20. But the Israelites still think I am unfair. So warn them that they will be punished for what they have done.
21. Twelve years after King Jehoiachin and the rest of us had been led away as prisoners to Babylonia, a refugee who had escaped from Jerusalem came to me on the fifth day of the tenth month. He told me that the city had fallen.
22. The evening before this man arrived at my house, the Lord had taken control of me. So when the man came to me the next morning, I could once again speak.
23. Then the Lord said:
24. Ezekiel, son of man, the people living in the ruined cities of Israel are saying, “Abraham was just one man, and the Lord gave him this whole land of Israel. There are many of us, and so this land must be ours.”
25. So, Ezekiel, tell them I am saying:How can you think the land is still yours? You eat meat with blood in it and worship idols. You commit murder
26. and spread violence throughout the land. Everything you do is wicked; you are even unfaithful in marriage. And you claim the land is yours!
27. As surely as I am the living Lord God, you people in the ruined cities will be killed in battle. Those of you living in the countryside will be eaten by wild animals, and those hiding in caves and on rocky cliffs will die from deadly diseases.
28. I will make the whole country an empty wasteland and crush the power in which you take such pride. Even the mountains will be bare, and no one will try to cross them.
29. I will punish you because of your sins, and I will turn your nation into a barren desert. Then you will know that I am the Lord.
30. Ezekiel, son of man, the people with you in Babylonia talk about you when they meet by the city walls or in the doorways of their houses. They say, “Let's ask Ezekiel what the Lord has said today.”
31. So they all come and listen to you, but they refuse to do what you tell them. They claim to be faithful, but they are for ever trying to cheat others out of their money.
32. They treat you as though you were merely singing love songs or playing music. They listen, but don't do anything you say.
33. Soon they will be punished, just as you warned, and they will know that a prophet has been among them.