The Bible (Old and New Testaments)

All our enemies have opened their mouth wide against us.

Terror and the pit are come upon us, desolation and destruction.

Mine eye runneth down with rivers of water, for the breach of the daughter of my people.

Mine eye is poured out, and ceaseth not, without any intermission,

Till the LORD look forth, and behold from heaven.

Mine eye affected my soul, because of all the daughters of my city.

They have chased me sore like a bird, that are mine enemies without cause.

They have cut off my life in the dungeon, and have cast stones upon me.

Waters flowed over my head; I said: 'I am cut off.'

I called upon Thy name, O LORD, Out of the lowest dungeon.

Thou heardest my voice; hide not Thine ear at my sighing, at my cry.

Thou drewest near in the day that I called upon Thee; Thou saidst: 'Fear not.'

O Lord, Thou hast pleaded the causes of my soul; Thou hast redeemed my life.

O LORD, Thou hast seen my wrong; judge Thou my cause.

Thou hast seen all their vengeance and all their devices against me.

Thou hast heard their taunt, O LORD, and all their devices against me;

The lips of those that rose up against me, and their muttering against me all the day.

Behold Thou their sitting down, and their rising up; I am their song.

Thou wilt render unto them a recompense, O LORD, according to the work of their hands.

Thou wilt give them hardness of heart, Thy curse unto them.

Thou wilt pursue them in anger, and destroy them from under the heavens of the LORD.

How is the gold become dim! How is the most fine gold changed! The hallowed stones are poured out at the head of every street.

The precious sons of Zion, comparable to fine gold, how are they esteemed as earthen pitchers, the work of the hands of the potter!

Even the jackals draw out the breast, they give suck to their young ones; the daughter of my people is become cruel, like the ostriches in the wilderness.

The tongue of the sucking child cleaveth to the roof of his mouth for thirst; the young children ask bread, and none breaketh it unto them.

They that did feed on dainties are desolate in the streets; they that were brought up in scarlet embrace dunghills.

For the iniquity of the daughter of my people is greater than the sin of Sodom, that was overthrown as in a moment, and no hands fell upon her.

Her princes were purer than snow, they were whiter than milk, they were more ruddy in body than rubies, their polishing was as of sapphire;

Their visage is blacker than coal; they are not known in the streets; their skin is shrivelled upon their bones; it is withered, it is become like a stick.

They that are slain with the sword are better than they that are slain with hunger; for these pine away, stricken through, for want of the fruits of the field.

The hands of women full of compassion have sodden their own children; they were their food in the destruction of the daughter of my people.

The LORD hath accomplished His fury, He hath poured out His fierce anger; and He hath kindled a fire in Zion, which hath devoured the foundations thereof.

The kings of the earth believed not, neither all the inhabitants of the world, that the adversary and the enemy would enter into the gates of Jerusalem.

It is because of the sins of her prophets, and the iniquities of her priests, that have shed the blood of the just in the midst of her.

They wander as blind men in the streets, they are polluted with blood, so that men cannot touch their garments.

'Depart ye! unclean!' men cried unto them, 'Depart, depart, touch not'; yea, they fled away and wandered; men said among the nations: 'They shall no more sojourn here.'

The anger of the LORD hath divided them; He will no more regard them; they respected not the persons of the priests, they were not gracious unto the elders.

As for us, our eyes do yet fail for our vain help; in our watching we have watched for a nation that could not save.

They hunt our steps, that we cannot go in our broad places; our end is near, our days are fulfilled; for our end is come.

Our pursuers were swifter than the eagles of the heaven; they chased us upon the mountains, they lay in wait for us in the wilderness.

The breath of our nostrils, the anointed of the LORD, was taken in their pits; of whom we said: 'Under his shadow we shall live among the nations.'

Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom, that dwellest in the land of Uz: the cup shall pass over unto thee also; thou shalt be drunken, and shalt make thyself naked.

The punishment of thine iniquity is accomplished, O daughter of Zion, He will no more carry thee away into captivity; He will punish thine iniquity, O daughter of Edom, He will uncover thy sins.

Remember, O LORD, what is come upon us; behold, and see our reproach.

Our inheritance is turned unto strangers, our houses unto aliens.

We are become orphans and fatherless, our mothers are as widows.

We have drunk our water for money; our wood cometh to us for price.

To our very necks we are pursued; we labour, and have no rest.

We have given the hand to Egypt, and to Assyria, to have bread enough;

Our fathers have sinned, and are not; and we have borne their iniquities.

Servants rule over us; there is none to deliver us out of their hand.

We get our bread with the peril of our lives because of the sword of the wilderness.

Our skin is hot like an oven because of the burning heat of famine.

They have ravished the women in Zion, the maidens in the cities of Judah.

Princes are hanged up by their hand; the faces of elders are not honoured.

The young men have borne the mill, and the children have stumbled under the wood.

The elders have ceased from the gate, the young men from their music.

The joy of our heart is ceased; our dance is turned into mourning.

The crown is fallen from our head; woe unto us! for we have sinned.

For this our heart is faint, for these things our eyes are dim;

For the mountain of Zion, which is desolate, the foxes walk upon it.

Thou, O LORD, art enthroned for ever, Thy throne is from generation to generation.

Wherefore dost Thou forget us for ever, and forsake us so long time?

Turn Thou us unto Thee, O LORD, and we shall be turned; renew our days as of old.

Thou canst not have utterly rejected us, and be exceeding wroth against us!

NOW IT came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I was among the captives by the river Chebar that the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God.

In the fifth day of the month, which was the fifth year of king Jehoiachin's captivity,

the word of the LORD came expressly unto Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar; and the hand of the LORD was there upon him.

And I looked, and, behold, a stormy wind came out of the north, a great cloud, with a fire flashing up, so that a brightness was round about it; and out of the midst thereof as the colour of electrum, out of the midst of the fire.

And out of the midst thereof came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance: they had the likeness of a man.

And every one had four faces, and every one of them had four wings.

And their feet were straight feet; and the sole of their feet was like the sole of a calf's foot; and they sparkled like the colour of burnished brass.

And they had the hands of a man under their wings on their four sides; and as for the faces and wings of them four,

their wings were joined one to another; they turned not when they went; they went every one straight forward.

As for the likeness of their faces, they had the face of a man; and they four had the face of a lion on the right side; and they four had the face of an ox on the left side; they four had also the face of an eagle.

Thus were their faces; and their wings were stretched upward; two wings of every one were joined one to another, and two covered their bodies.

And they went every one straight forward; whither the spirit was to go, they went; they turned not when they went.

As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like coals of fire, burning like the appearance of torches; it flashed up and down among the living creatures; and there was brightness to the fire, and out of the fire went forth lightning.

And the living creatures ran and returned as the appearance of a flash of lightning.

Now as I beheld the living creatures, behold one wheel at the bottom hard by the living creatures, at the four faces thereof.

The appearance of the wheels and their work was like unto the colour of a beryl; and they four had one likeness; and their appearance and their work was as it were a wheel within a wheel.

When they went, they went toward their four sides; they turned not when they went.

As for their rings, they were high and they were dreadful; and they four had their rings full of eyes round about.

And when the living creatures went, the wheels went hard by them; and when the living creatures were lifted up from the bottom, the wheels were lifted up.

Whithersoever the spirit was to go, as the spirit was to go thither, so they went; and the wheels were lifted up beside them; for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels.

When those went, these went, and when those stood, these stood; and when those were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up beside them; for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels.

And over the heads of the living creatures there was the likeness of a firmament, like the colour of the terrible ice, stretched forth over their heads above.

And under the firmament were their wings conformable the one to the other; this one of them had two which covered, and that one of them had two which covered, their bodies.

And when they went, I heard the noise of their wings like the noise of great waters, like the voice of the Almighty, a noise of tumult like the noise of a host; when they stood, they let down their wings.

For, when there was a voice above the firmament that was over their heads, as they stood, they let down their wings.

And above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone; and upon the likeness of the throne was a likeness as the appearance of a man upon it above.

And I saw as the colour of electrum, as the appearance of fire round about enclosing it, from the appearance of his loins and upward; and from the appearance of his loins and downward I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and there was brightness round about him.

As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. And when I saw it, I fell upon my face, and I heard a voice of one that spoke.

And He said unto me: 'Son of man, stand upon thy feet, and I will speak with thee.'

And spirit entered into me when He spoke unto me, and set me upon my feet; and I heard Him that spoke unto me.

And He said unto me: 'Son of man, I send thee to the children of Israel, to rebellious nations, that have rebelled against Me; they and their fathers have transgressed against Me, even unto this very day;

and the children are brazen-faced and stiff-hearted, I do send thee unto them; and thou shalt say unto them: Thus saith the Lord GOD.

And they, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear — for they are a rebellious house — yet shall know that there hath been a prophet among them.

And thou, son of man, be not afraid of them, neither be afraid of their words, though defiers and despisers be with thee, and thou dost dwell among scorpions; be not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, for they are a rebellious house.

And thou shalt speak My words unto them, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear; for they are most rebellious.