1. On the tenth day of the fifth month of the seventh year, some of the elders of Israel came to seek Adonai. They sat before me.
2. The word of Adonai came to me saying:
3. “Son of man, speak to the elders of Israel. Say to them, thus says Adonai Elohim: ‘Have you come to inquire of Me? As I live’—it is a declaration of Adonai—‘I will not be inquired of by you.’
4. “Will you judge them, son of man, will you judge them? Make them know the detestable practices of their fathers.
5. Say to them, thus says Adonai Elohim: On the day I chose Israel, I lifted up My hand to the seed of the house of Jacob and made Myself known to them in the land of Egypt. I lifted up My hand to them saying, ‘I am Adonai your God.’
6. On that day I lifted up My hand to them, to bring them out of the land of Egypt into a land that I had sought out for them, flowing with milk and honey, the splendor of all lands.
7. I said to them, ‘Each of you must throw away every detestable thing from his eyes, and not defile yourselves with the idols of Egypt. I am Adonai your God.’
8. “But they rebelled against Me and were unwilling to listen to Me. None of them cast away the detestable things that were before their eyes, nor did they forsake the idols of Egypt. So I resolved to pour out My fury upon them, to expend My anger upon them in the midst of the land of Egypt.
9. But I acted, for the sake of My Name, to keep it from being profaned in the eyes of the nations, where they were, in whose sight I made Myself known to them, to bring them out from the land of Egypt.
10. So I led them out from the land of Egypt and brought them into the wilderness.
11. I gave them My laws and taught them My judgments, which if a man does, he will live by them.