EZEKIEL XIV.

1 God answereth idolaters according to their own heart. 6 They are exhorted to repent, for fear of judgments, by means of seduced prophets. 12 God's irre vocable sentence of famine, 15 of noisome beasts, 17 of the sword, 19 and of pestilence. 22 A remnant shall be reserved for example of others.

1 Then came certain of the elders of Israel unto me, and A. C. 594. sat before me.

2 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

3 Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their heart, and put the stumblingblock of their iniquity before their face should I be enquired of at all by them?

4 Therefore speak unto them, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Every man of the house of Israel that setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to the prophet; I the LORD will answer him that cometh according to the multitude of his idols;

5 That I may take the house of Israel in their own heart, because they are all estranged from me through their idols.

6 ¶ Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Repent, and turn yourselves from your idols; Or, others. and turn away your faces from all your abominations.

7 For every one of the house of Israel, or of the stranger that sojourneth in Israel, which separateth himself from me, and setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to a prophet to enquire of him concerning me; I the LORD will answer him by myself:

e

8 And I will set my face against that man, and will make him a sign and a proverb, and I will cut him off from the Deut.xxviii. midst of my people; and ye shall know that I am the

LORD.

37. ch. v. 15.

23.

9 And if the prophet be deceived when he hath spoken a thing, I the LORD have deceived that prophet, and I will £1 Kings xxii, stretch out my hand upon him, and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel.

10 And they shall bear the punishment of their iniquity: the punishment of the prophet shall be even as the punishment of him that seeketh unto him;

11 That the house of Israel may go no more astray from me, neither be polluted any more with all their transgressions; but that they may be my people, and I may be their God, saith the Lord GOD.

12¶The word of the LORD came again to me, saying, 13 Son of man, when the land sinneth against me by trespassing grievously, then will I stretch out mine hand

A. C. 594. upon it, and will break the staff of the bread thereof, and will send famine upon it, and will cut off man and beast from it:

g Lev. xxvi. 26. ch. iv. 16.

& v. 16.

h Jer. xv. 1.

14h Though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness, saith the Lord GOD.

15 ¶ If I cause noisome beasts to pass through the land, * Or, bereave. and they spoil it, so that it be desolate, that no man may pass through because of the beasts:

Heb. in the midst of it.

+ Or, Also when.

16 Though these three men were + in it, as I live, saith the Lord GOD, they shall deliver neither sons nor daughters; they only shall be delivered, but the land shall be desolate.

17 Or if I bring a sword upon that land, and say, Sword, go through the land; so that I cut off man and

beast from it:

18 Though these three men were in it, as I live, saith the Lord GOD, they shall deliver neither sons nor daughters, but they only shall be delivered themselves.

19 Or if I send a pestilence into that land, and pour out my fury upon it in blood, to cut off from it man and beast:

20 Though Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, as I live, saith the Lord GOD, they shall deliver neither son nor daughter; they shall but deliver their own souls by their righteousness.

21 For thus saith the Lord GOD; t How much more when I send my four sore judgments 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.

EZEKIEL XV.

1 By the unfitness of the vine branch for any work 6 is shewed the rejection of Jerusalem.

1 And 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 A.C. 594. men take a pin of it to hang any vessel thereon?

4 Behold, it is cast into the fire for fuel; the fire devour

prosper?

eth both the ends of it, and the midst of it is burned. *Is * Heb. Will it it meet for any work?

fit.

5 Behold, when it was whole, it was +meet for no work: + Heb. made how much less shall it be meet yet for any work, when the fire hath devoured it, and it is burned?

6¶ 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.

8 And I will make the land desolate, because they have committed a trespass, saith the Lord GOD.

EZEKIEL XVI.

1 Under the similitude of a wretched infant is shewed the natural state of Jerusalem. 6 God's extraordinary love towards her. 15 Her monstrous whoredom. 35 Her grievous judgment. 44 Her sin, matching her mother, and exceeding her sisters, Sodom and Samaria, calleth for judgments. 60 Mercy is promised her in the end.

1 Again 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;

+ Heb. trespassed a trespass.

Thy birth and thy nativity is of the land of Canaan; thy Heb. cutting father was an Amorite, and thy mother an Hittite.

out, or, habi tation.

looked upon

thee.

4 And as for thy nativity, in the day thou wast born thy navel was not cut, neither wast thou washed in water to Or, when I 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 unto thee; but thou wast cast out in the open field, to the lothing of thy person, in the day that thou wast born.

under foot.

6¶ And when I passed by thee, and saw thee * polluted * Or, trodden 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.

+ Heb. made

thee a million.

Heb. orna

ment of orna

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 thine hair is grown, whereas thou wast naked and bare. ments. 8 Now when I passed by thee, and looked upon thee, behold, thy time was the time of love; and I spread my skirt

A.C. 594. 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 throughly *Heb. bloods. washed away thy blood from thee, and I anointed thee

+ Heb. nose; See Is. iii. 21.

↑ Heb. of a male.

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 earrings in thine ears, and a beautiful crown upon thine head.

13 Thus wast thou decked with gold and silver; and thy raiment was of fine linen, 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 renown, and pouredst out thy fornications 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, and playedst the harlot thereupon: the like things shall not come, neither shall it be

so.

17 Thou hast also taken thy fair jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given thee, and madest to thyself images of men, and didst commit whoredom with them. 18 And tookest thy broidered garments, and coveredst them and thou hast set mine oil and 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 Heb. a sa- them for § a sweet savour: and thus it was, saith the Lord GOD.

vour of rest.

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

your.

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 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, (woe, woe unto thee! saith the Lord GOD;)

24 That thou hast also built unto thee an *eminent place, A.C. 594. and hast made thee an high place in every street.

*Or, brothel

25 Thou hast built thy high place at every head of the house. 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 +Or, cities, 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 thine heart, saith the Lord GOD, seeing thou doest all these things, the work of an imperious whorish

woman;

daughters is

31 In that thou buildest thine eminent place in the tor, In thy head of every way, and makest thine high place in every thine, &c. street; and hast not been as an 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 Heb. bribest, 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 GOD; 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.