Ezekiel 13

1 For I know that the people will not hear me, for they are a people of a stiff neck: but they shall turn to their heart in the land of their captivity: 2 And they shall know that I am the Lord their God: and I will give them a heart, and they shall understand: and ears, and they shall hear. 3 And they shall praise me in the land of their captivity, and shall be mindful of my name. 4 And they shall turn away themselves from their stiff neck, and from their wicked deeds: for they shall remember the way of their fathers, that sinned against me. 5 And I will bring them back again into the land which I promised with an oath to their fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and they shall be masters thereof: and I will multiply them, and they shall not be diminished. 6 And I will make with them another covenant that shall be everlasting, to be their God, and they shall be my people: and I will no more remove my people, the children of Israel, out of the land that I have given them. 8 And now, O Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, the soul in anguish, and the troubled spirit crieth to thee: 9 Hear, O Lord, and have mercy, for thou art a merciful God, and have pity on us: for we have sinned before thee. 10 For thou remainest for ever, and shall we perish everlastingly? 11 O Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, hear now the prayer of the dead of Israel, and of their children, that have sinned before thee, and have not hearkened to the voice of the Lord their God, wherefore evils have cleaved fast to us. 12 Remember not the iniquities of our fathers, but think upon thy hand, and upon thy name at this time: 13 For thou art the Lord our God, and we will praise thee, O Lord: 14 Because for this end thou hast put thy fear in our hearts, to the intent that we should call upon thy name, and praise thee in our captivity, for we are converted from the iniquity of our fathers, who sinned before thee. 15 And behold we are at this day in our captivity, whereby thou hast scattered us to be a reproach, and a curse, and an offence, according to all the iniquities of our fathers, who departed from thee, O Lord our God. 16 Hear, O Israel, the commandments of life: give ear, that thou mayst learn wisdom. 17 How happeneth it, O Israel, that thou art in thy enemies’ land? 18 Thou art grown old in a strange country, thou art defiled with the dead: thou art counted with them that go down into hell. 19 Thou hast forsaken the fountain of wisdom: 20 For if thou hadst walked in the way of God, thou hadst surely dwelt in peace for ever. 21 Learn where is wisdom, where is strength, where is understanding: that thou mayst know also where is length of days and life, where is the light of the eyes, and peace. 22 Who hath found out her place? and who hath gone in to her treasures? 23 Where are the princes of the nations, and they that rule over the beasts that are upon the earth?