1. AGAIN IN the ninth year [of King Jehoiachin's captivity by Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon], in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me, saying,
2. Son of man, record the name of the day, even of this same day; the king of Babylon set himself against and assailed Jerusalem this same day.
3. And utter a parable against the rebellious house [of Judah] and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Put on a pot; put it on and also pour water into it.
4. Put into it the pieces [of meat], all the good pieces, the thigh and the shoulder; fill it with the choice of the bones.
5. Take the choicest of the flock and burn also the unused bones under it, and make it boil well and seethe its bones in [the pot].
6. Therefore thus says the Lord God: Woe to the bloody city, to the pot whose rust and scum are in it and whose rust and scum have not gone out of it! Take out of it piece by piece, without making any choice.