Fluent Translation · Read & Reflect
Ezekiel 8
The vision in Jerusalem
In the sixth year, on the fifth day of the sixth month, I was sitting in my house with the elders of Judah seated before me. There the hand of the Lord GOD fell upon me. I looked and saw a likeness with the appearance of fire. From what looked like his waist downward was fire; from his waist upward was a radiant gleam like glowing metal. He stretched out what looked like a hand and took me by a lock of hair. A spirit lifted me between earth and heaven and brought me in visions of God to Jerusalem, to the entrance of the inner gate facing north. There stood the image of jealousy that provokes jealousy. There was the glory of the God of Israel, like the vision I had seen in the valley. He said, “Son of man, look toward the north.” I looked north, and there, north of the altar gate at the entrance, was that image of jealousy. He said, “Son of man, do you see what they are doing? The great abominations the house of Israel commits here drive me far from my sanctuary. But you will see still greater abominations.”
Behind the wall
He brought me to the entrance of the court. I looked and saw a hole in the wall. He said, “Son of man, dig through the wall.” I dug through it and found a doorway. He said, “Go in and see the evil abominations they are committing here.” I went in and looked. All around the walls were engraved every kind of creeping creature and detestable animal, and all the idols of the house of Israel. Seventy men from the elders of the house of Israel stood before them, with Jaazaniah son of Shaphan among them. Each held a censer, and a thick cloud of incense rose. He said, “Son of man, have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel do in the dark, each in his chamber of images? They say, ‘The LORD does not see us. The LORD has abandoned the land.’” He said, “You will see still greater abominations that they are committing.”
At the temple gates
He brought me to the entrance of the north gate of the LORD’s house. There women sat weeping for Tammuz. He said, “Have you seen this, son of man? You will see abominations even greater than these.” He brought me into the inner court of the LORD’s house. At the entrance to the LORD’s temple, between the porch and the altar, were about twenty-five men. Their backs were toward the LORD’s temple and their faces eastward; they were bowing eastward to the sun. He said, “Have you seen this, son of man? Is it a small thing for the house of Judah to commit the abominations they have committed here? They have filled the land with violence and keep provoking me. Look at them putting the branch to their noses! So I too will act in fury. My eye will not spare, and I will show no pity. Even if they shout loudly in my ears, I will not listen to them.”