Ezekiel
8
- In the sixth year, in the sixth month on
the fifth day, while I was sitting in my house and the elders of Judah were
sitting before me, the hand of the Sovereign LORD came upon me there.
- I looked, and I saw a figure like that of
a man. From what appeared to be his waist down he was like fire, and from
there up his appearance was as bright as glowing metal.
- He stretched out what looked like a hand
and took me by the hair of my head. The Spirit lifted me up between earth
and heaven and in visions of God he took me to Jerusalem, to the entrance
to the north gate of the inner court, where the idol that provokes to jealousy
stood.
- And there before me was the glory of the
God of Israel, as in the vision I had seen in the plain.
- Then he said to me, "Son of man, look
toward the north." So I looked, and in the entrance north of the gate
of the altar I saw this idol of jealousy.
- And he said to me, "Son of man, do
you see what they are doing -- the utterly detestable things the house of
Israel is doing here, things that will drive me far from my sanctuary? But
you will see things that are even more detestable."
- Then he brought me to the entrance to the
court. I looked, and I saw a hole in the wall.
- He said to me, "Son of man, now dig
into the wall." So I dug into the wall and saw a doorway there.
- And he said to me, "Go in and see the
wicked and detestable things they are doing here."
- So I went in and looked, and I saw portrayed
all over the walls all kinds of crawling things and detestable animals and
all the idols of the house of Israel.
- In front of them stood seventy elders of
the house of Israel, and Jaazaniah son of Shaphan was standing among them.
Each had a censer in his hand, and a fragrant cloud of incense was rising.
- He said to me, "Son of man, have you
seen what the elders of the house of Israel are doing in the darkness, each
at the shrine of his own idol? They say, 'The LORD does not see us; the LORD
has forsaken the land.'"
- Again, he said, "You will see them
doing things that are even more detestable."
- Then he brought me to the entrance to the
north gate of the house of the LORD, and I saw women sitting there, mourning
for Tammuz.
- He said to me, "Do you see this, son
of man? You will see things that are even more detestable than this."
- He then brought me into the inner court
of the house of the LORD, and there at the entrance to the temple, between
the portico and the altar, were about twenty-five men. With their backs toward
the temple of the LORD and their faces toward the east, they were bowing down
to the sun in the east.
- He said to me, "Have you seen this,
son of man? Is it a trivial matter for the house of Judah to do the detestable
things they are doing here? Must they also fill the land with violence and
continually provoke me to anger? Look at them putting the branch to their
nose !
- Therefore I will deal with them in anger;
I will not look on them with pity or spare them. Although they shout in my
ears, I will not listen to them."
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