Shall I not punish for these things? says Jehovah. And shall not My soul be avenged on such a nation as this?

For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very treacherously against Me, says Jehovah.

For thus has Jehovah of Hosts said, Cut down trees and cast a mound against Jerusalem! This is the city to be punished; she is full of oppression in her midst.

As a fountain keeps fresh its waters, so she keeps fresh her evil; violence and devastation is heard in her; before Me continually are sickness and wounds.

I have also seen in the prophets of Jerusalem a horrible thing; they commit adultery and walk in falsehood. They also strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that no one turns back from his evil; they are all of them like Sodom to Me, and its inhabitants like Gomorrah.

Therefore thus says Jehovah of Hosts concerning the prophets: Behold, I will feed them wormwood, and make them drink bitter water; for godlessness has gone forth from the prophets of Jerusalem into all the land.

And Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, on the hill that is before Jerusalem, and for Molech the abomination of the children of Ammon.

And he did likewise for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods.

He also built altars in the house of Jehovah, of which Jehovah had said, In Jerusalem I will put My name.

He also made his son pass through the fire, practiced witchcraft and fortunetelling, and consulted necromancers and mediums. He did much evil in the eyes of Jehovah, to provoke Him to anger.

Thus says Jehovah: Behold, I am bringing evil upon this place and upon its inhabitants; all the Words of the Book which the king of Judah has read;

because they have forsaken Me and burned incense to other gods, that they might provoke Me to anger with all the works of their hands. Therefore My wrath has been kindled against this place, and shall not be quenched.

Moreover the altar that was at Bethel, and the high place which Jeroboam the son of Nebat had made, by which he had made Israel to sin, both that altar and the high place he tore down; and he burned the high place and pulverized it to dust, and burned the grove.

And you, son of man, will you judge, will you judge the bloody city? Yes, show her all her abominations!

You are guilty by the blood which you have shed, and have defiled yourself with the idols which you have made. You have caused your days to draw near, and have come to your years. Therefore I have made you a reproach to the nations, and a mockery to all lands.

Behold, the rulers of Israel: each one was in you by his power to shed blood in you.

You have despised My holy things and profaned My Sabbaths.

In you men uncover the nakedness of their fathers; in you they humble women during their menstrual impurity.

In you they take bribes to shed blood; you take usury and increase; you have made profit from your neighbors by extortion, and have forgotten Me, declares the Lord Jehovah.

Can your heart endure, or can your hands remain strong, in the days when I shall deal with you? I, Jehovah, have spoken, and will do it.

You shall defile yourself in the eyes of the nations; and you shall know that I am Jehovah.

Son of man, the house of Israel has become dross to Me; they are all bronze, tin, iron, and lead, in the midst of the furnace; they are the dross of silver.

As men gather silver, bronze, iron, lead, and tin into the midst of the furnace, to blow fire on it to melt it; so I will gather you in My anger and in My fury, and I will leave you there and melt you.

As silver is melted in the midst of the furnace, so shall you be melted in its midst. And you shall know that I, Jehovah, have poured out My fury upon you.

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her, how often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!

Nevertheless I must journey today, tomorrow, and the day following; for it cannot be allowed to happen for a prophet to perish outside of Jerusalem.

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her, how often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were not willing!

For they prophesy a lie to you, to remove you far from your land, and that I should drive you out and you should perish.

And Jehovah said, I will also remove Judah from before My face, as I have removed Israel, and will cast off this city Jerusalem which I have chosen, and the house of which I had said, My name shall be there.

Surely at the mouth of Jehovah this came upon Judah, to remove them from before His face because of the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he had done,

and also because of the innocent blood that he had shed; for he had filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, which Jehovah was not willing to forgive.

Jerusalem has grievously sinned, therefore she has become impure. All who honored her despise her because they have seen her nakedness; yea, she sighs and turns backward.