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7. The End Has Come

¹ The word of the LORD came to me: ² “Son of man, this is what the Sovereign LORD says to the land of Israel:

   “‘The end! The end has come
   upon the four corners of the land!
³ The end is now upon you,
   and I will unleash my anger against you.
I will judge you according to your conduct
   and repay you for all your detestable practices.
⁴ I will not look on you with pity;
   I will not spare you.
I will surely repay you for your conduct
   and for the detestable practices among you.

“‘Then you will know that I am the LORD.’

⁵ “This is what the Sovereign LORD says:

   “‘Disaster! Unheard-of Most Hebrew manuscripts; some Hebrew manuscripts and Syriac Disaster after disaster!
   See, it comes!
⁶ The end has come!
   The end has come!
It has roused itself against you.
   See, it comes!
⁷ Doom has come upon you,
   upon you who dwell in the land.
The time has come! The day is near!
   There is panic, not joy, on the mountains.
⁸ I am about to pour out my wrath on you
   and spend my anger against you.
I will judge you according to your conduct
   and repay you for all your detestable practices.
⁹ I will not look on you with pity;
   I will not spare you.
I will repay you for your conduct
   and for the detestable practices among you.

“‘Then you will know that it is I the LORD who strikes you.

    ¹⁰ “‘See, the day!
   See, it comes!
Doom has burst forth,
   the rod has budded,
   arrogance has blossomed!
¹¹ Violence has arisen, Or The violent one has become
   a rod to punish the wicked.
None of the people will be left,
   none of that crowd—
none of their wealth,
   nothing of value.
¹² The time has come!
   The day has arrived!
Let not the buyer rejoice
   nor the seller grieve,
   for my wrath is on the whole crowd.
¹³ The seller will not recover
   the property that was sold—
   as long as both buyer and seller live.
For the vision concerning the whole crowd
   will not be reversed.
Because of their sins, not one of them
   will preserve their life.

    ¹⁴ “‘They have blown the trumpet,
   they have made all things ready,
but no one will go into battle,
   for my wrath is on the whole crowd.
¹⁵ Outside is the sword;
   inside are plague and famine.
Those in the country
   will die by the sword;
those in the city
   will be devoured by famine and plague.
¹⁶ The fugitives who escape
   will flee to the mountains.
Like doves of the valleys,
   they will all moan,
   each for their own sins.
¹⁷ Every hand will go limp;
   every leg will be wet with urine.
¹⁸ They will put on sackcloth
   and be clothed with terror.
Every face will be covered with shame,
   and every head will be shaved.

    ¹⁹ “‘They will throw their silver into the streets,
   and their gold will be treated as a thing unclean.
Their silver and gold
   will not be able to deliver them
   in the day of the LORD’s wrath.
It will not satisfy their hunger
   or fill their stomachs,
   for it has caused them to stumble into sin.
²⁰ They took pride in their beautiful jewelry
   and used it to make their detestable idols.
They made it into vile images;
   therefore I will make it a thing unclean for them.
²¹ I will give their wealth as plunder to foreigners
   and as loot to the wicked of the earth,
   who will defile it.
²² I will turn my face away from the people,
   and robbers will desecrate the place I treasure.
They will enter it
   and will defile it.

    ²³ “‘Prepare chains!
   For the land is full of bloodshed,
   and the city is full of violence.
²⁴ I will bring the most wicked of nations
   to take possession of their houses.
I will put an end to the pride of the mighty,
   and their sanctuaries will be desecrated.
²⁵ When terror comes,
   they will seek peace in vain.
²⁶ Calamity upon calamity will come,
   and rumor upon rumor.
They will go searching for a vision from the prophet,
   priestly instruction in the law will cease,
   the counsel of the elders will come to an end.
²⁷ The king will mourn,
   the prince will be clothed with despair,
   and the hands of the people of the land will tremble.
I will deal with them according to their conduct,
   and by their own standards I will judge them.

“‘Then they will know that I am the LORD.’”

He repeats what he had said, that enemies would come who should be ministers of God’s vengeance. And again we learn from this place, that even the impious are impelled by the hand and secret direction of God, so that they cannot move a finger but by his will. He had formerly said that he would give the Jews into the hands of strangers; but what now? I will cause them to come, says he, as if he would stretch out his hand to them, and induce them. We see, therefore, that God holds the impious under his guidance, as it were, for executing his judgments; but we must consider the difference which I have lately laid down; for God so works by them, as still to have nothing in common with them. For they are carried on by a depraved impulse; but God has a method, wonderful and incomprehensible by us, which impels them hither and thither, so that he does not involve himself in any alliance with their fault. For he calls them the perverse nation, that the Jews might know that the last slaughter was approaching, since they should have to do with the most cruel enemies. He says, shall possess their homes, and because the pride of the people might seem an obstacle to God’s exacting the deserved penalty, therefore he adds, I will make the pride of the powerful to cease, says he; for as long as the Jews were swollen with haughtiness and self-confidence, the Prophet could not profit them at all. Therefore he says, that God would make their haughtiness to cease, by which they were vainly puffed up as long as God sustained or bore with them. At length he adds, their sanctuaries shall be polluted This passage confirms the opinion which I formerly approved. For Ezekiel speaks of the pollution of the sanctuary as of a new thing. For he here draws away from them the vain hope by which they deceived themselves, when they boasted that they dwelt under God’s guardianship, since the temple protected themselves and the city. Jeremiah reproves them for trusting in lying words, while they declare that they have the Lord’s temple —

“The temple of the Lord, The temple of the Lord.” (Jeremiah 7:4.)

Our Prophet does not speak openly, but he doubtless shows that their security was false, while they oppose the temple to God, as if the temple were a shield to repel his vengeance. God, indeed, dwelt in the temple, but this condition was added, that he was to be purely worshipped there. But when the temple was polluted, God departed from it, as we shall afterwards see. For this reason the Prophet says, the enemies should come who should pollute and contaminate the holy places of the people Hitherto he had not spoken of the temple, but he now adds, the temple, that the Jews should not rashly boast in the name of God, as if they held him fixed to themselves. It follows —