Evil in High Places
1Moreover the spirit lifted me up, and brought me unto the east gate of the LORD'S house, which looketh eastward: and behold at the door of the gate five and twenty men; among whom I saw Jaazaniah the son of Azur, and Pelatiah the son of Benaiah, princes of the people.
2Then said he unto me, Son of man, these [are] the men that devise mischief, and give wicked counsel in this city:
3Which say, [It is] not near; let us build houses: this [city is] the caldron, and we [be] the flesh.
4Therefore prophesy against them, prophesy, O son of man.
5And the Spirit of the LORD fell upon me, and said unto me, Speak; Thus saith the LORD; Thus have ye said, O house of Israel: for I know the things that come into your mind, [every one of] them.
6Ye have multiplied your slain in this city, and ye have filled the streets thereof with the slain.
7Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Your slain whom ye have laid in the midst of it, they [are] the flesh, and this [city is] the caldron: but I will bring you forth out of the midst of it.
8Ye have feared the sword; and I will bring a sword upon you, saith the Lord GOD.
9And I will bring you out of the midst thereof, and deliver you into the hands of strangers, and will execute judgments among you.
10Ye shall fall by the sword; I will judge you in the border of Israel; and ye shall know that I [am] the LORD.
11This [city] shall not be your caldron, neither shall ye be the flesh in the midst thereof; [but] I will judge you in the border of Israel:
12And ye shall know that I [am] the LORD: for ye have not walked in my statutes, neither executed my judgments, but have done after the manners of the heathen that [are] round about you.
A Promise of Restoration
13And it came to pass, when I prophesied, that Pelatiah the son of Benaiah died. Then fell I down upon my face, and cried with a loud voice, and said, Ah Lord GOD! wilt thou make a full end of the remnant of Israel?
14Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
15Son of man, thy brethren, [even] thy brethren, the men of thy kindred, and all the house of Israel wholly, [are] they unto whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, Get you far from the LORD: unto us is this land given in possession.
16Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Although I have cast them far off among the heathen, and although I have scattered them among the countries, yet will I be to them as a little sanctuary in the countries where they shall come.
17Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will even gather you from the people, and assemble you out of the countries where ye have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.
18And they shall come thither, and they shall take away all the detestable things thereof and all the abominations thereof from thence.
19And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh:
20That they may walk in my statutes, and keep mine ordinances, and do them: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God.
21But [as for them] whose heart walketh after the heart of their detestable things and their abominations, I will recompense their way upon their own heads, saith the Lord GOD.
God's Glory Leaves Jerusalem
22Then did the cherubims lift up their wings, and the wheels beside them; and the glory of the God of Israel [was] over them above.
23And the glory of the LORD went up from the midst of the city, and stood upon the mountain which [is] on the east side of the city.
24Afterwards the spirit took me up, and brought me in a vision by the Spirit of God into Chaldea, to them of the captivity. So the vision that I had seen went up from me.
25Then I spake unto them of the captivity all the things that the LORD had shewed me.
