< Ezekiel 8 >
1 In the sixth year, on the fifth day of the sixth month, I was sitting in my house, and the elders of Judah were sitting before me; and there the hand of the Lord GOD fell upon me.
Now it came to pass 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 before me, that the hand of the Lord Jehovah fell there upon me.
2 Then I looked and saw a figure like that of a man. From His waist down His appearance was like fire, and from His waist up He was as bright as the gleam of amber.
And I looked, and lo, a form having the appearance of fire; from the appearance of his loins downward, of fire; and from his loins upward, of a bright light, like the splendor of shining brass.
3 He stretched out what looked like a hand and took me by the hair of my head. Then the Spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven and carried me in visions of God to Jerusalem, to the entrance of the north gate of the inner court, where the idol that provokes jealousy was seated.
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 the earth and the heaven, and brought me, in the visions of God, to Jerusalem, to the door of the inner gate, that looketh toward the north, where stood the idol of jealousy, which provoketh to jealousy.
4 And there I saw the glory of the God of Israel, like the vision I had seen in the plain.
And behold, the glory of the God of Israel was there, according to the vision which I saw in the plain.
5 “Son of man,” He said to me, “now lift up your eyes to the north.” So I lifted up my eyes to the north, and in the entrance north of the Altar Gate I saw this idol of jealousy.
Then said he to me, Son of man, lift up thine eyes toward the north! And I lifted up my eyes toward the north, and behold, northward from the gate of the altar was this idol of jealousy, at the entrance.
6 “Son of man,” He said to me, “do you see what they are doing—the great abominations that the house of Israel is committing—to drive Me far from My sanctuary? Yet you will see even greater abominations.”
And he said to me: Son of man, seest thou what they do? Great are the abominations which the house of Israel commit here, that I should go far off from my sanctuary. But thou shalt yet again see great abominations.
7 Then He brought me to the entrance to the court, and I looked and saw a hole in the wall.
And he brought me to the door of the court, and I looked, and behold, a hole in the wall.
8 “Son of man,” He told me, “dig through the wall.” So I dug through the wall and discovered a doorway.
And he said to me, Son of man, break now through the wall. And when I had broken through the wall, behold, a door.
9 Then He said to me, “Go in and see the wicked abominations they are committing here.”
And he said to me, Go in, and behold the wicked abominations which they practise here.
10 So I went in and looked, and engraved all around the wall was every kind of crawling creature and detestable beast, along with all the idols of the house of Israel.
So I went in and saw, and behold, every form of creeping things, and of abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel, portrayed upon the wall round about.
11 Before them stood seventy elders of the house of Israel, with Jaazaniah son of Shaphan standing among them. Each had a censer in his hand, and a fragrant cloud of incense was rising.
And there stood before them seventy men of the elders of the house of Israel, Jaazaniah, the son of Shaphan, standing in the midst of them, with every man his censer in his hand; and a thick cloud of incense went up.
12 “Son of man,” He said to me, “do you see what the elders of the house of Israel are doing in the darkness, each at the shrine of his own idol? For they are saying, ‘The LORD does not see us; the LORD has forsaken the land.’”
Then said he to me: Son of man, seest thou what the elders of the house of Israel do in the dark, each one in his image-chamber? For they say, “Jehovah seeth us not; Jehovah hath forsaken the land.”
13 Again, He told me, “You will see them committing even greater abominations.”
And he said to me, Thou shalt yet again see the great abominations which they practise.
14 Then He brought me to the entrance of the north gate of the house of the LORD, and I saw women sitting there, weeping for Tammuz.
Then he brought me to the entrance of the gate of the house of Jehovah, which was toward the north, and behold, there sat women, weeping for Thammuz.
15 “Son of man,” He said to me, “do you see this? Yet you will see even greater abominations than these.”
And he said to me, Seest thou this, O son of man? Thou shalt yet again see greater abominations than these.
16 So He brought me to the inner court of the house of the LORD, and there at the entrance to the temple of the LORD, between the portico 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 bowing to the east in worship of the sun.
And he brought me into the inner court of the house of Jehovah, and behold, at the entrance of the temple of Jehovah, between the porch and the altar, were about five and twenty men, with their backs toward the temple of Jehovah, and their faces toward the east; and they bowed themselves eastward toward the sun.
17 “Son of man,” He said to me, “do you see this? Is it not enough for the house of Judah to commit the abominations they are practicing here, that they must also fill the land with violence and continually provoke Me to anger? Look, they are even putting the branch to their nose!
And he said to me: Seest thou, O son of man? Is it a light thing to the house of Judah, that they commit the abominations which they commit here, that they fill the land with violence, and continually provoke me to anger? And behold, they put the blanch to their nostrils.
18 Therefore I will respond with wrath. I will not look on them with pity, nor will I spare them. Although they shout loudly in My ears, I will not listen to them.”
Therefore will I also deal with them in fury; mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity; and though they cry in mine ears with a loud voice, yet will I not hear them.