1In the sixth year, in the sixth month, on the fifth day of the month, as I was sitting in my house with the elders of Judah sitting before me, the hand of the Lord Yahweh fell upon me there.
2And I looked, and behold, a likeness with the appearance of fire: from the appearance of his loins and downward, fire; and from his loins and upward, like the appearance of brightness, like the gleam of amber.
3And he stretched out 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 to Jerusalem, in visions of God, to the entrance of the inner gate that faces north, where the seat of the image of jealousy stood, which provokes to jealousy.
4And behold, the glory of the God of Israel was there, like the appearance that I had seen in the valley.
5And he said to me, “Son of man, lift up your eyes now toward the north.” So I lifted up my eyes toward the north, and behold, north of the altar gate was this image of jealousy at the entrance.
6And he said to me, “Son of man, do you see what they are doing—the great abominations that the house of Israel is doing here, to drive me far from my sanctuary? Yet again you will see great abominations.”
7And he brought me to the entrance of the court, and I looked, and behold, a hole in the wall.
8And he said to me, “Son of man, dig now through the wall.” So I dug through the wall, and behold, an entrance.
9And he said to me, “Go in and see the wicked abominations that they are doing here.”
10So I went in and looked, and behold, every form of detestable creeping things and beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel, carved on the wall all around, all around.
11And seventy men of the elders of the house of Israel, with Jaazaniah son of Shaphan standing among them, were standing before them, each with his censer in his hand, and the thick cloud of incense went up.
12And he said to me, “Son of man, have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel are doing in the dark, each in his room of carved images? For they say, ‘Yahweh does not see us; Yahweh has forsaken the land.’”
13And he said to me, “You will yet again see greater abominations that they are doing.”
14And he brought me to the entrance of the gate of the house of Yahweh that faces north, and behold, there sat the women weeping for Tammuz.
15And he said to me, “Have you seen this, son of man? You will see still greater abominations than these.”
16And he brought me to the inner court of the house of Yahweh, and behold, at the entrance of the temple of Yahweh, between the portico 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 bowing down toward the east, to the sun.
17And he said to me, “Have you seen this, son of man? Is it too light a thing for the house of Judah to commit the abominations that they have committed here, that they have also filled the land with violence and turned again to provoke me to anger? And behold, they are putting the branch to their nose.
18Therefore I also will act in wrath; my eye will not spare, nor will I have pity; and though they cry out in my ears with a loud voice, I will not hear them.”
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