Ezekiel 6:1–38:23

A Prophecy against the Mountains of Israel

¹The Lord spoke his word to me. He said, ²“Son of man, look toward the mountains of Israel, and prophesy against them. ³Say this, ‘You mountains of Israel, listen to the Almighty Lord’s word! This is what the Almighty Lord says to the mountains and hills and to the ravines and valleys: I am going to attack you with a sword and destroy your worship sites. ⁴Your altars will be destroyed, and your incense burners will be smashed. I will kill people in front of your idols. ⁵I will lay the dead bodies of the people of Israel in front of your idols, and I will scatter their bones around your altars. ⁶Wherever people live, the cities will be ruined, and the worship sites will be wrecked. Your altars will be ruined and demolished. Your idols will be smashed and completely destroyed. Your incense burners will be cut down, and everything you have done will be wiped out. ⁷People will be killed, and they will fall among you. Then you will know that I am the Lord. 

⁸“ ‘But I will let some people live. Some people will escape the battle among the nations and be scattered throughout the countries. ⁹Then those who escape will remember me among the nations where they are taken captive. I was hurt by their adulterous hearts, which turned away from me, and by their eyes, which lusted after idols. They will hate themselves for the evil and disgusting things that they have done. ¹⁰Then you will know that I am the Lord and that the disaster I promised was not an empty threat. 

¹¹“ ‘This is what the Almighty Lord says: Clap your hands, stomp your feet, and say, “Oh no!” because the people of Israel have done evil and disgusting things. So they will die in wars, famines, and plagues. ¹²Plagues will kill those who are far away. Those who are near will die in wars, and anyone who is left and has escaped will die in famines. This is how I will unleash my anger. ¹³Then you will know that I am the Lord. 

“ ‘Those who are killed will lie beside the idols around their altars. They will lie on every high hill, on all the mountaintops, and under every large tree and every leafy oak. These are the places where they made offerings to their disgusting idols. ¹⁴I will use my power against them and destroy the land, from the desert to Diblah. Then they will know that I am the Lord.’ ” 

7TH CHAPTER

The Lord’s Judgment on Israel

¹The Lord spoke his word to me. He said, ²“Son of man, this is what the Almighty Lord says to ⸤the people in⸥ the land of Israel: The end is coming! The end is coming to the four corners of the earth. ³Now the end is coming for you. I will send my anger against you. I will judge you for the way you have lived, and I will punish you for all the detestable things that you have done. ⁴I will not have compassion for you or feel sorry for you. I will pay you back for the way you have lived and for the detestable things you have done. Then you will know that I am the Lord. 

⁵“This is what the Almighty Lord says: One disaster after another is coming. ⁶The end is coming. The end is coming. It is stirring itself up against you. It is coming! ⁷Destruction is coming to you, inhabitants of the land. The time is coming. The day is near. There will be confusion. There will be no joy in the mountains. ⁸Soon I will pour out my fury on you and unleash my anger on you. I will judge you for the way you have lived, and I will punish you for all the detestable things that you have done. ⁹I will not have compassion or feel sorry. I will pay you back for the way you have lived and for the detestable things that you are still doing. Then you will know that I am the Lord and that I am the one attacking ⸤you⸥. 

¹⁰“The day is near! It is coming! Destruction is coming! Wrongdoing has blossomed. Arrogance has flourished. ¹¹Violence has grown into a weapon for punishing wickedness. None of the people will be left. None of that crowd, none of their wealth, and nothing of value will be left. ¹²The time is coming. The day is near. Buyers will not rejoice, and sellers will not mourn, because ⸤my⸥ fury will be against the whole crowd. ¹³Sellers will not live long enough to buy back what they have sold. The visions against that crowd will not change. Because of their sins, none of the people will live. ¹⁴They have blown a ram’s horn, and everything is ready. But no one will go into battle, because my fury is against their whole crowd. 

¹⁵“Outside are swords, and inside are plagues and famines. Whoever is in a field will die in battle. Whoever is in the city will be devoured by famines and plagues. ¹⁶Those who survive will escape to the mountains. They will moan like doves in the valleys. They will moan because of their sins. ¹⁷Every hand will hang limp, and every knee will be as weak as water. ¹⁸They will put on sackcloth, and horror will cover them. All their faces will be covered with shame, and every head will be shaved. ¹⁹They will throw their silver and gold into the streets like garbage. Their silver and gold won’t be able to rescue them on the day of the Lord’s anger. It will no longer satisfy their hunger or fill their stomachs. Their silver and gold caused them to fall into sin. ²⁰They were proud of their beautiful jewels and used them to make disgusting and detestable statues ⸤of false gods⸥. That is why I will make their jewels disgusting. ²¹I will hand their jewels over to foreigners as loot and to the most evil people on earth as prizes. These foreigners will dishonor the people of Israel. ²²I will turn my face away from the people of Israel, and foreigners will dishonor my treasured place. Robbers will go in and dishonor it. 

²³“Get the chains ready! The land is filled with murder, and the city is filled with violence. ²⁴So I will send the most evil nation, and it will take possession of people’s houses. I will stop those who are strong from feeling proud, and their holy places will be dishonored. ²⁵Anguish is coming. People will look for peace, but there will be none. ²⁶One disaster will happen after another. One rumor will follow another. People will ask for a vision from a prophet. The teachings of priests and the advice of leaders will disappear. ²⁷Kings will mourn, and princes will give up hope. The common people will lose their courage. I will give them what they deserve and judge them as they have judged others. Then they will know that I am the Lord.” 

8TH CHAPTER

Idolatry in Jerusalem

¹On the fifth day of the sixth month in the sixth year, I was sitting in my home. Judah’s leaders were sitting in front of me. The power of the Almighty Lord came over me. ²As I looked, I saw something that looked like a human. From the waist down its body looked like fire, and from the waist up its body looked like glowing metal. ³It stretched out what looked like a hand and grabbed me by the hair on my head. In these visions from God, the Spirit carried me between heaven and earth. He took me to Jerusalem, to the entrance to the north gate of the inner courtyard of the temple. That was where an idol that stirs up ⸤God’s⸥ anger was located. ⁴There I saw the glory of Israel’s God as I did in the vision that I saw in the valley. 

⁵God said to me, “Son of man, look toward the north.” So I looked toward the north, and there in the entrance to the north gate beside the altar, I saw the idol that stirs up ⸤God’s⸥ anger. 

⁶He asked me, “Son of man, do you see what the people of Israel are doing? The people of Israel are doing very disgusting things here, things that will force me to go far away from my holy place. But you will see even more disgusting things.” 

⁷Then he took me to the entrance of the courtyard. As I looked, I saw a hole in the wall. ⁸He said to me, “Son of man, dig through the wall.” So I dug through the wall, and I saw a door. 

⁹He said to me, “Go in, and see the wicked, disgusting things that the people of Israel are doing here.” ¹⁰So I went in and looked. I saw that the walls were covered with drawings of every kind of crawling creature, every kind of disgusting animal, and all the idols in the nation of Israel. ¹¹In front of these drawings stood 70 of Israel’s leaders. Jaazaniah, son of Shaphan, was standing with the leaders. Each of them was holding an incense burner in his hand, and a cloud of incense went up. 

¹²God asked me, “Son of man, do you see what the leaders of the nation of Israel are doing in secret? Each of them is in the room where his god is, and each one of them is thinking, ‘The Lord doesn’t see me. The Lord has abandoned this land.’ ” 

¹³Then he said to me, “You will see even more disgusting things that they are doing.” 

¹⁴He brought me to the entrance of the north gate of the Lord’s temple. Women were sitting there and crying for the god Tammuz. ¹⁵He asked me, “Son of man, do you see this? You will see even more disgusting things than these.” 

¹⁶Then he brought me into the inner courtyard of the Lord’s temple. There at the entrance to the Lord’s temple, between the entrance and the altar, were about 25 men who had their backs turned to the Lord’s temple. They were facing east and worshiping the rising sun. ¹⁷He asked me, “Son of man, do you see this? Isn’t it bad enough that the people of Judah have done these disgusting things that you have seen here? Yet, they also fill the land with violence and continue to provoke me even more. Look how they insult me in the worst possible way.¹⁸So I will take action because I’m angry, and I won’t have compassion for them or feel sorry for them. Even if they shout in my ears, I won’t listen to them.” 

9TH CHAPTER

The Lord Orders the Destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem

¹Then I heard the Lord call out with a loud voice. He said, “Come here, those who are going to punish this city. Each of you should bring your weapon with you.” ²So six men came from the upper north gate. Each one brought a deadly weapon with him. Among them was a person dressed in linen who was carrying paper and pen. The men came in and…