Ezekiel 11

1Then the Spirit lifted me up and brought me to the east gate of the house of Yahweh, the gate that faces east. There at the entrance of the gate were twenty-five men, and among them I saw Jaazaniah son of Azzur and Pelatiah son of Benaiah, leaders of the people.

2He said to me, “Son of man, these are the men who plot iniquity and give wicked advice in this city.

3They say, ‘The time is not near to build houses. This city is the pot, and we are the meat.’

4Therefore prophesy against them; prophesy, son of man.”

5Then the Spirit of Yahweh fell on me, and he said to me, “Say, ‘This is what Yahweh says: That is what you are saying, house of Israel, but I know the thoughts that rise in your minds.

6You have killed many people in this city and filled its streets with the slain.

7Therefore this is what Lord Yahweh says: The slain you have laid in the middle of the city are the meat, and this city is the pot, but I will bring you out of it.

8You fear the sword, so the sword is what I will bring against you, declares Lord Yahweh.

9I will bring you out of the city and hand you over to foreigners, and I will carry out judgments on you.

10You will fall by the sword. I will judge you at the border of Israel, and you will know that I am Yahweh.

11This city will not be your pot, and you will not be the meat in it. I will judge you at the border of Israel.

12Then you will know that I am Yahweh, whose statutes you have not walked in and whose ordinances you have not kept. Instead, you have acted according to the ordinances of the nations around you.’”

13While I was prophesying, Pelatiah son of Benaiah died. Then I fell facedown and cried out with a loud voice, “Ah, Lord Yahweh! Will you completely destroy those who remain in Israel?”

14The word of Yahweh came to me:

15“Son of man, your brothers, your own brothers, your relatives, and the whole house of Israel, all of them, are the ones to whom the people of Jerusalem have said, ‘Keep far away from Yahweh! This land was given to us as our possession.’

16Therefore say, ‘This is what Lord Yahweh 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.’

17Therefore say, ‘This is what Lord Yahweh says: I will gather you from the peoples and assemble you from the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.

18When they come there, they will remove from it all its detestable things and all its abominations.

19I will give them one heart and put a new spirit within you. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh,

20so that they will walk in my statutes and keep my ordinances and obey them. Then they will be my people, and I will be their God.

21But as for those whose hearts go after their detestable things and their abominations, I will bring their conduct down on their own heads, declares Lord Yahweh.’”

22Then the cherubim lifted their wings, with the wheels beside them, and the glory of the God of Israel was above them.

23The glory of Yahweh went up from the middle of the city and stood on the mountain east of the city.

24The Spirit lifted me up and brought me to the exiles in Chaldea, in the vision given by the Spirit of God. Then the vision I had seen left me.

25Then I told the exiles all the things that Yahweh had shown me.