Hello, this is Father Paul, and I'm glad we're
taking this journey together to read the Bible
in a year. Today's reading is from the book of
Ezekiel, chapters 22 through 24. Chapter 22 Moreover,
the word of the Lord came to me, saying, Now,
son of man, will you judge? Will you judge the
bloody city? Yes, show her all her abominations.
Then say, Thus says the Lord God, The city sheds
blood in her own midst, that her time may come.
and she makes idols within herself to defile
herself. You have become guilty by the blood
which you have shed and have defiled yourself
with the idols which you have made. You have
caused your days to draw near and have come to
the end of your years. Therefore I have made
you a reproach to the nations and a mockery to
all countries. Those near and those far from
you will mock you as infamous and full of tumult.
Look, the princes of Israel, each one has used
his power to shed blood in you. In you they have
made light of father and mother. In your midst
they have oppressed the stranger. In you they
have mistreated the fatherless and the widow.
You have despised my holy things and profaned
my Sabbaths. In you are men who slander to cause
bloodshed. In you are those who eat on the mountains.
In your midst they commit lewdness. In you men
uncover their father's nakedness. In you they
violate women who are set apart during their
impurity. One commits abomination with his neighbor's
wife, another lewdly defiles his daughter -in
-law, and another in you violates his sister,
his father's daughter. In you they take bribes
to shed blood, you take usury and increase. You
have made profit from your neighbors by extortion
and have forgotten me, says the Lord God. Behold,
therefore, I beat my fists at the dishonest profit
which you have made and at the bloodshed. which
has been in your midst. Can your heart endure,
or can your hands remain strong, in the days
when I shall deal with you? I, the Lord, have
spoken and will do it. I will scatter you among
the nations, disperse you throughout the countries,
and remove your filthiness completely from you.
You shall defile yourself in the sight of the
nations, then you shall know that I am the Lord.
The word of the Lord came to me, saying, Son
of man, the house of Israel has become dross
to me. They are all bronze, tin, iron, and lead
in the midst of a furnace. They have become dross
from silver. Therefore, thus says the Lord God,
Because you have all become dross, therefore,
behold, I will gather you into the midst of Jerusalem,
as men gather silver, bronze, iron, lead, and
tin into the midst of a furnace to blow fire
on it to melt it. So I will gather you in my
anger and in my fury, and I will leave you there
and melt you. Yes, I will gather you and blow
on you with the fire of my wrath, and you shall
be melted in its midst. As silver is melted in
the midst of a furnace, so shall you be melted
in its midst. Then you shall know that I, the
Lord, have poured out my fury on you. And the
word of the Lord came to me, saying, Son of man,
say to her, You are a land that is not cleansed
or rained on in the day of indignation. The conspiracy
of her prophets in her midst is like a roaring
lion. tearing the prey they have devoured people
they have taken treasure and precious things
they have made many widows in her midst her priests
have violated my law and profane my holy things
they have not distinguished between the holy
and unholy nor have they made known the difference
between the unclean and the clean and they have
hidden their eyes from my sabbaths so that i
am profaned among them her princes in her midst
are like wolves tearing the prey to shed blood,
to destroy people, and to get dishonest gain.
Her prophets plastered them with untempered mortar,
seeing false visions and divining lies for them,
saying, Thus says the Lord God, when the Lord
has not spoken. The people of the land have used
oppressions, committed robbery, and mistreated
the poor and needy, and they wrongfully oppress
the stranger. So I sought for a man among them
who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before
me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy
it, but I found no one. Therefore I have poured
out my indignation on them, I have consumed them
with the fire of my wrath, and I have recompensed
their deeds on their own heads, says the Lord
God. Chapter 23 The word of the Lord came again
to me, saying, Son of man, there were two women,
the daughters of one mother. They committed harlotry
in Egypt, they committed harlotry in their youth.
Their breasts were there embraced, their virgin
bosom was there pressed. Their names, Ohola the
elder and Oholiba her sister, they were mine.
And they bore sons and daughters. As for their
names, Samaria is Ohola and Jerusalem is Oholiba.
Ohola played the harlot even though she was mine,
and she lusted for her lovers, the neighboring
Assyrians, who were clothed in purple. captains
and rulers, all of them desirable young men,
horsemen riding on horses. Thus she committed
her harlotry with them, all of them choice men
of Assyria, and with all for whom she lusted,
with all their idols, she defiled herself. She
has never given up her harlotry brought from
Egypt, for in her youth they had lain with her,
pressed her virgin bosom, and poured out their
immorality upon her. Therefore I have delivered
her into the hand of her lovers, into the hand
of the Assyrians, for whom she lusted. They uncovered
her nakedness, took away her sons and daughters,
and slew her with the sword. She became a byword
among women, for they had executed judgment on
her. Now although her sister Oholiba saw this,
she became more corrupt in her lust than she.
and in her harlotry more corrupt than her sister's
harlotry. She lusted for the neighboring Assyrians,
captains and rulers, clothed most gorgeously,
horsemen riding on horses, all of them desirable
young men. Then I saw that she was defiled. Both
took the same way, but she increased her harlotry.
She looked at men portrayed on the wall, images
of Chaldeans portrayed in vermilion, girded with
belts around their waists, flowing turbans on
their heads. all of them looking like captains
in the manner of the Babylonians of Chaldea,
the land of their nativity. As soon as her eyes
saw them, she lusted for them and sent messengers
to them in Chaldea. Then the Babylonians came
to her, into the bed of love, and they defiled
her with their immorality. So she was defiled
by them and alienated herself from them. she
revealed her harlotry and uncovered her nakedness
then i alienated myself from her as i had alienated
myself from her sister yet she multiplied her
harlotry in calling to remembrance the days of
her youth when she had played the harlot in the
land of egypt for she lusted for her paramours
whose flesh is like the flesh of donkeys and
whose issue is like the issue of horses Thus
you call to remembrance the lewdness of your
youth when the Egyptians pressed your bosom because
of your youthful breasts. Therefore, O Holiba,
thus says the Lord God, Behold, I will stir up
your lovers against you, from whom you have alienated
yourself, and I will bring them against you from
every side, the Babylonians, all the Chaldeans,
Pekod, Shoa, Koa, all the Assyrians with them,
all of them desirable young men, governors and
rulers. captains and men of renown, all of them
riding on horses. And they shall come against
you with chariots, wagons, and warhorses, with
a horde of people. They shall array against you
buckler, shield, and helmet all around. I will
delegate judgment to them, and they shall judge
you according to their judgments. I will set
my jealousy against you, and they shall deal
furiously with you. They shall remove your nose
and your ears, and your remnant shall fall by
the sword. They shall take your sons and your
daughters, and your remnant shall be devoured
by fire. They shall also strip you of your clothes
and take away your beautiful jewelry. Thus I
will make you cease your lewdness and your harlotry
brought from the land of Egypt, so that you will
not lift your eyes to them nor remember Egypt
anymore. For thus says the Lord God, Surely I
will deliver you into the hand of those you hate,
into the hand of those from whom you alienated
yourself. They will deal hatefully with you.
Take away all you have worked for and leave you
naked and bare. The nakedness of your harlotry
shall be uncovered, both your lewdness and your
harlotry. I will do these things to you because
you have gone as a harlot after the Gentiles,
because you have become defiled by their idols.
You have walked in the way of your sister, therefore
I will put her cup in your hand. Thus says the
Lord God, You shall drink of your sister's cup,
the deep and wide one. You shall be laughed to
scorn, and held in derision. It contains much.
You will be filled with drunkenness and sorrow.
The cup of horror and desolation, the cup of
your sister, Samaria. You shall drink and drain
it. You shall break its shards, and tear at your
own breasts, for I have spoken, says the Lord
God. Therefore, thus says the Lord God, because
you have forgotten me, and cast me behind your
back, therefore you shall bear the penalty of
your lewdness and your harlotry. The Lord also
said to me, Son of man, will you judge Ohola
and Oholiba? Then declare to them their abominations,
for they have committed adultery, and blood is
on their hands. They have committed adultery
with their idols, and even sacrificed their sons,
whom they bore to me, passing them through the
fire to devour them. Moreover they have done
this to me. they have defiled my sanctuary on
the same day and profaned my sabbaths for after
they had slain their children for their idols
on the same day they came into my sanctuary to
profane it and indeed thus they have done in
the midst of my house furthermore you sent for
men to come from afar to whom a messenger was
sent and there they came and you washed yourself
for them painted your eyes and adorned yourself
with ornaments You sat on a stately couch, with
a table prepared before it, on which you had
set my incense and my oil. The sound of a carefree
multitude was with her, and Sabians were brought
from the wilderness with men of the common sort,
who put bracelets on their wrists and beautiful
crowns on their heads. Then I said concerning
her who had grown old in adulteries, will they
commit harlotry with her now, and she with them?
yet they went into her as men go into a woman
who plays the harlot thus they went into ohola
and oholiba the lewd women but righteous men
will judge them after the manner of adulteresses
and after the manner of women who shed blood
because they are adulteresses and blood is on
their hands for thus says the lord god bring
up an assembly against them give them up to trouble
and plunder The assembly shall stone them with
stones and execute them with their swords. They
shall slay their sons and their daughters and
burn their houses with fire. Thus I will cause
lewdness to cease from the land, that all women
may be taught not to practice your lewdness.
They shall repay you for your lewdness, and you
shall pay for your idolatrous sins. Then you
shall know that I am the Lord God. Again, in
the ninth year, in the tenth month, on the tenth
day of the month, the word of the Lord came to
me, saying, Son of man, write down the name of
the day, this very day. The king of Babylon started
his siege against Jerusalem this very day. And
utter a parable to the rebellious house, and
say to them, Thus says the Lord God, Put on a
pot, set it on, and also pour water into it.
Gather pieces of meat in it, every good piece,
the thigh and the shoulder. Fill it with choice
cuts. Take the choice of the flock. Also pile
fuel bones under it. Make it boil well, and let
the cuts simmer in it. Therefore thus says the
Lord God, Woe to the bloody city, to the pot
whose scum is in it, and whose scum is not gone
from it. Bring it out piece by piece, on which
no lot has fallen, for her blood is in her midst.
She set it on top of a rock, she did not pour
it on the ground. to cover it with dust, that
it may raise up fury and take vengeance. I have
set her blood on top of a rock, that it may not
be covered. Therefore thus says the Lord God,
Woe to the bloody city! I too will make the pyre
great, heap on the wood, kindle the fire, cook
the meat well, mix in the spices, and let the
cuts be burned up. Then set the pot empty on
the coals, that it may become hot, and its bronze
may burn. that its filthiness may be melted in
it, that its scum may be consumed. She has grown
weary with lies, and her great scum has not gone
from her. Let her scum be in the fire, and your
filthiness is lewdness, because I have cleansed
you, and you are not cleansed. You will not be
cleansed of your filthiness any more, till I
have caused my fury to rest upon you. I, the
Lord, have spoken it. It shall come to pass,
and I will do it. I will not hold back, nor will
I spare, nor will I relent. According to your
ways and according to your deeds, they will judge
you, says the Lord God. Also the word of the
Lord came to me, saying, Son of man, behold,
I take away from you the desire of your eyes
with one stroke. Yet you shall neither mourn
nor weep, nor shall your tears run down. Sigh
in silence, make no mourning for the dead. Bind
your turban on your head, and put your sandals
on your feet. Do not cover your lips, and do
not eat man's bread of sorrow. So I spoke to
the people in the morning, and at evening my
wife died. And the next morning I did as I was
commanded. And the people said to me, Will you
not tell us what these things signify to us that
you behave so? Then I answered them, The word
of the Lord came to me, saying, Speak to the
house of Israel. Thus says the Lord God, Behold,
I will profane my sanctuary, your arrogant boast,
the desire of your eyes, the delight of your
soul, and your sons and daughters, whom you left
behind, shall fall by the sword. And you shall
do as I have done. You shall not cover your lips,
nor eat man's bread of sorrow. Your turbans shall
be on your heads and your sandals on your feet.
You shall neither mourn nor weep, but you shall
pine away in your iniquities and mourn with one
another. thus ezekiel is assigned to you according
to all that he has done you shall do and when
this comes you shall know that i am the lord
god and you son of man will it not be in the
day when i take from them their stronghold their
joy and their glory the desire of their eyes,
and that on which they set their minds, their
sons and their daughters, that on that day one
who escapes will come to you to let you hear
it with your ears. On that day your mouth will
be opened to him who has escaped. You shall speak
and no longer be mute. Thus you will be assigned
to them, and they shall know that I am the Lord.
I hope you enjoyed today's reading as much as
I did. and I look forward to seeing you again
tomorrow to continue on our journey. God bless
you and have a great day.