Ezekiel 8-10

Ezekiel 8

¹And it cometh to pass, in the sixth year, in the sixth month, in the fifth of the month, I am sitting in my house, and elders of Judah are sitting before me, and fall on me there doth a hand of the Lord Jehovah,

²and I look, and lo, a likeness as the appearance of fire, from the appearance of His loins and downward -- fire, and from His loins and upward, as the appearance of brightness, as the colour of copper.

³And He putteth forth a form of a hand, and taketh me by a lock of my head, and lift me up doth a spirit between the earth and the heavens, and it bringeth me in to Jerusalem in visions of God, unto the opening of the inner gate that is facing the north, where is the seat of the figure of jealousy that is making jealous,

⁴and lo, there the honour of the God of Israel, as the appearance that I saw in the valley.

⁵And He saith unto me, ‘Son of man, lift up, I pray thee, thine eyes the way of the north.' And I lift up mine eyes the way of the north, and lo, on the north of the gate of the altar this figure of jealousy, at the entrance.

⁶And He saith unto me, ‘Son of man, art thou seeing what they are doing? the great abominations that the house of Israel are doing here, to keep far off from My sanctuary; and again thou dost turn, thou dost see great abominations.'

⁷And He bringeth me in unto an opening of the court, and I look, and lo, a hole in the wall;

⁸and He saith unto me, ‘Son of man, dig, I pray thee, through the wall;' and I dig through the wall, and lo, an opening.

⁹And He saith to me, ‘Go in, and see the evil abominations that they are doing here.'

¹⁰And I go in, and look, and lo, every form of creeping thing, and detestable beast -- and all the Idols of the house of Israel -- graved on the wall, all round about,

¹¹and seventy men of the elders of the house of Israel -- and Jaazaniah son of Shaphan standing in their midst -- are standing before them, and each his censer in his hand, and the abundance of the cloud of perfume is going up.

¹²And He saith unto me, ‘Hast thou seen, son of man, that which elders of the house of Israel are doing in darkness, each in the inner chambers of his imagery, for they are saying, Jehovah is not seeing us, Jehovah hath forsaken the land?'

¹³And He saith unto me, ‘Again thou dost turn, thou dost see great abominations that they are doing.'

¹⁴And He bringeth me in unto the opening of the gate of the house of Jehovah that is at the north, and lo, there the women are sitting weeping for Tammuz.

¹⁵And He saith unto me, ‘Hast thou seen, son of man? again thou dost turn, thou dost see greater abominations than these.'

¹⁶And He bringeth me in unto the inner court of the house of Jehovah, and lo, at the opening of the temple of Jehovah, between the porch and the altar, about twenty-five men, their backs toward the temple of Jehovah, and their faces eastward, and they are bowing themselves eastward to the sun.

¹⁷And He saith unto me, ‘Hast thou seen, son of man? hath it been a light thing to the house of Judah to do the abomination that they have done here, that they have filled the land with violence, and turn back to provoke Me to anger? and lo, they are putting forth the branch unto their nose!

¹⁸And I also deal in fury, Mine eye doth not pity, nor do I spare, and they have cried in Mine ears -- a loud voice -- and I do not hear them.'

Ezekiel 9

¹And He crieth in mine ears -- a loud voice -- saying, ‘Drawn near have inspectors of the city, and each his destroying weapon in his hand.'

²And lo, six men are coming from the way of the upper gate, that is facing the north, and each his slaughter-weapon in his hand, and one man in their midst is clothed with linen, and a scribe's inkhorn at his loins, and they come in, and stand near the brazen altar.

³And the honour of the God of Israel hath gone up from off the cherub, on which it hath been, unto the threshold of the house.

⁴And He calleth unto the man who is clothed with linen, who hath the scribe's inkhorn at his loins, and Jehovah saith unto him, ‘Pass on into the midst of the city, into the midst of Jerusalem, and thou hast made a mark on the foreheads of the men who are sighing and who are groaning for all the abominations that are done in its midst.'

⁵And to the others he said in mine ears, ‘Pass on into the city after him, and smite; your eye doth not pity, nor do ye spare;

⁶aged, young man, and virgin, and infant, and women, ye do slay -- to destruction; and against any man on whom is the mark ye do not go nigh, and from My sanctuary ye begin.'

⁷And they begin among the aged men who are before the house, and He saith unto them, ‘Defile the house, and fill the courts with the wounded, go forth.' And they have gone forth and have smitten in the city.

⁸And it cometh to pass, as they are smiting, and I -- I am left -- that I fall on my face, and cry, and say, ‘Ah, Lord Jehovah, art Thou destroying all the remnant of Israel, in Thy pouring out Thy wrath on Jerusalem?'

⁹And He saith unto me, ‘The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is very very great, and the land is full of blood, and the city hath been full of perverseness, for they have said: Jehovah hath forsaken the land, and Jehovah is not seeing.

¹⁰And I also, Mine eye doth not pity, nor do I spare; their way on their own head I have put.'

¹¹And lo, the man clothed with linen, at whose loins is the inkhorn, is bringing back word, saying, ‘I have done as Thou hast commanded me.'

Ezekiel 10

¹And I look, and lo, on the expanse that is above the head of the cherubs, as a sapphire stone, as the appearance of the likeness of a throne, He hath been seen over them.

²And He speaketh unto the man clothed with linen, and saith, ‘Go in unto the midst of the wheel, unto the place of the cherub, and fill thy hands with coals of fire from between the cherubs, and scatter over the city.' And he goeth in before mine eyes.

³And the cherubs are standing on the right side of the house, at the going in of the man, and the cloud hath filled the inner court,

⁴and become high doth the honour of Jehovah above the cherub, over the threshold of the house, and the house is filled with the cloud, and the court hath been filled with the brightness of the honour of Jehovah.

⁵And a noise of the wings of the cherubs hath been heard unto the outer court, as the voice of God -- the Mighty One -- in His speaking.

⁶And it cometh to pass, in His commanding the man clothed with linen, saying, ‘Take fire from between the wheel, from between the cherubs,' and he goeth in and standeth near the wheel,

⁷that the one cherub putteth forth his hand from between the cherubs unto the fire that is between the cherubs, and lifteth up, and giveth into the hands of him who is clothed with linen, and he receiveth, and cometh forth.

⁸And there appeareth in the cherubs the form of a hand of man under their wings,

⁹and I look, and lo, four wheels near the cherubs, one wheel near the one cherub, and another wheel near the other cherub, and the appearance of the wheels is as the colour of a beryl stone.

¹⁰As to their appearances, one likeness is to them four, as it were the wheel in the midst of the wheel.

¹¹In their going, on their four sides they go; they turn not round in their going, for to the place whither the head turneth, after it they go, they turn not round in their going.

¹²And all their flesh, and their backs, and their hands, and their wings, and the wheels, are full of eyes round about; to them four are their wheels.

¹³To the wheels -- to them is one calling in mine ears, ‘O wheel!'

¹⁴And four faces are to each; the face of the one is the face of the cherub, and the face of the second the face of man, and of the third the face of a lion, and of the fourth the face of an eagle.

¹⁵And the cherubs are lifted up, it is the living creature that I saw by the river Chebar.

¹⁶And in the going of the cherubs, the wheels go beside them; and in the cherubs lifting up their wings to be high above the earth, the wheels turn not round, even they, from being beside them.

¹⁷In their standing they stand, and in their exaltation they are exalted with them: for the living spirit is in them.

¹⁸And go forth doth the honour of Jehovah from off the threshold of the house, and standeth over the cherubs,

¹⁹and the cherubs lift up their wings, and are lifted up from the earth before mine eyes; in their going forth, the wheels also are over-against them, and he standeth at the opening of the east gate of the house of Jehovah, and the honour of the God of Israel is over them from above.

²⁰It is the living creature that I saw under the God of Israel by the river Chebar, and I know that they are cherubs.

²¹Four faces are to each, and four wings to each, and the likeness of the hands of man is under their wings.

²²As to the likeness of their faces, they are the faces that I saw by the river Chebar, their appearances and themselves; each straight forward they go.