Ezekiel 8–11

Ezekiel’s Second Vision of God

Idolatry in Jerusalem

8On the fifth day of the sixth month of the sixth year of our exile, the leaders of the exiles from Judah were sitting in my house with me. Suddenly the power of the Sovereign Lord came on me. ^2*I looked up and saw a vision of a fiery human form. From the waist down his body looked like fire, and from the waist up he was shining like polished bronze. ³He stretched out what seemed to be a hand and seized me by the hair. Then in this vision God’s spirit lifted me high in the air and took me to Jerusalem. He took me to the inner entrance of the north gate of the Temple, where there was an idol that was an outrage to God.

^4*There I saw the dazzling light that shows the presence of Israel’s God, just as I had seen it when I was by the River Chebar. ⁵God said to me, “Mortal man, look towards the north.” I looked, and there near the altar by the entrance of the gateway I saw the idol that was an outrage to God.

⁶God said to me, “Mortal man, do you see what is happening? Look at the disgusting things the people of Israel are doing here, driving me farther and farther away from my holy place. You will see even more disgraceful things than this.”

⁷He took me to the entrance of the outer courtyard and showed me a hole in the wall. ⁸He said, “Mortal man, break through the wall here.” I broke through it and found a door. ⁹He said to me, “Go in and look at the evil, disgusting things they are doing there.” ¹⁰So I went in and looked. The walls were covered with drawings of snakes and other unclean animals,^o and of the other things which the Israelites were worshipping. ¹¹Seventy Israelite leaders were there, including Jaazaniah son of Shaphan. Each one was holding an incense burner, and smoke was rising from the incense. ¹²God asked me, “Mortal man, do you see what the Israelite leaders are doing in secret? They are all worshipping in a room full of images. Their excuse is: ‘The Lord doesn’t see us! He has abandoned the country.’ ”

¹³Then the Lord said to me, “You are going to see them do even more disgusting things than that.” ¹⁴So he took me to the north gate of the Temple and showed me women weeping over the death of the god Tammuz.^p

¹⁵He asked, “Mortal man, do you see that? You will see even more disgusting things.” ¹⁶So he took me to the inner courtyard of the Temple. There near the entrance of the sanctuary, between the altar and the passage, were about twenty-five men. They had turned their backs to the sanctuary and were bowing low towards the east, worshipping the rising sun.

¹⁷The Lord said to me, “Mortal man, do you see that? These people of Judah are not satisfied with merely doing all the disgusting things you have seen here and with spreading violence throughout the country. No, they must come and do them here in the Temple itself and make me even more angry. Look how they insult me in the most offensive way possible!^{q 18}They will feel all the force of my anger. I will not spare them or show them any mercy. They will shout prayers to me as loud as they can, but I will not listen to them.”

Jerusalem Is Punished

9Then I heard God shout, “Come here, you men who are going to punish the city. Bring your weapons with you.” ²At once six men came from the outer north gate of the Temple, each one carrying a weapon. With them was a man dressed in linen clothes, carrying something to write with. They all came and stood by the bronze altar.

³Then the dazzling light of the presence of the God of Israel rose up from the winged creatures,^r where it had been, and moved to the entrance of the Temple. The Lord called to the man dressed in linen, ^4*“Go through the whole city of Jerusalem and put a mark on the forehead of everyone who is distressed and troubled because of all the disgusting things being done in the city.”

⁵And I heard God say to the other men, “Follow him through the city, and kill. Spare no one; have mercy on no one. ⁶Kill the old men, young men, young women, mothers, and children. But don’t touch anyone who has the mark on his forehead. Start here at my Temple.” So they began with the leaders who were standing there at the Temple.

⁷God said to them, “Defile the Temple. Fill its courtyards with corpses. Get to work!” So they began to kill the people in the city.^s

⁸While the killing was going on, I was there alone. I threw myself face downwards on the ground and shouted, “Sovereign Lord, are you so angry with Jerusalem that you are going to kill everyone left in Israel?” ⁹God answered, “The people of Israel and Judah are guilty of terrible sins. They have committed murder all over the land and have filled Jerusalem with crime. They say that I, the Lord, have abandoned their country and that I don’t see them. ¹⁰But I will not have pity on them; I will do to them what they have done to others.”

¹¹Then the man wearing linen clothes returned and reported to the Lord, “I have carried out your orders.”

The Glory of the Leaves the Temple

10^*I looked at the dome over the heads of the living creatures^t and above them was something that seemed to be a throne made of sapphire. ^2*God said to the man wearing linen clothes, “Go between the wheels under the creatures and fill your hands with burning coals. Then scatter the coals over the city.”

I watched him go. ³The creatures were standing to the south of the Temple when he went in, and a cloud filled the inner courtyard. ⁴The dazzling light of the Lord’s presence rose up from the creatures and moved to the entrance of the Temple. Then the cloud filled the Temple, and the courtyard was blazing with the light. ⁵The noise made by the creatures’ wings was heard even in the outer courtyard. It sounded like the voice of Almighty God.

⁶When the Lord commanded the man wearing linen clothes to take some fire from between the wheels that were under the creatures, the man went in and stood by one of the wheels. ⁷One of the creatures put his hand into the fire that was there among them, picked up some coals, and put them in the hands of the man in linen. The man took the coals and left.

⁸I saw that each creature had what looked like a human hand under each of its wings. ^9–10*I also saw that there were four wheels, all alike, one beside each creature. The wheels shone like precious stones, and each one had another wheel which intersected it at right angles. ^11*When the creatures moved, they could go in any direction without turning. They all moved together in the direction they wanted to go, without having to turn round. ^12*Their bodies, backs, hands, wings, and wheels were covered with eyes. ^13*I heard a voice calling out, “Whirling wheels”.

^14*Each creature had four faces. The first was the face of a bull, the second a human face, the third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle. ¹⁵(They were the same creatures that I had seen by the River Chebar.) When the creatures rose in the air ¹⁶and moved, the wheels went with them. Whenever they spread their wings to fly, the wheels still went with them. ¹⁷When the creatures stopped, the wheels stopped; and when the creatures flew, the wheels went with them, because the creatures controlled them.

¹⁸Then the dazzling light of the Lord’s presence left the entrance of the Temple and moved to a place above the creatures. ¹⁹They spread their wings and flew up from the earth while I was watching, and the wheels went with them. They paused at the east gate of the Temple, and the dazzling light was over them. ²⁰I recognized them as the same creatures which I had seen beneath the God of Israel at the River Chebar.

²¹Each of them had four faces, four wings, and what looked like a human hand under each wing. ²²Their faces looked exactly like the faces^u I had seen by the River Chebar. Each creature moved straight ahead.

Jerusalem Is Condemned

11God’s spirit lifted me up and took me to the east gate of the Temple. There near the gate I saw twenty-five men, including Jaazaniah son of Azzur and Pelatiah son of Benaiah, two leaders of the nation.

²God said to me, “Mortal man, these men make evil plans and give bad advice in this city. ³They say, ‘We will soon be building houses again.^v The city is like a cooking pot, and we are like the meat in it, but at least it protects us from the fire.’ ⁴Now then, denounce them, mortal man.”

⁵The spirit of the Lord took control of me, and the Lord told me to give the people this message: “People of Israel, I know what you are saying and what you are planning. ⁶You have murdered so many people here in the city that the streets are full of corpses.

⁷“So this is what I, the Sovereign Lord, am saying to you. This city is indeed a cooking pot, but what is the meat? The corpses of those you have killed! You will not be here—I will throw you out of the city! ⁸Are you afraid of swords? I will bring men with swords to attack you. ⁹I will take you out of the city and hand you over to foreigners. I have sentenced you to death, ¹⁰and you will be killed in battle in your own country. Then everyone will know that I am the Lord. ¹¹This city will not protect you as a pot protects the meat in it. I will punish you wherever you may be in the land of Israel. ¹²You will know that I am the Lord and that while you were keeping the laws of the neighbouring nations, you were breaking my laws and disobeying my commands.”

¹³While I was prophesying, Pelatiah dropped dead. I threw myself face downwards on the ground and shouted, “No, Sovereign Lord! Are you going to kill everyone left in Israel?”

God’s Promise to the Exiles

¹⁴The Lord spoke to me. ¹⁵“Mortal man,” he said, “the people who live in Jerusalem are talking about you and your fellow-Israelites who are in exile. They say, ‘The exiles are too far away to worship the Lord. He has given us possession of the land.’

¹⁶“Now tell your fellow-exiles what I am saying. I am the one who sent them to live in far-off nations and scattered them in other countries. Yet, for the time being I will be present with them in…