< Ezekiel 8 >

1 And it comes to pass, in the sixth year, in the sixth [month], on the fifth of the month, I am sitting in my house, and [the] elderly of Judah are sitting before me, and there a hand of Lord YHWH falls on me,
Now in the sixth year, in the sixth month, on the fifth day of the month, when I was in my house and the responsible men of Judah were seated before me, the hand of the Lord came on me there.
2 and I look, and behold, 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 color of electrum.
And looking, I saw a form like fire; from the middle of his body and down there was fire: and up from the middle of his body a sort of shining, like electrum.
3 And He puts forth a form of a hand, and takes me by a lock of my head, and [the] Spirit lifts me up between the earth and the heavens, and brings me to Jerusalem in visions of God, to the opening of the inner gate that is facing the north, where the seat of the figure of jealousy [is] that is making jealous,
And he put out the form of a hand and took me by the hair of my head; and the wind, lifting me up between the earth and the heaven, took me in the visions of God to Jerusalem, to the way into the inner door facing to the north; where was the seat of the image of envy.
4 and behold, there the glory of the God of Israel [is] as the appearance that I saw in the valley.
And I saw the glory of the Lord there, as in the vision which I saw in the valley.
5 And He says to me, “Son of man, now lift up your eyes [toward] the way of the north.” And I lift up my eyes [toward] the way of the north, and behold, on the north of the gate of the altar [is] this figure of jealousy, at the entrance.
Then he said to me, Son of man, now let your eyes be lifted up in the direction of the north; and on looking in the direction of the north, to the north of the doorway of the altar, I saw this image of envy by the way in.
6 And He says to me, “Son of man, are you seeing what they are doing? The great abominations that the house of Israel is doing here, to keep far off from My sanctuary; and turn again, [and] see great abominations.”
And he said to me, Son of man, do you see what they are doing? even the very disgusting things which the children of Israel are doing here, causing me to go far away from my holy place? but you will see other most disgusting things.
7 And He brings me to an opening of the court, and I look, and behold, a hole in the wall;
And he took me to the door of the open place; and looking, I saw a hole in the wall.
8 and He says to me, “Son of man, now dig through the wall”; and I dig through the wall, and behold, an opening.
And he said to me, Son of man, make a hole in the wall: and after making a hole in the wall I saw a door.
9 And He says to me, “Go in, and see the evil abominations that they are doing here.”
And he said to me, Go in and see the evil and disgusting things which they are doing here.
10 And I go in, and look, and behold, every form of creeping thing, and detestable beast—and all the idols of the house of Israel—carved on the wall, all around,
So I went in and saw; and there every sort of living thing which goes flat on the earth, and unclean beasts, and all the images of the children of Israel, were pictured round about on the wall.
11 and seventy men from [the] elderly of the house of Israel—and Jaazaniah son of Shaphan standing in their midst—are standing before them, and each [with] his censer in his hand, and [the] abundance of [the] cloud of the incense is going up.
And before them seventy of the responsible men of the children of Israel had taken their places, every man with a vessel for burning perfumes in his hand, and in the middle of them was Jaazaniah, the son of Shaphan; and a cloud of smoke went up from the burning perfume.
12 And He says to me, “Have you seen, son of man, that which elderly of the house of Israel are doing in the darkness, each in [the] inner chambers of his imagery, for they are saying, YHWH is not seeing us, YHWH has forsaken the land?”
And he said to me, Son of man, have you seen what the responsible men of the children of Israel do in the dark, every man in his room of pictured images? for they say, The Lord does not see us; the Lord has gone away from the land.
13 And He says to me, “Turn again, [and] see [the] great abominations that they are doing.”
Then he said to me, You will see even more disgusting things which they do.
14 And He brings me to the opening of the gate of the house of YHWH that [is] at the north, and behold, there the women are sitting, weeping for Tammuz.
Then he took me to the door of the way into the Lord's house looking to the north; and there women were seated weeping for Tammuz.
15 And He says to me, “Have you seen, son of man? Turn again, [and] see greater abominations than these.”
Then he said to me, Have you seen this, O son of man? you will see even more disgusting things than these.
16 And He brings me into the inner court of the house of YHWH, and behold, at the opening of the temple of YHWH, between the porch and the altar, about twenty-five men, their backs toward the temple of YHWH, and their faces eastward, and they are bowing themselves eastward to the sun.
And he took me into the inner square of the Lord's house, and at the door of the Temple of the Lord, between the covered way and the altar, there were about twenty-five men with their backs turned to the Temple of the Lord and their faces turned to the east; and they were worshipping the sun, turning to the east.
17 And He says to me, “Have you seen, son of man? Has 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 behold, they are putting forth the branch to their nose!
Then he said to me, Have you seen this, O son of man? is it a small thing to the children of Judah that they do the disgusting things which they are doing here? for they have made the land full of violent behaviour, making me angry again and again: and see, they put the branch to my nose.
18 And I also deal in fury, My eye does not pity, nor do I spare, and they have cried [with] a loud voice in My ears and I do not hear them.”
For this reason I will let loose my wrath: my eye will not have mercy, and I will have no pity.

< Ezekiel 8 >