THE BOOK OF EZEKIEL

 

Ezekiel Chapter 8

1 ¶ In the sixth year, in the sixth month, on the fifth day of the month, as I sat in my house, and the elders of Judah sat in front of me, the Lord GOD there put his hand upon me.

2 Then I looked, and saw the likeness of a man with the appearance of fire: from what appeared to be his waist downwards was fire; and from his waist up he had the appearance of bright gleaming bronze.

3 And he stretched out what appeared to be a hand, and grabbed me by a lock of my hair; and the spirit lifted me up between the earth and heaven, and brought me in a vision from God to Jerusalem, to the entrance of the gate of the inner court that faces north; it was there that the image that stirs up jealousy was seated.

4 And there I saw the glory of the God of Israel, as in the vision that I saw in the valley.

5 Then he said to me, Son of man, lift up your eyes and look toward the north. So I looked toward the north, and saw at the entrance north of the altar gate the image of jealousy.

6 He then said to me, Son of man, do you see what they are doing? the great abominations that the house of Israel commits here, so that I will go far away from my holy place? but you will see greater abominations.

7 ¶ Then he took me to the door of the court; and when I looked, there was a hole in the wall.

8 Then he said to me, Son of man, dig through the wall: and when I had dug through the wall, there was a door.

9 And he said to me, Go in, and see the wicked abominations that they are doing here.

10 So I went in and looked; and saw portrayed on the wall every form of loathsome reptile and beast, and all the idols of the house of Israel.

11 And before them stood seventy elders of the house of Israel, with Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan in the midst of them, every man having a censer in his hand; and a thick cloud of incense went up.

12 Then he said to me, Son of man, do you see what the elders of the house of Israel are doing in the dark, each in the room where his image is? for they say, The LORD does not see us; the LORD has forsaken the earth.

13 ¶ Then he said to me, Look yet again, and you will see even greater abominations that they do.

14 Then he took me to the entrance of the gate of the LORD’S house that is toward the north; and there were women weeping for Tammuz.

15 Then he said to me, Do you see this, O son of man? look yet again, and you will see greater abominations than these.

16 And he took me into the inner court of the LORD’S house, and, behold, about twenty-five men were at the door of the temple of the LORD, between the porch and the altar, with their backs toward the temple of the LORD, and their faces toward the east; and they worshipped the rising sun.

17 Then he said to me, Have you seen this, O son of man? Does the house of Judah regard the abominations that they commit here as a small matter? for they have filled the land with violence, and have repeatedly provoked me to anger: and, look, they put the branch to their nose.

18 Therefore I will respond with wrath: my eye will not spare, nor will I have pity: and though they cry in my ears with a loud voice, I will not hear them.