And the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, "And you, son of man, will you judge? Will you judge the bloody city? Then you must make known to her all of her detestable things! And you must say, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: "A city pouring out blood in the midst of her; its time has come, and it made idols for itself, becoming unclean. By your blood that you poured out you have become guilty, and by your idols that you made you have become unclean, and you have brought your days near, and your appointed years have come. Therefore I have made you a disgrace for the nations and a laughingstock to all of the countries. The people near and the people far from you will make fun of you, the unclean and the terrified. Look! The princes of Israel, each one according to his strength, they are in you for the shedding of blood. They have treated father and mother with contempt in you; they violated the alien with extortion; in the midst of you they mistreated the orphan and widow. You despised my holy objects; my Sabbaths you profaned. Slanderous men are among you to shed blood, and they, among you, eat upon the mountains; they do wickedness in the midst of you. They uncover the nakedness of a father among you; they violate a woman unclean of menstruation among you. And a man does a detestable thing with the wife of his neighbor, and a man defiles his daughter-in-law in wickedness, and a man sexually violates among you his sister, the daughter of his father. They take a bribe among you in order to shed blood; and you take usury, and you make gain from your neighbors by extortion, and so you have forgotten me, declares the Lord Yahweh. And look! I strike my hand for your ill-gotten gain that you have made and at your blood that was in the midst of you. Can your heart endure, or can your hands be strong at the days in which I am dealing with you? I, Yahweh, I have spoken, and I will act! I will scatter you among the nations, and I will disperse you through the countries, and I will purge your uncleanness from you. And I will be profaned by you before the eyes of the nations, and you will know that I am Yahweh."’"

And the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, "Son of man, the house of Israel has become as silver dross to me; all of them are as bronze and tin and iron and lead in the midst of a furnace, even as silver dross, silver dross they became! Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: ‘Because all of you have become as silver dross, therefore look! I am gathering you to the midst of Jerusalem, like the gathering of silver and bronze and iron and lead and tin to the middle of a furnace to blow fire on it for melting. Thus I will gather in my anger and in my rage, and I will deposit you, and I will melt you. And I will gather you, and I will blow on you with the fire of my wrath, and so I will melt you in the midst of her. Thus you will be melted like the melting of silver in the midst of a furnace, and you will know that I, Yahweh, I have poured out my rage on you.’" And the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, "Son of man, say to her, ‘You are a land not cleansed; it is not rained upon in the day of indignation.’ The conspiracy of its prophets in the midst of her is like a roaring lion that is tearing prey. They devour people, and they take wealth and treasure; they make its widows numerous in the midst of her. Its priests treat my law violently, and they profane my holy objects; they do not distinguish between a holy object and what is unholy, or between the clean and the unclean. They do not teach the difference, and they hide their eyes from my Sabbaths, and so I am profaned in the midst of them. Its officials are like wolves tearing prey in its midst, to pour out blood, to destroy people, to make dishonest gain. And for them its prophets plaster whitewash; they are seeing falseness and are practicing divination for them by lying, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh,’ and Yahweh has not spoken. They severely oppress the people of the land, and they committed robbery, and they mistreated the needy and the poor, and they oppressed the alien without justice. And so I sought for them somebody, one repairing the wall and standing in the breach before me on behalf of the land not to destroy it, but I did not find anyone, and so I poured out my indignation on them. With the fire of my wrath I destroyed them; I returned their way upon their head," declares the Lord Yahweh.

And the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, "Son of man, there were two women, the daughters of one mother, and they prostituted themselves in Egypt in their childhood; they were prostituting themselves there, and their breasts were fondled, and there they caressed the bosoms of their virginity. Now as for their names, the older was Oholah, and Oholibah was her sister. And they became mine, and they bore sons and daughters, and their names are Samaria for Oholah, and Jerusalem for Oholibah. And Oholah prostituted herself while she was still mine, and she lusted for her lovers, for Assyria who was nearby, clothed in blue cloth, governors and prefects, handsome young men and all of them horsemen, experts on horseback. And she bestowed her fornication on them, on the choice ones of the Assyrians, all of them, and with every one after which she lusted; with all of their idols she defiled herself. And her whorings from the time of Egypt she did not abandon, for they slept with her in her childhood, and they caressed the bosoms of her virginity, and they poured out their fornication on her. Therefore I gave her into the hand of her lovers, into the hand of the Assyrians after whom she lusted. They uncovered her nakedness; they took her sons and her daughters, and they killed her with the sword. And she became a name for the women, and they executed judgments against her.

"And though Oholibah her sister saw, yet in her lust she behaved more corruptly than her, and her whoring was more than the prostitution of her sister. She lusted after the Assyrians, governors and prefects, warriors clothed in perfection, expert horsemen, all of them handsome young men. And I saw that she was defiled; they had both taken the same path! And she increased her whorings, and she saw men carved on the wall, images of Chaldeans carved in red, belted with a belt at their waist with turbans on their heads, all of them giving the appearance of adjutants, the image of the Babylonians; Chaldea was the land of their birth. And she lusted for them when her eyes saw them, and she sent messengers to them at Chaldea. And so the Babylonians came to her for the bed of lovemaking; and they defiled her with their fornication, and she was defiled by them, and she turned from them. And she revealed her whorings, and she revealed her nakedness, and so I turned from her just as I turned from her sister. Yet she increased her whorings, recalling the days of her childhood when she was prostituted in the land of Egypt. And she lusted after her male lovers whose genitalia were the genitalia of male donkeys and their seminal emission was the seminal emission of horses. And you longed after the obscene conduct of your youth when your bosom was caressed by Egypt, fondling your young breasts.

"Therefore, Oholibah, thus says the Lord Yahweh: ‘Look! I am stirring up your lovers against you concerning whom you turned away, and I will bring them against you from all around: the Babylonians and all of the Chaldeans, Pekod and Shoa and Koa, all of the Assyrians along with them, handsome young men, governors and prefects, all of them adjutants and excellent horsemen. And they will come against you with an army chariot and wagon and with a crowd of peoples; they will set themselves against you from all around with large shield and small shield and helmet. And I will give before them judgment, and they will judge you with their judgments. And I will direct my zeal against you, and they will deal with you in anger; your nose and your ears they will remove, and those who are left, they will fall by the sword, and they will take your sons and your daughters, and your remnant will be consumed by fire. And they will strip you of your clothes, and they will take your splendid jewelry. And I will put an end to your obscene conduct coming from you and your fornication from the land of Egypt, and you will not lift your eyes to them; and you will not remember Egypt again.’ For thus says the Lord Yahweh: ‘Look! I am giving you into the hand of those you hated, into the hand of those from whom you turned away. And they will deal with you in hatred, and they will take all of your acquisitions, and they will leave you naked and in bareness; and the nakedness of your fornication and your obscene conduct and your whorings will be exposed. These things are accomplished against you since you prostituted yourself after the nations, and on account of that, you defiled yourself by their idols. You went in the same way of your sister, and I will give her cup into your hand."’

Thus says the Lord Yahweh: "You will drink the deep and wide cup of your sister; you will be as laughter and as scorn; the cup holds so much! You will be filled with drunkenness and sorrow, for a cup of horror and desolation is the cup of your sister, Samaria. And you will drink it, and you will drain it, and its potsherds you will gnaw, and you will tear out your breasts, for I myself spoke," declares the Lord Yahweh. Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: "Because you have forgotten me, and you threw me behind your back, now in turn you bear your obscene conduct and your whorings."

And Yahweh said to me, "Son of man, will you judge Oholah and Oholibah and declare their abominable deeds to them? For they committed adultery, and blood is on their hands, and they committed adultery with their idols, and even their children that they had borne for me—they sacrificed them as food! Also they did this to me: they defiled my sanctuary on that day, and they profaned my Sabbaths, and when they slaughtered their children for their idols, they came to my sanctuary on that day to profane it. And look, this is what they did in my house! What is worse, they sent for men who come from a distant place, to whom a messenger was sent to them, and look! They came! Men for whom you bathed and painted your eyes, and you adorned yourself with an ornament. And you sat on a magnificent couch and a table prepared before her, and my incense and my olive oil you put on her. And a sound of a carefree crowd was with it, and in addition to these men, a crowd of drunken men was brought in from the desert, and they put bracelets on their arms and a crown of splendor on their heads. And I said to the one worn out with adulteries, ‘Now they will prostitute her concerning her fornication, even her.’ And so they went to her like going to a female prostitute; and thus they went to Oholah and to Oholibah, the women of obscene conduct. But righteous men, they will judge them with the judgment of committing adultery, and with the judgment of shedding blood; for they were committing adultery, and blood was on their hands."

For thus says the Lord Yahweh: "Bring up against them an assembly, and make them as a thing of horror and as plunder. And an assembly must stone them with stones, and they must cut them down. With their swords they shall kill their sons and their daughters, and with fire they shall burn their houses. And I will cause obscene conduct to cease from the land, and all of the women will be warned, and they will not do according to your wickedness. And they will repay your obscene conduct upon you, and the guilt of your idols you will bear, and you will know that I am the Lord Yahweh.

And the word of Yahweh came to me in the ninth year, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, saying, "Son of man, write for yourself the name of the day, this very day. The king of Babylon laid siege to Jerusalem on exactly this day! And deliver a proverb to the rebellious house, and you must say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: "Place the pot! Place it and also pour water into it. Gather its pieces to it, every good piece, thigh and shoulder, fill it with choice bones; take the choicest of the flock, and also pile the bones under it; boil it vigorously; indeed, its bones boiled in the midst of it."’"

Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: "Woe to the city of bloodguilt! A pot that has its rust in it; its rust did not go out from it. Bring it out piece by piece; one is as good as another. For her blood was in the midst of her; she put it on a bare rock; she did not pour it on the ground to cover it with dust. To stir up rage, to avenge myself through vengeance, I placed its blood on the barrenness of a rock, so that it may not be covered."

Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: "Woe to the city of bloodguilt! I, even I, will make the pile of wood great! Pile up the logs; kindle the fire; finish cooking the meat, and mix in the spices, and let the bones be burned. And make it stand empty upon its burning coals so that it may become hot, and its copper may become molten and be melted in the midst of it, so that its uncleanness and its rust be consumed. Through effort she has caused weariness; its thick rust went not out of it. Its rust! Into the fire with its rust! In your uncleanness is obscene conduct, because I cleansed you, but you were not clean from your uncleanness; you will not be clean again until I fully vent my rage on you. I, Yahweh, I have spoken. It is coming, and I did it; I will not disregard, and I will not take pity, and I will not reconsider. According to your ways and according to your deeds they will judge you!" declares the Lord Yahweh.

And the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, "Son of man, look! I am taking from you what is pleasing to your eyes with a plague, but you shall not mourn, and you shall not weep, and your tears shall not run down. Sigh in silence for the dead; you shall not make a mourning ceremony. Bind your turban on you, and you must put your sandals on your feet. You must not cover your upper lip, and the bread of mourners you shall not eat." And I spoke to the people in the morning, and my wife died in the evening, and I did in the morning just as I was commanded. And the people said to me, "Will you not make known to us what these things that you are doing mean for us?" And I said to them that the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, "Say to the house of Israel, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: "Look! I will be profaning my sanctuary, the pride of your strength and the delight of your eyes and the object of your own affection; and your sons and your daughters whom you left behind will fall by the sword, and you shall do just as I did: You shall not cover your upper lip, and you shall not eat the bread of mourners. And your turban must be on your heads, and your sandals must be on your feet. You shall not mourn, and you shall not weep, but you shall waste away because of your iniquities, and you shall groan to one another. And Ezekiel will be to you as a sign; everything that he did you shall do; and when it comes you will know that I am the Lord Yahweh.

"And you, son of man, will it not be that on the day when I take from them their stronghold, the joy of their glory, the delight of their eyes, and the longing of their inner self, their sons and daughters— on that day a survivor will come to you with the news. On that day your mouth shall be opened at the arrival of the fugitive, and you shall speak, and you shall not be silent any longer, and you shall be to them as a sign, and they will know that I am Yahweh."

A song of ascents.

But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. Now early in the morning he came again to the temple courts. And all the people were coming, and he sat down and began to teach them.

Now the scribes and the Pharisees brought to him a woman caught in adultery. And standing her in their midst, they said to him, testing him, "Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery! Now in the law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?" (Now they were saying this to test him, so that they would have an occasion to bring charges against him.) But Jesus, bending down, began to write with his finger on the ground, taking no notice. And when they persisted in asking him, straightening up he said to them, "The one of you without sin, let him throw the first stone at her!" And bending down again, he wrote on the ground. Now when they heard it, being convicted by their conscience, they began to depart, one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone—and the woman who was in their midst. So Jesus, straightening up and seeing no one except the woman, said to her, "Where are those accusers of yours? Does no one condemn you?" And she said, "No one, Lord." So Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn you. Go, and sin no more."]]

Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, "I am the light of the world! The one who follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." So the Pharisees said to him, "You testify concerning yourself! Your testimony is not true." Jesus answered and said to them, "Even if I testify concerning myself, my testimony is true, because I know where I have come from and where I am going. But you do not know where I have come from or where I am going. You judge according to externals; I do not judge anyone. But even if I judge, my judgment is true, because I am not alone, but I and the Father who sent me. And even in your law it is written that the testimony of two men is true. I am the one who testifies concerning myself, and the Father who sent me testifies concerning me."

So they were saying to him, "Where is your father?" Jesus replied, "You know neither me nor my Father! If you had known me, you would have known my Father also." He spoke these words by the treasury while teaching in the temple courts, and no one seized him, because his hour had not yet come.

So he said to them again, "I am going away, and you will seek me and will die in your sin. Where I am going you cannot come!" Then the Jews began to say, "Perhaps he will kill himself, because he is saying, ‘Where I am going you cannot come.’" And he said to them, "You are from below; I am from above. You are from this world; I am not from this world. Thus I said to you that you will die in your sins. For if you do not believe that I am he, you will die in your sins."

So they began to say to him, "Who are you?" Jesus said to them, "What I have been saying to you from the beginning. I have many things to say and to judge concerning you, but the one who sent me is true, and the things which I heard from him, these things I say to the world." (They did not know that he was speaking to them about the Father.)

Then Jesus said, "When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will recognize that I am he, and I do nothing from myself, but just as the Father taught me, I say these things. And the one who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, because I always do the things that are pleasing to him." While he was saying these things, many believed in him.

Then Jesus said to those Jews who had believed him, "If you continue in my word you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." They replied to him, "We are descendants of Abraham and have not been enslaved to anyone at any time. How do you say, ‘You will become free’?" Jesus replied to them, "Truly, truly I say to you, that everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin. And the slave does not remain in the household forever; the son remains forever. So if the son sets you free, you will be truly free. I know that you are descendants of Abraham. But you are seeking to kill me, because my word makes no progress among you. I speak the things that I have seen with the Father; so also you do the things that you have heard from the Father."

They answered and said to him, "Abraham is our father!" Jesus said to them, "If you are children of Abraham, do the deeds of Abraham! But now you are seeking to kill me, a man who spoke to you the truth which I heard from God. This Abraham did not do. You are doing the deeds of your father!"

They said to him, "We were not born from sexual immorality! We have one father, God!" Jesus said to them, "If God were your father, you would love me, for I have come forth from God and have come. For I have not come from myself, but that one sent me. Why do you not understand my way of speaking? Because you are not able to listen to my message. You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father! That one was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand firm in the truth, because truth is not in him. Whenever he speaks the lie, he speaks from his own nature, because he is a liar and the father of lies. But because I am telling the truth, you do not believe me. Who among you convicts me concerning sin? If I am telling the truth, why do you not believe me? The one who is from God listens to the words of God. Because of this you do not listen—because you are not of God."

The Jews answered and said to him, "Do we not correctly say that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?" Jesus replied, "I do not have a demon, but I honor my Father, and you dishonor me! But I do not seek my own glory. There is one who seeks and judges! Truly, truly I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never experience death forever."

The Jews said to him, "Now we know that you have a demon! Abraham and the prophets died, and you say, ‘If anyone keeps my word, he will never taste death forever.’ You are not greater than our father Abraham who died, are you? And the prophets died! Who do you make yourself to be?" Jesus replied, "If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. The one who glorifies me is my Father, about whom you say, ‘He is our God.’ And you have not known him, but I know him. And if I were to say that I do not know him, I would be a liar like you! But I know him and I keep his word. Abraham your father rejoiced that he would see my day, and he saw it and was glad."

So the Jews said to him, "You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?" Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly I say to you, before Abraham was, I am!" Then they picked up stones in order to throw them at him. But Jesus was hidden and went out of the temple courts.