Ezekiel 8:1-12

English Standard Version

Abominations in the Temple

8 ^(A)In the sixth year, in the sixth month, on the fifth day of the month, ^(B)as I sat in my house, with ^(C)the elders of Judah sitting before me, ^(D)the hand of the Lord God fell upon me there. ² Then I looked, and behold, ^(E)a form that had the appearance of a man.^{[a] (F)}Below what appeared to be his waist was fire, and above his waist was something like the appearance of brightness, like ^(G)gleaming metal.^{[b] 3} He ^(H)put out the form of a hand and took me by a lock of my head, and the Spirit lifted me up ^(I)between earth and heaven and ^(J)brought me in ^(K)visions of God to Jerusalem, ^(L)to the entrance of the gateway of the inner court that faces north, ^(M)where was the seat of the ^(N)image of jealousy, ^(O)which provokes to jealousy. ⁴ And behold, ^(P)the glory of the God of Israel was there, like the vision that I saw ^(Q)in the valley.

⁵ Then he said to me, ^(R)“Son of man, lift up your eyes now toward the north.” So I lifted up my eyes toward the north, and behold, north of ^(S)the altar gate, in the entrance, was this ^(T)image of jealousy. ⁶ And he said to me, “Son of man, ^(U)do you see what they are doing, ^(V)the great abominations that the house of Israel are committing here, ^(W)to drive me far from my sanctuary? But you will see still greater abominations.”

⁷ And he brought me to the entrance of the court, and when I looked, behold, there was a hole in the wall. ⁸ Then he said to me, “Son of man, ^(X)dig in the wall.” So I dug in the wall, and behold, there was an entrance. ⁹ And he said to me, “Go in, and see ^(Y)the vile abominations that they are committing here.” ¹⁰ So I went in and saw. And there, ^(Z)engraved on the wall all around, was ^(AA)every form of ^(AB)creeping things and loathsome beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel. ¹¹ And before them stood ^(AC)seventy men of ^(AD)the elders of the house of Israel, with Jaazaniah the son of ^(AE)Shaphan standing among them. Each had his censer in his hand, and ^(AF)the smoke of the cloud of incense went up. ¹² Then he said to me, “Son of man, have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel are doing ^(AG)in the dark, each ^(AH)in his room of pictures? For they say, ^(AI)‘The Lord does not see us, the Lord has forsaken the land.’”