Moreover, the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 2 “Also, son of man, thus says the Lord GOD to the land of Israel, ‘An ^aend! The end is coming on the four corners of the land. Ezek 11:13; Amos 8:2 3 Now the end is upon you, and I will send My anger against you and will judge you in accordance with your ways and I will bring retribution for all your abominations upon you. 4 For My eye will have no pity on you, nor will I spare you, but I will ^arepay you for your evil ways, while your abominations are among you; and you will ^bknow (recognize, understand) without any doubt that I am the LORD.’

5 “Thus says the Lord GOD, ‘A ^adisaster is coming, one so destructive and injurious, so sudden and violent, that it stands alone, a unique disaster, look it is coming! 6 An end is coming; the end has come! It has ^aawakened against you. Look, it has come! 7 Your doom has come to you, O inhabitant of the land; the ^atime has come, the ^bday is near—tumult rather than joyful shouting on the mountains. 8 Now I will soon ^apour out My wrath on you and spend My anger against you, and I will ^bjudge you in accordance with your ways and will repay you with punishment for all your outrageous acts. 9 My eye will show no pity nor will I spare you. I will repay you in accordance with your ways, while your abominations are in your midst; then you will know and understand that it is I, the LORD, who strikes you.

10 ‘Behold, the day! Behold, it is coming! Your doom has gone forth, the ^arod has blossomed, arrogance has sprouted. 11 Violence has grown into a rod of ^awickedness; none of them (Israel) will remain, none of their people, none of their ^bwealth, nor anything eminent among them. 12 The ^atime has come, the day has arrived. Let not the ^bbuyer rejoice nor the seller mourn, for ^cwrath is against all their multitude of people. 13 For the seller will not ^aregain and return to ¹what he sold, even were they yet alive; for the vision of punishment regarding all the multitude of people will not be turned back, nor will any one of them sustain his life because of his sin.

14 ‘They have ^ablown the trumpet and have made everything ready, but no one is going to the battle, for My wrath is against all their multitude of people. 15 The ^asword is outside and virulent disease and famine are within. He who is in the field will die by the sword, and famine and disease will devour those in the city. 16 Even when their survivors ^aescape, they will be on the mountains like ^bdoves of the valleys, all of them ^cmoaning, each over his punishment for sin. 17 All ^ahands will hang limp and all knees will be as weak as water. Is 13:7; Jer 6:24; Ezek 21:7 18 They will also ^acover themselves with sackcloth; ^bhorror will overwhelm them, and shame will be on all faces and ^cbaldness on all their heads as evidence of grief. 19 They will ^afling their silver into the streets and their gold will be discarded like something unclean; their ^bsilver and their gold shall not be able to save them in the day of the wrath of the LORD. These things cannot satisfy their soul nor fill their stomachs, for they have become their stumbling block and source of sin. Prov 11:4; Zeph 1:18

20 As for the beauty of gold for ornaments, they turned it to pride and from it ^amade the images of their repulsive things (idols) and of their vile things. Therefore I will make it an unclean thing to them. 21 I will give it into the hands of ^astrangers (Babylonians) as plunder and to the wicked of the earth as spoil, and they shall profane it. 22 I will also turn My ^aface away from them, and they will desecrate My secret treasure (the Jerusalem temple) ; and robbers will enter irreverently into it (the Holy of Holies) and violate it.

23 ‘^aPrepare the chain for imprisonment, for the land is full of ^bbloody crimes murders committed under the pretense of civil justice and the city is ^cfull of violence. 24 Therefore, I will bring the worst of the Gentile ^anations, and they will take possession of their houses those of the people of Judah; I will also silence their ^bpride, and their ^choly places will be profaned. 25 When anguish comes, they of Judah shall seek ^apeace, but there will be none. 26 ^aDisaster will come upon disaster and ^brumor will be heaped on rumor; they will seek a ^cvision from a prophet, but the ^dlaw and guidance will be lost from the priest and wise ^ecounsel will cease from the elders. Ps 74:9; Lam 2:9 27 The king of Judah will mourn and the prince (Zedekiah) will be ^aclothed with garments of despair and anguish, and the hands of the people of the land shall tremble in terror. I will deal with them in accordance with their conduct, and by their judgments I will judge them. And they will know without any doubt that I am the LORD.’”