Bible in a Year · Day 262 of 365
Today’s reading: Ezekiel 24–27 (4 chapters)
Read the passage below, or open your own Bible and follow along. The text here is the World English Bible, a public-domain translation, printed in full so the day’s reading is all on one page.
About Ezekiel
Ezekiel was a priest taken to Babylon, and his book is full of visions that are hard to picture and hard to forget. He sees the glory of God by a river, then watches that glory leave the temple, and later watches it return. He acts out the siege, lies on his side for weeks, and shaves his head as signs for a people who will not listen. The book also holds the valley of dry bones and the promise of a new heart of flesh. Much of it is dated, which gives the reader a timeline through the exile.
What to watch for. Watch the movement of God's glory, out of the temple and back again, and notice how the promise of a new heart in chapter 36 answers the diagnosis of chapter 36. Read the dry bones as a promise to people who think they are finished.
Ezekiel 24
1Again, in the ninth year, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, 2Son of man, write the name of the day, this same day. The king of Babylon drew close to Jerusalem this same day. 3Utter a parable to the rebellious house, and tell them, Thus says the Lord Yahweh, Set on the cauldron, set it on, and also pour water into it: 4gather its pieces into it, even every good piece, the thigh, and the shoulder; fill it with the choice bones. 5Take the choice of the flock, and also a pile of wood for the bones under the cauldron; make it boil well; yes, let its bones be boiled within it.
6Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: Woe to the bloody city, to the cauldron whose rust is therein, and whose rust is not gone out of it! take out of it piece after piece; No lot is fallen on it. 7For her blood is in the middle of her; she set it on the bare rock; she didn’t pour it on the ground, to cover it with dust. 8That it may cause wrath to come up to take vengeance, I have set her blood on the bare rock, that it should not be covered. 9Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: Woe to the bloody city! I also will make the pile great. 10Heap on the wood, make the fire hot, boil the meat well, and make the broth thick, and let the bones be burned.
11Then set it empty on its coals, that it may be hot, and its brass may burn, and that its filthiness may be molten in it, that its rust may be consumed. 12She is weary with toil; yet her great rust, rust by fire, doesn’t leave her. 13In your filthiness is lewdness: because I have cleansed you and you weren’t cleansed, you shall not be cleansed from your filthiness any more, until I have caused my wrath toward you to rest. 14I, Yahweh, have spoken it: it shall happen, and I will do it: I will not go back, neither will I spare, neither will I repent; according to your ways, and according to your doings, shall they judge you, says the Lord Yahweh. 15Also Yahweh’s word came to me, saying,
16Son of man, behold, I will take away from you the desire of your eyes with a stroke: yet you shall neither mourn nor weep, neither shall your tears run down. 17Sigh, but not aloud, make no mourning for the dead; bind your headdress on you, and put your shoes on your feet, and don’t cover your lips, and don’t eat men’s bread. 18So I spoke to the people in the morning; and at evening my wife died; and I did in the morning as I was commanded. 19The people said to me, Won’t you tell us what these things are to us, that you do so? 20Then I said to them, Yahweh’s word came to me, saying,
21Speak to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Behold, I will profane my sanctuary, the pride of your power, the desire of your eyes, and that which your soul pities; and your sons and your daughters whom you have left behind shall fall by the sword. 22You shall do as I have done: you shall not cover your lips, nor eat the bread of men. 23Your tires shall be on your heads, and your shoes on your feet: you shall not mourn nor weep; but you shall pine away in your iniquities, and moan one toward another. 24Thus Ezekiel shall be a sign to you; according to all that he has done, you will do. When this comes, then you will know that I am the Lord Yahweh. 25You, son of man, shall it not be in the day when I take from them their strength, the joy of their glory, the desire of their eyes, and that whereupon they set their heart, their sons and their daughters,
26that in that day he who escapes shall come to you, to cause you to hear it with your ears? 27In that day your mouth will be opened to him who has escaped, and you shall speak, and be no more mute: so you will be a sign to them; and they shall know that I am Yahweh.
Ezekiel 25
1Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, 2Son of man, set your face toward the children of Ammon, and prophesy against them: 3and tell the children of Ammon, Hear the word of the Lord Yahweh: Thus says the Lord Yahweh, Because you said, Aha, against my sanctuary, when it was profaned; and against the land of Israel, when it was made desolate; and against the house of Judah, when they went into captivity: 4therefore, behold, I will deliver you to the children of the east for a possession, and they shall set their encampments in you, and make their dwellings in you; they shall eat your fruit, and they shall drink your milk. 5I will make Rabbah a stable for camels, and the children of Ammon a resting place for flocks: and you shall know that I am Yahweh.
6For thus says the Lord Yahweh: Because you have clapped your hands, and stamped with the feet, and rejoiced with all the despite of your soul against the land of Israel; 7therefore, behold, I have stretched out my hand on you, and will deliver you for a plunder to the nations; and I will cut you off from the peoples, and I will cause you to perish out of the countries: I will destroy you; and you shall know that I am Yahweh. 8Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Because Moab and Seir say, Behold, the house of Judah is like all the nations; 9therefore, behold, I will open the side of Moab from the cities, from his cities which are on his frontiers, the glory of the country, Beth Jeshimoth, Baal Meon, and Kiriathaim, 10to the children of the east, to go against the children of Ammon; and I will give them for a possession, that the children of Ammon may not be remembered among the nations.
11and I will execute judgments on Moab; and they shall know that I am Yahweh. 12Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Because Edom has dealt against the house of Judah by taking vengeance, and has greatly offended, and revenged himself on them; 13therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh, I will stretch out my hand on Edom, and will cut off man and animal from it; and I will make it desolate from Teman; even to Dedan shall they fall by the sword. 14I will lay my vengeance on Edom by the hand of my people Israel; and they shall do in Edom according to my anger and according to my wrath; and they shall know my vengeance, says the Lord Yahweh. 15Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Because the Philistines have dealt by revenge, and have taken vengeance with despite of soul to destroy with perpetual hostility;
16therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh, Behold, I will stretch out my hand on the Philistines, and I will cut off the Cherethites, and destroy the remnant of the sea coast. 17I will execute great vengeance on them with wrathful rebukes; and they shall know that I am Yahweh, when I shall lay my vengeance on them.
Ezekiel 26
1In the eleventh year, in the first of the month, Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, 2Son of man, because Tyre has said against Jerusalem, Aha, she is broken: the gate of the peoples; she is turned to me; I shall be replenished, now that she is laid waste: 3therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh, Behold, I am against you, Tyre, and will cause many nations to come up against you, as the sea causes its waves to come up. 4They shall destroy the walls of Tyre, and break down her towers: I will also scrape her dust from her, and make her a bare rock. 5She shall be a place for the spreading of nets in the middle of the sea; for I have spoken it, says the Lord Yahweh; and she shall become a plunder to the nations.
6Her daughters who are in the field shall be slain with the sword: and they shall know that I am Yahweh. 7For thus says the Lord Yahweh: Behold, I will bring on Tyre Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, king of kings, from the north, with horses, and with chariots, and with horsemen, and a company, and many people. 8He shall kill your daughters in the field with the sword; and he shall make forts against you, and cast up a mound against you, and raise up the buckler against you. 9He shall set his battering engines against your walls, and with his axes he shall break down your towers. 10By reason of the abundance of his horses their dust shall cover you: your walls shall shake at the noise of the horsemen, and of the wagons, and of the chariots, when he shall enter into your gates, as men enter into a city in which is made a breach.
11With the hoofs of his horses shall he tread down all your streets; he shall kill your people with the sword; and the pillars of your strength shall go down to the ground. 12They shall make a plunder of your riches, and make a prey of your merchandise; and they shall break down your walls, and destroy your pleasant houses; and they shall lay your stones and your timber and your dust in the middle of the waters. 13I will cause the noise of your songs to cease; and the sound of your harps shall be no more heard. 14I will make you a bare rock; you shall be a place for the spreading of nets; you shall be built no more: for I Yahweh have spoken it, says the Lord Yahweh. 15Thus says the Lord Yahweh to Tyre: shall not the islands shake at the sound of your fall, when the wounded groan, when the slaughter is made within you?
16Then all the princes of the sea shall come down from their thrones, and lay aside their robes, and strip off their embroidered garments: they shall clothe themselves with trembling; they shall sit on the ground, and shall tremble every moment, and be astonished at you. 17They shall take up a lamentation over you, and tell you, How you are destroyed, who were inhabited by seafaring men, the renowned city, who was strong in the sea, she and her inhabitants, who caused their terror to be on all who lived there! 18Now shall the islands tremble in the day of your fall; yes, the islands that are in the sea shall be dismayed at your departure. 19For thus says the Lord Yahweh: When I shall make you a desolate city, like the cities that are not inhabited; when I shall bring up the deep on you, and the great waters shall cover you; 20then I will bring you down with those who descend into the pit, to the people of old time, and will make you to dwell in the lower parts of the earth, in the places that are desolate of old, with those who go down to the pit, that you be not inhabited; and I will set glory in the land of the living:
21I will make you a terror, and you shall no more have any being; though you are sought for, yet you will never be found again, says the Lord Yahweh.
Ezekiel 27
1Yahweh’s word came again to me, saying, 2You, son of man, take up a lamentation over Tyre; 3and tell Tyre, you who dwell at the entry of the sea, who are the merchant of the peoples to many islands, thus says the Lord Yahweh: You, Tyre, have said, I am perfect in beauty. 4Your borders are in the heart of the seas; your builders have perfected your beauty. 5They have made all your planks of cypress trees from Senir; they have taken a cedar from Lebanon to make a mast for you.
6Of the oaks of Bashan have they made your oars; they have made your benches of ivory inlaid in boxwood, from the islands of Kittim. 7Your sail was of fine linen with embroidered work from Egypt, that it might be to you for a banner; blue and purple from the islands of Elishah was your awning. 8The inhabitants of Sidon and Arvad were your rowers: your wise men, Tyre, were in you, they were your pilots. 9The old men of Gebal and its wise men were your repairers of ship seams in you: all the ships of the sea with their mariners were in you to deal in your merchandise. 10Persia and Lud and Put were in your army, your men of war: they hanged the shield and helmet in you; they showed your beauty.
11The men of Arvad with your army were on your walls all around, and valorous men were in your towers; they hung their shields on your walls all around; they have perfected your beauty. 12Tarshish was your merchant by reason of the multitude of all kinds of riches; with silver, iron, tin, and lead, they traded for your wares. 13Javan, Tubal, and Meshech, they were your traffickers; they traded the persons of men and vessels of brass for your merchandise. 14They of the house of Togarmah traded for your wares with horses and war horses and mules. 15The men of Dedan were your traffickers; many islands were the market of your hand: they brought you in exchange horns of ivory and ebony.
16Syria was your merchant by reason of the multitude of your handiworks: they traded for your wares with emeralds, purple, and embroidered work, and fine linen, and coral, and rubies. 17Judah, and the land of Israel, they were your traffickers: they traded for your merchandise wheat of Minnith, and confections, and honey, and oil, and balm. 18Damascus was your merchant for the multitude of your handiworks, by reason of the multitude of all kinds of riches, with the wine of Helbon, and white wool. 19Vedan and Javan traded with yarn for your wares: bright iron, cassia, and calamus, were among your merchandise. 20Dedan was your trafficker in precious cloths for riding.
21Arabia, and all the princes of Kedar, they were the merchants of your hand; in lambs, and rams, and goats, in these were they your merchants. 22The traffickers of Sheba and Raamah, they were your traffickers; they traded for your wares with the chief of all spices, and with all precious stones, and gold. 23Haran and Canneh and Eden, the traffickers of Sheba, Asshur and Chilmad, were your traffickers. 24These were your traffickers in choice wares, in wrappings of blue and embroidered work, and in chests of rich clothing, bound with cords and made of cedar, among your merchandise. 25The ships of Tarshish were your caravans for your merchandise: and you were replenished, and made very glorious in the heart of the seas.
26Your rowers have brought you into great waters: the east wind has broken you in the heart of the seas. 27Your riches, and your wares, your merchandise, your mariners, and your pilots, your repairers of ship seams, and the dealers in your merchandise, and all your men of war, who are in you, with all your company which is among you, shall fall into the heart of the seas in the day of your ruin. 28At the sound of the cry of your pilots the suburbs shall shake. 29All who handled the oar, the mariners, and all the pilots of the sea, shall come down from their ships; they shall stand on the land, 30and shall cause their voice to be heard over you, and shall cry bitterly, and shall cast up dust on their heads, they shall wallow themselves in the ashes:
31and they shall make themselves bald for you, and clothe them with sackcloth, and they shall weep for you in bitterness of soul with bitter mourning. 32In their wailing they shall take up a lamentation for you, and lament over you, saying, Who is there like Tyre, like her who is brought to silence in the middle of the sea? 33When your wares went out of the seas, you filled many peoples; you enriched the kings of the earth with the multitude of your riches and of your merchandise. 34In the time that you were broken by the seas in the depths of the waters, your merchandise and all your company fell within you. 35All the inhabitants of the islands are astonished at you, and their kings are horribly afraid; they are troubled in their face.
36The merchants among the peoples hiss at you; you have become a terror, and you will be no more.
Next · Day 263: Ezekiel 28–30 →
Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible (WEB), a public-domain translation. Day numbering follows the calendar year; you can start at Day 1 on any date.
