Judgment on Israel Is Near

7 Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ² “And you, son of man, thus says the Lord God to the land of Israel:

⁵ “Thus says the Lord God:

Abominations in the Temple

8 And it came to pass in the sixth year, in the sixth month, on the fifth day of the month, as I sat in my house with ^(Z)the elders of Judah sitting before me, that ^(AA)the hand of the Lord God fell upon me there. ^2 (AB)Then I looked, and there was a likeness, like the appearance of fire—from the appearance of His waist and downward, fire; and from His waist and upward, like the appearance of brightness, ^(AC)like the color of amber. ³ He ^(AD)stretched out the form of a hand, and took me by a lock of my hair; and ^(AE)the Spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven, and ^(AF)brought me in visions of God to Jerusalem, to the door of the north gate of the inner court, ^(AG)where the seat of the image of jealousy was, which ^(AH)provokes^[d] to jealousy. ⁴ And behold, the ^(AI)glory of the God of Israel was there, like the vision that I ^(AJ)saw in the plain.

⁵ Then He said to me, “Son of man, lift your eyes now toward the north.” So I lifted my eyes toward the north, and there, north of the altar gate, was this image of jealousy in the entrance.

⁶ Furthermore He said to me, “Son of man, do you see what they are doing, the great ^(AK)abominations that the house of Israel commits here, to make Me go far away from My sanctuary? Now turn again, you will see greater abominations.” ⁷ So He brought me to the door of the court; and when I looked, there was a hole in the wall. ⁸ Then He said to me, “Son of man, dig into the wall”; and when I dug into the wall, there was a door.

⁹ And He said to me, “Go in, and see the wicked abominations which they are doing there.” ¹⁰ So I went in and saw, and there—every ^(AL)sort of ^(AM)creeping thing, abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel, ^[e]portrayed all around on the walls. ¹¹ And there stood before them ^(AN)seventy men of the elders of the house of Israel, and in their midst stood Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan. Each man had a censer in his hand, and a thick cloud of incense went up. ¹² Then He said to me, “Son of man, have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the room of his idols? For they say, ^(AO)‘The Lord does not see us, the Lord has forsaken the land.’ ”

¹³ And He said to me, “Turn again, and you will see greater abominations that they are doing.” ¹⁴ So He brought me to the door of the north gate of the Lord’s house; and to my dismay, women were sitting there weeping for ^[f]Tammuz.

¹⁵ Then He said to me, “Have you seen this, O son of man? Turn again, you will see greater abominations than these.” ¹⁶ So He brought me into the inner court of the Lord’s house; and there, at the door of the temple of the Lord, ^(AP)between the porch and the altar, ^(AQ)were about twenty-five men ^(AR)with their backs toward the temple of the Lord and their faces toward the east, and they were worshiping ^(AS)the sun toward the east.

¹⁷ And He said to me, “Have you seen this, O son of man? Is it a trivial thing to the house of Judah to commit the abominations which they commit here? For they have ^(AT)filled the land with violence; then they have returned to provoke Me to anger. Indeed they put the branch to their nose. ^18 (AU)Therefore I also will act in fury. My ^(AV)eye will not spare nor will I have pity; and though they ^(AW)cry in My ears with a loud voice, I will not hear them.”

Plea for Relief from Bitter Foes

A Song of Ascents.

The Promise of Rest

4 Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, ^(A)let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it. ² For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, ^[a]not being mixed with faith in those who heard it. ³ For we who have believed do enter that rest, as He has said:

although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. ⁴ For He has spoken in a certain place of the seventh day in this way: ^(C)“And God rested on the seventh day from all His works”; ⁵ and again in this place: ^(D)“They shall not enter My rest.”

⁶ Since therefore it remains that some must enter it, and those to whom it was first preached did not enter because of disobedience, ⁷ again He designates a certain day, saying in David, “Today,” after such a long time, as it has been said:

⁸ For if ^[b]Joshua had ^(F)given them rest, then He would not afterward have spoken of another day. ⁹ There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. ¹⁰ For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His.

The Word Discovers Our Condition

^11 (G)Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience. ¹² For the word of God is ^(H)living and powerful, and ^(I)sharper than any ^(J)two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is ^(K)a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. ^13 (L)And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are ^(M)naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.

Our Compassionate High Priest

¹⁴ Seeing then that we have a great ^(N)High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, ^(O)let us hold fast our confession. ¹⁵ For ^(P)we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but ^(Q)was in all points tempted as we are, ^(R)yet without sin. ^16 (S)Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.