NAS - Ezekiel Chapter 8 to 11

8 Vision of Abominations in Jerusalem

¹It came about 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 the Lord GOD fell on me there. ²Then I looked, and behold, a likeness as the appearance of a man; from His loins and downward there was the appearance of fire, and from His loins and upward the appearance of brightness, like the appearance of glowing metal. ³He stretched out the form of a hand and caught me by a lock of my head; and the Spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem, to the entrance of the north gate of the inner court, where the seat of the idol of jealousy, which provokes to jealousy, was located. ⁴And behold, the glory of the God of Israel was there, like the appearance which I saw in the plain.

⁵Then He said to me, "Son of man, raise 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 idol of jealousy at the entrance. ⁶And He said to me, "Son of man, do you see what they are doing, the great abominations which the house of Israel are committing 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 dig through the wall." So I dug through the wall, and behold, an entrance. ⁹And He said to me, "Go in and see the wicked abominations that they are committing 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 seventy elders of the house of Israel, with Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan standing among them, each man with his censer 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 committing in the dark, each man in the room of his carved images? For they say, `The LORD does not see us; the LORD has forsaken the land.'" ¹³And He said to me, "Yet you will see still greater abominations which they are committing."

¹⁴Then He brought me to the entrance of the gate of the LORD'S house 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 LORD'S house. And behold, at the entrance to 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; and they were prostrating 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 commit the abominations which they have committed here, that they have filled the land with violence and provoked Me repeatedly? For behold, they are putting the twig to their nose. ¹⁸"Therefore, I indeed will deal in wrath. My eye will have no pity nor will I spare; and though they cry in My ears with a loud voice, yet I will not listen to them."

9 The Vision of Slaughter

¹Then He cried out in my hearing with a loud voice saying, "Draw near, O 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 a certain man clothed in linen with a writing case at his loins. And they went in and stood beside the bronze altar.

³Then the glory of the God of Israel went up from the cherub on which it had been, to the threshold of the temple. 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 mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh 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"Utterly slay old men, young men, maidens, little children, and women, but do not touch any man on whom is the mark; and you shall start from My sanctuary." So they started with the elders who were before the temple. ⁷And He said to them, "Defile the temple 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 fell on my face and cried out saying, "Alas, Lord GOD! Are You destroying the whole remnant of Israel by 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 filled with blood and the city is full of perversion; for they say, `The LORD has forsaken the land, and the LORD does not see!' ¹⁰"But as for Me, My eye will have no pity nor will I spare, but I will bring their conduct upon their heads."

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

10 Vision of God's Glory Departing from the Temple

¹Then I looked, and behold, in the expanse that was over the heads of the cherubim something like a sapphire stone, in appearance resembling a throne, appeared above them. ²And He spoke to the man clothed in linen and said, "Enter between the whirling wheels under the cherubim and fill your hands with coals 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 temple when the man entered, and the cloud filled the inner court. ⁴Then the glory of the LORD went up from the cherub to the threshold of the temple, and the temple was filled with the cloud and the court was filled with the brightness 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 voice of God 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, four wheels beside the cherubim, one wheel beside each cherub; and the appearance of the wheels was like the gleam of a Tarshish 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 in any of their four directions without turning as they went; but they followed in the direction which they faced, without turning as they went. ¹²Their whole body, their backs, their hands, their wings and the wheels 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 each 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 living 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 the cherubim stood 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 over the cherubim. ¹⁹When the 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 hovered over them.

²⁰These are the living beings that I saw beneath the God of Israel by the river Chebar; so I knew that they were cherubim. ²¹Each 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.

11 Evil Rulers to Be Judged

¹Moreover, the Spirit 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 Pelatiah son of Benaiah, leaders of the people. ²He said to me, "Son of man, these are the men who devise iniquity and give evil advice in this city, ³who say, `The time is not near to build houses. This city is the pot and we are the flesh.' ⁴"Therefore, prophesy 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 I know your thoughts. ⁶"You have multiplied your slain in this city, filling its streets with them." ⁷ `Therefore, thus says the Lord GOD, "Your slain whom you have laid in the midst of the city are the flesh and this city is the pot; but I will bring you out of it. ⁸"You have feared a sword; so I will bring a sword upon you," the Lord GOD declares. ⁹"And I will bring you out of the midst of the city and deliver you into the hands of strangers and execute judgments against you. ¹⁰"You will fall by the sword. I will judge you to the border of Israel; so you shall know that I am the LORD. ¹¹"This city will not 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 executed My ordinances, but have acted according to the ordinances of the nations around you."'"

¹³Now it came about as I prophesied, that Pelatiah son of Benaiah died. Then I fell on my face and cried out with a loud voice and said, "Alas, 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 relatives, your 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 us 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 sanctuary for them a little while in the countries where they had gone."' ¹⁷"Therefore say, `Thus says the Lord GOD, "I will gather 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 remove all its detestable things and all its abominations from it. ¹⁹"And I will give them one heart, and put a new spirit within them. And I will take the heart of stone out of their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, ²⁰that they may walk in My statutes and keep My ordinances and do them. Then they will be My people, and I shall be their God. ²¹"But as for those whose hearts go after their detestable things and abominations, I will bring their conduct down on their heads," declares the Lord GOD.

²²Then the cherubim lifted up their wings with the wheels beside them, and the glory of the God of Israel hovered over them. ²³The glory of the LORD went up from the midst of the city and stood over the mountain which is east of the city. ²⁴And the Spirit lifted me up and brought me in a vision by the Spirit of God to the exiles in Chaldea. So the vision that I had seen left me. ²⁵Then I told the exiles all the things that the LORD had shown me.