Ezekiel 8

1 And it came to pass in the sixth year, in the sixth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I sat in my house, and the elders of Judah sat before me, that the hand of the lord Jehovah fell there upon me.

2 Then I beheld, 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 it were glowing metal.

3 And he put forth the form of a hand, and took 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 door of the gate of the inner court that looks toward the north, where the seat of the image of jealousy was, which provokes to jealousy.

4 And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel was there, according to the appearance that I saw in the plain.

5 Then he said to me, Son of man, lift up thine eyes now the way toward the north. So I lifted up my eyes the way toward the north, and, behold, northward of the gate of the altar was this image of jealousy in the entry.

6 And he said to me, Son of man, see thou what they do, even the great abominations that the house of Israel commit here, that I should go far off from my sanctuary? But thou shall again see yet other great abominations.

7 And he brought me to the door of the court. And when I looked, behold, a hole in the wall.

8 Then he said to me, Son of man, dig now in the wall. And when I had dug in the wall, behold, a door.

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

10 So I went in and saw, and, behold, every form of creeping things, and abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel, portrayed upon the wall round about.

11 And there stood before them seventy men of the elders of the house of Israel. And in the midst of them stood Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan, each man with his censer in his hand, and the odor of the cloud of incense went up.

12 Then he said to me, Son of man, have thou seen what the elders of the house of Israel do in the dark, each man in his chambers of imagery? For they say, Jehovah does not see us. Jehovah has forsaken the land.

13 He also said to me, Thou shall again see yet other great abominations which they do.

14 Then he brought me to the door of the gate of Jehovah's house which was toward the north. And, behold, there sat the women weeping for Tammuz.

15 Then he said to me, Have thou seen this, O son of man? Thou shall again see yet greater abominations than these.

16 And he brought me into the inner court of Jehovah's house. And, behold, at the door of the temple of Jehovah, between the porch and the altar, were about twenty-five men with their backs toward the temple of Jehovah, and their faces toward the east, and they were worshiping the sun toward the east.

17 Then he said to me, Have thou seen this, O son of man? Is it a light thing to the house of Judah that they commit the abominations which they commit here? For they have filled the land with violence, and have turned again to provoke me to anger. And, lo, they put the branch to their nose.

18 Therefore I will also deal in wrath. My eye shall not spare, nor will I have pity. And though they cry in my ears with a loud voice, yet I will not hear them.