“‘Therefore the Lord GOD says: “Woe to the bloody city, to the cauldron whose rust is in it, and whose rust hasn’t gone out of it! Take out of it piece after piece without casting lots for it.
Heap on the wood. Make the fire hot. Boil the meat well. Make the broth thick, and let the bones be burned.
Then set it empty on its coals, that it may be hot, and its bronze may burn, and that its filthiness may be molten in it, that its rust may be consumed.
She is weary with toil; yet her great rust, rust by fire, doesn’t leave her.
“‘“In your filthiness is lewdness. Because I have cleansed you and you weren’t cleansed, you won’t be cleansed from your filthiness any more, until I have caused my wrath toward you to rest.
“‘“I, the LORD, have spoken it. It will happen, and I will do it. I won’t go back. I won’t spare. I won’t repent. According to your ways and according to your doings, they will judge you,” says the Lord GOD.’”
“Son of man, behold, I will take away from you the desire of your eyes with one stroke; yet you shall neither mourn nor weep, neither shall your tears run down.
Sigh, but not aloud. Make no mourning for the dead. Bind your headdress on you, and put your sandals on your feet. Don’t cover your lips, and don’t eat mourner’s bread.”
So I spoke to the people in the morning, and at evening my wife died. So I did in the morning as I was commanded.
The people asked me, “Won’t you tell us what these things mean to us, that you act like this?”
Then I said to them, “The LORD’s word came to me, saying,
‘Speak to the house of Israel, “The Lord GOD says: ‘Behold, I will profane my sanctuary, the pride of your power, the desire of your eyes, and that which your soul pities; and your sons and your daughters whom you have left behind will fall by the sword.
You will do as I have done. You won’t cover your lips or eat mourner’s bread.
Your turbans will be on your heads, and your sandals on your feet. You won’t mourn or weep; but you will pine away in your iniquities, and moan one toward another.
“You, son of man, shouldn’t it be in the day when I take from them their strength, the joy of their glory, the desire of their eyes, and that whereupon they set their heart—their sons and their daughters—
that in that day he who escapes will come to you, to cause you to hear it with your ears?
In that day your mouth will be opened to him who has escaped, and you will speak and be no more mute. So you will be a sign to them. Then they will know that I am the LORD.”