Ezekiel 8

1 And it cometh to pass, in the sixth year, in the sixth [month], in the fifth of the month, I am sitting in my house, and elders of Judah are sitting before me, and fall on me there doth a hand of the Lord Jehovah,

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 and I look, and lo, 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 colour of copper.

[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 And He putteth forth a form of a hand, and taketh me by a lock of my head, and lift me up doth a spirit between the earth and the heavens, and it bringeth me in to Jerusalem in visions of God, unto the opening of the inner gate that is facing the north, where [is] the seat of the figure of jealousy that is making jealous,

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 lo, there the honour of the God of Israel, as the appearance that I saw in the valley.

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 And He saith unto me, 'Son of man, lift up, I pray thee, thine eyes the way of the north.' And I lift up mine eyes the way of the north, and lo, on the north of the gate of the altar this figure of jealousy, at the entrance.

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 And He saith unto me, 'Son of man, art thou seeing what they are doing? the great abominations that the house of Israel are doing here, to keep far off from My sanctuary; and again thou dost turn, thou dost see great 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 And He bringeth me in unto an opening of the court, and I look, and lo, 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 and He saith unto me, 'Son of man, dig, I pray thee, through the wall;' and I dig through the wall, and lo, an opening.

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

9 And He saith to me, 'Go in, and see the evil abominations that they are doing here.'

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

10 And I go in, and look, and lo, every form of creeping thing, and detestable beast — and all the Idols of the house of Israel — graved on the wall, all round about,

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 and seventy men of the elders of the house of Israel — and Jaazaniah son of Shaphan standing in their midst — are standing before them, and each his censer in his hand, and the abundance of the cloud of perfume is going up.

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 And He saith unto me, 'Hast thou seen, son of man, that which elders of the house of Israel are doing in darkness, each in the inner chambers of his imagery, for they are saying, Jehovah is not seeing us, Jehovah hath 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 And He saith unto me, 'Again thou dost turn, thou dost see great abominations that they are doing.'

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

14 And He bringeth me in unto the opening of the gate of the house of Jehovah that [is] at the north, and lo, there the women are sitting 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 And He saith unto me, 'Hast thou seen, son of man? again thou dost turn, thou dost see 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 And He bringeth me in unto the inner court of the house of Jehovah, and lo, at the opening of the temple of Jehovah, between the porch and the altar, about twenty-five men, their backs toward the temple of Jehovah, and their faces eastward, and they are bowing themselves eastward to 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 And He saith unto me, 'Hast thou seen, son of man? hath 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 lo, they are putting forth the branch unto 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 And I also deal in fury, Mine eye doth not pity, nor do I spare, and they have cried in Mine ears — a loud voice — and I do not hear 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.”