14. His own officials and troops will scatter in every direction, and the Lord will track them down and put them to death.
15. The Lord will force the rest of the people in Jerusalem to live in foreign nations, where they will realize that he has done all these things.
16. Some of them will survive the war, the starvation, and the deadly diseases. That way, they will be able to tell foreigners how disgusting their sins were, and that it was the Lord who punished them in this way.
17. The Lord said:
18. Ezekiel, son of man, shake with fear when you eat, and tremble when you drink.
19. Tell the people of Israel that I, the Lord, say that some day everyone in Jerusalem will shake when they eat and tremble when they drink. Their country will be destroyed and left empty, because they have been cruel and violent.
20. Every town will lie in ruins, and the land will be a barren desert. Then they will know that I am the Lord.
21. The Lord said:
22. Ezekiel, son of man, you've heard people in Israel use the saying, “Time passes, and prophets are proved wrong.”
23. Now tell the people that I, the Lord, am going to prove that saying wrong. No one will ever be able to use it again in Israel, because very soon everything I have said will come true!
24. The people will hear no more useless warnings and false messages.
25. I will give them my message, and what I say will certainly happen. Warn those rebels that the time has come for them to be punished. I, the Lord, make this promise.