Old Testament · Prophets

Ezekiel chapter 8

In the , in the sixth month, on the fifth day — I was sitting in my house, and the were sitting right there with me — when the , the Sovereign One, fell on me.I looked — and there, a . From what appeared to be his waist downward: fire. From his waist upward: something like the glow of .He stretched out what looked like a hand and seized me by the hair of my head. Then lifted me up between earth and sky and carried me — in these — to Jerusalem, to the entrance of the inner gate that faces north. And there stood the , the one that stokes fury.And there — the of the God of Israel, just as I had seen it in the .And he said to me, “ — look north.” So I looked north, and there at the entrance to the altar gate: this idol of jealousy, right there at the way in.He said, “Son of man, do you see what they’re doing? The terrible things the is doing here, driving me far from ? But wait. You’ll see things even more terrible than this.”Then he brought me to the entrance of the courtyard, and I looked — there, a hole in the wall.He said, “Son of man, dig through the wall.” So I dug through the wall, and there — an opening.He said, “Go in. See the , terrible things they are doing here.”So I went in and looked — and there, carved all over the walls: every kind of and detestable animal, and every of the house of Israel.Standing in front of them: of the house of Israel, with standing among them. Each one held a in his hand, and a thick cloud of incense rose up.He said to me, “Do you see, son of man, what the elders of the house of Israel are doing in the dark — each in his own ? They tell themselves, ‘. Yahweh has abandoned the land.’”Then he said, “You will see even more terrible things they are doing.”He brought me to the entrance of the north gate of — and there, women sitting, weeping for .He said, “Do you see this, son of man? You will see things even more terrible than these.”He brought me into the inner courtyard of Yahweh’s house — and there, at the entrance to the temple of Yahweh, : about with their of Yahweh and their faces toward the east, bowing down to the sun.He said, “Do you see this, son of man? Is it not enough for the house of Judah to commit the vile things they’ve done here — they also fill the land with and provoke me again and again? Look — they even .”So I will act in . them, and I will show no compassion. Even when they at full volume — I will not listen to them.