EZECHIEL, whose name signifies the STRENGTH OF GOD, was of the priestly
race; and of the number of captives that were carried away to Babylon
with king JOACHIN. He was contemporary with JEREMIAS, and prophesied to
the same effect in Babylon, as JEREMIAS did in Jerusalem; and is said to
have ended his days in like manner, by martyrdom.


Ezechiel Chapter 1

The time of Ezechiel's prophecy: he sees a glorious vision.

1:1. Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, on
the fifth day of the month, when I was in the midst of the captives by
the river Chobar, the heavens were opened, and I saw the visions of God.

The thirtieth year... Either of the age of Ezechiel; or, as others will
have it, from the solemn covenant made in the eighteenth year of the
reign of Josias. 4 Kings 23.

1:2. On the fifth day of the month, the same was the fifth year of the
captivity of king Joachin,

1:3. The word of the Lord came to Ezechiel the priest the son of Buzi in
the land of the Chaldeans, by the river Chobar: and the hand of the Lord
was there upon him.

1:4. And I saw, and behold a whirlwind came out of the north: and a
great cloud, and a fire infolding it, and brightness was about it: and
out of the midst thereof, that is, out of the midst of the fire, as it
were the resemblance of amber:

1:5. And in the midst thereof the likeness of four living creatures: and
this was their appearance: there was the likeness of a man in them.

Living creatures... Cherubims (as appears from Ecclesiasticus 49.10)
represented to the prophet under these mysterious shapes, as supporting
the throne of God, and as it were drawing his chariot. All this chapter
appeared so obscure, and so full of mysteries to the ancient Hebrews,
that, as we learn from St. Jerome, (Ep. ad Paulin.,) they suffered none
to read it before they were thirty years old.

1:6. Every one had four faces, and every one four wings.

1:7. Their feet were straight feet, and the sole of their foot was like
the sole of a calf's foot, and they sparkled like the appearance of
glowing brass.

1:8. And they had the hands of a man under their wings on their four
sides: and they had faces, and wings on the four sides,

1:9. And the wings of one were joined to the wings of another. They
turned not when they went: but every one went straight forward.

1:10. And as for the likeness of their faces: there was the face of a
man, and the face of a lion on the right side of all the four: and the
face of an ox, on the left side of all the four: and the face of an
eagle over all the four.

1:11. And their faces, and their wings were stretched upward: two wings
of every one were joined, and two covered their bodies:

1:12. And every one of them went straight forward: whither the impulse
of the spirit was to go, thither they went: and they turned not when
they went.

1:13. And as for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance
was like that of burning coals of fire, and like the appearance of
lamps. This was the vision running to and fro in the midst of the living
creatures, a bright fire, and lightning going forth from the fire.

1:14. And the living creatures ran and returned like flashes of
lightning.

1:15. Now as I beheld the living creatures, there appeared upon the
earth by the living creatures one wheel with four faces.

1:16. And the appearance of the wheels, and the work of them was like
the appearance of the sea: and the four had all one likeness: and their
appearance and their work was as it were a wheel in the midst of a
wheel.

1:17. When they went, they went by their four parts: and they turned not
when they went.

When they went, they went by their four parts... That is, indifferently
to any of their sides either forward or backward: to the right or to the
left.

1:18. The wheels had also a size, and a height, and a dreadful
appearance: and the whole body was full of eyes round about all the
four.

1:19. And, when the living creatures went, the wheels also went together
by them: and when the living creatures were lifted up from the earth,
the wheels also were lifted up with them.

1:20. Withersoever the spirit went, thither as the spirit went the
wheels also were lifted up withal, and followed it: for the spirit of
life was in the wheels.

1:21. When those went these went, and when those stood these stood, and
when those were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up
together, and followed them: for the spirit of life was in the wheels.

1:22. And over the heads of the living creatures was the likeness of the
firmament, the appearance of crystal terrible to behold, and stretched
out over their heads above.

1:23. And under the firmament were their wings straight, the one toward
the other, every one with two wings covered his body, and the other was
covered in like manner.

1:24. And I heard the noise of their wings, like the noise of many
waters, as it were the voice of the most high God: when they walked, it
was like the voice of a multitude, like the noise of an army, and when
they stood, their wings were let down.

1:25. For when a voice came from above the firmament, that was over
their heads, they stood, and let down their wings.

1:26. And above the firmament that was over their heads, was the
likeness of a throne, as the appearance of the sapphire stone, and upon
the likeness of the throne, was the likeness of the appearance of a man
above upon it.

1:27. And I saw as it were the resemblance of amber as the appearance of
fire within it round about: from his loins and upward, and from his
loins downward, I saw as it were the resemblance of fire shining round
about.

1:28. As the appearance of the rainbow when it is in a cloud on a rainy
day: this was the appearance of the brightness round about.

Ezechiel Chapter 2

The prophet receives his commission.

2:1. This was the vision of the likeness of the glory of the Lord, and I
saw, and I fell upon my face, and I heard the voice of one that spoke,
and he said to me: Son of man, stand upon thy feet, and I will speak to
thee.

2:2. And the spirit entered into me after that he spoke to me, and he
set me upon my feet: and I heard him speaking to me,

2:3. And saying: Son of man, I send thee to the children of Israel, to a
rebellious people, that hath revolted from me, they, and their fathers,
have transgressed my covenant even unto this day.

2:4. And they to whom I send thee are children of a hard face, and of an
obstinate heart: and thou shalt say to them: Thus saith the Lord God:

2:5. If so be they at least will hear, and if so be they will forbear,
for they are a provoking house: and they shall know that there hath been
a prophet in the midst of them.

2:6. And thou, O son of man, fear not, neither be thou afraid of their
words: for thou art among unbelievers and destroyers, and thou dwellest
with scorpions. Fear not their words, neither be thou dismayed at their
looks: for they are a provoking house.

2:7. And thou shalt speak my words to them, if perhaps they will hear,
and forbear: for they provoke me to anger.

2:8. But thou, O son of man, hear all that I say to thee: and do not
thou provoke me, as that house provoketh me: open thy mouth, and eat
what I give thee.

2:9. And I looked, and behold, a hand was sent to me, wherein was a book
rolled up: and he spread it before me, and it was written within and
without: and there were written in it lamentations, and canticles, and
woe.

Ezechiel Chapter 3

The prophet eats the book, and receives further instructions: the office
of a watchman.

3:1. And he said to me: Son of man, eat all that thou shalt find: eat
this book, and go speak to the children of Israel.

Eat this book, and go speak to the children of Israel... By this eating
of the book was signified the diligent attention and affection with
which we are to receive, and embrace the word of God; and to let it, as
it were, sink into our interior by devout meditation.

3:2. And I opened my mouth, and he caused me to eat that book:

3:3. And he said to me: Son of man, thy belly shall eat, and thy bowels
shall be filled with this book, which I give thee, and I did eat it: and
it was sweet as honey in my mouth.

3:4. And he said to me: Son of man, go to the house of Israel, and thou
shalt speak my words to them.

3:5. For thou art not sent to a people of a profound speech, and of an
unknown tongue, but to the house of Israel:

3:6. Nor to many nations of a strange speech, and of an unknown tongue,
whose words thou canst not understand: and if thou wert sent to them,
they would hearken to thee.

3:7. But the house of Israel will not hearken to thee: because they will
not hearken to me: for all the house of Israel are of a hard forehead
and an obstinate heart.

3:8. Behold I have made thy face stronger than their faces: and thy
forehead harder than their foreheads.

3:9. I have made thy face like an adamant and like flint: fear them not,
neither be thou dismayed at their presence: for they are a provoking
house.

3:10. And he said to me: Son of man, receive in thy heart, and hear with
thy ears, all the words that I speak to thee:

3:11. And go get thee in to them of the captivity, to the children of
thy people, and thou shalt speak to them, and shalt say to them: Thus
saith the Lord: If so be they will hear, and will forbear.

3:12. And the spirit took me up, and I heard behind me the voice of a
great commotion, saying: Blessed be the glory of the Lord, from his
place.

3:13. The noise of the wings of the living creatures striking one
against another, and the noise of the wheels following the living
creatures, and the noise of a great commotion.

3:14. The spirit also lifted me, and took me up: and I went away in
bitterness in the indignation of my spirit: for the hand of the Lord was
with me, strengthening me.

3:15. And I came to them of the captivity, to the heap of new corn, to
them that dwelt by the river Chobar, and I sat where they sat: and I
remained there seven days mourning in the midst of them.

The heap of new corn... It was the name of a place: in Hebrew, tel abib.

3:16. And at the end of seven days the word of the Lord came to me,
saying:

3:17. Son of man, I have made thee a watchman to the house of Israel:
and thou shalt hear the word out of my mouth, and shalt tell it them
from me.

3:18. If, when I say to the wicked, Thou shalt surely die: thou declare
it not to him, nor speak to him, that he may be converted from his
wicked way, and live: the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but
I will require his blood at thy hand.

3:19. But if thou give warning to the wicked, and he be not converted
from his wickedness, and from his evil way: he indeed shall die in his
iniquity, but thou hast delivered thy soul.

3:20. Moreover if the just man shall turn away from his justice, and
shall commit iniquity: I will lay a stumblingblock before him, he shall
die, because thou hast not given him warning: he shall die in his sin,
and his justices which he hath done, shall not be remembered: but I will
require his blood at thy hand.

3:21. But if thou warn the just man, that the just may not sin, and he
doth not sin: living he shall live, because thou hast warned him, and
thou hast delivered thy soul.

3:22. And the hand of the Lord was upon me, and he said to me: Rise and
go forth into the plain, and there I will speak to thee.

3:23. And I rose up, and went forth into the plain: and behold the glory
of the Lord stood there, like the glory which I saw by the river Chobar:
and I fell upon my face.

3:24. And the spirit entered into me, and set me upon my feet: and he
spoke to me, and said to me: Go in; and shut thyself up in the midst of
thy house.

3:25. And thou, O son of man, behold they shall put bands upon thee, and
they shall bind thee with them: and thou shalt not go forth from the
midst of them.

3:26. And I will make thy tongue stick fast to the roof of thy mouth,
and thou shalt be dumb, and not as a man that reproveth: because they
are a provoking house.

3:27. But when I shall speak to thee, I will open thy mouth, and thou
shalt say to them: Thus saith the Lord God: He that heareth, let him
hear: and he that forbeareth, let him forbear: for they are a provoking
house.

Ezechiel Chapter 4

A prophetic description of the siege of Jerusalem, and the famine that
shall reign there.

4:1. And thou, O son of man, take thee a tile, and lay it before thee:
and draw upon it the plan of the city of Jerusalem.

4:2. And lay siege against it, and build forts, and cast up a mount, and
set a camp against it, and place battering rams round about it.

4:3. And take unto thee an iron pan, and set it for a wall of iron
between thee and the city: and set thy face resolutely against it, and
it shall be besieged, and thou shalt lay siege against it: it is a sign
to the house of Israel.

4:4. And thou shalt sleep upon thy left side, and shalt lay the
iniquities of the house of Israel upon it, according to the number of
the days that thou shalt sleep upon it, and thou shalt take upon thee
their iniquity.

4:5. And I have laid upon thee the years of their iniquity, according to
the number of the days three hundred and ninety days: and thou shalt
bear the iniquity of the house of Israel.

4:6. And when thou hast accomplished this, thou shalt sleep again upon
thy right side, and thou shalt take upon thee the iniquity of the house
of Juda forty days: a day for a year, yea, a day for a year I have
appointed to thee.

4:7. And thou shalt turn thy face to the siege of Jerusalem and thy arm
shall be stretched out: and thou shalt prophesy against it.

4:8. Behold I have encompassed thee with bands: and thou shalt not turn
thyself from one side to the other, till thou hast ended the days of thy
siege.

4:9. And take to thee wheat and barley, and beans, and lentils, and
millet, and fitches, and put them in one vessel, and make thee bread
thereof according to the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon thy
side: three hundred and ninety days shalt thou eat thereof.

4:10. And thy meat that thou shalt eat, shall be in weight twenty
staters a day: from time to time thou shalt eat it.

4:11. And thou shalt drink water by measure, the sixth part of a hin:
from time to time thou shalt drink it,

Hin... That is, a measure of liquids containing about ten pints.

4:12. And thou shalt eat it as barley bread baked under the ashes: and
thou shalt cover it, in their sight, with the dung that cometh out of a
man.

4:13. And the Lord said: So shall the children of Israel eat their bread
all filthy among the nations whither I will cast them out.

4:14. And I said: Ah, ah, ah, O Lord God, behold my soul hath not been
defiled, and from my infancy even till now, I have not eaten any thing
that died of itself, or was torn by beasts, and no unclean flesh hath
entered into my mouth.

4:15. And he said to me: Behold I have given thee neat's dung for man's
dung, and thou shalt make thy bread therewith.

4:16. And he said to me: Son of man: Behold, I will break in pieces the
staff of bread in Jerusalem: and they shall eat bread by weight, and
with care: and they shall drink water by measure, and in distress.

4:17. So that when bread and water fail, every man may fall against his
brother, and they may pine away in their iniquities.

Ezechiel Chapter 5

The judgments of God upon the Jews are foreshewn under the type of the
prophet's hair.

5:1. And thou, son of man, take thee a sharp knife that shaveth the
hair: and cause it to pass over thy head, and over thy beard: and take
thee a balance to weigh in, and divide the hair.

5:2. A third part thou shalt burn with fire in the midst of the city,
according to the fulfilling of the days of the siege: and thou shalt
take a third part, and cut it in pieces with the knife all round about:
and the other third part thou shalt scatter in the wind, and I will draw
out the sword after them.

5:3. And thou shalt take thereof a small number: and shalt bind them in
the skirt of thy cloak.

5:4. And thou shalt take of them again, and shalt cast them in the midst
of the fire, and shalt burn them with fire: and out of it shall come
forth a fire into all the house of Israel.

5:5. Thus saith the Lord God: This is Jerusalem, I have set her in the
midst of the nations, and the countries round about her.

5:6. And she hath despised my judgments, so as to be more wicked than
the Gentiles; and my commandments, more than the countries that are
round about her: for they have cast off my judgments, and have not
walked in my commandments.

5:7. Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Because you have surpassed the
Gentiles that are round about you, and have not walked in my
commandments, and have not kept my judgments, and have not done
according to the judgments of the nations that are round about you:

5:8. Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Behold I come against thee, and
I myself will execute judgments in the midst of thee in the sight of the
Gentiles.

5:9. And I will do in thee that which I have not done: and the like to
which I will do no more, because of all thy abominations.

5:10. Therefore the fathers shall eat the sons in the midst of thee, and
the sons shall eat their fathers: and I will execute judgments in thee,
and I will scatter thy whole remnant into every wind.

5:11. Therefore as I live, saith the Lord God: Because thou hast
violated my sanctuary with all thy offences, and with all thy
abominations: I will also break thee in pieces, and my eye shall not
spare, and I will not have any pity.

5:12. A third part of thee shall die with the pestilence, and shall be
consumed with famine in the midst of thee: and a third part of thee
shall fall by the sword round about thee: and a third part of thee will
I scatter into every wind, and I will draw out a sword after them.

5:13. And I will accomplish my fury, and will cause my indignation to
rest upon them, and I will be comforted: and they shall know that I the
Lord have spoken it in my zeal, when I shall have accomplished my
indignation in them.

5:14. And I will make thee desolate, and a reproach among the nations
that are round about thee, in the sight of every one that passeth by.

5:15. And thou shalt be a reproach, and a scoff, an example, and an
astonishment amongst the nations that are round about thee, when I shall
have executed judgments in thee in anger, and in indignation, and in
wrathful rebukes.

5:16. I the Lord have spoken it: When I shall send upon them the
grievous arrows of famine, which shall bring death, and which I will
send to destroy you: and I will gather together famine against you: and
I will break among you the staff of bread.

5:17. And I will send in upon you famine, and evil beasts unto utter
destruction: and pestilence, and blood shall pass through thee, and I
will bring in the sword upon thee. I the Lord have spoken it.

Ezechiel Chapter 6

The punishment of Israel for their idolatry: a remnant shall be saved.

6:1. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

6:2. Son of man set thy face towards the mountains of Israel, and
prophesy against them.

6:3. And say: Ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord God:
Thus saith the Lord God to the mountains, and to the hills, and to the
rocks, and the valleys: Behold, I will bring upon you the sword, and I
will destroy your high places.

6:4. And I will throw down your altars, and your idols shall be broken
in pieces: and I will cast down your slain before your idols.

6:5. And I will lay the dead carcasses of the children of Israel before
your idols: and I will scatter your bones round about your altars,

6:6. In all your dwelling places. The cities shall be laid waste, and
the high places shall be thrown down, and destroyed, and your altars
shall be abolished, and shall be broken in pieces: and your idols shall
be no more, and your temples shall be destroyed, and your works shall be
defaced.

6:7. And the slain shall fall in the midst of you: and you shall know
that I am the Lord.

6:8. And I will leave in you some that shall escape the sword among the
nations, when I shall have scattered you through the countries.

6:9. And they that are saved of you shall remember me amongst the
nations, to which they are carried captives: because I have broken their
heart that was faithless, and revolted from me: and their eyes that went
a fornicating after their idols: and they shall be displeased with
themselves because of the evils which they have committed in all their
abominations.

6:10. And they shall know that I the Lord have not spoken in vain that I
would do this evil to them.

6:11. Thus saith the Lord God: Strike with thy hand and stamp with thy
foot, and say: Alas, for all the abominations of the evils of the house
of Israel: for they shall fall by the sword, by the famine, and by the
pestilence.

6:12. He that is far off shall die of the pestilence: and he that is
near, shall fall by the sword: and he that remaineth, and is besieged,
shall die by the famine: and I will accomplish my indignation upon them.

6:13. And you shall know that I am the Lord, when your slain shall be
amongst your idols, round about your altars, in every high hill, and on
all the tops of mountains, and under every woody tree, and under every
thick oak, the place where they burnt sweet smelling frankincense to all
their idols.

6:14. And I will stretch forth my hand upon them: and I will make the
land desolate, and abandoned from the desert of Deblatha in all their
dwelling places: and they shall know that I am the Lord.

Ezechiel Chapter 7

The final desolation of Israel: from which few shall escape.

7:1. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

7:2. And thou son of man, thus saith the Lord God to the land of Israel:
The end is come, the end is come upon the four quarters of the land.

7:3. Now is an end come upon thee, and I will send my wrath upon thee,
and I will judge thee according to thy ways: and I will set all thy
abominations against thee.

7:4. And my eye shall not spare thee, and I will shew thee no pity: but
I will lay thy ways upon thee, and thy abominations shall be in the
midst of thee: and you shall know that I am the Lord.

7:5. Thus saith the Lord God: One affliction, behold an affliction is
come.

7:6. An end is come, the end is come, it hath awaked against thee:
behold it is come.

7:7. Destruction is come upon thee that dwellest in the land: the time
is come, the day of slaughter is near, and not of the joy of mountains.

7:8. Now very shortly I will pour out my wrath upon thee, and I will
accomplish my anger in thee: and I will judge thee according to thy
ways, and I will lay upon thee all thy crimes.

7:9. And my eye shall not spare, neither will I shew mercy: but I will
lay thy ways upon thee, and thy abominations shall be in the midst of
thee: and you shall know that I am the Lord that strike.

7:10. Behold the day, behold it is come: destruction is gone forth, the
rod hath blossomed, pride hath budded.

7:11. Iniquity is risen up into a rod of impiety: nothing of them shall
remain, nor of their people, nor of the noise of them: and there shall
be no rest among them.

7:12. The time is come, the day is at hand: let not the buyer rejoice:
nor the seller mourn: for wrath is upon all the people thereof.

7:13. For the seller shall not return to that which he hath sold,
although their life be yet among the living. For the vision which
regardeth all the multitude thereof, shall not go back: neither shall
man be strengthened in the iniquity of his life.

7:14. Blow the trumpet, let all be made ready, yet there is none to go
to the battle: for my wrath shall be upon all the people thereof.

7:15. The sword without: and the pestilence, and the famine within: he
that is in the field shall die by the sword: and they that are in the
city, shall be devoured by the pestilence, and the famine.

7:16. And such of them as shall flee shall escape: and they shall be in
the mountains like doves of the valleys, all of them trembling, every
one for his iniquity.

7:17. All hands shall be made feeble, and all knees shall run with
water.

7:18. And they shall gird themselves with haircloth, and fear shall
cover them and shame shall be upon every face, and baldness upon all
their heads.

7:19. Their silver shall be cast forth, and their gold shall become a
dunghill. Their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them
in the day of the wrath of the Lord. They shall not satisfy their soul,
and their bellies shall not be filled: because it hath been the
stumblingblock of their iniquity.

7:20. And they have turned the ornament of their jewels into pride, and
have made of it the images of their abominations, and idols: therefore I
have made it an uncleanness to them.

7:21. And I will give it into the hands of strangers for spoil, and to
the wicked of the earth for a prey, and they shall defile it.

7:22. And I will turn away my face from them, and they shall violate my
secret place: and robbers shall enter into it, and defile it.

Secret place, etc... Viz., the inward sanctuary, the holy of holies.

7:23.  Make a shutting up: for the land is full of the judgment of
blood, and the city is full of iniquity.

Make a shutting up... In Hebrew, a chain, viz., for imprisonment and
captivity.

7:24. And I will bring the worst of the nations, and they shall possess
their houses: and I will make the pride of the mighty to cease, and they
shall possess their sanctuary.

7:25. When distress cometh upon them, they will seek for peace and there
shall be none.

7:26. Trouble shall come upon trouble, and rumour upon rumour, and they
shall seek a vision of the prophet, and the law shall perish from the
priest, and counsel from the ancients.

7:27. The king shall mourn, and the prince shall be clothed with sorrow,
and the hands of the people of the land shall be troubled. I will do to
them according to their way, and will judge them according to their
judgments: and they shall know that I am the Lord.

Ezechiel Chapter 8

The prophet sees in a vision the abominations committed in Jerusalem;
which determine the Lord to spare them no longer.

8:1. And it came to pass in the sixth year, in the sixth month, in the
fifth day of the month, as I sat in my house, and the ancients of Juda
sat before me, that the hand of the Lord God fell there upon me.

8:2. And I saw, and behold a likeness as the appearance of fire: from
the appearance of his loins, and downward, fire: and from his loins, and
upward, as the appearance of brightness, as the appearance of amber.

8:3. And the likeness of a hand was put forth and took me by a lock of
my head: and the spirit lifted me up between the earth and the heaven,
and brought me in the vision of God into Jerusalem, near the inner gate,
that looked toward the north, where was set the idol of jealousy to
provoke to jealousy.

8:4. And behold the glory of the God of Israel was there, according to
the vision which I had seen in the plain.

8:5. And he said to me: Son of man, lift up thy eyes towards the way of
the north, and I lifted up my eyes towards the way of the north: and
behold on the north side of the gate of the altar the idol of jealousy
in the very entry.

8:6. And he said to me: Son of man, dost thou see, thinkest thou, what
these are doing, the great abominations that the house of Israel
committeth here, that I should depart far off from my sanctuary? and
turn thee yet again and thou shalt see greater abominations.

8:7. And he brought me in to the door of the court: and I saw, and
behold a hole in the wall.

8:8. And he said to me: Son of man, dig in the wall, and when I had
digged in the wall, behold a door.

8:9. And he said to me: Go in, and see the wicked abominations which
they commit here.

8:10. And I went in and saw, and behold every form of creeping things,
and of living creatures, the abominations, and all the idols of the
house of Israel, were painted on the wall all round about.

8:11. And seventy men of the ancients of the house of Israel, and
Jezonias the son of Saaphan stood in the midst of them, that stood
before the pictures: and every one had a censer in his hand: and a cloud
of smoke went up from the incense.

8:12. And he said to me: Surely thou seest, O son of man, what the
ancients of the house of Israel do in the dark, every one in private in
his chamber: for they say: The Lord seeth us not, the Lord hath forsaken
the earth.

8:13. And he said to me: If thou turn thee again, thou shalt see greater
abominations which these commit.

8:14. And he brought me in by the door of the gate of the Lord's house,
which looked to the north: and behold women sat there mourning for
Adonis.

Adonis... The favourite of Venus, slain by a wild boar, as feigned by
the heathen poets, and which being here represented by an idol, is
lamented by the female worshippers of that goddess. In the Hebrew, the
name is Tammuz.

8:15. And he said to me: Surely thou hast seen, O son of man: but turn
thee again, thou shalt see greater abominations than these.

8:16. And he brought me into the inner court of the house of the Lord:
and behold at the door of the temple of the Lord, between the porch and
the altar, were about five and twenty men having their backs towards the
temple of the Lord, in their faces to the east: and they adored towards
the rising of the sun.

8:17. And he said to me: Surely thou hast seen, O son of man: is this a
light thing to the house of Juda, that they should commit these
abominations which they have committed here: because they have filled
the land with iniquity, and have turned to provoke me to anger? and
behold they put a branch to their nose.

8:18. Therefore I also will deal with them in my wrath: my eye shall not
spare them, neither will I shew mercy: and when they shall cry to my
ears with a loud voice, I will not hear them.

Ezechiel Chapter 9

All are ordered to be destroyed that are not marked in their foreheads.
God will not be entreated for them.

9:1. And he cried in my ears with a loud voice, saying: The visitations
of the city are at hand, and every one hath a destroying weapon in his
hand.

9:2. And behold six men came from the way of the upper gate, which
looketh to the north: and each one had his weapon of destruction in his
hand: and there was one man in the midst of them clothed with linen,
with a writer's inkhorn at his reins: and they went in, and stood by the
brazen altar.

9:3. And the glory of the Lord of Israel went up from the cherub, upon
which he was, to the threshold of the house: and he called to the man
that was clothed with linen, and had a writer's inkhorn at his loins.

9:4. And the Lord said to him: Go through the midst of the city, through
the midst of Jerusalem: and mark Thau upon the foreheads of the men that
sigh, and mourn for all the abominations that are committed in the midst
thereof.

Mark Thau... Thau, or Tau, is the last letter in the Hebrew alphabet,
and signifies a sign, or a mark; which is the reason why some
translators render this place set a mark, or mark a mark without
specifying what this mark was. But St. Jerome, and other interpreters,
conclude it was the form of the letter Thau, which in the ancient Hebrew
character, was the form of a cross.

9:5. And to the others he said in my hearing: Go ye after him through
the city, and strike: let not your eyes spare, nor be ye moved with
pity.

9:6. Utterly destroy old and young, maidens, children and women: but
upon whomsoever you shall see Thau, kill him not, and begin ye at my
sanctuary. So they began at the ancient men who were before the house.

9:7. And he said to them: Defile the house, and fill the courts with the
slain: go ye forth. And they went forth, and slew them that were in the
city.

9:8. And the slaughter being ended I was left; and I fell upon my face,
and crying, I said: Alas, alas, alas, O Lord God, wilt thou then destroy
all the remnant of Israel, by pouring out thy fury upon Jerusalem?

9:9. And he said to me: The iniquity of the house of Israel, and of
Juda, is exceeding great, and the land is filled with blood, and the
city is filled with perverseness: for they have said: The Lord hath
forsaken the earth, and the Lord seeth not.

9:10. Therefore neither shall my eye spare, nor will I have pity: I will
requite their way upon their head.

9:11. And behold the man that was clothed with linen, that had the
inkhorn at his back, returned the word, saying: I have done as thou hast
commanded me.

Ezechiel Chapter 10

Fire is taken from the midst of the wheels under the cherubims, and
scattered over the city. A description of the cherubims.

10:1. And I saw and behold in the firmament that was over the heads of
the cherubims, there appeared over them as it were the sapphire stone,
as the appearance of the likeness of a throne.

10:2. And he spoke to the man, that was clothed with linen, and said: Go
in between the wheels that are under the cherubims and fill thy hand
with the coals of fire that are between the cherubims, and pour them out
upon the city. And he went in, in my sight:

10:3. And the cherubims stood on the right side of the house, when the
man went in, and a cloud filled the inner court.

10:4. And the glory of the Lord was lifted up from above the cherub to
the threshold of the house: and the house was filled with the cloud, and
the court was filled with the brightness of the glory of the Lord.

10:5. And the sound of the wings of the cherubims was heard even to the
outward court as the voice of God Almighty speaking.

10:6. And when he had commanded the man that was clothed with linen,
saying: Take fire from the midst of the wheels that are between the
cherubims: he went in and stood beside the wheel.

10:7. And one cherub stretched out his arm from the midst of the
cherubims to the fire that was between the cherubims: and he took, and
put it into the hands of him that was clothed with linen: who took it
and went forth.

10:8. And there appeared in the cherubims the likeness of a man's hand
under their wings.

10:9. And I saw, and behold there were four wheels by the cherubims: one
wheel by one cherub, and another wheel by another cherub: and the
appearance of the wheels was to the sight like the chrysolite stone:

10:10. And as to their appearance, all four were alike: as if a wheel
were in the midst of a wheel.

10:11. And when they went, they went by four ways: and they turned not
when they went: but to the place whither they first turned, the rest
also followed, and did not turn back.

By four ways... That is, by any of the four ways, forward, backward, to
the right or to the left.

10:12. And their whole body, and their necks, and their hands, and their
wings, and the circles were full of eyes, round about the four wheels.

10:13. And these wheels he called voluble, in my hearing.

Voluble... That is, rolling wheels, galgal.

10:14. And every one had four faces: one face was the face of a cherub,
and the second face, the face of a man: and in the third was the face of
a lion: and in the fourth the face of an eagle.

10:15. And the cherubims were lifted up: this is the living creature
that I had seen by the river Chobar.

10:16. And when the cherubims went, the wheels also went by them: and
when the cherubims lifted up their wings, to mount up from the earth,
the wheels stayed not behind, but were by them.

10:17. When they stood, these stood: and when they were lifted up, these
were lifted up: for the spirit of life was in them.

10:18. And the glory of the Lord went forth from the threshold of the
temple: and stood over the cherubims.

10:19. And the cherubims lifting up their wings, were raised from the
earth before me: and as they went out, the wheels also followed: and it
stood in the entry of the east gate of the house of the Lord: and the
glory of the God of Israel was over them.

10:20. This is the living creature, which I saw under the God of Israel
by the river Chobar: and I understood that they were cherubims.

10:21. Each one had four faces, and each one had four wings: and the
likeness of a man's hand was under their wings.

10:22. And as to the likeness of their faces, they were the same faces
which I had seen by the river Chobar, and their looks, and the impulse
of every one to go straight forward.

Ezechiel Chapter 11

A prophecy against the presumptuous assurance of the great ones. A
remnant shall be saved, and receive a new spirit, and a new heart.

11:1. And the spirit lifted me up, and brought me into the east gate of
the house of the Lord, which looketh towards the rising of the sun: and
behold in the entry of the gate five and twenty men: and I saw in the
midst of them Jezonias the son of Azur, and Pheltias the son of Banaias,
princes of the people.

11:2. And he said to me: Son of man, these are the men that study
iniquity, and frame a wicked counsel in this city,

11:3. Saying: Were not houses lately built? This city is the caldron,
and we the flesh.

Were not houses lately built, etc... These men despised the predictions
and threats of the prophets; who declared to them from God, that the
city should be destroyed, and the inhabitants carried into captivity:
and they made use of this kind of argument against the prophets, that
the city, so far from being like to be destroyed, had lately been
augmented by the building of new houses; from whence they further
inferred, by way of a proverb, using the similitude of a cauldron, out
of which the flesh is not taken, till it is thoroughly boiled, and fit
to be eaten, that they should not be carried away out of their city, but
there end their days in peace.

11:4. Therefore prophesy against them, prophesy, thou son of man.

11:5. And the spirit of the Lord fell upon me, and said to me: Speak:
Thus saith the Lord: Thus have you spoken, O house of Israel, for I know
the thoughts of your heart.

11:6. You have killed a great many in this city, and you have filled the
streets thereof with the slain.

11:7. Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Your slain, whom you have laid
in the midst thereof, they are the flesh, all this is the caldron: and I
will bring you forth out of the midst thereof.

11:8. You have feared the sword, and I will bring the sword upon you,
saith the Lord God.

11:9. And I will cast you out of the midst thereof, and I will deliver
you into the hand of the enemies, and I will execute judgments upon you.

11:10. You shall fall by the sword: I will judge you in the borders of
Israel, and you shall know that I am the Lord.

In the borders of Israel... They pretended that they should die in peace
in Jerusalem; God tells them it should not be so; but that they should
be judged and condemned, and fall by the sword in the borders of Israel:
viz., in Reblatha in the land of Emath, where all their chief men were
put to death by Nabuchodonosor. 4 Kings 25., and Jer. 52.10, 27.

11:11. This shall not be as a caldron to you, and you shall not be as
flesh in the midst thereof: I will judge you in the borders of Israel.

11:12. And you shall know that I am the Lord: because you have not
walked in my commandments, and have not done my judgments, but you have
done according to the judgments of the nations that are round about you.

11:13. And it came to pass, when I prophesied, that Pheltias the son of
Banaias died: and I fell down upon my face, and I cried with a loud
voice: and said: Alas, alas, alas, O Lord God: wilt thou make an end of
all the remnant of Israel?

11:14. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

11:15. Son of man, thy brethren, thy brethren, thy kinsmen, and all the
house of Israel, all they to whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have
said: Get ye far from the Lord, the land is given in possession to us.

Thy brethren, etc... He speaks of them that had been carried away
captives before; who were despised by them that remained in Jerusalem:
but as the prophet here declares to them from God, should be in a more
happy condition than they, and after some time return from their
captivity.

11:16. Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Because I have removed them
far off among the Gentiles, and because I have scattered them among the
countries: I will be to them a little sanctuary in the countries whither
they are come.

11:17. Therefore speak to them: Thus saith the Lord God: I will gather
you from among the peoples, and assemble you out of the countries
wherein you are scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.

11:18. And they shall go in thither, and shall take away all the
scandals, and all the abominations thereof from thence.

11:19. And I will give them one heart, and will put a new spirit in
their bowels: and I will take away the stony heart out of their flesh,
and will give them a heart of flesh:

11:20. That they may walk in my commandments, and keep my judgments, and
do them: and that they may be my people, and I may be their God.

11:21. But as for them whose heart walketh after their scandals and
abominations, I will lay their way upon their head, saith the Lord God.

11:22. And the cherubims lifted up their wings, and the wheels with
them: and the glory of the God of Israel was over them.

11:23. And the glory of the Lord went up from the midst of the city, and
stood over the mount that is on the east side of the city.

11:24. And the spirit lifted me up, and brought me into Chaldea, to them
of the captivity, in vision, by the spirit of God: and the vision which
I had seen was taken up from me.

11:25. And I spoke to them of the captivity all the words of the Lord,
which he had shewn me.

Ezechiel Chapter 12

The prophet forsheweth, by signs, the captivity of Sedecias, and the
desolation of the people: all which shall quickly come to pass.

12:1. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

12:2. Son of man, thou dwellest in the midst of a provoking house: who
have eyes to see, and see not: and ears to hear, and hear not: for they
are a provoking house.

12:3. Thou, therefore, O son of man, prepare thee all necessaries for
removing, and remove by day into their sight: and thou shalt remove out
of thy place to another place in their sight, if so be they will regard
it: for they are a provoking house.

12:4. And thou shalt bring forth thy furniture as the furniture of one
that is removing by day in their sight: and thou shalt go forth in the
evening in their presence, as one goeth forth that removeth his
dwelling.

12:5. Dig thee a way through the wall before their eyes: and thou shalt
go forth through it.

12:6. In their sight thou shalt be carried out upon men's shoulders,
thou shalt be carried out in the dark: thou shalt cover thy face, and
shalt not see the ground: for I have set thee for a sign of things to
come to the house of Israel.

12:7. I did therefore as he had commanded me: I brought forth my goods
by day, as the goods of one that removeth: and in the evening I digged
through the wall with my hand, and I went forth in the dark, and was
carried on men's shoulders in their sight.

12:8. And the word of the Lord came to me in the morning, saying:

12:9. Son of man, hath not the house of Israel, the provoking house,
said to thee: What art thou doing?

12:10. Say to them: Thus saith the Lord God: This burden concerneth my
prince that is in Jerusalem, and all the house of Israel, that are among
them.

12:11. Say: I am a sign of things to come to you: as I have done, so
shall it be done to them: they shall be removed from their dwellings,
and go into captivity.

12:12. And the prince that is in the midst of them, shall be carried on
shoulders, he shall go forth in the dark: they shall dig through the
wall to bring him out: his face shall be covered, that he may not see
the ground with his eyes.

12:13. And I will spread my net over him, and he shall be taken in my
net: and I will bring him into Babylon, into the land of the Chaldeans,
and he shall not see it, and there he shall die.

He shall not see it... Because his eyes shall be put out by
Nabuchodonosor.

12:14. And all that are about him, his guards, and his troops I will
scatter into every wind: and I will draw out the sword after them.

12:15. And they shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall have
dispersed them among the nations, and scattered them in the countries.

12:16. And I will leave a few men of them from the sword, and from the
famine, and from the pestilence: that they may declare all their wicked
deeds among the nations whither they shall go: and they shall know that
I am the Lord.

12:17. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

12:18. Son of man, eat thy bread in trouble and drink thy water in hurry
and sorrow.

12:19. And say to the people of the land: Thus saith the Lord God to
them that dwell in Jerusalem in the land of Israel: They shall eat their
bread in care, and drink their water in desolation: that the land may
become desolate from the multitude that is therein, for the iniquity of
all that dwell therein.

12:20. And the cities that are now inhabited shall be laid waste, and
the land shall be desolate: and you shall know that I am the Lord.

12:21. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

12:22. Son of man, what is this proverb that you have in the land of
Israel? saying: The days shall be prolonged, and every vision shall
fail.

12:23. Say to them therefore: Thus saith the Lord God: I will make this
proverb to cease, neither shall it be any more a common saying in
Israel: and tell them that the days are at hand, and the effect of every
vision.

12:24. For there shall be no more any vain visions, nor doubtful
divination in the midst of the children of Israel.

12:25. For I the Lord will speak: and what word soever I shall speak, it
shall come to pass, and shall not be prolonged any more: but in your
days, ye provoking house, I will speak the word, and will do it, saith
the Lord God.

12:26. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

12:27. Son of man, behold the house of Israel, they that say: The
visions that this man seeth, is for many days to come: and this man
prophesieth of times afar off.

12:28. Therefore say to them: Thus saith the Lord God: not one word of
mine shall be prolonged any more: the word that I shall speak shall be
accomplished, saith the Lord God.

Ezechiel Chapter 13

God declares against false prophets and prophetesses, that deceive the
people with lies.

13:1. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

13:2. Son of man, prophesy thou against the prophets of Israel that
prophesy: and thou shalt say to them that prophesy out of their own
heart: Hear ye the word of the Lord:

13:3. Thus saith the Lord God: Woe to the foolish prophets that follow
their own spirit, and see nothing.

13:4. Thy prophets, O Israel, were like foxes in the deserts.

13:5. You have not gone up to face the enemy, nor have you set up a wall
for the house of Israel, to stand in battle in the day of the Lord.

13:6. They see vain things, and they foretell lies, saying: The Lord
saith: whereas the Lord hath not sent them: and they have persisted to
confirm what they have said.

13:7. Have you not seen a vain vision and spoken a lying divination: and
you say: The Lord saith: whereas I have not spoken.

13:8. Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Because you have spoken vain
things, and have seen lies: therefore behold I come against you, saith
the Lord God.

13:9. And my hand shall be upon the prophets that see vain things, and
that divine lies: they shall not be in the council of my people, nor
shall they be written in the writing of the house of Israel, neither
shall they enter into the land of Israel, and you shall know that I am
the Lord God.

13:10. Because they have deceived my people, saying: Peace, and there is
no peace: and the people built up a wall, and they daubed it with dirt
without straw.

13:11. Say to them that daub without tempering, that it shall fall: for
there shall be an overflowing shower, and I will cause great hailstones
to fall violently from above, and a stormy wind to throw it down.

13:12. Behold, when the wall is fallen: shall it not be said to you:
Where is the daubing wherewith you have daubed it?

13:13. Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Lo, I will cause a stormy wind
to break forth in my indignation, and there shall be an overflowing
shower in my anger: and great hailstones in my wrath to consume.

13:14. And I will break down the wall that you have daubed with
untempered mortar: and I will make it even with the ground, and the
foundation thereof shall be laid bare: and it shall fall, and shall be
consumed in the midst thereof: and you shall know that I am the Lord.

13:15. And I will accomplish my wrath upon the wall, and upon them that
daub it without tempering the mortar, and I will say to you: The wall is
no more, and they that daub it are no more.

13:16. Even the prophets of Israel that prophesy to Jerusalem, and that
see visions of peace for her: and there is no peace, saith the Lord God.

13:17. And thou, son of man, set thy face against the daughters of thy
people that prophesy out of their own heart: and do thou prophesy
against them,

13:18. And say: Thus saith the Lord God: Woe to them that sew cushions
under every elbow: and make pillows for the heads of persons of every
age to catch souls: and when they caught the souls of my people, they
gave life to their souls.

Sew cushions, etc... Viz., by making people easy in their sins, and
promising them impunity.-Ibid. They gave life to their souls... That is,
they flattered them with promises of life, peace, and security.

13:19. And they violated me among my people, for a handful of barley,
and a piece of bread, to kill souls which should not die, and to save
souls alive which should not live, telling lies to my people that
believe lies.

Violated me... That is, dishonoured and discredited me. Ibid. To kill
souls, etc... That is, to sentence souls to death, which are not to die;
and to promise life to them who are not to live.

13:20. Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Behold I declare against your
cushions, wherewith you catch flying souls: and I will tear them off
from your arms: and I will let go the soul that you catch, the souls
that should fly.

13:21. And I will tear your pillows, and will deliver my people out of
your hand, neither shall they be any more in your hands to be a prey:
and you shall know that I am the Lord.

13:22. Because with lies you have made the heart of the just to mourn,
whom I have not made sorrowful: and have strengthened the hands of the
wicked, that he should not return from his evil way, and live.

13:23. Therefore you shall not see vain things, nor divine divinations
any more, and I will deliver my people out of your hand: and you shall
know that I am the Lord.

Ezechiel Chapter 14

God suffers the wicked to be deceived in punishment of their wickedness.
The evils that shall come upon them for their sins: for which they shall
not be delivered by the prayers of Noe, Daniel, and Job. But a remnant
shall be preserved.

14:1. And some of the ancients of Israel came to me, and sat before me.

14:2. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

14:3. Son of man, these men have placed their uncleannesses in their
hearts, and have set up before their face the stumblingblock of their
iniquity: and shall I answer when they inquire of me?

Uncleanness... That is, their filthy idols, upon which they have set
their hearts: and which are a stumblingblock to their souls.

14:4. Therefore speak to them, and say to them: Thus saith the Lord God:
Man, man of the house of Israel that shall place his uncleannesses in
his heart, and set up the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his
face, and shall come to the prophet inquiring of me by him: I the Lord
will answer him according to the multitude of his uncleannesses:

Man, man... That is, every man, an Hebrew expression.

14:5. That the house of Israel may be caught in their own heart, with
which they have departed from me through all their idols.

14:6. Therefore say to the house of Israel: Thus saith the Lord God: Be
converted, and depart from your idols, and turn away your faces from all
your abominations.

14:7. For every man of the house of Israel, and every stranger among the
proselytes in Israel, if he separate himself from me, and place his
idols in his heart, and set the stumblingblock of his iniquity before
his face, and come to the prophet to inquire of me by him: I the Lord
will answer him by myself.

14:8. And I will set my face against that man, and will make him an
example, and a proverb, and will cut him off from the midst of my
people: and you shall know that I am the Lord.

14:9. And when the prophet shall err, and speak a word: I the Lord have
deceived that prophet: and I will stretch forth my hand upon him, and
will cut him off from the midst of my people Israel.

The prophet shall err, etc... He speaks of false prophets, answering out
of their own heads and according to their own corrupt inclinations.
Ibid. I have deceived that prophet... God Almighty deceives false
prophets, partly by withdrawing his light from them; and abandoning them
to their own corrupt inclinations, which push them on to prophesy such
things as are agreeable to those who consult them: and partly by
disappointing them, and causing all thing to happen contrary to what
they have said.

14:10. And they shall bear their iniquity: according to the iniquity of
him that inquireth, so shall the iniquity of the prophet be.

14:11. That the house of Israel may go no more astray from me, nor be
polluted with all their transgressions: but may be my people, and I may
be their God, saith the Lord of hosts.

14:12. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

14:13. Son of man, when a land shall sin against me, so as to transgress
grievously, I will stretch forth my hand upon it, and will break the
staff of the bread thereof: and I will send famine upon it, and will
destroy man and beast out of it.

14:14. And if these three men, Noe, Daniel, and Job, shall be in it:
they shall deliver their own souls by their justice, saith the Lord of
hosts.

14:15. And if I shall bring mischievous beasts also upon the land to
waste it, and it be desolate, so that there is none that can pass
because of the beasts:

14:16. If these three men shall be in it, as I live, saith the Lord,
they shall deliver neither sons nor daughters: but they only shall be
delivered, and the land shall be made desolate.

14:17. Or if I bring the sword upon that land, and say to the sword:
Pass through the land: and I destroy man and beast out of it:

14:18. And these three men be in the midst thereof: as I live, saith the
Lord God, they shall deliver neither sons nor daughters, but they
themselves alone shall be delivered.

14:19. Or if I also send the pestilence upon that land, and pour out my
indignation upon it in blood, to cut off from it man and beast:

14:20. And Noe, and Daniel, and Job be in the midst thereof: as I live,
saith the Lord God, they shall deliver neither son nor daughter: but
they shall only deliver their own souls by their justice.

14:21. For thus saith the Lord: Although I shall send in upon Jerusalem
my four grievous judgments, the sword, and the famine, and the
mischievous beasts, and the pestilence, to destroy out of it man and
beast,

14:22. Yet there shall be left in it some that shall be saved, who shall
bring away their sons and daughters: behold they shall come among you,
and you shall see their way, and their doings: and you shall be
comforted concerning the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem, in all
things that I have brought upon it.

14:23. And they shall comfort you, when you shall see their ways, and
their doings: and you shall know that I have not done without cause all
that I have done in it, saith the Lord God.

Ezechiel Chapter 15

As a vine cut down is fit for nothing but the fire; so it shall be with
Jerusalem, for her sins.

15:1. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

15:2. Son of man, what shall be made of the wood of the vine, out of all
the trees of the woods that are among the trees of the forests?

15:3. Shall wood be taken of it, to do any work, or shall a pin be made
of it for any vessel to hang thereon?

15:4. Behold it is cast into the fire for fuel: the fire hath consumed
both ends thereof, and the midst thereof is reduced to ashes: shall it
be useful for any work?

15:5. Even when it was whole it was not fit for work: how much less,
when the fire hath devoured and consumed it, shall any work be made of
it?

15:6. Therefore thus saith the Lord God: As the vine tree among the
trees of the forests which I have given to the fire to be consumed, so
will I deliver up the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

15:7. And I will set my face against them: they shall go out from fire,
and fire shall consume them: and you shall know that I am the Lord, when
I shall have set my face against them.

15:8. And I shall have made their land a wilderness, and desolate,
because they have been transgressors, saith the Lord God.

Ezechiel Chapter 16

Under the figure of an unfaithful wife, God upbraids Jerusalem with her
ingratitude and manifold disloyalties: but promiseth mercy by a new
covenant.

16:1. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

16:2. Son of man, make known to Jerusalem her abominations.

Make known to Jerusalem... That is, by letters, for the prophet was then
in Babylon.

16:3. And thou shalt say: Thus saith the Lord God to Jerusalem: Thy
root, and thy nativity is of the land of Chanaan, thy father was an
Amorrhite, and thy mother a Cethite.

16:4. And when thou wast born, in the day of thy nativity thy navel was
not cut, neither wast thou washed with water for thy health, nor salted
with salt, nor swaddled with clouts.

16:5. No eye had pity on thee to do any of these things for thee, out of
compassion to thee: but thou wast cast out upon the face of the earth in
the abjection of thy soul, in the day that thou wast born.

16:6. And passing by thee, I saw that thou wast trodden under foot in
thy own blood: and I said to thee when thou wast in thy blood: Live: I
have said to thee: Live in thy blood.

16:7. I caused thee to multiply as the bud of the field: and thou didst
increase and grow great, and advancedst, and camest to woman's ornament:
thy breasts were fashioned, and thy hair grew: and thou was naked, and
full of confusion.

16:8. And I passed by thee, and saw thee: and behold thy time was the
time of lovers: and I spread my garment over thee, and covered thy
ignominy and I swore to thee, and I entered into a covenant with thee,
saith the Lord God: and thou becamest mine.

16:9. And I washed thee with water, and cleansed away thy blood from
thee: and I anointed thee with oil.

16:10. And I clothed thee with embroidery, and shod thee with violet
coloured shoes: and I girded thee about with fine linen, and clothed
thee with fine garments.

16:11. I decked thee also with ornaments, and put bracelets on thy
hands, and a chain about thy neck.

I decked thee also with ornaments, etc... That is, with spiritual
benefits, giving you a law with sacrifices, sacraments, and other holy
rites.

16:12. And I put a jewel upon thy forehead and earrings in thy ears, and
a beautiful crown upon thy head.

16:13. And thou wast adorned with gold, and silver, and wast clothed
with fine linen, and embroidered work, and many colours: thou didst eat
fine flour, and honey, and oil, and wast made exceeding beautiful: and
wast advanced to be a queen.

16:14. And thy renown went forth among the nations for thy beauty: for
thou wast perfect through my beauty, which I had put upon thee, saith
the Lord God.

16:15. But trusting in thy beauty, thou playedst the harlot because of
thy renown, and thou hast prostituted thyself to every passenger, to be
his.

16:16. And taking of thy garments thou hast made thee high places sewed
together on each side: and hast played the harlot upon them, as hath not
been done before, nor shall be hereafter.

16:17. And thou tookest thy beautiful vessels, of my gold, and my
silver, which I gave thee, and thou madest thee images of men, and hast
committed fornication with them.

16:18. And thou tookest thy garments of divers colours, and coveredst
them: and settest my oil and my sweet incense before them.

16:19. And my bread which I gave thee, the fine flour, and oil, and
honey, wherewith I fed thee, thou hast set before them for a sweet
odour; and it was done, saith the Lord God.

16:20. And thou hast taken thy sons, and thy daughters, whom thou hast
borne to me: and hast sacrificed the same to them to be devoured. Is thy
fornication small?

16:21. Thou hast sacrificed and given my children to them, consecrating
them by fire.

Thou hast sacrificed, etc... As there is nothing more base and
abominable than the crimes mentioned throughout this chapter; so the
infidelities of the Israelites in forsaking God, and sacrificing even
their children to idols, are strongly figured by these allegories.

16:22. And after all thy abominations, and fornications, thou hast not
remembered the days of thy youth, when thou wast naked, and full of
confusion, trodden under foot in thy own blood.

16:23. And it came to pass after all thy wickedness (woe, woe to thee,
saith the Lord God)

16:24. That thou didst also build thee a common stew, and madest thee a
brothel house in every street.

16:25. At every head of the way thou hast set up a sign of thy
prostitution: and hast made thy beauty to be abominable: and hast
prostituted thyself to every one that passed by, and hast multiplied thy
fornications.

16:26. And thou hast committed fornication with the Egyptians thy
neighbours, men of large bodies, and hast multiplied thy fornications to
provoke me.

16:27. Behold, I will stretch out my hand upon thee, and will take away
thy justification: and I will deliver thee up to the will of the
daughters of the Philistines that hate thee, that are ashamed of thy
wicked way.

16:28. Thou hast also committed fornication with the Assyrians, because
thou wast not yet satisfied: and after thou hadst played the harlot with
them, even so thou wast not contented.

16:29. Thou hast also multiplied thy fornications in the land of Chanaan
with the Chaldeans: and neither so wast thou satisfied.

16:30. Wherein shall I cleanse thy heart, saith Lord God: seeing thou
dost all these the works of a shameless prostitute?

16:31. Because thou hast built thy brothel house at the head of every
way, and thou hast made thy high place in every street: and wast not as
a harlot that by disdain enhanceth her price,

16:32. But is an adulteress, that bringeth in strangers over her
husband.

16:33. Gifts are given to all harlots: but thou hast given hire to all
thy lovers, and thou hast given them gifts to come to thee from every
side, to commit fornication with thee.

16:34. And it hath happened in thee contrary to the custom of women in
thy fornications, and after thee there shall be no such fornication, for
in that thou gavest rewards, and didst not take rewards, the contrary
hath been done in thee.

16:35. Therefore, O harlot, hear the word of the Lord.

16:36. Thus saith the Lord God: Because thy money hath been poured out,
and thy shame discovered through thy fornications with thy lovers, and
with the idols of thy abominations, by the blood of thy children whom
thou gavest them:

16:37. Behold, I will gather together all thy lovers with whom thou hast
taken pleasure, and all whom thou hast loved, with all whom thou hast
hated: and I will gather them together against thee on every side, and
will discover thy shame in their sight, and they shall see all thy
nakedness.

16:38. And I will judge thee as adulteresses, and they that shed blood
are judged: and I will give thee blood in fury and jealousy.

16:39. And I will deliver thee into their hands, and they shall destroy
thy brothel house, and throw down thy stews: and they shall strip thee
of thy garments, and shall take away the vessels of thy beauty: and
leave thee naked, and full of disgrace.

16:40. And they shall bring upon thee a multitude, and they shall stone
thee with stones, and shall slay thee with their swords.

16:41. And they shall burn thy houses with fire, and shall execute
judgments upon thee in the sight of many women: and thou shalt cease
from fornication, and shalt give no hire any more.

16:42. And my indignation shall rest in thee: and my jealousy shall
depart from thee, and I will cease and be angry no more.

16:43. Because thou hast not remembered the days of thy youth, but hast
provoked me in all these things: wherefore I also have turned all thy
ways upon thy head, saith the Lord God, and I have not done according to
thy wicked deeds in all thy abominations.

16:44. Behold every one that useth a common proverb, shall use this
against thee, saying: As the mother was, so also is her daughter.

16:45. Thou art thy mother's daughter, that cast off her husband, and
her children: and thou art the sister of thy sisters, who cast off their
husbands, and their children: your mother was a Cethite, and your father
an Amorrhite.

16:46. And thy elder sister is Samaria, she and her daughters that dwell
at thy left hand: and thy younger sister that dwelleth at thy right hand
is Sodom, and her daughters.

16:47. But neither hast thou walked in their ways, nor hast thou done a
little less than they according to their wickednesses: thou hast done
almost more wicked things than they in all thy ways.

16:48. As I live, saith the Lord God, thy sister Sodom herself, and her
daughters, have not done as thou hast done, and thy daughters.

16:49. Behold this was the iniquity of Sodom thy sister, pride, fulness
of bread, and abundance, and the idleness of her, and of her daughters:
and they did not put forth their hand to the needy, and the poor.

This was the iniquity of Sodom, etc... That is, these were the steps by
which the Sodomites came to fall into those abominations for which they
were destroyed. For pride, gluttony, and idleness are the highroad to
all kinds of lust; especially when they are accompanied with a neglect
of the works of mercy.

16:50. And they were lifted up, and committed abominations before me:
and I took them away as thou hast seen.

16:51. And Samaria committed not half thy sins: but thou hast surpassed
them with thy crimes, and hast justified thy sisters by all thy
abominations which thou hast done.

16:52. Therefore do thou also bear thy confusion, thou that hast
surpassed thy sisters with thy sins, doing more wickedly than they: for
they are justified above thee, therefore be thou also confounded, and
bear thy shame, thou that hast justified thy sisters.

16:53. And I will bring back and restore them by bringing back Sodom,
with her daughters, and by bringing back Samaria, and her daughters: and
I will bring those that return of thee in the midst of them.

I will bring back, etc... This relates to the conversion of the Gentiles
out of all nations, and of many of the Jews, to the church of Christ.

16:54. That thou mayest bear thy shame, and mayest be confounded in all
that thou hast done, comforting them.

16:55. And thy sister Sodom and her daughters shall return to their
ancient state: and Samaria and her daughters shall return to their
ancient state: and thou and thy daughters shall return to your ancient
state.

Ancient state... That is, to their former state of liberty, and their
ancient possessions. In the spiritual sense, to the true liberty, and
the happy inheritance of the children of God, through faith in Christ.

16:56. And Sodom thy sister was not heard of in thy mouth, in the day of
thy pride,

16:57. Before thy malice was laid open: as it is at this time, making
thee a reproach of the daughters of Syria, and of all the daughters of
Palestine round about thee, that encompass thee on all sides.

16:58. Thou hast borne thy wickedness, and thy disgrace, saith the Lord
God.

16:59. For thus saith the Lord God: I will deal with thee, as thou hast
despised the oath, in breaking the covenant:

16:60. And I will remember my covenant with thee in the days of thy
youth: and I will establish with thee an everlasting covenant.

16:61. And thou shalt remember thy ways, and be ashamed: when thou shalt
receive thy sisters, thy elder and thy younger: and I will give them to
thee for daughters, but not by thy covenant.

16:62. And I will establish my covenant with thee: and thou shalt know
that I am the Lord,

16:63. That thou mayest remember, and be confounded, and mayest no more
open thy mouth because of thy confusion, when I shall be pacified toward
thee for all that thou hast done, saith the Lord God.

Ezechiel Chapter 17

The parable of the two eagles and the vine. A promise of the cedar of
Christ and his church.

17:1. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

17:2. Son of man, put forth a riddle, and speak a parable to the house
of Israel,

17:3. And say: Thus saith the Lord God; A large eagle with great wings,
long-limbed, full of feathers, and of variety, came to Libanus, and took
away the marrow of the cedar.

A large eagle... Nabuchodonosor, king of Babylon.-Ibid. Came to
Libanus... That is, to Jerusalem.-Ibid. Took away the marrow of the
cedar... King Jechonias.

17:4. He cropped off the top of the twigs thereof: and carried it away
into the land of Chanaan, and he set it in a city of merchants.

Chanaan... This name, which signifies traffic, is not taken here for
Palestine, but for Chaldea: and the city of merchants here mentioned is
Babylon.

17:5. And he took of the seed of the land, and put it in the ground for
seed, that it might take a firm root over many waters: he planted it on
the surface of the earth.

Of the seed of the land, etc... Viz., Sedecias, whom he made king.

17:6. And it sprung up and grew into a spreading vine of low stature,
and the branches thereof looked towards him: and the roots thereof were
under him. So it became a vine, and grew into branches, and shot forth
sprigs.

Towards him... Nabuchodonosor, to whom Sedecias swore allegiance.

17:7. And there was another large eagle, with great wings, and many
feathers: and behold this vine, bending as it were her roots towards
him, stretched forth her branches to him, that he might water it by the
furrows of her plantation.

Another large eagle... Viz., the king of Egypt.

17:8. It was planted in a good ground upon many waters, that it might
bring forth branches, and bear fruit, that it might become a large vine.

17:9. Say thou: Thus saith the Lord God: Shall it prosper then?  shall
he not pull up the roots thereof, and strip off its fruit, and dry up
all the branches it hath shot forth, and make it wither: and this
without a strong arm, or many people to pluck it up by the root?

17:10. Behold, it is planted: shall it prosper then? shall it not be
dried up when the burning wind shall touch it, and shall it not wither
in the furrows where it grew?

17:11. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

17:12. Say to the provoking house: Know you not what these things mean?
Tell them: Behold the king of Babylon cometh to Jerusalem: and he shall
take away the king and the princes thereof and carry them with him to
Babylon.

Shall take away... Or, hath taken away, etc., for all this was now done.

17:13. And he shall take one of the king's seed, and make a covenant
with him, and take an oath of him. Yea, and he shall take away the
mighty men of the land,

17:14. That it may be a low kingdom and not lift itself up, but keep his
covenant and observe it.

17:15. But he hath revolted from him and sent ambassadors to Egypt, that
it might give him horses, and much people. And shall he that hath done
thus prosper, or be saved? and shall he escape that hath broken the
covenant?

17:16. As I live, saith the Lord God: In the place where the king
dwelleth that made him king, whose oath he hath made void, and whose
covenant he broke, even in the midst of Babylon shall he die.

17:17. And not with a great army, nor with much people shall Pharao
fight against him: when he shall cast up mounts, and build forts, to cut
off many souls.

17:18. For he had despised the oath, breaking his covenant, and behold
he hath given his hand: and having done all these things, he shall not
escape.

17:19. Therefore thus saith the Lord God: As I live, I will lay upon his
head the oath he hath despised, and the covenant he hath broken.

17:20. And I will spread my net over him, and he shall be taken in my
net: and I will bring him into Babylon, and will judge him there for the
transgression by which he hath despised me.

17:21. And all his fugitives with all his bands shall fall by the sword:
and the residue shall be scattered into every wind: and you shall know
that I the Lord have spoken.

17:22. Thus saith the Lord God: I myself will take of the marrow of the
high cedar, and will set it: I will crop off a tender twig from the top
of the branches thereof, and I will plant it on a mountain high and
eminent.

Of the marrow of the high cedar, etc... Of the royal stock of David.
Ibid. A tender twig... Viz., Jesus Christ, whom God hath planted in
mount Sion, that is, the high mountain of his church, to which all
nations flow.

17:23. On the high mountains of Israel will I plant it, and it shall
shoot forth into branches and shall bear fruit, and it shall become a
great cedar: and all birds shall dwell under it, and every fowl shall
make its nest under the shadow of the branches thereof.

17:24. And all the trees of the country shall know that I the Lord have
brought down the high tree, and exalted the low tree: and have dried up
the green tree, and have caused the dry tree to flourish. I the Lord
have spoken and have done it.

Ezechiel Chapter 18

One man shall not bear the sins of another, but every one his own; if a
wicked man truly repent, he shall be saved; and if a just man leave his
justice, he shall perish.

18:1. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: What is the meaning?

18:2. That you use among you this parable as a proverb in the land of
Israel, saying: The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the teeth of the
children are set on edge.

18:3. As I live, saith the Lord God, this parable shall be no more to
you a proverb in Israel.

18:4. Behold all souls are mine: as the soul of the father, so also the
soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, the same shall die.

18:5. And if a man be just, and do judgment and justice,

18:6. And hath not eaten upon the mountains, nor lifted up his eyes to
the idols of the house of Israel: and hath not defiled his neighbour's
wife, nor come near to a menstruous woman:

Not eaten upon the mountains... That is, of the sacrifices there offered
to idols.

18:7. And hath not wronged any man: but hath restored the pledge to the
debtor, hath taken nothing away by violence: hath given his bread to the
hungry, and hath covered the naked with a garment:

18:8. Hath not lent upon usury, nor taken any increase: hath withdrawn
his hand from iniquity, and hath executed true judgment between man and
man:

18:9. Hath walked in my commandments, and kept my judgments, to do
truth: he is just, he shall surely live, saith the Lord God.

To do truth... That is, to act according to truth; for the Hebrews
called everything that was just, truth.

18:10. And if he beget a son that is a robber, a shedder of blood, and
that hath done some one of these things:

18:11. Though he doth not all these things, but that eateth upon the
mountains, and that defileth his neighbour's wife:

18:12. That grieveth the needy and the poor, that taketh away by
violence, that restoreth not the pledge, and that lifteth up his eyes to
idols, that comitteth abomination:

18:13. That giveth upon usury, and that taketh an increase: shall such a
one live? he shall not live. Seeing he hath done all these detestable
things, he shall surely die, his blood shall be upon him.

18:14. But if he beget a son, who, seeing all his father's sins, which
he hath done, is afraid, and shall not do the like to them:

18:15. That hath not eaten upon the mountains, nor lifted up his eyes to
the idols of the house of Israel, and hath not defiled his neighbour's
wife:

18:16. And hath not grieved any man, nor withholden the pledge, nor
taken away with violence, but hath given his bread to the hungry, and
covered the naked with a garment:

18:17. That hath turned away his hand from injuring the poor, hath not
taken usury and increase, but hath executed my judgments, and hath
walked in my commandments: this man shall not die for the iniquity of
his father, but living he shall live.

18:18. As for his father, because he oppressed and offered violence to
his brother, and wrought evil in the midst of his people, behold he is
dead in his own iniquity.

18:19. And you say: Why hath not the son borne the iniquity of his
father? Verily, because the son hath wrought judgment and justice, hath
kept all my commandments, and done them, living, he shall live.

18:20. The soul that sinneth, the same shall die: the son shall not bear
the iniquity of the father, and the father shall not bear the iniquity
of the son: the justice of the just shall be upon him, and the
wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.

18:21. But if the wicked do penance for all his sins which he hath
committed, and keep all my commandments, and do judgment, and justice,
living he shall live, and shall not die.

18:22. I will not remember all his iniquities that he hath done: in his
justice which he hath wrought, he shall live.

18:23. Is it my will that a sinner should die, saith the Lord God, and
not that he should be converted from his ways, and live?

18:24. But if the just man turn himself away from his justice, and do
iniquity according to all the abominations which the wicked man useth to
work, shall he live? all his justices which he hath done, shall not be
remembered: in the prevarication, by which he hath prevaricated, and in
his sin, which he hath committed, in them he shall die.

18:25. And you have said: The way of the Lord is not right. Hear ye,
therefore, O house of Israel: Is it my way that is not right, and are
not rather your ways perverse?

18:26. For when the just turneth himself away from his justice, and
comitteth iniquity, he shall die therein: in the injustice that he hath
wrought he shall die.

18:27. And when the wicked turneth himself away from his wickedness,
which he hath wrought, and doeth judgment, and justice: he shall save
his soul alive.

18:28. Because he considereth and turneth away himself from all his
iniquities which he hath wrought, he shall surely live, and not die.

18:29. And the children of Israel say: The way of the Lord is not right.
Are not my ways right, O house of Israel, and are not rather your ways
perverse?

18:30. Therefore will I judge every man according to his ways, O house
of Israel, saith the Lord God. Be converted, and do penance for all your
iniquities: and iniquity shall not be your ruin.

18:31. Cast away from you all your transgressions, by which you have
transgressed, and make to yourselves a new heart, and a new spirit: and
why will you die, O house of Israel?

18:32. For I desire not the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God,
return ye and live.

Ezechiel Chapter 19

The parable of the young lions, and of the vineyard that is wasted.

19:1. Moreover take thou up a lamentation for the princes of Israel,

19:2. And say: Why did thy mother the lioness lie down among the lions,
and bring up her whelps in the midst of young lions?

Thy mother the lioness... Jerusalem.

19:3. And she brought out one of her whelps, and he became a lion: and
he learned to catch the prey, and to devour men.

One of her whelps... Viz., Joachaz, alias Sellum.

19:4. And the nations heard of him, and took him, but not without
receiving wounds: and they brought him in chains into the land of Egypt.

19:5. But she seeing herself weakened, and that her hope was lost, took
one of her young lions, and set him up for a lion.

One of her young lions... Joakim.

19:6. And he went up and down among the lions, and became a lion: and he
learned to catch the prey, and to devour men.

19:7. He learned to make widows, and to lay waste their cities: and the
land became desolate, and the fulness thereof by the noise of his
roaring.

19:8. And the nations came together against him on every side out of the
provinces, and they spread their net over him, in their wounds he was
taken.

19:9. And they put him into a cage, they brought him in chains to the
king of Babylon: and they cast him into prison, that his voice should no
more be heard upon the mountains of Israel.

19:10. Thy mother is like a vine in thy blood planted by the water: her
fruit and her branches have grown out of many waters.

19:11. And she hath strong rods to make sceptres for them that bear
rule, and her stature was exalted among the branches: and she saw her
height in the multitude of her branches.

19:12. But she was plucked up in wrath, and cast on the ground, and the
burning wind dried up her fruit: her strong rods are withered, and dried
up: the fire hath devoured her.

19:13. And now she is transplanted into the desert, in a land not
passable, and dry.

19:14. And a fire is gone out from a rod of her branches, which hath
devoured her fruit: so that she now hath no strong rod, to be a sceptre
of rulers. This is a lamentation, and it shall be for a lamentation.

Ezechiel Chapter 20

God refuses to answer the ancients of Israel inquiring by the prophet:
but by him setteth his benefits before their eyes, and their heinous
sins: threatening yet greater punishments: but still mixed with mercy.

20:1. And it came to pass in the seventh year, in the fifth month, the
tenth day of the month: there came men of the ancients of Israel to
inquire of the Lord, and they sat before me.

20:2. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

20:3. Son of man, speak to the ancients of Israel and say to them: Thus
saith the Lord God: Are you come to inquire of me? As I live, I will not
answer you, saith the Lord God.

20:4. If thou judgest them, if thou judgest, O son of man, declare to
them the abominations of their fathers.

If thou judgest them... Or, if thou wilt enter into the cause and plead
against them.

20:5. And say to them: Thus saith the Lord God: In the day when I chose
Israel, and lifted up my hand for the race of the house of Jacob: and
appeared to them in the land of Egypt, and lifted up my hand for them,
saying: I am the Lord your God:

20:6. In that day I lifted up my hand for them to bring them out of the
land of Egypt, into a land which I had provided for them, flowing with
milk and honey, which excelled amongst all lands.

20:7. And I said to them: Let every man cast away the scandals of his
eyes, and defile not yourselves with the idols of Egypt: I am the Lord
your God.

Scandals, etc... Offensiones. That is, the abominations or idols, to the
worship of which they were allured by their eyes.

20:8. But they provoked me, and would not hearken to me: they did not
every man cast away the abominations of his eyes, neither did they
forsake the idols of Egypt: and I said I would pour out my indignation
upon them, and accomplish my wrath against them in the midst of the land
of Egypt.

20:9. But I did otherwise for my name's sake, that it might not be
violated before the nations, in the midst of whom they were, and among
whom I made myself known to them, to bring them out of the land of
Egypt.

20:10. Therefore I brought them out from the land of Egypt, and brought
them into the desert.

20:11. And I gave them my statutes, and I shewed them my judgments,
which if a man do, he shall live in them.

20:12. Moreover I gave them also my sabbaths, to be a sign between me
and them: and that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctify
them.

20:13. But the house of Israel provoked me in the desert: they walked
not in my statutes, and they cast away my judgments, which if a man do
he shall live in them: and they grievously violated my sabbaths. I said
therefore that I would pour out my indignation upon them in the desert,
and would consume them.

20:14. But I spared them for the sake of my name, lest it should be
profaned before the nations, from which I brought them out, in their
sight.

20:15. So I lifted up my hand over them in the desert, not to bring them
into the land which I had given them flowing with milk and honey, the
best of all lands.

20:16. Because they cast off my judgments, and walked not in my
statutes, and violated my sabbaths: for their heart went after idols.

20:17. Yet my eye spared them, so that I destroyed them not: neither did
I consume them in the desert.

20:18. And I said to their children in the wilderness: Walk not in the
statutes of your fathers, and observe not their judgments, nor be ye
defiled with their idols:

20:19. I am the Lord your God: walk ye in my statutes, and observe my
judgments, and do them.

20:20. And sanctify my sabbaths, that they may be a sign between me and
you: and that you may know that I am the Lord your God.

20:21. But their children provoked me, they walked not in my
commandments, nor observed my judgments to do them: which if a man do,
he shall live in them: and they violated my sabbaths: and I threatened
to pour out my indignation upon them, and to accomplish my wrath in them
in the desert.

20:22. But I turned away my hand, and wrought for my name's sake, that
it might not be violated before the nations, out of which I brought them
forth in their sight.

20:23. Again I lifted up my hand upon them in the wilderness, to
disperse them among the nations, and scatter them through the countries:

20:24. Because they had not done my judgments, and had cast off my
statutes, and had violated my sabbaths, and their eyes had been after
the idols of their fathers.

20:25. Therefore I also gave them statutes that were not good, and
judgments, in which they shall not live.

Statutes that were not good, etc... Viz., the laws and ordinances of
their enemies; or those imposes upon them by that cruel tyrant the
devil, to whose power they were delivered up for their sins.

20:26. And I polluted them in their own gifts, when they offered all
that opened the womb, for their offences: and they shall know that I am
the Lord.

I polluted them, etc... That is, I gave them up to such blindness in
punishment of their offences, as to pollute themselves with the blood of
all their firstborn, whom they offered up to their idols in compliance
with their wicked devices.

20:27. Wherefore speak to the house of Israel, O son of man, and say to
them: Thus saith the Lord God: Moreover in this also your fathers
blaspheme me, when they had despised and contemned me;

20:28. And I had brought them into the land, for which I lifted up my
hand to give it them: they saw every high hill, and every shady tree,
and there they sacrificed their victims: and there they presented the
provocation of their offerings, and there they set their sweet odours,
and poured forth their libations.

20:29. And I said to them: What meaneth the high place to which you go?
and the name thereof was called High-place even to this day.

20:30. Wherefore say to the house of Israel: Thus saith the Lord God:
Verily, you are defiled in the way of your fathers, and you commit
fornication with their abominations.

20:31. And you defile yourselves with all your idols unto this day, in
the offering of your gifts, when you make your children pass through the
fire: and shall I answer you, O house of Israel? As I live, saith the
Lord God, I will not answer you.

20:32. Neither shall the thought of your mind come to pass, by which you
say: We will be as the Gentiles, and as the families of the earth, to
worship stocks and stones.

20:33. As I live, saith the Lord God, I will reign over you with a
strong hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with fury poured out.

20:34. And I will bring you out from the people, and I will gather you
out of the countries, in which you are scattered, I will reign over you
with a strong hand and with a stretched out arm, and with fury poured
out.

20:35. And I will bring you into the wilderness of people, and there
will I plead with you face to face.

The wilderness of people... That is, a desert in which there are no
people.

20:36. As I pleaded against your fathers in the desert of the land of
Egypt; even so will I judge you, saith the Lord God.

20:37. And I will make you subject to my sceptre, and will bring you
into the bands of the covenant.

20:38. And I will pick out from among you the transgressors, and the
wicked, and will bring them out of the land where they sojourn, and they
shall not enter into the land of Israel: and you shall know that I am
the Lord.

20:39. And as for you, O house of Israel: thus saith the Lord God: Walk
ye every one after your idols, and serve them. But if in this also you
hear me not, but defile my holy name any more with your gifts, and with
your idols;

Walk ye every one, etc... It is not an allowance, much less a
commandment to serve idols; but a figure of speech, by which God would
have them to understand that if they would walk after their idols, they
must not pretend to serve him at the same time: for that he would by no
means suffer such a mixture of worship.

20:40. In my holy mountain, in the high mountain of Israel, saith the
Lord God, there shall all the house of Israel serve me; all of them I
say, in the land in which they shall please me, and there will I require
your firstfruits, and the chief of your tithes with all your
sanctifications.

In my holy mountain, etc... The foregoing verse, to make the sense
complete, must be understood so as to condemn and reject that mixture of
worship which the Jews then followed. In this verse, God promises to the
true Israelites, especially to those of the Christian church, that they
shall serve him in another manner, in his holy mountain, the spiritual
Sion: and shall by accepted of by him.

20:41. I will accept of you for an odour of sweetness, when I shall have
brought you out from the people, and shall have gathered you out of the
lands into which you are scattered, and I will be sanctified in you in
the sight of the nations.

20:42. And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall have brought
you into the land of Israel, into the land for which I lifted up my hand
to give it to your fathers.

20:43. And there you shall remember your ways, and all your wicked
doings with which you have been defiled; and you shall be displeased
with yourselves in your own sight, for all your wicked deeds which you
committed.

20:44. And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall have done
well by you for my own name's sake, and not according to your evil ways,
nor according to your wicked deeds, O house of Israel, saith the Lord
God.

20:45. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

20:46. Son of man, set thy face against the way of the south, and drop
towards the south, and prophesy against the forest of the south field.

Of the south... Jerusalem lay towards the south of Babylon, (where the
prohet then was,) and is here called the forest of the south field, and
is threatened with utter desolation.

20:47. And say to the south forest: Hear the word of the Lord: Thus
saith the Lord God: Behold I will kindle a fire in thee, and will burn
in thee every green tree, and every dry tree: the flame of the fire
shall not be quenched: and every face shall be burned in it, from the
south even to the north.

20:48. And all flesh shall see, that I the Lord have kindled it, and it
shall not be quenched.

20:49. And I said: Ah, ah, ah, O Lord God: they say of me: Doth not this
man speak by parables?

Ezechiel Chapter 21

The destruction of Jerusalem by the sword is further described: the ruin
also of the Ammonites is forshewn. And finally Babylon, the destroyer of
others, shall be destroyed.

21:1. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

21:2. Son of man, set thy face toward Jerusalem, and let thy speech flow
towards the holy places, and prophesy against the land of Israel:

21:3. And say to the land of Israel, Thus saith the Lord God: Behold I
come against thee, and I will draw forth my sword out of its sheath, and
will cut off in thee the just, and the wicked.

21:4. And forasmuch as I have cut off in thee the just and the wicked,
therefore shall my sword go forth out of its sheath against all flesh,
from the south even to the north.

21:5. That all flesh may know that I the Lord have drawn my sword out of
its sheath not to be turned back.

21:6. And thou, son of man, mourn with the breaking of thy loins, and
with bitterness sigh before them.

21:7. And when they shall say to thee: Why mournest thou? thou shalt
say: For that which I hear: because it cometh, and every heart shall
melt, and all hands shall be made feeble, and every spirit shall faint,
and water shall run down every knee: behold it cometh, and it shall be
done, saith the Lord God.

21:8. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

21:9. Son of man, prophesy, and say: Thus saith the Lord God: Say: The
sword, the sword is sharpened, and furbished.

21:10. It is sharpened to kill victims: it is furbished that it may
glitter: thou removest the sceptre of my son, thou hast cut down every
tree.

Thou removest the sceptre of my son... He speaks (according to St.
Jerome) to the sword of Nabuchodonosor: which was about to remove the
sceptre of Israel, whom God here calls his son.

21:11. And I have given it to be furbished, that it may be handled: this
sword is sharpened, and it is furbished, that it may be in the hand of
the slayer.

21:12. Cry, and howl, O son of man, for this sword is upon my people, it
is upon all the princes of Israel, that are fled: they are delivered up
to the sword with my people, strike therefore upon thy thigh,

21:13. Because it is tried: and that when it shall overthrow the
sceptre, and it shall not be, saith the Lord God.

21:14. Thou therefore, O son of man, prophesy, and strike thy hands
together, and let the sword be doubled, and let the sword of the slain
be tripled: this is the sword of a great slaughter, that maketh them
stand amazed,

21:15. And languish in heart, and that multiplieth ruins. In all their
gates I have set the dread of the sharp sword, the sword that is
furbished to glitter, that is made ready for slaughter.

21:16. Be thou sharpened, go to the right hand, or to the left, which
way soever thou hast a mind to set thy face.

21:17. And I will clap my hands together, and will satisfy my
indignation: I the Lord have spoken.

21:18. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

21:19. And thou son of man, set thee two ways, for the sword of the king
of Babylon to come: both shall come forth out of one land: and with his
hand he shall draw lots, he shall consult at the head of the way of the
city.

21:20. Thou shalt make a way that the sword may come to Rabbath of the
children of Ammon, and to Juda unto Jerusalem the strong city.

21:21. For the king of Babylon stood in the highway, at the head of two
ways, seeking divination, shuffling arrows: he inquired of the idols,
and consulted entrails.

21:22. On his right hand was the divination for Jerusalem, to set
battering rams, to open the mouth in slaughter, to lift up the voice in
howling, to set engines against the gates, to cast up a mount, to build
forts.

21:23. And he shall be in their eyes as one consulting the oracle in
vain, and imitating the leisure of sabbaths: but he will call to
remembrance the iniquity that they may be taken.

21:24. Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Because you have remembered
your iniquity, and have discovered your prevarications, and your sins
have appeared in all your devices: because, I say, You have remembered,
you shall be taken with the hand.

21:25. But thou profane wicked prince of Israel, whose day is come that
hath been appointed in the time of iniquity:

Thou profane, etc... He speaks to king Sedecias, who had broken his
oath, and was otherwise a wicked prince.

21:26. Thus saith the Lord God: Remove the diadem, take off the crown:
is it not this that hath exalted the low one, and brought down him that
was high?

Is it not this that hath exalted the low one... The royal crown of Juda
had exalted Sedecias from a private state and condition to the sovereign
power, as the loss of it had brought down Jechonias, etc.

21:27. I will shew it to be iniquity, iniquity, iniquity: but this was
not done till he came to whom judgment belongeth, and I will give it
him.

I will shew it to be iniquity, etc... Or, I will overturn it, viz., the
crown of Juda for the manifold iniquities of the kings: but it shall not
be utterly removed, till Christ come whose right it is: and who shall
reign in the spiritual house of Jacob, that is, in his church, for
evermore.

21:28. And thou son of man, prophesy, and say: Thus saith the Lord God
concerning the children of Ammon, and concerning their reproach, and
thou shalt say: O sword, O sword, come out of the scabbard to kill, be
furbished to destroy, and to glitter,

Concerning their reproach... By which they had reproached and insulted
over the Jews, at the time of the destruction of Jerusalem.

21:29. Whilst they see vain things in thy regard, and they divine lies:
to bring thee upon the necks of the wicked that are wounded, whose
appointed day is come in the time of iniquity.

21:30. Return into thy sheath. I will judge thee in the place wherein
thou wast created, in the land of thy nativity.

Return into thy sheath, etc... The sword of Babylon, after raging
against many nations, was shortly to be judged and destroyed at home by
the Medes and Persians.

21:31. And I will pour out upon thee my indignation: in the fire of my
rage will I blow upon thee, and will give thee into the hands of men
that are brutish and contrive thy destruction.

21:32. Thou shalt be fuel for the fire, thy blood shall be in the midst
of the land, thou shalt be forgotten: for I the Lord have spoken it.

Ezechiel Chapter 22

The general corruption of the inhabitants of Jerusalem: for which God
will consume them as dross in his furnace.

22:1. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

22:2. And thou son of man, dost thou not judge, dost thou not judge the
city of blood?

22:3. And thou shalt shew her all her abominations, and shalt say: Thus
saith the Lord God: This is the city that sheddeth blood in the midst of
her, that her time may come: and that hath made idols against herself,
to defile herself.

22:4. Thou art become guilty in thy blood which thou hast shed: and thou
art defiled in thy idols which thou hast made: and thou hast made thy
days to draw near, and hast brought on the time of thy years: therefore
have I made thee a reproach to the Gentiles, and a mockery to all
countries.

22:5. Those that are near, and those that are far from thee, shall
triumph over thee: thou filthy one, infamous, great in destruction.

22:6. Behold the princes of Israel, every one hath employed his arm in
thee to shed blood.

22:7. They have abused father and mother in thee, they have oppressed
the stranger in the midst of thee, they have grieved the fatherless and
widow in thee.

22:8. Thou hast despised my sanctuaries, and profaned my sabbaths.

22:9. Slanderers have been in thee to shed blood, and they have eaten
upon the mountains in thee, they have committed wickedness in the midst
of thee.

22:10. They have discovered the nakedness of their father in thee, they
have humbled the uncleanness of the menstruous woman in thee.

22:11. And every one hath committed abomination with his neighbour's
wife, and the father in law hath wickedly defiled his daughter in law,
the brother hath oppressed his sister the daughter of his father in
thee.

22:12. They have taken gifts in thee to shed blood: thou hast taken
usury and increase, and hast covetously oppressed thy neighbours: and
thou hast forgotten me, saith the Lord God.

22:13. Behold, I have clapped my hands at thy covetousness, which thou
hast exercised: and at the blood that hath been shed in the midst of
thee.

22:14. Shall thy heart endure, or shall thy hands prevail in the days
which I will bring upon thee: I the Lord have spoken, and will do it.

22:15. And I will disperse thee in the nations, and will scatter thee
among the countries, and I will put an end to thy uncleanness in thee.

22:16. And I will possess thee in the sight of the Gentiles, and thou
shalt know that I am the Lord.

22:17. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

22:18. Son of man, the house of Israel is become dross to me: all these
are brass, and tin, and iron, and lead, in the midst of the furnace:
they are become the dross of silver.

22:19. Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Because you are all turned
into dross, therefore behold I will gather you together in the midst of
Jerusalem.

22:20. As they gather silver, and brass, and tin, and iron, and lead in
the midst of the furnace: that I may kindle a fire in it to melt it: so
will I gather you together in my fury and in my wrath, and will take my
rest, and I wi