1. Seven years after King Jehoiachin and the rest of us had been led away as prisoners to Babylonia, some of Israel's leaders came to me on the tenth day of the fifth month. They sat down and asked for a message from the Lord.
2. Just then, the Lord God said:
3. Ezekiel, son of man, these leaders have come to find out what I want them to do. As surely as I live, I will not give them an answer of any kind.
4. Are you willing to warn them, Ezekiel? Then remind them of the disgusting sins of their ancestors.
5. Tell them that long ago I, the Lord God, chose Israel to be my own. I appeared to their ancestors in Egypt and made a solemn promise that I would be their God and the God of their descendants.
6. I swore that I would rescue them from Egypt and lead them to a land I had already chosen. This land was rich with milk and honey and was the most splendid land of all.
7. I told them to get rid of their disgusting idols and not to sin by worshipping the gods of Egypt. I reminded them that I was the Lord their God,
8. but they still rebelled against me. They refused to listen and kept on worshipping their idols and foreign gods.In my anger, I decided to punish the Israelites in Egypt.
9. But that would have made me look like a liar, because I had already promised in front of everyone that I would lead them out of Egypt.
10. So I brought them out and led them into the desert.
11. I gave them my laws and teachings, so they would know how to live right.
12. And I commanded them to respect the Sabbath as a way of showing that they were holy and belonged to me.
13. But the Israelites rebelled against me in the desert. They refused to obey my laws and teachings, and they treated the Sabbath like any other day.Then in my anger, I decided to destroy the Israelites in the desert once and for all.