EzekielChapter 8

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¹It was the sixth year, on the fifth day of the sixth month. I was sitting in my house, and the elders of Judah were sitting in front of me. There the hand of the Lord GOD came on me. ²I looked and saw a figure that looked like a man. From his waist down, he looked like fire. From his waist up, he was as bright as glowing amber. ³He reached out what looked like a hand. He took me by the hair of my head. Then the Spirit lifted me up between earth and sky. In visions of God he took me to Jerusalem. He took me to the entrance of the north gate of the inner court. The idol that makes God jealous was set up there. ⁴There I saw the glory of the God of Israel. It was like the vision I had seen out on the plain. ⁵He said to me, "Son of man, now look toward the north." So I looked toward the north. In the entrance north of the Altar Gate, I saw this idol of jealousy. ⁶He said to me, "Son of man, do you see what they are doing? Do you see the terrible, disgusting things the house of Israel is doing here? They are doing this to drive me far from my holy place. But you will see even worse things than these." ⁷Then he brought me to the entrance of the courtyard. I looked and saw a hole in the wall. ⁸He told me, "Son of man, dig through the wall." So I dug through the wall and found a doorway. ⁹Then he said to me, "Go in. See the wicked, disgusting things they are doing here." ¹⁰So I went in and looked. Carved all over the walls were all kinds of crawling creatures and disgusting animals. All the idols of the house of Israel were carved there too. ¹¹Seventy elders of the house of Israel stood in front of them. Jaazaniah son of Shaphan was standing among them. Each man had a censer in his hand. A sweet-smelling cloud of incense was rising up. ¹²He said to me, "Son of man, do you see what the elders of the house of Israel are doing in the dark? Each one is at the shrine of his own idol. For they are saying, 'The LORD does not see us. The LORD has forsaken the land.'" ¹³He told me again, "You will see them doing even worse things." ¹⁴Then he brought me to the entrance of the north gate of the house of the LORD. I saw women sitting there, weeping for the god Tammuz. ¹⁵He said to me, "Son of man, do you see this? But you will see things even more disgusting than these." ¹⁶So he brought me into the inner court of the house of the LORD. There, at the entrance to the temple of the LORD, were about twenty-five men. They stood between the porch and the altar. Their backs were toward the temple of the LORD, and their faces were toward the east. They were bowing down to the sun in the east. ¹⁷He said to me, "Son of man, do you see this? The house of Judah does these disgusting things here. Isn't that bad enough? Must they also fill the land with violence and keep making me angry? Look, they are even putting the branch to their nose! ¹⁸So I will answer them in anger. I will not look on them with pity. I will not spare them. They may shout loudly in my ears, but I will not listen to them."