Punishment for Wickedness Foretold

1Moreover, the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 2“And you, son of man, this is what the Lord [a]GOD says to the land of Israel: ‘An end! The end is coming on the four corners of the land. 3Now the end is upon you, for I will send My anger against you; I will judge you according to your ways and [b]bring all your abominations upon you. 4And My eye will have no pity on you, nor will I spare you, but I will [c]bring your ways upon you, and your abominations will be among you; then you will know that I am the LORD!’

5“This is what the Lord [d]GOD says: ‘A disaster, a unique disaster, behold, it is coming! 6An end [e]is coming; the end has come! It has awakened against you; behold, it has come! 7Your [f]doom has come to you, you inhabitant of the land. The time has come, the day is near—panic rather than joyful shouting on the mountains. 8Now I will shortly pour out My wrath on you and expend My anger against you; I will judge you according to your ways and [g]bring on you all your abominations. 9My eye will have no pity nor will I spare you. I will [h]repay you according to your ways, while your abominations are in your midst; then you will know that I, the LORD, am striking.

10‘Behold, the day! Behold, it is coming! Your [i]doom has gone forth; the rod has budded, arrogance has blossomed. 11Violence [j]has grown into a rod of wickedness. None of them shall remain, none of their [k]people, none of their wealth, nor anything eminent among them. 12The time has come, the day has arrived. Let neither the buyer rejoice nor the seller mourn; for wrath is against all their multitude. 13Indeed, the seller will not [l]regain [m]what he sold as long as [n]they both live; for the vision regarding all their multitude will not [o]be averted, nor will any of them maintain his life by his wrongdoing.

14‘They have blown the trumpet and made everything ready, but no one is going to the battle, for My wrath is against all [p]their multitude. 15The sword is outside the city and the plague and the famine are within. Anyone who is in the field will die by the sword, while famine and the plague will consume those in the city. 16Even when their survivors escape, they will be on the mountains like doves of the valleys, all of them moaning, each over his own wrongdoing. 17All hands will hang limp, and all [q]knees will drip with water. 18They will put on sackcloth and shuddering will overwhelm them; and shame will be on all faces, and a [r]bald patch on all their heads. 19They will fling their silver into the streets, and their gold will become an abhorrent thing; their silver and their gold will not be able to save them on the day of the wrath of the LORD. They cannot satisfy their [s]appetite, nor can they fill their stomachs, because their wrongdoing has become a cause of stumbling.

The Temple Profaned