Ezekiel 11

1Then the Spirit lifted me up and carried me to the east gate of the house of the LORD, the gate facing east. At its entrance were twenty-five men, and I saw among them Jaazaniah son of Azzur and Pelatiah son of Benaiah, officials of the people.

2He said to me, “Son of man, these men are the ones plotting evil and giving wicked advice in this city, 3who say, ‘The time for building houses is not near. This city is the pot, and we are the meat.’ 4So prophesy against them; prophesy, son of man!” 5Then the Spirit of the LORD fell on me, and he said to me, “Say: The LORD says this: That is what you are saying, house of Israel, but I know the thoughts that rise in your minds. 6You have killed many people in this city and filled its streets with the dead.

7Therefore the Lord GOD says this: The dead you have laid in the city are the meat, and this city is the pot; but you I will take out of it. 8You fear the sword, and the sword is what I will bring against you, declares the Lord GOD. 9I will take you out of the city and hand you over to foreigners, and I will carry out judgments against you. 10You will fall by the sword; I will judge you at the border of Israel. Then you will know that I am the LORD. 11This city will not be your pot, and you will not be the meat inside it. I will judge you at the border of Israel. 12Then you will know that I am the LORD. You have not followed my statutes or carried out my rulings; instead you have acted by the rulings of the nations around you.” 13While I was prophesying, Pelatiah son of Benaiah died. Then I fell face down and cried out with a loud voice, “Oh, Lord GOD! Are you going to wipe out the remnant of Israel completely?”

14The word of the LORD came to me: 15Son of man, your brothers, your own brothers, the relatives who have the right to redeem you, and the whole house of Israel, all of them, are the ones of whom the people of Jerusalem have said, “Stay far away from the LORD! It is to us that this land has been given as a possession.”

16Therefore say: The Lord GOD says this: Though I have sent them far off among the nations and scattered them through the lands, for a little while I have still been a sanctuary to them in the lands they have gone to.

17Therefore say: The Lord GOD says this: I will gather you from the peoples and bring you together from the lands where you have been scattered, and I will give the land of Israel to you. 18When they come there, they will remove from it all its vile idols and all its detestable practices. 19I will give them one heart and put a new spirit within them. I will take the heart of stone out of their bodies and give them a heart of flesh, 20so that they will follow my statutes and carefully carry out my rulings. They will be my people, and I will be their God. 21But as for those whose hearts are devoted to their vile idols and detestable practices, I will bring their conduct down on their own heads, declares the Lord GOD. 22Then the cherubim spread their wings, with the wheels beside them, while the glory of the God of Israel was above them. 23The glory of the LORD went up from the middle of the city and stopped over the mountain east of the city. 24Then the Spirit lifted me up and, in the vision given by the Spirit of God, brought me back to the exiles in Chaldea. And the vision I had seen left me. 25And I told the exiles everything that the LORD had shown me.