September 8
Ezekiel 8:1 — 11:25

8 And it came about in the sixth year, in the sixth [month], on the fifth day of the month, that I was sitting in my house and the older men of Judah were sitting before me, when the hand of the Sovereign Lord Jehovah fell upon me there. 2 And I began to see, and, look! a likeness similar to the appearance of fire; from the appearance of his hips even downward there was fire, and from his hips even upward there was something like the appearance of a shining, like the glow of electrum. 3 Then he thrust out the representation of a hand and took me by a tuft of hair of my head, and a spirit carried me between the earth and the heavens and brought me to Jerusalem in the visions of God, to the entrance of the inner gate that is facing northward, where the dwelling place is of the symbol of jealousy that is inciting to jealousy. 4 And, look! the glory of the God of Israel was there, like the appearance that I had seen in the valley plain.

5 And he proceeded to say to me: “Son of man, please, raise your eyes in the direction of the north.” So I raised my eyes in the direction of the north, and, look! to the north of the gate of the altar there was this symbol of jealousy in the entranceway. 6 And he went on to say to me: “Son of man, are you seeing what great detestable things they are doing, the things that the house of Israel are doing here [for me] to become far off from my sanctuary? And yet you will see again great detestable things.”

7 Accordingly he brought me to the entrance of the courtyard, and I began to see, and, look! a certain hole in the wall. 8 He now said to me: “Son of man, bore, please, through the wall.” And I gradually bored through the wall, and, look! there was a certain entrance. 9 And he further said to me: “Go in and see the bad detestable things that they are doing here.” 10 So I went in and began to see, and, look! there was every representation of creeping things and loathsome beasts, and all the dungy idols of the house of Israel, the carving being upon the wall all round about. 11 And seventy men of the elderly ones of the house of Israel, with Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan standing in among them, were standing before them, each one with his censer in his hand, and the perfume of the cloud of the incense was ascending. 12 And he proceeded to say to me: “Have you seen, O son of man, what the elderly ones of the house of Israel are doing in the darkness, each one in the inner rooms of his showpiece? For they are saying, ‘Jehovah is not seeing us. Jehovah has left the land.’”

13 And he continued on to say to me: “You will yet see again great detestable things that they are doing.” 14 So he brought me to the entrance of the gate of the house of Jehovah, which is toward the north, and, look! there the women were sitting, weeping over the [god] Tammuz.

15 And he further said to me: “Have you seen [this], O son of man? You will yet see again great detestable things worse than these.” 16 So he brought me to the inner courtyard of the house of Jehovah, and, look! at the entrance of the temple of Jehovah, between the porch and the altar, there were about twenty-five men with their backs to the temple of Jehovah and their faces to the east, and they were bowing down to the east, to the sun.

17 And he went on to say to me: “Have you seen [this], O son of man? Is it such a light thing to the house of Judah to do the detestable things that they have done here, that they have to fill the land with violence and that they should offend me again, and here they are thrusting out the shoot to my nose? 18 And I myself also shall act in rage. My eye will not feel sorry, neither shall I feel compassion. And they will certainly call out in my ears with a loud voice, but I shall not hear them.”

9 And he proceeded to call out in my ears with a loud voice, saying: “HAVE those giving their attention to the city come near, each one with his weapon in his hand for bringing ruin!”

2 And, look! there were six men coming from the direction of the upper gate that faces to the north, each one with his weapon for smashing in his hand; and there was one man in among them clothed with linen, with a secretary’s inkhorn at his hips, and they proceeded to come in and stand beside the copper altar.

3 And as regards the glory of the God of Israel, it was taken up from over the cherubs over which it happened to be to the threshold of the house, and he began calling out to the man that was clothed with the linen, at whose hips there was the secretary’s inkhorn. 4 And Jehovah went on to say to him: “Pass through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and you must put a mark on the foreheads of the men that are sighing and groaning over all the detestable things that are being done in the midst of it.”

5 And to these [others] he said in my ears: “Pass through the city after him and strike. Let not your eye feel sorry, and do not feel any compassion. 6 Old man, young man and virgin and little child and women YOU should kill off—to a ruination. But to any man upon whom there is the mark do not go near, and from my sanctuary YOU should start.” So they started with the old men that were before the house. 7 And he said further to them: “Defile the house and fill the courtyards with the slain ones. Go forth!” And they went forth and struck in the city.

8 And it came about that, while they were striking and I was left remaining, I proceeded to fall upon my face and cry out and say: “Alas, O Sovereign Lord Jehovah! Are you bringing to ruin all the remaining ones of Israel while you are pouring out your rage upon Jerusalem?”

9 So he said to me: “The error of the house of Israel and Judah is very, very great, and the land is filled with bloodshed and the city is full of crookedness; for they have said, ‘Jehovah has left the land, and Jehovah is not seeing.’ 10 And as for me also, my eye will not feel sorry, neither shall I show compassion. Their way I shall certainly bring upon their own head.”

11 And, look! the man clothed with the linen, at whose hips there was the inkhorn, was bringing back word, saying: “I have done just as you have commanded me.”


10 And I continued to see, and, look! upon the expanse that was over the head of the cherubs there was something like sapphire stone, like the appearance of the likeness of a throne, appearing above them. 2 And he proceeded to say to the man clothed with the linen, even to say: “Enter in between the wheelwork, in under the cherubs, and fill the hollows of both your hands with coals of fire from between the cherubs and toss [them] over the city.” So he entered in before my eyes.

3 And the cherubs were standing to the right of the house when the man entered, and the cloud was filling the inner courtyard. 4 And the glory of Jehovah proceeded to rise up from the cherubs to the threshold of the house, and the house gradually became filled with the cloud, and the courtyard itself was full of the brightness of the glory of Jehovah. 5 And the very sound of the wings of the cherubs made itself heard to the outer courtyard, like the sound of God Almighty when he speaks.

6 And it came about, when he commanded the man clothed with the linen, saying: “Take fire from between the wheelwork, from between the cherubs,” that he proceeded to enter and stand beside the wheel. 7 Then the cherub thrust his hand out from between the cherubs to the fire that was between the cherubs and carried and put [it] into the hollows of the hands of the one clothed with the linen, who now took [it] and went out. 8 And there was seen belonging to the cherubs the representation of a hand of earthling man under their wings.

9 And I continued to see, and, look! there were four wheels beside the cherubs, one wheel beside the one cherub and one wheel beside the other cherub, and the appearance of the wheels was like the glow of a chrysolite stone. 10 And as for their appearance, the four of them had one likeness, just as when a wheel proves to be in the midst of a wheel. 11 When they would go, to their four sides they would go. They would not change direction when they went, because the place to which the head would face, after it they would go. They would not change direction when they went. 12 And all their flesh and their backs and their hands and their wings and the wheels were full of eyes all around. The four of them had their wheels. 13 As regards the wheels, to them it was called out in my ears, “O wheelwork!”

14 And [each] one had four faces. The first face was the face of the cherub, and the second face was the face of earthling man, and the third was the face of a lion, and the fourth was the face of an eagle.

15 And the cherubs would rise—it was the [same] living creature that I had seen at the river Chebar— 16 and when the cherubs went, the wheels would go alongside them; and when the cherubs lifted up their wings to be high above the earth, the wheels would not change direction, even they themselves, from alongside them. 17 When these stood still, they would stand still; and when these rose, they would rise with them, for the spirit of the living creature was in them.

18 And the glory of Jehovah proceeded to go forth from over the threshold of the house and to stand still over the cherubs. 19 And the cherubs now lifted up their wings and rose from the earth before my eyes. When they went forth, the wheels also were close alongside them; and they began standing at the eastern entrance of the gate of the house of Jehovah, and the glory of the God of Israel was over them, from above.

20 This is the living creature that I had seen under the God of Israel at the river Chebar, so that I came to know that they were cherubs. 21 As for the four, [each] one had four faces and [each] one had four wings, and the likeness of the hands of earthling man was under their wings. 22 And as for the likeness of their faces, they were the faces the appearance of which I had seen by the river Chebar, the very ones. They would go each one straight forward.

11 And a spirit proceeded to lift me up and bring me to the eastern gate of the house of Jehovah that is facing eastward, and, look! in the entrance of the gate there were twenty-five men, and I got to see in the midst of them Jaazaniah the son of Azzur and Pelatiah the son of Benaiah, princes of the people. 2 Then he said to me: “Son of man, these are the men that are scheming hurtfulness and advising bad counsel against this city; 3 that are saying, ‘Is not the building of houses close at hand? She is the widemouthed cooking pot, and we are the flesh.’

4 “Therefore prophesy against them. Prophesy, O son of man.”

5 Then the spirit of Jehovah fell upon me, and he went on to say to me: “Say, ‘This is what Jehovah has said: “YOU people said the right thing, O house of Israel; and as regards the things that come up in YOUR spirit, I myself have known it. 6 YOU have caused YOUR slain ones in this city to be many, and YOU have filled her streets with the slain [ones].”’” 7 “Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord Jehovah has said, ‘As regards YOUR slain ones whom YOU people have put in the midst of her, they are the flesh, and she is the widemouthed cooking pot; and there will be a bringing forth of YOU yourselves out of the midst of her.’”

8 “‘A sword YOU have feared, and a sword I shall bring upon YOU,’ is the utterance of the Sovereign Lord Jehovah. 9 ‘And I shall certainly bring YOU forth out of the midst of her and give YOU into the hand of strangers and execute upon YOU acts of judgment. 10 By the sword YOU will fall. On the border of Israel I shall judge YOU people; and YOU will have to know that I am Jehovah. 11 She herself will not prove to be for YOU a widemouthed cooking pot, and YOU yourselves will not prove to be flesh in the midst of her. On the border of Israel I shall judge YOU, 12 and YOU will have to know that I am Jehovah, because in my regulations YOU did not walk and my judgments YOU did not do, but according to the judgments of the nations that are round about YOU, YOU have done.’”

13 And it came about that as soon as I prophesied Pelatiah the son of Benaiah himself died, and I proceeded to fall upon my face and cry with a loud voice and say: “Alas, O Sovereign Lord Jehovah! Is it an extermination that you are executing with the remaining ones of Israel?”

14 And the word of Jehovah continued to occur to me, saying: 15 “Son of man, as regards your brothers, your brothers, the men concerned with your right to repurchase, and all the house of Israel, all of it, are the ones to whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, ‘Get far away from Jehovah. To us it belongs; the land has been given [us] as a thing to possess’; 16 therefore say, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord Jehovah has said: “Although I have put them far away among the nations, and although I have scattered them among the lands, yet I shall become to them a sanctuary for a little while among the lands to which they have come.”’

17 “Therefore say, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord Jehovah has said: “I will also collect YOU from the peoples and gather YOU from the lands among which YOU have been scattered, and I will give YOU the soil of Israel. 18 And they will certainly come there and remove all its disgusting things and all its detestable things out of it. 19 And I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I shall put inside them; and I shall certainly remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, 20 in order that they may walk in my own statutes and keep my own judicial decisions and actually carry them out; and they may really become my people and I myself may become their God.”’

21 “‘“But as for those whose heart is walking in their disgusting things and their detestable things, upon their head I shall certainly bring their own way,” is the utterance of the Sovereign Lord Jehovah.’”

22 And the cherubs now lifted up their wings, and the wheels were close by them, and the glory of the God of Israel was over them, from above. 23 And the glory of Jehovah went ascending from over the midst of the city and began to stand over the mountain that is to the east of the city. 24 And a spirit itself lifted me up and finally brought me to Chaldea to the exiled people, in the vision by the spirit of God; and the vision that I had seen went ascending from upon me. 25 And I began to speak to the exiled people all the things of Jehovah that he had caused me to see.