Chapter 19

¹ Moreover do thou take up a lamentation for the prince of Israel, ² and say, Why is thy mother become a whelp in the midst of lions? in the midst of lions she has multiplied her whelps. ³ And one of her whelps sprang forth; he became a lion, and learned to take prey, he devoured men. ⁴ And the nations heard a report ¹of him; he was caught in their ²pit, and they brought him into the land of Egypt in chains.

⁵ And she saw that he was driven away from her, and her ³hope of him perished,

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and she took another of her whelps; she made him a lion. ⁶ And he went up and down in the midst of lions, he became a lion, and learned to take prey, he devoured men. ⁷ And he prowled in his boldness and laid waste their cities, and made the land desolate, and the fullness of it, by the voice of his roaring.

⁸ Then the nations set upon him from the countries round about, and they spread their nets upon him: he was taken in their pit. ⁹ And they put him in chains and in a cage, and he came to the king of Babylon; and he cast him into prison, that his voice should not be heard on the mountains of Israel.

¹⁰ Thy mother was as a vine and as a blossom on a pomegranate tree, planted by water: her fruit and her shoot abounded by reason of much water. ¹¹ And she became ⁴a rod for a tribe of princes, and was elevated in her bulk in the midst of other trees, and she saw her bulk in the multitude of her branches.

¹² But she was broken down in wrath, she was cast upon the ground, and the east wind dried up her choice branches; ⁵vengeance came upon them, and the rod of her strength was withered; fire consumed it. ¹³ And now they have planted her in the wilderness, in a dry land. ¹⁴ And fire is gone out of a rod of her choice boughs, and has devoured her; and there was no rod of strength in her. Her ⁶race is become a parable of lamentation, and it shall be for a lamentation.

Chapter 20

¹ And it came to pass in the seventh year, on the ⁷fifteenth day of the month, there came men of the elders of the house of Israel to enquire of the Lord, and they sat before me. ² And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ³ Son of man, speak to the elders of the house of Israel, and thou shalt say to them, Thus saith the Lord; Are ye come to enquire of me? As I live, I will not be enquired of by you, saith the Lord. ⁴ Shall I utterly take vengeance on them, son of man? testify to them of the iniquities of their fathers: ⁵ and thou shalt say to them, Thus saith the Lord;

From the day that I chose the house of Israel, and became known to the seed of the house of Jacob, and was known to them in the land of Egypt, and helped them with my hand, saying, I am the Lord your God; ⁶ in that day I helped them with my hand, to bring them out of the land of Egypt into the land which I ⁸prepared for them, a land flowing with milk and honey, it is ⁹abundant beyond every land. ⁷ And I said to them, Let every one cast away the abominations of his eyes, and defile not yourselves with the devices of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.

⁸ But they revolted from me, and would not hearken to me: they cast not away the abominations of their eyes, and forsook not the devices of Egypt: then I said that I would pour out my wrath upon them, to accomplish my wrath upon them in the midst of Egypt. ⁹ But I wrought so that my name should not be at all profaned in the sight of the Gentiles, in the midst of

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whom they are, among whom I was made known to them in their sight, to bring them out of the land of Egypt.¹⁰

¹⁰ And I brought them into the wilderness. ¹¹ And I gave them my commandments, and made known to them mine ordinances, all which if a man shall do, he shall even live in them. ¹² And I gave them my sabbaths, that they should be for a sign between me and them, that they should know that I am the Lord that sanctify them.

¹³ And I said to the house of Israel in the wilderness, Walk ye in my commandments: but they walked not in them, and they rejected mine ordinances, which if a man shall do, he shall even live in them; and they grievously profaned my sabbaths: and I said that I would pour out my wrath upon them in the wilderness, to consume them. ¹⁴ But I wrought so that my name should not be at all profaned before the Gentiles, before whose eyes I brought them out.

¹⁵ But I lifted up my hand against them in the wilderness once for all, that I would not bring them into the land which I gave them, a land flowing with milk and honey, it is ¹¹sweeter than all lands: ¹⁶ because they rejected mine ordinances, and walked not in my commandments, but profaned my sabbaths, and went after the imaginations of their hearts.

¹⁷ Yet mine eyes spared them, so as not to destroy them utterly, and I did not make an end of them in the wilderness. ¹⁸ And I said to their children in the wilderness, Walk not ye in the customs of your fathers, and keep not their ordinances, and have no fellowship with their practices, nor defile yourselves with them. ¹⁹ I am the Lord your God; walk in my commandments, and keep mine ordinances, and do them; ²⁰ and hallow my sabbaths, and let them be a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I am the Lord your God.

²¹ But they provoked me, and their children walked not in my commandments, and they took no heed to mine ordinances to do them, which if a man shall do, he shall even live in them, and they profaned my sabbaths: then I said that I would pour out my wrath upon them in the wilderness, to accomplish mine anger upon them. ²² But I wrought so that my name might not be at all profaned before the Gentiles; and I brought them out in their sight.

²³ I lifted up my hand against them in the wilderness, that I would scatter them among the Gentiles, and disperse them in the countries; ²⁴ because they kept not mine ordinances, and rejected my commandments, and profaned my sabbaths, and their eyes went after the imaginations of their fathers.

²⁵ So I gave them commandments that were not good, and ordinances in which they should not live. ²⁶ And I will defile them by their own ¹²decrees, when I pass through upon every one that opens the womb, that I may destroy them.

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²⁷ Therefore, son of man, speak to the house of Israel, and thou shalt say to them, Thus saith the Lord: Hitherto have your fathers provoke me in their trespasses in which they transgressed against me. ²⁸ Whereas I brought them into the land concerning which I lifted up mine hand to give it them; and they looked upon every high hill, and every shady tree, and they sacrificed there to their gods, and offered there sweet-smelling savour, and there they poured out their drink-offerings. ²⁹ And I said to them, What is Abama, that ye go in thither? and they called its mane Abama, until this day.

³⁰ Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord, Do ye pollute yourselves with the iniquities of your fathers, and do ye go a-whoring after their abominations, ³¹ and do ye pollute yourselves with the first-fruits of your gifts, in the offerings wherewith ye pollute yourselves in all your imaginations, until this day; and shall I answer you, O house of Israel? As I live, saith the Lord, I will not answer you, neither shall this thing come upon your spirit. ³² And it shall not be as ye say, We will be as the nations, and as the tribes of the earth, to worship stocks and stones.

³³ Therefore, as I live, saith the Lord, I will reign over you with a strong hand, and with a high arm, and with outpoured wrath: ³⁴ I will bring you out from the nations, and will take you out of the lands wherein ye were dispersed, with a strong hand, and with a high arm, and with outpoured wrath. ³⁵ And I will bring you into the wilderness of the nations, and will plead with you there face to face.

³⁶ As I pleaded with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so will I judge you, saith the Lord. ³⁷ And I will cause you to pass under my rod, and I will bring you in by number. ³⁸ And I will ¹³separate from among you the ungodly and the revolters; for I will lead them forth out of their place of sojourning, and they shall not enter into the land of Israel: and ye shall know that I am the Lord, even the Lord.

³⁹ And as to you, O house of Israel, thus saith the Lord, even the Lord; Put away each one his evil practices, and hereafter if ye hearken to me, then shall ye no more profane my holy name by your gifts and by devices. ⁴⁰ For upon my holy mountain, on the high mountain, saith the Lord, even the Lord, there shall all the house of Israel serve me for ever: and there will I accept you, and there will I have respect to your first-fruits, and the first-fruits of your ¹⁴offerings, in all your holy things.

⁴¹ I will accept you with a sweet-smelling savour, when I bring you out from the nations, and take you out of the countries wherein ye have been dispersed; and I will be sanctified among you in the sight of the nations. ⁴² And ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I have brought you into the land of Israel, into the land concerning which I lifted up my hand to give it to your fathers. ⁴³ And ye shall there remember

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your ways, and your devices wherewith ye defiled yourselves; and ye shall ¹⁵bewail yourselves for all your wickedness. ⁴⁴ And ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I have done thus to you, that my name may not be profaned in your evil ways, and in your corrupt devices, saith the Lord.

⁴⁵ And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ⁴⁶ Son of man, set thy face against ¹⁶Thæman, and look toward ¹⁷Darom, and prophesy against the chief forest of Nageb, ⁴⁷ and thou shalt say to the forest of Nageb, Hear the word of the Lord; thus saith the Lord, even the Lord; Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour in thee every green tree, and every dry tree: the flame that is kindled shall not be quenched, and every face shall be scorched with it from the south to the north. ⁴⁸ And all flesh shall know that I the Lord have kindled it: it shall not be quenched.

⁴⁹ And I said, ¹⁸Not so, O Lord God! they say to me, Is not this that is spoken a parable?