Ezekiel 7–9

¹And there is a word of Jehovah unto me, saying, ‘And thou, son of man, Thus said the Lord Jehovah to the ground of Israel: ²An end, come hath the end on the four corners of the land. ³Now is the end unto thee, And I have sent Mine anger upon thee, And judged thee according to thy ways, And set against thee all thine abominations. ⁴And no pity on thee hath Mine eye, nor do I spare, For thy ways against thee I do set, And thine abominations are in thy midst, And ye have known that I am Jehovah. ⁵Thus said the Lord Jehovah: Evil, a single evil, lo, it hath come. ⁶An end hath come, come hath the end, It hath waked for thee, lo, it hath come. ⁷Come hath the morning unto thee, O inhabitant of the land! Come hath the time, near is a day of trouble, And not the shouting of mountains. ⁸Now, shortly I pour out My fury on thee, And have completed Mine anger against thee, And judged thee according to thy ways, And set against thee all thine abominations. ⁹And not pity doth Mine eye, nor do I spare, According to thy ways unto thee I give, And thine abominations are in thy midst, And ye have known that I am Jehovah the smiter. ¹⁰Lo, the day, lo, it hath come, Gone forth hath the morning, Blossomed hath the rod, flourished the pride. ¹¹The violence hath risen to a rod of wickedness, There is none of them, nor of their multitude, Nor of their noise, nor is there wailing for them. ¹²Come hath the time, arrived hath the day, The buyer doth not rejoice, And the seller doth not become a mourner, For wrath is unto all its multitude. ¹³For the seller to the sold thing turneth not, And yet among the living is their life, For the vision is unto all its multitude, It doth not turn back, And none by his iniquity doth strengthen his life. ¹⁴They have blown with a trumpet to prepare the whole, And none is going to battle, For My wrath is unto all its multitude. ¹⁵The sword is without, And the pestilence and the famine within, He who is in a field by sword dieth, And he who is in a city, Famine and pestilence devour him.

¹⁶And escaped away have their fugitives, And they have been on the mountains As doves of the valleys, All of them make a noising—each for his iniquity. ¹⁷All the hands are feeble, and all knees go—waters. ¹⁸And they have girded on sackcloth, And covered them hath trembling, And unto all faces is shame, And on all their heads—baldness. ¹⁹Their silver into out-places they cast, And their gold impurity becometh. Their silver and their gold is not able to deliver them, In a day of the wrath of Jehovah, Their soul they do not satisfy, And their bowels they do not fill, For the stumbling-block of their iniquity it hath been. ²⁰As to the beauty of his ornament, For excellency He set it, And the images of their abominations, Their detestable things—they made in it, Therefore I have given it to them for impurity, ²¹And I have given it into the hand of the strangers for a prey, And to the wicked of the land for a spoil, And they have polluted it. ²²And I have turned My face from them, And they have polluted My hidden place, Yea, come into it have destroyers, and polluted it.

²³Make the chain; for the land Hath been full of bloody judgments, And the city hath been full of violence. ²⁴And I have brought in the wicked of the nations, And they have possessed their houses, And I have caused to cease the excellency of the strong, And polluted have been those sanctifying them. ²⁵Destruction hath come, And they have sought peace, and there is none. ²⁶Mischief on mischief cometh, and report is on report, And they have sought a vision from a prophet, And law doth perish from the priest, And counsel from the elders, ²⁷The king doth become a mourner, And a prince putteth on desolation, And the hands of the people of the land are troubled, From their own way I deal with them, And with their own judgments I judge them, And they have known that I am Jehovah!’

Chapter 8

¹And it cometh to pass, in the sixth year, in the sixth month, in the fifth of the month, I am sitting in my house, and elders of Judah are sitting before me, and fall on me there doth a hand of the Lord Jehovah, ²and I look, and lo, a likeness as the appearance of fire, from the appearance of His loins and downward—fire, and from His loins and upward, as the appearance of brightness, as the colour of copper. ³And He putteth forth a form of a hand, and taketh me by a lock of my head, and lift me up doth a spirit between the earth and the heavens, and it bringeth me in to Jerusalem in visions of God, unto the opening of the inner gate that is facing the north, where is the seat of the figure of jealousy that is making jealous, ⁴and lo, there the honour of the God of Israel, as the appearance that I saw in the valley. ⁵And He saith unto me, ‘Son of man, lift up, I pray thee, thine eyes the way of the north.’ And I lift up mine eyes the way of the north, and lo, on the north of the gate of the altar this figure of jealousy, at the entrance. ⁶And He saith unto me, ‘Son of man, art thou seeing what they are doing? the great abominations that the house of Israel are doing here, to keep far off from My sanctuary; and again thou dost turn, thou dost see great abominations.’

⁷And He bringeth me in unto an opening of the court, and I look, and lo, a hole in the wall; ⁸and He saith unto me, ‘Son of man, dig, I pray thee, through the wall;’ and I dig through the wall, and lo, an opening. ⁹And He saith to me, ‘Go in, and see the evil abominations that they are doing here.’ ¹⁰And I go in, and look, and lo, every form of creeping thing, and detestable beast—and all the Idols of the house of Israel—graved on the wall, all round about, ¹¹and seventy men of the elders of the house of Israel—and Jaazaniah son of Shaphan standing in their midst—are standing before them, and each his censer in his hand, and the abundance of the cloud of perfume is going up. ¹²And He saith unto me, ‘Hast thou seen, son of man, that which elders of the house of Israel are doing in darkness, each in the inner chambers of his imagery, for they are saying, Jehovah is not seeing us, Jehovah hath forsaken the land?’

¹³And He saith unto me, ‘Again thou dost turn, thou dost see great abominations that they are doing.’ ¹⁴And He bringeth me in unto the opening of the gate of the house of Jehovah that is at the north, and lo, there the women are sitting weeping for Tammuz. ¹⁵And He saith unto me, ‘Hast thou seen, son of man? again thou dost turn, thou dost see greater abominations than these.’ ¹⁶And He bringeth me in unto the inner court of the house of Jehovah, and lo, at the opening of the temple of Jehovah, between the porch and the altar, about twenty-five men, their backs toward the temple of Jehovah, and their faces eastward, and they are bowing themselves eastward to the sun. ¹⁷And He saith unto me, ‘Hast thou seen, son of man? hath it been a light thing to the house of Judah to do the abomination that they have done here, that they have filled the land with violence, and turn back to provoke Me to anger? and lo, they are putting forth the branch unto their nose! ¹⁸And I also deal in fury, Mine eye doth not pity, nor do I spare, and they have cried in Mine ears—a loud voice—and I do not hear them.’

Chapter 9

¹And He crieth in mine ears—a loud voice—saying, ‘Drawn near have inspectors of the city, and each his destroying weapon in his hand.’ ²And lo, six men are coming from the way of the upper gate, that is facing the north, and each his slaughter-weapon in his hand, and one man in their midst is clothed with linen, and a scribe’s inkhorn at his loins, and they come in, and stand near the brazen altar. ³And the honour of the God of Israel hath gone up from off the cherub, on which it hath been, unto the threshold of the house. ⁴And He calleth unto the man who is clothed with linen, who hath the scribe’s inkhorn at his loins, and Jehovah saith unto him, ‘Pass on into the midst of the city, into the midst of Jerusalem, and thou hast made a mark on the foreheads of the men who are sighing and who are groaning for all the abominations that are done in its midst.’

⁵And to the others he said in mine ears, ‘Pass on into the city after him, and smite; your eye doth not pity, nor do ye spare; ⁶aged, young man, and virgin, and infant, and women, ye do slay—to destruction; and against any man on whom is the mark ye do not go nigh, and from My sanctuary ye begin.’ ⁷And they begin among the aged men who are before the house, and He saith unto them, ‘Defile the house, and fill the courts with the wounded, go forth.’ And they have gone forth and have smitten in the city. ⁸And it cometh to pass, as they are smiting, and I—I am left—that I fall on my face, and cry, and say, ‘Ah, Lord Jehovah, art Thou destroying all the remnant of Israel, in Thy pouring out Thy wrath on Jerusalem?’ ⁹And He saith unto me, ‘The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is very very great, and the land is full of blood, and the city hath been full of perverseness, for they have said: Jehovah hath forsaken the land, and Jehovah is not seeing. ¹⁰And I also, Mine eye doth not pity, nor do I spare; their way on their own head I have put.’ ¹¹And lo, the man clothed with linen, at whose loins is the inkhorn, is bringing back word, saying, ‘I have done as Thou hast commanded me.’

Chapter 10