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And 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,

and 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.

And 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,

and lo, there the honour of the God of Israel, as the appearance that I saw in the valley.

And 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.

And 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.'

And He bringeth me in unto an opening of the court, and I look, and lo, a hole in the wall;

and He saith unto me, `Son of man, dig, I pray thee, through the wall;' and I dig through the wall, and lo, an opening.

And He saith to me, `Go in, and see the evil abominations that they are doing here.'

10 And 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,

11 and 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.

12 And 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?'

13 And He saith unto me, `Again thou dost turn, thou dost see great abominations that they are doing.'

14 And 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.

15 And He saith unto me, `Hast thou seen, son of man? again thou dost turn, thou dost see greater abominations than these.'

16 And 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.

17 And 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!

18 And 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.'

Idolatry in the Temple

In the sixth year, in the sixth month on the fifth day, while I was sitting in my house and the elders(A) of Judah were sitting before(B) me, the hand of the Sovereign Lord came on me there.(C) I looked, and I saw a figure like that of a man.[a] From what appeared to be his waist down he was like fire, and from there up his appearance was as bright as glowing metal.(D) He stretched out what looked like a hand(E) and took me by the hair of my head. The Spirit lifted me up(F) between earth and heaven and in visions(G) of God he took me to Jerusalem, to the entrance of the north gate of the inner court,(H) where the idol that provokes to jealousy(I) stood. And there before me was the glory(J) of the God of Israel, as in the vision I had seen in the plain.(K)

Then he said to me, “Son of man, look toward the north.” So I looked, and in the entrance north of the gate of the altar I saw this idol(L) of jealousy.

And he said to me, “Son of man, do you see what they are doing—the utterly detestable(M) things the Israelites are doing here, things that will drive me far from my sanctuary?(N) But you will see things that are even more detestable.”

Then he brought me to the entrance to the court. I looked, and I saw a hole in the wall. He said to me, “Son of man, now dig into the wall.” So I dug into the wall and saw a doorway there.

And he said to me, “Go in and see the wicked and detestable things they are doing here.” 10 So I went in and looked, and I saw portrayed all over the walls(O) all kinds of crawling things and unclean(P) animals and all the idols of Israel.(Q) 11 In front of them stood seventy elders(R) of Israel, and Jaazaniah son of Shaphan was standing among them. Each had a censer(S) in his hand, and a fragrant cloud of incense(T) was rising.(U)

12 He said to me, “Son of man, have you seen what the elders of Israel are doing in the darkness,(V) each at the shrine of his own idol? They say, ‘The Lord does not see(W) us; the Lord has forsaken the land.’” 13 Again, he said, “You will see them doing things that are even more detestable.”

14 Then he brought me to the entrance of the north gate of the house of the Lord, and I saw women sitting there, mourning the god Tammuz.(X) 15 He said to me, “Do you see this, son of man? You will see things that are even more detestable than this.”

16 He then brought me into the inner court(Y) of the house of the Lord, and there at the entrance to the temple, between the portico and the altar,(Z) were about twenty-five men. With their backs toward the temple of the Lord and their faces toward the east, they were bowing down to the sun(AA) in the east.(AB)

17 He said to me, “Have you seen this, son of man? Is it a trivial matter for the people of Judah to do the detestable things(AC) they are doing here? Must they also fill the land with violence(AD) and continually arouse my anger?(AE) Look at them putting the branch to their nose! 18 Therefore I will deal with them in anger;(AF) I will not look on them with pity(AG) or spare them. Although they shout in my ears, I will not listen(AH) to them.”

Footnotes

  1. Ezekiel 8:2 Or saw a fiery figure