1. IN THE seventh year, in the fifth [month], on the tenth [day] of the month [after the beginning of the Babylonian captivity, which was to last seventy years], certain of the elders of Israel came to inquire of the Lord and sat down before me [Ezekiel, in Babylonia]. [Jer. 25:11; 29:10.]
2. Then came the word of the Lord to me, saying,
3. Son of man, speak to the elders of Israel and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Have you come to inquire of Me? As I live, says the Lord God, I will not be inquired of by you!
4. Will you judge them, son of man [Ezekiel], will you judge them? Then cause them to know, understand, and realize the abominations of their fathers. [Matt. 23:29-33; Acts 7:51, 52.]
5. And say to them, Thus says the Lord God: In the day when I chose Israel and lifted up My hand and swore to the offspring of the house of Jacob and made Myself known to them in the land of Egypt, when I lifted up My hand and swore to them, saying, I am the Lord your God,
6. On that day I lifted up My hand and swore to them to bring them out of the land of Egypt to a land that I had searched out for them, flowing with milk and honey, [a land] which is an ornament and a glory to all lands.
7. Then said I to them, Let every man cast away the abominable things on which he feasts his eyes, and defile not yourselves with the idols of Egypt; I am the Lord your God.
8. But they rebelled against Me and would not listen to Me; they did not every man cast away the abominable things on which they feasted their eyes, nor did they forsake the idols of Egypt. Then I [thought], I will pour out My wrath upon them and finish My anger against them in the midst of the land of Egypt.
9. But I acted for My name's sake, that it should not be profaned in the sight of the [heathen] nations among whom they dwelt, in whose sight I made Myself known to them by bringing them out of the land of Egypt.
10. So I caused them to go out from the land of Egypt and brought them into the wilderness.
11. And I gave them My statutes and showed and made known to them My judgments, which, if a man keeps, he must live in and by them.
12. Moreover, also I gave them My Sabbaths to be a sign between Me and them, that they might understand and realize that I am the Lord Who sanctifies them [separates and sets them apart].
13. But the house of Israel rebelled against Me in the wilderness; they walked not in My statutes and they despised and cast away My judgments, which, if a man keeps, he must even live in and by them; and they grievously profaned My Sabbaths. Then I thought I would pour out My wrath on them in the wilderness and uproot and consume them.
14. But I acted for My name's sake, that it should not be profaned before the [heathen] nations in whose sight I brought them out.
15. Yet also I lifted up My hand to swear to them in the wilderness that I would not bring them into the land which I had given them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the ornament and glory of all lands–
16. Because they despised and rejected My ordinances and walked not in My statutes and profaned My Sabbaths, for their hearts went after their idols.
17. Yet My eye pitied them instead of destroying them, and I did not make a full end of them in the wilderness.
18. But I said to their sons in the wilderness, You shall not walk in the statutes of your fathers nor observe their ordinances nor defile yourselves with their idols.