Ezekiel 10-11

New American Standard Bible

Vision of God’s Glory Departing from the Temple

10 Then I looked, and behold, in the ^[a](A)expanse that was over the heads of the cherubim something like a ^(B)sapphire stone, in appearance resembling a ^(C)throne, appeared above them. ² And He spoke to the man clothed in linen and said, “Enter between the ^(D)whirling wheels under the ^[b]cherubim and fill your hands with ^(E)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 ^[c]temple when the man entered, and the cloud filled the ^(F)inner courtyard. ⁴ Then the ^(G)glory of the Lord went up from the cherub to the threshold of the temple, and the ^(H)temple was filled with the cloud, and the courtyard was filled with the ^(I)brightness of the glory of the Lord. ⁵ Moreover, the sound of the wings of the cherubim was heard as far as the outer courtyard, like the ^(J)voice of ^[d]God Almighty when He speaks.

⁶ And it came about 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 reached out with his hand from between the cherubim to the fire which was between the cherubim, took some coals and put them into the hands of the one clothed in linen; and he took them and went out. ⁸ The cherubim appeared to have something like a human hand under their wings.

⁹ Then I looked, and behold, ^(K)four wheels beside the cherubim, one wheel beside each cherub; and the appearance of the wheels was like the gleam of a ^[e](L)Tarshish stone. ¹⁰ And as for their appearance, all four of them had the same likeness, as if one wheel were within another wheel. ¹¹ When they moved, they went ^(M)in any of their four ^[f]directions without turning as they went; but they followed in the direction which ^[g]they faced, without turning as they went. ¹² And their ^(N)whole body, their backs, their hands, their wings and the ^(O)wheels were ^[h]covered with eyes all around, the wheels belonging to all four of them. ¹³ The wheels were called, ^[i]as I heard, the ^[j]whirling wheels. ¹⁴ And ^(P)each one had four faces. The first face was the face of a cherub, the second face was the face of a human, the third, the face of a lion, and the fourth, the face of an eagle.

¹⁵ Then the cherubim rose up. They are the ^(Q)living beings that I saw by the river Chebar. ¹⁶ Now when the cherubim moved, the wheels would move beside them; also when the cherubim lifted up their wings to rise from the ground, the wheels themselves would not turn away from beside them. ¹⁷ When ^[k]the cherubim ^(R)stood still, ^[l]the wheels would stand still; and when they rose up, ^[m]the wheels would rise with them, because the spirit of the living beings was in them.

¹⁸ Then the glory of the Lord departed from the threshold of the temple and stood ^(S)over the cherubim. ¹⁹ When ^(T)the cherubim departed, they lifted their wings and rose up from the ground in my sight with the wheels beside them; and they stood still at the entrance of the east gate of the Lord’s house, and the glory of the God of Israel ^[n]hovered over them.

²⁰ These are the ^(U)living beings that I saw beneath the God of Israel by ^(V)the river Chebar; so I knew that they were cherubim. ^21 (W)Each one had four faces and each one four wings, and beneath their wings was the form 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.

Evil Rulers to Be Judged

11 Now the ^(X)Spirit lifted me up and brought me to the east gate of the Lord’s house which faced eastward. And behold, there were twenty-five men at the entrance of the gate, and among them I saw Jaazaniah son of Azzur and ^(Y)Pelatiah son of Benaiah, leaders of the people. ² Then He said to me, “Son of man, these are the men who devise wrongdoing and ^(Z)give evil advice in this city, ³ who say, ‘The time is not near to build houses. ^[o]This ^(AA)city is the pot and we are the meat.’ ⁴ Therefore, ^(AB)prophesy against them, prophesy, son of man!”

⁵ Then the Spirit of the Lord fell upon me, and He said to me, “Say, ‘This is what the Lord says: “This is how you think, house of Israel, for ^(AC)I know ^[p]your ^(AD)thoughts. ⁶ You have ^(AE)multiplied your slain in this city, and filled its streets with ^[q]them.” ⁷ Therefore, this is what the Lord ^[r]God says: “Your ^(AF)slain whom you have laid in the midst of ^[s]the city are the meat and this city is the pot; but ^[t]I will ^(AG)bring you out of it. ⁸ You have ^(AH)feared a sword; so I will ^(AI)bring a sword upon you,” the Lord God declares. ⁹ “And I will bring you out of the midst of ^[u]the city, and hand you over to ^(AJ)strangers, and ^(AK)execute judgments against you. ¹⁰ You will ^(AL)fall by the sword. I will judge you to the ^(AM)border of Israel; so you shall know that I am the Lord. ¹¹ This city will ^(AN)not be a pot for you, nor will you be meat in the midst of it; I will judge you to the border of Israel. ¹² So you will know that I am the Lord; for you have not walked in My statutes, nor have you ^(AO)executed My ordinances, but you have acted in accordance with the ordinances of the ^(AP)nations around you.”’”

¹³ Now it came about, as I prophesied, that ^(AQ)Pelatiah son of Benaiah died. Then I fell on my face and cried out with a loud voice, and said, “^(AR)Oh, Lord God! Will You bring the remnant of Israel to a complete destruction?”

Promise of Restoration

¹⁴ Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ¹⁵ “Son of man, your brothers, your relatives, ^[v]your fellow exiles, and the entire house of Israel, all of them, are those to whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, ‘Keep far from the Lord; this land has been given ^(AS)to us as a possession.’ ¹⁶ Therefore say, ‘This is what the Lord God says: “Though I had removed them far away among the nations, and though I had scattered them among the countries, yet I was a ^(AT)sanctuary for them for a little while in the countries where they had gone.”’ ¹⁷ Therefore say, ‘This is what the Lord God says: “I will ^(AU)gather you from the peoples and assemble you from the countries among which you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.”’ ¹⁸ When they come there, they will ^(AV)remove all its ^(AW)detestable things and all its abominations from it. ¹⁹ And I will ^(AX)give them one heart, and put a new spirit within ^[w]them. And I will remove the ^(AY)heart of stone from their flesh and give them a ^(AZ)heart of flesh, ²⁰ so that they may ^(BA)walk in My statutes, and keep My ordinances and do them. Then they will be ^(BB)My people, and I shall be their God. ^21 [x]But as for those whose hearts go after their ^(BC)detestable things and abominations, I will ^[y](BD)bring their conduct down on their heads,” declares the Lord God.

²² Then the cherubim ^(BE)lifted up their wings with the wheels beside them, and ^(BF)the glory of the God of Israel ^[z]hovered over them. ²³ The ^(BG)glory of the Lord went up from the midst of the city and ^(BH)stood over the mountain which is east of the city. ²⁴ And the ^(BI)Spirit lifted me up and brought me in a vision by the Spirit of God to ^[aa]Chaldea, to the exiles. Then the vision that I had seen ^[ab](BJ)left me. ²⁵ And I ^(BK)told the exiles all the things that the Lord had shown me.