The rule 5 For thou art not sent to a people 1 of a strange speech and of an hard language, but to the house of israel; EZEKIEL, IV. 6 Not to many people 1 of a strange speech and of an hard lan-2 guage, whose words thou canst not understand. 2 Surely, hadd 1 sent thee to them, they would have hearkened unto thee. 7 But the house of Israel will not hearken unto thee; fore they will not hearken unto me: for all the house of Israel are 3 impudent and hard-hearted. 8 Behold, I have made thy face strong against their faces, and thy forehead strong against their foreheads. 9 As an adamant harder than f flint have I made thy forehead: fear them not, neither be dismayed at their g looks, though they be a rebellious house. deep of lip, and heavy of tongue. or, if I had sent thee to them, would they not. d Mat.11.23. 12.41. e Jno. 15.20. 3 stiff of forehead, and hard of heart. f Is.50.7. Mi.3.8. 8 2Ti.2.3. h 2Ti.2.6. i ch.8.3. IKI. 18. 12. 2Ki.2.16. Ac.8.39. 10 Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, all my words that I shall speak unto thee receive h in thine kissed. heart, and hear with thine ears. 11 And go, get thee to them of the captivity, unto the children of thy people, and speak unto them, and tell them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear. k ver. 12. 5 bitter. hot anger. 1 2Ki.3. 15. m Ps. 137.1. n Is.52.8. 56.10. Je.6. 17. He. 13. 17. 0 ch.33.6. of prophecy. 19 Yet if thon warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thoug hast delivered thy soul." 20 Again, When r a righteous man doth turn from his 7 righteousness, and commit iniquity, and I lays a stumbling-block before him, he shall die: because thou hast not given him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he hath done shall not be remembered; but his blood will I require at thine hand. 21 Nevertheless if thou warn the righteous man, that the righteous sin not, and he doth not sin, he shall surely live, because he is warned; t also thou hast delivered thy soul. 22 And the hand of the LORD was there upon me; and he said unto me, Arise, go forth into the plain, and I will there talk with thee. 23 Then I arose, and went forth into the plain: and, behold, the glory of the LORD stood there, as the glory which I saw by the river of Chebar: and I fell on my face. 24 Then the spirit entered into me, and set me upon my feet, and spake with me, and said unto me, Go, shut thyself within thine house. 25 But thou, O son of man, behold, they shall put bands upon thee, and shall bind thee with them, and thou shalt not go out among them: 26 And I will make thy tongue u 12 Then the spirit i took me up, and I heard behind me a voice of a great rushing, saying, Blessed be the glory of the LORD from his place. 13 I heard also the noise of the wings of the living creatures that P Jno.8.21,24. cleave to the roof of thy mouth, 4 touched one another, and the noise of the wheels over against them, and a noise of a great rushing. 14 Sok the spirit lifted me up, and took me away, and I went 5 in bitterness, in the heat of my spirit; but the hand of the LORD was strong upon me. 15 Then I came to them of the captivity of Telabib, that dwelt by the river of Chebar, and I sat m where they sat, and remained there astonished among them seven days. 16 And it came to pass at the end of seven days, that the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 17 Son of man, I have made thee 14. that thou shalt be dumb, and shalt not v be to them & a reprover: w for they are a rebellious house. 27 But when I speak with thee, I will open thy mouth, and thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; He that heareth, let him hear: and he that forbeareth, let him forbear: for they are a rebellious house. CHAPTER IV. By the provision of the siege is showed the hardness of the famine. THO HOU also, son of man, take thee a tile, and lay it before thee, and portray upon it the city, even Jerusalem: 2 And lay siege a against it, and a watchman n unto the house of (CHAP. 4.) build a fort against it, and cast a Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me. a Lu. 19.43, 1 18 When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou o givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his 2 wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his p iniquity, but his blood will I require at thine hand 44. or, chief leaders, ch.21.22. or, a flat plate, or, slice. ch 12.6,11. mount against it; set the camp also against it, and set 1 battering rams against it round about. 3 Moreover take thou unto thee 2 an iron pan, and set it for a wall of iron between thee and the city: and set thy face against it, and it shall be besieged, and thou shal lay siege against it. This shall be a sign b to the house of Israel. The type of a siege. EZEKIEL, V. 4 Lie thou also upon thy left side, B. C. 595. and lay the miquity of the house of Israel upon it: according to the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon it thou shalt bear their iniquity. 5 For I have laid upon thee the years of their iniquity, according to the number of the days, three hundred and ninety c days: so shalt thou beard the iniquity of the house of Israel. 6 And when thou hast accomplished them, lie again on thy right side, and thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days: I have appointed thee 3 each day for a year. c Beginning d Nu. 14.3,4. 3 a day for a e ch.33.25. thy side to or, spelt. 7 Therefore thou shalt set thy face toward the siege of Jerusalem, and thine arm shall be un-f Ho.9.3. covered, and thou shalt prophesy against it. g Ac.10.14. h Ex.22.31. 8 And, behold, I will lay bands e upon thee, and thou shalt not turn thee from 4 one side to another, till thou hast ended the days of thy De. 14.3. siege. Is.65.4. 14.13. 9 T Take thou also unto thee wheat, and barley, and beans, and k ch.5.16. lentiles, and millet, and 5 fitches, and put them in one vessel, and make thee bread thereof, according to the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon thy side, three hundred and ninety days shalt thou eat ch.12.13 thereof. 10 And thy meat which thou shalt eat shall be by weight, twenty shekels a-day: from time to time m ch.24. shalt thou eat it. 11 Thou shalt drink also water by measure, the sixth part of an hin: from time to time shalt thou drink. Le.26.39. (CHAP. 5.) a ch.4.1,8,9. 12 And thou shalt eat it as barley-b cakes, and thou shalt bake it with dung that cometh out of man, in their sight. c Je.44. 14. 13 And the LORD said, Even ƒ thus shall the children of Israel eat their d Jude 4. defiled bread among the Gentiles, whither I will drive them. 14 Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! be e ch.16.47. 1Co.5.1. The type of hay. water by measure, and with aston ishment: 17 That they may want bread and water, and be astonied one with another, and consume m away for their iniquity. CHAPTER V. The judgment of Jerusalem for their rebellion. AND thou son of man, take thee a sharp knife, take thee a barber's razor, and cause it to pass upon thine head, and upon thy beard: then take thee balances to weigh, and divide the hair. 2 Thou shalt burn with fire a third part in the midst of the city, when the days of the siege a are fulfilled: and thou shalt take a third part and smite about it with a knife: and a third part thou shalt scatter in the wind; and. I will draw out a sword after them. 3 Thou shalt also take thereof al few in number, and bind them in thy 1 skirts. 4 Then take c of them again, and cast them into the midst of the fire, and burn them in the fire; fe thereof shall a fire come forth inte all the house of Israel. 5 T Thus saith the Lord Gop: This is Jerusalem: I have set it in the midst of the nations and cour tries that are round about her. 6 And she hath changed d my judgments into wickedness more than the nations, and my statutes more e than the countries that art round about her: for they havef refused my judgments and my statutes, they have not walked in them. 7 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because ye multiplied more than the nations that are round about you, and have not walked in my statutes, neither have kept my judgments, neither have done ac cording to the judgments of the nations that are round about you; 8 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I, even I, am against thee, and will execute judgments hold, my soul hath not been pollut-f Ne.9.16, 17. in the midst of thee, in the sight of ed: g for from my youth up even till now have I not eaten of that h Je.5.3. have given thee cow's dung for Le.26.29. man's dung, and thou shalt prepare thy bread therewith. 16 T Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, behold, I will break the staffk of bread in Jerusalem: and they shall eat bread by weight, and with care; and they shall drink De.28.53. 4.10. i ch.12.14. De.28.64. Israel 18 EZEKIEL, VI, Vл. aas: defiled my sanctuary k with B. C. 594. all thy detestable things, and with all thine abominations, therefore will I also diminish m thee; neither shall mine eye spare, neither will I have any pity. n 12 A third o part of thee shall die with the pestilence, and with famine shall they be consumed in the midst of thee: and a third part shall fall by the sword round about thee; and I will scatter p a third part into all the winds, and I will draw out a sword after them. 13 Thus shall mine anger be accomplished, q and I will cause my fury to rest r upon them, and I will be comforted: s and they shall know that I the LORD have spoken it in my zeal, when I have accomplished my fury in them. k ch.8.5.&c. Je.44.4. m Ps. 10.39. o ver.2. 21.9. p Je 9. 16. 78. threatenea 6 In all your dwelling-places the cities shall be laid waste, and the high places shall be desolate; that your altars may be laid waste and made desolate, and your idols may be broken and cease, and your 3 images may be cut down, and your works may be abolished. 7 And the slain shall fall in the midst of you, and e ye shall know that I am the LORD. 8T Yet will I leave a remnant, f that ye may have some that shall escape the sword among the nations, when ye shall be scattered through the countries. 9 And they that escape of you shall remember g me among the nations whither they shall be carried captives, because I am broken h with their whorish i heart, which hath departed from me, and with their eyes, k which go a whoring after their idols: and they shall La.2.15-17. loathe themselves for the evils which they have committed in all their abominations. 14 Moreover I will make thee tu De.28.37. waste, and a reproach among the nations that are round about thee, in the sight of all that pass by. IKI.9.7. v ch.25.17. 15 So it shall be a reproach u and a taunt, an instruction and an astonishnient unto the nations that are round about thee, when I shall x Le.26.22. execute judgments in thee, in anger and in fury, and in furious vy ch.38.22. rebukes. I the LORD have spoken it. (CHAP. 6.) 16 When w I shall send upon them a ch.20.46. the evil arrows of famine, which shall be for their destruction, and which I will send to destroy you: and I will increase the famine upon you, and will break your staff of bread. 17 So will I send upon you famine and evil z beasts, and they shall bereave thee; and pestilence y and blood shall pass through thee; and I will bring the sword upon thee. I the LORD have spoken it. CHAPTER VI. The faithful are exhorted to lament their calamities. AND the word of the LORD came unto me saying, 2 Son of man, set a thy face toward the mountains b of Israel, and pro-i phesy against them. 3 And say, Ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord GOD; Thus saith the Lord GOD to the mountains, and to the hills, to the rivers, and to the valleys; Behold, I, even I, will bring a sword upon you, and I will destroy your highc places. 4 And your altars shall be desoate, and your 1 images shall be broken: and I will cast down your slain men before your idols. 5 And I will 2 lay the dead carcasses of the children of Israel before their idols; and I will scatter your bones d round about altars. our b ch.36.1. Mi.6.1,2. c Le.26.30. sun-images. 2 or, give. 16. 3sun-images. e ver. 13. f Is.6.13. Da.9.2.3. k ch. 14.4-7. Nu. 15.39. m ch.21.14. Ho.4.13. 10 And they shall know that I am the LORD, and that I have not said in vain that I would do this evil unto them. il Thus saith the Lord GOD; Smite m with thine hand, and stamp with thy foot, and say, Alas for all the evil abominations of the house of Israel! for n they shall and by the pestilence. fall by the sword, by the famine, 12 He that is far off shall die of the pestilence; and he that is near shall fall by the sword; and he that remaineth and is besieged shall die by the famine: thus will I accomplish my fury upon them. 13 Then shall ye know that I am the LORD, when their slain men shall be among their idols round about their altars, upon o every high hill, in all the tops of the mountains, and under every green tree, and under every thick oak, the place where they did offer sweet savour to all their idols. 14 So will I stretch out p my hand upon them, and make the land desolate, yea, 4 more desolate than the wilderness toward Diblath, in all their habitations: and they shall know that I am the LORD. CHAPTER VII. 1 The final desolation of Israel. 23 M (CHAP. 7.) a La.1.9. EZEKIEL, VIII. Final destruction of Israel. and I will send mine anger upon thee, and will judge thee according to thy ways, and will 1 recompense upon thee all thine abominations. 1 give. b ch.5.11. 4 And b mine eye shall not spare thee, neither will I have pity: but I will recompense c thy ways upon 3 or, echo. d Zep. 1.14, 15. thee, and thine abominations shall upon thee. be in the midst of thee: and ye je Ga.6.7. shall know that I am the LORD. 5 Thus saith the Lord GOD; An evil, an only evil, behold, is come. 6 An end is come, the end is come: it 2 watcheth for thee; behold, it is come. 7 The morning is come unto thee, O thou that dwellest in the land: the time is come, the day d of trouble is near, and not the 3 soundIng again of the mountains. 8 Now will I shortly pour out my fury upon thee, and accomplish mine anger upon thee: and I will judge thee according to thy ways, and will recompense thee for all thine abominations. 9 And mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity: 1 will recompense 4 thee according to thy ways, e and thine abominations that are in the midst of thee; and ye shall know that If am the LORD that smiteth. 10 Behold the day, behold, it is come the morning is gone forth; the rod hath blossomed; pride g hath budded. 11 Violence h is risen up into a rod Re.20.13. persons. though their the living. A La. 1.20. 10 go into. unclean- m Pr.11.4. of wickedness: none of them shall n ch.14.3,4. remain, nor of their 5 multitude, o Je.7.30. nor of any of their's; neither 13 or, made it shall there be wailing for them. 12 The time is come, the day draweth near let not the buyer rejoice, nor the seller mourn: for wrath is upon all the multitude thereof. 13 For the seller shall not return to that which is sold, 7 although they were yet alive: for the vision is touching the whole multitude thereof, which shall not return; neither i shall any strengthen himself 8 in 9 the iniquity of his life. 14 They have blown the trumpet, even to make all ready; but none goeth to the battle: for my wraths is upon all the multitude thereof. 15 The sword k is without, and the pestilence and the famine within: he that is in the field shall die with the sword; and he that is in the city, famine and pestilence shall devour him. unto them an unclean Ps.83.12. 16 Cutting tch.20.3. Ps.74.9. 17 with their 16 But they that escape of them (CHAP. 8.) shall escape, and shall be on the a ch.20.1. mountains like doves of the valleys, b ch.3.14.22. all of them mourning, every one for c ch. 1.26,27. his inquity. The type of the chas 17 All hands shall be feeble, a all knees shall 10 be weak as water. 18 They shall also gird themselv with sackcloth, and horror shall cover them; and shame shall be upon all faces, and baldness upco all their heads. 19 They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be 11 removed: their silver m and ther gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD: they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels: be cause 12 it is the stumbling-blocks of their iniquity. 20 As for the beauty of his orna ment, he set it in majesty: but they made o the images of their abomi nations, and of their detestable things therein: therefore have i 13 set it far from them. 21 And I will give it into the hands of the strangers for a prey, and to the wicked of the earth for a spoil and they shall pollute it. 22 My face will I turn also from them, and they shall pollute my secret place: for the 14 robbers shall enter into it, and defile it. 23¶ Make a chain: forp the land is full of bloody crimes, and the city is full of violence. 24 Wherefore I will bring the worst of the heathen, q and they shall possess their houses: I will also make the pomp of the strong to cease, and 15 their holy places shall be defiled. they shall seek peace, and there 25 16 Destruction cometh; and shall be none. 26 Mischiefs shall come upon mischief, and rumour shall be upon rumour; then shall they seek a vision of the prophet; but the t law shall perish from the priest, and counsel from the ancients. CHAPTER VIII. fifth day of the month, as I sat m AND it came to pass in the sixth year, in the sixth month, in the mine house, and the elders a of Ju dah sat before me, that the b hand of the Lord GOD fell there upon me. 2 Then I beheld, and lo c a likeness as the appearance of fire: from the appearance of his loins even downward, fire; and from his loins The image of jealousy. even upward, as the appearance of brightness, as the colour of d amber. EZEKIEL, IX. B. C. 594. d ch.1.4. e Da.5.5. ƒ ch.40.2. 3 And he put forth the form of ane hand, and took me by a lock of mine head; and the spirit lifted me up between the earth and the heaven, and fbrought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem, to the door of the inner gate that looketh toward the north, were g was the seat of the image of jealousy, which pro-k Ps.48.2. roketh h to jealousy. I Pr.5.14. 21. i ch.3.22,23. m Ps.78.60. 4 And, behold, the glory of the mine eyes the way toward the 9 Je. 19.1. 6 He said furthermore unto me, Son of man, seest thou what they do? even the great abominations that the house of Israel committeth here, that I should go far off from m my sanctuary? But turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations. 7 T And he brought me to the door of the court; and when 1 looked, behold a hole in the wall. 8 Then said he unto me, Son of man, dig now in the wall: and when I had digged in the wall, be hold a door. 9 And he said unto me, Go in, and behold the wicked abominations n that they do here. t ch.9.9. u 2Ti.3. 13. v Joel 2.17. x Je.2.27. 2K 1.23.5. Je.44.17. or, Is there any thing Mi.3.4. 10 So I went in o and saw; and be-a Pr.1.28. hold, every p form of creeping things, and abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel, portrayed upon the wall round about. (CHAP. 9.) weapon of pieces. loins. 11 And there stood before them seventy men of the ancients q of the house of Israel, and in the midst of them stood Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan, with every man a Re. 15.6. his censer r in his hand; and a 3 upon his thick cloud of incense went up. 12 Then said he unto me, Son of man, hast thou seen what the ancients of the house of Israel do in the dark, s'every man in the c Ex. 12.7. chambers of his imagery? for they Re.7.3. say, The t LORD seeth us not: the d Ps. 119. 136. LORD hath forsaken the earth. b ch.3.23. + mark. Je, 13.17. 15 Then said he unto me, Hast thou seen this, O son of man? Turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater u abominations than these 16 And he brought me into the inner court of the LORD's house, and, behold, at the door of the temple of the LORD, between v the porch and the altar, were about five w and twenty men, with their backs toward the temple of the LORD, and their faces toward the east; and they worshipped the suny toward the east. 17 Then he said unto me, Hast thou seen this, O son of man? 1 Is it a light thing to the house of Judah that they commit the abominations which they commit here? for they have filled the land with violence, and have returned to provoke me to anger: aud, lo, they put the branch to their nose. 18 Therefore will I also deal in fury mine eye shall not spare, z neither will I have pity: and though a they cry in mine ears with a loud voice, yet will I not hear them. CHAPTER IX. A vision, whereby is showed the preservation of some, and the destruction of the rest. HE cried also in mine ears with a loud voice, saying, Cause them that have charge over the city to draw near, even every man with his destroying weapon in his hand. 2 And, behold, six men came from the way of the higher gate, which 1 lieth toward the north, and every man a 2 slaughter-weapon in his hand; and one man among them was clothed a with linen, with a writer's ink-horn 3 by his side: and they went in, and stood beside the brazen altar. 3 And the glory b of the God of Israel was gone up from the cherub, whereupon he was, to the thres hold of the house. And he called to the man clothed with linen, which had the writer's ink-horn by his side; 4 And the LORD said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and 4 set a mark upon c the foreheads of the men that d sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof. 5 And to the others he said in mine 5 hearing, Go ye after him Nu.25.7,8. through the city, and smite: e let not your eye spare, neither have ye pity: 13 He said also unto me, Turns ears. thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations that they do. e Ex.32.27. 14 Then he brought me to the door of the gate of the LORD'S house which was toward the north; and, behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz. 2 F 1 Ki. 18.40. 6 to destruction. 721 6 Slay utterly old and young both maids, and little children, and 48 |