The Lord will punish the leaders of Jerusalem
1The Spirit lifted me up and took me to the eastern gate of the temple. There were 25 men at the door of the gate. I saw Jaazaniah, son of Azzur, and Pelatiah, son of Benaiah, among them. They were leaders of the nation. 2The Lord said to me: ‘Son of man, these men are bad people who make plans for the people in this city to do things that are wrong. 3They say: “Other people may not build their houses here. The city is the pot and we are the meat that must be in the pot. Only we may stay here.” 4Son of man, that is why you must tell them what I say. Prophesy_against them.’
5Then the Spirit of God came into me and He said: ‘You must tell them that the Lord says: “People of Israel, you have said these things. I know what you are thinking. 6You have killed a lot of people in this city. You have filled the streets with dead bodies.” ’
7The Lord God says: ‘You did that. You have murdered the people in the city. That is why they are the meat and the city is the pot. But for you, I will throw you out of the city. 8You were afraid of war and now I will bring war to you.’ This is what the Lord God said: 9‘I will throw you out of the city. I will bring other nations to go to war_against you and I will let them defeat you. That is how I will punish you. 10You will die in war at the border of the land_of_Israel. I will punish you and you will know that I am the Lord. 11The city will not be a pot to you, and you will not be the meat in the pot. I will punish you at the border of the land_of_Israel. 12Then you will know that I am the Lord. You did not live as I have told you and you did not do what I wanted you to do. You did what the Gentiles in the nations who live around you wanted.’
The Lord will bring his people back from Babylon
13While I was busy telling them what the Lord said, Pelatiah, son of Benaiah, died. I bowed down with my face to the ground. I shouted_loudly and said: ‘O no, Lord our God, You are killing all the Israelites, all who are still_alive.’
14Then the Lord talked to me and He said: 15‘Son of man, the people who live in Jerusalem are talking about you and your brothers and all the other Israelites who are prisoners in Babylon with you. And this is what they say about you. They say: “All those Israelites are far away from God. He has given this land to us. It is our land now.”
16That is why you must tell them: “The Lord God says: Yes, I have taken away my people far away to the Gentiles and I have made them live in other lands among the nations. But for a short while I became a temple to them in every land where they were.” 17That is why you must tell them: “The Lord God says: I have sent you away to a lot of lands, but I will bring you back together from all those nations. I will bring you back from those lands and I will give back the land_of_Israel to you.”
18Then they will come here and they will take away all the bad and ugly things that I hate. They will take them away from this city. 19I will give them a new heart and there will be a new spirit in them. I will take out the hard heart, that was hard as stone, from their bodies, and I will give them a soft heart of flesh. 20Then they will live as I tell them and they will do what I want. They will be my people and I will be their God. 21But the people who keep on doing bad and ugly things that I hate, they will suffer. I will punish them for what they do.’ This is what the Lord God said.
22The cherub-angels lifted up their wings and the wheels next to them. The glory of the God of Israel was above the cherub-angels. 23The glory of the Lord lifted up from inside the city of Jerusalem and it stopped on the mountain, east of the city.
24The Spirit lifted me up and He took me to the land of Babylon, to the people of Judah who were in Babylon. These were all the things that the Spirit of God showed me in the vision, and then the vision stopped. 25Then I told the people of Judah who were in Babylon everything that the Lord had showed me.
