Ezekiel 8

1 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.

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 [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.

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 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.

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 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.

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

5 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.

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 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.”

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

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

And he said to me, Go in, and behold the wicked abominations which they practise here.

10 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].

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 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.

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 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.’”

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 He also said, “But you will see things that are even more detestable!”

And he said to me, Thou shalt yet again see the great abominations which they practise.

14 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.

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

And he said to me, Seest thou this, O son of man? Thou shalt yet again see greater abominations than these.

16 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.

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 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]!

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 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.”

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.