Ezekiel 8:11–18

¹¹Seventy elders from the house of Israel were standing before them, with Jaazaniah son of Shaphan^u standing among them. Each had a firepan in his hand, and a fragrant cloud of incense was rising up. ¹²He said to me, “Son of man, do you see what the elders of the house of Israel are doing in the darkness, each at the shrine of his idol? For they are saying, ‘The Lord does not see us. The Lord has abandoned the land.’ ”^{v 13}Again he said to me, “You will see even more detestable acts that they are committing.”

¹⁴Then he brought me to the entrance of the north gate of the Lord’s house, and I saw women sitting there weeping for Tammuz. ¹⁵And he said to me, “Do you see this, son of man? You will see even more detestable acts than these.”

¹⁶So he brought me to the inner court of the Lord’s house, and there were about twenty-five men at the entrance of the Lord’s temple, between the portico and the altar,^w with their backs to the Lord’s temple and their faces turned to the east.^x They were bowing to the east in worship of the sun.^{a 17}And he said to me, “Do you see this, son of man? Is it not enough for the house of Judah to commit the detestable acts they are doing here, that they must also fill the land with violence^b and repeatedly anger me,^c even putting the branch to their nose?^{A 18}Therefore I will respond with wrath.^d I will not show pity or spare them.^e Though they call loudly in my hearing,^f I will not listen to them.”