8 On the fifth day of the sixth month of the sixth year, as I was sitting in my house, and the leaders of Y’hudah were sitting there with me, the hand of Adonai Elohim fell on me. ² I looked and saw what seemed like a man made of fire. From what appeared to be his waist downward was fire, and from his waist upward was what appeared to be a gleaming amber-colored brilliance. ³ The form of a hand was put out, which took me by a lock of my hair; and a spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven and brought me, in these visions from God, to Yerushalayim, to the entrance of the inner [courtyard] gate that faces north. There stood the idol that [arouses God’s] jealousy and provokes [his] zealous indignation. ⁴ There before me was the glory of the God of Isra’el, as in the vision I had seen in the valley.

⁵ Then he said to me, “Human being, raise your eyes toward the north.” I raised my eyes toward the north and saw, north of the Altar Gate, this image that [arouses God’s] jealousy in the entryway. ⁶ He asked me, “Human being, do you see what they are doing, the horribly disgusting practices that the house of Isra’el is committing here, so that I must distance myself from my own sanctuary? But you will see even worse abominations.”

⁷ He brought me to the entrance of the courtyard; and when I looked, I saw a hole in the wall. ⁸ He said to me, “Human being, dig into the wall.” After digging in the wall, I saw a door. ⁹ “Go in,” he said, “and see the wicked practices they are engaged in here.” ¹⁰ So I went in and looked, and there, carved on the walls all around, were every kind of reptile and repulsive animal, along with all the idols of the house of Isra’el. ¹¹ Standing in front of them were seventy of the leading men of the house of Isra’el — in the center stood Ya’azanyahu the son of Shafan. Each man had his incense-burner in his hand, and a thick cloud of incense went up. ¹² Then he said to me, “Human being, did you see what the leaders of the house of Isra’el are doing in the dark, each one in the room of his own carved image, because they say, ‘Adonai can’t see us; Adonai has left the land.’?” ¹³ He also said to me, “You will see even worse abominations that they are doing.”

¹⁴ He brought me to the entrance of the north gate to Adonai’s house; and there before me were women weeping for Tammuz. ¹⁵ “Human being,” he asked me, “have you seen this? You will see practices even more disgusting than these.” ¹⁶ He brought me into the inner courtyard of Adonai’s house; and there, at the entrance to the temple of Adonai, between the porch and the altar, were about twenty-five men with their backs toward the temple of Adonai and their faces toward the east; and they were worshipping the sun toward the east. ¹⁷ He asked me, “Human being, have you seen this? Does the house of Y’hudah consider it a casual matter that they commit the disgusting practices they are committing here, thus filling the land with violence, provoking me still more? Look! They are even putting the branch to their nose! ¹⁸ Therefore I will act in fury, my eye will not spare, I will have no pity. Even if they cry loudly right in my ears, I will not listen to them.”

9 Then he cried loudly right in my ears: “Summon the commanders of the city, each holding his weapon of destruction.” ² At once, six men approached on the path from the upper gate, to the north, each man holding his weapon of destruction. Among them was a man clothed in linen, with a scribe’s writing equipment at his waist. They entered and stood by the bronze altar. ³ Then the glory of the God of Isra’el was made to go up from over the keruv, where it had been, to the threshold of the house. He called to the man clothed in linen, who had the scribe’s writing equipment at his waist. ⁴ Adonai said to him, “Go throughout the city, through all Yerushalayim, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who are sighing and crying over all the disgusting practices that are being committed in it.” ⁵ To the others I heard him say, “Go through the city after him and strike! Don’t let your eye spare; have no pity! ⁶ Kill old men, young men, girls, little children, women — slaughter them all! But don’t go near anyone with the mark. Begin at my sanctuary.” They began with the leaders in front of the house. ⁷ Then he said to them, “Defile the house! Fill the courtyards with corpses! Get going!” So they went out, spreading death in the city.

⁸ While the killing was going on, I was left alone. I fell on my face, cried, and said, “Oh, Adonai Elohim! In pouring out your fury on Yerushalayim, are you going to destroy everyone left in Isra’el?” ⁹ Then he said to me, “The wickedness of the house of Isra’el and Y’hudah is enormous, the land is full of blood, and the city is full of justice denied; because they say, ‘Adonai has left the land, Adonai doesn’t see.’ ¹⁰ But as far as I am concerned, my eye will not spare, and I will have no pity, but I will bring [the consequences of] their ways on their own heads.”

¹¹ At this point the man clothed in linen with the writing equipment at his waist returned and reported, “I have done everything you ordered me to do.”

10 Then I looked, and suddenly, on the dome over the heads of the k’ruvim, there appeared above them something like sapphire that seemed to take the form of a throne. ² He spoke to the man clothed in linen; he said, “Go in between the wheels under the k’ruvim, fill both your hands with fiery coals from between the k’ruvim, and throw them on the city.” As I watched, he went. ³ Now the k’ruvim were standing to the right of the house when the man entered, and the cloud filled the inner courtyard. ⁴ The glory of Adonai rose from above the keruv to the threshold of the house, leaving the house filled with the cloud and the courtyard full of the brilliance of Adonai’s glory. ⁵ The sound of the wings of the k’ruvim could be heard even in the outer courtyard sounding like the voice of God, Shaddai, when he speaks.

⁶ When he ordered the man clothed in linen to take fire from between the wheels, from between the k’ruvim, he went in and stood next to a wheel; ⁷ and a keruv put out his hand from between the k’ruvim into the fire between the k’ruvim, took some of it, and put it in the hands of the one clothed in linen, who took it and went out.

⁸ Now there appeared among the k’ruvim the form of a man’s hand under their wings. ⁹ I looked and saw four wheels next to the k’ruvim, one wheel next to one keruv and another wheel next to another keruv: the wheels had the color of beryl. ¹⁰ Their shape was the same for all four, like a wheel inside a wheel. ¹¹ When they moved, they could go in any of the four directions without turning as they moved; rather, wherever the head looked, they followed without turning as they moved. ¹² Their whole bodies, including their backs, hands and wings, and also the wheels, were full of eyes all around — even the wheels of the four k’ruvim. ¹³ As for the wheels, I heard them called “the wheel apparatus.” ¹⁴ Every one [of the k’ruvim] had four faces: the first face was the face of a keruv, the second face was the face of a man, the third the face of a lion and the fourth the face of an eagle.

¹⁵ Then the k’ruvim rose. These were the living creatures I had seen by the K’var River. ¹⁶ When the k’ruvim moved, the wheels went with them; and when the k’ruvim lifted their wings to rise off the ground, these wheels did not stop going with them. ¹⁷ When [the k’ruvim] stood still, [the wheels] stood still; and when the former rose, the latter rose with them; because the spirit of the living creatures was in them.

¹⁸ Now the glory of Adonai left the threshold of the house and halted above the k’ruvim. ¹⁹ The k’ruvim lifted their wings and rose off the earth — I was watching as they went off with the wheels next to them. They paused at the entrance to the east gate of Adonai’s house, with the glory of the God of Isra’el over them, from above.

²⁰ This was the living creature I had seen beneath the God of Isra’el by the K’var River, so I knew they were k’ruvim. ²¹ Each of the four had four faces, and each had four wings, and what looked like a man’s hands was under their wings. ²² As for how their faces looked, they were the faces I had seen by the K’var River, identical in appearance. Each one moved straight ahead.

11 Then a spirit lifted me up and brought me to the east gate of Adonai’s house, the gate that faces eastward. At the entrance of the gate I saw twenty-five men; among them were Ya’azanyah the son of ‘Azur and P’latyahu the son of B’nayahu, leaders of the people. ² He said to me, “Human being, these are the men who make evil plans and give wicked advice in this city. ³ They say, ‘The time hasn’t come to build houses. This city is the cooking pot, and we’re the meat!’ ⁴ Therefore prophesy against them, human being, prophesy!” ⁵ The Spirit of Adonai fell on me, and he said to me, “Say, ‘Here is what Adonai says: “What you are saying is correct, house of Isra’el; because I know how your minds work. ⁶ You have killed many in this city, you have filled its streets with the dead.” ⁷ Therefore Adonai Elohim says this: “Those you have killed and strewn all over it, they are the meat; and this city is indeed the cooking pot; but you will be removed from it. ⁸ You are afraid of the sword, but I will bring the sword upon you,” says Adonai Elohim. ⁹ “I will bring you out of it, hand you over to foreigners and execute judgments among you. ¹⁰ You will die by the sword; I will judge you at the border of Isra’el; and you will know that I am Adonai. ¹¹ This city will not be your cooking pot, but you will be the meat in it — I will judge you at Isra’el’s frontier; ¹² and you will know that I am Adonai. For you have not lived by my laws or obeyed my rulings but have acted according to the rules of the nations surrounding you.”’”

¹³ As I was prophesying, P’latyahu the son of B’nayah died. I fell down on my face and cried out, “Oh, Adonai Elohim! Are you going to destroy completely those of Isra’el who are left?” ¹⁴ Then the word of Adonai came to me: ¹⁵ “Human being, it is to your kinsmen — your brothers, your relatives and the whole house of Isra’el — that the people living in Yerushalayim have said, ‘Get away from Adonai! This land has been given to us to possess!’ ¹⁶ Therefore, say that Adonai Elohim says this: ‘True, I removed them far away among the nations and scattered them among the countries; nevertheless, I have been a little sanctuary for them in the countries to which they have gone.’ ¹⁷ Therefore, say that Adonai Elohim says this: ‘“I will gather you from the peoples and collect you from the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give the land of Isra’el to you.” ¹⁸ Then they will go there and remove all its loathsome things and disgusting practices, ¹⁹ and I will give them unity of heart. “I will put a new spirit among you.” I will remove from their bodies the hearts of stone and give them hearts of flesh; ²⁰ so that they will live by my regulations, obey my rulings and act by them. Then they will be my people, and I will be their God. ²¹ But as for those whose hearts go after the heart of their loathsome things and disgusting practices, I will bring [the consequences of] their ways on their own heads,’ says Adonai Elohim.”

²² The k’ruvim lifted their wings, and the wheels were next to them, with the glory of the God of Isra’el over them, above. ²³ Next, the glory of Adonai rose from within the city and stood over the mountain which is on the east side of the city. ²⁴ Then a spirit lifted me up and brought me, in the vision, by the Spirit of God, to the exiles in the land of the Kasdim; after which the vision I had seen left me. ²⁵ So I told the exiles everything Adonai had shown me.

4 After these things, I looked; and there before me was a door standing open in heaven; and the voice like a trumpet which I had heard speaking with me before said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must happen after these things.” ² Instantly I was in the Spirit, and there before me in heaven stood a throne, and on the throne Someone was sitting. ³ The One sitting there gleamed like diamonds and rubies, and a rainbow shining like emerald encircled the throne.

⁴ Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and on the thrones sat twenty-four elders dressed in white clothing and wearing gold crowns on their heads. ⁵ From the throne came forth lightnings, voices and thunderings; and before the throne were seven flaming torches, which are the sevenfold Spirit of God. ⁶ In front of the throne was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal.

In the center, around the throne, were four living beings covered with eyes in front and behind. ⁷ The first living being was like a lion, the second living being was like an ox, the third living being had a face that looked human, and the fourth living being was like a flying eagle.^{[a] 8} Each of the four living beings had six wings^[b] and was covered with eyes inside and out; and day and night they never stop saying,

⁹ And whenever the living beings give glory, honor and thanks to the One sitting on the throne, to the One who lives forever and ever, ¹⁰ the twenty-four elders fall down before the One sitting on the throne, who lives forever and ever, and worship him. They throw their crowns in front of the throne and say,