[1] Moreover the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
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[2] Now, you son of man, will you judge, will you judge the bloody city? yes, you shall show her all her abominations.
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[3] Then say you, Thus says the Lord GOD, The city sheds blood in the middle of it, that her time may come, and makes idols against herself to defile herself.
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[4] You are become guilty in your blood that you have shed; and have defiled yourself in your idols which you have made; and you have caused your days to draw near, and are come even to your years: therefore have I made you a reproach to the heathen, and a mocking to all countries.
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[5] Those that be near, and those that be far from you, shall mock you, which are infamous and much vexed.
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[6] Behold, the princes of Israel, every one were in you to their power to shed blood.
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[7] In you have they set light by father and mother: in the middle of you have they dealt by oppression with the stranger: in you have they vexed the fatherless and the widow.
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[8] You have despised my holy things, and have profaned my sabbaths.
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[9] In you are men that carry tales to shed blood: and in you they eat on the mountains: in the middle of you they commit lewdness.
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[10] In you have they discovered their fathers’ nakedness: in you have they humbled her that was set apart for pollution.
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[11] And one has committed abomination with his neighbor’s wife; and another has lewdly defiled his daughter in law; and another in you has humbled his sister, his father’s daughter.
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[12] In you have they taken gifts to shed blood; you have taken usury and increase, and you have greedily gained of your neighbors by extortion, and have forgotten me, says the Lord GOD. ¶
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[13] Behold, therefore I have smitten my hand at your dishonest gain which you have made, and at your blood which has been in the middle of you.
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[14] Can your heart endure, or can your hands be strong, in the days that I shall deal with you? I the LORD have spoken it, and will do it.
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[15] And I will scatter you among the heathen, and disperse you in the countries, and will consume your filthiness out of you.
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[16] And you shall take your inheritance in yourself in the sight of the heathen, and you shall know that I am the LORD.
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[17] And the word of the LORD came to 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 middle of the furnace; they are even the dross of silver.
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[19] Therefore thus says the Lord GOD; Because you are all become dross, behold, therefore I will gather you into the middle of Jerusalem.
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[20] As they gather silver, and brass, and iron, and lead, and tin, into the middle of the furnace, to blow the fire on it, to melt it; so will I gather you in my anger and in my fury, and I will leave you there, and melt you.
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[21] Yes, I will gather you, and blow on you in the fire of my wrath, and you shall be melted in the middle therof.
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[22] As silver is melted in the middle of the furnace, so shall you be melted in the middle thereof; and you shall know that I the LORD have poured out my fury on you. ¶
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[23] And the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
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[24] Son of man, say to her, You are the land that is not cleansed, nor rained on in the day of indignation.
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[25] There is a conspiracy of her prophets in the middle 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 middle thereof.
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[26] Her priests have violated my law, and have profaned my holy things: they have put no difference between the holy and profane, neither have they showed 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 middle 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 mortar, seeing vanity, and divining lies to them, saying, Thus says the Lord GOD, when the LORD has not spoken.
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[29] The people of the land have used oppression, and exercised robbery, and have vexed the poor and needy: yes, they have oppressed the stranger wrongfully.
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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 my indignation on them; I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath: their own way have I recompensed on their heads, says the Lord GOD.
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