Ezekiel 7-9

New Living Translation

The Coming of the End

7 Then this message came to me from the Lord: ² “Son of man, this is what the Sovereign Lord says to Israel:

The Desolation of Israel

Idolatry in the Temple

8 Then on September 17,^[a] during the sixth year of King Jehoiachin’s captivity, while the leaders of Judah were in my home, the Sovereign Lord took hold of me. ² I saw a figure that appeared to be a man.^[b] From what appeared to be his waist down, he looked like a burning flame. From the waist up he looked like gleaming amber.^{[c] 3} He reached out what seemed to be a hand and took me by the hair. Then the Spirit lifted me up into the sky and transported me to Jerusalem in a vision from God. I was taken to the north gate of the inner courtyard of the Temple, where there is a large idol that has made the Lord very jealous. ⁴ Suddenly, the glory of the God of Israel was there, just as I had seen it before in the valley.

⁵ Then the Lord said to me, “Son of man, look toward the north.” So I looked, and there to the north, beside the entrance to the gate near the altar, stood the idol that had made the Lord so jealous.

⁶ “Son of man,” he said, “do you see what they are doing? Do you see the detestable sins the people of Israel are committing to drive me from my Temple? But come, and you will see even more detestable sins than these!” ⁷ Then he brought me to the door of the Temple courtyard, where I could see a hole in the wall. ⁸ He said to me, “Now, son of man, dig into the wall.” So I dug into the wall and found a hidden doorway.

⁹ “Go in,” he said, “and see the wicked and detestable sins they are committing in there!” ¹⁰ So I went in and saw the walls covered with engravings of all kinds of crawling animals and detestable creatures. I also saw the various idols^[d] worshiped by the people of Israel. ¹¹ Seventy leaders of Israel were standing there with Jaazaniah son of Shaphan in the center. Each of them held an incense burner, from which a cloud of incense rose above their heads.

¹² Then the Lord said to me, “Son of man, have you seen what the leaders of Israel are doing with their idols in dark rooms? They are saying, ‘The Lord doesn’t see us; he has deserted our land!’” ¹³ Then the Lord added, “Come, and I will show you even more detestable sins than these!”

¹⁴ He brought me to the north gate of the Lord’s Temple, and some women were sitting there, weeping for the god Tammuz. ¹⁵ “Have you seen this?” he asked. “But I will show you even more detestable sins than these!”

¹⁶ Then he brought me into the inner courtyard of the Lord’s Temple. At the entrance to the sanctuary, between the entry room and the bronze altar, there were about twenty-five men with their backs to the sanctuary of the Lord. They were facing east, bowing low to the ground, worshiping the sun!

¹⁷ “Have you seen this, son of man?” he asked. “Is it nothing to the people of Judah that they commit these detestable sins, leading the whole nation into violence, thumbing their noses at me, and provoking my anger? ¹⁸ Therefore, I will respond in fury. I will neither pity nor spare them. And though they cry for mercy, I will not listen.”

The Slaughter of Idolaters

9 Then the Lord thundered, “Bring on the men appointed to punish the city! Tell them to bring their weapons with them!” ² Six men soon appeared from the upper gate that faces north, each carrying a deadly weapon in his hand. With them was a man dressed in linen, who carried a writer’s case at his side. They all went into the Temple courtyard and stood beside the bronze altar.

³ Then the glory of the God of Israel rose up from between the cherubim, where it had rested, and moved to the entrance of the Temple. And the Lord called to the man dressed in linen who was carrying the writer’s case. ⁴ He said to him, “Walk through the streets of Jerusalem and put a mark on the foreheads of all who weep and sigh because of the detestable sins being committed in their city.”

⁵ Then I heard the Lord say to the other men, “Follow him through the city and kill everyone whose forehead is not marked. Show no mercy; have no pity! ⁶ Kill them all—old and young, girls and women and little children. But do not touch anyone with the mark. Begin right here at the Temple.” So they began by killing the seventy leaders.

⁷ “Defile the Temple!” the Lord commanded. “Fill its courtyards with corpses. Go!” So they went and began killing throughout the city.

⁸ While they were out killing, I was all alone. I fell face down on the ground and cried out, “O Sovereign Lord! Will your fury against Jerusalem wipe out everyone left in Israel?”

⁹ Then he said to me, “The sins of the people of Israel and Judah are very, very great. The entire land is full of murder; the city is filled with injustice. They are saying, ‘The Lord doesn’t see it! The Lord has abandoned the land!’ ¹⁰ So I will not spare them or have any pity on them. I will fully repay them for all they have done.”

¹¹ Then the man in linen clothing, who carried the writer’s case, reported back and said, “I have done as you commanded.”