The Book of the Prophet Ezekiel 8 The Abominations in the Sanctuary

 The Book of the Prophet Ezekiel 8

The Abominations in the Sanctuary

1 In the sixth year, in the sixth month, on the fifth day of the month, as I sat in my house with the elders of Judah sitting before me, the hand of the Lord God fell upon me there.

2 I looked, and behold, a likeness as the appearance of fire, from the appearance of his loins, and upward as the appearance of a brightness, as the color of amber.

3 Then he stretched out the form of a hand and took me by the hair of my head. The Spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven and brought me in visions of God to Jerusalem, to the entrance of the inner gate that faces north, where the image of jealousy was placed, which provokes jealousy.

4 And behold, the glory of the God of Israel was there, according to the likeness that I had seen in the valley.

5 Then he said to me, “Son of man, lift up your eyes toward the north.” So I lifted up my eyes toward the north, and there on the north side, at the entrance to the altar, was this image of jealousy.

6 Then he said to me, “Son of man, do you see what they are doing? The great abominations that the house of Israel is committing here, to drive me far from my sanctuary? But you will see even greater abominations.”

7 He brought me to the entrance of the courtyard, and I looked, and there was a hole in the wall.

8 He said to me, “Son of man, dig through the wall.” So I dug through the wall, and there was a door.

9 Then he said to me, “Go in and see the wicked abominations they are committing here.”

10 Then I went in and looked, and behold, every form of creeping things, and abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel, were portrayed on the wall all around.

11 Seventy men of the elders of the house of Israel, with Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan, who was among them, were standing before the paintings, each with his censer in his hand; and a thick cloud of incense was rising.

12 Then he said to me, “Son of man, have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel are doing in the darkness, each in his painted chambers? And they say, ‘The Lord does not see us; the Lord has forsaken the land.’”

13 And he said to me, “You will see even greater abominations than these men are doing.”

14 Then he brought me to the entrance of the north gate of the house of the Lord, and behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz. 

15 Then he said to me, “Son of man, have you seen this? You will see even greater abominations than these.”

16 He brought me into the inner court of the Lord’s house, and there at the entrance to the temple of the Lord, between the portico and the altar, were about twenty-five men with their backs to the temple of the Lord and their faces toward the east, worshiping the sun toward the east.

17 He said to me, “Son of man, have you seen this? Are there any things more detestable for the house of Judah than these abominations they are committing here? They have filled the land with violence and have turned to provoke me to anger; they are even putting the branch to their nose.

18 Therefore I also will act in fury; my eye will not spare, nor will I have pity. Though they cry out in my ears with a loud voice, I will not listen to them.”