The Vision of Slaughter

9 Then He cried out in my ^[a]presence with a loud ^(A)voice, saying, “Come forward, you ^[b]executioners of the city, each with his weapon of destruction in his hand.” ² And behold, six men came from the direction of the upper gate which faces north, each with his smashing weapon in his hand; and among them was ^(B)one man clothed in linen with a scribe’s kit at his waist. And they came in and stood beside the bronze altar.

³ Then the ^(C)glory of the God of Israel ascended from the cherub on which it had been, to the threshold of the ^[c]temple. And He called to the man clothed in linen at whose waist was the scribe’s kit. ⁴ And the Lord said to him, “Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and make a ^(D)mark on the foreheads of the people who ^(E)groan and sigh over all the abominations which are being committed in its midst.” ⁵ But to the others He said in my ^[d]presence, “Go through the city after him and strike; do not let your eye have pity and do not spare. ^6 [e]Utterly ^(F)kill old men, young men, female virgins, little children, and women, but do not ^(G)touch any person on whom is the mark; and you shall ^(H)start from My sanctuary.” So they started with the ^[f]elders who were before the ^[g]temple. ⁷ He also said to them, “^(I)Defile the ^[h]temple and fill the courtyards with the dead. Go out!” So they went out and struck and killed the people in the city. ⁸ And as they were striking the people and I alone was left, I ^(J)fell on my face and cried out, ^[i]saying, “^(K)Oh, Lord ^[j]God! Are You going to destroy the entire remnant of Israel ^[k]by pouring out Your wrath on Jerusalem?”

⁹ Then He said to me, “The guilt of the house of Israel and Judah is very, very great, and the land is ^(L)filled with blood, and the city is ^(M)full of perversion; for ^(N)they say, ‘The Lord has abandoned the land, and the Lord does not see!’ ¹⁰ But as for Me, ^(O)My eye will have no pity nor will I spare, but ^(P)I will bring their conduct upon their heads.”

¹¹ Then behold, the man clothed in linen, at whose waist was the scribe’s kit, ^[l]reported, saying, “I have done just as You have commanded me.”

Vision of God’s Glory Departing from the Temple

10 Then I looked, and behold, in the ^[m](Q)expanse that was over the heads of the cherubim something like a ^(R)sapphire stone, in appearance resembling a ^(S)throne, appeared above them. ² And He spoke to the man clothed in linen and said, “Enter between the ^(T)whirling wheels under the ^[n]cherubim and fill your hands with ^(U)coals of fire from between the cherubim, and scatter them over the city.” And he entered in my sight.

³ Now the cherubim were standing on the right side of the ^[o]temple when the man entered, and the cloud filled the ^(V)inner courtyard. ⁴ Then the ^(W)glory of the Lord went up from the cherub to the threshold of the temple, and the ^(X)temple was filled with the cloud, and the courtyard was filled with the ^(Y)brightness of the glory of the Lord. ⁵ Moreover, the sound of the wings of the cherubim was heard as far as the outer courtyard, like the ^(Z)voice of ^[p]God Almighty when He speaks.

⁶ And it came about when He commanded the man clothed in linen, saying, “Take fire from between the whirling wheels, from between the cherubim,” he entered and stood beside a wheel. ⁷ Then the cherub reached out with his hand from between the cherubim to the fire which was between the cherubim, took some coals and put them into the hands of the one clothed in linen; and he took them and went out. ⁸ The cherubim appeared to have something like a human hand under their wings.

⁹ Then I looked, and behold, ^(AA)four wheels beside the cherubim, one wheel beside each cherub; and the appearance of the wheels was like the gleam of a ^[q](AB)Tarshish stone. ¹⁰ And as for their appearance, all four of them had the same likeness, as if one wheel were within another wheel. ¹¹ When they moved, they went ^(AC)in any of their four ^[r]directions without turning as they went; but they followed in the direction which ^[s]they faced, without turning as they went. ¹² And their ^(AD)whole body, their backs, their hands, their wings and the ^(AE)wheels were ^[t]covered with eyes all around, the wheels belonging to all four of them. ¹³ The wheels were called, ^[u]as I heard, the ^[v]whirling wheels. ¹⁴ And ^(AF)each one had four faces. The first face was the face of a cherub, the second face was the face of a human, the third, the face of a lion, and the fourth, the face of an eagle.

¹⁵ Then the cherubim rose up. They are the ^(AG)living beings that I saw by the river Chebar. ¹⁶ Now when the cherubim moved, the wheels would move beside them; also when the cherubim lifted up their wings to rise from the ground, the wheels themselves would not turn away from beside them. ¹⁷ When ^[w]the cherubim ^(AH)stood still, ^[x]the wheels would stand still; and when they rose up, ^[y]the wheels would rise with them, because the spirit of the living beings was in them.

¹⁸ Then the glory of the Lord departed from the threshold of the temple and stood ^(AI)over the cherubim. ¹⁹ When ^(AJ)the cherubim departed, they lifted their wings and rose up from the ground in my sight with the wheels beside them; and they stood still at the entrance of the east gate of the Lord’s house, and the glory of the God of Israel ^[z]hovered over them.

²⁰ These are the ^(AK)living beings that I saw beneath the God of Israel by ^(AL)the river Chebar; so I knew that they were cherubim. ^21 (AM)Each one had four faces and each one four wings, and beneath their wings was the form of human hands. ²² As for the likeness of their faces, they were the same faces whose appearance I had seen by the river Chebar. Each one went straight ahead.

Evil Rulers to Be Judged

11 Now the ^(AN)Spirit lifted me up and brought me to the east gate of the Lord’s house which faced eastward. And behold, there were twenty-five men at the entrance of the gate, and among them I saw Jaazaniah son of Azzur and ^(AO)Pelatiah son of Benaiah, leaders of the people. ² Then He said to me, “Son of man, these are the men who devise wrongdoing and ^(AP)give evil advice in this city, ³ who say, ‘The time is not near to build houses. ^[aa]This ^(AQ)city is the pot and we are the meat.’ ⁴ Therefore, ^(AR)prophesy against them, prophesy, son of man!”

⁵ Then the Spirit of the Lord fell upon me, and He said to me, “Say, ‘This is what the Lord says: “This is how you think, house of Israel, for ^(AS)I know ^[ab]your ^(AT)thoughts. ⁶ You have ^(AU)multiplied your slain in this city, and filled its streets with ^[ac]them.” ⁷ Therefore, this is what the Lord ^[ad]God says: “Your ^(AV)slain whom you have laid in the midst of ^[ae]the city are the meat and this city is the pot; but ^[af]I will ^(AW)bring you out of it. ⁸ You have ^(AX)feared a sword; so I will ^(AY)bring a sword upon you,” the Lord God declares. ⁹ “And I will bring you out of the midst of ^[ag]the city, and hand you over to ^(AZ)strangers, and ^(BA)execute judgments against you. ¹⁰ You will ^(BB)fall by the sword. I will judge you to the ^(BC)border of Israel; so you shall know that I am the Lord. ¹¹ This city will ^(BD)not be a pot for you, nor will you be meat in the midst of it; I will judge you to the border of Israel. ¹² So you will know that I am the Lord; for you have not walked in My statutes, nor have you ^(BE)executed My ordinances, but you have acted in accordance with the ordinances of the ^(BF)nations around you.”’”

¹³ Now it came about, as I prophesied, that ^(BG)Pelatiah son of Benaiah died. Then I fell on my face and cried out with a loud voice, and said, “^(BH)Oh, Lord God! Will You bring the remnant of Israel to a complete destruction?”

Promise of Restoration

¹⁴ Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ¹⁵ “Son of man, your brothers, your relatives, ^[ah]your fellow exiles, and the entire house of Israel, all of them, are those to whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, ‘Keep far from the Lord; this land has been given ^(BI)to us as a possession.’ ¹⁶ Therefore say, ‘This is what the Lord God says: “Though I had removed them far away among the nations, and though I had scattered them among the countries, yet I was a ^(BJ)sanctuary for them for a little while in the countries where they had gone.”’ ¹⁷ Therefore say, ‘This is what the Lord God says: “I will ^(BK)gather you from the peoples and assemble you from the countries among which you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.”’ ¹⁸ When they come there, they will ^(BL)remove all its ^(BM)detestable things and all its abominations from it. ¹⁹ And I will ^(BN)give them one heart, and put a new spirit within ^[ai]them. And I will remove the ^(BO)heart of stone from their flesh and give them a ^(BP)heart of flesh, ²⁰ so that they may ^(BQ)walk in My statutes, and keep My ordinances and do them. Then they will be ^(BR)My people, and I shall be their God. ^21 [aj]But as for those whose hearts go after their ^(BS)detestable things and abominations, I will ^[ak](BT)bring their conduct down on their heads,” declares the Lord God.

²² Then the cherubim ^(BU)lifted up their wings with the wheels beside them, and ^(BV)the glory of the God of Israel ^[al]hovered over them. ²³ The ^(BW)glory of the Lord went up from the midst of the city and ^(BX)stood over the mountain which is east of the city. ²⁴ And the ^(BY)Spirit lifted me up and brought me in a vision by the Spirit of God to ^[am]Chaldea, to the exiles. Then the vision that I had seen ^[an](BZ)left me. ²⁵ And I ^(CA)told the exiles all the things that the Lord had shown me.

Ezekiel Prepares for Exile

12 Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ² “Son of man, you live in the ^(CB)midst of the ^(CC)rebellious house, who ^(CD)have eyes to see but do not see, ears to hear but do not hear; for they are a rebellious house. ³ So as for you, son of man, prepare for yourself baggage for exile and go into exile by day in their sight; that is, go into exile from your place to another place in their sight. ^(CE)Perhaps they will ^[ao]understand, though they are a rebellious house. ⁴ Bring your baggage out by day in their sight, as baggage for exile. Then you shall go out ^(CF)at evening in their sight, as those who are going into exile. ⁵ Dig a hole through the wall in their sight and ^[ap]go out through it. ⁶ Load the baggage on your shoulder in their sight and carry it out in the dark. You shall ^(CG)cover your face so that you cannot see the land, for I have set you as a ^(CH)sign to the house of Israel.”

⁷ Then I ^(CI)did so, just as I had been commanded. By day I ^(CJ)brought out my baggage like the baggage of an exile. Then in the evening I dug through the wall with my hands; I went out in the dark and carried the baggage on my shoulder in their sight.

⁸ And in the morning the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ⁹ “Son of man, has the house of Israel, the ^(CK)rebellious house, not said to you, ‘^(CL)What are you doing?’ ¹⁰ Say to them, ‘This is what the Lord ^[aq]God says: “This ^(CM)pronouncement concerns the prince in Jerusalem as well as all the house of Israel who are ^[ar]in it.”’ ¹¹ Say, ‘I am ^[as]a ^(CN)sign to you. Just as I have done, so it will be done to them; they will ^(CO)go into exile, into captivity.’ ¹² The ^(CP)prince who is among them will load his baggage on his shoulder in the dark and go out. ^[at]They will dig a hole through the wall to bring it out through it. He will cover his face so that he cannot see the land with his eyes. ¹³ I will also spread My ^(CQ)net over him, and he will be caught in My net. And I will bring him to Babylon in the land of the Chaldeans; yet he will ^(CR)not see it, though he will die there. ¹⁴ And I will ^(CS)scatter to every wind all who are around him, his helpers and all his troops; and I will draw out a sword after them. ¹⁵ So they will ^(CT)know that I am the Lord, when I disperse them among the nations and scatter them among the countries. ¹⁶ But I will ^[au]spare a few of them from the ^(CU)sword, the famine, and plague so that they may tell of all their abominations among the nations where they go, and ^[av]may ^(CV)know that I am the Lord.”

¹⁷ Moreover, the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ¹⁸ “Son of man, ^(CW)eat your bread with trembling, and drink your water with quivering and anxiety. ¹⁹ Then say to the people of the land, ‘This is what the Lord God says concerning the inhabitants of Jerusalem in the land of Israel: “They will eat their bread with anxiety and drink their water with horror, because ^[aw]their land will be ^[ax](CX)stripped of its fullness on account of the violence of all who live in it. ²⁰ The inhabited ^(CY)cities will be in ruins, and the ^(CZ)land will be a desolation. So you will know that I am the Lord.”’”

²¹ Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ²² “Son of man, what is this ^(DA)proverb you people have about the land of Israel, saying, ‘The ^(DB)days are long, and every ^(DC)vision fails’? ²³ Therefore say to them, ‘This is what the Lord God says: “I will put an end to this proverb so that they will no longer use it as a proverb in Israel.” But tell them, “^(DD)The days are approaching as well as the ^[ay]fulfillment of every vision. ²⁴ For there will no longer be any ^[az](DE)false vision or deceptive divination within the house of Israel. ²⁵ For I the Lord will speak whatever ^(DF)word I speak, and it will be performed. It will no longer be delayed, for in ^(DG)your days, you ^(DH)rebellious house, I will speak the word and perform it,” declares the Lord God.’”

²⁶ Furthermore, the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ²⁷ “Son of man, behold, the house of Israel is saying, ‘The vision that he sees is for ^(DI)many ^[ba]years from now, and he prophesies of times far off.’ ²⁸ Therefore say to them, ‘This is what the Lord God says: “None of My words will be delayed any longer. Whatever word I speak will be performed,”’” declares the Lord God.