Ezekiel 8

¹In the seventh year, on the tenth day of the fifth month, some of the elders of Israel came to inquire of the Lord, and they sat down before me.

¹Then some of the elders of Israel came and sat down before me.

²On the fifth day of the month—it was the fifth year of the exile of King Jehoiachin—

³the word of the Lord came directly to Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the River Kebar. And there the Lord’s hand was upon him.

³¹So My people come to you as usual, sit before you, and hear your words; but they do not put them into practice. Although they express love with their mouths, their hearts pursue dishonest gain.

⁴Therefore speak to them and tell them that this is what the Lord God says: ‘When any Israelite sets up idols in his heart and puts a wicked stumbling block before his face, and then comes to the prophet, I the Lord will answer him according to his great idolatry,

²²And there the hand of the Lord was upon me, and He said to me, “Get up, go out to the plain, and there I will speak with you.”

⁴I looked and saw a whirlwind coming from the north, a great cloud with fire flashing back and forth and brilliant light all around it. In the center of the fire was a gleam like amber,

²⁶Above the expanse over their heads was the likeness of a throne with the appearance of sapphire, and on the throne high above was a figure like that of a man.

²⁷From what seemed to be His waist up, I saw a gleam like amber, with what looked like fire within it all around. And from what seemed to be His waist down, I saw what looked like fire; and brilliant light surrounded Him.

¹⁴The hair of His head was white like wool, as white as snow, and His eyes were like a blazing fire.

¹⁵His feet were like polished bronze refined in a furnace, and His voice was like the roar of many waters.

⁹As I continued to watch, thrones were set in place, and the Ancient of Days took His seat. His clothing was white as snow, and the hair of His head was like pure wool. His throne was flaming with fire, and its wheels were all ablaze.

¹⁰A river of fire was flowing, coming out from His presence. Thousands upon thousands attended Him, and myriads upon myriads stood before Him. The court was convened, and the books were opened.

¹⁶They provoked His jealousy with foreign gods; they enraged Him with abominations.

¹Then the Spirit lifted me up and brought me to the gate of the house of the Lord that faces east. And there at the entrance of the gate were twenty-five men. Among them I saw Jaazaniah son of Azzur and Pelatiah son of Benaiah, who were leaders of the people.

¹¹Therefore as surely as I live, declares the Lord God, because you have defiled My sanctuary with all your detestable idols and abominations, I Myself will withdraw My favor; I will not look upon you with pity, nor will I spare you.

⁹You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on their children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me,

²In visions of God He took me to the land of Israel and set me on a very high mountain, on whose southern slope was a structure that resembled a city.

⁹Then I looked and saw a hand reaching out to me, and in it was a scroll,

²²And there the hand of the Lord was upon me, and He said to me, “Get up, go out to the plain, and there I will speak with you.”

²³So I got up and went out to the plain, and behold, the glory of the Lord was present there, like the glory I had seen by the River Kebar, and I fell facedown.

²⁶Above the expanse over their heads was the likeness of a throne with the appearance of sapphire, and on the throne high above was a figure like that of a man.

²⁷From what seemed to be His waist up, I saw a gleam like amber, with what looked like fire within it all around. And from what seemed to be His waist down, I saw what looked like fire; and brilliant light surrounded Him.

¹And I looked and saw above the expanse, above the heads of the cherubim, the likeness of a throne of sapphire.

²And the Lord said to the man clothed in linen, “Go inside the wheelwork beneath the cherubim. Fill your hands with burning coals from among the cherubim and scatter them over the city.” And as I watched, he went in.

¹⁸And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into His image with intensifying glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

²²And I will meet with you there above the mercy seat, between the two cherubim that are over the ark of the Testimony; I will speak with you about all that I command you regarding the Israelites.

²²Then the cherubim, with the wheels beside them, spread their wings, and the glory of the God of Israel was above them.

²³And the glory of the Lord rose up from within the city and stood over the mountain east of the city.

³He stretched out what looked like a hand and took me by the hair of my head. Then the Spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven and carried me in visions of God to Jerusalem, to the entrance of the north gate of the inner court, where the idol that provokes jealousy was seated.

²“Lift up your eyes to the barren heights and see. Is there any place where you have not been violated? You sat beside the highways waiting for your lovers, like a nomad in the desert. You have defiled the land with your prostitution and wickedness.

⁵⁸They enraged Him with their high places and provoked His jealousy with their idols.

⁵Then the angel who was speaking with me came forward and told me, “Now lift up your eyes and see what is approaching.”

⁶“What is it?” I asked. And he replied, “A measuring basket is going forth.” Then he continued, “This is their iniquity in all the land.”

³⁴They have placed their abominations in the house that bears My Name, and so have defiled it.

²Beautiful in loftiness, the joy of all the earth, like the peaks of Zaphon is Mount Zion, the city of the great King.

¹¹Therefore as surely as I live, declares the Lord God, because you have defiled My sanctuary with all your detestable idols and abominations, I Myself will withdraw My favor; I will not look upon you with pity, nor will I spare you.

¹⁹As I watched, the cherubim lifted their wings and rose up from the ground, with the wheels beside them as they went. And they stopped at the entrance of the east gate of the house of the Lord, with the glory of the God of Israel above them.

⁹Then He said to me, “Go in and see the wicked abominations they are committing here.”

¹¹“For both prophet and priest are ungodly; even in My house I have found their wickedness,” declares the Lord.

¹⁴Furthermore, all the leaders of the priests and the people multiplied their unfaithful deeds, following all the abominations of the nations, and they defiled the house of the Lord, which He had consecrated in Jerusalem.

¹⁵Again and again the Lord, the God of their fathers, sent word to His people through His messengers because He had compassion on them and on His dwelling place.

²²Then the cherubim, with the wheels beside them, spread their wings, and the glory of the God of Israel was above them.

¹²The great courtyard was surrounded by three rows of dressed stone and a row of trimmed cedar beams, as were the inner courtyard and portico of the house of the Lord.

⁵In both courtyards of the house of the Lord, he built altars to all the host of heaven.

¹⁵Woe to those who dig deep to hide their plans from the Lord. In darkness they do their works and say, “Who sees us, and who will know?”

²Though they dig down to Sheol, from there My hand will take them; and though they climb up to heaven, from there I will pull them down.

³Though they hide themselves atop Carmel, there I will track them and seize them; and though they hide from Me at the bottom of the sea, there I will command the serpent to bite them.

²²There is no darkness or deep shadow where the workers of iniquity can hide.

²⁴“Can a man hide in secret places where I cannot see him?” declares the Lord. “Do I not fill the heavens and the earth?” declares the Lord.

³⁴Moreover, your skirts are stained with the blood of the innocent poor, though you did not find them breaking in. But in spite of all these things

⁸But they rebelled against Me and refused to listen. None of them cast away the abominations before their eyes, and they did not forsake the idols of Egypt. So I resolved to pour out My wrath upon them and vent My anger against them in the land of Egypt.

⁴You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in the heavens above, on the earth below, or in the waters beneath.

²³and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images of mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.

¹⁸And I will first repay them double their iniquity and their sin, because they have defiled My land with the carcasses of their detestable idols, and they have filled My inheritance with their abominations.”

⁶Your portion is among the smooth stones of the valley; indeed, they are your lot. Even to them you have poured out a drink offering and offered a grain offering. Should I relent because of these?

⁷On a high and lofty hill you have made your bed, and there you went up to offer sacrifices.

²⁹The following creatures that move along the ground are unclean for you: the mole, the mouse, any kind of great lizard,

³⁰the gecko, the monitor lizard, the common lizard, the skink, and the chameleon.

⁹Indifferent to her own infidelity, Israel had defiled the land and committed adultery with stones and trees.

¹⁶Then the Lord said to Moses, “Bring Me seventy of the elders of Israel known to you as leaders and officers of the people. Bring them to the Tent of Meeting and have them stand there with you.

¹⁷Each man is to take his censer, place incense in it, and present it before the Lord—250 censers. You and Aaron are to present your censers as well.”

³⁵And fire came forth from the Lord and consumed the 250 men who were offering the incense.

²⁵Then the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke to him, and He took some of the Spirit that was on Moses and placed that Spirit on the seventy elders. As the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied—but they never did so again.

¹Then the Lord said to Moses, “Come up to the Lord—you and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of Israel’s elders—and you are to worship at a distance.

¹This is what the Lord says: “Go and buy a clay jar from a potter. Take some of the elders of the people and leaders of the priests,

¹⁵Woe to those who dig deep to hide their plans from the Lord. In darkness they do their works and say, “Who sees us, and who will know?”

⁹He replied, “The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is exceedingly great. The land is full of bloodshed, and the city is full of perversity. For they say, ‘The Lord has forsaken the land; the Lord does not see.’

¹⁵“Son of man,” He said to me, “do you see this? Yet you will see even greater abominations than these.”

¹¹He says to himself, “God has forgotten; He hides His face and never sees.”

¹²For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret.

¹⁹And this is the verdict: The Light has come into the world, but men loved the darkness rather than the Light because their deeds were evil.

²⁰Everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come into the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.

⁶“Son of man,” He said to me, “do you see what they are doing—the great abominations that the house of Israel is committing—to drive Me far from My sanctuary? Yet you will see even greater abominations.”

¹⁵“Son of man,” He said to me, “do you see this? Yet you will see even greater abominations than these.”

³“They bend their tongues like bows; lies prevail over truth in the land. For they proceed from evil to evil, and they do not take Me into account,” declares the Lord.

¹³while evil men and imposters go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.

⁴Then the man brought me to the front of the temple by way of the north gate. I looked and saw the glory of the Lord filling His temple, and I fell facedown.

⁹When the people of the land come before the Lord at the appointed feasts, whoever enters by the north gate to worship must go out by the south gate, and whoever enters by the south gate must go out by the north gate. No one is to return through the gate by which he entered, but each must go out by the opposite gate.

¹³while evil men and imposters go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.

⁶“Son of man,” He said to me, “do you see what they are doing—the great abominations that the house of Israel is committing—to drive Me far from My sanctuary? Yet you will see even greater abominations.”

⁹Then He said to me, “Go in and see the wicked abominations they are committing here.”

¹²“Son of man,” He said to me, “do you see what the elders of the house of Israel are doing in the darkness, each at the shrine of his own idol? For they are saying, ‘The Lord does not see us; the Lord has forsaken the land.’”

¹³Again, He told me, “You will see them committing even greater abominations.”

¹⁹When you look to the heavens and see the sun and moon and stars—all the host of heaven—do not be enticed to bow down and worship what the Lord your God has apportioned to all the nations under heaven.

³and going to worship other gods, bowing down to them or to the sun or moon or any of the host of heaven—which I have forbidden—

³³They have turned their backs to Me and not their faces. Though I taught them again and again, they would not listen or respond to discipline.

¹Then the Spirit lifted me up and brought me to the gate of the house of the Lord that faces east. And there at the entrance of the gate were twenty-five men. Among them I saw Jaazaniah son of Azzur and Pelatiah son of Benaiah, who were leaders of the people.

²⁷say to a tree, ‘You are my father,’ and to a stone, ‘You gave me birth.’ They have turned their backs to Me and not their faces. Yet in the time of trouble, they say, ‘Rise up and save us!’

²⁶if I have beheld the sun in its radiance or the moon moving in splendor,

²⁷so that my heart was secretly enticed and my hand threw a kiss from my mouth,

⁹He replied, “The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is exceedingly great. The land is full of bloodshed, and the city is full of perversity. For they say, ‘The Lord has forsaken the land; the Lord does not see.’

²³Forge the chain, for the land is full of crimes of bloodshed, and the city is full of violence.

⁷As a well gushes its water, so she pours out her evil. Violence and destruction resound in her; sickness and wounds are ever before Me.

⁹On that day I will punish all who leap over the threshold, who fill the house of their master with violence and deceit.

²They covet fields and seize them; they take away houses. They deprive a man of his home, a fellow man of his inheritance.

¹¹Their violence has grown into a rod to punish their wickedness. None of them will remain: none of their multitude, none of their wealth, and nothing of value.

⁴Then they will cry out to the Lord, but He will not answer them. At that time He will hide His face from them because of the evil they have done.

¹¹Therefore this is what the Lord says: ‘I am about to bring upon them a disaster that they cannot escape. They will cry out to Me, but I will not listen to them.

¹⁵When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide My eyes from you; even though you multiply your prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are covered with blood.

¹³And just as I had called and they would not listen, so when they called I would not listen, says the Lord of Hosts.

²⁵After the master of the house gets up and shuts the door, you will stand outside knocking and saying, ‘Lord, open the door for us.’ But he will reply, ‘I do not know where you are from.’

¹³But you have forsaken Me and served other gods, so I will no longer save you.

¹⁴Go and cry out to the gods you have chosen. Let them save you in your time of trouble.”