Vision of Repulsive Acts in Jerusalem

8 It came about in the ^[a]sixth year [of the captivity of King Jehoiachin], on the fifth day of the sixth month, as I sat in my house [near Babylon] with the elders of Judah sitting before me, that the hand of the Lord ^[b]God fell on me there. ² Then I looked, and behold, a likeness [of a man] with the appearance of fire; from His ^[c]loins downward He was like fire, and from His loins upward He had the appearance of brightness, like gleaming metal (bronze). ³ He stretched out the form of a hand and took me by a lock of hair on my head; and the Spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem, to the entrance of the north gate of the inner courtyard, where the seat of the idol (image) of ^[d]jealousy, which provokes to jealousy, was located.^{(A) 4} And behold, the glory and brilliance of the God of Israel [who had loved and chosen them] was there, like the vision which I saw in the plain.^(B)

⁵ Then He said to me, “Son of man, now raise your eyes toward the north.” So I looked toward the north, and behold, to the north of the altar gate was this idol (image) of jealousy at the entrance. ⁶ Furthermore, He said to me, “Son of man, do you see what they are doing, the great repulsive acts which the house of Israel is committing here, to drive Me far away from My sanctuary? But you will again see greater repulsive acts.”

⁷ Then He brought me to the entrance of the courtyard; and when I looked, behold, [there was] a hole in the wall. ⁸ He said to me, “Son of man, now dig into the wall.” And when I had dug into the wall, behold, there was an entrance. ⁹ And He said to me, “Go in and see the wicked, repulsive acts that they are committing here.” ¹⁰ So I entered and looked, and saw every kind of creeping things and beasts and loathsome things, and all the idols of the house of Israel, carved all around on the wall. ¹¹ Standing before these [images] were seventy elders of the house of Israel, and among them stood Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan [the scribe], each man with his censer in his hand and a thick and fragrant cloud of incense was rising [as they prayed to these gods]. ¹² Then He said to me, “Son of man, do you see what the elders of the house of Israel do in the dark, each man in his [secret] room of carved images? For they say, ‘The Lord does not see us; the Lord has abandoned the land.’” ¹³ He also said to me, “Yet again you will see even greater repulsive acts which they are committing.”

¹⁴ Then He brought me to the entrance of the north gate of the Lord’s house; and behold, women were sitting there weeping for ^[e]Tammuz. ¹⁵ He said to me, “Do you see this, son of man? Yet you will see still greater repulsive acts than these [that they are committing].”

¹⁶ So He brought me to the inner court of the Lord’s house. And behold, at the entrance to the temple of the Lord, between the porch (vestibule, portico) and the [bronze] altar, were about twenty-five men with their backs to the temple of the Lord and their faces toward the east; and they were bowing down toward the east and worshiping the sun. ¹⁷ He said to me, “Do you see this, son of man? Is it too slight a thing for the house of Judah to commit the repulsive acts which they have committed here, that they have filled the land with violence and repeatedly provoked Me to anger? And behold, they are putting the ^[f]branch to their nose. ¹⁸ Therefore, I indeed will deal in wrath. My eye will have no pity nor will I spare [them]; and though they cry loudly in My ears, yet I will not listen to them.”^(C)

The Vision of Slaughter

9 Then [in my vision] I heard Him cry out with a thunderous voice, saying, “Approach now, executioners of the city, each with his weapon of destruction in his hand.” ² Behold, six men [angelic beings] came from the direction of the Upper Gate, which faces north, each with his battle-axe in his hand; and among them was a ^[g]certain man clothed in linen, with a scribe’s writing case at his side. They entered and stood beside the bronze altar.

³ Then the [^[h]Shekinah] glory and brilliance of the God of Israel (the cloud) ^[i]went up from the cherubim on which it had rested, to [stand above] the threshold of the [Lord’s] temple. And the Lord called to the man clothed with linen, who had the scribe’s writing case at his side. ⁴ The Lord said to him, “Go through the midst of the city, throughout all of Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh [in distress] and grieve over all the repulsive acts which are being committed in it.” ⁵ But to the others I heard Him say, “Follow him [the man with the scribe’s writing case] throughout the city and strike; do not let your eyes have pity and do not spare [anyone]. ⁶ Utterly slay old men, young men, maidens, little children, and women; but do not touch or go near anyone on whom is the mark. Begin at My sanctuary.” So they began with the old men who were in front of the temple [who did not have the Lord’s mark on their foreheads].^{(D) 7} And He said to the executioners, “Defile the temple and fill its courtyards with the dead. Go out!” So they went out and struck down the people in the city. ⁸ As they were executing them and I alone was left, I fell face downward and cried out, “Alas, Lord God! Will You destroy all that is left of Israel [the whole remnant] by pouring out Your wrath and indignation on Jerusalem?”

⁹ Then He said to me, “The wickedness (guilt) of the house of Israel and Judah is extremely great; the land is full of blood and the city is full of perversion and injustice; for they say, ‘The Lord has abandoned the land; the Lord does not see [what we are doing].’ ¹⁰ But as for Me, My eye will have no pity, nor will I spare, but I will bring their [wicked] conduct upon their [own] heads.”

¹¹ Then behold, the man clothed in linen, who had the scribe’s writing case at his side, reported, “I have done just as You have commanded me.”

Vision of God’s Glory Departing from the Temple

10 Then I looked, and behold, in the expanse (firmament) that was over the heads of the cherubim there appeared something [glorious and brilliant] above them looking like a [huge] sapphire stone, formed to resemble a throne. ² And the Lord spoke to the man (seventh angel) clothed in linen and said, “Go between the whirling wheels under the cherubim; fill your hands with coals of fire from between the cherubim and scatter them over the city.” And he entered as I watched.^(E)

³ Now the cherubim were standing on the right side of the temple when the man entered; and a cloud [the Shekinah glory of God] filled the inner courtyard. ⁴ Then the glory and brilliance of the Lord moved upward from the cherubim to [rest over] the threshold of the temple; and the temple was filled with the cloud and the courtyard was filled with the brightness of the Lord’s glory.^{(F) 5} And the sound of the wings of the cherubim was heard [even] as far as the outer courtyard, like the voice of ^[j]God Almighty when He speaks.^(G)

⁶ It came about when He commanded the man clothed in linen, saying, “Take fire from between the whirling wheels, from between the cherubim,” the man entered and stood beside a wheel. ⁷ Then a cherub stretched out his hand from between the cherubim to the fire that was between [the four of] them, and took some [of it] and put it into the hands of the man clothed in linen, who took it and departed. ⁸ Beneath their wings the cherubim seemed to have [something in] the form of a man’s hand.

⁹ Then I looked and behold, [there were] four wheels beside the cherubim, one wheel beside one cherub and another wheel beside each other cherub; and the appearance of the wheels was like a sparkling Tarshish stone (beryl). ¹⁰ As for their appearance, all four looked alike, as if one wheel were within another wheel. ¹¹ When they moved, they went in any of their four directions without turning as they went; but they followed in the direction which they faced, without turning as they went. ¹² Their whole body, their backs, their hands, their wings, and the wheels were full of eyes all around, even the wheels belonging to all four of them. ¹³ Regarding the wheels [attached to them], I heard them called, “the whirling (rolling, revolving) wheels.” ¹⁴ And each one had four faces: the first face was the face of the ^[k]cherub, the second the face of a man, the third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle.

¹⁵ Then the cherubim rose upward. They are the [same four] living beings [regarded as one] that I saw by the River Chebar [in Babylonia].^{(H) 16} Now when the cherubim moved, the wheels would go beside them; and when the cherubim lifted up their wings to rise from the earth, the wheels would remain beside them. ¹⁷ When the cherubim stood still, the wheels would stand still; and when they rose upward, the wheels would rise with them, for the spirit of the living beings was in these [wheels].^(I)

¹⁸ Then the [Shekinah] glory of the Lord departed from the threshold of the temple and rested over the cherubim. ¹⁹ As I looked at them, the cherubim lifted up their wings and rose up from the earth, they departed with the wheels beside them; and they stood still at the entrance of the east gate of the house of the Lord, and the glory and brilliance of the God of Israel hovered over them.

²⁰ These are the living beings that I saw beneath the God of Israel by the River Chebar; and I knew that they were cherubim. ²¹ Each one had four faces and each one had four wings, and beneath their wings was the form of human hands. ²² As for the likeness of their faces, they were the same faces whose appearance I had seen by the River Chebar. Each one went straight forward.

Evil Rulers to Be Judged

11 Moreover, the Spirit lifted me up and brought me to the gate of the Lord’s house, which faced eastward. And behold, at the entrance of the gate there were twenty-five men; and I saw among them Jaazaniah the son of Azzur and Pelatiah the son of Benaiah, princes of the people. ² Then the Spirit said to me, “Son of man, these are the men who devise evil and give wicked advice in this city, ³ who say, ‘Is not the time near to build houses? This city is [secure just like] the pot and we are the meat [in it].’ ⁴ Therefore, prophesy against them; prophesy, son of man!”

⁵ Then the Spirit of the Lord fell upon me, and He said to me, “Say, ‘Thus says the Lord, “This is what you think, house of Israel, for I know your thoughts. ⁶ You have multiplied your slain in this city, and you have filled its streets with the corpses [of righteous men].” ⁷ Therefore, thus says the Lord God, “Your dead whom you have laid in the midst of your city are the meat and this city is the pot; but I shall force you out of [the security of] it. ⁸ You have feared the sword; so I will bring a sword upon you,” says the Lord God. ⁹ “And I will bring you out of the midst of the city and hand you over to strangers and execute judgment against you. ¹⁰ You will fall by the sword; I will judge and punish you [in front of your neighbors] at the border of [the land of] Israel; and you will know [without any doubt] that I am the Lord. ¹¹ This city will not be a pot for you, nor will you be meat [safe] in it, but I will judge you at the border of Israel. ¹² And you will know [without any doubt] that I am the Lord; for you have not walked in My statutes nor have you executed My ordinances, but you have acted in accordance with the ordinances of the nations around you.”’”

¹³ Now it came about while I was prophesying, that Pelatiah the son of Benaiah died. Then I fell face downward and cried out loudly, “Alas, Lord God! Will You bring the remnant of Israel to a complete end?”

Promise of Restoration

¹⁴ Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ¹⁵ “Son of man, your brothers, your relatives, your fellow exiles and the whole house of Israel, all of them, are those to whom the [present] inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, ‘Go far away from the Lord; this land has been given to us as a possession.’ ¹⁶ Therefore say, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “Though I had removed Israel far away among the nations and though I had scattered them among the countries, yet I have been a sanctuary for them for a little while in the countries to which they had gone.”’ ¹⁷ Therefore say, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “I will gather you from the peoples and assemble you out of the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give [back] to you the land of Israel.”’ ¹⁸ When they return there, they will remove from it all [traces of] its detestable things and all its repulsive things (remnants of paganism). ¹⁹ And I will give them one heart [a new heart], and put a new spirit within them. I will take from them the heart of stone, and will give them a heart of flesh [that is responsive to My touch],^{(J) 20} that they may walk in My statutes and keep My ordinances and do them. Then they shall be My people, and I will be their God. ²¹ But as for those whose heart longs for and follows after their detestable things and their repulsive things [associated with idolatry], on their own head I will repay [them in full for] their [vile] conduct,” says the Lord God.

²² Then the cherubim lifted up their wings with the wheels beside them, and the [Shekinah] glory of the God of Israel hovered over them. ²³ Then the glory and brilliance of the Lord went up from the midst of the city and paused over the mountain, [the Mount of Olives] which is east of the city. ²⁴ And the Spirit lifted me up and brought me in a vision by the Spirit of God to the exiles in Chaldea (Babylonia). Then the vision that I had seen left me. ²⁵ Then I told the exiles everything that the Lord had shown me.