| 1 ¶ Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
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| 2 Now, thou son of man, wilt thou judge,1 wilt thou judge the bloody2 city? yea, thou shalt shew her3 all her abominations.
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| 3 Then say thou, Thus saith the Lord GOD, The city sheddeth blood in the midst of it, that her time may come, and maketh idols against herself to defile herself.
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| 4 Thou art become guilty in thy blood that thou hast shed; and hast defiled thyself in thine idols which thou hast made; and thou hast caused thy days to draw near, and art come even unto thy years: therefore have I made thee a reproach unto the heathen, and a mocking to all countries.
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| 5 Those that be near, and those that be far from thee, shall mock thee, which art infamous4 and much vexed.
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| 6 Behold, the princes of Israel, every one were in thee to their power5 to shed blood.
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| 7 In thee have they set light by father and mother: in the midst of thee have they dealt by oppression6 with the stranger: in thee have they vexed the fatherless and the widow.
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| 8 Thou hast despised mine holy things, and hast profaned my sabbaths.
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| 9 In thee are men that7 carry tales to shed blood: and in thee they eat upon the mountains: in the midst of thee they commit lewdness.
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| 10 In thee have they discovered their fathers' nakedness: in thee have they humbled her that was set apart for pollution.
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| 11 And one8 hath committed abomination with his neighbour's wife; and another9 hath lewdly10 defiled his daughter in law; and another in thee hath humbled his sister, his father's daughter.
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| 12 In thee have they taken gifts to shed blood; thou hast taken usury and increase, and thou hast greedily gained of thy neighbours by extortion, and hast forgotten me, saith the Lord GOD.
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| 13 Behold, therefore I have smitten mine hand at thy dishonest gain which thou hast made, and at thy blood which hath been in the midst of thee.
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| 14 Can thine heart endure, or can thine hands be strong, in the days that I shall deal with thee? I the LORD have spoken it, and will do it.
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| 15 And I will scatter thee among the heathen, and disperse thee in the countries, and will consume thy filthiness out of thee.
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| 16 And thou shalt take11 thine inheritance in thyself in the sight of the heathen, and thou shalt know that I am the LORD.
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| 17 ¶ And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
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| 18 Son of man, the house of Israel is to me become dross: all they are brass, and tin, and iron, and lead, in the midst of the furnace; they are even the dross of silver.12
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| 19 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because ye are all become dross, behold, therefore I will gather you into the midst of Jerusalem.
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| 20 As13 they gather silver, and brass, and iron, and lead, and tin, into the midst of the furnace, to blow the fire upon it, to melt it; so will I gather you in mine anger and in my fury, and I will leave you there, and melt you.
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| 21 Yea, I will gather you, and blow upon you in the fire of my wrath, and ye shall be melted in the midst thereof.
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| 22 As silver is melted in the midst of the furnace, so shall ye be melted in the midst thereof; and ye shall know that I the LORD have poured out my fury upon you.
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| 23 ¶ And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
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| 24 Son of man, say unto her, Thou art the land that is not cleansed, nor rained upon in the day of indignation.
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| 25 There is a conspiracy of her prophets in the midst thereof, like a roaring lion ravening the prey; they have devoured souls; they have taken the treasure and precious things; they have made her many widows in the midst thereof.
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| 26 Her priests have violated14 my law, and have profaned mine holy things: they have put no difference between the holy and profane, neither have they shewed difference between the unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes from my sabbaths, and I am profaned among them.
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| 27 Her princes in the midst thereof are like wolves ravening the prey, to shed blood, and to destroy souls, to get dishonest gain.
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| 28 And her prophets have daubed them with untempered morter, seeing vanity, and divining lies unto them, saying, Thus saith the Lord GOD, when the LORD hath not spoken.
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| 29 The people of the land have used oppression,15 and exercised robbery, and have vexed the poor and needy: yea, they have oppressed the stranger wrongfully.16
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| 30 And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none.
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| 31 Therefore have I poured out mine indignation upon them; I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath: their own way have I recompensed upon their heads, saith the Lord GOD.
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