Ezekiel 7-12

Ezekiel 7

¹And the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

²And you, son of man, say, This is what the Lord has said to the land of Israel: An end has come, the end has come on the four quarters of the land.

³Now the end has come on you, and I will send my wrath on you, judging you for your ways, I will send punishment on you for all your disgusting acts.

⁴My eye will not have mercy on you, and I will have no pity: but I will send the punishment of your ways on you, and your disgusting works will be among you: and you will be certain that I am the Lord.

⁵This is what the Lord has said: An evil, even one evil; see, it is coming.

⁶An end has come, the end has come; see, it is coming on you.

⁷The crowning time has come on you, O people of the land: the time has come, the day is near; the day will not be slow in coming, it will not keep back.

⁸Now, in a little time, I will let loose my passion on you, and give full effect to my wrath against you, judging you for your ways, and sending punishment on you for all your disgusting works.

⁹My eye will not have mercy, and I will have no pity: I will send on you the punishment of your ways, and your disgusting works will be among you; and you will see that I am the Lord who gives punishment.

¹⁰See, the day; see, it is coming: the crowning time has gone out; the twisted way is flowering, pride has put out buds.

¹¹Violent behaviour has been lifted up into a rod of evil; it will not be slow in coming, it will not keep back.

¹²The time has come, the day is near: let not him who gives a price for goods be glad, or him who gets the price have sorrow:

¹³For the trader will not go back to the things for which he had his price, even while he is still living:

¹⁴And he who has given a price for goods will not get them, for my wrath is on all of them.

¹⁵Outside is the sword, and inside disease and need of food: he who is in the open country will be put to the sword; he who is in the town will come to his end through need of food and disease.

¹⁶And those of them who get away safely will go and be in the secret places like the doves of the valleys, all of them will come to death, every one in his sin.

¹⁷All hands will be feeble and all knees without strength, like water.

¹⁸And they will put haircloth round them, and deep fear will be covering them; and shame will be on all faces, and the hair gone from all their heads.

¹⁹They will put out their silver into the streets, and their gold will be as an unclean thing; their silver and their gold will not be able to keep them safe in the day of the wrath of the Lord; they will not get their desire or have food for their need: because it has been the cause of their falling into sin.

²⁰As for their beautiful ornament, they had put it on high, and had made the images of their disgusting and hated things in it: for this cause I have made it an unclean thing to them.

²¹And I will give it into the hands of men from strange lands who will take it by force, and to the evil-doers of the earth to have for themselves; and they will make it unholy.

²²And my face will be turned away from them, and they will make my secret place unholy: violent men will go into it and make it unholy.

²³Make the chain: for the land is full of crimes of blood, and the town is full of violent acts.

²⁴For this reason I will send the worst of the nations and they will take their houses for themselves: I will make the pride of their strength come to an end; and their holy places will be made unclean.

²⁵Shaking fear is coming; and they will be looking for peace, and there will be no peace.

²⁶Destruction will come on destruction, and one story after another; and the vision of the prophet will be shamed, and knowledge of the law will come to an end among the priests, and wisdom among the old.

²⁷The king will give himself up to sorrow, and the ruler will be clothed with wonder, and the hands of the people of the land will be troubled: I will give them punishment for their ways, judging them as it is right for them to be judged; and they will be certain that I am the Lord.

Ezekiel 8

¹Now in the sixth year, in the sixth month, on the fifth day of the month, when I was in my house and the responsible men of Judah were seated before me, the hand of the Lord came on me there.

²And looking, I saw a form like fire; from the middle of his body and down there was fire: and up from the middle of his body a sort of shining, like electrum.

³And he put out the form of a hand and took me by the hair of my head; and the wind, lifting me up between the earth and the heaven, took me in the visions of God to Jerusalem, to the way into the inner door facing to the north; where was the seat of the image of envy.

⁴And I saw the glory of the Lord there, as in the vision which I saw in the valley.

⁵Then he said to me, Son of man, now let your eyes be lifted up in the direction of the north; and on looking in the direction of the north, to the north of the doorway of the altar, I saw this image of envy by the way in.

⁶And he said to me, Son of man, do you see what they are doing? even the very disgusting things which the children of Israel are doing here, causing me to go far away from my holy place? but you will see other most disgusting things.

⁷And he took me to the door of the open place; and looking, I saw a hole in the wall.

⁸And he said to me, Son of man, make a hole in the wall: and after making a hole in the wall I saw a door.

⁹And he said to me, Go in and see the evil and disgusting things which they are doing here.

¹⁰So I went in and saw; and there every sort of living thing which goes flat on the earth, and unclean beasts, and all the images of the children of Israel, were pictured round about on the wall.

¹¹And before them seventy of the responsible men of the children of Israel had taken their places, every man with a vessel for burning perfumes in his hand, and in the middle of them was Jaazaniah, the son of Shaphan; and a cloud of smoke went up from the burning perfume.

¹²And he said to me, Son of man, have you seen what the responsible men of the children of Israel do in the dark, every man in his room of pictured images? for they say, The Lord does not see us; the Lord has gone away from the land.

¹³Then he said to me, You will see even more disgusting things which they do.

¹⁴Then he took me to the door of the way into the Lord's house looking to the north; and there women were seated weeping for Tammuz.

¹⁵Then he said to me, Have you seen this, O son of man? you will see even more disgusting things than these.

¹⁶And he took me into the inner square of the Lord's house, and at the door of the Temple of the Lord, between the covered way and the altar, there were about twenty-five men with their backs turned to the Temple of the Lord and their faces turned to the east; and they were worshipping the sun, turning to the east.

¹⁷Then he said to me, Have you seen this, O son of man? is it a small thing to the children of Judah that they do the disgusting things which they are doing here? for they have made the land full of violent behaviour, making me angry again and again: and see, they put the branch to my nose.

¹⁸For this reason I will let loose my wrath: my eye will not have mercy, and I will have no pity.

Ezekiel 9

¹Then crying out in my hearing in a loud voice, he said, Let the overseers of the town come near, every man armed.

²And six men came from the way of the higher doorway looking to the north, every man with his axe in his hand: and one man among them was clothed in linen, with a writer's inkpot at his side. And they went in and took their places by the brass altar.

³And the glory of the God of Israel had gone up from the winged ones on which it was resting, to the doorstep of the house. And crying out to the man clothed in linen who had the writer's inkpot at his side,

⁴The Lord said to him, Go through the town, through the middle of Jerusalem, and put a mark on the brows of the men who are sorrowing and crying for all the disgusting things which are done in it.

⁵And to these he said in my hearing, Go through the town after him using your axes: do not let your eyes have mercy, and have no pity:

⁶Give up to destruction old men and young men and virgins, little children and women: but do not come near any man who has the mark on him: and make a start at my holy place. So they made a start with the old men who were before the house.

⁷And he said to them, Make the house unclean, make the open places full of dead: go forward and send destruction on the town.

⁸Now while they were doing so, and I was untouched, I went down on my face, and crying out, I said, Ah, Lord! will you give all the rest of Israel to destruction in letting loose your wrath on Jerusalem?

⁹Then he said to me, The sin of the children of Israel and Judah is very, very great, and the land is full of blood and the town full of evil ways: for they say, The Lord has gone away from the land, and the Lord does not see.

¹⁰And as for me, my eye will not have mercy, and I will have no pity, but I will send the punishment of their ways on their heads.

¹¹Then the man clothed in linen, who had the inkpot at his side, came back and said, I have done what you gave me orders to do.

Ezekiel 10

¹Then looking, I saw that on the arch which was over the head of the winged ones there was seen over them what seemed like a sapphire stone, having the form of a king's seat.

²And he said to the man clothed in linen, Go in between the wheels, under the winged ones, and get your two hands full of burning coals from between the winged ones and send them in a shower over the town. And he went in before my eyes.

³Now the winged ones were stationed on the right side of the house when the man went in; and the inner square was full of the cloud.

⁴And the glory of the Lord went up from the winged ones and came to rest over the doorstep of the house; and the house was full of the cloud and the open square was full of the shining of the Lord's glory.

⁵And the sound of the wings of the winged ones was clear even in the outer square, like the voice of the Ruler of all.

⁶And when he gave orders to the man clothed in linen, saying, Take fire from between the wheels, from between the winged ones, then he went in and took his place at the side of a wheel.

⁷And stretching out his hand to the fire which was between the winged ones, he took some of it and went out.

⁸And I saw the form of a man's hands among the winged ones under their wings.

⁹And looking, I saw four wheels by the side of the winged ones, one wheel by the side of a winged one and another wheel by the side of another: and the wheels were like the colour of a beryl stone to the eye.

¹⁰In form the four of them were all the same, they seemed like a wheel inside a wheel.

¹¹When they were moving, they went on their four sides without turning; they went after the head in the direction in which it was looking; they went without turning.

¹²And the edges of the four wheels were full of eyes round about.

¹³As for the wheels, they were named in my hearing, the circling wheels.

¹⁴And every one had four faces: the first face was the face of a winged one, and the second was the face of a man, and the third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle.

¹⁵And the winged ones went up on high: this is the living being which I saw by the river Chebar.

¹⁶And when the winged ones went, the wheels went by their side: and when their wings were lifted to take them up from the earth, the wheels were not turned from their side.

¹⁷When they were at rest in their place, these were at rest; when they were lifted up, these went up with them: for the spirit of life was in them.

¹⁸Then the glory of the Lord went out from the doorstep of the house, and came to rest over the winged ones.

¹⁹And the winged ones, lifting up their wings, went up from the earth before my eyes, with the wheels by their side: and they came to rest at the east doorway of the Lord's house; and the glory of the God of Israel was over them on high.

²⁰This is the living being which I saw under the God of Israel by the river Chebar; and it was clear to me that they were the winged ones.

²¹Every one had four faces and every one had four wings; and hands like a man's hands were under their wings.

²²As for the form of their faces, they were the faces whose form I saw by the river Chebar; when they went, every one of them went straight forward.

Ezekiel 11

¹And the wind, lifting me up, took me to the east doorway of the Lord's house, looking to the east: and at the door I saw twenty-five men; and among them I saw Jaazaniah, the son of Azzur, and Pelatiah, the son of Benaiah, rulers of the people.

²Then he said to me, Son of man, these are the men who are designing evil, who are teaching evil ways in this town:

³Who say, This is not the time for building houses: this town is the cooking-pot and we are the flesh.

⁴For this cause be a prophet against them, be a prophet, O son of man.

⁵And the spirit of the Lord came on me, and he said to me, Say, These are the words of the Lord: This is what you have said, O children of Israel; what comes into your mind is clear to me.

⁶You have made great the number of your dead in this town, you have made its streets full of dead men.

⁷For this reason the Lord has said: Your dead whom you have put down in its streets, they are the flesh, and this town is the cooking-pot: but I will make you come out from inside it.

⁸You have been fearing the sword, and I will send the sword on you, says the Lord.

⁹I will make you come out from inside the town and will give you up into the hands of men from other lands, and will be judge among you.

¹⁰You will come to your death by the sword; and I will be your judge in the land of Israel; and you will be certain that I am the Lord.

¹¹This town will not be your cooking-pot, and you will not be the flesh inside it; I will be your judge at the limit of the land of Israel;

¹²And you will be certain that I am the Lord: for you have not been guided by my rules or given effect to my orders, but you have been living by the orders of the nations round about you.

¹³Now while I was saying these things, death came to Pelatiah, the son of Benaiah. Then falling down on my face and crying out with a loud voice, I said, Ah, Lord! will you put an end to all the rest of Israel?

¹⁴And the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

¹⁵Son of man, your countrymen, your relations, and all the children of Israel, all of them, are those to whom the people of Jerusalem have said, Go far from the Lord; this land is given to us for a heritage:

¹⁶For this reason say, This is what the Lord has said: Though I have had them moved far off among the nations, and though I have sent them wandering among the countries, still I have been a safe place for them for a little time in the countries where they have come.

¹⁷Then say, This is what the Lord has said: I will get you together from the peoples, and make you come out of the countries where you have been sent in flight, and I will give you the land of Israel.

¹⁸And they will come there, and take away all the hated and disgusting things from it.

¹⁹And I will give them a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in them; and I will take the heart of stone out of their flesh and give them a heart of flesh:

²⁰So that they may be guided by my rules and keep my orders and do them: and they will be to me a people, and I will be to them a God.

²¹But as for those whose heart goes after their hated and disgusting things, I will send on their heads the punishment of their ways, says the Lord.

²²Then the wings of the winged ones were lifted up, and the wheels were by their side; and the glory of the God of Israel was over them on high.

²³And the glory of the Lord went up from inside the town, and came to rest on the mountain on the east side of the town.

²⁴And the wind, lifting me up, took me in the visions of God into Chaldaea, to those who had been taken away as prisoners. So the vision which I had seen went away from me.

²⁵Then I gave an account to those who had been taken prisoners of all the things which the Lord had made me see.

Ezekiel 12

¹And the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

²Son of man, you are living among an uncontrolled people, who have eyes to see but see not, and ears for hearing but they do not give ear; for they are an uncontrolled people.

³And you, O son of man, by day, before their eyes, get ready the vessels of one who is taken away, and go away from your place to another place before their eyes: it may be that they will see, though they are an uncontrolled people.

⁴By day, before their eyes, take out your vessels like those of one who is taken away: and go out in the evening before their eyes, like those who are taken away as prisoners.

⁵Make a hole in the wall, before their eyes, and go out through it.

⁶And before their eyes, take your goods on your back and go out in the dark; go with your face covered: for I have made you a sign to the children of Israel.

⁷And I did as I was ordered: I took out my vessels by day, like those of one who is taken away, and in the evening I made a hole through the wall with a tent-pin; and in the dark I went out, taking my things on my back before their eyes.

⁸And in the morning the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

⁹Son of man, has not Israel, the uncontrolled people, said to you, What are you doing?

¹⁰You are to say to them, This is what the Lord has said: This word has to do with the ruler in Jerusalem and all the children of Israel in it.

¹¹Say, I am your sign: as I have done, so will it be done to them: they will go away as prisoners.

¹²And the ruler who is among them will take his goods on his back in the dark and go out: he will make a hole in the wall through which to go out: he will have his face covered so that he may not be seen.

¹³And my net will be stretched out on him, and he will be taken in my cords: and I will take him to Babylon to the land of the Chaldaeans; but he will not see it, and there death will come to him.

¹⁴And all his helpers round about him and all his armies I will send in flight to every wind; and I will let loose a sword after them.

¹⁵And they will be certain that I am the Lord, when I send them in flight among the nations, driving them out through the countries.

¹⁶But a small number of them I will keep from the sword, from the need of food, and from disease, so that they may make clear all their disgusting ways among the nations where they come; and they will be certain that I am the Lord.

¹⁷Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

¹⁸Son of man, take your food with shaking fear, and your water with trouble and care;

¹⁹And say to the people of the land, This is what the Lord has said about the people of Jerusalem and the land of Israel: They will take their food with care and their drink with wonder, so that all the wealth of their land may be taken from it because of the violent ways of the people living in it.

²⁰And the peopled towns will be made waste, and the land will become a wonder; and you will be certain that I am the Lord.

²¹And the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

²²Son of man, what is this saying which you have about the land of Israel, The time is long and every vision comes to nothing?

²³For this cause say to them, This is what the Lord has said: I have made this saying come to an end, and it will no longer be used as a common saying in Israel; but say to them, The days are near, and the effect of every vision.

²⁴For there will be no more false visions or smooth use of secret arts in Israel.

²⁵For I am the Lord; I will say the word and what I say I will do; it will not be put off: for in your days, O uncontrolled people, I will say the word and do it, says the Lord.

²⁶Again the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

²⁷Son of man, see, the children of Israel say, The vision which he sees is for the days which are a long way off, and his words are of times still far away.

²⁸Say to them then, This is what the Lord has said: Not one of my words will be put off any longer, but what I say I will do, says the Lord.