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.

On the fifth day of the sixth month [of that year], almost six years after we Israeli people had been (exiled/forced to go to Babylon), I was sitting in my house. The elders of Judah were sitting in front of me. Suddenly the power [MTY] of Yahweh the Lord came on 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.

[in a vision] I saw someone who resembled a man. Below his waist, [his body] was like fire, and above his waist [his body] was glowing like very hot metal.

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.

He reached out what seemed to be a hand and grabbed me by the hair of my head. The Spirit lifted me up high above the earth, and in visions God took me [from Babylon] to Jerusalem. He took me [to the temple], to the north gate, to the place where there was an idol that caused Yahweh to be very disgusted and furious.

4 And there I saw the glory of the God of Israel, like the vision I had seen in the plain.

And there in front of me was the brilliant light that indicated the presence of the God whom the Israeli [people previously worshiped. It was] like the vision that I had seen alongside the Kebar River/Canal.

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.

Yahweh said to me, “You human, look toward the north!” So I looked, and I saw in the entrance of the gate near the altar that idol that caused Yahweh to be disgusted and furious.

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.”

He said to me, “You human, do you see what those Israeli people [MTY] are doing? They are doing detestable things here, things that will cause me to abandon my temple. But you will see things that are even more detestable.”

7 Then He brought me to the entrance to the court, and I looked and saw a hole in the wall.

Then he brought me to the entrance of the courtyard. I looked and saw 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.

He said to me, “You human, dig through the wall here.” So I dug through the wall, and I saw a doorway inside.

9 Then He said to me, “Go in and see the wicked abominations they are committing here.”

He said to me, “Go in and see the wicked and detestable things that they are doing there!”

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 through the doorway and looked, and I saw, all over the [of a big room, drawings of] all kinds of creatures that scurry across the ground and [other] detestable animals, and drawings of all the idols that the people of [were worshiping].

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.

In front of them stood 70 elders of Israel. Jaazaniah, the son of Shaphan, was standing among them. Each of them was holding a pan in which incense was burning, and fragrant smoke of the burning incense was rising 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.’”

Yahweh said to me, “You human, look at [RHQ] what the Israeli elders are doing here in the darkness, each of them standing in front of the shrine of his own idol! They are saying, ‘Yahweh does not see us; Yahweh has deserted this country.’”

13 Again, He told me, “You will see them committing even greater abominations.”

He also said, “But you will see 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, weeping for Tammuz.

Then he took me to the entrance at the north gate of the temple. I saw women sitting there, mourning for [the death of the god of the people of Babylonia], Tammuz.

15 “Son of man,” He said to me, “do you see this? Yet you will see even greater abominations than these.”

He said to me, “You human, you see this [RHQ], but you will see things that are more detestable than this!”

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.

Then he took me into the courtyard outside the temple. There at the entrance of the temple, between the porch and the altar, were about 25 men. Their backs were toward the temple and their faces were toward the east, and they were bowing down to [worship] the sun [as it rose] in the east.

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!

He said to me, “You human, you see [RHQ] what they are doing. [Do you think that] it is not important that these men of Judah are doing these detestable things here? [But they are doing other terrible things]. They are acting violently throughout their country, and continually causing me to be angry. Look at them! They are insulting me by their actions [IDM]!

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.”

So I will show them that I am very angry. I will not pity them or act mercifully toward them. And even if they shout to me [to help them], I will not pay attention to them.”