Ezekiel’s Vision of Jerusalem

8 It was the sixth year, on the fifth day of the sixth month of our captivity. I was sitting in my house with the elders of Judah in front of me. There I felt the power of the Lord God. ² I looked and saw something that looked like a human. From the waist down it looked like fire, and from the waist up it looked like bright glowing metal. ³ It stretched out the shape of a hand and caught me by the hair on my head. The Spirit lifted me up between the earth and the sky. He took me in visions of God to Jerusalem, to the entrance to the north gate of the inner courtyard of the Temple. In the courtyard was the idol that caused God to be jealous. ⁴ I saw the glory of the God of Israel there, as I had seen on the plain.

⁵ Then he said to me, “Human, now look toward the north.” So I looked up toward the north, and in the entrance north of the gate of the altar was the idol that caused God to be jealous.

⁶ He said to me, “Human, do you see what they are doing? Do you see how many hateful things the people of Israel are doing here that drive me far away from my Temple? But you will see things more hateful than these.”

⁷ Then he brought me to the entry of the courtyard. When I looked, I saw a hole in the wall. ⁸ He said to me, “Human, dig through the wall.” So I dug through the wall and saw an entrance.

⁹ Then he said to me, “Go in and see the hateful, evil things they are doing here.” ¹⁰ So I entered and looked, and I saw every kind of crawling thing and hateful beast and all the idols of the people of Israel, carved on the wall all around. ¹¹ Standing in front of these carvings and idols were seventy of the elders of Israel and Jaazaniah son of Shaphan. Each man had his pan for burning incense in his hand, and a sweet-smelling cloud of incense was rising.

¹² Then he said to me, “Human, have you seen what the elders of Israel are doing in the dark? Have you seen each man in the room of his own idol? They say, ‘The Lord doesn’t see us. The Lord has left the land.’” ¹³ He also said to me, “You will see even more hateful things that they are doing.”

¹⁴ Then he brought me to the entrance of the north gate of the Temple of the Lord, where I saw women sitting and crying for Tammuz.^{[a] 15} He said to me, “Do you see, human? You will see things even more hateful than these.”

¹⁶ Then he brought me into the inner courtyard of the Temple. There I saw about twenty-five men at the entrance to the Temple of the Lord, between the porch and the altar. With their backs turned to the Temple of the Lord, they faced east and were worshiping the sun in the east.

¹⁷ He said to me, “Do you see, human? Is it unimportant that the people of Judah are doing the hateful things they have done here? They have filled the land with violence and made me continually angry. Look, they are insulting me every way they can. ¹⁸ So I will act in anger. I will have no pity, nor will I show mercy. Even if they shout in my ears, I won’t listen to them.”

Vision of the Angels

9 Then he shouted with a loud voice in my ears, “You who are chosen to punish this city, come near with your weapon in your hand.” ² Then six men came from the direction of the upper gate, which faces north, each with his powerful weapon in his hand. Among them was a man dressed in linen with a writing case at his side. The men went in and stood by the bronze altar.

³ Then the glory of the God of Israel went up from above the creatures with wings, where it had been, to the place in the Temple where the door opened. He called to the man dressed in linen who had the writing case at his side. ⁴ He said to the man, “Go through Jerusalem and put a mark on the foreheads of the people who groan and cry about all the hateful things being done among them.”

⁵ As I listened, he said to the other men, “Go through the city behind the man dressed in linen and kill. Don’t pity anyone, and don’t show mercy. ⁶ Kill and destroy old men, young men and women, little children, and older women, but don’t touch any who have the mark on them. Start at my Temple.” So they started with the elders who were in front of the Temple.

⁷ Then he said to the men, “Make the Temple unclean, and fill the courtyards with those who have been killed. Go out!” So the men went out and killed the people in the city. ⁸ While the men were killing the people, I was left alone. I bowed facedown on the ground and I cried out, “Oh, Lord God! Will you destroy everyone left alive in Israel when you turn loose your anger on Jerusalem?”

⁹ Then he said to me, “The sin of the people of Israel and Judah is very great. The land is filled with people who murder, and the city is full of people who are not fair. The people say, ‘The Lord has left the land, and the Lord does not see.’ ¹⁰ But I will have no pity, nor will I show mercy. I will bring their evil back on their heads.”

¹¹ Then the man dressed in linen with the writing case at his side reported, “I have done just as you commanded me.”

The Coals of Fire

10 Then I looked and saw in the dome above the heads of the living creatures something like a sapphire gem which looked like a throne. ² The Lord said to the man dressed in linen, “Go in between the wheels under the living creatures, fill your hands with coals of fire from between the living creatures, and scatter the coals over the city.”

As I watched, the man with linen clothes went in. ³ Now the living creatures were standing on the south side of the Temple when the man went in. And a cloud filled the inner courtyard. ⁴ Then the glory of the Lord went up from the living creatures and stood over the door of the Temple. The Temple was filled with the cloud, and the courtyard was full of the brightness from the glory of the Lord. ⁵ The sound of the wings of the living creatures was heard all the way to the outer courtyard. It was like the voice of God Almighty when he speaks.

⁶ When the Lord commanded the man dressed in linen, “Take fire from between the wheels, from between the living creatures,” the man went in and stood by a wheel. ⁷ One living creature put out his hand to the fire that was among them, took some of the fire, and put it in the hands of the man dressed in linen. Then the man took the fire and went out.

The Wheels and the Creatures

⁸ Something that looked like a human hand could be seen under the wings of the living creatures. ⁹ I saw the four wheels by the living creatures, one wheel by each living creature. The wheels looked like shining chrysolite. ¹⁰ All four wheels looked alike: Each looked like a wheel crossways inside another wheel. ¹¹ When the wheels moved, they went in any of the directions that the four living creatures faced. The wheels did not turn about, and the living creatures did not turn their bodies as they went. ¹² All their bodies, their backs, their hands, their wings, and the wheels were full of eyes all over. Each of the four living creatures had a wheel. ¹³ I heard the wheels being called “whirling wheels.” ¹⁴ Each living creature had four faces. The first face was the face of a creature with wings. The second face was a human face, the third was the face of a lion, and the fourth was the face of an eagle.

¹⁵ Then the living creatures flew up. They were the same living creatures I had seen by the Kebar River. ¹⁶ When the living creatures moved, the wheels moved beside them. When the living creatures lifted their wings to fly up from the ground, the wheels did not leave their place beside them. ¹⁷ When the living creatures stopped, the wheels stopped. When the creatures went up, the wheels went up also, because the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.

¹⁸ Then the glory of the Lord left the door of the Temple and stood over the living creatures. ¹⁹ As I watched, the living creatures spread their wings and flew up from the ground, with the wheels beside them. They stood where the east gate of the Temple of the Lord opened, and the glory of the God of Israel was over them.

²⁰ These were the living creatures I had seen under the God of Israel by the Kebar River. I knew they were called cherubim. ²¹ Each one had four faces and four wings, and under their wings were things that looked like human hands. ²² Their faces looked the same as the ones I had seen by the Kebar River. They each went straight ahead.

Prophecies Against Evil Leaders

11 The Spirit lifted me up and brought me to the front gate of the Temple of the Lord, which faces east. I saw twenty-five men where the gate opens, among them Jaazaniah son of Azzur and Pelatiah son of Benaiah, who were leaders of the people. ² Then the Lord said to me, “Human, these are the men who plan evil and give wicked advice in this city of Jerusalem. ³ They say, ‘It is almost time for us to build houses. This city is like a cooking pot, and we are like the best meat.’ ⁴ So prophesy against them, prophesy, human.”

⁵ Then the Spirit of the Lord entered me and told me to say: “This is what the Lord says: You have said these things, people of Israel, and I know what you are thinking. ⁶ You have killed many people in this city, filling its streets with their bodies.

⁷ “So this is what the Lord God says: Those people you have killed and left in the middle of the city are like the best meat, and this city is like the cooking pot. But I will force you out of the city. ⁸ You have feared the sword, but I will bring a sword against you, says the Lord God. ⁹ I will force you out of the city and hand you over to strangers and punish you. ¹⁰ You will die by the sword. I will punish you at the border of Israel so you will know that I am the Lord. ¹¹ This city will not be your cooking pot, and you will not be the best meat in the middle of it. I will punish you at the border of Israel. ¹² Then you will know that I am the Lord. You did not live by my rules or obey my laws. Instead, you did the same things as the nations around you.”

¹³ As I prophesied, Pelatiah son of Benaiah died. Then I bowed facedown on the ground and shouted with a loud voice, “Oh no, Lord God! Will you completely destroy the Israelites who are left alive?”

Promise to Those Remaining

¹⁴ The Lord spoke his word to me, saying, ¹⁵ “Human, the people still in Jerusalem have spoken about your own relatives and all the people of Israel who are captives with you, saying, ‘They are far from the Lord. This land has been given to us as our property.’

¹⁶ “So say, ‘This is what the Lord God says: I sent the people far away among the nations and scattered them among the countries. But for a little while I have become a Temple to them in the countries where they have gone.’

¹⁷ “So say: ‘This is what the Lord God says: I will gather you from the nations and bring you together from the countries where you have been scattered. Then I will give you back the land of Israel.’

¹⁸ “When they come to this land, they will remove all the evil idols and all the hateful images. ¹⁹ I will give them a desire to respect me completely, and I will put inside them a new way of thinking. I will take out the stubborn heart of stone from their bodies, and I will give them an obedient heart of flesh. ²⁰ Then they will live by my rules and obey my laws and keep them. They will be my people, and I will be their God. ²¹ But those who want to serve their evil statues and hateful idols, I will pay back for their evil ways, says the Lord God.”

Ezekiel’s Vision Ends

²² Then the living creatures lifted their wings with the wheels beside them, and the glory of the God of Israel was above them. ²³ The glory of the Lord went up from inside Jerusalem and stopped on the mountain on the east side of the city. ²⁴ The Spirit lifted me up and brought me to the captives who had been taken from Judah to Babylonia. This happened in a vision given by the Spirit of God, and then the vision I had seen ended. ²⁵ And I told the captives from Judah all the things the Lord had shown me.