Ezekiel 9–12

Chapter 9

The Vision of Slaughter

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.”

²Behold, six men came 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 ¹writing 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 ¹temple. And He called to the man clothed in linen at whose loins was the writing case.

⁴The Lord 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 committed 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“¹Utterly ^aslay old men, young men, maidens, little children, 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 ²elders who were before the ³temple.

⁷And He said to them, “^aDefile the ¹temple and fill the courts with the slain. Go out!” Thus they went out and struck down the people in the city.

⁸As they were striking the people and I alone was left, I ^afell on my face and cried out ¹saying, “^bAlas, Lord ²God! Are You destroying the whole remnant of Israel ³by 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 blood and the city is ^bfull of perversion; for ^cthey say, ‘The Lord has forsaken the land, and the Lord does not see!’

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

¹¹Then behold, the man clothed in linen at whose loins was the ¹writing case ²reported, saying, “I have done just as You have commanded me.”

Chapter 10

Vision of God’s Glory Departing from 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 resembling 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 ¹temple when the man entered, and the cloud filled the ^ainner court.

⁴Then the ^aglory of the Lord went up from the cherub to the threshold of the temple, and the ^btemple was filled with the cloud and the court was filled with the ^cbrightness of the glory of the Lord.

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.

⁶It came about 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 stretched out his hand from between the cherubim to the fire which was between the cherubim, took some and put it into the hands of the one clothed in linen, who took it and went out.

⁸The 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.

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

¹²Their ^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 beings that I saw by the river Chebar.

¹⁶Now when the cherubim moved, the wheels would go 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, the wheels would stand still; and when they rose up, the wheels would rise with them, for the spirit of the living beings was in them.

¹⁸Then the glory of the Lord departed from the threshold of the temple 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 Lord’s house, and the glory of the God of Israel ¹hovered over them.

²⁰These are the ^aliving beings 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 form 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

Evil Rulers to Be Judged

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

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

³who say, ‘The time is not near to build houses. ²This ^acity is the pot and we are the flesh.’

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

⁵Then the Spirit of the Lord fell upon me, and He said to me, “Say, ‘Thus says the Lord, “So you think, house of Israel, for ^aI know ¹your ^bthoughts.

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

⁷‘Therefore, thus says the Lord ¹God, “Your ^aslain whom you have laid in the midst of ²the city are the flesh and this city is the pot; but ³I will ^bbring you out of it.

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

⁹“And I will bring you out of the midst of ¹the city and deliver you into the hands of ^astrangers and ^bexecute judgments against you.

¹⁰“You will ^afall by the sword. I will judge you to the ^bborder of Israel; so you shall know that I am the Lord.

¹¹“This city will ^anot be a pot for you, nor will you be flesh in the midst of it, but I will judge you to the border of Israel.

¹²“Thus you will know that I am the Lord; for you have not walked in My statutes nor have you ^aexecuted My ordinances, but have acted according to the ordinances of the ^bnations around you.” ’ ”

¹³Now it came about as I prophesied, that ^aPelatiah son of Benaiah died. Then I fell on my face and cried out with a loud voice and said, “^bAlas, Lord God! Will You bring the remnant of Israel to a complete end?”

Promise of Restoration

¹⁴Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

¹⁵“Son of man, your brothers, your ¹relatives, ²your fellow exiles and the whole house of Israel, all of them, are those to whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, ‘Go far from the Lord; this land has been given ^aus as a possession.’

¹⁶“Therefore say, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “Though I had removed them far away among the nations and though I had scattered them among the countries, yet I was a ^asanctuary for them a little while in the countries where they had gone.” ’

¹⁷“Therefore say, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “I will ^agather you from the peoples and assemble you out of the countries among which you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.” ’

¹⁸“When they come there, they will ^aremove all its ^bdetestable things and all its abominations from it.

¹⁹“And I will ^agive them one heart, and put a new spirit within ¹them. And I will take the ^bheart of stone out of their flesh and give them a ^cheart of flesh,

²⁰that they may ^awalk in My statutes and keep My ordinances and do them. Then they will be ^bMy people, and I shall be their God.

²¹“¹But as for those whose hearts go after their ^adetestable things and abominations, I will ^bbring their conduct down on their heads,” declares the Lord God.

²²Then the cherubim ^alifted up their wings with the wheels beside them, and ^bthe glory of the God of Israel ¹hovered over them.

²³The ^aglory of the Lord went up from the midst of the city and ^bstood over the mountain which is east of the city.

²⁴And the ^aSpirit lifted me up and brought me in a vision by the Spirit of God to the exiles ¹in Chaldea. So the vision that I had seen ^2bleft me.

²⁵Then I ^atold the exiles all the things that the Lord had shown me.

Chapter 12

Ezekiel Prepares for Exile

¹Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

²“Son of man, you live in the ^amidst of the ^brebellious house, who ^chave eyes to see but do not see, ears to hear but do not hear; for they are a rebellious house.

³“Therefore, son of man, prepare for yourself baggage for exile and go into exile by day in their sight; even go into exile from your place to another place in their sight. ^aPerhaps they will ¹understand though they are a rebellious house.

⁴“Bring your baggage out by day in their sight, as baggage for exile. Then you will go out ^aat evening in their sight, as those going into exile.

⁵“Dig a hole through the wall in their sight and ¹go out through it.

⁶“Load the baggage on your shoulder in their sight and carry it out in the dark. You shall ^acover your face so that you cannot see the land, for I have set you as a ^bsign to the house of Israel.”

⁷I ^adid so, as I had been commanded. By day I ^bbrought out…