The Holy Bible

Part 19 out of 29

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.

26:5. She shall be a drying place for nets in the midst of the sea,
because I have spoken it, saith the Lord God: and she shall be a spoil
to the nations.

26:6. Her daughters also that are in the field, shall be slain by the
sword: and they shall know that I am the Lord.

26:7. For thus saith the Lord God: Behold I will bring against Tyre
Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon, the king of kings, from the north, with
horses, and chariots, and horsemen, and companies, and much people.

26:8. Thy daughters that are in the field, he shall kill with the
sword: and he shall compass thee with forts, and shall cast up a mount
round about: and he shall lift up the buckler against thee.

26:9. And he shall set engines of war and battering rams against thy
walls, and shall destroy thy towers with his arms.

26:10. By reason of the multitude of his horses, their dust shall cover
thee: thy walls shall shake at the noise of the horsemen, and wheels,
and chariots, when they shall go in at thy gates, as by the entrance of
a city that is destroyed.

26:11. With the hoofs of his horses he shall tread down all thy
streets, thy people he shall kill with the sword, and thy famous
statues shall fall to the ground.

26:12. They shall waste thy riches, they shall make a spoil of thy
merchandise: and they shall destroy thy walls, and pull down thy fine
houses: and they shall lay thy stones and thy timber, and thy dust in
the midst of the waters.

26:13. And I will make the multitude of thy songs to cease, and the
sound of thy harps shall be heard no more.

26:14. And I will make thee like a naked rock, thou shalt be a drying
place for nets, neither shalt thou be built any more: for I have spoken
it, saith the Lord God.

26:15. Thus saith the Lord God to Tyre: Shall not the islands shake at
the sound of thy fall, and the groans of thy slain when they shall be
killed in the midst of thee?

26:16. Then all the princes of the sea shall come down from their
thrones: and take off their robes, and cast away their broidered
garments, and be clothed with astonishment: they shall sit on the
ground, and with amazement shall wonder at thy sudden fall.

26:17. And taking up a lamentation over thee, they shall say to thee:
How art thou fallen, that dwellest in the sea, renowned city that wast
strong in the sea, with thy inhabitants whom all did dread?

26:18. Now shall the ships be astonished in the day of thy terror: and
the islands in the sea shall be troubled because no one cometh out of
thee.

26:19. For thus saith the Lord God: When I shall make thee a desolate
city like the cities that are not inhabited: and shall bring the deep
upon thee, and many waters shall cover thee:

26:20. And when I shall bring thee down with those that descend into
the pit to the everlasting people, and shall set thee in the lowest
parts of the earth, as places desolate of old, with them that are
brought down into the pit, that thou be not inhabited: and when I shall
give glory in the land of the living,

26:21. I will bring thee to nothing, and thou shalt not be, and if thou
be sought for, thou shalt not be found any more for ever, saith the
Lord God.

Ezechiel Chapter 27

A description of the glory and riches of Tyre: and of her irrecoverable
fall.

27:1. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

27:2. Thou therefore, O son of man, take up a lamentation for Tyre:

27:3. And say to Tyre that dwelleth at the entry of the sea, being the
mart of the people for many islands: Thus saith the Lord God: O Tyre,
thou hast said: I am of perfect beauty,

27:4. And situate in the heart of the sea. Thy neighbours, that built
thee, have perfected thy beauty:

27:5. With fir trees of Sanir they have built thee with all sea planks:
they have taken cedars from Libanus to make thee masts.

Sea planks. . .That is, timber brought by sea to build the city.

27:6. They have cut thy oars out of the oaks of Basan: and they have
made thee benches of Indian ivory and cabins with things brought from
the islands of Italy.

27:7. Fine broidered linen from Egypt was woven for thy sail, to be
spread on thy mast: blue and purple from the islands of Elisa, were
made thy covering.

27:8. The inhabitants of Sidon, and the Arabians were thy rowers: thy
wise men, O Tyre, were thy pilots.

27:9. The ancients of Gebal, and the wise men thereof furnished
mariners for the service of thy various furniture: all the ships of the
sea, and their mariners were thy factors.

27:10. The Persians, and Lydians, and the Libyans were thy soldiers in
thy army: they hung up the buckler and the helmet in thee for thy
ornament.

27:11. The men of Arad were with thy army upon thy walls round about:
the Pygmeans also that were in thy towers, hung up their quivers on thy
walls round about: they perfected thy beauty.

Pygmeans. . .That is, strong and valiant men. In Hebrew, Gammadim.

27:12. The Carthaginians thy merchants supplied thy fairs with a
multitude of all kinds of riches, with silver, iron, tin, and lead,

27:13. Greece, Thubal, and Mosoch, they were thy merchants, they
brought to thy people slaves and vessels of brass.

27:14. From the house of Thogorma they brought horses, and horsemen,
and mules to thy market.

27:15. The men of Dedan were thy merchants: many islands were the
traffic of thy hand, they exchanged for thy price teeth of ivory and
ebony.

27:16. The Syrian was thy merchant: by reason of the multitude of thy
works, they set forth precious stories, and purple, and broidered
works, and fine linen, and silk, and chodchod in thy market.

Chodchod. . .It is the Hebrew name for some precious stone; but of what
kind in particular interpreters are not agreed.

27:17. Juda and the land of Israel, they were thy merchants with the
best corn: they set forth balm, and honey, and oil and rosin in thy
fairs.

27:18. The men of Damascus were thy merchants in the multitude of thy
works, the multitude of divers riches, in rich wine, in wool of the
best colour.

27:19. Dan, and Greece, and Mosel have set forth in thy marts wrought
iron: stacte, and calamus were in thy market.

27:20. The men of Dedan were thy merchants in tapestry for seats.

27:21. Arabia, and all the princes of Cedar, they were the merchants of
thy hand: thy merchants came to thee with lambs, and rams, and kids.

27:22. The sellers of Saba, and Reema, they were thy merchants: with
all the best spices, and precious stones, and gold, which they set
forth in thy market.

27:23. Haran, and Chene, and Eden were thy merchants; Saba, Assur, and
Chelmad sold to thee.

27:24. They were thy merchants in divers manners, with bales of blue
cloth, and of embroidered work, and of precious riches, which were
wrapped up and bound with cords: they had cedars also in thy
merchandise.

27:25. The ships of the sea, were thy chief in thy merchandise: and
thou wast replenished, and glorified exceedingly in the heart of the
sea.

27:26. Thy rowers have brought thee into great waters: the south wind
hath broken thee in the heart of the sea.

27:27. Thy riches, and thy treasures, and thy manifold furniture, thy
mariners, and thy pilots, who kept thy goods, and were chief over thy
people: thy men of war also, that were in thee, with all thy multitude
that is in the midst of thee: shall fall in the heart of the sea in the
day of thy ruin.

27:28. Thy fleets shall be troubled at the sound of the cry of thy
pilots.

27:29. And all that handled the oar shall come down from their ships:
the mariners, and all the pilots of the sea shall stand upon the land:

27:30. And they shall mourn over thee with a loud voice and shall cry
bitterly: and they shall cast up dust upon their heads and shall be
sprinkled with ashes.

27:31. And they shall shave themselves bald for thee, and shall be
girded with haircloth: and they shall weep for thee with bitterness of
soul, with most bitter weeping.

27:32. And they shall take up a mournful song for thee, and shall
lament thee: What city is like Tyre, which is become silent in the
midst of the sea?

27:33. Which by thy merchandise that went from thee by sea didst fill
many people: which by the multitude of thy riches, and of thy people
didst enrich the kings of the earth.

27:34. Now thou art destroyed by the sea, thy riches are in the bottom
of the waters, and all the multitude that was in the midst of thee is
fallen.

27:35. All the inhabitants of the islands are astonished at thee: and
all their kings being struck with the storm have changed their
countenance.

27:36. The merchants of people have hissed at thee: thou art brought to
nothing, and thou shalt never be any more.

Ezechiel Chapter 28

The king of Tyre, who affected to be like to God, shall fall under the
like sentence with Lucifer. The judgment of Sidon. The restoration of
Israel.

28:1. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

28:2. Son of man, say to the prince of Tyre: Thus saith the Lord God:
Because thy heart is lifted up, and thou hast said: I am God, and I sit
in the chair of God in the heart of the sea: whereas thou art a man,
and not God: and hast set thy heart as if it were the heart of God.

28:3. Behold thou art wiser than Daniel: no secret is hid from thee.

Thou art wiser than Daniel. . .Viz., in thy own conceit. The wisdom of
Daniel was so much celebrated in his days, that it became a proverb
amongst the Chaldeans, when any one would express an extraordinary
wisdom, to say he was as wise as Daniel.

28:4. In thy wisdom and thy understanding thou hast made thyself
strong: and hast gotten gold an silver into thy treasures.

28:5. By the greatness of thy wisdom, and by thy traffic thou hast
increased thy strength: and thy heart is lifted up with thy strength.

28:6. Therefore, thus saith the Lord God: Because thy heart is lifted
up as the heart of God:

28:7. Therefore behold, I will bring upon thee strangers: the strongest
of the nations: and they shall draw their swords against the beauty of
thy wisdom, and they shall defile thy beauty.

28:8. They shall kill thee, and bring thee down: and thou shalt die the
death of them that are slain in the heart of the sea.

28:9. Wilt thou yet say before them that slay thee: I am God; whereas
thou art a man, and not God, in the hand of them that slay thee?

28:10. Thou shalt die the death of the uncircumcised by the hand of
strangers: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord God.

28:11. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Son of man, take up
a lamentation upon the king of Tyre:

28:12. And say to him: Thus saith the Lord God: Thou wast the seal of
resemblance, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty.

Thou wast the seal of resemblance. . .The king of Tyre, by his dignity
and his natural perfections, bore in himself a certain resemblance to
God, by reason of which he might be called the seal of resemblance,
etc. But what is here said to him is commonly understood of Lucifer,
the king over all the children of pride.

28:13. Thou wast in the pleasures of the paradise of God: every
precious stone was thy covering: the sardius, the topaz, and the
jasper, the chrysolite, and the onyx, and the beryl, the sapphire, and
the carbuncle, and the emerald: gold the work of thy beauty: and thy
pipes were prepared in the day that thou wast created.

28:14. Thou a cherub stretched out, and protecting, and I set thee in
the holy mountain of God, thou hast walked in the midst of the stones
of fire.

A cherub stretched out. . .That is, thy wings extended. This alludes to
the figure of the cherubims in the sanctuary, which with stretched out
wings covered the ark.--Ibid. The stones of fire. . .That is, bright and
precious stones which sparkle like fire.

28:15. Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day of thy creation,
until iniquity was found in thee.

28:16. By the multitude of thy merchandise, thy inner parts were filled
with iniquity, and thou hast sinned: and I cast thee out from the
mountain of God, and destroyed thee, O covering cherub, out of the
midst of the stones of fire.

28:17. And thy heart was lifted up with thy beauty: thou hast lost thy
wisdom in thy beauty, I have cast thee to the ground: I have set thee
before the face of kings, that they might behold thee.

28:18. Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thy
iniquities, and by the iniquity of thy traffic: therefore I will bring
forth a fire from the midst of thee, to devour thee, and I will make
thee as ashes upon the earth in the sight of all that see thee.

28:19. All that shall see thee among the nations, shall be astonished
at thee: thou art brought to nothing, and thou shalt never be any more.

28:20. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

28:21. Son of man, set thy face against Sidon: and thou shalt prophesy
of it,

28:22. And shalt say: Thus saith the Lord God: Behold I come against
thee, Sidon, and I will be glorified in the midst of thee: and they
shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall execute judgments in her,
and shall be sanctified in her.

28:23. And I will send into her pestilence, and blood in her streets:
and they shall fall being slain by the sword on all sides in the midst
thereof: and they shall know that I am the Lord.

28:24. And the house of Israel shall have no more a stumblingblock of
bitterness, nor a thorn causing pain on every side round about them, of
them that are against them: and they shall know that I am the Lord God.

28:25. Thus saith the Lord God: When I shall have gathered together the
house of Israel out of the people among whom they are scattered: I will
be sanctified in them before the Gentiles: and they shall dwell in
their own land, which I gave to my servant Jacob.

28:26. And they shall dwell therein secure, and they shall build
houses, and shall plant vineyards, and shall dwell with confidence,
when I shall have executed judgments upon all that are their enemies
round about: and they shall know that I am the Lord their God.

Ezechiel Chapter 29

The king of Egypt shall be overthrown, and his kingdom wasted: it shall
be given to Nabuchodonosor for his service against Tyre.

29:1. In the tenth year, the tenth month, the eleventh day of the
month, the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

29:2. Son of man, set thy face against Pharao king of Egypt: and thou
shalt prophesy of him, and of all Egypt:

29:3. Speak, and say: Thus saith the Lord God: Behold, I come against
thee, Pharao king of Egypt, thou great dragon that liest in the midst
of thy rivers, and sayest: The river is mine, and I made myself.

29:4. But I will put a bridle in thy jaws: and I will cause the fish of
thy rivers to stick to thy scales: and I will draw thee out of the
midst of thy rivers, and all thy fish shall stick to thy scales.

29:5. And I will cast thee forth into the desert, and all the fish of
thy river: thou shalt fall upon the face of the earth, thou shalt not
be taken up, nor gathered together: I have given thee for meat to the
beasts of the earth, and to the fowls of the air.

29:6. And all the inhabitants of Egypt shall know that I am the Lord:
because thou hast been a staff of a reed to the house of Israel.

29:7. When they took hold of thee with the hand thou didst break, and
rent all their shoulder: and when they leaned upon thee, thou brokest,
and weakenest all their loins.

29:8. Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Behold, I will bring the sword
upon thee: and cut off man and beast out of thee.

29:9. And the land of Egypt shall become a desert, and a wilderness:
and they shall know that I am the Lord, because thou hast said: The
river is mine, and I made it.

29:10. Therefore, behold I come against thee, and thy rivers: and I
will make the land of Egypt utterly desolate, and wasted by the sword,
from the tower of Syene, even to the borders of Ethiopia.

29:11. The foot of man shall not pass through it, neither shall the
foot of beasts go through it: nor shall it be inhabited during forty
years.

29:12. And I will make the land of Egypt desolate in the midst of the
lands that are desolate, and the cities thereof in the midst of the
cites that are destroyed, and they shall be desolate for forty years:
and I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and will disperse
them through the countries.

29:13. For thus saith the Lord God: At the end of forty years I will
gather the Egyptians from the people among whom they had been
scattered.

29:14. And I will bring back the captivity of Egypt, and will place
them in the land of Phatures, in the land of their nativity, and they
shall be there a low kingdom:

29:15. It shall be the lowest among other kingdoms, and it shall no
more be exalted over the nations, and I will diminish them that they
shall rule no more over the nations.

29:16. And they shall be no more a confidence to the house of Israel,
teaching iniquity, that they may flee, and follow them: and they shall
know that I am the Lord God.

29:17. And it came to pass in the seven and twentieth year in the first
month, in the first of the month: that the word of the Lord came to me,
saying:

29:18. Son of man, Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon hath made his army to
undergo hard service against Tyre: every head was made bald, and every
shoulder was peeled and there hath been no reward given him, nor his
army for Tyre, for the service that he rendered me against it.

29:19. Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Behold, I will set
Nabuchodonosor the king of Babylon in the land of Egypt: and he shall
take her multitude, and take the booty thereof for a prey, and rifle
the spoils thereof: and it shall be wages for his army.

29:20. And for the service that he hath done me against it: I have
given him the land of Egypt, because he hath laboured for me, saith the
Lord God.

29:21. In that day a horn shall bud forth to the house of Israel, and I
will give thee an open mouth in the midst of them: and they shall know
that I am the Lord.

Ezechiel Chapter 30

The desolation of Egypt and her helpers: all her cities shall be
wasted.

30:1. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

30:2. Son of man prophesy, and say: Thus saith the Lord God: Howl ye,
Woe, woe to the day:

30:3. For the day is near, yea the day of the Lord is near: a cloudy
day, it shall be the time of the nations.

30:4. And the sword shall come upon Egypt: and there shall be dread in
Ethiopia, when the wounded shall fall in Egypt, and the multitude
thereof shall be taken away, and the foundations thereof shall be
destroyed.

30:5. Ethiopia, and Libya, and Lydia, and all the rest of the crowd,
and Chub, and the children of the land of the covenant, shall fall with
them by the sword.

30:6. Thus saith the Lord God: They also that uphold Egypt shall fall,
and the pride of her empire shall be brought down: from the tower of
Syene shall they fall in it by the sword, saith the Lord the God of
hosts.

30:7. And they shall be desolate in the midst of the lands that are
desolate, and the cities thereof shall be in the midst of the cities
that are wasted.

30:8. And they shall know that I am the Lord: when I shall have set a
fire in Egypt, and all the helpers thereof shall be destroyed.

30:9. In that day shall messengers go forth from my face in ships to
destroy the confidence of Ethiopia, and there shall be dread among them
in the day of Egypt: because it shall certainly come.

30:10. Thus saith the Lord God: I will make the multitude of Egypt to
cease by the hand of Nabuchodonosor the king of Babylon.

30:11. He and his people with him, the strongest of nations, shall be
brought to destroy the land: and they shall draw their swords upon
Egypt: and shall fill the land with the slain.

30:12. And I will make the channels of the rivers dry, and will deliver
the land into the hand of the wicked: and will lay waste the land and
all that is therein by the hands of strangers, I the Lord have spoken
it.

30:13. Thus saith the Lord God: I will also destroy the idols, and I
will make an end of the idols of Memphis: and there shall: be no more a
prince of the land of Egypt and I will cause a terror in the land of
Egypt.

30:14. And I will destroy the land of Phatures, and will make a fire in
Taphnis, and will execute judgments in Alexandria.

Alexandria. . .In the Hebrew, No: which was the ancient name of that
city, which was afterwards rebuilt by Alexander the Great, and from his
name called Alexandria.

30:15. And I will pour out my indignation upon Pelusium the strength of
Egypt, and will cut off the multitude of Alexandria.

30:16. And I will make a fire in Egypt: Pelusium shall be in pain like
a woman in labour, and Alexandria shall be laid waste, and in Memphis
there shall be daily distresses.

30:17. The young men of Heliopolis, and of Bubastus shall fall by the
sword, and they themselves shall go into captivity.

30:18. And in Taphnis the day shall be darkened, when I shall break
there the sceptres of Egypt, and the pride of her power shall cease in
her: a cloud shall cover her, and her daughters shall be led into
captivity.

30:19. And I will execute judgments in Egypt: and they shall know that
I am the Lord.

30:20. And it came to pass in the eleventh year, in the first month, in
the seventh day of the month, that the word of the Lord came, me,
saying:

30:21. Son of man, I have broken the arm of Pharao king of Egypt: and
behold it is not bound up, to be healed, to be tied up with clothes,
and swathed with linen, that it might recover strength, and hold the
sword.

30:22. Therefore, thus saith the Lord God: Behold, I come against
Pharao king of Egypt, and I will break into pieces his strong arm,
which is already broken: and I will cause the sword to fall out of his
hand:

30:23. And I will disperse Egypt among the nations, and scatter them
through the countries.

30:24. And I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, and will
put my sword in his hand: and I will break the arms of Pharao, and they
shall groan bitterly being slain before his face.

30:25. And I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, and the
arms of Pharao shall fall: and they shall know that I am the Lord, when
I shall have given my sword into the hand of the king of Babylon, and
he shall have stretched it forth upon the land of Egypt.

30:26. And I will disperse Egypt among the nations, and will scatter
them through the countries, and they shall know that I am the Lord.

Ezechiel Chapter 31

The Assyrian empire fell for their pride: the Egyptian shall fall in
like manner.

31:1. And it came to pass, in the eleventh year, the third month the
first day of the month, that the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

31:2. Son of man, speak to Pharao king of Egypt, and to his people: To
whom art thou like in thy greatness?

31:3. Behold, the Assyrian like a cedar in Libanus, with fair branches,
and full of leaves, of a high stature, and his top was elevated among
the thick boughs.

31:4. The waters nourished him, the deep set him tip on high, the
streams thereof ran round about his roots, and it sent, forth its
rivulets to all the trees of the country.

31:5. Therefore was his height exalted above all the trees of the
country and his branches were multiplied, and his boughs were elevated
because of many waters.

31:6. And when he had spread forth his shadow, all the fowls of the air
made their nests in his boughs, and all the beasts of the forest
brought forth their young under his branches, and the assembly of many
nations dwelt under his shadow.

31:7. And he was most beautiful for his greatness, and for the
spreading of his branches: for his root was near great waters.

31:8. The cedars in the paradise of God were not higher than he, the
fir trees did not equal his top, neither were the plane trees to be
compared with him for branches: no tree in the paradise of God was like
him in his beauty.

31:9. For I made him beautiful and thick set with many branches: and
all the trees of pleasure, that were in the paradise of God, envied
him.

31:10. Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Because he was exalted in
height, and shot up his top green and thick, and his heart was lifted
up in his height:

31:11. I have delivered him into the hands of the mighty one of the
nations, he shall deal with him: I have cast him out according to his
wickedness.

I have delivered. . .Here the time past is put for the future, i. e., I
shall deliver.--Ibid. The mighty one, etc. . .Viz., Nabuchodonosor, who
conquered both the Assyrians and Egyptians.

31:12. And strangers, and the most cruel of the nations shall cut him
down, and cast him away upon the mountains, and his boughs shall fall
in every valley, and his branches shall be broken on every rock of the
country: and all the people of the earth shall depart from his shadow,
and leave him.

31:13. All the fowls of the air dwelt upon his ruins, and all the
beasts of the field were among his branches.

31:14. For which cause none of the trees by the waters shall exalt
themselves for their height: nor shoot up their tops among the thick
branches and leaves, neither shall any of them that are watered stand
up in their height: for they are all delivered unto death to the lowest
parts of the earth, in the midst of the children of men, with them that
go down into the pit.

31:15. Thus saith the Lord God: In the day when he went down to hell, I
brought in mourning, I covered him with the deep: and I withheld its
rivers, and restrained the many waters: Libanus grieved for him, and
all the trees of the field trembled.

31:16. I shook the nations with the sound of his fall, when I brought
him down to hell with them that descend into the pit: and all the trees
of pleasure, the choice and best in Libanus, all that were moistened
with waters, were comforted in the lowest parts of the earth.

31:17. For they also shall go down with him to hell to them that are
slain by the sword; and the arm of every one shall sit down under his
shadow in the midst of the nations.

31:18. To whom art thou like, O thou that art famous and lofty among
the trees of pleasure? Behold, thou art brought down with the trees of
pleasure to the lowest parts of the earth: thou shalt sleep in the
midst of the uncircumcised, with them that are slain by the sword: this
is Pharao, and all his multitude, saith the Lord God.

Ezechiel Chapter 32

The prophet's lamentation for the king of Egypt.

32:1. And it came to pass in the twelfth year, in the twelfth month, in
the first day of the month, that the word of the Lord came to me,
saying:

32:2. Son of man, take up a lamentation for Pharao the king of Egypt,
and say to him: Thou art like the lion of the nations, and the dragon
that is in the sea: and thou didst push with the horn in thy rivers,
and didst trouble the waters with thy feet, and didst trample upon
their streams.

32:3. Therefore, thus saith the Lord God: I will spread out my net over
thee with the multitude of many people, and I will draw thee up in my
net.

32:4. And I will throw thee out on the land, I will cast thee away into
the open field and I will cause all the fowls of the air to dwell upon
thee, and I will fill the beasts of all the earth with thee.

32:5. And I will lay thy flesh upon the mountains, and will fill thy
hills with thy corruption,

32:6. And I will water the earth with thy stinking blood upon the
mountains, and the valleys shall be filled with thee.

32:7. And I will cover the heavens, when thou shalt be put out, and I
will make the stars thereof dark: I will cover the sun with a cloud,
and the moon shall not give her light.

32:8. I will make all the lights of heaven to mourn over thee and I
will cause darkness upon thy land, saith the Lord God, when thy wounded
shall fall in the midst of the land, saith the Lord God.

32:9. And I shall provoke to anger the heart of many people, when I
shall have brought in thy destruction among the nations upon the lands,
which thou knowest not.

32:10. And I will make many people to be amazed at thee, and their
kings shall be horribly afraid for thee, when my sword shall begin to
fly upon their faces: and they shall be astonished on a sudden, every
one for his own life, in the day of their ruin.

32:11. For thus saith the Lord God: The sword of the king of Babylon
shall come upon thee,

32:12. By the swords of the mighty I will overthrow thy multitude: all
these nations are invincible: and they shall waste the pride of Egypt,
and the multitude thereof shall be destroyed.

32:13. I will destroy also all the beasts thereof that were beside the
great waters: and the foot of man shall trouble them no more, neither
shall the hoof of beasts trouble them.

32:14. Then will I make their waters clear, and cause their rivers to
run like oil, saith the Lord God:

32:15. When I shall have made the land of Egypt desolate: and the land
shall be destitute of her fulness, when I shall have struck all the
inhabitants thereof and they shall know that I am the Lord.

32:16. This is the lamentation, and they shall lament therewith: the
daughters of the nations shall lament therewith for Egypt, and for the
multitude thereof they shall lament therewith, saith the Lord God.

32:17. And it came to pass in the twelfth year, in the fifteenth day of
the month, that the word of the Lord came to me saying:

32:18. Son of man, sing a mournful song for the multitude of Egypt: and
cast her down, both her, and the daughters of the mighty nations to the
lowest part of the earth, with them that go down into the pit.

32:19. Whom dost thou excel in beauty? go down and sleep with the
uncircumcised.

32:20. They shall fall in the midst of them that are slain with the
sword: the sword is given, they have drawn her down, and all her
people.

32:21. The most mighty among the strong ones shall speak to him from
the midst of hell, they that went down with his helpers and slept
uncircumcised, slain by the sword.

32:22. Assur is there, and all his multitude: their graves are round
about him, all of them slain, and that fell by the sword.

32:23. Whose graves are set in the lowest parts of the pit: and his
multitude lay round about his grave: all of them slain, and fallen by
the sword, they that heretofore spread terror in the land of the
living.

32:24. There is Elam and all his multitude round about his grave, all
of them slain, and fallen by the sword; that went down uncircumcised to
the lowest parts of the earth: that caused their terror in the land of
the living, and they have borne their shame with them that go down into
the pit.

32:25. In the midst of the slain they have set him a bed among all his
people: their graves are round about him: all these are uncircumcised,
and slain by the sword: for they spread their terror in the land of the
living, and have borne their shame with them that descend into the pit:
they are laid in the midst of the slain.

32:26. There is Mosoch, and Thubal, and all their multitude: their
graves are round about him: all of them uncircumcised and slain, and
fallen by the sword: though they spread their terror in the land of the
living.

32:27. And they shall not sleep with the brave, and with them that fell
uncircumcised, that went down to hell with their weapons, and laid
their swords under their heads, and their iniquities were in their
bones, because they were the terror of the mighty in the land of the
living.

32:28. So thou also shalt be broken in the midst of the uncircumcised,
and shalt sleep with them that are slain by the sword.

32:29. There is Edom, and her kings, and all her princes, who with
their army are joined with them that are slain by the sword: and have
slept with the uncircumcised, and with them that go down into the pit.

32:30. There are all the princes of the north, and all the hunters: who
were brought down with the slain, fearing, and confounded in their
strength: who slept uncircumcised with them that are slain by the
sword, and have borne their shame with them that go down into the pit.

32:31. Pharao saw them, and he was comforted concerning all his
multitude, which was slain by the sword: Pharao, and all his army,
saith the Lord God:

32:32. Because I have spread my terror in the land of the living, and
he hath slept in the midst of the uncircumcised with them that are
slain by the sword: Pharao and all his multitude, saith the Lord God.

Ezechiel Chapter 33

The duty of the watchman appointed by God: the justice of God's ways:
his judgments upon the Jews.

33:1. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

33:2. Son of man, speak to the children of thy people, and say to them:
When I bring the sword upon a land, if the people of the land take a
man, one of their meanest, and make him a watchman over them:

33:3. And he sees the sword coming upon the land, and sound the
trumpet, and tell the people:

33:4. Then he that heareth the sound of the trumpet, whosoever he be,
and doth not look to himself, if the sword come, and cut him off: his
blood shall be upon his own head.

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