EZEKIEL 11 [†] s The Spirit lifted me up and brought me to  t the east gate of the house of the LORD, which faces east. And behold, at the entrance of the gateway there were  u twenty-five men. And I saw among them Jaazaniah  v the son of Azzur, and  w Pelatiah the son of Benaiah, princes of the people. 2[†]And he said to me,  x “Son of man, these are the men who devise iniquity and who give wicked counsel in this city; 3 y who say,  z ‘The time is not near [1] to build houses.  a This city is the cauldron, and we are the meat.’ 4Therefore prophesy against them, prophesy, O son of man.”

5And  b the Spirit of the LORD fell upon me, and he said to me, “Say, Thus says the LORD: So you think, O house of Israel.  c For I know the things that come into your mind. 6[†] d You have multiplied your slain in this city and have filled its streets with the slain. 7[†]Therefore thus says the Lord GOD:  e Your slain whom you have laid in the midst of it,  a they are the meat, and  a this city is the cauldron, but you shall be brought out of the midst of it. 8 f You have feared the sword, and I will bring the sword upon you, declares the Lord GOD. 9And I will bring you out of the midst of it, and  g give you into the hands of foreigners, and  h execute judgments upon you. 10 i You shall fall by the sword. I will judge you at the border of Israel,  j and you shall know that I am the LORD. 11 k This city shall not be your cauldron, nor shall you be the meat in the midst of it. I will judge you at the border of Israel, 12and you shall know that I am the LORD. For you have not walked in my statutes, nor obeyed my rules,  l but have acted according to the rules of the nations that are around you.”

13[^][†]And it came to pass, while I was prophesying,  m that  n Pelatiah the son of Benaiah died.  o Then I fell down on my face and cried out with a loud voice and said,  o “Ah, Lord GOD!  p Will you make a full end of the remnant of Israel?”

14[†]And the word of the LORD came to me: 15 q “Son of man, your brothers, even your brothers, your kinsmen, [2] the whole house of Israel, all of them, are those of whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said,  r ‘Go far from the LORD; to us this land is given for a possession.’ 16Therefore say, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: Though I removed them far off among the nations, and though I scattered them among the countries, yet  s I have been a sanctuary to them for a while [3] in the countries where they have gone.’ 17Therefore say, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD:  t I will gather you from the peoples and assemble you out of the countries where you have been scattered,  t and I will give you the land of Israel.’ 18And when they come there,  u they will remove from it all its  v detestable things and all its abominations. 19[^] w And I will give them one heart, and  x a new spirit I will put within them.  y I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh  z and give them a heart of flesh, 20 a that they may walk in my statutes and keep my rules and obey them.  b And they shall be my people, and I will be their God. 21 c But as for those whose heart goes after their detestable things and their abominations,  d I will [4] bring their deeds upon their own heads, declares the Lord GOD.”

22[†] e Then the cherubim lifted up their wings, with the wheels beside them,  e and the glory of the God of Israel was over them. 23And the glory of the LORD went up from the midst of the city and  f stood on the mountain that is on the east side of the city. 24 g And the Spirit lifted me up and brought me  h in the vision by the Spirit of God  i into Chaldea, to the exiles. Then the vision that I had seen went up from me. 25And I told the exiles all the things that the LORD had shown me.