Ezekiel 7 - 12

The Pitiless Wrath of Yahweh

Moreover, the word of Yahweh came to me saying, 2 “Now as for you, son of man, thus says Lord Yahweh to the land of Israel, ‘An end! The end is coming on the four corners of the earth. 3 Now the end is upon you, and I will send My anger against you; I will judge you according to your ways and put all your abominations upon you. 4 For My eye will have no pity on you, nor will I spare you, but I will put your ways upon you, and your abominations will be among you; then you will know that I am Yahweh!’ 5 “Thus says Lord Yahweh, ‘A calamitous evil, a unique calamitous evil, behold, it is coming! 6 An end has come; the end has come! It has awakened against you; behold, it is coming! 7 Your doom has come to you, O inhabitant of the land. The time has come; the day is near—confusion rather than joyful shouting on the mountains. 8 Now it is near when I will pour out My wrath on you and spend My anger against you and judge you according to your ways and put on you all your abominations. 9 My eye will show no pity, nor will I spare. I will give to you according to your ways, while your abominations are among you; then you will know that I, Yahweh, do the striking. 10 ‘Behold, the day! Behold, it is coming! Your doom has gone forth; the rod has blossomed; arrogance has budded. 11 Violence has grown into a rod of wickedness. None of them shall remain, none of their multitude, none of their moaning, nor anything eminent among them. 12 The time has come; the day has arrived. Let not the buyer be glad nor the seller mourn; for wrath is against all their multitude. 13 Indeed, the seller will not return to himself what he sold as long as they both live; for the vision regarding all their multitude will not return empty, nor will any of them strengthen his life by his iniquity. 14 ‘They have blown the trumpet and made everything ready, but no one is going to the battle, for My wrath is against all their multitude. 15 The sword is outside, and the plague and the famine are inside. He who is in the field will die by the sword; famine and the plague will also devour those in the city. 16 Even when their survivors escape, they will be on the mountains like doves of the valleys, all of them moaning, each over his own iniquity. 17 All hands will hang limp, and all knees will become like water. 18 They will gird themselves with sackcloth, and horror will cover them; and shame will be on all faces and baldness on all their heads. 19 They will throw their silver into the streets, and their gold will become an impure thing; their silver and their gold will not be able to deliver them in the day of the fury of Yahweh. They cannot satisfy their soul, nor can they fill their stomachs, for their iniquity has become an occasion of stumbling.

The Temple Profaned

20 They transformed the beauty of His ornaments into pride, and they made the images of their abominations and their detestable things with it; therefore I will make it an impure thing to them. 21 I will give it into the hands of the foreigners as plunder and to the wicked of the earth as spoil, and they will profane it. 22 I will also turn My face from them, and they will profane My secret place; then robbers will enter and profane it. 23 ‘Make the chain, for the land is full of judgments that promote bloodshed, and the city is full of violence. 24 Therefore, I will bring the most evil of the nations, and they will possess their houses. I will also make the pride of the strong ones cease, and their holy places will be profaned. 25 Anguish has come, and they will seek peace, but there will be none. 26 Disaster will come upon disaster, and report will be added to report; then they will seek a vision from a prophet, but the law will be lost from the priest and counsel from the elders. 27 The king will mourn, the prince will be clothed with desolation, and the hands of the people of the land will be dismayed. According to their way I will deal with them, and by their judgments I will judge them. And they will know that I am Yahweh.’”

Visions of Abominations in the Sanctuary

Now it happened in the sixth year, on the fifth day of the sixth month, as I was sitting in my house with the elders of Judah sitting before me, that the hand of Lord Yahweh fell on me there. 2 Then I looked, and behold, a likeness as the appearance of one on fire; from His loins and downward there was the appearance of fire, and from His loins and upward the appearance of brightness, like the gleam of glowing metal. 3 He sent forth the form of a hand and took me by a lock of 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 court, where the seat of the figure of jealousy, which provokes to jealousy, was located. 4 And behold, the glory of the God of Israel was there, like the appearance which I saw in the plain. 5 Then He said to me, “Son of man, raise your eyes now toward the north.” So I raised my eyes toward the north, and behold, to the north of the altar gate was this figure of jealousy at the entrance. 6 And He said to me, “Son of man, are you seeing what they are doing, the great abominations which the house of Israel is doing here, so that I would be far from My sanctuary? But yet you will see still greater abominations.” 7 Then He brought me to the entrance of the court, and when I looked, behold, a hole in the wall. 8 He said to me, “Son of man, now dig through the wall.” So I dug through the wall, and behold, an entrance. 9 And He said to me, “Go in and see the evil abominations that they are doing here.” 10 So I entered and looked, and behold, every form of creeping things and beasts and detestable things, with all the idols of the house of Israel, were carved on the wall all around. 11 Standing in front of them were seventy elders of the house of Israel, with Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan standing among them, each man with his censer in his hand and the fragrance of the cloud of incense rising. 12 Then He said to me, “Son of man, do you see what the elders of the house of Israel are doing in the dark, each man in the room of his carved images? For they say, ‘Yahweh does not see us; Yahweh has forsaken the land.’” 13 And He said to me, “Yet you will see still greater abominations which they are doing.” 14 Then He brought me to the entrance of the gate of the house of Yahweh which was toward the north; and behold, women were sitting there weeping for Tammuz. 15 He said to me, “Do you see this, son of man? Yet you will see still greater abominations than these.” 16 Then He brought me into the inner court of the house of Yahweh. And behold, at the entrance to the temple of Yahweh, between the porch and the altar, were about twenty-five men with their backs to the temple of Yahweh and their faces toward the east; and they were prostrating themselves eastward toward the sun. 17 He said to me, “Do you see this, son of man? Is it too light a thing for the house of Judah to do the abominations which they have done here, that they have filled the land with violence and provoked Me to anger still more? For behold, they are sending forth the twig to their nose. 18 Therefore, I also will do this in wrath: My eye will have no pity, nor will I spare; and they will cry in My ears with a loud voice, yet I will not listen to them.”

The Vision of Yahweh’s Wrath

Then He cried out in my hearing with a loud voice saying, “Draw near, O executioners of the city, each with his destroying weapon in his hand.” 2 And behold, six men were coming from the direction of the upper gate which faces north, each with his shattering weapon in his hand; and among them was a certain man clothed in linen with a scribe’s case at his loins. And they went in and stood beside the bronze altar. 3 Then the glory of the God of Israel went up from the cherub on which it had been, to the threshold of the house of Yahweh. And He called to the man clothed in linen at whose loins was the scribe’s case. 4 Yahweh said to him, “Go through the midst of the city, even through the midst of Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and groan over all the abominations which are being done in its midst.” 5 But to the others He said in my hearing, “Go through the city after him and strike; do not let your eye have pity and do not spare. 6 Kill to utter destruction old men, chosen men, virgins, little ones, and women, but do not touch any man on whom is the mark; and you shall start from My sanctuary.” So they started with the elders who were before the house. 7 And He said to them, “Defile the house and fill the courts with the slain. Go out!” Thus they went out and struck down the people in the city. 8 Now it happened as they were striking the people and I alone remained, that I fell on my face and cried out and said, “Alas, Lord Yahweh! Are You destroying the whole remnant of Israel by pouring out Your wrath on Jerusalem?” 9 Then He said to me, “The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is very, very great, and the land is filled with bloodshed, and the city is full of perversion; for they say, ‘Yahweh has forsaken the land, and Yahweh does not see!’ 10 But as for Me, My eye will have no pity, nor will I spare, but I will put their way upon their heads.” 11 Then behold, the man clothed in linen at whose loins was the scribe’s case responded with a word, saying, “I have done just as You have commanded me.”

Vision of Yahweh’s Glory Departing the Temple

Then I looked, and behold, in the expanse that was over the heads of the cherubim something like a sapphire stone, in appearance in the likeness of a throne, appeared above them. 2 And He spoke to the man clothed in linen and said, “Enter between the whirling wheels under the cherubim and fill your hands with coals of fire from between the cherubim and scatter them over the city.” And he entered in my sight. 3 Now the cherubim were standing on the right side of the house when the man entered, and the cloud filled the inner court. 4 Then the glory of Yahweh rose up from the cherub to the threshold of the house, and the house was filled with the cloud, and the court was filled with the brightness of the glory of Yahweh. 5 Moreover, the sound of the wings of the cherubim was heard as far as the outer court, like the voice of God Almighty when He speaks. 6 Now it happened that when He commanded the man clothed in linen, saying, “Take fire from between the whirling wheels, from between the cherubim,” he entered and stood beside a wheel. 7 Then the cherub sent forth his hand from between the cherubim to the fire which was between the cherubim, took some up, and put it into the hands of the one clothed in linen, who took it and went out. 8 And the cherubim appeared to have the form of a man’s hand under their wings. 9 Then I looked, and behold, four wheels beside the cherubim, one wheel beside each cherub; and the appearance of the wheels was like the gleam of a Tarshish stone. 10 As for their appearance, all four of them had the same likeness, as if one wheel were within another wheel. 11 As they went, they went in any of their four directions without turning as they went; but they went in the direction which they faced, without turning as they went. 12 And their whole body, their backs, their hands, their wings, and the wheels were full of eyes all around, the wheels belonging to all four of them. 13 The wheels were called in my hearing, the whirling wheels. 14 And each one had four faces. The first face was the face of a cherub, the second face was 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 up. They are the living creatures that I saw by the river Chebar. 16 Now as the cherubim went, the wheels went beside them; also when the cherubim lifted up their wings to rise from the ground, the wheels would not turn from beside them. 17 When the cherubim stood still, the wheels would stand still; and when they rose up, the wheels would rise with them, for the spirit of the living creatures was in them. 18 Then the glory of Yahweh departed from the threshold of the house and stood over the cherubim. 19 When the cherubim departed, they lifted their wings and rose up from the earth in my sight with the wheels beside them; and they stood still at the entrance of the east gate of the house of Yahweh, and the glory of the God of Israel hovered over them. 20 These are the living creatures that I saw beneath the God of Israel by the river Chebar; so I knew that they were cherubim. 21 Each one had four faces and each one four wings, and beneath their wings was the likeness 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 ahead.

Judgment on Evil Counselors

Moreover, the Spirit lifted me up and brought me to the east gate of the house of Yahweh which faced eastward. And behold, at the entrance of the gate, there were twenty-five men, and I saw among them Jaazaniah son of Azzur and Pelatiah son of Benaiah, officials of the people. 2 He said to me, “Son of man, these are the men who devise wickedness and give evil counsel in this city, 3 who say, ‘The time is not near to build houses. This city is the pot, and we are the flesh.’ 4 Therefore, prophesy against them, son of man, prophesy!” 5 Then the Spirit of Yahweh fell upon me, and He said to me, “Say, ‘Thus says Yahweh, “So you say, house of Israel, for I know what comes up in your spirit. 6 You have multiplied your slain in this city, and you have filled its streets with them.” 7 Therefore, thus says Lord Yahweh, “Your slain whom you have laid in the midst of the city are the flesh, and this city is the pot; but I will bring you out of it. 8 You have feared a sword; so a sword I will bring upon you,” Lord Yahweh declares. 9 “And I will bring you out of the midst of the city and give you into the hands of strangers and execute judgments against you. 10 You will fall by the sword. I will judge you to the border of Israel; so you shall know that I am Yahweh. 11 This city will not be a pot for you, nor will you be flesh in the midst of it, but I will judge you to the border of Israel. 12 Thus you will know that I am Yahweh; for you have not walked in My statutes, nor have you executed My judgments, but have executed according to the judgments of the nations around you.”’” 13 Now it happened as I prophesied, that Pelatiah son of Benaiah died. Then I fell on my face and cried out with a loud voice and said, “Alas, Lord Yahweh! Will You bring the remnant of Israel to complete destruction?”

Yahweh Will Gather the Exiles

14 Then the word of Yahweh 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 inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, ‘Go far from Yahweh; this land has been given to us as a possession.’ 16 Therefore say, ‘Thus says Lord Yahweh, “Though I had removed them far away among the nations, and though I had scattered them among the countries, yet I was a sanctuary for them a little while in the countries where they had gone.”’ 17 Therefore say, ‘Thus says Lord Yahweh, “I will gather you from the peoples and assemble you out of the countries among which you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.”’ 18 When they come there, they will remove all its detestable things and all its abominations from it. 19 And I will give them one heart and give within them a new spirit. And I will take the heart of stone out of their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, 20 that they may walk in My statutes and keep My judgments and do them. Then they will be My people, and I shall be their God. 21 But as for those whose hearts walk after their detestable things and abominations, I will give what is due for their way on their heads,” declares Lord Yahweh.

The Glory of Yahweh Leaves Jerusalem

22 Then the cherubim lifted up their wings with the wheels beside them, and the glory of the God of Israel hovered over them. 23 The glory of Yahweh went up from the midst of the city and stood over the mountain which is east of the city. 24 Now the Spirit lifted me up and brought me in a vision by the Spirit of God to the exiles in Chaldea. So the vision that I had seen went up and away from me. 25 Then I told the exiles all the things that Yahweh had shown me.

The Vision of Captivity

Then the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 2 “Son of man, you live in the midst of the rebellious house, who have eyes to see but do not see, ears to hear but do not hear; for they are a rebellious house. 3 Now as for you, son of man, prepare for yourself baggage for exile and go into exile by day in their sight; even go into exile from your place to another place in their sight. Perhaps they will see, though they are a rebellious house. 4 Bring your baggage out by day in their sight, as baggage for exile. Then you will go out at evening in their sight, as those going into exile. 5 In their sight, dig a hole through the wall and go out through it. 6 In their sight, carry the baggage on your shoulder and bring it out in the dark. You shall cover your face so that you cannot see the land, for I have set you as a wondrous sign to the house of Israel.” 7 I did so, as I had been commanded. By day I brought out my baggage like the baggage of an exile. Then in the evening I dug through the wall with my hands; I went out in the dark and carried the baggage on my shoulder in their sight. 8 And in the morning the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 9 “Son of man, has not the house of Israel, the rebellious house, said to you, ‘What are you doing?’ 10 Say to them, ‘Thus says Lord Yahweh, “This oracle concerns the prince in Jerusalem as well as all the house of Israel who are in it.”’ 11 Say, ‘I am a wondrous sign to you. As I have done, so it will be done to them; they will go into exile, into captivity.’ 12 The prince who is among them will carry his baggage on his shoulder in the dark and go out. They will dig a hole through the wall to bring it out. He will cover his face so that he cannot see the land with his eyes. 13 I will also spread My net over him, and he will be caught in My snare. And I will bring him to Babylon in the land of the Chaldeans; yet he will not see it, though he will die there. 14 And I will scatter to every wind all who are around him, his helpers and all his troops; and I will draw out a sword after them. 15 So they will know that I am Yahweh when I scatter them among the nations and spread them among the countries. 16 But I will spare a few of them from sword, famine, and pestilence that they may recount all their abominations among the nations where they go, and may know that I am Yahweh.” 17 Moreover, the word of Yahweh came to me saying, 18 “Son of man, you shall eat your bread with trembling and drink your water with quivering and anxiety. 19 Then you will say to the people of the land, ‘Thus says Lord Yahweh concerning the inhabitants of Jerusalem in the land of Israel, “They will eat their bread with anxiety and drink their water with desolation because their very soil will be made desolate of its fullness on account of the violence of all who inhabit it. 20 The inhabited cities will be laid waste, and the land will be a desolation. So you will know that I am Yahweh.”’” 21 Then the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 22 “Son of man, what is this proverb you people have concerning the land of Israel, saying, ‘The days are long, and every vision fails’? 23 Therefore say to them, ‘Thus says Lord Yahweh, “I will make this proverb cease so that they will no longer use it as a proverb in Israel.” But speak to them, “The days draw near as well as the fulfillment of every vision. 24 For there will no longer be any worthless vision or flattering divination in the midst of the house of Israel. 25 For I, Yahweh, will speak, and whatever word I speak will be done. It will no longer be delayed, for in your days, O rebellious house, I will speak the word and do it,” declares Lord Yahweh.’” 26 Furthermore, the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 27 “Son of man, behold, the house of Israel is saying, ‘The vision that he beholds is for many years from now, and he prophesies of times far off.’ 28 Therefore say to them, ‘Thus says Lord Yahweh, “None of My words will be delayed any longer. Whatever word I speak will be done,”’” declares Lord Yahweh.