Ezekiel 8–11

Abominations in the Temple

⁸In the sixth year, in the sixth month, on the fifth day of the month, as I sat in my house with the elders of Judah sitting before me, the hand of the Lord God fell upon me there.^{* 2}I looked, and there was a figure that looked like a man;^x below what appeared to be its loins the figure was fire, and above the loins it was like the appearance of brightness, like gleaming amber.^{* 3}It stretched out the form of a hand and took me by a lock of my head, and the spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven and brought me in visions of God to Jerusalem, to the entrance of the gateway of the inner court that faces north, to the seat of the image of jealousy that provokes to jealousy.^{* 4}And the glory of the God of Israel was there, like the vision that I had seen in the valley.^*

⁵Then God^y said to me, “O mortal, lift up your eyes now in the direction of the north.” So I lifted up my eyes toward the north, and there, north of the altar gate, in the entrance, was this image of jealousy.^{* 6}He said to me, “Mortal, do you see what they are doing, the great abominations that the house of Israel are committing here, to drive me far from my sanctuary? Yet you will see still greater abominations.”^*

⁷And he brought me to the entrance of the court; I looked, and there was a hole in the wall. ⁸Then he said to me, “Mortal, dig through the wall,” and when I dug through the wall, there was an entrance. ⁹He said to me, “Go in and see the vile abominations that they are committing here.” ¹⁰So I went in and looked; there, portrayed on the wall all around, were all kinds of creeping things and loathsome animals and all the idols of the house of Israel.^{* 11}Before them stood seventy of the elders of the house of Israel, with Jaazaniah son of Shaphan standing among them. Each had his censer in his hand, and the fragrant cloud of incense was ascending.^{* 12}Then he said to me, “Mortal, have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel are doing in the dark, each in his room of images? For they say, ‘The Lord does not see us; the Lord has forsaken the land.’ ” ¹³He said also to me, “You will see still greater abominations that they are committing.”^*

¹⁴Then he brought me to the entrance of the north gate of the house of the Lord; women were sitting there weeping for Tammuz.^{* 15}Then he said to me, “Have you seen this, O mortal? You will see still greater abominations than these.”

¹⁶And he brought me into the inner court of the house of the Lord; there, at the entrance of the temple of the Lord, between the porch and the altar, were about twenty-five men with their backs to the temple of the Lord and their faces toward the east, prostrating themselves to the sun toward the east.^{* 17}Then he said to me, “Have you seen this, O mortal? Is it not bad enough that the house of Judah commits the abominations done here? Must they fill the land with violence and provoke my anger still further? See, they are putting the branch to their nose!^{* 18}Therefore I will act in wrath; my eye will not spare, nor will I have pity, and though they cry in my hearing with a loud voice, I will not listen to them.”^*

The Slaughter of the Idolaters

⁹Then he cried in my hearing with a loud voice, saying, “Draw near, you executioners of the city, each with his destroying weapon in his hand.” ²And six men came from the direction of the upper gate, which faces north, each with his weapon for slaughter in his hand; among them was a man clothed in linen with a writing case at his side. They went in and stood beside the bronze altar.^*

³Now the glory of the God of Israel had gone up from the cherub on which it rested to the entryway of the temple. The Lord^z called to the man clothed in linen who had the writing case at his side^{* 4}and said to him, “Go through the city, through Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of those who sigh and groan over all the abominations that are committed in it.”^{* 5}To the others he said in my hearing, “Pass through the city after him and kill; your eye shall not spare, and you shall show no pity.^{* 6}Cut down old men, young men and young women, little children and women, but touch no one who has the mark. And begin at my sanctuary.” So they began with the elders who were in front of the house.^{* 7}Then he said to them, “Defile the house and fill the courts with the slain. Go!” So they went out and killed in the city.^{* 8}While they were killing and I was left alone, I fell prostrate on my face and cried out, “Ah Lord God! Will you destroy all who remain of Israel as you pour out your wrath upon Jerusalem?”^{* 9}He said to me, “The guilt of the house of Israel and Judah is exceedingly great; the land is full of bloodshed and the city full of perversity, for they say, ‘The Lord has forsaken the land, and the Lord does not see.’^{* 10}As for me, my eye will not spare, nor will I have pity, but I will bring down their deeds upon their heads.”^*

¹¹Then the man clothed in linen with the writing case at his side brought back word, saying, “I have done as you commanded me.”

God’s Glory Leaves Jerusalem

¹⁰Then I looked, and above the dome that was over the heads of the cherubim there appeared above them something like a sapphire,^a in form resembling a throne.^{* 2}He said to the man clothed in linen, “Go within the wheelwork underneath the cherubim; fill your hands with burning coals from among the cherubim, and scatter them over the city.” He went in as I looked on.^{* 3}Now the cherubim were standing on the south side of the house when the man went in, and a cloud filled the inner court.^{* 4}Then the glory of the Lord rose up from the cherub to the entryway of the temple; the house was filled with the cloud, and the court was full of the brightness of the glory of the Lord.^{* 5}The sound of the wings of the cherubim was heard as far as the outer court, like the voice of God Almighty^b when he speaks.^*

⁶When he commanded the man clothed in linen, “Take fire from within the wheelwork, from among the cherubim,” he went in and stood beside a wheel. ⁷And a cherub stretched out his hand from among the cherubim to the fire that was among the cherubim, took some of it, and put it into the hands of the man clothed in linen, who took it and went out. ⁸The cherubim appeared to have the form of a human hand under their wings.

⁹I looked, and there were four wheels beside the cherubim, one beside each cherub, and the appearance of the wheels was like gleaming beryl.^{* 10}And as for their appearance, the four looked alike, something like a wheel within a wheel. ¹¹When they moved, they moved in any of the four directions without veering as they moved, but in whatever direction the front wheel faced, the others followed without veering as they moved. ¹²Their entire bodies—backs, hands, and wings—were covered with eyes all around, as were the wheels of the four of them.^{* 13}As for the wheels, they were called in my hearing “the wheelwork.” ¹⁴Each one had four faces: the first face was that of the cherub, the second face was that of a human, the third that of a lion, and the fourth that of an eagle.^*

¹⁵The cherubim rose up. These were the living creatures that I saw by the River Chebar. ¹⁶When the cherubim moved, the wheels moved beside them, and when the cherubim lifted up their wings to rise up from the earth, the wheels at their side did not veer.^{* 17}When they stopped, the others stopped, and when they rose up, the others rose up with them, for a living spirit was in them.^*

¹⁸Then the glory of the Lord went out from the entryway of the temple and stopped above the cherubim. ¹⁹The cherubim lifted up their wings and rose up from the earth in my sight as they went out with the wheels beside them. They stopped at the entrance of the east gate of the house of the Lord, and the glory of the God of Israel was above them.^*

²⁰These were the living creatures that I saw underneath the God of Israel by the River Chebar, and I knew that they were cherubim.^{* 21}Each had four faces, each four wings, and underneath their wings something like human hands.^{* 22}As for what their faces were like, they were the same faces whose appearance I had seen by the River Chebar. Each one moved straight ahead.^*

Judgment on Wicked Counselors

¹¹The spirit lifted me up and brought me to the east gate of the house of the Lord, which faces east. There, at the entrance of the gateway, were twenty-five men; among them I saw Jaazaniah son of Azzur and Pelatiah son of Benaiah, officials of the people.^{* 2}He said to me, “Mortal, these are the men who devise iniquity and who give wicked counsel in this city;^{* 3}they say, ‘The time is not near to build houses; this city is the pot, and we are the meat.’^{* 4}Therefore prophesy against them; prophesy, O mortal.”^*

⁵Then the spirit of the Lord fell upon me, and he said to me, “Say, Thus says the Lord: This is what you think, O house of Israel; I know the things that come into your mind.^{* 6}You have killed many in this city and have filled its streets with the slain.^{* 7}Therefore thus says the Lord God: The slain whom you have placed within it are the meat, and this city is the pot, but you shall be taken out of it.^{* 8}You have feared the sword, and I will bring the sword upon you, says the Lord God. ⁹I will take you out of it and give you over to the hands of foreigners and execute judgments upon you.^{* 10}You shall fall by the sword; I will judge you at the border of Israel. And you shall know that I am the Lord.^{* 11}This city shall not be your pot, and you shall not be the meat inside it; I will judge you at the border of Israel. ¹²Then you shall know that I am the Lord, whose statutes you have not followed and whose ordinances you have not kept, but you have acted according to the ordinances of the nations that are around you.”^*

¹³Now, while I was prophesying, Pelatiah son of Benaiah died. Then I fell down on my face, cried with a loud voice, and said, “Ah Lord God! You are finishing off the remnant of Israel!”^*

…