Ezekiel 24:3-14

Pronounce this parable for these rebels: ‘Lord YAHWEH says to you: “ ‘Put a cooking pot on the fire; put it on and fill it with water. Take one of the best of the flock, kill it, cut it in pieces, then put the best pieces in the pot — the thighs, the shoulders, and the choicest joints. Fill the pot with the most tender cuts, pile firewood underneath it and boil it until the bones are thoroughly cooked. “ ‘For the Lord YAHWEH says this: Disaster is in store for the bloody city, for you are like a scum-filled cooking pot that no amount of scrubbing can make clean! Empty the pot, piece by piece, in whatever order it comes. For your city is still full of bloodshed. Your people have poured the blood of your murdered victims on the bare rocks. You didn’t bother to pour it on the ground where at least the dust could cover it. To awaken my anger and exact vengeance, I have put the blood of those you murdered on a bare rock where it will not be hidden! “ ‘I, Lord YAHWEH, say to you: Doom is in store for the city of bloodshed. I, too, will pile up wood for the fire. Heap on the firewood! Light it! Cook the meat well until the broth boils away, until the bones are burned up! Set the empty pot on the coals until it gets hot and the metal glows red-hot. The scum will become soft enough to scrub, and what is left will be burned off. But it still can’t be cleaned and its scum can’t be removed, so into the fire you go! “ ‘Jerusalem, the filth of your sexual immorality is infamous. Although I have tried to purify you, you were not cleansed of your filth, so now you will never be purged of your filth until I have emptied out my fury upon you. I, YAHWEH, have decreed it. The time has come, and I will do it! I will not hold back or relent. I will show you no pity. I will judge you according to the way you have lived and acted. I, Lord YAHWEH, have spoken.’ ”