Distress of the Siege Described

1How dark the gold has become,

How the pure gold has changed!

The sacred stones are poured out

At the corner of every street.

2The precious sons of Zion,

Weighed against fine gold,

How they are regarded as earthen jars,

The work of a potter’s hands!

3Even jackals offer the breast,

They nurse their young;

But the daughter of my people has become cruel

Like ostriches in the wilderness.

4The tongue of the infant cleaves

To the roof of its mouth because of thirst;

The little ones ask for bread,

But no one breaks it for them.

5Those who ate delicacies

Are desolate in the streets;

Those reared in purple

Embrace ash pits.

6For the iniquity of the daughter of my people

Is greater than the sin of Sodom,

Which was overthrown as in a moment,

And no hands were turned toward her.

7Her consecrated ones were purer than snow,

They were whiter than milk;

They were more ruddy in body than corals,

Their polishing was like lapis lazuli.

8Their appearance is blacker than soot,

They are not recognized in the streets;

Their skin is shriveled on their bones,

It is withered, it has become like wood.

9Better are those slain with the sword

Than those slain with hunger;

For they pine away, being stricken

For lack of the fruits of the field.

10The hands of compassionate women

Boiled their own children;

They became food for them

Because of the destruction of the daughter of my people.

11The Lord has accomplished His wrath,

He has poured out His fierce anger;

And He has kindled a fire in Zion

Which has consumed its foundations.

12The kings of the earth did not believe,

Nor did any of the inhabitants of the world,

That the adversary and the enemy

Could enter the gates of Jerusalem.

13Because of the sins of her prophets

And the iniquities of her priests,

Who have shed in her midst

The blood of the righteous;

14They wandered, blind, in the streets;

They were defiled with blood

So that no one could touch their garments.

15“Depart! Unclean!” they cried of themselves.

“Depart, depart, do not touch!”

So they fled and wandered;

Men among the nations said,

“They shall not continue to dwell with us.”

16The presence of the Lord has scattered them,

He will not continue to regard them;

They did not honor the priests,

They did not favor the elders.

17Yet our eyes failed,

Looking for help was useless;

In our watching we have watched

For a nation that could not save.

18They hunted our steps

So that we could not walk in our streets;

Our end drew near,

Our days were finished

For our end had come.

19Our pursuers were swifter

Than the eagles of the sky;

They chased us on the mountains,

They waited in ambush for us in the wilderness.

20The breath of our nostrils, the Lord’s anointed,

Was captured in their pits,

Of whom we had said, “Under his shadow

We shall live among the nations.”

21Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom,

Who dwells in the land of Uz;

But the cup will come around to you as well,

You will become drunk and make yourself naked.

22The punishment of your iniquity has been completed, O daughter of Zion;

He will exile you no longer.

But He will punish your iniquity, O daughter of Edom;

He will expose your sins!

A Prayer for Mercy

1Remember, O Lord, what has befallen us;

Look, and see our reproach!

2Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers,

Our houses to aliens.

3We have become orphans without a father,

Our mothers are like widows.

4We have to pay for our drinking water,

Our wood comes to us at a price.

5Our pursuers are at our necks;

We are worn out, there is no rest for us.

6We have submitted to Egypt and Assyria to get enough bread.

7Our fathers sinned, and are no more;

It is we who have borne their iniquities.

8Slaves rule over us;

There is no one to deliver us from their hand.

9We get our bread at the risk of our lives

Because of the sword in the wilderness.

10Our skin has become as hot as an oven,

Because of the burning heat of famine.

11They ravished the women in Zion,

The virgins in the cities of Judah.

12Princes were hung by their hands;

Elders were not respected.

13Young men worked at the grinding mill,

And youths stumbled under loads of wood.

14Elders are gone from the gate,

Young men from their music.

15The joy of our hearts has ceased;

Our dancing has been turned into mourning.

16The crown has fallen from our head;

Woe to us, for we have sinned!

17Because of this our heart is faint,

Because of these things our eyes are dim;

18Because of Mount Zion which lies desolate,

Foxes prowl in it.

19You, O Lord, rule forever;

Your throne is from generation to generation.

20Why do You forget us forever?

Why do You forsake us so long?

21Restore us to You, O Lord, that we may be restored;

Renew our days as of old,

22Unless You have utterly rejected us

And are exceedingly angry with us.

The Book of

EZEKIEL

The Vision of Four Figures

1Now it came about in the thirtieth year, on the fifth day of the fourth month, while I was by the river Chebar among the exiles, the heavens were opened and I saw visions of God. 2(On the fifth of the month in the fifth year of King Jehoiachin’s exile, 3the word of the Lord came expressly to Ezekiel the priest, son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar; and there the hand of the Lord came upon him.)

4As I looked, behold, a storm wind was coming from the north, a great cloud with fire flashing forth continually and a bright light around it, and in its midst something like glowing metal in the midst of the fire. 5Within it there were figures resembling four living beings. And this was their appearance: they had human form. 6Each of them had four faces and four wings. 7Their legs were straight and their feet were like a calf’s hoof, and they gleamed like burnished bronze. 8Under their wings on their four sides were human hands. As for the faces and wings of the four of them, 9their wings touched one another; their faces did not turn when they moved, each went straight forward. 10As for the form of their faces, each had the face of a man; all four had the face of a lion on the right and the face of a bull on the left, and all four had the face of an eagle. 11Such were their faces. Their wings were spread out above; each had two touching another being, and two covering their bodies. 12And each went straight forward; wherever the spirit was about to go, they would go, without turning as they went. 13In the midst of the living beings there was something that looked like burning coals of fire, like torches darting back and forth among the living beings. The fire was bright, and lightning was flashing from the fire. 14And the living beings ran to and fro like bolts of lightning.

15Now as I looked at the living beings, behold, there was one wheel on the earth beside the living beings, for each of the four of them. 16The appearance of the wheels and their workmanship was like sparkling beryl, and all four of them had the same form, their appearance and workmanship being as if one wheel were within another. 17Whenever they moved, they moved in any of their four directions without turning as they moved. 18As for their rims they were lofty and awesome, and the rims of all four of them were full of eyes round about. 19Whenever the living beings moved, the wheels moved with them. And whenever the living beings rose from the earth, the wheels rose also. 20Wherever the spirit was about to go, they would go in that direction. And the wheels rose close beside them; for the spirit of the living beings was in the wheels. 21Whenever those went, these went; and whenever those stood still, these stood still. And whenever those rose from the earth, the wheels rose close beside them; for the spirit of the living beings was in the wheels.

Vision of Divine Glory

22Now over the heads of the living beings there was something like an expanse, like the awesome gleam of crystal, spread out over their heads. 23Under the expanse their wings were stretched out straight, one toward the other; each one also had two wings covering its body on the one side and on the other. 24I also heard the sound of their wings like the sound of abundant waters as they went, like the voice of the Almighty, a sound of tumult like the sound of an army camp; whenever they stood still, they dropped their wings. 25And there came a voice from above the expanse that was over their heads; whenever they stood still, they dropped their wings.

26Now above the expanse that was over their heads there was something resembling a throne, like lapis lazuli in appearance; and on that which resembled a throne, high up, was a figure with the appearance of a man. 27Then I noticed from the appearance of His loins and upward something like glowing metal that looked like fire all around within it, and from the appearance of His loins and downward I saw something like fire; and there was a radiance around Him. 28As the appearance of the rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the appearance of the surrounding radiance. Such was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. And when I saw it, I fell on my face and heard a voice speaking.