3. and tell them I am saying:Jerusalem, you have murdered many of your own people and have worshipped idols. You will soon be punished!
4. Those crimes have made you guilty, and the idols have made you unacceptable to me. So your final punishment is near. Other nations will laugh at you and make insulting remarks,
5. and people far and near will make fun of your misery.
6. Your own leaders use their power to murder.
7. None of you honour your parents, and you cheat foreigners, orphans, and widows.
8. You show no respect for my sacred places and treat the Sabbath just like any other day.
9. Some of your own people tell lies, so that others will be put to death. Some of you eat meat sacrificed to idols at local shrines, and others never stop doing vulgar things.
20-21. I will be like a metalworker who collects that metal from the furnace and melts it down. I will collect the Israelites and blow on them with my fiery anger. They will melt inside the city of Jerusalem
22. like silver in a furnace. Then they will know that I, the Lord, have punished them in my anger.
23. The Lord said:
24. Ezekiel, son of man, tell the people of Israel that their country is full of sin, and that I, the Lord, am furious!
25. Their leaders are like roaring lions, tearing apart their victims. They put people to death, then steal everything of value. Husbands are killed, and many women are left as widows.
26. The priests of Israel ignore my Law! Not only do they refuse to respect any of my sacred things, but they don't even teach the difference between what is sacred and what is ordinary, or between what is clean and what is unclean. They treat my Sabbath like any other day, and so my own people no longer honour me.
27. Israel's officials are like ferocious wolves, ripping their victims apart. They make a dishonest living by injuring and killing people.
28. And then the prophets in Israel cover up these sins by giving false visions. I have never spoken to them, but they lie and say they have a message from me.