Ezekiel 8

1And it happened in the sixth year, in the sixth month, on the fifth day of the month, as I was sitting in my house and the elders of Judah were sitting before me, that the hand of the Lord GOD fell upon me there.

2Then I looked, and behold, a form with the appearance of fire: from what appeared to be his waist and downward, fire; and from his waist and upward, like the appearance of brightness, like gleaming amber.

3Then he stretched out what looked like a hand and took me by a lock of my head, and the Spirit lifted me up between the earth and the heavens 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 that provokes jealousy was.

4And behold, there was the glory of the God of Israel, like the appearance that I had seen in the valley.

5Then he said to me, “Son of man, please lift up your eyes toward the north.” So I lifted up my eyes toward the north, and behold, north of the gate of the altar 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 you will see even greater abominations.”

7Then he brought me to the entrance of the court, and I looked, and behold, there was a hole in the wall.

8Then he said to me, “Son of man, please dig into the wall.” So I dug into the wall, and behold, there was an opening.

9And he said to me, “Come and see the evil abominations that they are doing here.”

10So I went in and looked, and behold, every form of creeping thing and detestable beast, and all the idols of the house of Israel, were engraved on the wall all around.

11And seventy men from the elders of the house of Israel, with Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan standing among them, were standing before them, each man with his censer in his hand; and the thick cloud of incense was going up.

12Then he said to me, “Have you seen, son of man, what the elders of the house of Israel are doing in the darkness, each man in the rooms of his carved image? For they are saying, ‘Yahweh does not see us; Yahweh has abandoned the land.’”

13Then he said to me, “You will again see greater abominations that they are doing.”

14Then he brought me to the entrance of the gate of the house of Yahweh that faces north, and behold, there the women were sitting, weeping for Tammuz.

15Then he said to me, “Have you seen this, son of man? You will see again still greater abominations than these.”

16Then he brought me into the inner court of the house of Yahweh, and behold, at the entrance of the temple of Yahweh, between the porch and the altar, were about twenty-five men, with their backs toward the temple of Yahweh and their faces toward the east; and they were bowing down toward the east to the sun.

17Then he said to me, “Have you seen, son of man? Is it too trivial a thing for the house of Judah to do the abominations that they have done here, that they should also fill the land with violence and turn again to provoke me? And behold, they are putting the branch to their nose.”

18And I also will act in wrath; my eye will not spare, nor will I have compassion. Though they cry in my ears with a loud voice, I will not hear them.