their sons and daughters: behold they shall come among
you, and you shall see their way, and their doings: and you shall be
comforted concerning the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem, in
all things that I have brought upon it.

14:23. And they shall comfort you, when you shall see their ways, and
their doings: and you shall know that I have not done without cause all
that I have done in it, saith the Lord God.



Ezechiel Chapter 15


As a vine cut down is fit for nothing but the fire; so it shall be with
Jerusalem, for her sins.

15:1. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

15:2. Son of man, what shall be made of the wood of the vine, out of
all the trees of the woods that are among the trees of the forests?

15:3. Shall wood be taken of it, to do any work, or shall a pin be made
of it for any vessel to hang thereon?

15:4. Behold it is cast into the fire for fuel: the fire hath consumed
both ends thereof, and the midst thereof is reduced to ashes: shall it
be useful for any work?

15:5. Even when it was whole it was not fit for work: how much less,
when the fire hath devoured and consumed it, shall any work be made of
it?

15:6. Therefore thus saith the Lord God: As the vine tree among the
trees of the forests which I have given to the fire to be consumed, so
will I deliver up the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

15:7. And I will set my face against them: they shall go out from fire,
and fire shall consume them: and you shall know that I am the Lord,
when I shall have set my face against them.

15:8. And I shall have made their land a wilderness, and desolate,
because they have been transgressors, saith the Lord God.



Ezechiel Chapter 16


Under the figure of an unfaithful wife, God upbraids Jerusalem with her
ingratitude and manifold disloyalties: but promiseth mercy by a new
covenant.

16:1. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

16:2. Son of man, make known to Jerusalem her abominations.

Make known to Jerusalem. . .That is, by letters, for the prophet was
then in Babylon.

16:3. And thou shalt say: Thus saith the Lord God to Jerusalem: Thy
root, and thy nativity is of the land of Chanaan, thy father was an
Amorrhite, and thy mother a Cethite.

16:4. And when thou wast born, in the day of thy nativity thy navel was
not cut, neither wast thou washed with water for thy health, nor salted
with salt, nor swaddled with clouts.

16:5. No eye had pity on thee to do any of these things for thee, out
of compassion to thee: but thou wast cast out upon the face of the
earth in the abjection of thy soul, in the day that thou wast born.

16:6. And passing by thee, I saw that thou wast trodden under foot in
thy own blood: and I said to thee when thou wast in thy blood: Live: I
have said to thee: Live in thy blood.

16:7. I caused thee to multiply as the bud of the field: and thou didst
increase and grow great, and advancedst, and camest to woman's
ornament: thy breasts were fashioned, and thy hair grew: and thou was
naked, and full of confusion.

16:8. And I passed by thee, and saw thee: and behold thy time was the
time of lovers: and I spread my garment over thee, and covered thy
ignominy. and I swore to thee, and I entered into a covenant with thee,
saith the Lord God: and thou becamest mine.

16:9. And I washed thee with water, and cleansed away thy blood from
thee: and I anointed thee with oil.

16:10. And I clothed thee with embroidery, and shod thee with violet
coloured shoes: and I girded thee about with fine linen, and clothed
thee with fine garments.

16:11. I decked thee also with ornaments, and put bracelets on thy
hands, and a chain about thy neck.

I decked thee also with ornaments, etc. . .That is, with spiritual
benefits, giving you a law with sacrifices, sacraments, and other holy
rites.

16:12. And I put a jewel upon thy forehead and earrings in thy ears,
and a beautiful crown upon thy head.

16:13. And thou wast adorned with gold, and silver, and wast clothed
with fine linen, and embroidered work, and many colours: thou didst eat
fine flour, and honey, and oil, and wast made exceeding beautiful: and
wast advanced to be a queen.

16:14. And thy renown went forth among the nations for thy beauty: for
thou wast perfect through my beauty, which I had put upon thee, saith
the Lord God.

16:15. But trusting in thy beauty, thou playedst the harlot because of
thy renown, and thou hast prostituted thyself to every passenger, to be
his.

16:16. And taking of thy garments thou hast made thee high places sewed
together on each side: and hast played the harlot upon them, as hath
not been done before, nor shall be hereafter.

16:17. And thou tookest thy beautiful vessels, of my gold, and my
silver, which I gave thee, and thou madest thee images of men, and hast
committed fornication with them.

16:18. And thou tookest thy garments of divers colours, and coveredst
them: and settest my oil and my sweet incense before them.

16:19. And my bread which I gave thee, the fine flour, and oil, and
honey, wherewith I fed thee, thou hast set before them for a sweet
odour; and it was done, saith the Lord God.

16:20. And thou hast taken thy sons, and thy daughters, whom thou hast
borne to me: and hast sacrificed the same to them to be devoured. Is
thy fornication small?

16:21. Thou hast sacrificed and given my children to them, consecrating
them by fire.

Thou hast sacrificed, etc. . .As there is nothing more base and
abominable than the crimes mentioned throughout this chapter; so the
infidelities of the Israelites in forsaking God, and sacrificing even
their children to idols, are strongly figured by these allegories.

16:22. And after all thy abominations, and fornications, thou hast not
remembered the days of thy youth, when thou wast naked, and full of
confusion, trodden under foot in thy own blood.

16:23. And it came to pass after all thy wickedness (woe, woe to thee,
saith the Lord God)

16:24. That thou didst also build thee a common stew, and madest thee a
brothel house in every street.

16:25. At every head of the way thou hast set up a sign of thy
prostitution: and hast made thy beauty to be abominable: and hast
prostituted thyself to every one that passed by, and hast multiplied
thy fornications.

16:26. And thou hast committed fornication with the Egyptians thy
neighbours, men of large bodies, and hast multiplied thy fornications
to provoke me.

16:27. Behold, I will stretch out my hand upon thee, and will take away
thy justification: and I will deliver thee up to the will of the
daughters of the Philistines that hate thee, that are ashamed of thy
wicked way.

16:28. Thou hast also committed fornication with the Assyrians, because
thou wast not yet satisfied: and after thou hadst played the harlot
with them, even so thou wast not contented.

16:29. Thou hast also multiplied thy fornications in the land of
Chanaan with the Chaldeans: and neither so wast thou satisfied.

16:30. Wherein shall I cleanse thy heart, saith Lord God: seeing thou
dost all these the works of a shameless prostitute?

16:31. Because thou hast built thy brothel house at the head of every
way, and thou hast made thy high place in every street: and wast not as
a harlot that by disdain enhanceth her price,

16:32. But is an adulteress, that bringeth in strangers over her
husband.

16:33. Gifts are given to all harlots: but thou hast given hire to all
thy lovers, and thou hast given them gifts to come to thee from every
side, to commit fornication with thee.

16:34. And it hath happened in thee contrary to the custom of women in
thy fornications, and after thee there shall be no such fornication,
for in that thou gavest rewards, and didst not take rewards, the
contrary hath been done in thee.

16:35. Therefore, O harlot, hear the word of the Lord.

16:36. Thus saith the Lord God: Because thy money hath been poured out,
and thy shame discovered through thy fornications with thy lovers, and
with the idols of thy abominations, by the blood of thy children whom
thou gavest them:

16:37. Behold, I will gather together all thy lovers with whom thou
hast taken pleasure, and all whom thou hast loved, with all whom thou
hast hated: and I will gather them together against thee on every side,
and will discover thy shame in their sight, and they shall see all thy
nakedness.

16:38. And I will judge thee as adulteresses, and they that shed blood
are judged: and I will give thee blood in fury and jealousy.

16:39. And I will deliver thee into their hands, and they shall destroy
thy brothel house, and throw down thy stews: and they shall strip thee
of thy garments, and shall take away the vessels of thy beauty: and
leave thee naked, and full of disgrace.

16:40. And they shall bring upon thee a multitude, and they shall stone
thee with stones, and shall slay thee with their swords.

16:41. And they shall burn thy houses with fire, and shall execute
judgments upon thee in the sight of many women: and thou shalt cease
from fornication, and shalt give no hire any more.

16:42. And my indignation shall rest in thee: and my jealousy shall
depart from thee, and I will cease and be angry no more.

16:43. Because thou hast not remembered the days of thy youth, but hast
provoked me in all these things: wherefore I also have turned all thy
ways upon thy head, saith the Lord God, and I have not done according
to thy wicked deeds in all thy abominations.

16:44. Behold every one that useth a common proverb, shall use this
against thee, saying: As the mother was, so also is her daughter.

16:45. Thou art thy mother's daughter, that cast off her husband, and
her children: and thou art the sister of thy sisters, who cast off
their husbands, and their children: your mother was a Cethite, and your
father an Amorrhite.

16:46. And thy elder sister is Samaria, she and her daughters that
dwell at thy left hand: and thy younger sister that dwelleth at thy
right hand is Sodom, and her daughters.

16:47. But neither hast thou walked in their ways, nor hast thou done a
little less than they according to their wickednesses: thou hast done
almost more wicked things than they in all thy ways.

16:48. As I live, saith the Lord God, thy sister Sodom herself, and her
daughters, have not done as thou hast done, and thy daughters.

16:49. Behold this was the iniquity of Sodom thy sister, pride, fulness
of bread, and abundance, and the idleness of her, and of her daughters:
and they did not put forth their hand to the needy, and the poor.

This was the iniquity of Sodom, etc. . .That is, these were the steps by
which the Sodomites came to fall into those abominations for which they
were destroyed. For pride, gluttony, and idleness are the highroad to
all kinds of lust; especially when they are accompanied with a neglect
of the works of mercy.

16:50. And they were lifted up, and committed abominations before me:
and I took them away as thou hast seen.

16:51. And Samaria committed not half thy sins: but thou hast surpassed
them with thy crimes, and hast justified thy sisters by all thy
abominations which thou hast done.

16:52. Therefore do thou also bear thy confusion, thou that hast
surpassed thy sisters with thy sins, doing more wickedly than they: for
they are justified above thee, therefore be thou also confounded, and
bear thy shame, thou that hast justified thy sisters.

16:53. And I will bring back and restore them by bringing back Sodom,
with her daughters, and by bringing back Samaria, and her daughters:
and I will bring those that return of thee in the midst of them.

I will bring back, etc. . .This relates to the conversion of the
Gentiles out of all nations, and of many of the Jews, to the church of
Christ.

16:54. That thou mayest bear thy shame, and mayest be confounded in all
that thou hast done, comforting them.

16:55. And thy sister Sodom and her daughters shall return to their
ancient state: and Samaria and her daughters shall return to their
ancient state: and thou and thy daughters shall return to your ancient
state.

Ancient state. . .That is, to their former state of liberty, and their
ancient possessions. In the spiritual sense, to the true liberty, and
the happy inheritance of the children of God, through faith in Christ.

16:56. And Sodom thy sister was not heard of in thy mouth, in the day
of thy pride,

16:57. Before thy malice was laid open: as it is at this time, making
thee a reproach of the daughters of Syria, and of all the daughters of
Palestine round about thee, that encompass thee on all sides.

16:58. Thou hast borne thy wickedness, and thy disgrace, saith the Lord
God.

16:59. For thus saith the Lord God: I will deal with thee, as thou hast
despised the oath, in breaking the covenant:

16:60. And I will remember my covenant with thee in the days of thy
youth: and I will establish with thee an everlasting covenant.

16:61. And thou shalt remember thy ways, and be ashamed: when thou
shalt receive thy sisters, thy elder and thy younger: and I will give
them to thee for daughters, but not by thy covenant.

16:62. And I will establish my covenant with thee: and thou shalt know
that I am the Lord,

16:63. That thou mayest remember, and be confounded, and mayest no more
open thy mouth because of thy confusion, when I shall be pacified
toward thee for all that thou hast done, saith the Lord God.



Ezechiel Chapter 17


The parable of the two eagles and the vine. A promise of the cedar of
Christ and his church.

17:1. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

17:2. Son of man, put forth a riddle, and speak a parable to the house
of Israel,

17:3. And say: Thus saith the Lord God; A large eagle with great wings,
long-limbed, full of feathers, and of variety, came to Libanus, and
took away the marrow of the cedar.

A large eagle. . .Nabuchodonosor, king of Babylon.--Ibid. Came to
Libanus. . .That is, to Jerusalem.--Ibid. Took away the marrow of the
cedar. . .King Jechonias.

17:4. He cropped off the top of the twigs thereof: and carried it away
into the land of Chanaan, and he set it in a city of merchants.

Chanaan. . .This name, which signifies traffic, is not taken here for
Palestine, but for Chaldea: and the city of merchants here mentioned is
Babylon.

17:5. And he took of the seed of the land, and put it in the ground for
seed, that it might take a firm root over many waters: he planted it on
the surface of the earth.

Of the seed of the land, etc. . .Viz., Sedecias, whom he made king.

17:6. And it sprung up and grew into a spreading vine of low stature,
and the branches thereof looked towards him: and the roots thereof were
under him. So it became a vine, and grew into branches, and shot forth
sprigs.

Towards him. . .Nabuchodonosor, to whom Sedecias swore allegiance.

17:7. And there was another large eagle, with great wings, and many
feathers: and behold this vine, bending as it were her roots towards
him, stretched forth her branches to him, that he might water it by the
furrows of her plantation.

Another large eagle. . .Viz., the king of Egypt.

17:8. It was planted in a good ground upon many waters, that it might
bring forth branches, and bear fruit, that it might become a large
vine.

17:9. Say thou: Thus saith the Lord God: Shall it prosper then? shall
he not pull up the roots thereof, and strip off its fruit, and dry up
all the branches it hath shot forth, and make it wither: and this
without a strong arm, or many people to pluck it up by the root?

17:10. Behold, it is planted: shall it prosper then? shall it not be
dried up when the burning wind shall touch it, and shall it not wither
in the furrows where it grew?

17:11. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

17:12. Say to the provoking house: Know you not what these things mean?
Tell them: Behold the king of Babylon cometh to Jerusalem: and he shall
take away the king and the princes thereof and carry them with him to
Babylon.

Shall take away. . .Or, hath taken away, etc., for all this was now
done.

17:13. And he shall take one of the king's seed, and make a covenant
with him, and take an oath of him. Yea, and he shall take away the
mighty men of the land,

17:14. That it may be a low kingdom and not lift itself up, but keep
his covenant and observe it.

17:15. But he hath revolted from him and sent ambassadors to Egypt,
that it might give him horses, and much people. And shall he that hath
done thus prosper, or be saved? and shall he escape that hath broken
the covenant?

17:16. As I live, saith the Lord God: In the place where the king
dwelleth that made him king, whose oath he hath made void, and whose
covenant he broke, even in the midst of Babylon shall he die.

17:17. And not with a great army, nor with much people shall Pharao
fight against him: when he shall cast up mounts, and build forts, to
cut off many souls.

17:18. For he had despised the oath, breaking his covenant, and behold
he hath given his hand: and having done all these things, he shall not
escape.

17:19. Therefore thus saith the Lord God: As I live, I will lay upon
his head the oath he hath despised, and the covenant he hath broken.

17:20. And I will spread my net over him, and he shall be taken in my
net: and I will bring him into Babylon, and will judge him there for
the transgression by which he hath despised me.

17:21. And all his fugitives with all his bands shall fall by the
sword: and the residue shall be scattered into every wind: and you
shall know that I the Lord have spoken.

17:22. Thus saith the Lord God: I myself will take of the marrow of the
high cedar, and will set it: I will crop off a tender twig from the top
of the branches thereof, and I will plant it on a mountain high and
eminent.

Of the marrow of the high cedar, etc. . .Of the royal stock of
David.--Ibid. A tender twig. . .Viz., Jesus Christ, whom God hath
planted in mount Sion, that is, the high mountain of his church, to
which all nations flow.

17:23. On the high mountains of Israel will I plant it, and it shall
shoot forth into branches and shall bear fruit, and it shall become a
great cedar: and all birds shall dwell under it, and every fowl shall
make its nest under the shadow of the branches thereof.

17:24. And all the trees of the country shall know that I the Lord have
brought down the high tree, and exalted the low tree: and have dried up
the green tree, and have caused the dry tree to flourish. I the Lord
have spoken and have done it.



Ezechiel Chapter 18


One man shall not bear the sins of another, but every one his own; if a
wicked man truly repent, he shall be saved; and if a just man leave his
justice, he shall perish.

18:1. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: What is the meaning?

18:2. That you use among you this parable as a proverb in the land of
Israel, saying: The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the teeth of
the children are set on edge.

18:3. As I live, saith the Lord God, this parable shall be no more to
you a proverb in Israel.

18:4. Behold all souls are mine: as the soul of the father, so also the
soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, the same shall die.

18:5. And if a man be just, and do judgment and justice,

18:6. And hath not eaten upon the mountains, nor lifted up his eyes to
the idols of the house of Israel: and hath not defiled his neighbour's
wife, nor come near to a menstruous woman:

Not eaten upon the mountains. . .That is, of the sacrifices there
offered to idols.

18:7. And hath not wronged any man: but hath restored the pledge to the
debtor, hath taken nothing away by violence: hath given his bread to
the hungry, and hath covered the naked with a garment:

18:8. Hath not lent upon usury, nor taken any increase: hath withdrawn
his hand from iniquity, and hath executed true judgment between man and
man:

18:9. Hath walked in my commandments, and kept my judgments, to do
truth: he is just, he shall surely live, saith the Lord God.

To do truth. . .That is, to act according to truth; for the Hebrews
called everything that was just, truth.

18:10. And if he beget a son that is a robber, a shedder of blood, and
that hath done some one of these things:

18:11. Though he doth not all these things, but that eateth upon the
mountains, and that defileth his neighbour's wife:

18:12. That grieveth the needy and the poor, that taketh away by
violence, that restoreth not the pledge, and that lifteth up his eyes
to idols, that comitteth abomination:

18:13. That giveth upon usury, and that taketh an increase: shall such
a one live? he shall not live. Seeing he hath done all these detestable
things, he shall surely die, his blood shall be upon him.

18:14. But if he beget a son, who, seeing all his father's sins, which
he hath done, is afraid, and shall not do the like to them:

18:15. That hath not eaten upon the mountains, nor lifted up his eyes
to the idols of the house of Israel, and hath not defiled his
neighbour's wife:

18:16. And hath not grieved any man, nor withholden the pledge, nor
taken away with violence, but hath given his bread to the hungry, and
covered the naked with a garment:

18:17. That hath turned away his hand from injuring the poor, hath not
taken usury and increase, but hath executed my judgments, and hath
walked in my commandments: this man shall not die for the iniquity of
his father, but living he shall live.

18:18. As for his father, because he oppressed and offered violence to
his brother, and wrought evil in the midst of his people, behold he is
dead in his own iniquity.

18:19. And you say: Why hath not the son borne the iniquity of his
father? Verily, because the son hath wrought judgment and justice, hath
kept all my commandments, and done them, living, he shall live.

18:20. The soul that sinneth, the same shall die: the son shall not
bear the iniquity of the father, and the father shall not bear the
iniquity of the son: the justice of the just shall be upon him, and the
wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.

18:21. But if the wicked do penance for all his sins which he hath
committed, and keep all my commandments, and do judgment, and justice,
living he shall live, and shall not die.

18:22. I will not remember all his iniquities that he hath done: in his
justice which he hath wrought, he shall live.

18:23. Is it my will that a sinner should die, saith the Lord God, and
not that he should be converted from his ways, and live?

18:24. But if the just man turn himself away from his justice, and do
iniquity according to all the abominations which the wicked man useth
to work, shall he live? all his justices which he hath done, shall not
be remembered: in the prevarication, by which he hath prevaricated, and
in his sin, which he hath committed, in them he shall die.

18:25. And you have said: The way of the Lord is not right. Hear ye,
therefore, O house of Israel: Is it my way that is not right, and are
not rather your ways perverse?

18:26. For when the just turneth himself away from his justice, and
comitteth iniquity, he shall die therein: in the injustice that he hath
wrought he shall die.

18:27. And when the wicked turneth himself away from his wickedness,
which he hath wrought, and doeth judgment, and justice: he shall save
his soul alive.

18:28. Because he considereth and turneth away himself from all his
iniquities which he hath wrought, he shall surely live, and not die.

18:29. And the children of Israel say: The way of the Lord is not
right. Are not my ways right, O house of Israel, and are not rather
your ways perverse?

18:30. Therefore will I judge every man according to his ways, O house
of Israel, saith the Lord God. Be converted, and do penance for all
your iniquities: and iniquity shall not be your ruin.

18:31. Cast away from you all your transgressions, by which you have
transgressed, and make to yourselves a new heart, and a new spirit: and
why will you die, O house of Israel?

18:32. For I desire not the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord
God, return ye and live.



Ezechiel Chapter 19


The parable of the young lions, and of the vineyard that is wasted.

19:1. Moreover take thou up a lamentation for the princes of Israel,

19:2. And say: Why did thy mother the lioness lie down among the lions,
and bring up her whelps in the midst of young lions?

Thy mother the lioness. . .Jerusalem.

19:3. And she brought out one of her whelps, and he became a lion: and
he learned to catch the prey, and to devour men.

One of her whelps. . .Viz., Joachaz, alias Sellum.

19:4. And the nations heard of him, and took him, but not without
receiving wounds: and they brought him in chains into the land of
Egypt.

19:5. But she seeing herself weakened, and that her hope was lost, took
one of her young lions, and set him up for a lion.

One of her young lions. . .Joakim.

19:6. And he went up and down among the lions, and became a lion: and
he learned to catch the prey, and to devour men.

19:7. He learned to make widows, and to lay waste their cities: and the
land became desolate, and the fulness thereof by the noise of his
roaring.

19:8. And the nations came together against him on every side out of
the provinces, and they spread their net over him, in their wounds he
was taken.

19:9. And they put him into a cage, they brought him in chains to the
king of Babylon: and they cast him into prison, that his voice should
no more be heard upon the mountains of Israel.

19:10. Thy mother is like a vine in thy blood planted by the water: her
fruit and her branches have grown out of many waters.

19:11. And she hath strong rods to make sceptres for them that bear
rule, and her stature was exalted among the branches: and she saw her
height in the multitude of her branches.

19:12. But she was plucked up in wrath, and cast on the ground, and the
burning wind dried up her fruit: her strong rods are withered, and
dried up: the fire hath devoured her.

19:13. And now she is transplanted into the desert, in a land not
passable, and dry.

19:14. And a fire is gone out from a rod of her branches, which hath
devoured her fruit: so that she now hath no strong rod, to be a sceptre
of rulers. This is a lamentation, and it shall be for a lamentation.



Ezechiel Chapter 20


God refuses to answer the ancients of Israel inquiring by the prophet:
but by him setteth his benefits before their eyes, and their heinous
sins: threatening yet greater punishments: but still mixed with mercy.

20:1. And it came to pass in the seventh year, in the fifth month, the
tenth day of the month: there came men of the ancients of Israel to
inquire of the Lord, and they sat before me.

20:2. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

20:3. Son of man, speak to the ancients of Israel and say to them: Thus
saith the Lord God: Are you come to inquire of me? As I live, I will
not answer you, saith the Lord God.

20:4. If thou judgest them, if thou judgest, O son of man, declare to
them the abominations of their fathers.

If thou judgest them. . .Or, if thou wilt enter into the cause and plead
against them.

20:5. And say to them: Thus saith the Lord God: In the day when I chose
Israel, and lifted up my hand for the race of the house of Jacob: and
appeared to them in the land of Egypt, and lifted up my hand for them,
saying: I am the Lord your God:

20:6. In that day I lifted up my hand for them to bring them out of the
land of Egypt, into a land which I had provided for them, flowing with
milk and honey, which excelled amongst all lands.

20:7. And I said to them: Let every man cast away the scandals of his
eyes, and defile not yourselves with the idols of Egypt: I am the Lord
your God.

Scandals, etc. . .Offensiones. That is, the abominations or idols, to
the worship of which they were allured by their eyes.

20:8. But they provoked me, and would not hearken to me: they did not
every man cast away the abominations of his eyes, neither did they
forsake the idols of Egypt: and I said I would pour out my indignation
upon them, and accomplish my wrath against them in the midst of the
land of Egypt.

20:9. But I did otherwise for my name's sake, that it might not be
violated before the nations, in the midst of whom they were, and among
whom I made myself known to them, to bring them out of the land of
Egypt.

20:10. Therefore I brought them out from the land of Egypt, and brought
them into the desert.

20:11. And I gave them my statutes, and I shewed them my judgments,
which if a man do, he shall live in them.

20:12. Moreover I gave them also my sabbaths, to be a sign between me
and them: and that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctify
them.

20:13. But the house of Israel provoked me in the desert: they walked
not in my statutes, and they cast away my judgments, which if a man do
he shall live in them: and they grievously violated my sabbaths. I said
therefore that I would pour out my indignation upon them in the desert,
and would consume them.

20:14. But I spared them for the sake of my name, lest it should be
profaned before the nations, from which I brought them out, in their
sight.

20:15. So I lifted up my hand over them in the desert, not to bring
them into the land which I had given them flowing with milk and honey,
the best of all lands.

20:16. Because they cast off my judgments, and walked not in my
statutes, and violated my sabbaths: for their heart went after idols.

20:17. Yet my eye spared them, so that I destroyed them not: neither
did I consume them in the desert.

20:18. And I said to their children in the wilderness: Walk not in the
statutes of your fathers, and observe not their judgments, nor be ye
defiled with their idols:

20:19. I am the Lord your God: walk ye in my statutes, and observe my
judgments, and do them.

20:20. And sanctify my sabbaths, that they may be a sign between me and
you: and that you may know that I am the Lord your God.

20:21. But their children provoked me, they walked not in my
commandments, nor observed my judgments to do them: which if a man do,
he shall live in them: and they violated my sabbaths: and I threatened
to pour out my indignation upon them, and to accomplish my wrath in
them in the desert.

20:22. But I turned away my hand, and wrought for my name's sake, that
it might not be violated before the nations, out of which I brought
them forth in their sight.

20:23. Again I lifted up my hand upon them in the wilderness, to
disperse them among the nations, and scatter them through the
countries:

20:24. Because they had not done my judgments, and had cast off my
statutes, and had violated my sabbaths, and their eyes had been after
the idols of their fathers.

20:25. Therefore I also gave them statutes that were not good, and
judgments, in which they shall not live.

Statutes that were not good, etc. . .Viz., the laws and ordinances of
their enemies; or those imposes upon them by that cruel tyrant the
devil, to whose power they were delivered up for their sins.

20:26. And I polluted them in their own gifts, when they offered all
that opened the womb, for their offences: and they shall know that I am
the Lord.

I polluted them, etc. . .That is, I gave them up to such blindness in
punishment of their offences, as to pollute themselves with the blood
of all their firstborn, whom they offered up to their idols in
compliance with their wicked devices.

20:27. Wherefore speak to the house of Israel, O son of man, and say to
them: Thus saith the Lord God: Moreover in this also your fathers
blaspheme me, when they had despised and contemned me;

20:28. And I had brought them into the land, for which I lifted up my
hand to give it them: they saw every high hill, and every shady tree,
and there they sacrificed their victims: and there they presented the
provocation of their offerings, and there they set their sweet odours,
and poured forth their libations.

20:29. And I said to them: What meaneth the high place to which you go?
and the name thereof was called High-place even to this day.

20:30. Wherefore say to the house of Israel: Thus saith the Lord God:
Verily, you are defiled in the way of your fathers, and you commit
fornication with their abominations.

20:31. And you defile yourselves with all your idols unto this day, in
the offering of your gifts, when you make your children pass through
the fire: and shall I answer you, O house of Israel? As I live, saith
the Lord God, I will not answer you.

20:32. Neither shall the thought of your mind come to pass, by which
you say: We will be as the Gentiles, and as the families of the earth,
to worship stocks and stones.

20:33. As I live, saith the Lord God, I will reign over you with a
strong hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with fury poured out.

20:34. And I will bring you out from the people, and I will gather you
out of the countries, in which you are scattered, I will reign over you
with a strong hand and with a stretched out arm, and with fury poured
out.

20:35. And I will bring you into the wilderness of people, and there
will I plead with you face to face.

The wilderness of people. . .That is, a desert in which there are no
people.

20:36. As I pleaded against your fathers in the desert of the land of
Egypt; even so will I judge you, saith the Lord God.

20:37. And I will make you subject to my sceptre, and will bring you
into the bands of the covenant.

20:38. And I will pick out from among you the transgressors, and the
wicked, and will bring them out of the land where they sojourn, and
they shall not enter into the land of Israel: and you shall know that I
am the Lord.

20:39. And as for you, O house of Israel: thus saith the Lord God: Walk
ye every one after your idols, and serve them. But if in this also you
hear me not, but defile my holy name any more with your gifts, and with
your idols;

Walk ye every one, etc. . .It is not an allowance, much less a
commandment to serve idols; but a figure of speech, by which God would
have them to understand that if they would walk after their idols, they
must not pretend to serve him at the same time: for that he would by no
means suffer such a mixture of worship.

20:40. In my holy mountain, in the high mountain of Israel, saith the
Lord God, there shall all the house of Israel serve me; all of them I
say, in the land in which they shall please me, and there will I
require your firstfruits, and the chief of your tithes with all your
sanctifications.

In my holy mountain, etc. . .The foregoing verse, to make the sense
complete, must be understood so as to condemn and reject that mixture
of worship which the Jews then followed. In this verse, God promises to
the true Israelites, especially to those of the Christian church, that
they shall serve him in another manner, in his holy mountain, the
spiritual Sion: and shall by accepted of by him.

20:41. I will accept of you for an odour of sweetness, when I shall
have brought you out from the people, and shall have gathered you out
of the lands into which you are scattered, and I will be sanctified in
you in the sight of the nations.

20:42. And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall have brought
you into the land of Israel, into the land for which I lifted up my
hand to give it to your fathers.

20:43. And there you shall remember your ways, and all your wicked
doings with which you have been defiled; and you shall be displeased
with yourselves in your own sight, for all your wicked deeds which you
committed.

20:44. And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall have done
well by you for my own name's sake, and not according to your evil
ways, nor according to your wicked deeds, O house of Israel, saith the
Lord God.

20:45. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

20:46. Son of man, set thy face against the way of the south, and drop
towards the south, and prophesy against the forest of the south field.

Of the south. . .Jerusalem lay towards the south of Babylon, (where the
prophet then was,) and is here called the forest of the south field,
and is threatened with utter desolation.

20:47. And say to the south forest: Hear the word of the Lord: Thus
saith the Lord God: Behold I will kindle a fire in thee, and will burn
in thee every green tree, and every dry tree: the flame of the fire
shall not be quenched: and every face shall be burned in it, from the
south even to the north.

20:48. And all flesh shall see, that I the Lord have kindled it, and it
shall not be quenched.

20:49. And I said: Ah, ah, ah, O Lord God: they say of me: Doth not
this man speak by parables?



Ezechiel Chapter 21


The destruction of Jerusalem by the sword is further described: the
ruin also of the Ammonites is forshewn. And finally Babylon, the
destroyer of others, shall be destroyed.

21:1. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

21:2. Son of man, set thy face toward Jerusalem, and let thy speech
flow towards the holy places, and prophesy against the land of Israel:

21:3. And say to the land of Israel, Thus saith the Lord God: Behold I
come against thee, and I will draw forth my sword out of its sheath,
and will cut off in thee the just, and the wicked.

21:4. And forasmuch as I have cut off in thee the just and the wicked,
therefore shall my sword go forth out of its sheath against all flesh,
from the south even to the north.

21:5. That all flesh may know that I the Lord have drawn my sword out
of its sheath not to be turned back.

21:6. And thou, son of man, mourn with the breaking of thy loins, and
with bitterness sigh before them.

21:7. And when they shall say to thee: Why mournest thou? thou shalt
say: For that which I hear: because it cometh, and every heart shall
melt, and all hands shall be made feeble, and every spirit shall faint,
and water shall run down every knee: behold it cometh, and it shall be
done, saith the Lord God.

21:8. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

21:9. Son of man, prophesy, and say: Thus saith the Lord God: Say: The
sword, the sword is sharpened, and furbished.

21:10. It is sharpened to kill victims: it is furbished that it may
glitter: thou removest the sceptre of my son, thou hast cut down every
tree.

Thou removest the sceptre of my son. . .He speaks (according to St.
Jerome) to the sword of Nabuchodonosor: which was about to remove the
sceptre of Israel, whom God here calls his son.

21:11. And I have given it to be furbished, that it may be handled:
this sword is sharpened, and it is furbished, that it may be in the
hand of the slayer.

21:12. Cry, and howl, O son of man, for this sword is upon my people,
it is upon all the princes of Israel, that are fled: they are delivered
up to the sword with my people, strike therefore upon thy thigh,

21:13. Because it is tried: and that when it shall overthrow the
sceptre, and it shall not be, saith the Lord God.

21:14. Thou therefore, O son of man, prophesy, and strike thy hands
together, and let the sword be doubled, and let the sword of the slain
be tripled: this is the sword of a great slaughter, that maketh them
stand amazed,

21:15. And languish in heart, and that multiplieth ruins. In all their
gates I have set the dread of the sharp sword, the sword that is
furbished to glitter, that is made ready for slaughter.

21:16. Be thou sharpened, go to the right hand, or to the left, which
way soever thou hast a mind to set thy face.

21:17. And I will clap my hands together, and will satisfy my
indignation: I the Lord have spoken.

21:18. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

21:19. And thou son of man, set thee two ways, for the sword of the
king of Babylon to come: both shall come forth out of one land: and
with his hand he shall draw lots, he shall consult at the head of the
way of the city.

21:20. Thou shalt make a way that the sword may come to Rabbath of the
children of Ammon, and to Juda unto Jerusalem the strong city.

21:21. For the king of Babylon stood in the highway, at the head of two
ways, seeking divination, shuffling arrows: he inquired of the idols,
and consulted entrails.

21:22. On his right hand was the divination for Jerusalem, to set
battering rams, to open the mouth in slaughter, to lift up the voice in
howling, to set engines against the gates, to cast up a mount, to build
forts.

21:23. And he shall be in their eyes as one consulting the oracle in
vain, and imitating the leisure of sabbaths: but he will call to
remembrance the iniquity that they may be taken.

21:24. Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Because you have remembered
your iniquity, and have discovered your prevarications, and your sins
have appeared in all your devices: because, I say, You have remembered,
you shall be taken with the hand.

21:25. But thou profane wicked prince of Israel, whose day is come that
hath been appointed in the time of iniquity:

Thou profane, etc. . .He speaks to king Sedecias, who had broken his
oath, and was otherwise a wicked prince.

21:26. Thus saith the Lord God: Remove the diadem, take off the crown:
is it not this that hath exalted the low one, and brought down him that
was high?

Is it not this that hath exalted the low one. . .The royal crown of Juda
had exalted Sedecias from a private state and condition to the
sovereign power, as the loss of it had brought down Jechonias, etc.

21:27. I will shew it to be iniquity, iniquity, iniquity: but this was
not done till he came to whom judgment belongeth, and I will give it
him.

I will shew it to be iniquity, etc. . .Or, I will overturn it, viz., the
crown of Juda for the manifold iniquities of the kings: but it shall
not be utterly removed, till Christ come whose right it is: and who
shall reign in the spiritual house of Jacob, that is, in his church,
for evermore.

21:28. And thou son of man, prophesy, and say: Thus saith the Lord God
concerning the children of Ammon, and concerning their reproach, and
thou shalt say: O sword, O sword, come out of the scabbard to kill, be
furbished to destroy, and to glitter,

Concerning their reproach. . .By which they had reproached and insulted
over the Jews, at the time of the destruction of Jerusalem.

21:29. Whilst they see vain things in thy regard, and they divine lies:
to bring thee upon the necks of the wicked that are wounded, whose
appointed day is come in the time of iniquity.

21:30. Return into thy sheath. I will judge thee in the place wherein
thou wast created, in the land of thy nativity.

Return into thy sheath, etc. . .The sword of Babylon, after raging
against many nations, was shortly to be judged and destroyed at home by
the Medes and Persians.

21:31. And I will pour out upon thee my indignation: in the fire of my
rage will I blow upon thee, and will give thee into the hands of men
that are brutish and contrive thy destruction.

21:32. Thou shalt be fuel for the fire, thy blood shall be in the midst
of the land, thou shalt be forgotten: for I the Lord have spoken it.



Ezechiel Chapter 22


The general corruption of the inhabitants of Jerusalem: for which God
will consume them as dross in his furnace.

22:1. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

22:2. And thou son of man, dost thou not judge, dost thou not judge the
city of blood?

22:3. And thou shalt shew her all her abominations, and shalt say: Thus
saith the Lord God: This is the city that sheddeth blood in the midst
of her, that her time may come: and that hath made idols against
herself, to defile herself.

22:4. Thou art become guilty in thy blood which thou hast shed: and
thou art defiled in thy idols which thou hast made: and thou hast made
thy days to draw near, and hast brought on the time of thy years:
therefore have I made thee a reproach to the Gentiles, and a mockery to
all countries.

22:5. Those that are near, and those that are far from thee, shall
triumph over thee: thou filthy one, infamous, great in destruction.

22:6. Behold the princes of Israel, every one hath employed his arm in
thee to shed blood.

22:7. They have abused father and mother in thee, they have oppressed
the stranger in the midst of thee, they have grieved the fatherless and
widow in thee.

22:8. Thou hast despised my sanctuaries, and profaned my sabbaths.

22:9. Slanderers have been in thee to shed blood, and they have eaten
upon the mountains in thee, they have committed wickedness in the midst
of thee.

22:10. They have discovered the nakedness of their father in thee, they
have humbled the uncleanness of the menstruous woman in thee.

22:11. And every one hath committed abomination with his neighbour's
wife, and the father in law hath wickedly defiled his daughter in law,
the brother hath oppressed his sister the daughter of his father in
thee.

22:12. They have taken gifts in thee to shed blood: thou hast taken
usury and increase, and hast covetously oppressed thy neighbours: and
thou hast forgotten me, saith the Lord God.

22:13. Behold, I have clapped my hands at thy covetousness, which thou
hast exercised: and at the blood that hath been shed in the midst of
thee.

22:14. Shall thy heart endure, or shall thy hands prevail in the days
which I will bring upon thee: I the Lord have spoken, and will do it.

22:15. And I will disperse thee in the nations, and will scatter thee
among the countries, and I will put an end to thy uncleanness in thee.

22:16. And I will possess thee in the sight of the Gentiles, and thou
shalt know that I am the Lord.

22:17. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

22:18. Son of man, the house of Israel is become dross to me: all these
are brass, and tin, and iron, and lead, in the midst of the furnace:
they are become the dross of silver.

22:19. Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Because you are all turned
into dross, therefore behold I will gather you together in the midst of
Jerusalem.

22:20. As they gather silver, and brass, and tin, and iron, and lead in
the midst of the furnace: that I may kindle a fire in it to melt it: so
will I gather you together in my fury and in my wrath, and will take my
rest, and I will melt you down.

22:21. And will gather you together, and will burn you in the fire of
my wrath, and you shall be melted in the midst thereof.

22:22. As silver is melted in the midst of the furnace, so shall you be
in the midst thereof: and you shall know that I am the Lord, when I
have poured out my indignation upon you.

22:23. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

22:24. Son of man, say to her: Thou art a land that is unclean, and not
rained upon in the day of wrath.

22:25. There is a conspiracy of prophets in the midst thereof: like a
lion that roareth and catcheth the prey, they have devoured souls, they
have taken riches and hire, they have made many widows in the midst
thereof.

22:26. Her priests have despised my law, and have defiled my
sanctuaries: they have put no difference between holy and profane: nor
have distinguished between the polluted and the clean: and they have
turned away their eyes from my sabbaths, and I was profaned in the
midst of them.

22:27. Her princes in the midst of her, are like wolves ravening the
prey to shed blood, and to destroy souls, and to run after gains
through covetousness.

22:28. And her prophets have daubed them without tempering the mortar,
seeing vain things, and divining lies unto them, saying: Thus saith the
Lord God: when the Lord hath not spoken.

22:29. The people of the land have used oppression, and committed
robbery: they afflicted the needy and poor, and they oppressed the
stranger by calumny without judgment.

22:30. And I sought among them for a man that might set up a hedge, and
stand in the gap before me in favour of the land, that I might not
destroy it: and I found none.

22:31. And I poured out my indignation upon them, in the fire of my
wrath I consumed them: I have rendered their way upon their own head,
saith the Lord God.



Ezechiel Chapter 23


Under the names of the two harlots, Oolla and Ooliba, are described the
manifold disloyalties of Samaria and Jerusalem, with the punishment of
them both.

23:1. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

23:2. Son of man, there were two women, daughters of one mother.

23:3. And they committed fornication in Egypt, in their youth they
committed fornication: there were their breasts pressed down, and the
teats of their virginity were bruised.

Committed fornication. . .That is, idolatry.

23:4. And their names were Oolla the elder, and Ooliba her younger
sister: and I took them, and they bore sons and daughters. Now for
their names, Samaria is Oolla, and Jerusalem is Ooliba.

Oolla and Ooliba. . .God calls the kingdom of Israel Oolla, which
signifies their own habitation, because they separated themselves from
his temple: and the kingdom of Juda, Ooliba, which signifies his
habitation in her, because of his temple among them in Jerusalem.

23:5. And Oolla committed fornication against me, and doted on her
lovers, on the Assyrians that came to her,

On the Assyraians, etc. . .That is, the idols of the Assyrians: for all
that is said in this chapter of the fornications of Israel and Juda, is
to be understood in a spiritual sense, of their disloyalty to the Lord,
by worshipping strange gods.

23:6. Who were clothed with blue, princes, and rulers, beautiful
youths, all horsemen, mounted upon horses.

23:7. And she committed her fornications with those chosen men, all
sons of the Assyrians: and she defiled herself with the uncleanness of
all them on whom she doted.

23:8. Moreover also she did not forsake her fornications which she had
committed in Egypt: for they also lay with her in her youth, and they
bruised the breasts of her virginity, and poured out their fornication
upon her.

23:9. Therefore have I delivered her into the hands of her lovers, into
the hands of the sons of the Assyrians, upon whose lust she doted.

23:10. They discovered her disgrace, took away her sons and daughters,
and slew her with the sword: and they became infamous women, and they
executed judgments in her.

23:11. And when her sister Ooliba saw this, she was mad with lust more
than she: and she carried her fornication beyond the fornication of her
sister.

23:12. Impudently prostituting herself to the children of the
Assyrians, the princes, and rulers that came to her, clothed with
divers colours, to the horsemen that rode upon horses, and to young men
all of great beauty.

23:13. And I saw that she was defiled, and that they both took one way.

23:14. And she increased her fornications: and when she had seen men
painted on the wall, the images of the Chaldeans set forth in colours,

23:15. And girded with girdles about their reins, and with dyed turbans
on their heads, the resemblance of all the captains, the likeness of
the sons of Babylon, and of the land of the Chaldeans wherein they were
born,

23:16. She doted upon them with the lust of her eyes, and she sent
messengers to them into Chaldea.

23:17. And when the sons of Babylon were come to her to the bed of
love, they defiled her with their fornications, and she was polluted by
them, and her soul was glutted with them.

23:18. And she discovered her fornications, and discovered her
disgrace: and my soul was alienated from her, as my soul was alienated
from her sister.

23:19. For she multiplied her fornications, remembering the days of her
youth, in which she played the harlot in the land of Egypt.

23:20. And she was mad with lust after lying with them whose flesh is
as the flesh of asses: and whose issue as the issue of horses.

23:21. And thou hast renewed the wickedness of thy youth, when thy
breasts were pressed in Egypt, and the paps of thy virginity broken.

23:22. Therefore, Ooliba, thus saith the Lord God: Behold I will raise
up against thee all thy lovers with whom thy soul hath been glutted:
and I will gather them together against thee round about.

23:23. The children of Babylon, and all the Chaldeans, the nobles, and
the kings, and princes, all the sons of the Assyrians, beautiful young
men, all the captains, and rulers, the princes of princes, and the
renowned horsemen.

23:24. And they shall come upon thee well appointed with chariot and
wheel, a multitude of people: they shall be armed against thee on every
side with breastplate, and buckler, and helmet: and I will set judgment
before them, and they shall judge thee by their judgments.

23:25. And I will set my jealousy against thee, which they shall
execute upon thee with fury: they shall cut off thy nose and thy ears:
and what remains shall fall by the sword: they shall take thy sons, and
thy daughters, and thy residue shall be devoured by fire.

23:26. And they shall strip thee of thy garments, and take away the
instruments of thy glory.

23:27. And I will put an end to thy wickedness in thee, and thy
fornication brought out of the land of Egypt: neither shalt thou lift
up thy eyes to them, nor remember Egypt any more.

23:28. For thus saith the Lord God: Behold, I will deliver thee into
the hands of them whom thou hatest, into their hands with whom thy soul
hath been glutted.

23:29. And they shall deal with thee in hatred, and they shall take
away all thy labours, and shall let thee go naked, and full of
disgrace, and the disgrace of thy fornication shall be discovered, thy
wickedness, and thy fornications.

23:30. They have done these things to thee, because thou hast played
the harlot with the nations among which thou wast defiled with their
idols.

23:31. Thou hast walked in the way of thy sister and I will give her
cup into thy hand.

23:32. Thus saith the Lord God: Thou shalt drink thy sister's cup, deep
and wide: thou shalt be had in derision and scorn, which containeth
very much.

23:33. Thou shalt be filled with drunkenness, and sorrow: with the cup
of grief and sadness, with the cup of thy sister Samaria.

23:34. And thou shalt drink it, and shalt drink it up even to the
dregs, and thou shalt devour the fragments thereof, thou shalt rend thy
breasts: because I have spoken it, saith the Lord God.

23:35. Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Because thou hast forgotten
me, and hast cast me off behind thy back, bear thou also thy
wickedness, and thy fornications.

23:36. And the Lord spoke to me, saying: Son of man, dost thou judge
Oolla, and Ooliba, and dost thou declare to them their wicked deeds?

23:37. Because they have committed adultery, and blood is in their
hands, and they have committed fornication with their idols: moreover
also their children, whom they bore to me, they have offered to them to
be devoured.

23:38. Yea, and they have done this to me. They polluted my sanctuary
on the same day, and profaned my sabbaths.

23:39. And when they sacrificed their children to their idols, and went
into my sanctuary the same day to profane it: they did these things
even in the midst of my house.

23:40. They sent for men coming from afar, to whom they had sent a
messenger: and behold they came: for whom thou didst wash thyself, and
didst paint thy eyes, and wast adorned with women's ornaments.

23:41. Thou sattest on a very fine bed, and a table was decked before
thee: whereupon thou didst set my incense, and my ointment.

23:42. And there was in her the voice of a multitude rejoicing: and to
some that were brought of the multitude of men, and that came from the
desert, they put bracelets on their hands, and beautiful crowns on
their heads.

23:43. And I said to her that was worn out in her adulteries: Now will
this woman still continue in her fornication.

23:44. And they went in to her, as to a harlot: so went they in unto
Oolla, and Ooliba, wicked women.

23:45. They therefore are just men: these shall judge them as
adulteresses are judged, and as shedders of blood are judged: because
they are adulteresses, and blood is in their hands.

23:46. For thus saith the Lord God: Bring a multitude upon them, and
deliver them over to tumult and rapine:

23:47. And let the people stone them with stone, and let them be
stabbed with their swords: they shall kill their sons and daughters,
and their houses they shall burn with fire.

23:48. And I will take away wickedness out of the land: and all women
shall learn, not to do according to the wickedness of them.

23:49. And they shall render your wickedness upon you, and you shall
bear the sins of your idols: and you shall know that I am the Lord God.



Ezechiel Chapter 24


Under the parable of a boiling pot is shewn the utter destruction of
Jerusalem: for which the Jews at Babylon shall not dare to mourn.

24:1. And the word of the Lord came to me in the ninth year, in the
tenth month, the tenth day of the month, saying:

24:2. Son of man, write thee the name of this day, on which the king of
Babylon hath set himself against Jerusalem to day.

24:3. And thou shalt speak by a figure a parable to the provoking
house, and say to them: Thus saith the Lord God: Set on a pot, set it
on, I say, and put water in it.

24:4. Heap together into it the pieces thereof, every good piece, the
thigh and the shoulder, choice pieces and full of bones.

24:5. Take the fattest of the flock, and lay together piles of bones
under it: the seething thereof is boiling hot, and the bones thereof
are thoroughly sodden in the midst of it.

24:6. Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Woe to the bloody city, to the
pot whose rust is in it, and its rust is not gone out of it: cast it
out piece by piece, there hath no lot fallen upon it.

24:7. For her blood is in the midst of her, she hath shed it upon the
smooth rock: she hath not shed it upon the ground, that it might be
covered with dust.

24:8. And that I might bring my indignation upon her, and take my
vengeance: I have shed her blood upon the smooth rock, that it should
not be covered.

24:9. Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Woe to the bloody city, of
which I will make a great bonfire.

24:10. Heap together the bones, which I will burn with fire: the flesh
shall be consumed, and the whole composition shall be sodden, and the
bones shall be consumed.

24:11. Then set it empty upon burning coals, that it may be hot, and
the brass thereof may be melted: and let the filth of it be melted in
the midst thereof, and let the rust of it be consumed.

24:12. Great pains have been taken, and the great rust thereof is not
gone out, not even by fire.

24:13. Thy uncleanness is execrable: because I desired to cleanse thee,
and thou art not cleansed from thy filthiness: neither shalt thou be
cleansed, before I cause my indignation to rest in thee.

24:14. I the Lord have spoken: it shall come to pass, and I will do it:
I will not pass by, nor spare, nor be pacified: I will judge thee
according to thy ways, and according to thy doings, saith the Lord.

24:15. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

24:16. Son of man, behold I take from thee the desire of thy eyes with
a stroke, and thou shall not lament, nor weep; neither shall thy tears
run down.

24:17. Sigh in silence, make no mourning for the dead: let the tire of
thy head be upon thee, and thy shoes on thy feet, and cover not thy
face, nor eat the meat of mourners.

24:18. So I spoke to the people in the morning, and my wife died in the
evening: and I did in the morning as he had commanded me.

24:19. And the people said to me: Why dost thou not tell us what these
things mean that thou doest?

24:20. And I said to them: The word of the Lord came to me, saying:

24:21. Speak to the house of Israel: Thus saith the Lord God: Behold I
will profane my sanctuary, the glory of your realm, and the thing that
your eyes desire, and for which your soul feareth: your sons, and your
daughters, whom you have left, shall fall by the sword.

24:22. And you shall do as I have done: you shall not cover your faces,
nor shall you eat the meat of mourners.

24:23. You shall have crowns on your heads, and shoes on your feet: you
shall not lament nor weep, but you shall pine away for your iniquities,
and every one shall sigh with his brother.

24:24. And Ezechiel shall be unto you for a sign of things to come:
according to all that he hath done, so shall you do, when this shall
come to pass: and you shall know that I am the Lord God.

24:25. And thou, O son of man, behold in the day wherein I will take
away from them their strength, and the joy of their glory, and the
desire of their eyes, upon which their souls rest, their sons and their
daughters.

24:26. In that day when he that escapeth shall come to thee, to tell
thee:

24:27. In that day, I say, shall thy mouth be opened to him that hath
escaped, and thou shalt speak, and shalt be silent no more: and thou
shalt be unto them for a sign of things to come, and you shall know
that I am the Lord.



Ezechiel Chapter 25


A prophecy against the Ammonites, Moabites, Edomites, and Philistines,
for their malice against the Israelites.

25:1. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

25:2. Son of man, set thy face against the children of Ammon, and thou
shalt prophesy of them.

25:3. And thou shalt say to the children of Ammon: Hear ye the word of
the Lord God: Thus saith the Lord God: Because thou hast said: Ha, ha,
upon my sanctuary, because it was profaned: and upon the land of
Israel, because it was laid waste: and upon the house of Juda, because
they are led into captivity:

25:4. Therefore will I deliver thee to the men of the east for an
inheritance, and they shall place their sheepcotes in thee, and shall
set up their tents in thee: they shall eat thy fruits: and they shall
drink thy milk.

25:5. And I will make Rabbath a stable for camels, and the children of
Ammon a couching place for flocks: and you shall know that I am the
Lord.

Rabbath. . .The capital city of the Ammonites: it was afterwards called
Philadelphia.

25:6. For thus saith the Lord God: Because thou hast clapped thy hands
and stamped with thy foot, and hast rejoiced with all thy heart against
the land of Israel:

25:7. Therefore behold I will stretch forth my hand upon thee, and will
deliver thee to be the spoil of nations, and will cut thee off from
among the people, and destroy thee out of the lands, and break thee in
pieces: and thou shalt know that I am the Lord.

25:8. Thus saith the Lord God: Because Moab and Seir have said: Behold
the house of Juda is like all other nations:

25:9. Therefore behold I will open the shoulder of Moab from the
cities, from his cities, I say, and his borders, the noble cities of
the land of Bethiesimoth, and Beelmeon, and Cariathaim,

25:10. To the people of the east with the children of Ammon, and I will
give it them for an inheritance: that there may be no more any
remembrance of the children of Ammon among the nations.

25:11. And I will execute judgments in Moab: and they shall know that I
am the Lord.

25:12. Thus saith the Lord God: Because Edom hath taken vengeance to
revenge herself of the children of Juda, and hath greatly offended, and
hath sought revenge of them:

25:13. Therefore thus saith the Lord God: I will stretch forth my hand
upon Edom, and will take away out of it man and beast, and will make it
desolate from the south: and they that are in Dedan shall fall by the
sword.

25:14. And I will lay my vengeance upon Edom by the hand of my people
Israel: and they shall do in Edom according to my wrath, and my fury:
and they shall know my vengeance, saith the Lord God.

25:15. Thus saith the Lord God: Because the Philistines have taken
vengeance, and have revenged themselves with all their mind, destroying
and satisfying old enmities:

25:16. Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Behold I will stretch forth
my hand upon the Philistines, and will kill the killers, and will
destroy the remnant of the sea coast.

25:17. And I will execute great vengeance upon them, rebuking them in
fury: and they shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall lay my
vengeance upon them.



Ezechiel Chapter 26


A prophecy of the destruction of the famous city of Tyre by
Nabuchodonosor.

26:1. And it came to pass in the eleventh year, the first day of the
month, that the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

26:2. Son of man, because Tyre hath said of Jerusalem: Aha, the gates
of the people are broken, she is turned to me: I shall be filled, now
she is laid waste.

26:3. Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Behold I come against thee, O
Tyre, and I will cause many nations to come up to thee, as the waves of
the sea rise up.

26:4. And they shall break down the walls of Tyre, and destroy the
towers thereof: and I will scrape her dust from her, and make her like
a smooth rock.



 


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