1“አንተም፤ የሰው ልጅ ሆይ፤ የተሳለ ሰይፍ ወስደህ እንደ ጢም መላጫ ጠጕርህንና ጢምህን ተላጭበት፤ ጠጕሩንም በሚዛን ከፋፍል። 2የከበባው ጊዜ ሲፈጸም የጠጕሩን ሢሶ በከተማው ውስጥ አቃጥለው፤ ሌላውን ሢሶ ጠጕር በከተማዪቱ ዙሪያ ሁሉ በሰይፍ ቈራርጠው፤ የቀረውንም ሢሶ ደግሞ ለነፋስ በትነው፤ እኔም በተመዘዘ ሰይፍ አሳድዳቸዋለሁና። 3ደግሞም ከጠጕሮቹ ጥቂት ወስደህ በመጐናጸፊያህ ጫፍ ቋጥር፤ 4እንደገናም ከእነዚህ ጥቂት ወስደህ እሳት ውስጥ ጨምራቸው፤ አቃጥላቸውም። እሳትም ከዚያ ወጥቶ ወደ እስራኤል ቤት ሁሉ ይሠራጫል።
5“ጌታ እግዚአብሔር እንዲህ ይላል፤ ‘አገሮችን በዙሪያዋ ሁሉ አድርጌ፣ በአሕዛብም መካከል ያስቀመጥኋት ኢየሩሳሌም ይህች ናት። 6እርሷም በዙሪያዋ ካሉት አገሮችና አሕዛብ ይልቅ በሕጌና በሥርዐቴ ላይ በክፋቷ ዐመፀች፤ ሕጌን ጥላለች፤ ሥርዐቴንም አልተከተለችም።’
7“ስለዚህ ጌታ እግዚአብሔር እንዲህ ይላል፤ ‘በዙሪያችሁ ካሉት አሕዛብ ይልቅ ሞገደኞች ሆናችኋል፤ ሥርዐቴን አልተከተላችሁም፤ ለሕጌም አልታዘዛችሁም። በዙሪያችሁ የሚገኙ አሕዛብ የሚጠብቁትን ሕግ እንኳ አልጠበቃችሁም።’5፥7 አብዛኛዎቹ የዕብራይስጥ የጥንት ቅጆችና አንዳንድ የዕብራይስጥና የሱርስት የጥንት ቅጆች የሚጠብቁትን ሕግ ጠብቃችኋል ይላሉ።
8“ስለዚህ ጌታ እግዚአብሔር እንዲህ ይላል፤ ‘እነሆ፤ እኔ ራሴ በአንቺ ላይ ተነሥቻለሁ፤ በአሕዛብም ፊት ፍርድ አመጣብሻለሁ። 9በጸያፍ ተግባርሽ ሁሉ ምክንያት ካሁን ቀደም ያላደረግሁትን፣ ወደ ፊትም የማላደርገውን በአንቺ ላይ አደርጋለሁ። 10ስለዚህ በመካከልሽ አባቶች ልጆቻቸውን፣ ልጆችም አባቶቻቸውን ይበላሉ፤ ፍርድንም አመጣብሻለሁ፤ ከአንቺ የተረፉትንም ለነፋስ እበትናለሁ።’ 11ስለዚህ በሕያውነቴ እምላለሁ ይላል ጌታ እግዚአብሔር፤ መቅደሴን በረከሱ ምስሎችሽና በጸያፍ ተግባርሽ ሁሉ ስላጐደፍሽ፣ ፊቴን ከአንቺ እመልሳለሁ፤ በርኅራኄ አልመለከትሽም፤ አልምርሽም። 12ከሕዝብሽ ሢሶው በቸነፈር ይሞታል፤ በመካከልሽም በራብ ያልቃል፤ ሌላው ሢሶ ከቅጥርሽ ውጪ በሰይፍ ይወድቃል፤ የቀረውን ሢሶ ደግሞ ለነፋስ እበትናለሁ፤ በተመዘዘም ሰይፍ አሳድደዋለሁ።
13“ከዚያም ቍጣዬ ይበርዳል፤ በእነርሱ ላይ የመጣው መቅሠፍቴ ይመለሳል፤ ስበቀላቸው እረካለሁ፤ በእነርሱም ላይ መዓቴን ካወረድሁ በኋላ፣ እኔ እግዚአብሔር በቅናት እንደ ተናገርሁ ያውቃሉ።
14“በዙሪያሽ ባሉ አሕዛብ መካከል፤ በአጠገብሽም በሚያልፉ ሁሉ ፊት ባድማና መሳለቂያ አደርግሻለሁ። 15በቍጣና በመዓት፣ እንዲሁም በጭካኔ ፍርድ በማመጣብሽ ጊዜ፣ በዙሪያሽ ባሉ አሕዛብ ዘንድ የመሣቂያና የመሣለቂያ፣ የተግሣጽና የማስደንገጫ ምልክት ትሆኛለሽ። እኔ እግዚአብሔር ተናግሬአለሁ። 16የሚገድለውንና አጥፊ የሆነውን የራብ ፍላጻ በእናንተ ላይ በምወረውርበት ጊዜ በርግጥ ላጠፋችሁ እሰድዳለሁ። በራብ ላይ ራብ አመጣባችኋለሁ፤ የምግብ ምንጫችሁንም አደርቃለሁ። 17ራብንና የዱር አራዊትን እሰድድባችኋለሁ፤ እነርሱም ልጅ አልባ ያደርጓችኋል። ቸነፈርና ደም መፋሰስ ያጥለቀልቃችኋል፤ ሰይፍንም አመጣባችኋለሁ፤ እኔ እግዚአብሔር ተናግሬአለሁ።”
God’s Razor of Judgment
1“Now, son of man, take a sharp sword and use it as a barber’s razor to shave your head and your beard. Then take a set of scales and divide up the hair. 2When the days of your siege come to an end, burn a third of the hair inside the city. Take a third and strike it with the sword all around the city. And scatter a third to the wind. For I will pursue them with drawn sword. 3But take a few hairs and tuck them away in the folds of your garment. 4Again, take a few of these and throw them into the fire and burn them up. A fire will spread from there to all Israel.
5“This is what the Sovereign Lord says: This is Jerusalem, which I have set in the center of the nations, with countries all around her. 6Yet in her wickedness she has rebelled against my laws and decrees more than the nations and countries around her. She has rejected my laws and has not followed my decrees.
7“Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: You have been more unruly than the nations around you and have not followed my decrees or kept my laws. You have not even5:7 Most Hebrew manuscripts; some Hebrew manuscripts and Syriac You have conformed to the standards of the nations around you.
8“Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I myself am against you, Jerusalem, and I will inflict punishment on you in the sight of the nations. 9Because of all your detestable idols, I will do to you what I have never done before and will never do again. 10Therefore in your midst parents will eat their children, and children will eat their parents. I will inflict punishment on you and will scatter all your survivors to the winds. 11Therefore as surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, because you have defiled my sanctuary with all your vile images and detestable practices, I myself will shave you; I will not look on you with pity or spare you. 12A third of your people will die of the plague or perish by famine inside you; a third will fall by the sword outside your walls; and a third I will scatter to the winds and pursue with drawn sword.
13“Then my anger will cease and my wrath against them will subside, and I will be avenged. And when I have spent my wrath on them, they will know that I the Lord have spoken in my zeal.
14“I will make you a ruin and a reproach among the nations around you, in the sight of all who pass by. 15You will be a reproach and a taunt, a warning and an object of horror to the nations around you when I inflict punishment on you in anger and in wrath and with stinging rebuke. I the Lord have spoken. 16When I shoot at you with my deadly and destructive arrows of famine, I will shoot to destroy you. I will bring more and more famine upon you and cut off your supply of food. 17I will send famine and wild beasts against you, and they will leave you childless. Plague and bloodshed will sweep through you, and I will bring the sword against you. I the Lord have spoken.”
