Ezekiel · 31 verses
Ezekiel 22
Every verse links to the people and places named in it, and to the passages readers connect it with.
The chapter
What happens here
Atlas's own reading, written from this chapter and nothing else, and published only once a person has approved it. Each scene names the verses it covers; the names inside it link to the people and places they name.
The Lord searches Jerusalem for one person willing to repair the wall and stand in the gap, and finds nobody at all.
A city crowded with abominationsvv. 1–16
Ezekiel is told to confront the city of bloodshed with its catalogue of horrors: princes shedding blood, parents treated with contempt, the vulnerable oppressed, holy things despised, and neighbours squeezed for profit. Then comes the wonderfully ordinary gesture in the midst of all this thunder: “Now look, I strike My hands together.” The city’s courage will not endure what follows; it will be scattered among the nations and purged of its uncleanness.
The city becomes a furnacevv. 17–22
The house of Israel is called dross: copper, tin, iron and lead inside the furnace, all of it “the dross of silver.” The Lord then gathers the people into Jerusalem, where the city itself becomes the furnace. He blows upon them with the fire of His wrath, which is an unusually industrial image for judgment—Jerusalem, briefly promoted to smelting works.
No one in the gapvv. 23–31
The indictment widens. Princes conspire like roaring lions, priests blur holy and common, officials tear apart lives for dishonest gain, prophets whitewash the deeds with visions that were never given, and the people practise extortion. The Lord searches for one man to repair the wall and stand in the gap on behalf of the land. There is no one. The chapter ends with indignation poured out upon them and their ways brought down upon their own heads.
The text
Read it
Berean Standard Bible, public domain. Names the Hebrew and Greek put in the verse link to the person, place or people they name; the address beside each verse is a link to that verse, which is what a reader copies and shares.
Ezek 22:1Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
Ezek 22:2“As for you, son of man, will you judge her? Will you pass judgment on the city of bloodshed? Then confront her with all her abominations
Ezek 22:3and tell her that this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘O city who brings her own doom by shedding blood within her walls and making idols to defile herself,
Ezek 22:4you are guilty of the blood you have shed, and you are defiled by the idols you have made. You have brought your days to a close and have come to the end of your years. Therefore I have made you a reproach to the nations and a mockery to all the lands.
Ezek 22:5Those near and far will mock you, O infamous city, full of turmoil.
Ezek 22:6See how every prince of Israel within you has used his power to shed blood.
Ezek 22:7Father and mother are treated with contempt. Within your walls the foreign resident is exploited, the fatherless and the widow are oppressed.
Ezek 22:8You have despised My holy things and profaned My Sabbaths.
Ezek 22:9Among you are slanderous men bent on bloodshed; within you are those who eat on the mountain shrines and commit acts of indecency.
Ezek 22:10In you they have uncovered the nakedness of their fathers; in you they violate women during their menstrual impurity.
Ezek 22:11One man commits an abomination with his neighbor’s wife; another wickedly defiles his daughter-in-law; and yet another violates his sister, his own father’s daughter.
Ezek 22:12In you they take bribes to shed blood. You engage in usury, take excess interest, and extort your neighbors. But Me you have forgotten, declares the Lord GOD.
Ezek 22:13Now look, I strike My hands together against your unjust gain and against the blood you have shed in your midst.
Ezek 22:14Will your courage endure or your hands be strong in the day I deal with you? I, the LORD, have spoken, and I will act.
Ezek 22:15I will disperse you among the nations and scatter you throughout the lands; I will purge your uncleanness.
Ezek 22:16And when you have defiled yourself in the eyes of the nations, then you will know that I am the LORD.’”
Ezek 22:17Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
Ezek 22:18“Son of man, the house of Israel has become dross to Me. All of them are copper, tin, iron, and lead inside the furnace; they are but the dross of silver.
Ezek 22:19Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Because all of you have become dross, behold, I will gather you into Jerusalem.
Ezek 22:20Just as one gathers silver, copper, iron, lead, and tin into the furnace to melt with a fiery blast, so I will gather you in My anger and wrath, leave you there, and melt you.
Ezek 22:21Yes, I will gather you together and blow on you with the fire of My wrath, and you will be melted within the city.
Ezek 22:22As silver is melted in a furnace, so you will be melted within the city. Then you will know that I, the LORD, have poured out My wrath upon you.’”
Ezek 22:23And the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
Ezek 22:24“Son of man, say to her, ‘In the day of indignation, you are a land that has not been cleansed, upon which no rain has fallen.’
Ezek 22:25The conspiracy of the princes in her midst is like a roaring lion tearing its prey. They devour the people, seize the treasures and precious things, and multiply the widows within her.
Ezek 22:26Her priests do violence to My law and profane My holy things. They make no distinction between the holy and the common, and they fail to distinguish between the clean and the unclean. They disregard My Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them.
Ezek 22:27Her officials within her are like wolves tearing their prey, shedding blood, and destroying lives for dishonest gain.
Ezek 22:28Her prophets whitewash these deeds by false visions and lying divinations, saying, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says,’ when the LORD has not spoken.
Ezek 22:29The people of the land have practiced extortion and committed robbery. They have oppressed the poor and needy and have exploited the foreign resident without justice.
Ezek 22:30I searched for a man among them to repair the wall and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, so that I should not destroy it. But I found no one.
Ezek 22:31So I have poured out My indignation upon them and consumed them with the fire of My fury. I have brought their ways down upon their own heads, declares the Lord GOD.”
01 — Also here
Who else the chapter reaches
Names written in the English are linked in the text above. These are the ones that are not: an entity the Hebrew or Greek names under a spelling the translation does not use, or one reached only by an assertion about a verse of this chapter.
Named in the Hebrew or Greek somewhere in this chapter, under a form the English renders differently — the registry's Ludim against the translation's Ludites — so there is no word in the sentence to hang the link on.
Reached by an assertion Atlas extracted from a verse of this chapter rather than by a name written in it — a pronoun, a title, or a participant the sentence carries without naming. This layer is model-read and measured at 88.6–90.3% precision, and it is kept separate from the names above for that reason.
02 — Read alongside
Where this is echoed
Readers' own connections, from OpenBible's crowd-voted cross-references — agreement about relevance, and not scholarly confidence. 418 passages were voted onto 28 verses of this chapter; the 16 shown lead on votes, and each is listed at the verse it was voted onto most strongly.
- 30Isaiah 59:16He saw that there was no man; He was amazed that there was no one to intercede. So His own arm brought salvation, and His own righteousness sustained Him.
- 30Jeremiah 5:1“Go up and down the streets of Jerusalem. Look now and take note; search her squares. If you can find a single person, anyone who acts justly, anyone who seeks the truth, then I will forgive the city.
- 30Psalms 106:23So He said He would destroy them—had not Moses His chosen one stood before Him in the breach to divert His wrath from destroying them.
- 30Genesis 18:23–32Abraham stepped forward and said, “Will You really sweep away the righteous with the wicked?
- 30Ezekiel 13:5You did not go up to the gaps or restore the wall around the house of Israel so that it would stand in the battle on the Day of the LORD.
- 30Isaiah 63:5I looked, but there was no one to help; I was appalled that no one assisted. So My arm brought Me salvation, and My own wrath upheld Me.
- 30Exodus 32:10–14Now leave Me alone, so that My anger may burn against them and consume them. Then I will make you into a great nation.”
- 30Jeremiah 15:1Then the LORD said to me: “Even if Moses and Samuel should stand before Me, My heart would not go out to this people. Send them from My presence, and let them go!
- 26Leviticus 10:10You must distinguish between the holy and the common, between the clean and the unclean,
- 26Ezekiel 22:8You have despised My holy things and profaned My Sabbaths.
- 26Ezekiel 44:23They are to teach My people the difference between the holy and the common and show them how to discern between the clean and the unclean.
- 28Ezekiel 13:6–7They see false visions and speak lying divinations. They claim, ‘Thus declares the LORD,’ when the LORD did not send them; yet they wait for the fulfillment of their message.
- 29Ezekiel 22:7Father and mother are treated with contempt. Within your walls the foreign resident is exploited, the fatherless and the widow are oppressed.
- 7Deuteronomy 27:16‘Cursed is he who dishonors his father or mother.’ And let all the people say, ‘Amen!’
- 8Ezekiel 23:38–39They have also done this to Me: On that very same day, they defiled My sanctuary and profaned My Sabbaths.
- 14Ezekiel 21:7And when they ask, ‘Why are you groaning?’ you are to say, ‘Because of the news that is coming. Every heart will melt, and every hand will go limp. Every spirit will faint, and every knee will turn to water.’ Yes, it is coming and it will surely happen, declares the Lord GOD.”
Onward