⁸ When they placed their threshold next to my threshold and their doorposts beside my doorposts, with only a wall between me and them, they defiled my holy name by their detestable practices. So I destroyed them in my anger.

¹¹ Therefore as surely as I live,^(A) declares the Sovereign^(B) Lord, because you have defiled my sanctuary^(C) with all your vile images^(D) and detestable practices,^(E) I myself will shave you; I will not look on you with pity or spare you.^(F)

⁷ In addition to all your other detestable practices, you brought foreigners uncircumcised in heart^(A) and flesh into my sanctuary, desecrating my temple while you offered me food, fat and blood, and you broke my covenant.^(B)

³⁹ On the very day they sacrificed their children to their idols, they entered my sanctuary and desecrated^(A) it. That is what they did in my house.^(B)

³ He stretched out what looked like a hand^(A) and took me by the hair of my head. The Spirit lifted me up^(B) between earth and heaven and in visions^(C) of God he took me to Jerusalem, to the entrance of the north gate of the inner court,^(D) where the idol that provokes to jealousy^(E) stood. ⁴ And there before me was the glory^(F) of the God of Israel, as in the vision I had seen in the plain.^(G)

⁵ Then he said to me, “Son of man, look toward the north.” So I looked, and in the entrance north of the gate of the altar I saw this idol^(H) of jealousy.

⁶ And he said to me, “Son of man, do you see what they are doing—the utterly detestable^(I) things the Israelites are doing here, things that will drive me far from my sanctuary?^(J) But you will see things that are even more detestable.”

⁷ Then he brought me to the entrance to the court. I looked, and I saw a hole in the wall. ⁸ He said to me, “Son of man, now dig into the wall.” So I dug into the wall and saw a doorway there.

⁹ And he said to me, “Go in and see the wicked and detestable things they are doing here.” ¹⁰ So I went in and looked, and I saw portrayed all over the walls^(K) all kinds of crawling things and unclean^(L) animals and all the idols of Israel.^{(M) 11} In front of them stood seventy elders^(N) of Israel, and Jaazaniah son of Shaphan was standing among them. Each had a censer^(O) in his hand, and a fragrant cloud of incense^(P) was rising.^(Q)

¹² He said to me, “Son of man, have you seen what the elders of Israel are doing in the darkness,^(R) each at the shrine of his own idol? They say, ‘The Lord does not see^(S) us; the Lord has forsaken the land.’” ¹³ Again, he said, “You will see them doing things that are even more detestable.”

¹⁴ Then he brought me to the entrance of the north gate of the house of the Lord, and I saw women sitting there, mourning the god Tammuz.^{(T) 15} He said to me, “Do you see this, son of man? You will see things that are even more detestable than this.”

¹⁶ He then brought me into the inner court^(U) of the house of the Lord, and there at the entrance to the temple, between the portico and the altar,^(V) were about twenty-five men. With their backs toward the temple of the Lord and their faces toward the east, they were bowing down to the sun^(W) in the east.^(X)

⁷ He took the image he had made and put it in God’s temple,^(A) of which God had said to David and to his son Solomon, “In this temple and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put my Name forever.

⁴ He built altars in the temple of the Lord, of which the Lord had said, “My Name^(A) will remain in Jerusalem forever.”

⁴ He built altars^(A) in the temple of the Lord, of which the Lord had said, “In Jerusalem I will put my Name.”^{(B) 5} In the two courts^(C) of the temple of the Lord, he built altars to all the starry hosts. ⁶ He sacrificed his own son^(D) in the fire, practiced divination,^(E) sought omens, and consulted mediums and spiritists.^(F) He did much evil in the eyes of the Lord, arousing^(G) his anger.

⁷ He took the carved Asherah pole^(H) he had made and put it in the temple,^(I) of which the Lord had said to David and to his son Solomon, “In this temple and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put my Name^(J) forever.

¹⁴ As for the bronze altar^(A) that stood before the Lord, he brought it from the front of the temple—from between the new altar and the temple of the Lord—and put it on the north side of the new altar.

¹⁵ King Ahaz then gave these orders to Uriah the priest: “On the large new altar, offer the morning^(B) burnt offering and the evening grain offering, the king’s burnt offering and his grain offering, and the burnt offering of all the people of the land, and their grain offering and their drink offering. Splash against this altar the blood of all the burnt offerings and sacrifices. But I will use the bronze altar for seeking guidance.”^(C)