Chapter 59

31:18. To whom art thou like, O thou that art famous and lofty among the trees of pleasure? Behold, thou art brought down with the trees of pleasure to the lowest parts of the earth: thou shalt sleep in the midst of the uncircumcised, with them that are slain by the sword: this is Pharao, and all his multitude, saith the Lord God.

Ezechiel Chapter 32

The prophet's lamentation for the king of Egypt.

32:1. And it came to pass in the twelfth year, in the twelfth month, in the first day of the month, that the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

32:2. Son of man, take up a lamentation for Pharao the king of Egypt, and say to him: Thou art like the lion of the nations, and the dragon that is in the sea: and thou didst push with the horn in thy rivers, and didst trouble the waters with thy feet, and didst trample upon their streams.

32:3. Therefore, thus saith the Lord God: I will spread out my net over thee with the multitude of many people, and I will draw thee up in my net.

32:4. And I will throw thee out on the land, I will cast thee away into the open field and I will cause all the fowls of the air to dwell upon thee, and I will fill the beasts of all the earth with thee.

32:5. And I will lay thy flesh upon the mountains, and will fill thy hills with thy corruption,

32:6. And I will water the earth with thy stinking blood upon the mountains, and the valleys shall be filled with thee.

32:7. And I will cover the heavens, when thou shalt be put out, and I will make the stars thereof dark: I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not give her light.

32:8. I will make all the lights of heaven to mourn over thee and I will cause darkness upon thy land, saith the Lord God, when thy wounded shall fall in the midst of the land, saith the Lord God.

32:9. And I shall provoke to anger the heart of many people, when I shall have brought in thy destruction among the nations upon the lands, which thou knowest not.

32:10. And I will make many people to be amazed at thee, and their kings shall be horribly afraid for thee, when my sword shall begin to fly upon their faces: and they shall be astonished on a sudden, every one for his own life, in the day of their ruin.

32:11. For thus saith the Lord God: The sword of the king of Babylon shall come upon thee,

32:12. By the swords of the mighty I will overthrow thy multitude: all these nations are invincible: and they shall waste the pride of Egypt, and the multitude thereof shall be destroyed.

32:13. I will destroy also all the beasts thereof that were beside the great waters: and the foot of man shall trouble them no more, neither shall the hoof of beasts trouble them.

32:14. Then will I make their waters clear, and cause their rivers to run like oil, saith the Lord God:

32:15. When I shall have made the land of Egypt desolate: and the land shall be destitute of her fulness, when I shall have struck all the inhabitants thereof and they shall know that I am the Lord.

32:16. This is the lamentation, and they shall lament therewith: the daughters of the nations shall lament therewith for Egypt, and for the multitude thereof they shall lament therewith, saith the Lord God.

32:17. And it came to pass in the twelfth year, in the fifteenth day of the month, that the word of the Lord came to me saying:

32:18. Son of man, sing a mournful song for the multitude of Egypt: and cast her down, both her, and the daughters of the mighty nations to the lowest part of the earth, with them that go down into the pit.

32:19. Whom dost thou excel in beauty? go down and sleep with the uncircumcised.

32:20. They shall fall in the midst of them that are slain with the sword: the sword is given, they have drawn her down, and all her people.

32:21. The most mighty among the strong ones shall speak to him from the midst of hell, they that went down with his helpers and slept uncircumcised, slain by the sword.

32:22. Assur is there, and all his multitude: their graves are round about him, all of them slain, and that fell by the sword.

32:23. Whose graves are set in the lowest parts of the pit: and his multitude lay round about his grave: all of them slain, and fallen by the sword, they that heretofore spread terror in the land of the living.

32:24. There is Elam and all his multitude round about his grave, all of them slain, and fallen by the sword; that went down uncircumcised to the lowest parts of the earth: that caused their terror in the land of the living, and they have borne their shame with them that go down into the pit.

32:25. In the midst of the slain they have set him a bed among all his people: their graves are round about him: all these are uncircumcised, and slain by the sword: for they spread their terror in the land of the living, and have borne their shame with them that descend into the pit: they are laid in the midst of the slain.

32:26. There is Mosoch, and Thubal, and all their multitude: their graves are round about him: all of them uncircumcised and slain, and fallen by the sword: though they spread their terror in the land of the living.

32:27. And they shall not sleep with the brave, and with them that fell uncircumcised, that went down to hell with their weapons, and laid their swords under their heads, and their iniquities were in their bones, because they were the terror of the mighty in the land of the living.

32:28. So thou also shalt be broken in the midst of the uncircumcised, and shalt sleep with them that are slain by the sword.

32:29. There is Edom, and her kings, and all her princes, who with their army are joined with them that are slain by the sword: and have slept with the uncircumcised, and with them that go down into the pit.

32:30. There are all the princes of the north, and all the hunters: who were brought down with the slain, fearing, and confounded in their strength: who slept uncircumcised with them that are slain by the sword, and have borne their shame with them that go down into the pit.

32:31. Pharao saw them, and he was comforted concerning all his multitude, which was slain by the sword: Pharao, and all his army, saith the Lord God:

32:32. Because I have spread my terror in the land of the living, and he hath slept in the midst of the uncircumcised with them that are slain by the sword: Pharao and all his multitude, saith the Lord God.

Ezechiel Chapter 33

The duty of the watchman appointed by God: the justice of God's ways: his judgments upon the Jews.

33:1. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

33:2. Son of man, speak to the children of thy people, and say to them: When I bring the sword upon a land, if the people of the land take a man, one of their meanest, and make him a watchman over them:

33:3. And he sees the sword coming upon the land, and sound the trumpet, and tell the people:

33:4. Then he that heareth the sound of the trumpet, whosoever he be, and doth not look to himself, if the sword come, and cut him off: his blood shall be upon his own head.

33:5. He heard the sound of the trumpet, and did not look to himself, his blood shall be upon him: but if he look to himself, he shall save his life.

33:6. And if the watchman see the sword coming, and sound not the trumpet: and the people look not to themselves, and the sword come, and cut off a soul from among them: he indeed is taken away in his iniquity, but I will require his blood at the hand of the watchman.

33:7. So thou, O son of man, I have made thee a watchman to the house of Israel: therefore thou shalt hear the word from my mouth, and shalt tell it them from me.

33:8. When I say to the wicked: O wicked man, thou shalt surely die: if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked man from his way: that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but I will require his blood at thy hand.

33:9. But if thou tell the wicked man, that he may be converted from his ways, and he be not converted from his way he shall die in his iniquity: but thou hast delivered thy soul.

33:10. Thou therefore, O son of man, say to the house of Israel: Thus you have spoken, saying: Our iniquities, and our sins are upon us, and we pine away in them: how then can we live?

33:11. Say to them: As I live, saith the Lord God, I desire not the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way, and live. Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways: and why will you die, O house of Israel?

33:12. Thou therefore, O son of man, say to the children of thy people: The justice of the just shall not deliver him, in what day soever he shall sin: and the wickedness of the wicked shall not hurt him, in what day soever he shall turn from his wickedness: and the just shall not be able to live in his justice, in what day soever he shall sin.

33:13. Yea, if I shall say to the just that he shall surely live, and he, trusting in his justice, commit iniquity: all his justices shall be forgotten, and his iniquity, which he hath committed, in the same shall he die.

33:14. And it I shall say to the wicked: Thou shalt surely die: and he do penance for his sin, and do judgment and justice,

33:15. And if that wicked man restore the pledge, and render what he had robbed, and walk in the commandments of life, and do no unjust thing: he shall surely live, and shall not die.

33:16. None of his sins, which he hath committed, shall be imputed to him: he hath done judgment and justice, he shall surely live.

33:17. And the children of thy people have said: The way of the Lord is not equitable: whereas their own way is unjust.

33:18. For when the just shall depart from his justice, and commit iniquities, he shall die in them.

33:19. And when the wicked shall depart from his wickedness, and shall do judgments, and justice, he shall live in them.

33:20. And you say: The way of the Lord is not right, I will judge every one of you according to his ways, O house of Israel.

33:21. And it came to pass in the twelfth year of our captivity, in the tenth month, in the fifth day of the month, that there came to me one that was fled from Jerusalem, saying: The city is laid waste.

33:22. And the hand of the Lord had been upon me in the evening, before he that was fled came: and he opened my mouth till he came to me in the morning, and my mouth being opened, I was silent no more.

33:23. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

33:24. Son of man, they that dwell in these ruinous places in the land of Israel, speak, saying: Abraham was one, and he inherited the land, but we are many, the land is given us in possession.

33:25. Therefore say to them: Thus saith the Lord God: You that eat with the blood and lift up your eyes to your uncleannesses, and that shed blood: shall you possess the land by inheritance?

33:26. You stood on your swords, you have committed abominations, and every one hath defiled his neighbours wife; and shall you possess the land by inheritance?

33:27. Say thou thus to them: Thus saith the Lord God: As I live, they that dwell in the ruinous places, shall fall by the sword: and he that is in the field, shall be given to the beasts to be devoured: and they that are in holds, and caves, shall die of the pestilence.

33:28. And I will make the land a wilderness, and a desert, and the proud strength thereof shall fail, and the mountains of Israel shall be desolate, because there is none to pass by them,

33:29. And they shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall have made their land waste and desolate, for all their abominations which they have committed.

33:30. And thou son of man: the children of thy people, that talk of thee by the walls, and in the doors of the houses, and speak one to another each man to his neighbour, saying: Come, and let us hear what is the word that cometh forth from the Lord.

33:31. And they come to thee, as if people were coming in, and my people sit before thee: and hear thy words, and do them not: for they turn them into a song of their mouth, and their heart goeth after their covetousness.

33:32. And thou art to them as a musical song which is sung with a sweet and agreeable voice: and they hear thy words, and do them not.

33:33. And when that which was foretold shall come to pass, for behold it is coming, then shall they know that a prophet hath been among them.

Ezechiel Chapter 34

Evil pastors are reproved. Christ the true pastor shall come, and gather together his flock from all parts of the earth, and preserve it for ever.

34:1. And the word of the Lord came to me, it saying:

34:2. Son of man, prophesy concerning the shepherds of Israel: prophesy, and say to the shepherds: Thus saith the Lord God: Woe to the shepherds of Israel, that fed themselves: should not the flocks be fed by the shepherds?

Shepherds. . .That is, princes, magistrates, chief priests, and scribes.

34:3. You ate the milk, and you clothed yourselves with the wool, and you killed that which was fat: but my flock you did not feed.

34:4. The weak you have not strengthened, and that which was sick you have not healed, that which was broken you have not bound up, and that which was driven away you have not brought again, neither have you sought that which was lost: but you ruled over them with rigour, and with a high hand.

34:5. And my sheep were scattered, because there was no shepherd and they became the prey of all the beasts of the field, and were scattered.

34:6. My sheep have wandered in every mountain, and in every high hill: and my flocks were scattered upon the face of the earth, and there was none that sought them, there was none, I say, that sought them.

34:7. Therefore, ye shepherds, hear the word of the Lord:

34:8. As I live, saith the Lord God, forasmuch as my flocks have been made a spoil, and my sheep are become a prey to all the beasts of the field, because there was no shepherd: for my shepherds did not seek after my flock, but the shepherds fed themselves, and fed not my flocks:

34:9. Therefore, ye shepherds, hear the word of the Lord:

34:10. Thus saith the Lord God: Behold I myself come upon the shepherds, I will require my flock at their hand, and I will cause them to cease from feeding the flock any more, neither shall the shepherds feed themselves any more: and I will deliver my flock from their mouth, and it shall no more be meat for them.

34:11. For thus saith the Lord God: Behold I myself will seek my sheep, and will visit them.

34:12. As the shepherd visiteth his flock in the day when he shall be in the midst of his sheep that were scattered, so will I visit my sheep, and will deliver them out of all the places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day.

34:13. And I will bring them out from the peoples, and will gather them out of the countries, and will bring them to their own land: and I will feed them in the mountains of Israel, by the rivers, and in all the habitations of the land.

34:14. I will feed them in the most fruitful pastures, and their pastures shall be in the high mountains of Israel: there shall they rest on the green grass, and be fed in fat pastures upon the mountains of Israel.

34:15. I will feed my sheep: and I will cause them to lie down, saith the Lord God.

34:16. I will seek that which was lost: and that which was driven away, I will bring again: and I will bind up that which was broken, and I will strengthen that which was weak, and that which was fat and strong I will preserve, and I will feed them in judgment.

34:17. And as for you, O my flocks, thus saith the Lord God: Behold I judge between cattle and cattle, of rams and of he goats.

34:18. Was it not enough for you to feed upon good pastures? but you must also tread down with your feet the residue of your pastures: and when you drank the clearest water, you troubled the rest with your feet.

34:19. And my sheep were fed with that which you had trodden with your feet: and they drank what your feet had troubled.

34:20. Therefore thus saith the Lord God to you: Behold, I myself will judge between the fat cattle and the lean.

34:21. Because you thrusted with sides and shoulders, and struck all the weak cattle with your horns, till they were scattered abroad:

34:22. I will save my flock, and it shall be no more a spoil, and I will judge between cattle and cattle.

34:23. And I WILL SET UP ONE SHEPHERD OVER THEM, and he shall feed them, even my servant David: he shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd.

David. . .Christ, who is of the house of David.

34:24. And I the Lord will be their God: and my servant David the prince in the midst of them: I the Lord have spoken it.

34:25. And I will make a covenant of peace with them, and will cause the evil beasts to cease out of the land: and they that dwell in the wilderness shall sleep secure in the forests.

34:26. And I will make them a blessing round about my hill: and I will send down the rain in its season, there shall be showers of blessing.

34:27. And the tree of the field shall yield its fruit, and the earth shall yield her increase, and they shall be in their land without fear: and they shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall have broken the bonds of their yoke, and shall have delivered them out of the hand of those that rule over them.

34:28. And they shall be no more for a spoil to the nations, neither shall the beasts of the earth devour them: but they shall dwell securely without, any terror.

34:29. And I will raise up for them a bud of renown: and they shall be no more consumed with famine in the land, neither shall they bear any more the reproach of the Gentiles.

A bud of renown. . .Germen nominatum. He speaks of Christ our Lord, the illustrious bud of the house of David, renowned over all the earth. See Jer. 33.15.

34:30. And they shall know that I the Lord their God am with them, and that they are my people the house of Israel: saith the Lord God.

34:31. And you my flocks, the flocks of my pasture are men: and I am the Lord your God, saith the Lord God.

Ezechiel Chapter 35

The judgment of mount Seir, for their hatred of Israel.

35:1. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

35:2. Son of man, set thy face against mount Seir, and prophesy concerning it, and say to it:

35:3. Thus saith the Lord God: Behold I come against thee, mount Seir, and I will stretch forth my hand upon thee, and I will make thee desolate and waste.

35:4. I will destroy thy cities, and thou shalt be desolate: and thou shalt know that I am the Lord.

35:5. Because thou hast been an everlasting enemy, and hast shut up the children of Israel in the hands of the sword in the time of their affliction, in the time of their last iniquity.

35:6. Therefore as I live, saith the Lord God, I will deliver thee up to blood, and blood shall pursue thee: and whereas thou hast hated blood, blood shall pursue thee.

35:7. And I will make mount Seir waste and desolate: and I will take away from it him that goeth and him that returneth.

35:8. And I will fill his mountains with his men that are slain: in thy hills, and in thy valleys, and in thy torrents they shall fall that are slain with the sword.

35:9. I will make thee everlasting desolations, and thy cities shall not be inhabited: and thou shalt know that I am the Lord God.

35:10. Because thou hast said: The two nations, and the two lands shall be mine, and I will possess them by inheritance: whereas the Lord was there.

35:11. Therefore as I live, saith the Lord God, I will do according to thy wrath, and according to thy envy, which thou hast exercised in hatred to them: and I will be made known by them, when I shall have judged thee.

35:12. And thou shalt know that I the Lord have heard all thy reproaches, that thou hast spoken against the mountains of Israel, saying. They are desolate, they are given to us to consume.

35:13. And you rose up against me with your mouth, and have derogated from me by your words: I have heard them.

35:14. Thus saith the Lord God: When the whole earth shall rejoice, I will make thee a wilderness.

35:15. As thou hast rejoiced over the inheritance of the house of Israel, because it was laid waste, so will I do to thee: thou shalt be laid waste, O mount Seir, and all Idumea: and they shall know that I am the Lord.

Ezechiel Chapter 36

The restoration of Israel, not for their merits, but by God's special grace. Christ's baptism.

36:1. And thou son of man, prophesy to the mountains of Israel, and say: Ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord:

36:2. Thus saith the Lord God: Because the enemy hath said to you: Aha, the everlasting heights are given to us for an inheritance.

36:3. Therefore prophesy, and say: Thus saith the Lord God: Because you have been desolate, and trodden under foot on every side, and made an inheritance to the rest of the nations, and are become the subject of the talk, and the reproach of the people:

36:4. Therefore, ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord God: Thus saith the Lord God to the mountains, and to the hills, to the brooks, and to the valleys, and to desolate places, and ruinous walls, and to the cities that are forsaken, that are spoiled, and derided by the rest of the nations round about.

36:5. Therefore thus saith the Lord God: In the fire of my zeal I have spoken of the rest of the nations, and of all Edom, who have taken my land to themselves, for an inheritance with joy, and with all the heart, and with the mind: and have cast it out to lay it waste.

36:6. Prophesy therefore concerning the land of Israel, and say to the mountains, and to the hills, to the ridges, and to the valleys: Thus saith the Lord God: Behold I have spoken in my zeal, and in my indignation, because you have borne the shame of the Gentiles.

36:7. Therefore thus saith the Lord God: I have lifted up my hand, that the Gentiles who are round about you, shall themselves bear their shame.

36:8. But as for you, O mountains of Israel, shoot ye forth your branches, and yield your fruit to my people of Israel: for they are at hand to come.

36:9. For I, I am for you, and I will turn to you, and you shall be ploughed and sown.

36:10. And I will multiply men upon you, and all the house of Israel: and the cities ball be inhabited, and the ruinous places shall be repaired.

36:11. And I will make you abound with men and with beasts: and they shall be multiplied, and increased: and I will settle you as from the beginning, and will give you greater gifts, than you had from the beginning: and you shall know that I am the Lord.

36:12. And I will bring men upon you, my people Israel, and they shall possess thee for their inheritance: and thou shalt be their inheritance, and shalt no more henceforth be without them.

36:13. Thus saith the Lord God: Because thy say of you: Thou art a devourer of men, and one that suffocatest thy nation:

36:14. Therefore thou shalt devour men no more nor destroy thy nation any more, saith the Lord God.

36:15. Neither will I cause men to hear in thee the shame of the nations any more, nor shalt thou bear the reproach of the people, nor lose thy nation any more, saith the Lord God.

Nor lose thy nation any more. . .This whole promise principally relates to the church of Christ, and God's perpetual protection of her: for as the carnal Jews, they have been removed out of their land these sixteen hundred years.

36:16. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

36:17. Son of man, when the house of Israel dwelt in their own land, they defiled it with their ways, and with their doings: their way was before me like the uncleanness of a menstruous woman.

36:18. And I poured out my indignation upon them for the blood which they had shed upon the land, and with their idols they defiled it.

36:19. And I scattered them among the nations, and they are dispersed through the countries: I have judged them according to their ways, and their devices.