Ezekiel 24-26 - Woe to the Bloody City

From today's Bible reading:

Ezekiel 24:

Son of man, write down the name of this day, this very day.
The king of Babylon has laid siege to Jerusalem this very day.

And utter a parable to the rebellious house and say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD:

Set on the pot, set it on;
pour in water also;
put in it the pieces of meat,
all the good pieces, the thigh and the shoulder;
fill it with choice bones.

Take the choicest one of the flock;
pile the logs under it;
boil it well;
seethe also its bones in it.

Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Woe to the bloody city, to the pot whose corrosion is in it, and whose corrosion has not gone out of it!

On account of your unclean lewdness, because I would have cleansed you and you were not cleansed from your uncleanness, you shall not be cleansed anymore till I have satisfied my fury upon you.

• I am the LORD.
• I have spoken;
• it shall come to pass;
• I will do it.
• I will not go back;
• I will not spare;
• I will not relent;

according to your ways and your deeds you will be judged, declares the Lord GOD.

The word of the LORD came to me:

Son of man, behold, I am about to take the delight of your eyes away from you at a stroke; yet you shall not mourn or weep, nor shall your tears run down. Sigh, but not aloud; make no mourning for the dead. Bind on your turban, and put your shoes on your feet; do not cover your lips, nor eat the bread of men.

So I spoke to the people in the morning, and at evening my wife died.

And on the next morning I did as I was commanded.

(Ezekiel is paying quite the personal price to be obedient.)

And the people said to me, Will you not tell us what these things mean for us, that you are acting thus?

Then I said to them, The word of the LORD came to me: Say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I will profane my sanctuary, the pride of your power, the delight of your eyes, and the yearning of your soul, and your sons and your daughters whom you left behind shall fall by the sword. And you shall do as I have done; you shall not cover your lips, nor eat the bread of men. Your turbans shall be on your heads and your shoes on your feet; you shall not mourn or weep, but you shall rot away in your iniquities and groan to one another.

Thus shall Ezekiel be to you a sign; according to all that he has done you shall do. When this comes, then you will know that I am the Lord GOD.

Ezekiel 25:

Ammonites

Moab

Edom

Philistines

Ezekiel 26:

Tyre

I will stop the music of your songs, and the sound of your lyres shall be heard no more. I will make you a bare rock.

Thus says the Lord GOD to Tyre:

Will not the coastlands shake at the sound of your fall, when the wounded groan, when slaughter is made in your midst? Then all the princes of the sea will step down from their thrones and remove their robes and strip off their embroidered garments. They will clothe themselves with trembling; they will sit on the ground and tremble every moment and be appalled at you. And they will raise a lamentation over you and say to you,

How you have perished,
you who were inhabited from the seas,
O city renowned,
who was mighty on the sea;
she and her inhabitants imposed their terror
on all her inhabitants!

Now the coastlands tremble
on the day of your fall,
and the coastlands that are on the sea
are dismayed at your passing.

For thus says the Lord GOD:

When I make you a city laid waste, like the cities that are not inhabited, when I bring up the deep over you, and the great waters cover you, then I will make you go down with those who go down to the pit, to the people of old, and I will make you to dwell in the world below, among ruins from of old, with those who go down to the pit, so that you will not be inhabited; but I will set beauty in the land of the living. I will bring you to a dreadful end, and you shall be no more.

Though you be sought for, you will never be found again, declares the Lord GOD.

(Sounds almost like the lost city of Atlantis.)