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,

And it came to pass in the sixth year, in the fifth month, on the fifth [day] of the month, I was sitting in the house, and the elders of Juda were sitting before me: and the hand of the Lord came upon me.

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 I looked, and, behold, the likeness of a man: from his loins and downwards [there was] fire, and from his loins upwards [there was] as the appearance of amber.

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 stretched forth the likeness of a hand, and took me by the crown of my head; and the Spirit lifted me up between the earth and sky, and brought me to Jerusalem in a vision of God, to the porch of the gate that looks to the north, where was the pillar of the Purchaser.

4 and behold, there the glory of the God of Israel [is] as the appearance that I saw in the valley.

And, behold, the glory of the Lord God of Israel was there, according to the vision which I saw in the plain.

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.

And he said to me, Son of man, lift up your eyes toward the north. So I lifted up mine eyes toward the north, and, behold, [I looked] from the north toward the eastern gate.

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, have you seen what these do? They commit great abominations here so that I should keep away from my sanctuary: and you shall see yet greater iniquities.

7 And He brings me to an opening of the court, and I look, and behold, a hole in the wall;

And he brought me to the porch of the court.

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, dig: so I dug, and behold 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 behold the iniquities which they practise 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 looked; and saw vain abominations, and all the idols of the house of Israel, portrayed upon them round about.

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 seventy men of the elders of the house of Israel, and Jechonias the son of Saphan stood in their presence in the midst of them, and each one held his censer in his hand; and the smoke of the incense went up.

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, You have seen, son of man, what the elders of the house of Israel do, each one of them in their secret chamber: because they have said, The Lord see not; The Lord has forsaken the earth.

13 And He says to me, “Turn again, [and] see [the] great abominations that they are doing.”

And he said to me, You shall see yet greater iniquities which these 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.

And he brought me in to the porch of the house of the Lord that looks to the north; and, behold [there were] women sitting there lamenting for Thammuz.

15 And He says to me, “Have you seen, son of man? Turn again, [and] see greater abominations than these.”

And he said to me, Son of man, you have seen; but you shall yet see [evil] practices greater then 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 brought me into the inner court of the house of the Lord, and at the entrance of the temple of the Lord, between the porch and the altar, were about twenty men, with their back parts toward the temple of the Lord, and their faces [turned] the opposite way; and these were worshipping the sun.

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!

And he said to me, Son of man, you have seen this. [Is it] a little thing to the house of Juda to practise the iniquities which they have practised here? for they have filled the land with iniquity: and, behold, these are as scorners.

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.”

Therefore will I deal with them in wrath: mine eye shall not spare, nor will I have any mercy.