1. In the seventh year, on the tenth day of the fifth month, some of the elders of Israel came to consult the Lord and sat down before me.
2. Then the word of the Lord came to me:
3. Son of man, speak to the elders of Israel and say to them: Thus says the Lord God: Have you come to consult me? As I live, I will not allow myself to be consulted by you!—oracle of the Lord God.
4. Will you judge them? Will you judge, son of man? Tell them about the abominations of their ancestors,
5. and say to them: Thus says the Lord God: The day I chose Israel, I swore to the descendants of the house of Jacob; I revealed myself to them in the land of Egypt and swore to them, saying: I am the Lord, your God.
6. That day I swore to bring them out of the land of Egypt to the land I had searched out for them, a land flowing with milk and honey, a jewel among all lands.
7. Then I said to them: Throw away, each of you, the detestable things that held your eyes; do not defile yourselves with the idols of Egypt: I am the Lord, your God.
8. But they rebelled and refused to listen to me; none of them threw away the detestable things that held their eyes, nor did they abandon the idols of Egypt. Then I considered pouring out my fury and spending my anger against them there in the land of Egypt.
9. I acted for the sake of my name, that it should not be desecrated in the eyes of the nations among whom they were: in the eyes of the nations I had made myself known to them, to bring them out of the land of Egypt.
10. Therefore I led them out of the land of Egypt and brought them into the wilderness.