20. Yet ye say, The way of the Lord is not straight. O ye house of Israel, I will judge you each one after his ways.
21. And it came to pass in the twelfth year of our captivity, in the tenth month, in the fifth day of the month, that one that had escaped out of Jerusalem came unto me, saying, The city is smitten.
22. Now the hand of the Lord was upon me in the evening before he that was escaped came, and had opened my mouth, until he came to me in the morning; and he opened my mouth, and I was never dumb again.
23. And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
24. Son of man, those that inhabit these wastes in the land of Israel speak, saying, Abraham was one, and he possessed the land; but we are many; the land is given us for a possession.
25. Therefore say unto them, Thus hath the Lord GOD said; Ye eat with the blood and lift up your eyes toward your idols and shed blood, and shall ye possess this land?
26. Ye stand upon your sword, ye work abomination, and ye defile each one his neighbour’s wife, and shall ye possess the land?
27. Thou shalt speak unto them like this, Thus hath the Lord GOD said; As I live, surely those that are in those wastes shall fall by the sword, and he that is in the open field I will give to the beasts to be devoured, and those that are in the forts and in the caves shall die of the pestilence.
28. For I will make the land into desert and solitude, and the pride of her strength shall cease; and the mountains of Israel shall be desolate, that no one shall pass through.
29. Then they shall know that I am the Lord, when I have made the land into solitude and desert because of all their abominations which they have committed.