“And with you I shall break in pieces man and woman, and with you I shall break in pieces old and young, and with you I shall break in pieces the young man and the maiden.
“The fire holders of these men who sinned against their own lives, let them be made into beaten plates as a covering for the altar. Because they brought them before יהוה, therefore they are set-apart. And let them become a sign to the children of Yisra’ĕ
“Say to them, ‘As I live,’ declares the Master יהוה, ‘I have no pleasure in the death of the wrong, but that the wrong turn from his way and live. Turn back, turn back from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Yisra’ĕ
My eyes are spent with tears, My inward parts ferment, My bile has been poured on the ground Because of the destruction of the daughter of my people, As children and the infants languish In the streets of the city.
by provoking Me with the works of your hands, by burning incense to other mighty ones in the land of Mitsrayim where you have gone to dwell, to cut yourselves off and be a curse and a reproach among all the nations of the earth?
“For you deceived yourselves when you sent me to יהוה your Elohim, saying, ‘Pray for us to יהוה our Elohim, and according to all that יהוה your Elohim says, so declare to us and we shall do it.’
“Would You proclaim, as in a day of appointed time, The fears that surround me? And no one escaped or survived In the day of the displeasure of יהוה. Those whom I have nursed and brought up My enemy has destroyed.”
‘And do not go after other mighty ones to serve them and to bow down to them. And do not provoke Me with the works of your hands, so that I do you no evil.’
“Slay to destruction old, young men, maidens and children and women, but do not come near anyone upon whom is the mark, and begin at My set-apart place.” So they began with the elders who were in front of the House.