Idolatry in the Temple

8 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.

The Rebellion of Israel

20 On August 14,^[a] during the seventh year of King Jehoiachin’s captivity, some of the leaders of Israel came to request a message from the Lord. They sat down in front of me to wait for his reply.

³¹ So my people come pretending to be sincere and sit before you. They listen to your words, but they have no intention of doing what you say. Their mouths are full of lustful words, and their hearts seek only after money.

The Idolatry of Israel’s Leaders

14 Then some of the leaders of Israel visited me, and while they were sitting with me,

² This happened during the fifth year of King Jehoiachin’s captivity. ³ (The Lord gave this message to Ezekiel son of Buzi, a priest, beside the Kebar River in the land of the Babylonians,^[a] and he felt the hand of the Lord take hold of him.)

⁴ Tell them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: The people of Israel have set up idols in their hearts and fallen into sin, and then they go to a prophet asking for a message. So I, the Lord, will give them the kind of answer their great idolatry deserves.

³³ “I have never coveted anyone’s silver or gold or fine clothes.

⁷ “The words of a priest’s lips should preserve knowledge of God, and people should go to him for instruction, for the priest is the messenger of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.

The New Temple Area

40 On April 28,^[a] during the twenty-fifth year of our captivity—fourteen years after the fall of Jerusalem—the Lord took hold of me.

A Valley of Dry Bones

37 The Lord took hold of me, and I was carried away by the Spirit of the Lord to a valley filled with bones.