Ezekiel 20:1–9

¹In the seventh year, in the fifth month, the tenth day of the month, some of the elders of Israel came to inquire of the LORD, and sat before me.↗

²The LORD’s word came to me, saying,↗

³“Son of man, speak to the elders of Israel, and tell them, ‘The Lord GOD says: “Is it to inquire of me that you have come? As I live,” says the Lord GOD, “I will not be inquired of by you.”’↗

⁴“Will you judge them, son of man? Will you judge them? Cause them to know the abominations of their fathers.↗

⁵Tell them, ‘The Lord GOD says: “In the day when I chose Israel, and swore to the offspring of the house of Jacob, and made myself known to them in the land of Egypt, when I swore to them, saying, ‘I am the LORD your God;’↗

⁶in that day I swore to them to bring them out of the land of Egypt into a land that I had searched out for them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands.↗

⁷I said to them, ‘Each of you throw away the abominations of his eyes. Don’t defile yourselves with the idols of Egypt. I am the LORD your God.’↗

⁸“‘“But they rebelled against me and wouldn’t listen to me. They didn’t all throw away the abominations of their eyes. They also didn’t forsake the idols of Egypt. Then I said I would pour out my wrath on them, to accomplish my anger against them in the middle of the land of Egypt.↗

⁹But I worked for my name’s sake, that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations among which they were, in whose sight I made myself known to them in bringing them out of the land of Egypt.↗