Ezekiel 8:11–18

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.”