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The Coming of the End

Then this message came to me from the Lord: “Son of man, this is what the Sovereign Lord says to Israel:

“The end is here!
    Wherever you look—
east, west, north, or south—
    your land is finished.
No hope remains,
    for I will unleash my anger against you.
I will call you to account
    for all your detestable sins.
I will turn my eyes away and show no pity.
    I will repay you for all your detestable sins.
Then you will know that I am the Lord.

“This is what the Sovereign Lord says:
Disaster after disaster
    is coming your way!
The end has come.
    It has finally arrived.
    Your final doom is waiting!
O people of Israel, the day of your destruction is dawning.
    The time has come; the day of trouble is near.
Shouts of anguish will be heard on the mountains,
    not shouts of joy.
Soon I will pour out my fury on you
    and unleash my anger against you.
I will call you to account
    for all your detestable sins.
I will turn my eyes away and show no pity.
    I will repay you for all your detestable sins.
Then you will know that it is I, the Lord,
    who is striking the blow.

10 “The day of judgment is here;
    your destruction awaits!
The people’s wickedness and pride
    have blossomed to full flower.
11 Their violence has grown into a rod
    that will beat them for their wickedness.
None of these proud and wicked people will survive.
    All their wealth and prestige will be swept away.
12 Yes, the time has come;
    the day is here!
Buyers should not rejoice over bargains,
    nor sellers grieve over losses,
for all of them will fall
    under my terrible anger.
13 Even if the merchants survive,
    they will never return to their business.
For what God has said applies to everyone—
    it will not be changed!
Not one person whose life is twisted by sin
    will ever recover.

The Desolation of Israel

14 “The trumpet calls Israel’s army to mobilize,
    but no one listens,
    for my fury is against them all.
15 There is war outside the city
    and disease and famine within.
Those outside the city walls
    will be killed by enemy swords.
Those inside the city
    will die of famine and disease.
16 The survivors who escape to the mountains
    will moan like doves, weeping for their sins.
17 Their hands will hang limp,
    their knees will be weak as water.
18 They will dress themselves in burlap;
    horror and shame will cover them.
They will shave their heads
    in sorrow and remorse.

19 “They will throw their money in the streets,
    tossing it out like worthless trash.
Their silver and gold won’t save them
    on that day of the Lord’s anger.
It will neither satisfy nor feed them,
    for their greed can only trip them up.
20 They were proud of their beautiful jewelry
    and used it to make detestable idols and vile images.
Therefore, I will make all their wealth
    disgusting to them.
21 I will give it as plunder to foreigners,
    to the most wicked of nations,
    and they will defile it.
22 I will turn my eyes from them
    as these robbers invade and defile my treasured land.

23 “Prepare chains for my people,
    for the land is bloodied by terrible crimes.
    Jerusalem is filled with violence.
24 I will bring the most ruthless of nations
    to occupy their homes.
I will break down their proud fortresses
    and defile their sanctuaries.
25 Terror and trembling will overcome my people.
    They will look for peace but not find it.
26 Calamity will follow calamity;
    rumor will follow rumor.
They will look in vain
    for a vision from the prophets.
They will receive no teaching from the priests
    and no counsel from the leaders.
27 The king and the prince will stand helpless,
    weeping in despair,
and the people’s hands
    will tremble with fear.
I will bring on them
    the evil they have done to others,
and they will receive the punishment
    they so richly deserve.
Then they will know that I am the Lord.”

Idolatry in the Temple

Then on September 17,[a] during the sixth year of King Jehoiachin’s captivity, while the leaders of Judah were in my home, the Sovereign Lord took hold of me. I saw a figure that appeared to be a man.[b] From what appeared to be his waist down, he looked like a burning flame. From the waist up he looked like gleaming amber.[c] He reached out what seemed to be a hand and took me by the hair. Then the Spirit lifted me up into the sky and transported me to Jerusalem in a vision from God. I was taken to the north gate of the inner courtyard of the Temple, where there is a large idol that has made the Lord very jealous. Suddenly, the glory of the God of Israel was there, just as I had seen it before in the valley.

Then the Lord said to me, “Son of man, look toward the north.” So I looked, and there to the north, beside the entrance to the gate near the altar, stood the idol that had made the Lord so jealous.

“Son of man,” he said, “do you see what they are doing? Do you see the detestable sins the people of Israel are committing to drive me from my Temple? But come, and you will see even more detestable sins than these!” Then he brought me to the door of the Temple courtyard, where I could see a hole in the wall. He said to me, “Now, son of man, dig into the wall.” So I dug into the wall and found a hidden doorway.

“Go in,” he said, “and see the wicked and detestable sins they are committing in there!” 10 So I went in and saw the walls covered with engravings of all kinds of crawling animals and detestable creatures. I also saw the various idols[d] worshiped by the people of Israel. 11 Seventy leaders of Israel were standing there with Jaazaniah son of Shaphan in the center. Each of them held an incense burner, from which a cloud of incense rose above their heads.

12 Then the Lord said to me, “Son of man, have you seen what the leaders of Israel are doing with their idols in dark rooms? They are saying, ‘The Lord doesn’t see us; he has deserted our land!’” 13 Then the Lord added, “Come, and I will show you even more detestable sins than these!”

14 He brought me to the north gate of the Lord’s Temple, and some women were sitting there, weeping for the god Tammuz. 15 “Have you seen this?” he asked. “But I will show you even more detestable sins than these!”

16 Then he brought me into the inner courtyard of the Lord’s Temple. At the entrance to the sanctuary, between the entry room and the bronze altar, there were about twenty-five men with their backs to the sanctuary of the Lord. They were facing east, bowing low to the ground, worshiping the sun!

17 “Have you seen this, son of man?” he asked. “Is it nothing to the people of Judah that they commit these detestable sins, leading the whole nation into violence, thumbing their noses at me, and provoking my anger? 18 Therefore, I will respond in fury. I will neither pity nor spare them. And though they cry for mercy, I will not listen.”

The Slaughter of Idolaters

Then the Lord thundered, “Bring on the men appointed to punish the city! Tell them to bring their weapons with them!” Six men soon appeared from the upper gate that faces north, each carrying a deadly weapon in his hand. With them was a man dressed in linen, who carried a writer’s case at his side. They all went into the Temple courtyard and stood beside the bronze altar.

Then the glory of the God of Israel rose up from between the cherubim, where it had rested, and moved to the entrance of the Temple. And the Lord called to the man dressed in linen who was carrying the writer’s case. He said to him, “Walk through the streets of Jerusalem and put a mark on the foreheads of all who weep and sigh because of the detestable sins being committed in their city.”

Then I heard the Lord say to the other men, “Follow him through the city and kill everyone whose forehead is not marked. Show no mercy; have no pity! Kill them all—old and young, girls and women and little children. But do not touch anyone with the mark. Begin right here at the Temple.” So they began by killing the seventy leaders.

“Defile the Temple!” the Lord commanded. “Fill its courtyards with corpses. Go!” So they went and began killing throughout the city.

While they were out killing, I was all alone. I fell face down on the ground and cried out, “O Sovereign Lord! Will your fury against Jerusalem wipe out everyone left in Israel?”

Then he said to me, “The sins of the people of Israel and Judah are very, very great. The entire land is full of murder; the city is filled with injustice. They are saying, ‘The Lord doesn’t see it! The Lord has abandoned the land!’ 10 So I will not spare them or have any pity on them. I will fully repay them for all they have done.”

11 Then the man in linen clothing, who carried the writer’s case, reported back and said, “I have done as you commanded.”

Footnotes

  1. 8:1 Hebrew on the fifth [day] of the sixth month, of the ancient Hebrew lunar calendar. This event occurred on September 17, 592 B.c.; also see note on 1:1.
  2. 8:2a As in Greek version; Hebrew reads appeared to be fire.
  3. 8:2b Or like burnished metal.
  4. 8:10 The Hebrew term (literally round things) probably alludes to dung.

The Day of the Wrath of the Lord

The word of the Lord came to me: “And you, (A)O son of man, thus says the Lord God to the land of Israel: (B)An end! The end has come upon the four corners of the land.[a] Now (C)the end is upon you, and (D)I will send my anger upon you; (E)I will judge you according to your ways, and I will punish you for all your abominations. (F)And my eye will not spare you, nor will I have pity, but (G)I will punish you for your ways, while your abominations are in your midst. (H)Then you will know that I am the Lord.

“Thus says the Lord God: Disaster (I)after disaster![b] Behold, it comes. (J)An end has come; the end has come; it has awakened against you. Behold, it comes. (K)Your doom[c] has come to you, O inhabitant of the land. (L)The time has come; the day is near, a day of tumult, and not (M)of joyful shouting on the mountains. Now I will soon (N)pour out my wrath upon you, and (O)spend my anger against you, (P)and judge you according to your ways, and I will punish you for all your abominations. (Q)And my eye will not spare, nor will I have pity. I will punish you according to your ways, while your abominations are in your midst. (R)Then you will know that I am the Lord, who strikes.

10 (S)“Behold, the day! Behold, it comes! (T)Your doom has come; (U)the rod has blossomed; pride has budded. 11 (V)Violence has grown up into (W)a rod of wickedness. (X)None of them shall remain, nor their abundance, nor their wealth; neither shall there be preeminence among them.[d] 12 (Y)The time has come; the day has arrived. Let not (Z)the buyer rejoice, nor (AA)the seller mourn, (AB)for wrath is upon all their multitude.[e] 13 For (AC)the seller shall not return to what he has sold, while they live. (AD)For the vision concerns all their multitude; it shall not turn back; and because of his iniquity, none can maintain his life.[f]

14 “They have blown the trumpet and made everything ready, but none goes to battle, (AE)for my wrath is upon all their multitude. 15 (AF)The sword is without; pestilence and famine are within. (AG)He who is in the field dies by the sword, (AH)and him who is in the city famine and pestilence devour. 16 (AI)And if any survivors escape, they will be on the mountains, like (AJ)doves of the valleys, all of them moaning, each one over his iniquity. 17 (AK)All hands are feeble, and all knees turn to water. 18 (AL)They put on sackcloth, and (AM)horror covers them. Shame is on all faces, and (AN)baldness on all their heads. 19 They cast their silver into the streets, and their gold is like an unclean thing. (AO)Their silver and gold are not able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the Lord. They cannot satisfy their hunger or fill their stomachs with it. (AP)For it was (AQ)the stumbling block of their iniquity. 20 (AR)His beautiful ornament they used for pride, and (AS)they made their abominable images and their detestable things of it. Therefore (AT)I make it an unclean thing to them. 21 And I will give it into the hands of (AU)foreigners for prey, (AV)and to the wicked of the earth for spoil, and (AW)they shall profane it. 22 I will turn my face from them, and (AX)they shall profane my treasured[g] place. Robbers shall enter (AY)and profane it.

23 (AZ)“Forge a chain![h] (BA)For the land is full of bloody crimes (BB)and the city is full of violence. 24 I will bring (BC)the worst of the nations to take possession of their houses. (BD)I will put an end to the pride of the strong, (BE)and their holy places[i] shall be profaned. 25 (BF)When anguish comes, (BG)they will seek peace, but there shall be none. 26 (BH)Disaster comes upon disaster; (BI)rumor follows rumor. (BJ)They seek a vision from the prophet, while (BK)the law[j] perishes from the priest and (BL)counsel from the elders. 27 The king mourns, the prince is wrapped in despair, and the hands of the people of the land are paralyzed by terror. According to their way (BM)I will do to them, and according to their judgments I will judge them, (BN)and they shall know that I am the Lord.”

Abominations in the Temple

(BO)In the sixth year, in the sixth month, on the fifth day of the month, (BP)as I sat in my house, with (BQ)the elders of Judah sitting before me, (BR)the hand of the Lord God fell upon me there. Then I looked, and behold, (BS)a form that had the appearance of a man.[k] (BT)Below what appeared to be his waist was fire, and above his waist was something like the appearance of brightness, like (BU)gleaming metal.[l] He (BV)put out the form of a hand and took me by a lock of my head, and the Spirit lifted me up (BW)between earth and heaven and (BX)brought me in (BY)visions of God to Jerusalem, (BZ)to the entrance of the gateway of the inner court that faces north, (CA)where was the seat of the (CB)image of jealousy, (CC)which provokes to jealousy. And behold, (CD)the glory of the God of Israel was there, like the vision that I saw (CE)in the valley.

Then he said to me, (CF)“Son of man, lift up your eyes now toward the north.” So I lifted up my eyes toward the north, and behold, north of (CG)the altar gate, in the entrance, was this (CH)image of jealousy. And he said to me, “Son of man, (CI)do you see what they are doing, (CJ)the great abominations that the house of Israel are committing here, (CK)to drive me far from my sanctuary? But you will see still greater abominations.”

And he brought me to the entrance of the court, and when I looked, behold, there was a hole in the wall. Then he said to me, “Son of man, (CL)dig in the wall.” So I dug in the wall, and behold, there was an entrance. And he said to me, “Go in, and see (CM)the vile abominations that they are committing here.” 10 So I went in and saw. And there, (CN)engraved on the wall all around, was (CO)every form of (CP)creeping things and loathsome beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel. 11 And before them stood (CQ)seventy men of (CR)the elders of the house of Israel, with Jaazaniah the son of (CS)Shaphan standing among them. Each had his censer in his hand, and (CT)the smoke of the cloud of incense went up. 12 Then he said to me, “Son of man, have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel are doing (CU)in the dark, each (CV)in his room of pictures? For they say, (CW)‘The Lord does not see us, the Lord has forsaken the land.’” 13 He said also to me, (CX)“You will see still greater abominations that they commit.”

14 Then he brought me to (CY)the entrance of the north gate of the house of the Lord, and behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz. 15 Then he said to me, “Have you seen this, O (CZ)son of man? (DA)You will see still greater abominations than these.”

16 And he brought me into (DB)the inner court of the house of the Lord. And behold, at the entrance of the temple of the Lord, (DC)between the (DD)porch and (DE)the altar, were about twenty-five men, (DF)with their backs to the temple of the Lord, and their faces toward the east, worshiping (DG)the sun toward the east. 17 Then he said to me, “Have you seen this, O (DH)son of man? Is it too light a thing for the house of Judah to commit (DI)the abominations that they commit here, that (DJ)they should fill the land with violence and (DK)provoke me still further to anger? Behold, they put the branch to their[m] nose. 18 Therefore (DL)I will act in wrath. (DM)My eye will not spare, nor will I have pity. (DN)And though they cry in my ears with a loud voice, I will not hear them.”

Idolaters Killed

Then he cried in my ears with a loud voice, saying, “Bring near the executioners of the city, (DO)each with his destroying weapon in his hand.” And behold, six men came from the direction of (DP)the upper gate, which faces north, each with his weapon for slaughter in his hand, and with them was (DQ)a man clothed in linen, with a writing case at his waist. And they went in and stood beside (DR)the bronze altar.

Now (DS)the glory of the God of Israel had gone up from the cherub on which it rested to (DT)the threshold of the house. And he called to (DU)the man clothed in linen, who had the writing case at his waist. And the Lord said to him, “Pass through the city, through Jerusalem, and (DV)put a mark on the foreheads of the men who (DW)sigh and groan over all the abominations that are committed in it.” And to (DX)the others he said in my hearing, “Pass through the city after him, and strike. (DY)Your eye shall not spare, and you shall show no pity. (DZ)Kill old men outright, young men and maidens, little children and women, but (EA)touch no one on whom is the mark. And (EB)begin at my sanctuary.” So they began with the elders who were before the house. Then he said to them, (EC)“Defile the house, and fill the courts with the slain. Go out.” So they went out and struck in the city. And while they were striking, and I was left alone, (ED)I fell upon my face, and cried, (EE)“Ah, Lord God! (EF)Will you destroy all the remnant of Israel (EG)in the outpouring of your wrath on Jerusalem?”

Then he said to me, (EH)“The guilt of the house of Israel and Judah is exceedingly great. (EI)The land is full of blood, and the city full of injustice. For (EJ)they say, ‘The Lord has forsaken the land, and the Lord does not see.’ 10 As for me, (EK)my eye will not spare, nor will I have pity; (EL)I will bring their deeds upon their heads.”

11 And behold, (EM)the man clothed in linen, with the writing case at his waist, brought back word, saying, “I have done as you commanded me.”

Footnotes

  1. Ezekiel 7:2 Or earth
  2. Ezekiel 7:5 Some Hebrew manuscripts (compare Syriac, Targum); most Hebrew manuscripts Disaster! A unique disaster!
  3. Ezekiel 7:7 The meaning of the Hebrew word is uncertain; also verse 10
  4. Ezekiel 7:11 The meaning of this last Hebrew sentence is uncertain
  5. Ezekiel 7:12 Or abundance; also verses 13, 14
  6. Ezekiel 7:13 The meaning of this last Hebrew sentence is uncertain
  7. Ezekiel 7:22 Or secret
  8. Ezekiel 7:23 Probably refers to an instrument of captivity
  9. Ezekiel 7:24 By revocalization (compare Septuagint); Hebrew and those who sanctify them
  10. Ezekiel 7:26 Or instruction
  11. Ezekiel 8:2 By revocalization (compare Septuagint); Hebrew of fire
  12. Ezekiel 8:2 Or amber
  13. Ezekiel 8:17 Or my