Ezekiel 22:9
In thee are men that carry tales to shed blood: and in thee they eat upon the mountains: in the midst of thee they commit lewdness. In thee are men that carry tales to shed blood: and in thee they eat upon the mountains: in the midst of thee they commit lewdness.
Ezekiel carried on his prophetic work among the captives of Israel between the years 595 and 574, beginning and closing just a little later than Jeremiah. He was of priestly family, and before he began his work he was first shown wonderful visions of God's glory and great majesty. Having seen God, he would not fear the face of man when sent with awful messages of warning and reproof to the sinners among his own people.
The verse belongs to prophetic warnings uttered before the destruction of Jerusalem as a message of correction, denunciation, and reproof. It is part of the account of the transgressions that led to Israel's dispersion, where idolatry and Sabbath desecration are connected with the troubles that brought the people into exile. The chapter describes Israel's religious apostasy, in which the priests had been carried into paganism and violated God's law and Sabbath.
The verse names three sins found in Jerusalem: tale-bearing or slander that leads to bloodshed, eating upon the mountains as worship on the mountains, and lewdness as sexual wrongdoing. Eating on the mountains and lewd conduct stand among Jerusalem's sins together with Sabbath breaking as ethical offenses, not merely ceremonial failures. Sin must be forgiven, or it will be consumed.
The chapter rebukes sin in its awful wickedness while God earnestly pleads with His children to turn to Him. The verse belongs to God's description of His professed people in the last days, the same time and people addressed in Isaiah 30:8-11, Ezekiel 13, and Jeremiah 6:9-19. Its lessons are written for the admonition of people living in the present age.