The Gospel of Mark (Part Six)

The Story of the Bible

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Vote With Vision: Praying God’s Will Over Elections

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An Extra Extra Christmas

Journeying Through Advent

Know Your Role

Psalms Book 4 (Psalms 90-106)

The Listener’s Bible®: NIV Edition

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Holy Bible, New International Version™ (Anglicised), South Asian Audio Edition

<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkEZK">
 <div class="chapter ch5" data-usfm="EZK.5">
 <div class="label">5</div><div class="s1">God&#8217;s Razor of Judgment</div><div class="p"> 1&#8220;Now, son of man, take a sharp sword and use it as a barber&#8217;s razor to shave your head and your beard. Then take a set of scales and divide up the hair. 2When the days of your siege come to an end, burn a third of the hair inside the city. Take a third and strike it with the sword all around the city. And scatter a third to the wind. For I will pursue them with drawn sword. 3But take a few hairs and tuck them away in the folds of your garment. 4Again, take a few of these and throw them into the fire and burn them up. A fire will spread from there to all Israel.</div><div class="p"> 5&#8220;This is what the Sovereign Lord says: This is Jerusalem, which I have set in the center of the nations, with countries all around her. 6Yet in her wickedness she has rebelled against my laws and decrees more than the nations and countries around her. She has rejected my laws and has not followed my decrees.</div><div class="p"> 7&#8220;Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: You have been more unruly than the nations around you and have not followed my decrees or kept my laws. You have not even#5:7 Most Hebrew manuscripts; some Hebrew manuscripts and Syriac You have conformed to the standards of the nations around you.</div><div class="p"> 8&#8220;Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I myself am against you, Jerusalem, and I will inflict punishment on you in the sight of the nations. 9Because of all your detestable idols, I will do to you what I have never done before and will never do again. 10Therefore in your midst parents will eat their children, and children will eat their parents. I will inflict punishment on you and will scatter all your survivors to the winds. 11Therefore as surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, because you have defiled my sanctuary with all your vile images and detestable practices, I myself will shave you; I will not look on you with pity or spare you. 12A third of your people will die of the plague or perish by famine inside you; a third will fall by the sword outside your walls; and a third I will scatter to the winds and pursue with drawn sword.</div><div class="p"> 13&#8220;Then my anger will cease and my wrath against them will subside, and I will be avenged. And when I have spent my wrath on them, they will know that I the Lord have spoken in my zeal.</div><div class="p"> 14&#8220;I will make you a ruin and a reproach among the nations around you, in the sight of all who pass by. 15You will be a reproach and a taunt, a warning and an object of horror to the nations around you when I inflict punishment on you in anger and in wrath and with stinging rebuke. I the Lord have spoken. 16When I shoot at you with my deadly and destructive arrows of famine, I will shoot to destroy you. I will bring more and more famine upon you and cut off your supply of food. 17I will send famine and wild beasts against you, and they will leave you childless. Plague and bloodshed will sweep through you, and I will bring the sword against you. I the Lord have spoken.&#8221;</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkEZK">
 <div class="chapter ch6" data-usfm="EZK.6">
 <div class="label">6</div><div class="s1">Doom for the Mountains of Israel</div><div class="p"> 1The word of the Lord came to me: 2&#8220;Son of man, set your face against the mountains of Israel; prophesy against them 3and say: &#8216;You mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Sovereign Lord. This is what the Sovereign Lord says to the mountains and hills, to the ravines and valleys: I am about to bring a sword against you, and I will destroy your high places. 4Your altars will be demolished and your incense altars will be smashed; and I will slay your people in front of your idols. 5I will lay the dead bodies of the Israelites in front of their idols, and I will scatter your bones around your altars. 6Wherever you live, the towns will be laid waste and the high places demolished, so that your altars will be laid waste and devastated, your idols smashed and ruined, your incense altars broken down, and what you have made wiped out. 7Your people will fall slain among you, and you will know that I am the Lord.</div><div class="p"> 8&#8220;&#8198;&#8216;But I will spare some, for some of you will escape the sword when you are scattered among the lands and nations. 9Then in the nations where they have been carried captive, those who escape will remember me&#8212;how I have been grieved by their adulterous hearts, which have turned away from me, and by their eyes, which have lusted after their idols. They will loathe themselves for the evil they have done and for all their detestable practices. 10And they will know that I am the Lord; I did not threaten in vain to bring this calamity on them.</div><div class="p"> 11&#8220;&#8198;&#8216;This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Strike your hands together and stamp your feet and cry out &#8220;Alas!&#8221; because of all the wicked and detestable practices of the people of Israel, for they will fall by the sword, famine and plague. 12One who is far away will die of the plague, and one who is near will fall by the sword, and anyone who survives and is spared will die of famine. So will I pour out my wrath on them. 13And they will know that I am the Lord, when their people lie slain among their idols around their altars, on every high hill and on all the mountaintops, under every spreading tree and every leafy oak&#8212;places where they offered fragrant incense to all their idols. 14And I will stretch out my hand against them and make the land a desolate waste from the desert to Diblah#6:14 Most Hebrew manuscripts; a few Hebrew manuscripts Riblah&#8212;wherever they live. Then they will know that I am the Lord.&#8217;&#8198;&#8221;</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkEZK">
 <div class="chapter ch8" data-usfm="EZK.8">
 <div class="label">8</div><div class="s1">Idolatry in the Temple</div><div class="p"> 1In the sixth year, in the sixth month on the fifth day, while I was sitting in my house and the elders of Judah were sitting before me, the hand of the Sovereign Lord came on me there. 2I looked, and I saw a figure like that of a man.#8:2 Or saw a fiery figure From what appeared to be his waist down he was like fire, and from there up his appearance was as bright as glowing metal. 3He stretched out what looked like a hand and took me by the hair of my head. The Spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven and in visions of God he took me to Jerusalem, to the entrance of the north gate of the inner court, where the idol that provokes to jealousy stood. 4And there before me was the glory of the God of Israel, as in the vision I had seen in the plain.</div><div class="p"> 5Then he said to me, &#8220;Son of man, look toward the north.&#8221; So I looked, and in the entrance north of the gate of the altar I saw this idol of jealousy.</div><div class="p"> 6And he said to me, &#8220;Son of man, do you see what they are doing&#8212;the utterly detestable things the Israelites are doing here, things that will drive me far from my sanctuary? But you will see things that are even more detestable.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 7Then he brought me to the entrance to the court. I looked, and I saw a hole in the wall. 8He said to me, &#8220;Son of man, now dig into the wall.&#8221; So I dug into the wall and saw a doorway there.</div><div class="p"> 9And he said to me, &#8220;Go in and see the wicked and detestable things they are doing here.&#8221; 10So I went in and looked, and I saw portrayed all over the walls all kinds of crawling things and unclean animals and all the idols of Israel. 11In front of them stood seventy elders of Israel, and Jaazaniah son of Shaphan was standing among them. Each had a censer in his hand, and a fragrant cloud of incense was rising.</div><div class="p"> 12He said to me, &#8220;Son of man, have you seen what the elders of Israel are doing in the darkness, each at the shrine of his own idol? They say, &#8216;The Lord does not see us; the Lord has forsaken the land.&#8217;&#8198;&#8221; 13Again, he said, &#8220;You will see them doing things that are even more detestable.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 14Then he brought me to the entrance of the north gate of the house of the Lord, and I saw women sitting there, mourning the god Tammuz. 15He said to me, &#8220;Do you see this, son of man? You will see things that are even more detestable than this.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 16He then brought me into the inner court of the house of the Lord, and there at the entrance to the temple, between the portico and the altar, were about twenty-five men. With their backs toward the temple of the Lord and their faces toward the east, they were bowing down to the sun in the east.</div><div class="p"> 17He said to me, &#8220;Have you seen this, son of man? Is it a trivial matter for the people of Judah to do the detestable things they are doing here? Must they also fill the land with violence and continually arouse my anger? Look at them putting the branch to their nose! 18Therefore I will deal with them in anger; I will not look on them with pity or spare them. Although they shout in my ears, I will not listen to them.&#8221;</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkEZK">
 <div class="chapter ch9" data-usfm="EZK.9">
 <div class="label">9</div><div class="s1">Judgment on the Idolaters</div><div class="p"> 1Then I heard him call out in a loud voice, &#8220;Bring near those who are appointed to execute judgment on the city, each with a weapon in his hand.&#8221; 2And I saw six men coming from the direction of the upper gate, which faces north, each with a deadly weapon in his hand. With them was a man clothed in linen who had a writing kit at his side. They came in and stood beside the bronze altar.</div><div class="p"> 3Now the glory of the God of Israel went up from above the cherubim, where it had been, and moved to the threshold of the temple. Then the Lord called to the man clothed in linen who had the writing kit at his side 4and said to him, &#8220;Go throughout the city of Jerusalem and put a mark on the foreheads of those who grieve and lament over all the detestable things that are done in it.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 5As I listened, he said to the others, &#8220;Follow him through the city and kill, without showing pity or compassion. 6Slaughter the old men, the young men and women, the mothers and children, but do not touch anyone who has the mark. Begin at my sanctuary.&#8221; So they began with the old men who were in front of the temple.</div><div class="p"> 7Then he said to them, &#8220;Defile the temple and fill the courts with the slain. Go!&#8221; So they went out and began killing throughout the city. 8While they were killing and I was left alone, I fell facedown, crying out, &#8220;Alas, Sovereign Lord! Are you going to destroy the entire remnant of Israel in this outpouring of your wrath on Jerusalem?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 9He answered me, &#8220;The sin of the people of Israel and Judah is exceedingly great; the land is full of bloodshed and the city is full of injustice. They say, &#8216;The Lord has forsaken the land; the Lord does not see.&#8217; 10So I will not look on them with pity or spare them, but I will bring down on their own heads what they have done.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 11Then the man in linen with the writing kit at his side brought back word, saying, &#8220;I have done as you commanded.&#8221;</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkEZK">
 <div class="chapter ch10" data-usfm="EZK.10">
 <div class="label">10</div><div class="s1">God&#8217;s Glory Departs From the Temple</div><div class="p"> 1I looked, and I saw the likeness of a throne of lapis lazuli above the vault that was over the heads of the cherubim. 2The Lord said to the man clothed in linen, &#8220;Go in among the wheels beneath the cherubim. Fill your hands with burning coals from among the cherubim and scatter them over the city.&#8221; And as I watched, he went in.</div><div class="p"> 3Now the cherubim were standing on the south side of the temple when the man went in, and a cloud filled the inner court. 4Then the glory of the Lord rose from above the cherubim and moved to the threshold of the temple. The cloud filled the temple, and the court was full of the radiance of the glory of the Lord. 5The sound of the wings of the cherubim could be heard as far away as the outer court, like the voice of God Almighty#10:5 Hebrew El-Shaddai when he speaks.</div><div class="p"> 6When the Lord commanded the man in linen, &#8220;Take fire from among the wheels, from among the cherubim,&#8221; the man went in and stood beside a wheel. 7Then one of the cherubim reached out his hand to the fire that was among them. He took up some of it and put it into the hands of the man in linen, who took it and went out. 8(Under the wings of the cherubim could be seen what looked like human hands.)</div><div class="p"> 9I looked, and I saw beside the cherubim four wheels, one beside each of the cherubim; the wheels sparkled like topaz. 10As for their appearance, the four of them looked alike; each was like a wheel intersecting a wheel. 11As they moved, they would go in any one of the four directions the cherubim faced; the wheels did not turn about#10:11 Or aside as the cherubim went. The cherubim went in whatever direction the head faced, without turning as they went. 12Their entire bodies, including their backs, their hands and their wings, were completely full of eyes, as were their four wheels. 13I heard the wheels being called &#8220;the whirling wheels.&#8221; 14Each of the cherubim had four faces: One face was that of a cherub, the second the face of a human being, the third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle.</div><div class="p"> 15Then the cherubim rose upward. These were the living creatures I had seen by the Kebar River. 16When the cherubim moved, the wheels beside them moved; and when the cherubim spread their wings to rise from the ground, the wheels did not leave their side. 17When the cherubim stood still, they also stood still; and when the cherubim rose, they rose with them, because the spirit of the living creatures was in them.</div><div class="p"> 18Then the glory of the Lord departed from over the threshold of the temple and stopped above the cherubim. 19While I watched, the cherubim spread their wings and rose from the ground, and as they went, the wheels went with them. They stopped at the entrance of the east gate of the Lord&#8217;s house, and the glory of the God of Israel was above them.</div><div class="p"> 20These were the living creatures I had seen beneath the God of Israel by the Kebar River, and I realized that they were cherubim. 21Each had four faces and four wings, and under their wings was what looked like human hands. 22Their faces had the same appearance as those I had seen by the Kebar River. Each one went straight ahead.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkEZK">
 <div class="chapter ch11" data-usfm="EZK.11">
 <div class="label">11</div><div class="s1">God&#8217;s Sure Judgment on Jerusalem</div><div class="p"> 1Then the Spirit lifted me up and brought me to the gate of the house of the Lord that faces east. There at the entrance of the gate were twenty-five men, and I saw among them Jaazaniah son of Azzur and Pelatiah son of Benaiah, leaders of the people. 2The Lord said to me, &#8220;Son of man, these are the men who are plotting evil and giving wicked advice in this city. 3They say, &#8216;Haven&#8217;t our houses been recently rebuilt? This city is a pot, and we are the meat in it.&#8217; 4Therefore prophesy against them; prophesy, son of man.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 5Then the Spirit of the Lord came on me, and he told me to say: &#8220;This is what the Lord says: That is what you are saying, you leaders in Israel, but I know what is going through your mind. 6You have killed many people in this city and filled its streets with the dead.</div><div class="p"> 7&#8220;Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: The bodies you have thrown there are the meat and this city is the pot, but I will drive you out of it. 8You fear the sword, and the sword is what I will bring against you, declares the Sovereign Lord. 9I will drive you out of the city and deliver you into the hands of foreigners and inflict punishment on you. 10You will fall by the sword, and I will execute judgment on you at the borders of Israel. Then you will know that I am the Lord. 11This city will not be a pot for you, nor will you be the meat in it; I will execute judgment on you at the borders of Israel. 12And you will know that I am the Lord, for you have not followed my decrees or kept my laws but have conformed to the standards of the nations around you.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 13Now as I was prophesying, Pelatiah son of Benaiah died. Then I fell facedown and cried out in a loud voice, &#8220;Alas, Sovereign Lord! Will you completely destroy the remnant of Israel?&#8221;</div><div class="s1">The Promise of Israel&#8217;s Return</div><div class="p"> 14The word of the Lord came to me: 15&#8220;Son of man, the people of Jerusalem have said of your fellow exiles and all the other Israelites, &#8216;They are far away from the Lord; this land was given to us as our possession.&#8217;</div><div class="p"> 16&#8220;Therefore say: &#8216;This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Although I sent them far away among the nations and scattered them among the countries, yet for a little while I have been a sanctuary for them in the countries where they have gone.&#8217;</div><div class="p"> 17&#8220;Therefore say: &#8216;This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will gather you from the nations and bring you back from the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you back the land of Israel again.&#8217;</div><div class="p"> 18&#8220;They will return to it and remove all its vile images and detestable idols. 19I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. 20Then they will follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. They will be my people, and I will be their God. 21But as for those whose hearts are devoted to their vile images and detestable idols, I will bring down on their own heads what they have done, declares the Sovereign Lord.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 22Then the cherubim, with the wheels beside them, spread their wings, and the glory of the God of Israel was above them. 23The glory of the Lord went up from within the city and stopped above the mountain east of it. 24The Spirit lifted me up and brought me to the exiles in Babylonia#11:24 Or Chaldea in the vision given by the Spirit of God.</div><div class="p">Then the vision I had seen went up from me, 25and I told the exiles everything the Lord had shown me.</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkEZK">
 <div class="chapter ch12" data-usfm="EZK.12">
 <div class="label">12</div><div class="s1">The Exile Symbolized</div><div class="p"> 1The word of the Lord came to me: 2&#8220;Son of man, you are living among a rebellious people. They have eyes to see but do not see and ears to hear but do not hear, for they are a rebellious people.</div><div class="p"> 3&#8220;Therefore, son of man, pack your belongings for exile and in the daytime, as they watch, set out and go from where you are to another place. Perhaps they will understand, though they are a rebellious people. 4During the daytime, while they watch, bring out your belongings packed for exile. Then in the evening, while they are watching, go out like those who go into exile. 5While they watch, dig through the wall and take your belongings out through it. 6Put them on your shoulder as they are watching and carry them out at dusk. Cover your face so that you cannot see the land, for I have made you a sign to the Israelites.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 7So I did as I was commanded. During the day I brought out my things packed for exile. Then in the evening I dug through the wall with my hands. I took my belongings out at dusk, carrying them on my shoulders while they watched.</div><div class="p"> 8In the morning the word of the Lord came to me: 9&#8220;Son of man, did not the Israelites, that rebellious people, ask you, &#8216;What are you doing?&#8217;</div><div class="p"> 10&#8220;Say to them, &#8216;This is what the Sovereign Lord says: This prophecy concerns the prince in Jerusalem and all the Israelites who are there.&#8217; 11Say to them, &#8216;I am a sign to you.&#8217;</div><div class="p">&#8220;As I have done, so it will be done to them. They will go into exile as captives.</div><div class="p"> 12&#8220;The prince among them will put his things on his shoulder at dusk and leave, and a hole will be dug in the wall for him to go through. He will cover his face so that he cannot see the land. 13I will spread my net for him, and he will be caught in my snare; I will bring him to Babylonia, the land of the Chaldeans, but he will not see it, and there he will die. 14I will scatter to the winds all those around him&#8212;his staff and all his troops&#8212;and I will pursue them with drawn sword.</div><div class="p"> 15&#8220;They will know that I am the Lord, when I disperse them among the nations and scatter them through the countries. 16But I will spare a few of them from the sword, famine and plague, so that in the nations where they go they may acknowledge all their detestable practices. Then they will know that I am the Lord.&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 17The word of the Lord came to me: 18&#8220;Son of man, tremble as you eat your food, and shudder in fear as you drink your water. 19Say to the people of the land: &#8216;This is what the Sovereign Lord says about those living in Jerusalem and in the land of Israel: They will eat their food in anxiety and drink their water in despair, for their land will be stripped of everything in it because of the violence of all who live there. 20The inhabited towns will be laid waste and the land will be desolate. Then you will know that I am the Lord.&#8217;&#8198;&#8221;</div><div class="s1">There Will Be No Delay</div><div class="p"> 21The word of the Lord came to me: 22&#8220;Son of man, what is this proverb you have in the land of Israel: &#8216;The days go by and every vision comes to nothing&#8217;? 23Say to them, &#8216;This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I am going to put an end to this proverb, and they will no longer quote it in Israel.&#8217; Say to them, &#8216;The days are near when every vision will be fulfilled. 24For there will be no more false visions or flattering divinations among the people of Israel. 25But I the Lord will speak what I will, and it shall be fulfilled without delay. For in your days, you rebellious people, I will fulfill whatever I say, declares the Sovereign Lord.&#8217;&#8198;&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 26The word of the Lord came to me: 27&#8220;Son of man, the Israelites are saying, &#8216;The vision he sees is for many years from now, and he prophesies about the distant future.&#8217;</div><div class="p"> 28&#8220;Therefore say to them, &#8216;This is what the Sovereign Lord says: None of my words will be delayed any longer; whatever I say will be fulfilled, declares the Sovereign Lord.&#8217;&#8198;&#8221;</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkEZK">
 <div class="chapter ch13" data-usfm="EZK.13">
 <div class="label">13</div><div class="s1">False Prophets Condemned</div><div class="p"> 1The word of the Lord came to me: 2&#8220;Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel who are now prophesying. Say to those who prophesy out of their own imagination: &#8216;Hear the word of the Lord! 3This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Woe to the foolish#13:3 Or wicked prophets who follow their own spirit and have seen nothing! 4Your prophets, Israel, are like jackals among ruins. 5You have not gone up to the breaches in the wall to repair it for the people of Israel so that it will stand firm in the battle on the day of the Lord. 6Their visions are false and their divinations a lie. Even though the Lord has not sent them, they say, &#8220;The Lord declares,&#8221; and expect him to fulfill their words. 7Have you not seen false visions and uttered lying divinations when you say, &#8220;The Lord declares,&#8221; though I have not spoken?</div><div class="p"> 8&#8220;&#8198;&#8216;Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: Because of your false words and lying visions, I am against you, declares the Sovereign Lord. 9My hand will be against the prophets who see false visions and utter lying divinations. They will not belong to the council of my people or be listed in the records of Israel, nor will they enter the land of Israel. Then you will know that I am the Sovereign Lord.</div><div class="p"> 10&#8220;&#8198;&#8216;Because they lead my people astray, saying, &#8220;Peace,&#8221; when there is no peace, and because, when a flimsy wall is built, they cover it with whitewash, 11therefore tell those who cover it with whitewash that it is going to fall. Rain will come in torrents, and I will send hailstones hurtling down, and violent winds will burst forth. 12When the wall collapses, will people not ask you, &#8220;Where is the whitewash you covered it with?&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 13&#8220;&#8198;&#8216;Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: In my wrath I will unleash a violent wind, and in my anger hailstones and torrents of rain will fall with destructive fury. 14I will tear down the wall you have covered with whitewash and will level it to the ground so that its foundation will be laid bare. When it#13:14 Or the city falls, you will be destroyed in it; and you will know that I am the Lord. 15So I will pour out my wrath against the wall and against those who covered it with whitewash. I will say to you, &#8220;The wall is gone and so are those who whitewashed it, 16those prophets of Israel who prophesied to Jerusalem and saw visions of peace for her when there was no peace, declares the Sovereign Lord.&#8221;&#8198;&#8217;</div><div class="p"> 17&#8220;Now, son of man, set your face against the daughters of your people who prophesy out of their own imagination. Prophesy against them 18and say, &#8216;This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Woe to the women who sew magic charms on all their wrists and make veils of various lengths for their heads in order to ensnare people. Will you ensnare the lives of my people but preserve your own? 19You have profaned me among my people for a few handfuls of barley and scraps of bread. By lying to my people, who listen to lies, you have killed those who should not have died and have spared those who should not live.</div><div class="p"> 20&#8220;&#8198;&#8216;Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I am against your magic charms with which you ensnare people like birds and I will tear them from your arms; I will set free the people that you ensnare like birds. 21I will tear off your veils and save my people from your hands, and they will no longer fall prey to your power. Then you will know that I am the Lord. 22Because you disheartened the righteous with your lies, when I had brought them no grief, and because you encouraged the wicked not to turn from their evil ways and so save their lives, 23therefore you will no longer see false visions or practice divination. I will save my people from your hands. And then you will know that I am the Lord.&#8217;&#8198;&#8221;</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkEZK">
 <div class="chapter ch14" data-usfm="EZK.14">
 <div class="label">14</div><div class="s1">Idolaters Condemned</div><div class="p"> 1Some of the elders of Israel came to me and sat down in front of me. 2Then the word of the Lord came to me: 3&#8220;Son of man, these men have set up idols in their hearts and put wicked stumbling blocks before their faces. Should I let them inquire of me at all? 4Therefore speak to them and tell them, &#8216;This is what the Sovereign Lord says: When any of the Israelites set up idols in their hearts and put a wicked stumbling block before their faces and then go to a prophet, I the Lord will answer them myself in keeping with their great idolatry. 5I will do this to recapture the hearts of the people of Israel, who have all deserted me for their idols.&#8217;</div><div class="p"> 6&#8220;Therefore say to the people of Israel, &#8216;This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Repent! Turn from your idols and renounce all your detestable practices!</div><div class="p"> 7&#8220;&#8198;&#8216;When any of the Israelites or any foreigner residing in Israel separate themselves from me and set up idols in their hearts and put a wicked stumbling block before their faces and then go to a prophet to inquire of me, I the Lord will answer them myself. 8I will set my face against them and make them an example and a byword. I will remove them from my people. Then you will know that I am the Lord.</div><div class="p"> 9&#8220;&#8198;&#8216;And if the prophet is enticed to utter a prophecy, I the Lord have enticed that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand against him and destroy him from among my people Israel. 10They will bear their guilt&#8212;the prophet will be as guilty as the one who consults him. 11Then the people of Israel will no longer stray from me, nor will they defile themselves anymore with all their sins. They will be my people, and I will be their God, declares the Sovereign Lord.&#8217;&#8198;&#8221;</div><div class="s1">Jerusalem&#8217;s Judgment Inescapable</div><div class="p"> 12The word of the Lord came to me: 13&#8220;Son of man, if a country sins against me by being unfaithful and I stretch out my hand against it to cut off its food supply and send famine upon it and kill its people and their animals, 14even if these three men&#8212;Noah, Daniel#14:14 Or Danel, a man of renown in ancient literature; also in verse 20 and Job&#8212;were in it, they could save only themselves by their righteousness, declares the Sovereign Lord.</div><div class="p"> 15&#8220;Or if I send wild beasts through that country and they leave it childless and it becomes desolate so that no one can pass through it because of the beasts, 16as surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, even if these three men were in it, they could not save their own sons or daughters. They alone would be saved, but the land would be desolate.</div><div class="p"> 17&#8220;Or if I bring a sword against that country and say, &#8216;Let the sword pass throughout the land,&#8217; and I kill its people and their animals, 18as surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, even if these three men were in it, they could not save their own sons or daughters. They alone would be saved.</div><div class="p"> 19&#8220;Or if I send a plague into that land and pour out my wrath on it through bloodshed, killing its people and their animals, 20as surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, even if Noah, Daniel and Job were in it, they could save neither son nor daughter. They would save only themselves by their righteousness.</div><div class="p"> 21&#8220;For this is what the Sovereign Lord says: How much worse will it be when I send against Jerusalem my four dreadful judgments&#8212;sword and famine and wild beasts and plague&#8212;to kill its men and their animals! 22Yet there will be some survivors&#8212;sons and daughters who will be brought out of it. They will come to you, and when you see their conduct and their actions, you will be consoled regarding the disaster I have brought on Jerusalem&#8212;every disaster I have brought on it. 23You will be consoled when you see their conduct and their actions, for you will know that I have done nothing in it without cause, declares the Sovereign Lord.&#8221;</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkEZK">
 <div class="chapter ch15" data-usfm="EZK.15">
 <div class="label">15</div><div class="s1">Jerusalem as a Useless Vine</div><div class="p"> 1The word of the Lord came to me: 2&#8220;Son of man, how is the wood of a vine different from that of a branch from any of the trees in the forest? 3Is wood ever taken from it to make anything useful? Do they make pegs from it to hang things on? 4And after it is thrown on the fire as fuel and the fire burns both ends and chars the middle, is it then useful for anything? 5If it was not useful for anything when it was whole, how much less can it be made into something useful when the fire has burned it and it is charred?</div><div class="p"> 6&#8220;Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: As I have given the wood of the vine among the trees of the forest as fuel for the fire, so will I treat the people living in Jerusalem. 7I will set my face against them. Although they have come out of the fire, the fire will yet consume them. And when I set my face against them, you will know that I am the Lord. 8I will make the land desolate because they have been unfaithful, declares the Sovereign Lord.&#8221;</div>
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<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
 <div class="book bkEZK">
 <div class="chapter ch17" data-usfm="EZK.17">
 <div class="label">17</div><div class="s1">Two Eagles and a Vine</div><div class="p"> 1The word of the Lord came to me: 2&#8220;Son of man, set forth an allegory and tell it to the Israelites as a parable. 3Say to them, &#8216;This is what the Sovereign Lord says: A great eagle with powerful wings, long feathers and full plumage of varied colors came to Lebanon. Taking hold of the top of a cedar, 4he broke off its topmost shoot and carried it away to a land of merchants, where he planted it in a city of traders.</div><div class="p"> 5&#8220;&#8198;&#8216;He took one of the seedlings of the land and put it in fertile soil. He planted it like a willow by abundant water, 6and it sprouted and became a low, spreading vine. Its branches turned toward him, but its roots remained under it. So it became a vine and produced branches and put out leafy boughs.</div><div class="p"> 7&#8220;&#8198;&#8216;But there was another great eagle with powerful wings and full plumage. The vine now sent out its roots toward him from the plot where it was planted and stretched out its branches to him for water. 8It had been planted in good soil by abundant water so that it would produce branches, bear fruit and become a splendid vine.&#8217;</div><div class="p"> 9&#8220;Say to them, &#8216;This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Will it thrive? Will it not be uprooted and stripped of its fruit so that it withers? All its new growth will wither. It will not take a strong arm or many people to pull it up by the roots. 10It has been planted, but will it thrive? Will it not wither completely when the east wind strikes it&#8212;wither away in the plot where it grew?&#8217;&#8198;&#8221;</div><div class="p"> 11Then the word of the Lord came to me: 12&#8220;Say to this rebellious people, &#8216;Do you not know what these things mean?&#8217; Say to them: &#8216;The king of Babylon went to Jerusalem and carried off her king and her nobles, bringing them back with him to Babylon. 13Then he took a member of the royal family and made a treaty with him, putting him under oath. He also carried away the leading men of the land, 14so that the kingdom would be brought low, unable to rise again, surviving only by keeping his treaty. 15But the king rebelled against him by sending his envoys to Egypt to get horses and a large army. Will he succeed? Will he who does such things escape? Will he break the treaty and yet escape?</div><div class="p"> 16&#8220;&#8198;&#8216;As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, he shall die in Babylon, in the land of the king who put him on the throne, whose oath he despised and whose treaty he broke. 17Pharaoh with his mighty army and great horde will be of no help to him in war, when ramps are built and siege works erected to destroy many lives. 18He despised the oath by breaking the covenant. Because he had given his hand in pledge and yet did all these things, he shall not escape.</div><div class="p"> 19&#8220;&#8198;&#8216;Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: As surely as I live, I will repay him for despising my oath and breaking my covenant. 20I will spread my net for him, and he will be caught in my snare. I will bring him to Babylon and execute judgment on him there because he was unfaithful to me. 21All his choice troops will fall by the sword, and the survivors will be scattered to the winds. Then you will know that I the Lord have spoken.</div><div class="p"> 22&#8220;&#8198;&#8216;This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I myself will take a shoot from the very top of a cedar and plant it; I will break off a tender sprig from its topmost shoots and plant it on a high and lofty mountain. 23On the mountain heights of Israel I will plant it; it will produce branches and bear fruit and become a splendid cedar. Birds of every kind will nest in it; they will find shelter in the shade of its branches. 24All the trees of the forest will know that I the Lord bring down the tall tree and make the low tree grow tall. I dry up the green tree and make the dry tree flourish.</div><div class="p">&#8220;&#8198;&#8216;I the Lord have spoken, and I will do it.&#8217;&#8198;&#8221;</div>
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