241 And the word of the Lord came to me in the ninth year, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, saying, 2 Son of man, put down in writing this very day: The king of Babylon let loose the weight of his attack against Jerusalem on this very day. 3 And make a comparison for this uncontrolled people, and say to them, This is what the Lord has said: Put on the cooking-pot, put it on the fire and put water in it: 4 And get the bits together, the fat tail, every good part, the leg and the top part of it: make it full of the best bones. 5 Take the best of the flock, put much wood under it: see that its bits are boiling well; let the bones be cooked inside it. 6 For this is what the Lord has said: A curse is on the town of blood, the cooking-pot which is unclean inside, which has never been made clean! take out its bits; its fate is still to come on it. 7 For her blood is in her; she has put it on the open rock not draining it on to the earth so that it might be covered with dust; 8 In order that it might make wrath come up to give punishment, she has put her blood on the open rock, so that it may not be covered. 9 For this cause the Lord has said: A curse is on the town of blood! and I will make great the burning mass. 10 Put on much wood, heating up the fire, boiling the flesh well, and making the soup thick, and let the bones be burned. 11 And I will put her on the coals so that she may be heated and her brass burned, so that what is unclean in her may become soft and her waste be completely taken away. 12 I have made myself tired to no purpose: still all the waste which is in her has not come out, it has an evil smell. 13 As for your unclean purpose: because I have been attempting to make you clean, but you have not been made clean from it, you will not be made clean till I have let loose my passion on you in full measure. 14 I the Lord have said the word and I will do it; I will not go back or have mercy, and my purpose will not be changed; in the measure of your ways and of your evil doings you will be judged, says the Lord.
15 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 16 Son of man, see, I am taking away the desire of your eyes by disease: but let there be no sorrow or weeping or drops running from your eyes. 17 Let there be no sound of sorrow; make no weeping for your dead, put on your head-dress and your shoes on your feet, let not your lips be covered, and do not take the food of those in grief. 18 So in the morning I was teaching the people and in the evening death took my wife; and in the morning I did what I had been ordered to do. 19 And the people said to me, Will you not make clear to us the sense of these things; is it for us you do them? 20 Then I said to them, The word of the Lord came to me, saying, 21 Say to the people of Israel, The Lord has said, See, I will make my holy place unclean, the pride of your strength, the pleasure of your eyes, and the desire of your soul; and your sons and daughters, who did not come with you here, will be put to the sword. 22 And you will do as I have done, not covering your lips or taking the food of those in grief. 23 And your head-dresses will be on your heads and your shoes on your feet: there will be no sorrow or weeping; but you will be wasting away in the punishment of your evil-doing, and you will be looking at one another in wonder. 24 And Ezekiel will be a sign to you; everything he has done you will do: when this takes place, you will be certain that I am the Lord. 25 And as for you, son of man, your mouth will be shut in the day when I take from them their strength, the joy of their glory, the desire of their eyes, and that on which their hearts are fixed, and their sons and daughters. 26 In that day, one who has got away safe will come to you to give you news of it. 27 In that day your mouth will be open to him who has got away safe, and you will say words to him and your lips will no longer be shut: so you will be a sign to them and they will be certain that I am the Lord.
251 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 2 Son of man, let your face be turned to the children of Ammon, and be a prophet against them: 3 And say to the children of Ammon, Give ear to the word of the Lord; this is what the Lord has said: Because you said, Aha! against my holy place when it was made unclean, and against the land of Israel when it was made waste, and against the people of Judah when they were taken away as prisoners; 4 For this cause I will give you up to the children of the east for their heritage, and they will put their tent-circles in you and make their houses in you; they will take your fruit for their food and your milk for their drink. 5 And I will make Rabbah a place for housing camels, and the children of Ammon a resting-place for flocks: and you will be certain that I am the Lord. 6 For the Lord has said, Because you have made sounds of joy with your hands, stamping your feet, and have been glad, putting shame with all your soul on the land of Israel; 7 For this cause my hand has been stretched out against you, and I will give up your goods to be taken by the nations; I will have you cut off from the peoples and will put an end to you among the countries: I will give you up to destruction; and you will be certain that I am the Lord.
8 This is what the Lord has said: Because Moab and Seir are saying, See, the people of Judah are like all the nations; 9 For this cause, I will let the side of Moab be uncovered, and his towns on every side, the glory of the land, Beth-jeshimoth, Baal-meon and as far as Kiriathaim. 10 To the children of the east I have given her for a heritage, as well as the children of Ammon, so that there may be no memory of her among the nations: 11 And I will be the judge of Moab; and they will see that I am the Lord.
12 This is what the Lord has said: Because Edom has taken his payment from the people of Judah, and has done great wrong in taking payment from them; 13 The Lord has said, My hand will be stretched out against Edom, cutting off from it man and beast: and I will make it waste, from Teman even as far as Dedan they will be put to the sword. 14 I will take payment from Edom because of my people Israel; and I will take Edom in hand in my wrath and in my passion: and they will have experience of my reward, says the Lord.
15 This is what the Lord has said: Because the Philistines have taken payment, with the purpose of causing shame and destruction with unending hate; 16 The Lord has said, See, my hand will be stretched out against the Philistines, cutting off the Cherethites and sending destruction on the rest of the sea-land. 17 And I will take great payment from them with acts of wrath; and they will be certain that I am the Lord when I send my punishment on them.
261 Now in the eleventh year, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 2 Son of man, because Tyre has said against Jerusalem, Aha, she who was the doorway of the peoples is broken; she is turned over to them; she who was full is made waste; 3 For this cause the Lord has said, See, I am against you, O Tyre, and will send up a number of nations against you as the sea sends up its waves. 4 And they will give the walls of Tyre to destruction and have its towers broken: and I will take even her dust away from her, and make her an uncovered rock 5 She will be a place for the stretching out of nets in the middle of the sea; for I have said it, says the Lord: and her goods will be given over to the nations. 6 And her daughters in the open country will be put to the sword: and they will be certain that I am the Lord. 7 For this is what the Lord has said: See, I will send up from the north Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, king of kings, against Tyre, with horses and war-carriages and with an army and great numbers of people. 8 He will put to the sword your daughters in the open country: he will make strong walls against you and put up an earthwork against you, arming himself for war against you. 9 He will put up his engines of war against your walls, and your towers will be broken down by his axes. 10 Because of the number of his horses you will be covered with their dust: your walls will be shaking at the noise of the horsemen and of the wheels and of the war-carriages, when he comes through your doorways, as into a town which has been broken open. 11 Your streets will be stamped down by the feet of his horses: he will put your people to the sword, and will send down the pillars of your strength to the earth. 12 They will take by force all your wealth and go off with the goods with which you do trade: they will have your walls broken down and all the houses of your desire given up to destruction: they will put your stones and your wood and your dust deep in the water. 13 I will put an end to the noise of your songs, and the sound of your instruments of music will be gone for ever. 14 I will make you an uncovered rock: you will be a place for the stretching out of nets; there will be no building you up again: for I the Lord have said it, says the Lord.
15 This is what the Lord has said to Tyre: Will not the sea-lands be shaking at the sound of your fall, when the wounded give cries of pain, when men are put to the sword in you? 16 Then all the rulers of the sea will come down from their high seats, and put away their robes and take off their clothing of needlework: they will put on the clothing of grief, they will take their seats on the earth, shaking with fear every minute and overcome with wonder at you. 17 And they will send up a song of grief for you, and say to you, What destruction has come on you, how are you cut off from the sea, the noted town, which was strong in the sea, she and her people, causing the fear of them to come on all the dry land! 18 Now the sea-lands will be shaking in the day of your fall; and all the ships on the sea will be overcome with fear at your going. 19 For this is what the Lord has said: I will make you a waste town, like the towns which are unpeopled; when I make the deep come upon you, covering you with great waters. 20 Then I will make you go down with those who go down into the underworld, to the people of the past, causing your living-place to be in the deepest parts of the earth, in places long unpeopled, with those who go down into the deep, so that there will be no one living in you; and you will have no glory in the land of the living. 21 I will make you a thing of fear, and you will come to an end: even if you are looked for, you will not be seen again for ever, says the Lord.
21 So putting away all wrongdoing, and all tricks and deceits and envies and evil talk, 2 Be full of desire for the true milk of the word, as babies at their mothers' breasts, so that you may go on to salvation; 3 If you have had a taste of the grace of the Lord:
4 To whom you come, as to a living stone, not honoured by men, but of great and special value to God; 5 You, as living stones, are being made into a house of the spirit, a holy order of priests, making those offerings of the spirit which are pleasing to God through Jesus Christ. 6 Because it is said in the Writings, See, I am placing a keystone in Zion, of great and special value; and the man who has faith in him will not be put to shame. 7 And the value is for you who have faith; but it is said for those without faith, The very stone which the builders put on one side, was made the chief stone of the building; 8 And, A stone of falling, a rock of trouble; the word is the cause of their fall, because they go against it, and this was the purpose of God.
9 But you are a special people, a holy nation, priests and kings, a people given up completely to God, so that you may make clear the virtues of him who took you out of the dark into the light of heaven. 10 In the past you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; then there was no mercy for you, but now mercy has been given to you.
11 My loved ones, I make this request with all my heart, that, as those for whom this world is a strange country, you will keep yourselves from the desires of the flesh which make war against the soul; 12 Being of good behaviour among the Gentiles; so that though they say now that you are evil-doers, they may see your good works and give glory to God when he comes to be their judge.
13 Keep all the laws of men because of the Lord; those of the king, who is over all, 14 And those of the rulers who are sent by him for the punishment of evil-doers and for the praise of those who do well. 15 Because it is God's pleasure that foolish and narrow-minded men may be put to shame by your good behaviour: 16 As those who are free, not using your free position as a cover for wrongdoing, but living as the servants of God; 17 Have respect for all, loving the brothers, fearing God, honouring the king.
18 Servants, take orders from your masters with all respect; not only if they are good and gentle, but even if they are bad-humoured. 19 For it is a sign of grace if a man, desiring to do right in the eyes of God, undergoes pain as punishment for something which he has not done. 20 What credit is it if, when you have done evil, you take your punishment quietly? but if you are given punishment for doing right, and take it quietly, this is pleasing to God. 21 This is God's purpose for you: because Jesus himself underwent punishment for you, giving you an example, so that you might go in his footsteps: 22 Who did no evil, and there was no deceit in his mouth: 23 To sharp words he gave no sharp answer; when he was undergoing pain, no angry word came from his lips; but he put himself into the hands of the judge of righteousness: 24 He took our sins on himself, giving his body to be nailed on the tree, so that we, being dead to sin, might have a new life in righteousness, and by his wounds we have been made well. 25 Because, like sheep, you had gone out of the way; but now you have come back to him who keeps watch over your souls.
