Ezekiel 8:1–11:25

Visions of Abominations in the Sanctuary

¹Now it happened in the sixth year, on the fifth day of the sixth month, as I was sitting in my house with the elders of Judah sitting before me, that the hand of Lord Yahweh fell on me there.

²Then I looked, and behold, a likeness as the appearance of ¹one on fire; from His loins and downward there was the ^aappearance of fire, and from His loins and upward the appearance of brightness, like ^bthe gleam of ²glowing metal.

³He sent forth the form of a hand and took me by a lock of my head; and the ^aSpirit lifted me up between earth and heaven and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem, to the entrance of the ¹north gate of the inner court, where the seat of the figure of jealousy, which ^bprovokes to jealousy, was located.

⁴And behold, the ^aglory of the God of Israel was there, like the appearance which I saw in the plain.

⁵Then He said to me, “Son of man, ^araise your eyes now toward the north.” So I raised my eyes toward the north, and behold, to the north of the altar gate was this ^bfigure of jealousy at the entrance.

⁶And He said to me, “Son of man, are you seeing what they are doing, the great ^aabominations which the house of Israel is doing here, so that I would be far from My sanctuary? But yet you will see still greater abominations.”

⁷Then He brought me to the entrance of the court, and when I looked, behold, a hole in the wall.

⁸He said to me, “Son of man, now ^adig through the wall.” So I dug through the wall, and behold, an entrance.

⁹And He said to me, “Go in and see the evil abominations that they are doing here.”

¹⁰So I entered and looked, and behold, every form of creeping things and beasts and detestable things, with all the idols of the house of Israel, were carved on the wall all around.

¹¹Standing in front of them were ^aseventy ^belders of the house of Israel, with Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan standing among them, each man with his ^ccenser in his hand and the fragrance of the cloud of incense rising.

¹²Then He said to me, “Son of man, do you see what the elders of the house of Israel are doing in the dark, each man in the room of his carved images? For they say, ‘^aYahweh does not see us; Yahweh has ^bforsaken the land.’”

¹³And He said to me, “Yet you will see still greater abominations which they are doing.”

¹⁴Then He brought me to the entrance of the ^agate of the house of Yahweh which was toward the north; and behold, women were sitting there weeping for Tammuz.

¹⁵He said to me, “Do you see this, son of man? Yet you will see still greater abominations than these.”

¹⁶Then He brought me into the inner court of the house of Yahweh. And behold, at the entrance to the temple of Yahweh, between the porch and the altar, were about twenty-five men with their ^abacks to the temple of Yahweh and their faces toward the east; and ^bthey were ¹prostrating themselves eastward toward the sun.

¹⁷He said to me, “Do you see this, son of man? Is it too light a thing for the house of Judah to do the abominations which they have done here, that they have ^afilled the land with violence and ^bprovoked Me to anger still more? For behold, they are sending forth the twig to their nose.

¹⁸“Therefore, I also will do this in wrath: My eye will have no pity, nor will I spare; and ^athey will cry in My ears with a loud voice, yet I will not listen to them.”

CHAPTER 9

The Vision of Yahweh’s Wrath

¹Then He cried out in my hearing with a loud ^avoice saying, “Draw near, ¹O executioners of the city, each with his destroying weapon in his hand.”

²And behold, six men were coming from the direction of the upper gate which faces north, each with his shattering weapon in his hand; and among them was ^aa certain man clothed in linen with a ¹scribe’s case at his loins. And they went in and stood beside the bronze altar.

³Then the ^aglory of the God of Israel went up from the cherub on which it had been, to the threshold of the house of Yahweh. And He called to the man clothed in linen at whose loins was the ¹scribe’s case.

⁴Yahweh said to him, “Go through the midst of the city, even through the midst of Jerusalem, and put a ^amark on the foreheads of the men who ^bsigh and groan over all the abominations which are being done in its midst.”

⁵But to the others He said in my hearing, “Go through the city after him and strike; do not let your eye have pity and do not spare.

⁶“^aKill to utter destruction old men, chosen men, virgins, little ones, and women, but do not ^btouch any man on whom is the mark; and you shall ^cstart from My sanctuary.” So they started with the ¹elders who were before the house.

⁷And He said to them, “^aDefile the house and fill the courts with the slain. Go out!” Thus they went out and struck down the people in the city.

⁸Now it happened as they were striking the people and I alone remained, that I ^afell on my face and cried out and said, “^bAlas, Lord Yahweh! Are You destroying the whole remnant of Israel ¹by pouring out Your wrath on Jerusalem?”

⁹Then He said to me, “The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is very, very great, and the land is ^afilled with bloodshed, and the city is ^bfull of perversion; for ^cthey say, ‘Yahweh has forsaken the land, and Yahweh does not see!’

¹⁰“But as for Me, ^aMy eye will have no pity, nor will I spare, but ^bI will put their way upon their heads.”

¹¹Then behold, the man clothed in linen at whose loins was the scribe’s ¹case responded with a word, saying, “I have done just as You have commanded me.”

CHAPTER 10

Vision of Yahweh’s Glory Departing the Temple

¹Then I looked, and behold, in the ^1aexpanse that was over the heads of the cherubim something like a ^bsapphire stone, in appearance in the likeness of a ^cthrone, appeared above them.

²And He spoke to the man clothed in linen and said, “Enter between the ^awhirling wheels under the ¹cherubim and fill your hands with ^bcoals of fire from between the cherubim and scatter them over the city.” And he entered in my sight.

³Now the cherubim were standing on the right side of the house when the man entered, and the cloud filled the ^ainner court.

⁴Then the ^aglory of Yahweh rose up from the cherub to the threshold of the house, and the ^bhouse was filled with the cloud, and the court was filled with the ^cbrightness of the glory of Yahweh.

⁵Moreover, the sound of the wings of the cherubim was heard as far as the outer court, like the ^avoice of ¹God Almighty when He speaks.

⁶Now it happened that when He commanded the man clothed in linen, saying, “Take fire from between the whirling wheels, from between the cherubim,” he entered and stood beside a wheel.

⁷Then the cherub sent forth his hand from between the cherubim to the fire which was between the cherubim, took some up, and put it into the hands of the one clothed in linen, who took it and went out.

⁸And the cherubim appeared to have the form of a man’s hand under their wings.

⁹Then I looked, and behold, ^afour wheels beside the cherubim, one wheel beside each cherub; and the appearance of the wheels was like the gleam of a ^1bTarshish stone.

¹⁰As for their appearance, all four of them had the same likeness, as if one wheel were within another wheel.

¹¹As they went, they went ^ain any of their four ¹directions without turning as they went; but they went in the direction which ²they faced, without turning as they went.

¹²And their ^awhole body, their backs, their hands, their wings, and the ^bwheels were full of eyes all around, the wheels belonging to all four of them.

¹³The wheels were called in my hearing, the whirling wheels.

¹⁴And ^aeach one had four faces. The first face was the face of a cherub, the second face was the face of a man, the third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle.

¹⁵Then the cherubim rose up. They are the ^aliving creatures that I saw by the river Chebar.

¹⁶Now as the cherubim went, the wheels went beside them; also when the cherubim lifted up their wings to rise from the ground, the wheels would not turn from beside them.

¹⁷When ¹the cherubim ^astood still, ²the wheels would stand still; and when they rose up, ³the wheels would rise with them, for the spirit of the living creatures was in them.

¹⁸Then the glory of Yahweh departed from the threshold of the house and stood ^aover the cherubim.

¹⁹When ^athe cherubim departed, they lifted their wings and rose up from the earth in my sight with the wheels beside them; and they stood still at the entrance of the east gate of the house of Yahweh, and the glory of the God of Israel ¹hovered over them.

²⁰These are the ^aliving creatures that I saw beneath the God of Israel by ^bthe river Chebar; so I knew that they were cherubim.

^21aEach one had four faces and each one four wings, and beneath their wings was the likeness of human hands.

²²As for the likeness of their faces, they were the same faces whose appearance I had seen by the river Chebar. Each one went straight ahead.

CHAPTER 11

Judgment on Evil Counselors

¹Moreover, the ^aSpirit lifted me up and brought me to the east gate of the house of Yahweh which faced eastward. And behold, at the entrance of the gate, there were twenty-five men, and I saw among them Jaazaniah son of Azzur and ^bPelatiah son of Benaiah, officials of the people.

²He said to me, “Son of man, these are the men who devise wickedness and ^agive evil counsel in this city,

³who say, ‘The time is not near to build houses. ¹This ^acity is the pot, and we are the flesh.’

⁴“Therefore, ^aprophesy against them, son of man, prophesy!”

⁵Then the Spirit of Yahweh fell upon me, and He said to me, “Say, ‘Thus says Yahweh, “So you say, house of Israel, for ^aI know what comes up in your ^bspirit.

⁶“You have ^amultiplied your slain in this city, and you have filled its streets with ¹them.”

⁷‘Therefore, thus says Lord Yahweh, “Your ^aslain whom you have laid in the midst of ¹the city are the flesh, and this city is the pot; but ²I will ^bbring you out of it.

⁸“You have ^afeared a sword; so a sword I will ^bbring upon you,” Lord Yahweh declares.

⁹“And I will bring you out of the midst of ¹…