Ezekiel 8

¹ In the sixth year, in the sixth month, on the fifth day of the month, I was sitting in my house, and the elders of Judah were sitting before me; there the hand of the Lord GOD fell upon me.

² I looked, and there was a figure with the appearance of fire: from what seemed to be his waist down, fire; and from his waist up, something with the appearance of a gleam, like the gleam of amber.

³ He stretched out something like a hand and took me by the hair of my head; and a spirit lifted me between earth and sky and brought me to Jerusalem in visions of God, to the entrance of the inner gate that faces north. There stood the place of the idol of jealousy, which provokes jealousy.

⁴ And there was the glory of the God of Israel, as in the vision I had seen in the valley.

⁵ He said to me, “Son of man, lift your eyes toward the north.” I lifted my eyes toward the north, and there, north of the altar gate, stood that idol of jealousy at the entrance.

⁶ He said to me, “Son of man, do you see what they are doing? The house of Israel is committing great abominations here, so that I will withdraw from my sanctuary. But you will see still other great abominations.”

⁷ He brought me to the entrance of the courtyard. I looked, and there was a hole in the wall.

⁸ He said to me, “Son of man, dig into the wall.” I dug into the wall, and there was an entrance.

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

¹⁰ I went in and looked: there were all kinds of crawling creatures and repulsive animals, and all the repulsive images of the house of Israel, carved all around on the wall.

¹¹ Seventy men among the elders of the house of Israel were standing before these figures, and Jaazaniah son of Shaphan was standing among them; each had his censer in his hand, and the thick cloud of incense rose up.

¹² He said to me, “Son of man, have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel are doing in the dark, each in the rooms of his images? For they say, ‘The LORD does not see us; the LORD has abandoned the land.’”

¹³ He said to me, “You will see again still other great abominations that they are committing.”

¹⁴ He brought me to the entrance of the gate of the house of the LORD that faces north, and there women were sitting, weeping for Tammuz.

¹⁵ He said to me, “Have you seen, son of man? You will see again abominations greater than these.”

¹⁶ He brought me to the inner courtyard of the house of the LORD. At the entrance to the temple of the LORD, between the porch and the altar, there were about twenty-five men, with their backs to the temple of the LORD and their faces toward the east; they were bowing toward the east, before the sun.

¹⁷ He said to me, “Have you seen, son of man? Is it a small thing for the house of Judah to commit the abominations they have committed here? They have filled the land with violence and have provoked me again; and look, they are putting the branch to their own nose.

¹⁸ I too will act in fury: my eye will show no pity, and I will not spare them; even if they cry loudly in my ears, I will not listen to them.”

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