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The rejection of Jerusalem.

EZEKIEL.

upon Jerusalem, the sword, and the famine, and the noisome beast, and the pestilence, to cut off from it man and beast?

22 ¶ Yet, behold, therein shall be left a remnant that shall be brought forth, both sons and daughters: behold, they shall come forth unto you, and ye shall see their way and their doings: and ye shall be comforted concerning the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem, even concerning all that I have brought upon it.

23 And they shall comfort you, when ye see their ways and their doings; and ye shall know that I have not done without cause all that I have done in it, saith the Lord GOD. CHAP. XV.

1 By the unfitness of the vine-branch for any work 6 is shewed the rejection of Jerusalem. A ND the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

2 Son of man, What is the vine-tree more than any tree, or than a branch which is among the trees of the forest?

3 Shall wood be taken thereof to do any work? or will men take a pin of it to hang any vessel thereon?

God's love to Jerusalem. 6 And when I passed by thee, and saw thee polluted in thine own blood, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, Live; yea, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, Live. 7 I have caused thee to multiply as the bud of the field, and thou hast increased and waxen great, and thou art come to excellent ornaments: thy breasts are fashioned, and thy hair is grown, whereas thou wast naked and bare.

8 Now when I passed by thee, and looked upon thee, behold, thy time was the time of love; and I spread my skirt over thee, and covered thy nakedness: yea, I sware unto thee, and entered into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord GOD, and thou becamest mine. 9 Then washed I thee with water; yea, I thoroughly washed away thy blood from thee, and I anointed thee with oil.

10 I clothed thee also with broidered work, and shod thee with badgers' skin, and I girded thee about with fine linen, and I covered thee with silk.

11 I decked thee also with ornaments, and I put bracelets upon thy hands, and a chain on thy neck.

12 And I put a jewel on thy forehead, and ear-rings in thine ears, and a beautiful crown upon thy head.

4 Behold, it is cast into the fire for fuel; the fire devoureth both the ends of it, and the midst of it is burned. Is it meet for any work? 5 Behold, when it was whole, it was meet for no work: how much less shall it be meet 13 Thus wast thou decked with gold and yet for any work, when the fire hath devour-silver; and thy raiment was of fine linen, ed it, and it is burned?

6 T Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; As the vine-tree among the trees of the forest, which I have given to the fire for fuel, so will I give the inhabitants of Jerusalem..

7 And I will set my face against them; they shall go out from one fire, and another fire shall devour them; and ye shall know that I am the LORD, when I set my face against

them.

and silk, and broidered work; thou didst eat fine flour, and honey, and oil; and thou wast exceeding beautiful, and thou didst prosper into a kingdom.

14 And thy renown went forth among the heathen for thy beauty: for it was perfect through my comeliness, which I had put upon thee, saith the Lord GOD.

15 ¶ But thou didst trust in thine own beauty, and playedst the harlot because of thy 8 And I will make the land desolate, be-renown, and pouredst out thy fornications cause they have committed a trespass, saith the Lord God.

CHAP. XVI.

on every one that passed by; his it was. 16 And of thy garments thou didst take, and deckedst thy high places with divers colours, 1 Under the similitude of a wretched infant is and playedst the harlot thereupon: the like shewed the natural state of Jerusalem. things shall not come, neither shall it be so. God's extraordinary love towards her. 15 Her monstrous whoredom. 35 Her grievous 17 Thou hast also taken thy fair jewels of judgment. 44 Her sin, matching her mother, my gold and of my silver, which I had given and exceeding her sisters, Sodom and Sama thee, and madest to thyself images of men, ria, calleth for judgments. 60 Mercy is pro-and didst commit whoredom with them. mised her in the end.

GAIN the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

2 Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations,

3 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD unto Jerusalem; Thy birth and thy nativity is of the land of Canaan; thy father was an Amorite, and thy mother a Hittite.

4 And as for thy nativity, in the day thou wast born thy navel was not cut, neither wast thou washed in water to supple thee; thou wast not salted at all, nor swaddled at all.

5 None eye pitied thee, to do any of these unto thee, to have compassion upon thee; but thou wast cast out the open field, to the loathing of thy person, in the day that thou wast born.

18 And tookest thy broidered garments, and coveredst them: and thou hast set mine oil and mine incense before them.

19 My meat also which I gave thee, fine flour, and oil, and honey, wherewith I fed thee, thou hast even set it before them for a sweet savour: and thus it was, saith the Lord GOD.

20 Moreover, thou hast taken thy sons and thy daughters, whom thou hast borne unto me, and these hast thou sacrificed unto them to be devoured. Is this of thy whoredoms a small matter,

21 That thou hast slain my children, and delivered them to cause them to pass through the fire for them?

22 And in all thine abominations and thy whoredoms thou hast not remembered the

Her whoredoms, and judgment.

CHAP. XVI. Sodom and Samaria call for judgment. shall take thy fair jewels, and leave thee naked and bare.

days of thy youth, when thou wast naked and bare, and wast polluted in thy blood. 23 And it came to pass, after all thy wickedness, (wo, wo unto thee! saith the Lord GOD,)

24 That thou hast also built unto thee an eminent place, and hast made thee a high place in every street.

25 Thou hast built thy high place at every head of the way, and hast made thy beauty to be abhorred, and hast opened thy feet to every one that passed by, and multiplied thy whoredoms.

26 Thou hast also committed fornication with the Egyptians thy neighbours, great of flesh; and hast increased thy whoredoms, to provoke me to anger.

27 Behold, therefore I have stretched out my hand over thee, and have diminished thine ordinary food, and delivered thee unto the will of them that hate thee, the daughters of the Philistines, which are ashamed of thy lewd way.

28 Thou hast played the whore also with the Assyrians, because thou wast unsatiable; yea, thou hast played the harlot with them, and yet couldest not be satisfied.

29 Thou hast, moreover, multiplied thy fornication in the land of Canaan unto Chaldea; and yet thou wast not satisfied herewith. 30 How weak is thy heart, saith the Lord GOD, seeing thou doest all these things, the work of an imperious, whorish woman; 31 In that thou buildest thine eminent place in the head of every way, and makest thy high place in every street; and hast not been as a harlot, in that thou scornest hire;

32 But as a wife that committeth adultery, which taketh strangers instead of her husband! 33 They give gifts to all whores: but thou givest thy gifts to all thy lovers, and hirest them, that they may come unto thee on every side for thy whoredom.

34 And the contrary is in thee from other women in thy whoredoms, whereas none followeth thee to commit whoredoms: and in that thou givest a reward, and no reward is given unto thee; therefore thou art contrary. 35¶Wherefore, O harlot, hear the word of the LORD:

36 Thus saith the Lord Gop; Because thy filthiness was poured out, and thy nakedness discovered through thy whoredoms with thy lovers, and with all the idols of thy abominations, and by the blood of thy children, which thou didst give unto them;

37 Behold, therefore, I will gather all thy lovers, with whom thou hast taken pleasure, and all them that thou hast loved, with all them that thou hast hated; I will even gather them round about against thee, and will discover thy nakedness unto them, that they may see all thy nakedness."

38 And I will judge thee, as women that break wedlock and shed blood are judged; and I will give thee blood in fury and jealousy. 39 And I will also give thee into their hand, and they shall throw down thine eminent place, and shall break down thy high places: they shall strip thee also of thy clothes, and 2 B

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40 They shall also bring up a company against thee, and they shall stone thee with stones, and thrust thee through with their swords.

41 And they shall burn thy houses with fire, and execute judgments upon thee in the sight of many women: and I will cause thee to cease from playing the harlot, and thou also shalt give no hire any more.

42 So will I make my fury toward thee to rest, and my jealousy shall depart from thee, and I will be quiet, and will be no more angry. 43 Because thou hast not remembered the days of thy youth, but hast fretted me in all these things; behold, therefore, I also will recompense thy way upon thy head, saith the Lord GOD: and thou shalt not commit this lewdness above all thine abominations. 44 Behold, every one that useth proverbs shall use this proverb against thee, saying, As is the mother, so is her daughter. 45 Thou art thy mother's daughter, that loatheth her husband and her children; and thou art the sister of thy sisters, which leathed their husbands and their children: your mother was a Hittite and your father an Amorite.

46 And thine elder sister is Samaria, she and her daughters that dwell at thy left hand : and thy younger sister, that dwelleth at thy right hand, is Sodom and her daughters. 47 Yet hast thou not walked after their ways, nor done after their abominations: but as if that were a very little thing, thou wast corrupted more than they, in all thy ways. 48 As I live, saith the Lord GOD, Sodom thy sister hath not done, she nor her daughters, as thou hast done, thou and thy daughters. 49 Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abuudance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.

50 And they were haughty, and committed abomination before me: therefore I took them away as I saw good.

51 Neither hath Samaria committed half of thy sins: but thou hast multiplied thine abominations more than they, and hast justified thy sisters in all thine abominations which thou hast done.

52 Thou also, which hast judged thy sisters bear thine own shame for thy sins that thou hast committed more abominable than they: they are more righteous than thou: yea, be thou confounded also, and bear thy shame, in that thou hast justified thy sisters." 53 When I shall bring again their captivity, the captivity or Sodom and her daughters, and the captivity of Samaria and her daughters, then will I bring again the captivity of thy captives in the midst of them:

54 That thou mayest bear thine own shame, and mayest be confounded in all that thou hast done, in that thou art a comfort unto them.

55 When thy sisters, Sodom and her daughters, shall return to their former estate, and

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The two eagles and the one.

EZEKIEL. The cedar of the gospel promised. many people to pluck it up by the roots thereof.

Samaria and her daughters shall return to their former estate, then thou and thy daughters shall return to your former estate. 56 For thy sister Sodom was not mentioned by thy mouth in the day of thy pride, 57 Before thy wickedness was discovered, as at the time of thy reproach of the daugh ters of Syria, and all that are round about her, the daughters of the Philistines, which despise thee round about.

58 Thou hast borne thy lewdness and thine abominations, saith the LORD.

59 For thus saith the Lord GoD; I will even deal with thee as thou hast done, which hast despised the oath in breaking the covenant. 60 ¶ Nevertheless, I will remember my covenant with thee in the days of thy youth, and I will establish unto thee an everlasting

covenant.

61 Then thou shalt remember thy ways, and be ashamed, when thou shalt receive thy sisters, thine elder and thy younger: and I will give them unto thee for daughters, but not by thy covenant.

62 And I will establish my covenant with thee; and thou shalt know that I am the LORD: 63 That thou mayest remember, and be confounded, and never open thy mouth any more because of thy shame, when I am pacified toward thee for all that thou hast done, saith the Lord God.

CHAP. XVII.

1 Under the parable of two eagles and a vine, 11 is shewed God's judgment upon Jerusalem for revolting from Babylon to Egypt. 22 God promiseth to plant the cedar of the gospel.

A

ND the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

2 Son of man, put forth a riddle, and speak aparable unto the house of Israel;

3 And say, Thus saith the Lord GoD; A great eagle with great wings, long-winged, full of feathers, which had divers colours, came unto Lebanon, and took the highest branch of the cedar:

4 He cropped off the top of his young twigs, and carried it into a land of traffick; heset it in a city of merchants.

5 He took also of the seed of the land, and planted it in a fruitful field; he placed it by great waters, and set it as a willow-tree.

6 And it grew, and became a spreading vine of low stature, whose branches turned toward him, and the roots thereof were under him so it became a vine, and brought forth branches, and shot forth sprigs.

7 There was also another great cagle with great wings and many feathers: and behold, this vine did bend her roots toward him, and shot forth her branches toward him, that he might water it by the furrows of her plantation. 8 It was planted in a good soil by great waters, that it might bring forth branches, and that it might bear fruit, that it might be a goodly vine.

9 Say thou, Thus saith the Lord God; Shall it prosper? shall he not pull up the roots thereof, and cut off the fruit thereof, that it wither? it shall wither in all the leaves of her spring, even without great power or

10 Yea, behold, being planted, shall it prosper? shall it not utterly wither, when the east wind toucheth it? it shall wither in the furrows where it grew.

11

Moreover the word of the LORD came

unto me, saying,

12 Say now to the rebellious house, Know ye not what these things mean? Tell them, Behold, the king of Babylon is come to Je rusalem, and hath taken the king thereof, and the princes thereof, and led them with him to Babylon;

13 And hath taken of the king's seed, and made a covenant with him, and hath taken an oath of him: he hath also taken the mighty of the land:

14 That the kingdom might be base, that it night not lift itself up, but that by keeping of his covenant it might stand.

15 But he rebelled against him in sending his ambassadors into Egypt, that they might give him horses and much people. Shall he prosper? shall he escape that doeth such things? or, shall he break the covenant, and be delivered?

16 As I live, saith the Lord GOD, surely in the place where the king dwelleth that made him king, whose oath he despised, and whose covenant he brake, even with him in the midst of Babylon he shall die.

17 Neither shall Pharaoh, with his mighty army and great company, make for him in the war, by casting up mounts, and building forts, to cut off many persons:

18 Seeing he despised the oath by breaking the covenant, when lo, he had given his hand, and hath done all these things, he shall not escape.

19 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; As I live, surely mine oath that he hath despised, and my covenant that he hath broken, even it will I recompense upon his own head. I 20 And I will spread my net upon him, and he shall be taken in my snare, and I will bring him to Babylon, and will plead with him there for his trespass that he hath trespassed against me.

21 And all his fugitives with all his bands Ishall fall by the sword, and they that remain shall be scattered toward all winds: and ye shall know that I the LORD have spoken it. 22 Thus saith the Lord God, I will also take of the highest branch of the high cedar, and will set it; I will crop off from the top of his young twigs a tender one, and will plant it upon a high mountain and eminent: 23 In the mountain of the height of Israel will I plant it and it shall bring forth boughs, and bear fruit, and be a goodly cedar and under it shall dwell all fowl of every wing in the shadow of the branches thereof shall they dwell.

24 And all the trees of the field shall know that I the LORD have brought down the high tree, have exalted the low tree, have dried up the green tree, and have made the dry tree to flourish: I the LORD have spoken and have done it,

God's justice in punishing.

CHAP. XVIII.

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CHAP. XVIII, XIX.

God defends his justice. the iniquity of his father, he shall surely live. 1God reproveth the unjust parable of sour grapes. 18 As for his father, because he cruelly op 5 He sheweth how he dealeth with a just father: pressed, spoiled his brother by violence, and 10 with a wicked son of ajust father: 14 with did that which is not good among his people, a just son of a wicked father: 19 with a wick-lo, even he shall die in his iniquity. ed man repenting: 24 with ajust man revolt19 Yet say ye, Why? doth not the son ing. 25 He defendeth his justice, 31 and ex-bear the iniquity of the father? When the son horteth to repentance.

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HE word of the LORD came unto me again, saying,

2 What mean ye, that ye use this proverb concerning the land of Israel, saying, The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge?

3 As I live, saith the Lord God, ye shall not have occasion any more to use this proverb in Israel.

4 Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die.

5 But if a man be just, and do that which is lawful and rig.at,

6 And hath not eaten upon the mountains, neither hath lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, neither hath defiled his neighbour's wife, neither hath come near to a

menstruous woman,

7 And hath not oppressed any, but hath restored to the debtor his pledge, hath spoiled none by violence, hath given his bread to the hungry, and hath covered the naked with a garment;

8 He that hath not given forth upon usury, Deither hath taken any increase, that hath withdrawn his hand from iniquity, hath executed true judgment between man and man, 9 Hath walked in my statutes, and hath kept my judgments, to deal truly; he is just, he shall surely live, saith the Lord GOD.

10 If he beget a son that is a robber, a shedder of blood, and that doeth the like to any one of these things,

11 And that doeth not any of those duties, but even hath eaten upon the mountains, and defiled his neighbour's wife,

12 Hath oppressed the poor and needy, hath spoiled by violence, hath not restored the pledge, and hath lifted up his eyes to the idols, hath committed abomination,

hath done that which is lawful and right, and hath kept all my statutes, and hath done them, he shall surely live.

20 The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.

21 But if the wicked will turn from all his sins that he hath committed, and keep all my statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die. 22 All his transgressions that he hath committed, they shall not be mentioned unto him: in his righteousness that he hath done he shall live.

23 Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? saith the Lord GoD: and not that he should return from his ways, and live? 24 But when the righteous turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and doeth according to all the abominations that the wicked man doeth, shall he live? All his righteousness that he hath done shall not be mentioned in his trespass that he hath trespassed, and in his sin that he hath sinned, in them shall he die.

25 Yet ye say, The way of the LORD is not equal. Hear now, O house of Israel. Is not my way equal? are not your ways unequal? 26 When a righteous man turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and dieth in them; for his iniquity that he hath done, shall he die.

27 Again, when the wicked man turneth away from his wickedness that he hath committed, and doeth that which is lawful and right, he shall save his soul alive.

28 Because he considereth and turneth away from all his transgressions that he hath committed, he shall surely live, he shall not die. 13 Hath given forth upon usury, and hath 29 Yet saith the house of Israel, The way o taken increase shall he then live? he shall the LORD is not equal. O house of Israel, not live: he hath done all these abomina-are not my ways equal? are not your ways tions; he shall surely die; his blood shall be unequal? upon him.

14 Now lo, if he beget a son, that seeth all his father's sins which he hath done, and considereth, and doeth not such like,

15 That hath not eaten upon the mountains, neither hath lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, hath not defiled his neighbour's wife,

16 Neither hath oppressed any, hath not withholden the pledge, neither hath spoiled by violence, but hath given his bread to the hungry, and hath covered the naked with a garment,

17 That hath taken off his hand from the poor, that hath not received usury nor increase, hath executed my judgments, bath walked in my statutes; he shall not die for

30 Therefore, I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, saith the Lord God. Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin.

31 ¶ Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby ye have transgressed: and make you a new heart and a new spirit: for why will ye die, O house of Israel? 32 For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord GOD: wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye. CHAP. XIX.

1 A lamentation for the princes of Israel, undr the parable of lions' whelps taken in a pit, 10 and for Jerusalem, under the parable of a. wasted vine.

Parable of the lions' whelps.

EZEKIEL.

MOREOVER, take thou up a lamenta-
tion for the princes of Israel,
2 And say, What is thy mother? A lioness:
she lay down among lions, she nourished her
whelps among young lions.

3 And she brought up one of her whelps: it became a young lion, and it learned to catch the prey; it devoured men.

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The story of the rebellions

GOD; In the day when I chose Israel, and lifted up my hand unto the seed of the house of Jacob, and made myself known unto them in the land of Egypt, when I lifted up iny hand unto thein, saying, I am the LORD your God;

6 In the day that I lifted up my hand unto them, to bring them forth of the land of Egypt 4 The nations also heard of him; he was into a land that I had espied for them, flowtaken in their pit, and they brought him withing with milk and honey, which is the glory chains unto the land of Egypt. of all lands:

5 Now when she saw that she had waited, and her hope was lost, then she took another of her whelps, and made him a young lion. 6 And he went up and down among the lions, he became a young lion, and learned to catch the prey, and devoured men.

7 And he knew their desolate palaces, and he laid waste their cities; and the land was desolate, and the fainess thereof, by the noise of his roaring.

S Then the nations set against him on every side from the provinces, and spread their net over him he was taken in their pit.

9 And they put him in ward in chains, and brought hun to the king of Babylon: they brought him into holds, that his voice should no more be heard upon the mountains of Israel.

10 ¶ Thy mother is like a vine in thy blood, planted by the waters: she was fruitful and full of branches by reason of many waters. 11 And she had strong rods for the sceptres of them that bare rule, and her stature was exalted among the thick branches, and she appeared in her height with the multitude of her branches.

7 Then said I unto them, Cast ye away every man the abominations of his and defile eyes, not yourselves with the idols of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.

8 But they rebelled against me, and would not hearken unto me: they did not every man cast away the abominations of their eyes, neither did they forsake the idols of Egypt: then I said, I will pour out my fury upon them, to accomplish my anger against them in the midst of the land of Egypt.

9 But I wrought for my name's sake, that it should not be polluted before the heathen, among whom they were, in whose sight I made myself known unto them, in bringing them forth out of the land of Egypt. 10 Wherefore, I caused them to go forth out of the land of Egypt, and brought them into the wilderness.

11 And I gave them my statutes, and shewed them my judgments, which if a man do, he shall even live in them.

12 Moreover, also I gave them my sabbat!!s, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the LORD that sanctify

them.

12 But she was plucked up in fury, she was 13 But the house of Israel rebelled against cast down to the ground, and the east wind me in the wilderness: they walked not in my dried up her fruit: her strong rods were bro- statutes, and they despised my judgments, ken and withered; the fire consumed them. which if a man do, he shall even live in 13 And now she is planted in the wilder-them: and my sabbaths they greatly polluted: ness, in a dry and thirsty ground. then I said, I would pour out my fury upon them in the wilderness, to consume them.

14 And fire is gone out of a rod of her branches, which hath devoured her fruit, so that she hath no strong rod to be a sceptre to rule. This is a lamentation, and shall be for a lamentation.

CHAP. XX.

1 God refuseth to be consulted by the elders of Israel. 5 He sheweth the story of their rebellions in Egypt, 10 in the wilderness, 27 and in the land. 33 He promiseth to gather them by the gospel. 45 Under the name of a forest he sheweth the destruction of Jerusalem.

ND it came to pass in the seventh year, in the fifth month, the tenth day of the onth, that certain of the elders of Israel came to inquire of the LORD, and sat before me. 2 Then came the word of the LORD unto me, saying,

14 But I wrought for my name's sake, that it should not be polluted before the heathen, in whose sight I brought them out.

15 Yet also I lifted up my hand unto them in the wilderness, that I would not bring them into the land which I had given them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands;

16 Because they despised my judgments, and walked not in my statutes, but polluted my sabbaths: for their heart went after their idols.

17 Nevertheles mine eye spared them from destroying them, neither did I make an end of them in the wilderness.

18 But I said unto their children in the wilderness, Walk ye not in the statutes of your 3 Son of man, speak unto the elders of Is-fathers, neither observe their judgments, nor rael, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord defile yourselves with their idols: GOD; Are ye come to inquire of me? As I 19 I am the LORD your God; walk in my live, saith the Lord God, I will not be in-statutes, and keep my judgments, and do them; quired of by you.

4 Wilt thou judge them, son of man? wilt thou judge them? cause them to know the abominatious of their fathers:

5 And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord

20 And hallow my sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I am the LORD your God.

21 Notwithstanding, the children rebelled against me: they walked not in my statutes,

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